[Updated on July 26, 2024, to ensure the past coverage is accurate.]
The next season of the Pokemon anime series has received an official release date. The series will focus on a new set of protagonists instead of Ash Ketchum and is set to debut on April 14, 2023, in Japan. A year later, the show will be featured on Netflix for viewers in the United States on March 7, 2024.
Ash Ketchum has been the main character and the face of the Pokemon series for over 25 years, but he’ll finally retire after a new set of episodes closing his story. After becoming the Pokemon World Champion, Ash Ketchum meets several old friends and Pokemon for a final sendoff tribute to the series’ 25-year history. A special titled “Pokemon – The Distant Blue Sky” aired in Japan on December 23, 2022, and in the US on September 8, 2023.
From that, the Pokemon anime is now airing an 11-episode miniseries titled “Aim to Be a Pokemon Master,” which features several fan-favorite characters such as Misty, Brock, Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and more, as a celebration of Ash Ketchum’s achievement of becoming the world’s top Trainer. It aired on January 13, 2023, in Japan, and American viewers got to watch it on September 8, 2023.
It serves as the final chapter of Ash’s story before the new Pokemon anime series — Pokemon Horizons: The Series. This next chapter of the Pokemon anime series will focus on the new dual protagonists, Liko and Roy, as they set off on their own new journey in the region of Paldea with the starter trio of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly.
