Ash and Pikachu's story to finish with 11 episode arc starting January in Japan - New Pokémon anime series starts in 2023 with two new main characters

At the beginning of this month, a regular monthly press conference from TV Tokyo confirmed that Ash's anime adventures would be continuing, and said that more information would be released with a future anime broadcast. With new videos released today together with the most recent anime episode, and uploaded to both the official Japanese and English Youtube channels for Pokémon, we now know that those adventures won't actually be continuing for much longer!

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Ash and Pikachu's adventures will finally come to an end in a collection of 11 episodes that will air in Japan starting from Friday, January 13th. These episodes appear to have been positioned as an epilogue of sorts to Ash's journey, and will apparently be featuring many fan favorite characters, including Misty and Brock, as well as providing fans with insights into Ash and his partner Pikachu's future beyond the end of the series.

The forthcoming special episodes not only celebrate Ash’s monumental achievement, but they also act as an expression of gratitude from Pokémon to all the fans who have joined him and his partner Pokémon Pikachu along the way. Fans can also look forward to what’s to come in the new animated series, which will represent everything they love about Pokémon animation, including action, adventure, friendship and Pokémon.

This won't be the end of Pokémon as a weekly anime series however, with a new Pokémon anime series to start in 2023. The series will star two new characters, Liko and Roy, as they begin their own Pokémon journey accompanied by the Paldea starters Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly. Shiny Rayquaza also makes an appearance in the trailer for this new series, though what part it will play in the story is not clear at this stage.

 

Her hairclip is shaped like the logo on Ash's first cap

 

If only they'd exercised this level of restraint with Ash Ketchum much earlier in Journeys, because his final adventure felt more like a badly done wish fulfilment fanfic than anything official. At least it's finally over.

 

ohhhh this is gonna HURT to watch.