Ash’s decades-long journey in the Pokemon anime is finally coming to a close on Netflix. We knew Ash’s days in the spotlight were numbered, and now, after the Ultimate Journeys series already wrapped up in Japan, The Pokemon Company announced during SDCC 2023 that the final 13 episodes featuring Ash’s farewell will air on Sep. 8, 2023.
“The end of an era” gets thrown around pretty often, but seeing as Ash has been the star of the anime series since it first started airing in the mid-1990s, it seems rather appropriate here. In a move befitting such a momentous ending, The Pokemon Company also announced that Misty and Brock – Ash’s close friends and traveling companions in the show’s first several series – will return in the last 13 episodes.
It’s not all goodbyes and partings, though. Pokemon Horizons will take over where Ash’s story leaves off, introducing new heroes, Paldean Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet, and even a high-flying Pikachu. Netflix will also air Pokemon Concierge in December 2023.
Concierge is a stop-motion production that follows a young girl working as a concierge at a luxury resort that serves elite trainers and their Pokemon, so it’s shaping up to be something rather different than we’re used to both from an animation perspective and in terms of what the series usually focuses on.
Meanwhile, on the video game front, Scarlet and Violet DLC expansions are still expected to release in the near future, though Nintendo hasn’t announced a launch date yet.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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