Ash finally achieved his lifelong quest last year. The Pallet Town-born Pokemon trainer beat all the other Pokemon League Champions at the Pokemon World Coronation Series Masters Eight Tournament. Unfortunately, the win comes with a bittersweet price as Ash and Pikachu were announced to be leaving Pokemon soon after, marking the end of his 25-year run as the perpetually 10-year-old boy. If it’s any consolation, Ash’s journey is ending with a run of Pokemon Ultimate Journeys: The Series episodes instead of just a single movie or special episode. As per the series’ latest trailer, we’ll see the return of Ash’s long-time friend Misty as well as several other former series staples. Brock wasn’t seen in the same trailer but it’s confirmed that he’ll be returning in the final few episodes of the Pokemon series. The final set of Pokemon episodes for a while will air in Japan later this month, but we don’t have a clue yet as to when the English-dubbed episodes will arrive for most of us. The new English episodes will likely air on Netflix as a whole, so it might be a while before non-Japanese audiences can catch the new episodes. However, since this is the last time we’ll be seeing Ash as the series’ protagonist, we hope there’ll be an exception. As for the future of the Pokemon anime series, Ash and Pikachu’s departure doesn’t spell the end for it. Two new heroes, Liko and Roy, will replace the classic duo. We haven’t the slightest idea about who they are and what their journey is all about.
