New protagonists and old glories for the millionaire Japanese franchise that changes direction after more than 1000 episodes.
The Pokémon Company Group has just made one of those announcements that can monopolise the world of pop culture: a new Pokémon animated series will soon air, following a never-before-seen plot and characters, including the two protagonists who in the original language version are called Liko and Roy.
The new series will debut in all or the world starting in 2023 and will obviously be closely linked to the latest video game released: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. At the centre of the narrative will in fact be Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly, who are the game’s starting Pokémon. They will be joined by the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza in a chromatic version. Of course, the storyline will revolve around the theme of travel, as is tradition, and will showcase environments and creatures that players have come to know from Scarlet and Violet.
This new series will debut at the conclusion of the current season of the Pokémon cartoons, Pokémon Super Explorations, in which Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu win the World Tournament of Eight coronation. On the other hand, with the crowning of Ash’s dream it was inevitable that a new story arc would be sought, perhaps a narrative that would connect with a new generation of viewers, trying as always to combine the transmedia narrative between video game and TV series, without of course forgetting the playing cards, beloved by children and collectors alike.
However, if you have been following the Ash epic since the 1990s, don’t despair. After the historic World Championship victory, it is obviously time for the lap of honour. To celebrate his journey, a special collection of episodes will be aired to conclude the Pokémon Super Explorations series. These episodes will see the return of Pokémon and historical characters, including Misty and Brock, and will give a glimpse of what the future holds for the world’s strongest Trainer in this final chapter of the saga of Ash and his Pikachu. New episodes of the Pokémon Super Explorations series air on K2 at 9am every Saturday. Fans can also catch up with previous episodes on demand on Discovery+.
The “changing of the guard” is a very delicate moment when historical franchises like this one are involved and introducing new narrative threads and new characters is not an easy task, they know it well at Disney with all the tribulations they had for Star Wars. We are talking about a series with 25 seasons that has aired more than 1,000 episodes and has in fact raised an entire generation, in fact at least two. It will therefore be very interesting to see how the public will welcome Liko and Roy, which will probably also be a way of addressing the tone and style of future games.