Pikachu and Ash will be replaced by new Pokémon anime characters next year

One is universally recognizable and has an electric personality, the other has been 10-years-old for 25 years, but together, the storyline of Pikachu and Ash Ketchum has lead the Pokémon franchise for decades.

In a surprise announcement Friday, The Pokémon Company announced it is parting ways with the long-time duo in its animated series next year, and introducing a new Pokémon series with new main characters.

In a video posted to Twitter, the company said the new series will introduce two new characters and several new starter Pokémon teaming up for adventures in the company’s incredibly lucrative made-up world (starter Pokémon, for the uninitiated, are ones a trainer choose at the start of their journey and are typically the main protagonists in the Pokémon series of games).

The company’s tweet says it will “commemorate Ash’s journey with special episodes concluding Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series” beginning next year.

“Ash and Pikachu have had many encounters, many battles, and many exciting and memorable times,” the video, with a voiceover in Japanese with English subtitles, said.

“The final chapter in Ash and Pikachu’s story: 11 episodes will air starting Friday, Jan. 13 2023 in Japan.”

A press release by the company says the new animated series will offer fans a “never-before-seen storyline and characters” with new protagonists named Liko and Roy in the Japanese version of the series premiering across all markets next year.

Sarah Natochenny, who has voiced the series’ main character Ash for over a decade, tweeted early Friday.

“It’s been an extraordinary privilege to have been the English voice of Ash Ketchum for what will be 17 years. No matter what lies beyond his final chapter, he’ll live forever in the hearts of many generations to come. I’ll keep him present for all of us in every way I can,” Natochenny wrote. Two hours after Natochenny posted, the tweet had been liked nearly 18,000 times.

Pokémon launched in Japan in 1996 and with the series, video games, trading cards and the infamous and explosively popular mobile app that saw people (in real life) running around trying to catch imaginary characters, has grown into one of the most popular and successful entertainment franchises in the world.

“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,” the company’s press release read.

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