Well then.. this is interesting! They are retiring Ash and Pikachu for new characters. Curious if they will keep him as a kid until that point. Unless we get a spinoff series where he becomes the Pokemon master he set out to be.

Either way, this is a great excuse for me to binge Pokemon up until Ash's departure (allowing me to slog through all the new Pokemon seasons I've avoided thus far).

Ah so it's Gen 9. I suppose Gen 8 is Ash's last. Gives me a good end point at least.

It is a strange feeling. On one hand, I feel kinda sad that Ash's journey is over, even more when there's so much that could be done with that character if Nintendo had the guts to put some age onto the character, a final story could easily be told in a spin off series. But on the other hand, I'm also kinda glad (arguing with myself internally) because if he did continue, they'd just keep him young with little development and growth and from what little I saw of one of the recent "Journey" episodes or whatever it's called, the quality was nigh on non existent. It spent more time focused on a random family healing a fucking bird in their house, than on the actual characters and having some battles and action. I was so perplexed by how boring it was compared to where the anime began.

Part of me wonders if I should even bother binging all the later seasons, but I owe it to a character I've enjoyed since the 90s to slog through them.

Ah so this Gen 9 series will be phasing him out, not outright retiring him. I assume he'll be gone following the series after that.

Ash's final episodes are set to air in the next week or so (March 14th around). I believe that's the Japanese release though. Then 2 weeks later on April 14th the new series begins without Ash. Oh and Team Rocket are leaving forever too.

Apparently the synopsis for the final episode is Ash goes back to his hometown and has to answer if he thinks he is a Pokemon Master.

People are saying that all of his adventures already make him a master, but he has only won 1 single championship.. shouldn't a Pokemon Master actually beat everyone else in a battle instead of lose?

New protagonist Liko? They can Liko my balls I'm done lol.

That was posted on March 13th. It's the 23rd today. Talk about old news!

Oh it airs tomorrow. It seems they delayed the date on it.