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Netflix has revealed when Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series will debut on the streaming service.
As initially reported by Crunchyroll, the first 12 episodes of the latest entry in the long-running franchise will premiere on Netflix on Oct. 21, and three more episodes will appear on the service sometime in 2023. According to early plot summaries, Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series will see Ash and his Pikachu training hard as the World Coronation Series tournament continues, while Goh attempts to become a member of Project Mew. Moreover, Chloe and her Eevee will explore different evolutionary pathways and make difficult decisions about their future.
Furthermore, another new Pokémon anime series has already debuted on Netflix this month; Pokémon: The Arceus Chronicles, which is based on the Pokémon Legends: Arceus video game, came out on Sept. 23. It follows Ash and his friends as they travel to the Sinnoh region and work together to stop a high-stakes plot perpetrated by Team Galactic.
The iconic Pokémon franchise kicked off in 1996 with the releases of Pocket Monsters: Red and Green. Nintendo later rebranded them as Pokémon Red and Blue. Since then, the popular video game franchise has released over 120 mainline and spinoff video games. The newest titles, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, will launch later this year on Nov. 18, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. The game will feature a brand-new Spain-inspired region and a myriad of new pocket monsters to collect. Fans have already gotten glimpses of several new Pokémon, including the ninth-generation starters, Fuecoco, Sprigatito and Quaxly.
Pokémon is More Than Video Games
The franchise includes much more than just video games. Beyond the anime, there are many manga and movie tie-ins, board games, toys and collectibles, theme park attractions, dedicated stores, books and even a competitive trading card game. In 2021, Netflix reportedly began developing a live-action Pokémon series with Joe Henderson, Lucifer's showrunner, signed on as the writer and executive producer.
Fans continually contribute their own content to the ever-expanding franchise as well. Recent examples of impressive Pokémon fan art include a nightmare-inducing painting of Haunter that depicts what the artist thinks the Ghost-Poison Pokémon would look like if it existed in the real-world and a piece of crossover artwork that fuses Team Rocket with the Forger family from Spy x Family.
Alongside many of the Pokémon anime, some of the franchise's films are available on Netflix, including Pokémon The Movie: The Secrets of the Jungle and Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution.
Source: Crunchyroll