More details about the upcoming new Pokémon anime have been trickling in, and the latest reveal shows two new characters in the anime.
The POKEMON The anime will go through a soft reboot in 2023, and to go with that, the new anime officially introduces a new Pikachu and a professor. After Leon’s defeat by Ash in the World Coronation Series, it was announced that the anime would officially retire Ash as the protagonist and replace him with two new characters: a girl named Liko and a boy named Roy. Not much is known about the new anime, other than it introduces the Paldea region and continues Pokémon Journeys“whole focus trick POKEMON world, but new details are gradually revealed over the coming weeks.
One of the newest details revealed about the new 2023 POKEMON The anime is adding two new cast members. According to a post by The official Pokémon Twitter account, Liko and Roy will be joined by a new Pokémon teacher, Professor Friede, and his companion, a Pikachu wearing a hat named Captain Pikachu. A lot of this is explicitly practical on the anime side, but it makes sense that the anime would go in this direction, and at the very least, the new characters are being set up for roles that transcend nostalgia.
Pokémon’s Captain Pikachu lets Pikachu remain the mascot
The biggest reason behind creating Captain Pikachu is that it allows Pikachu to stay POKEMONits mascot. In the official press release for Professor Friede and Captain Pikachu, The Pokémon Company International’s vice president of marketing, Taito Okiura, said that they look forward to seeing Pikachu have a continued presence in POKEMON anime series and “they remain a symbol for the brand” (via Pokemon.com). With that in mind, it’s clear that Captain Pikachu exists, so Pikachu can be a mascot even with the anime retiring Ash as the protagonist.
While Captain Pikachu misses the chance to introduce a new mascot to the series, it makes sense that the POKEMON The anime wouldn’t go in that direction. As stated in the press release, Pikachu was POKEMONIts mascot for 27 years, largely thanks to the anime, so it’s pretty much synonymous with the brand at this point. If the anime tried to create a new mascot character, it would likely be a struggle to sell the idea to fans, so simply introducing a new Pikachu is the much better move.
Pokémon is already hinting at the roles of its new heroes in the Anime
It is currently unknown what role Professor Friede and Captain Pikachu will serve in OLM, Inc. POKEMON, but there are already some hints. As previously mentioned, the new anime continues Pokémon JourneysIts trick is to transport the characters around the world, so one possibility is that Friede and Captain Pikachu will help Liko and Roy travel. Friede being an adult helps with this idea, but more telling is how Friede’s jacket and glasses and Captain Pikachu’s hat invoke aviation, suggesting they serve as pilots.
The idea of Professor Friede and Captain Pikachu being pilots for POKEMON‘s Liko and Roy may also be foreshadowing Pokémon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. As an early purchase bonus for the games, players could download a free Pikachu that knew Fly and had a Flying Tera-Type, and that could create the concept of a Pikachu involved with flying, especially since the games had only been out for a month before the new POKEMON anime was announced. Whatever the case may be, there’s definitely more and more to look forward to with the new one POKEMON anime with each new announcement.
Source: Pokémon (via Twitter)
