New Pokémon Anime With New Dual Protagonists to Debut in April 2023

The Pokémon Company revealed a new Pokémon animated series on Friday. The series will follow completely new dual protagonists, who are named Liko and Roy in the Japanese version of the series.

The below video contains spoilers for Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series. The non-spoiler trailer for the new series premieres at 1:03 in the video.

The series will premiere in April 2023 in Japan, and The Pokémon Company stated in its English press release that the anime will premiere in 2023 "and beyond." The anime will feature Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly from the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet video games, and will also feature the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza in its Shiny form.

The anime will debut after Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series.

The company also announced that it is producing a collection of 11 special episodes to conclude the Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series anime that will celebrate Ash's adventures spanning 25 seasons. The company stated the episodes will feature fan-favorite characters such as Misty and Brock and will "provide a glimpse into what the future holds ... in this final chapter for Ash and Pikachu."

The episodes will premiere in Japan on January 13, and the concluding anime in Japanese is titled Pocket Monster Mezase Pokémon Master (Aiming to be a Pokémon Master).

Pokémon Journeys: The Series premiered on TV Tokyo and its affiliates in Japan under the title Pocket Monster in November 2019, two days after the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games shipped worldwide. The series continues to air in Japan under that name.

The first 12 episodes of Pokémon Journeys: The Series debuted in the United States on Netflix in June 2020, and the service added new episodes quarterly. The anime also premiered on the Canadian television channel Teletoon in May 2020.

The localized title of the anime, Pokémon Journeys: The Series, has 48 episodes. Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series continued with Pocket Monster's 49th episode, which premiered in Japan in December 2020. Netflix began streaming Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the Pokémon anime's 25th season, on October 21.

Update: Added more information from Japanese sources including April debut for new series and visual for special episodes.

Sources: Email correspondence, Pokémon franchise's Japanese YouTube channel, TV Tokyo