Pokémon Anime Reboots with Older Main Cast

After 26 years of adventure in the Pokémon anime, protagonist Ash Ketchum has finally hung up his cap—all while remaining eternally ten years old. However, after steadfastly refusing to let its hero age for most of the series' run, The Pokémon Company now seems to be doing the unthinkable in Pokémon Horizons: allowing its new protagonists, Liko and Roy, to grow up a little.

This news comes from a recent CoroCoro magazine reveal for the next arc, Mega Voltage, which confirmed the story will include a "time skip" advancing Liko and Roy by roughly three years. It also features updated designs for the main cast, showing Liko, Roy, and Dot looking noticeably taller and more mature than before:

All the new arch 5 pages from coro coro today!
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Notably, these characters inhabit the same world as Ash Ketchum, even if he isn’t currently appearing in the anime. This implies that, somewhere off-screen, Ash has also aged three years along with them—as have former companions like Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Serena, and all the others. Will we see a grown-up Ash Ketchum in this arc, or ever? It’s uncertain, but fans are already speculating that the series could be moving in that direction, whether now or in a future season.

Mega Voltage will also mark the return of Mega Evolutions, likely tying into the mechanic's revival in the upcoming game Pokémon Legends: Z-A. We can also see that Liko's Floragato has evolved into Meowscarada, while Roy now has a Shiny Mega Lucario.

One notable absence in the reveal is Friede, captain of the Rising Volt Tacklers. His partner Pikachu is present and appears to be wearing Friede's goggles—fans have pointed out what look like cracks along the sides, suggesting something unfortunate may have happened to Friede. Uh-oh.

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The Mega Voltage arc is set to begin airing in Japan on April 11 this year, though it will arrive later in the United States, as the English dub lags considerably behind. We’ve been somewhat critical of the anime since its debut, giving Pokémon Horizons Season 2 a 5/10 for "repeatedly failing to commit to its strengths." Here’s hoping the time skip injects some fresh energy into the Rising Volt Tacklers' journey.