Pokémon Anime Recasts Heroes After Decades

After 26 years of adventures in the Pokémon anime series, the hero Ash Ketchum finally retired, forever frozen at the age of ten. However, after steadfastly refusing to let its protagonist age throughout most of the show’s history, The Pokémon Company is now doing something unexpected in Pokémon Horizons—allowing its new heroes, Liko and Roy, to grow up a little.

The news comes from a recent CoroCoro magazine reveal about the next arc, Mega Voltage, which confirms the storyline will feature a time skip, aging Liko and Roy by roughly three years. This change includes updated designs for the main characters, showing Liko, Roy, and Dot looking noticeably taller and more mature:

Here are all the new Chapter 5 pages from today's issue of CoroCoro!
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What’s more, these new characters inhabit the same universe as Ash Ketchum, even if he’s currently absent from the anime. This implies that somewhere off-screen, Ash has also aged three years alongside them, as have other companions like Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Serena, and the rest. Will we see an older Ash Ketchum in this new arc, or later on? Only time will tell, but fans are already speculating that the series might head in that direction sooner or later.

Mega Voltage will also bring back Mega Evolutions, likely timed with the mechanic's return in the upcoming game Pokémon Legends: Z-A. We can also see that Liko’s Floragato evolved into Meowscarada at some point, while Roy now has a Shiny Mega Lucario.

One notable absence from the reveal is Friede, captain of the Rising Volt Tacklers. His partner Pikachu appears to be wearing Friede’s signature goggles, and keen-eyed fans have pointed out cracks along the sides—hinting that something unfortunate may have happened to Friede. Uh oh.

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The Mega Voltage arc begins airing in Japan on April 11 this year, although it will take longer to reach the United, as the English dub is significantly behind. We’ve been somewhat critical of the anime since its debut, giving Pokémon Horizons Season 2 a 5/10 for “consistently failing to play to its strengths.” Hopefully, the time skip will bring fresh energy to the Rising Volt Tacklers’ adventures.