After 23 seasons of television, Ash's Pikachu may finally evolve into Raichu in Pokémon Journeys. The duo at the core of the Pokémon series have been inseparable since they met in 1997, and Pikachu's decision that first season not to evolve after a tough loss at the Vermillion City Gym has been a defining characteristic of their dynamic since. However, the 7th series (23rd season) of the Pokémon anime Pokémon Journeys has proven unafraid to break the mold of the long-running franchise.
Following Ash (Satoshi in the Japanese version) and newcomer Goh, whose mission is to collect one of every Pokémon, Pokémon Journeys spans the entirety of the Pokémon world, with the pair traveling through familiar and new regions in an effort to achieve their distinct goals. The show only recently returned to television after a coronavirus-related hiatus, and has been fairly divisive for its changes to the established Pokémon formula. For some fans to be upset about something as trivial as the art style, it may come as a shock to evolve the famously stubborn Pikachu who inspired hordes of children to refuse evolution in their own copies of the games.
In a leaked summary and VA list for episode 35 "I Got Pikachu," released by the Anipoke Fandom Twitter, it appears as though Goh's desire for his own Pikachu may shake up the party dynamic. Read the summary below.
As [Goh] watches [Ash] and Pikachu, he suddenly realizes he wants to get a Pikachu of his own! The laboratory head, [Professor Cerise], tells him about an outbreak of Pikachu, so he decides to immediately head there to investigate. A lot of Pikachu have been digging “Thunderstones” out of the rock face and used their power to evolve into Raichu… and then Ash’s Pikachu finally evolves into a Raichu as well thanks to a “Thunderstone” discovered by a very obliging female Pikachu?!
While it is a tad suspect that the word "Thunderstone" is in quotations, it wouldn't be all-too ridiculous to see Pokémon Journeys finally evolve Ash's Pikachu. The series has established itself already as a different direction than the previous iterations of the anime, and Ash's Pikachu in particular has faltered in popularity as of late. Between Detective Pikachu, the weird moment where Pikachu talks in Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! and the lackluster debut of Netflix's Mewtwo Strikes Back remake, Ash's Pikachu may be due for a rebrand.
The assumption here is that Goh will receive his own Pikachu that will replace Ash's Pikachu as the Pikachu of the group. By a decent margin, Pikachu is still the most popular and branded Pokémon in the series, and it would be ill-advised for the anime to completely do away with that kind of recognition. Again, this is essentially ad material, and the Thunderstones are implied to be fake or at least suspect. It's entirely possible it's a fakeout, in which perhaps Pikachu becomes Raichu only briefly, and decides he doesn't like it to maintain status quo, or that instead Goh's new Pikachu actually evolves into Raichu. Whatever the case, some fans are very unhappy with the decision, and should this be the real deal, the Pokémon Journeys writers may have to write themselves back out of a corner after the damage is done.
Source: Anipoke Fandom (@AnipokeFandom)