With the days left in Ash's journey counting down, new information on the upcoming Pokémon reboot has finally been revealed, offering fans their first peek at what Pokémon without Ash might be like.A small character trailer was dropped on Twitter today, exploring the new Pokémon anime's protagonists and teasing a bit about what the story will be. The two protagonists are a girl named Riko and a boy named Roy, as was indicated previously. Riko is revealed to be in possession of a special pendant, which appears as if it will be a major element in the story of the new anime. Riko was also explicitly revealed as having come from the Paldea region seen in Scarlet and Violet. Additionally, the Tweet mentioned that the series would be set "All over the Pokémon world," like Pokémon Journeys, the most recent season, rather than exclusively focusing on Paldea.
Pokémon's Anime Gets a Bigger Focus on Story
The Pokémon anime with Ash has never really had a reputation for large-scale storytelling, even as its final episodes are airing. The series, at over 1200 episodes, is mostly made up of one-offs and stand-alone stories, with only the occasional large arc tying things together. With that fact in mind, it's interesting that this new reveal has chosen to focus so heavily on Riko's pendant and the mystery surrounding it. It seems as if this pendant may be the driving factor of the plot, something the anime under Ash rarely had (at least since Pokémon's dropped GS Ball plot). The pendant is noticeably hidden in Riko's official character artwork, showing that she tucks the pendant into her shirt to conceal it. The pendant, when shown in close-up, appears to resemble the symbol used for the Terastal mechanic in Scarlet and Violet. It's possible that this may function as her secret weapon, allowing her to Terastalize her Pokémon even outside Paldea.
Pokémon's New Hero Starts Off With an Interesting Mystery
While a shift from episodic to serialized storytelling would certainly be welcomed by most Pokémon fans after over a thousand stand-alone tales, fans should hold off from getting too excited just yet. This is still going to be a show aimed at children, so major shifts in tone towards the darker and edgier are probably out of the question. It's likely the series will keep a focus on the wonderful world of Pokémon, in the same way that Ash and his companions were often filled with awe. Still, the show wouldn't be rebooting itself if it were going to remain exactly the same, either, and a change to the anime's storytelling structure would be a great reason to launch a reboot and start anew.
With more information promised to come next week, fans won't have to wait too long to find out a little more about what the new Pokémon anime will be like.
Source: Twitter