Pokémon Journeys is the latest iteration of the franchise and hands down the most creative series in the anime. For those of you who didn’t grow up playing the video games the basic plot is always the same. Focusing on the player challenging 8 gyms, followed by battling the elite 4 to become champion.
The anime chose to follow a different path from the video games and manga (worth reading). Choosing to focus on Ash having numerous adventures without ever aging. Many fans have voiced their dislike about this choice but regardless there have been some memorable series recently like XYZ. That being said after watching Journeys I think it has changed the anime for the better and we’ll be looking at reasons below.
1. Ash travels the world in Pokemon Journeys
In all other series Ash would just stay in one region and travel it extensively until he collects all 8 badges. Followed by challenging that region’s version of the Pokémon league. In this series he is a lab assistant to Professor Cerise in Vermillion city and he goes to a different region in each episode to help Cerise with his research. Breaking the 20 year tradition this anime used to follow.
2. A New Goal
Ash still dreams of being a Pokémon Master (whatever that means). But after winning a championship in Alola he now has his sights set on a new goal. Ash wants to win the World Coronation tournament and fight the world champion, Leon. The basic idea of this tournament is to fight trainers and boost your ranking until you’re eligible to fight the champion. For older fans this is something refreshing as for the past 25 years Ash has done the same thing over and over again.
3. Old Friends appear
Another great reason to watch the series is it has a sense of nostalgia for older fans. Nearly all of Ash’s travel companions (except Tracy, May and Max) have appeared on the show. It’s always great to see characters we love like Brock, Misty, Dawn, Serena, etc. and see what they’ve been up to the past couple of years. The best thing is it’s a recurring theme as Dawn has appeared quite a few times on the show already.
4. You’ll love Goh
Back in the first generation of Pokemon Ash had wanted to complete the Pokedex (Pokémon encyclopedia). That was a short-lived dream as after the show focused on Ash building a close-knit team of 5 Pokémon (more or less) that he could use along with his Pikachu to battle throughout his journey in that region. Ash is nowhere close to finishing the Pokedex.
Goh on the other hand is the complete opposite wanting to actually complete the Pokedex and I think he might be able to as he has quite the collection already including the legendary Pokémon Suicune.
5. Legendary Pokémon
Legendary Pokémon also appear more often in this series than its predecessors. Pokémon like Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Lugia, Mew, and Suicune. These are just off the top of my head. The episodes where Legendaries appear I always find myself being more invested in and can teach younger viewers about previous generations of Pokémon.
Conclusion
So there you have it guys those are the reasons Pokémon Journeys has changed the anime for the better. As a life-long fan of the franchise I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Anyways guys that wraps it up for today. Once again thank you so much for reading and until next time. AJ is out of here!
