Fans got some pretty good news when the Pokemon Company announced the new iteration of the anime, complete with the new Paldea region as its base, but fans weren't prepared for the noticeable lack of series mainstay Ash Ketechm and series mascot, Pikachu. Turns out, the new show, to the public's knowledge, omits Ash for two new protagonists, Liko and Roy (in the Japanese version).
While this felt like a massive hit in the gut for those following the anime for actual decades, it seems that Ash isn't gone outright. Kunihiko Yuyama, the anime director and co-founder of OLM, which produces the Pokemon anime, told Otomedia that we would likely see Ash again eventually, however, he stopped short of giving more details.
He shoots down the idea of seeing an aged-up Ash, calling him "forever 10 years old," which kills theories that Liko is his daughter. In case you're out of the loop, Ash finally won the championship, but that doesn't mean his journey is over just yet, as he must now figure out what he must do to continue chasing his dream to be the best that no one ever was.
If anything, though, the lack of Pokemon's old main character may make us reminisce about the good old days of a 10-year-old boy using an electric mouse to electrocute a rock snake, punch a genetically perfect pocket monster, and jump off buildings to save his buds.