2021 was a big year for Pokémon as it became the most valuable franchise in the world and 2022 hasn't slowed it down one bit, a fact that fans are no fact enjoying.
Last week saw the final one-hour episode of Pokémon Master Journeys on Japanese TV, and at the episode's conclusion a brand new trailer and poster/visual were revealed for the next arc of the popular anime series with Ash getting closer to beating Leon and becoming the Pokémon World Champion and Goh inching loser to catching Mew.
Note that the trailer (included below) includes things that have yet to be released in English-speaking areas, so be aware of SPOILERS!
The lastest batch of Pokémon episodes began streaming on January 21st as Pokémon Master Journeys (Pokémon Journeys airs on japanese TV Tokyo as "Pokémon"). Currently there are 86 of the 104 episodes available in English. Streaming giant Netflix was rumored to be releasing the next batch of Pokémon episodes last month (March 2022), but thus far there has been no confirmed date as to when to expect them.
Pokémon, abbreviated from the Japanese title of "Pocket Monsters" is a Japanese anime television series, part of The Pokémon Company's Pokémon media franchise, which began broadcasting on TV Tokyo in Japan in April 1997.
The anime franchise consists of seven sequential series consisting of 24 television seasons internationally. The series follows Ash Ketchum, a young trainer of Pokémon ("Pocket Monsters"). He is joined by his elictrified partner Pokémon Pikachu and a various cast of other human characters and Pokémon trainers, travelling through the various regions of the Pokémon world and competing in Pokémon-battling tournaments known as the Pokémon League.
The Pokémon anime series was largely credited for the surge anime popularity around the world, and especially in the United States, where the two highest-grossing anime films are both Pokémon films. It is also considered to be one of the first anime series on television to reach this level of mainstream success with Western audiences, as well as being credited with allowing the video game series to reach such a degree of popularity and vice versa. Pokémon is regarded as the most successful video game adaptation of all time, with over 1000 episodes broadcast and adapted for international television markets, concurrently airing in 169 countries worldwide and one of the most widely watched shows on Netflix, as of 2016.