Pokemon (2023)

In a world filled with strange yet majestic creatures known as Pokémon, a new adventure begins! Hailing from the pristine region of Paldea, the timid Liko travels to the Kanto region to attend the Indigo Academy and become a Pokémon trainer—a person who forms relationships with Pokémon and trains them to participate in battles. Soon, Liko acquires Nyahoja, a fickle Grass-type cat Pokémon, as her first partner.

Prior to Liko's transfer to Kanto, her grandmother gives her a uniquely patterned and gleaming pendant as a protective charm. However, an enigmatic organization—The Explorers—seems to know a secret about the pendant and nearly succeeds in stealing it from Liko. Fortunately, she is rescued by the Rising Volt Tacklers, a group of adventurers led by a Lizardon-riding trainer named Friede.

After a series of encounters with The Explorers, Liko decides to join Friede's team, accompanying him and his crew members on a grand journey across the regions. Along the way, they aim to unravel not only the mysteries of the world of Pokémon, but also the power that resides within her pendant.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Liko Main

Suzuki, Minori Japanese

Captain Pikachu Main

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Friede Main

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Dot Main

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Nyahoja Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Hogator Main

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Roy Main

Terasaki, Yuka Japanese

Achigator Main

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Nyarote Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Pikachu Supporting

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Katou, Hiroyuki Producer

Kudou, Yuusuke Producer

Sekiguchi, Ayaka Producer

Kumemura, Makoto Producer

Reviews

Mar 31, 2024

mitsuwuki

Recommended

Preliminary (45/? eps)

Pokémon has been a very big part of my life since I was a kid, but save for the XY series, the anime has never really hit for me. Unlike most, I was never able to connect with Ash as a protagonist, and after a while the premise began to grow stale to me. As such, I've been hesitant to write a review on Pokémon Horizons due to it being so much more enjoyable for me than its predecessors. Now that I'm through with the first two major arcs, I think I can finally put one together. I don't know how to put my thoughts ... into words without completely glazing it, but it honestly deserves it. If you are someone who has been hesitant to watch Pokémon Horizons because Ash isn't the protagonist anymore, I promise you, giving Liko a chance is well worth your time.

The entire cast is very lovable, with the adult cast of the Volteccers crew and the younger protagonist trio of Liko, Roy, and Dot having something to offer for both older and younger audiences. This doesn't mean that the kids don't offer much if you're a part of the older Pokémon fan crowd though, as I've found it very easy to connect with Liko even now as an adult viewer, despite never being able to do so with Ash when I was younger. Liko is much more reserved and unsure of herself than the gung-ho all-or-nothing kid that Ash is, which for me makes her more relatable and also makes watching her growth a lot more satisfying. And if you still miss the more energetic Ash, you can find a lot of that kind of personality in Roy, who, while mildly similar to Ash, is still a great character with big dreams of his own. Dot is also a lovely contrast to both Liko and Roy, and it's very enjoyable watching her try to come out of her shell. These three as the main characters all mesh with and bounce off each other very nicely, and the adults they travel with are very enjoyable characters as well. They, aside from Friede, take the backseat most of the time, but they still have episodes that give them each their deserved focus along with the kids. Every character is unique, special, and important to the crew in their own way, and no one is ever left out of the spotlight. They feel like a big family, and it's also comforting to know that they'll be around for the long haul rather than one region and done outside of cameos like Ash's past companions were.

As for the plot itself, I find it to be a nice breath of fresh air in contrast to the many many gym challenges Ash faced and lost over and over. It feels much more like an actual adventure, and thus much more unpredictable and exciting. It follows Liko's journey with her first partner Pokémon Nyahoja (Sprigatito) along with Roy and the other members of the Rising Volteccers and their Pokémon, as they travel across the world to different regions to uncover the mysteries of Liko's pendant, facing hardships and setbacks along the way. Unlike the gym challenge which is very linear and easily predictable, this journey has many twists and turns and is full of mystery and the unknown as they uncover more about the pendant, its history, and the Pokémon associated with it. It makes every new development fun and exciting, with the highs feeling happier and the lows feeling sadder, each hitting equally as hard on opposite ends. Even the more calm "filler" content is enjoyable because the characters are all so lovable and bounce off of each other very well, and it really helps to flesh them out and show off the world they live in and how they fit into it. Nothing ever feels like it's pointless or out of place.

Aside from story and characters, the OST (at least in the original Japanese version) is beautiful and each track perfectly ties every scene together, and the art and animation is simple and clean, while still looking very pretty for a weekly anime. The animation sequence for the second opening especially is absolutely gorgeous; I can never bring myself to skip it. I also love how faithful it is to the world of Pokémon and the gameverse, clearly showing off the special parts of each region they visit.

I have absolutely no complaints regarding this series, it's very special and there's clearly a huge amount of care put into it. It's a great disservice to completely dismiss Pokémon Horizons just because Ash is no longer in it, so I highly HIGHLY recommend you try it out. It's very different and very new, but this is in absolutely no way a bad thing. If you like Pokémon at all, I'm confident you'll find some enjoyment in it.

Overall rating: 10/10, no notes. This series is the perfect Pokémon anime in every possible way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Nov 15, 2023

Eodis

Recommended

Preliminary (12/? eps)

Some context about me : I was about 10 years old when the Pokemon show first started and keep good memories about it, also because of the games. But as i was getting older i kinda gave up somewhere around the third cycle (diamond/pearl). I tried watching it again, but let's face it the show is really childish and repetitive, with little to no character development. I don't know if that's the case for the last cycles as well as i never fully committed but it looked like it too.

With Ash gone i decided to give the show an other chance and i'm glad i ... did. The story is much more rich and deep, there are more characters with their own story and they are not gone after one or two episodes, they stick around and really bring something. The journey of our heroes has multiple purposes which also brings more variety into each episodes, it's not just Ash randomly going to the next arena and encountering some random issues.

I'd say the only missing thing would be a little touch of humor. Pokemon had probably too much of it with different running gags involving the team Rocket and others, sometimes it was annoying. But this show is going the opposite way i encountered barely like 1 or 2 small humor scenes in 12 episodes.

I have no idea how the show will evolve but clearly it's a good turn and i wish they did it earlier with Ash. They could have keep him, but having new characters makes it feel more like a new beginning and it introduces better some concepts that you can find in pokemon games (which i don't play anymore but it's good for newcomers).

In the end : It's not revolutionary, it's still a kid show so for adult entertainment you probably want to stick with a more popular shounen/seinen, but much better quality show now and hopefully it stays this way. If you grew with pokemon and now have kids, it's perfect for them and you can watch with them without suffering.

edit : after watching more episodes i'm updating my rating from 7 to 8

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 5, 2024

Bobzi11a

Not Recommended

Preliminary (5/? eps)

Here's a unique review, coming from someone who genuinely doesn't care who the protag is. Ash was cookie cutter and the fact he got to star in like 20+ seasons is beyond me. It's a show about magical monsters, how did they manage to make it revolve around 1 person?!

So that's where I'm left with this. I went in thinking, "Oh nice! They're finally going to change the story formula and make use of the franchise" "We're finally going to get something like Scarlet Wings or Origins, fleshing out the world itself!"

And that's why I stopped watching, I got my hopes up.

It's just female ash, ... with weed cat, constantly making up her own emotional baggage to spend 15+ minutes an episode to "bravely push through". Writing gets a 1/10, all character personalities, ALL of them 1/10, the only positive I can give is the visuals. Show looks great but I have no idea who their target audience is or why they would even make this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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