Since the announcement of the next installment of the Pokémon anime titled ‘Pokémon Masters Eight‘, fans are speculating that this will be the final arc in the series.
It was recently announced that Ash will be taking part in the Pokémon Masters Eight. In this tournament, he will face the top 8 trainers from every currently known Pokémon region, from Kanto to Galar. Since the announcement, fans are speculating on social media that this battle may be the final arc in the anime series — at least for Ash’s story.
Some also believe that if Ash does continue his journey, it would not make sense story-wise if the people in the next region don’t know who he is. The Pokémon Masters Eight tournament is a pretty big deal, with top trainers in the world all competing, and would most likely be televised worldwide.
However, some are theorizing that Ash will not win the Masters’ Eight tournament and that his journey will continue from there. And, since there is a possibility for an anime adaptation of the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet games later this year, fans believe that there is going be another power reset at the start of the new series.
A similar event happened at the beginning of the Pokémon: Black & White series, where his Pikachu becomes significantly weaker after encountering a legendary Pokémon (Zekrom) in order to scale Ash’s strength back down to a reasonable level.
Ash Ketchum made his first appearance back in 1997, when he begins his journey as a Pokémon Trainer with his partner Pikachu, to become a Pokèmon Master. So far, Ash only received two championship titles – the Orange League and the Manalo Conference in Alola. Although, he has been offered a spot in the Battle Frontier as a Frontier Brain with his own battle facilities should he ever wish to.
The latest series, titled Pokémon Journeys, follows Ash in the Galar region with friends Goh and Chloe, where he made it to the Masters’ Eight after his battle with Raihan in the Master Class tournament.
Pokémon Masters 8 will air on TokyoTV on Friday, May 13 at 6:55 PM JST.