Since the publication of the next installment of Pokémon anime with the title ‘Pokémon Masters Eight‘, fans speculate that this will be the last bow in the series.
It was recently announced that Ash will be participating in the Pokémon Masters Eight. In this tournament he will meet the 8 best trainers from all currently known Pokémon regions, from Kanto to Galar. Since the announcement, fans on social media have been speculating that this fight may be the last bow in the anime series – at least for Ash’s story.
Some also believe that if Ash continues his journey, it would not make sense historically if people in the next region did not know who he is. The Pokémon Masters Eight tournament is a pretty big deal, with top trainers in the world all competing, and will most likely be televised worldwide.
However, some have a theory that Ash will not win the Masters’ Eight tournament and that his journey will continue from there. And since there is the possibility of an anime adaptation of the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet games later this year, fans believe there will be another power reset at the start of the new series.
A similar event happened in the beginning of Pokémon: Black and white series where his Pikachu becomes significantly weaker after encountering a legendary Pokémon (Zekrom) to scale Ash’s strength back to a reasonable level.
Ash Ketchum first appeared in 1997, when he began his journey as a Pokémon trainer with his partner Pikachu, to become a Pokémon champion. So far, Ash has only received two championship titles – the Orange League and the Manalo Conference in Alola. Although he has been offered a place in Battle Frontier as a Frontier Brain with his own combat facilities should he ever wish to do so.
The latest series, with the title Pokémon journeysfollows Ash in the Galar region with friends Goh and Chloe, where he came to Masters’ Eight after his match with Raihan in the Master Class tournament.
Pokémon Masters 8 will be broadcast on TokyoTV on Friday 13 May at 18:55 JST.