From Ash to Liko: How Pokémon's Anime Cast Handed Over the Franchise

For 25 years, the face of the Pokémon anime was a boy in a cap and his electric mouse. That era is over. Ash Ketchum and the Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet are now legacy figures, while Liko and Roy have carried the television series into its fourth season. In a 30th-anniversary year dominated by game announcements, the most significant shift in how the franchise presents its pokemon characters has happened on television, not on a console.

The handover is neither a spin-off nor a detour. Pokémon Horizons: The Series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, and in the United States on March 7, 2024, replacing Ash as protagonist after a quarter-century run. With the Japanese "Wonder Voyage" chapter now airing and a new character, Navie, joining the core group, the transition is complete and ongoing.

The End of the Ash Era and What Team Rocket Left Behind

Ash debuted in the very first episode, "Pokémon, I Choose You!", and anchored Pokémon the Series across its run, from the Kanto region onward. Alongside him, Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet became the most recognizable antagonists in the franchise, appearing across multiple generations in a way few other characters managed.

That continuity formally split in 2023. Ash and Team Rocket remain the defining figures of the original era, and they remain the franchise's original protagonists, the reference point for the pre-2023 era. But the current TV continuity has moved on from them entirely. The pivot is the foundation on which everything since rests.

Liko, Roy and the New Cast of Pokemon Characters

Horizons follows dual protagonists Liko and Roy, the newest pokemon characters to headline the franchise after Ash's quarter-century run.

The core ensemble includes Liko, Roy, Dot, Ult, Friede and Captain Pikachu, supported by the crew of the airship Rising Volt Tacklers. Opposing them are the Explorers, a group that counts Amethio and Spinel among its ranks. The structure deliberately mirrors the pursuit dynamic of the Ash era without reusing it: the Explorers are an organization with its own agenda rather than a comedy duo chasing a single Pikachu.

The series keeps its young cast's details deliberately vague. Ages for Liko, Dot, Friede and most of the Explorers are listed as unconfirmed or unknown (Amethio is listed only as a teenager), a departure from the original series' habit of pinning its hero to a stated age.

Four Seasons In: The Arc Timeline

Horizons has moved through distinct arcs at a steady clip. The Search for Laqua served as the second season of Horizons (the 27th overall), followed by Rising Hope as the third (28th overall). The fourth season of Horizons, Wonders Ahead, began airing on TV Tokyo on May 22, 2026, and remains in broadcast.

The Pokémon Company has officially confirmed the fourth season, and the naming conventions are worth clarifying for anyone following along. "Wonders Ahead" is the English season title, while "Wonder Voyage" is the Japanese arc name. No official English name for the arc itself has been issued, so the Japanese title remains the common shorthand in fan discussion.

Navie and the Wonder Voyage Chapter

The Japanese official Pokémon site announced the new chapter with a launch date of Friday, May 22, 2026. It sends Liko, Roy, Dot and Ult into a fresh adventure alongside Navie, a new character whose arrival anchors the arc.

The key visual for the chapter places Navie at the center alongside Ditto and the legendary Pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon, a lineup that signals the scale of the story being told. The accompanying music continues the series' habit of tying its themes closely to its leads: the opening theme "Sekai Tsunagare" is performed by Minori Suzuki and Yuka Terasaki, the voice actors behind Liko and Roy, and produced by HoneyWorks. The ending theme, "Cute na Kyu-tai," comes from CUTIE STREET.

Broadcast details remain consistent with the series' established slot. The Japanese TV anime airs on the TV Tokyo network on Fridays at 18:55, though some regions run on different schedules.

The 30th-Anniversary Reset Around the Cast

The anime's turnover sits inside a much larger restructuring of the brand. On February 27, 2026, The Pokémon Company's Pokémon Presents marked three decades of the franchise and unveiled Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, the tenth-generation mainline titles launching in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2.

The pruning extends to live-service products. Pokémon Unite's service ends on March 23, 2027, at 00:00 UTC on both Switch and mobile, per the official end-of-service notice. The message is consistent: older products are being retired while the narrative cast moves forward, and the characters who define the brand are increasingly the ones on screen each Friday.

What the Handover Means for the Franchise's Identity

The games are setting up 2027, but the anime has already completed the franchise's biggest character handover, and the Wonder Voyage chapter makes the new hierarchy plain. Navie joining Liko, Roy, Dot and Ult is not a guest appearance; it is the latest addition to a cast that has now carried the series for four seasons.

What to watch next is how Wonders Ahead develops its new arrival and whether the legacy figures stay firmly in the rear-view mirror. For a franchise built on the idea that the journey never really ends, the willingness to let its most famous traveler step aside may be the most daring thing Pokémon has done in years.