Summary

• Horizons introduces a new protagonist, Liko, who undergoes significant character development.
• The series features a diverse cast of ing characters that aid Liko and Roy's growth.
• Horizons has a solid, original plot that unfolds faster than prior series, making it more engaging.

It's now been over a year since Ash Ketchum retired and the new series, Pokémon Horizons, began airing. A lot has happened in the series over that timeframe, and it's quickly established itself as a different sort of series than its predecessors. In this case, though, different is a great thing, although not everyone is likely to agree.

As was the case for many fans, I had a difficult time saying goodbye to Ash after all these years. When Pokémon first began airing, I was the same age as Ash, and the show captivated me with its world of wondrous creatures, action-filled battles, and the generally likable nature of Ash, Misty, and Brock. My feelings on Ash as a protagonist often varied; he can be quite funny, especially in the earlier seasons, but his silly mistakes and lack of recognition of type advantages drove the game-playing younger version of me absolutely crazy.

Still, to see Ash finally achieve his dreams 25 years later was a really indescribable feeling, like finally getting some closure on a chapter of childhood that had remained open all these years.

What is Pokémon Without Ash?

Redefining A Series Without One of the Most Iconic Characters of All Time

Because I'd often had mixed feelings about Ash, I'd long wondered what a Pokémon anime without Ash might be like. As I've grown and learned more about writing stories, I began to understand just how limiting having a character like Ash, who doesn't get to undergo many drastic changes, can really be for a story. As such, you can imagine how thrilled I was when Pokémon Horizons was announced, and I'd finally get the chance to see what they could do with a new hero at the wheel.

It was immediately clear watching the first episode of Horizons that this was going to be a very different sort of beast than Pokémon Journeys had been. Liko is a radically different protagonist from Ash, after all. Where Ash is outgoing and confident almost to a fault, Liko is very unsure of herself and struggles to deal with other people. In a lot of ways, I found Liko much more like myself at a young age than Ash ever was. Most importantly, though, I could clearly see the character arc that Liko would go on to have laid out, and knowing she would grow in ways Ash often didn't was exciting to me.

From a production perspective, it makes a lot of sense to introduce a new protagonist who has very little in common with Ash. Too much in common would drive constant comparisons between the two, and the newer character would never be able to live up to Ash. Choosing a very different sort of hero was a brilliant move, but there were still aspects of the series that a character like Liko might not engage with, prompting the creation of Roy as well. Roy fulfills many of the roles that Ash did, such as a focus on battling, but he's a unique enough character to mostly avoid comparisons.

Pokémon Horizons' Characters Made It Stand Out

A Cast of ing Characters Has Changed the Pokémon Formula For the Best

One of the biggest differences that has emerged in Pokémon Horizons is also one of its best: the presence of an extended cast. While Ash's journey was almost exclusively limited to himself, his immediate companions, and Team Rocket, Horizons has given Liko and Roy a cast of ing characters in the form of the Rising Volt Tacklers. Friede immediately made an impression on me with his daring attitude, and I loved the fact that Liko and Roy had someone in their corner in a way that Ash never really did. Better still, Friede offers adult viewers a character of their own to relate to.

The other Rising Volt Tacklers have all proven to be beloved new additions to the series as well. Molly, as something of a "rogue" Nurse Joy, has a very interesting concept at the core of her character, although it hasn't been explored that much yet. Murdock is a muscular man who loves baking sweets, flying in the face of traditional masculinity, while Orla falls into the classic gadget girl archetype. Even the mostly silent Ludlow has proven to be very entertaining with his puns and deep quotes. It feels good to know that Liko and Roy can count on these adults so that they don't have to face difficult problems alone.

And then of course, there's Dot, the aspiring streamer and the ship's local shut-in. Dot's character arc over the course of Pokémon Horizons so far has been impressive, showing a degree of growth that's almost unmatched in the entire Ash era of the anime. While most of this has yet to unfold in the English dub, rest assured that Dot has a big role to play in the series, and eventually steps up to be a third protagonist alongside Liko and Roy.

Horizons Gives Pokémon Its First Solid Plot

Horizons' Storytelling is Leagues Ahead of Ash's Era

The other big feature of Pokémon Horizons has been the fact that there's a long-term story plot going on that's completely original to the anime. Ash's era often loosely adopted the plot of the games, which mostly consisted of him traveling around and gathering badges until encountering the local evil Team, who would initiate their scheme in such a way that Ash had to stop it. There wasn't anything wrong with that, but I never found it all that compelling; the story moved at a glacial pace, and I would sometimes lose interest knowing Ash was ages from the next plot point.

In contrast, Horizons has had a strong plot from the very first episode, centered on Liko's mysterious pendant, and later Roy's Ancient Poké Ball, with the two turning out to share a connection. At the core of Horizons is a mystery, and that mystery managed to grab my attention in a way that the original anime rarely did. Horizons has unfolded this story at a reasonable pace, moving along and hitting plot points far faster--in part because of the airship allowing them to travel quickly from place to place, where Ash would have 10 episodes of wandering the forest in between.

Due to its superior handling of characters, having a larger cast, and building a solid plot out of a slowly unraveling mystery, Pokémon Horizons has set itself apart from what came before in a good way. While I'll miss Ash and Pikachu after all these years, the Pokémon world has so much potential for interesting storytelling that it felt like a waste to focus exclusively on him. Now that I've seen Pokémon Horizons, I can say with confidence that retiring Ash was the right call, as it's allowed the Pokémon anime to soar like never before.