Ash's run in the Pokemon anime will come to an emotional end this year. As if saying goodbye to the world's most famous Pokemon trainer wasn't going to be hard enough, it's now been revealed Ash's final episodes will include a remake of the opening sequence from the anime's first season.Ash and Pikachu will say goodbye to the series in a run of 11 episodes beginning later this month. Dubbed Pokemon: Aim To Be A Pokemon Master, it's already been revealed Brock and Misty will return to say farewell too. Now Famitsu has reported the iconic opening credits will be getting a 2023 remake for the show.Rica Matsumoto, Ash's original Japanese voice actor, will be the one singing the remake's lyrics. Pretty special stuff, and a surefire way to make sure those of us who watched that first season and have been here for Ash and Pikachu's whole ride, or will be dipping back in to see them sign off, will be fighting back tears as soon as those first few notes hit.
The tears probably won't stop there either. A trailer for the show has already confirmed Ash will be reunited with the Butterfree he released 25 years ago. Perhaps the most emotional moment in the anime to date, the trailer showed Ash back with his Butterfree all these years later, complete with the Pokemon's handkerchief still tied around its neck and with the Butterfree it flew away with two and half decades ago in tow.
Even though Ash and Pikachu will be leaving the show, the anime is not ending. The Pokemon juggernaut isn't slowing down, and the TV show is a massive part of that. A female protagonist will attempt to fill Ash's very big shoes, and some fans are already convinced it's Ash's daughter. Since Ash has remained ten years old throughout his run, that presumably means the anime will experience a time jump if that particular theory is correct.