The Pokemon Company has confirmed the titles of the next three episodes of Pokemon Journeys, and it has fans worried that Ash might be retiring as the protagonist of the anime.
Yesterday, in true Pokemon fashion, Scarlet & Violet started leaking all over the place, revealing evolutions for the three starters, new gameplay mechanics, and, of course, new Pokemon. As exciting (or terrifying, depending on your opinion on leaks) as that all was, it buried another big bit of potential Pokemon news in the process.
As pointed out by Twitter user CentroLeaks, the next three episodes of the Pokemon Journeys anime have been confirmed by The Pokemon Company as "Project Mew", "The Future I Grasp", and "Pokemon! I'm Glad To Have Met You". Although the first is likely a reference to Goh's goal of catching Mew, the other two sound like they have some kind of goodbye in the works for Ash, especially in regards to "Pokemon! I'm Glad To Have Met You".
CentroLeaks also pointed out that the episode title is a direct reference to the first-ever episode of the Pokemon anime. Considering Ash is the closest he's ever been to achieving his goal of becoming the very best, these episode titles and the clear callbacks to how the anime started do make it seem like his journey is coming to a close.
From the beginning of Pokemon Journeys, many fans have speculated that it'd end with Ash achieving his goal and then being replaced by Goh as the central protagonist of the anime. We won't know until December 9 if that's actually going to be the case or if Ash will achieve his goals and continue as the main character, but it doesn't quite seem that way.
Although things look pretty set for Ash to finally be able to retire, it's worth noting that some merchandise for the Scarlet & Violet anime has leaked and appears to show Pikachu with Paldea's three starters, which implies at the very least that he'll be featured in some regard. Whether Ash comes along with him is something we'll have to wait to find out.