Where to catch up on Ash and Pikachu’s Pokémon journey before the end

The Pokémon Company has announced that Ash and Pikachu, longtime protagonists of the Pokemon anime, are officially get their gear into the sunset moment at the end of the current season. Liko and Roy, two new characters joined by Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, will take their place later this year. So, of course, some longtime fans want to relive precious memories or catch up on missed seasons before we say goodbye to Ash. The problem is that Pokemon Anime isn’t aggregated well, and finding the episode or season you want can be a challenge. Let us help you.

Which seasons are which?

That Pokemon Anime is 25 seasons long, which might sound like a lot, but breaking it down with their respective games and regions makes it much easier to keep track of.

• seasons 1-2, Pokemon Red and Blue/ Kanto
• seasons 3-5, Pokemon Gold and Silver/Administration
• seasons 6-9, Pokemon Ruby and sapphire/Hoenn
• seasons 10-13, Pokemon Diamond and pearl/ Sinnoh
• seasons 14-16, Pokemon Black and White/ You will
• seasons 17-19, Pokemon X and Y/Kalos
• seasons 20-22, Pokemon sun and moon/To allow
• Seasons 23-25 Pokémon sword and Sign/Galar (this season takes place in many different locations, but Galar plays a central role in overarching stories)

The free option for frugal fans

At the moment the Pokemon Anime is most readily available in three places: Netflix, Prime Video, and the Pokémon TV app. However, none of these have all of the 1000+ episodes of the long-running show. The Pokémon TV app is the best place to start, and that’s because it’s a free service, unlike Netflix and Prime Video. You can download the app to your phone or tablet through both the iOS and Android app stores, but if you want to watch the show on a TV, there are options there too. Pokémon TV is available on set-top boxes like Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV devices. But if you want to keep Nintendo shows in the Nintendo family, it’s also available on the Switch eShop, which is another advantage Pokémon TV has over Netflix.

Where things get complicated starts with Season 3, as Pokémon TV doesn’t have every episode of Pokemon as part of his ministry. It has the first two seasons that take you through Ash and Pikachu’s journeys through Kanto and the Orange Islands. However, Pokémon TV is missing a whopping seven seasons between season two and season 10, which is set in the Sinnoh region and focuses on Pokémon from diamond and pearl. This means the show’s entire Hoenn and Sinnoh arcs will be skipped, and more skipping to come as we move on. And those aren’t the only missing seasons to contend with. In total, the Pokémon TV app has 10 of the series’ 25 seasons, divided into three different blocks: 1-2, 10-12, 20-24.

Pokémon TV still has the first 112 episodes, so there’s a lot to watch for free before you have to deal with missing seasons or pay for a subscription. As it offers a good chunk of the show for free, it’s the best seasons option out there as you’ll have enough episodes to watch that you should be sure to cancel a subscription to another service while you enjoy the next one catch up missing season. So while you won’t be able to see everything, it’s still a good, officially backed alternative to other seasonal services it has.

The one stop shop

In terms of episode selection, Prime Video has the largest catalog of Pokemon episodes, but is also the most expensive. The first 22 seasons are all available on Amazon and most of them are part of a Prime Video subscription. There are a few exceptions where seasons 6-13 must be purchased directly rather than coming as part of the service. Remarkably, half of these are available for free on Pokémon TV as of this writing.

Seasons 16 through 19, covering Ash and Pikachu’s journey through the Kalos region, have an extra wrinkle. They can be purchased immediately, or you can add $2.99 ​​per month to your Prime subscription to get access by paying for Prime Pokemon Channel that gives you access to these seasons. It’s an odd detour, but if you’re marathoning these seasons within a month, you should be able to quickly cancel that extra subscription.

Prime Video also has seasons 20, 21, and 22, but these are also available for free on Pokémon TV, so you don’t have to have a subscription to watch them.

Netflix Exclusive Rights

When it comes to the latest episodes of Pokemon, Netflix has some exclusive streaming rights that put it ahead of the Pokémon TV app. Seasons 23-25 ​​first aired in English on Netflix, and that’s still The Pokémon Company’s arrangement today. That being said, some of these episodes are available on Pokémon TV, which means if you don’t have a Netflix subscription, you don’t need a Netflix subscription to watch the latest episodes. As of this writing, Pokémon TV has up to the first six episodes of Season 24, with Netflix owning the exclusive streaming rights for the remainder of the season and the first 12 episodes of Season 25. The service releases new episodes quarterly, with Pokémon TV getting those episodes sometime later. So Netflix is ​​always ahead of its free alternative.

Bring the big screen to the small screen

While much of Ash and Pikachu’s adventures have been televised, the duo has also starred in over 20 films over the years. Almost all of these are available through Amazon Prime. Some are available as part of a Prime subscription, while others require rental or purchase. Notable omissions include Pokémon heroes and Pokémon: Jirachi – Wish Makerbut the others are all available through the service. Jirachi – Wish Maker may be bought on Vudufor any reason. heroes is almost nowhere to be found officially except on Manga TV, according to Roku’s website. As a Latias fan, this feels like violence, especially to me.

However, note that Netflix has them Secrets of the Jungle film and the 3D animated remake of The first movie available to stream now. So don’t rent or buy them if you have a membership over there.

But what about those special Ash and Pikachu farewell episodes?

If you don’t want to catch up or watch old episodes, you’re probably here to find out where to watch the 11 episodes where Ash and Pikachu meet old friends while the show gives them a proper send-off. The first of these episodes will air in Japan next week on January 13th. I can imagine that many people who have bounced off the show over the years will want to watch these episodes, but keep in mind that it will take some time before they are available in English.

Unfortunately, Pokemon does not have an official simulcast, so there is no legal option at the moment. The Netflix rollout is currently over 30 episodes behind Japanese weekly episodes, with each quarterly Netflix release consisting of around 12 episodes each, so those specials likely won’t be available in English until later this year. On the plus side, this means that if you wanted to take on the gargantuan task of rewatching all of Ash and Pikachu’s adventures before those episodes are available, you’ll likely have time.