The latest season of the Pokemon anime, dubbed Pokemon Journeys, will be available to stream in English exclusively through Netflix starting on June 12, 2020. However, with the streaming service known for putting out exclusive content entire seasons at a time and pioneering the "binge watching" culture, some may be curious whether a traditionally weekly show like Pokemon would adhere to this model.
When Netflix announced its exclusivity agreement with The Pokemon Company International on April 23, it also confirmed that Pokemon Journeys will not be released in one go — which makes sense given how long each season lasts. Yet the series will also not be released weekly. Instead, Netflix will release the first 12 episodes of Pokemon's 23rd season on June 12, and then follow up with additional episodes "quarterly ... for the duration of the season."
While the press release does not confirm how many episodes will be in each subsequent batch, mathematically it would make sense to see installments of about 12 each quarter. Three months of about four weeks each would amount to 12 or so new episodes having released in Japan, though right now the anime is on hiatus due to coronavirus.
Though there will be fans griping that they have to wait so much longer to see new episodes, localization has always resulted in the Pokemon anime internationally releasing episodes weeks after they come out in Japan. In the upcoming season, Ash Ketchum travels across the entire Pokemon world alongside a new protagonist named Goh, who is voiced by Zeno Robinson in the English dub.
The changes made to the series' long-standing formula, in which Ash typically travels to whatever new Region is featured in the video games and tackles its Pokemon League, has led to what seems like a rejuvenated interest in the show online. Pokemon like Riolu have begun trending on Twitter over the last couple of months whenever Ash and Goh encounter or catch a new partner.
Some speculation has suggested that Pokemon Journeys will be the final season of the anime to star its iconic 10-year-old protagonist Ash Ketchum based on the introduction of a new original character in Goh, the way Ash is collecting a horde of fan-favorite monsters, and given he won his first Pokemon League Championship in Alola. English-speaking fans will just have to watch the anime as it releases on Netflix to find out whether this theory comes to fruition.
Pokemon Journeys will be available to stream exclusively through Netflix starting on June 12, 2020.
Sources: Netflix Press Release