Pokemon’s Latest Cliffhanger is Giving Naruto Fans Major Flashbacks

Pokemon’s newest anime series has been a huge hit with fans in Japan so far, and although it’s only ten or so episodes in, it has provided a breath of fresh air as it hasn’t followed the same kind of formula of previous anime releases. Each release in the franchise has adapted the corresponding regions, story, and characters from whatever the latest video game launch is, but it has been different with this newest series. Rather than just being locked down into Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s Galar region, Ash has returned to the Kanto region and has weekly new adventures across the Pokemon world with new hero, Go.

This means that many of the Pokemon cameos for each episode have heavily featured the original 151 batch, and this was true for Episode 11, which featured a frightening haunting by the Ghost Pokemon, Gengar. But although Ash and Go battled against this powerful Gengar, neither of them were able to catch it by the end of the episode.

Gengar, still left uncaught, seemed to be plotting its revenge as the episode came to an end. Beyond this being an ominous cliffhanger, Gengar’s pose on top of Professor Sakuragi’s laboratory underneath a blood red moon was giving fans some major Naruto flashbacks of when Itachi Uchiha took on the same pose. Check out the comparison from @_TASOfficial_ on Twitter:

In Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, Itachi Uchiha killed the rest of his Uchiha family. As a young Sasuke discovered the brutal crime, Itachi stood above him perched on a pole in the same kind of way Gengar was seen in the latest Pokemon episode. This is a hilarious coincidence for sure, but considering all of the Easter Eggs and shout outs the anime has had over the years, perhaps this one was intentional.

As Itachi played a major role in Naruto later on, could Gengar be returning to the Pokemon anime someday? But what do you think? Did Gengar give you Itachi vibes too? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter! Pokemon: The Series, is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately is still not officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing. There’s also a brand new film on the way to Japan this Summer, Pokemon the Movie: Coco.