Pokemon Anime Teases Ash’s First Gym Encounter

Pokemon fans have seen all seen all kinds of wild shake ups from the newest anime in the franchise such as incredibly early evolutions, surprising first catches for Ash Ketchum’s Pokemon team this time around, and the fact that the series has yet to fully explore the Galar region from the recent Pokemon Sword and Shield games. The biggest shake up, however, will be how Ash tackles the gym challenge this generation as now that the Champion Leon has been set as his new rival for the series, Ash will be making his way through thousands of other competitors to eventually challenge the World Championship tournament.

This will officially begin with the next episode of the series as the preview for Episode 18 teases Ash challenging the first gym this season, and electric type gym that seems fairly nostalgic for fans of Lt. Surge from the Kanto region. As fans might point out, this isn’t a gym from the Galar region either so this gym challenge really is going to be much different than anyone could have expected it to be.

Episode 18 of Pokemon: The Series is titled “Satoshi Joins in! The Pokemon World Championships!!” and the synopsis for it (as translated by @Arkeus88) is described as such, “[Ash’s] goal is to battle the Champion [Leon], so he’s decided to challenge the ‘Pokemon World Championships,’ the tournament that will determine the world’s best at Pokemon battling. His opponent in his first battle is ‘Pisces,’ a powerful Electric-type trainer!”

Elaborating further the synopsis teases it will be an all-out battle for Ash’s first gym battle for the new series, “This will be an all-out battle where both will send out two Pokemon each! [Ash] steps up to the plate with his partner Pikachu and his new comrade Gengar! Pisces on the other hand, sends out a Raichu the Pokemon Pikachu evolves into! How will this battle go?!”

Are you excited to find out how Ash’s first gym battle will turn out in this new series? Is the electric type gym challenge making you feel nostalgic about Ash’s gym battles of the past? How do you feel about his first line up? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!