Pokemon's Anime Will be Postponed Indefinitely Due to the Pandemic

It looks like the reports about Pokemon turned out to be true. The franchise has been preoccupied as of late with its newest series. The title, which debuted late last year, aimed to bring a new kind of anime to life for Ash Ketchum. But due to the ongoing pandemic, it turns out the Pokemon 2020 series will be heading on hiatus ASAP.

Recently, the PR team behind Pokemon confirmed the news with a simple post on Twitter. Thee group shared a brief message which altered followers to the fact that Pokemon: The Series will be postponed indefinitely its latest this weekend.

"[We are under] a State of Emergency due to the spread of the new coronavirus. In order to keep safety in mind, we have decided to temporarily halt work on [future episodes] as a result. Starting next week, Pokemon will begin airing reruns from here on out," the page shared.

＜番組からのお知らせ＞
新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大にともなう「緊急事態宣言」の発出を受け、
安全に十分配慮した上での番組制作を行うため、
一時的に、一部の制作作業を見合わせることにいたしました。
これに伴い、来週以降の「ポケットモンスター」は再放送となります。

— アニメ「ポケットモンスター」公式 (@anipoke_PR) April 19, 2020

Without any warning, it seems that Pokemon is the most recent series to bow down before the pandemic. The novel Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the entertainment industry, and anime is no exception. The sphere has gone mostly untouched but the recent measures which Japan has taken to slow the spread of the virus has crippled anime creators. And for shows like Pokemon which have very few episodes saved in the bank, it was inevitable that this would happen.

At least netizens did get a brief heads up about this turn last week. The actress behind Ash Ketchum, Rica Matsumoto, informed fans she was not recording these days. The Pokemon star took to Twitter to discuss her interest in going on vacation, and it turns out Ash will be joining her on their solo outing while fans wait for the anime to come back on air.

Are you surprised to hear about this sudden Pokemon schedule shift? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCBto talk all things comics and anime!