New Pokemon Anime Reveals First Episode Synopsis

The Pokemon anime will be ushering in a new era in just a couple of weeks, but with all of the new additions to the anime franchise comes some familiar territory. With Ash and Pikachu set to kick off the next phase of their journey back where it all began, it seems the anime will be diving into more of Pikachu's story before it ever met Ash. Not only has the newest trailer for the series teased that we'll be getting a glimpse into Pikachu's origin story, the title of the first new episode confirmed this further.

The first episode of the new Pokemon anime is titled "Birth of Pikachu" and the new synopsis (as reported by Crunchyroll) for the anime's very first episode reads as such, "In a forest somewhere in Kanto, there once was a lonely Pichu. This Pichu – who was still quite young – had a certain encounter and farewell. This took place shortly before Ash and his partner Pikachu started travelling together. This is the beginning of the anime 'Pocket Monster.'"

This newest phase of the Pokemon anime will be rebooting things a bit. Not only has the series returned to the base title of "Pocket Monster," but the synopsis teases that we'll get a new look at Pikachu before it became Ash's partner. The most notable thing about this synopsis, however, is the "certain encounter and farewell" teased that might explain why Pikachu was initially so against being with Ash.

It might have had a rough farewell with whatever fated encounter it had in the wild before being trapped in a ball in Professor Oak's lab. Fans might get to see why Pikachu was so adamantly against being inside Poke Balls and being dragged around by Ash at the beginning of the series. But it won't only be his story.

Pokemon: The Series is currently scheduled to premiere November 17th in Japan. One of the biggest changes for this new series is the second protagonist, Gou, voiced by Daiki Yamashita. He and Ash will go on their journeys together, and soon we'll all find out what this next era of the Pokemon anime has in store for old and new fans.

Additional cast members include Yuichi Nakamura as Professor Sakuragi, Kana Hanazawa as Koharu, Megumi Hayashibara as Jessie, Shinichiro Miki as James, and Inuko Inuyama as Meowth. Staff confirmed for the new series include Daiki Tomiyasu serving as chief director for OLM, Maki Odaira as series director, Kunihiko Yuyama as creative supervisor, Shoji Yonemura overseeing series construction, Shuhei Yasuda serving as character designer, Masafumi Mima as sound director, Yuki Hayashi as series composer.

via Crunchyroll