Pokemon Hypes the New Year with Special Zodiac Contest

By Evan Valentine

Pokemon in 2022 might have had some of the biggest shockwaves reverberating in the anime community, as Ash Ketchum and Pikachu were confirmed to be leaving the anime adaptation as the stars following a twenty-plus-year run as the protagonists. While the beginning of this new year will see Ketchum and his trusty pocket monster have a handful of episodes left before leaving the series, the new trainers are waiting in the wings and the franchise has begun a contest that lives up to 2023's title as the "Year of the Rabbit".

Pokemon Journeys began following the monumental occasion as Ash was able to claim victory in the Alola Region Tournament, with many viewers believing that he was still a long way away from becoming the world champion. Shockingly enough, Ketchum continued to grow stronger with new friend Goh in the latest season, earning his place in the Masters 8 Tournament and battling hard enough to face down current champion Leon in the finals. While Ash was able to become the World Champion with a major victory, many anime fans believed that both himself and Pikachu would remain the stars of the series, exploring their new status moving forward. With the two stars leaving, the Pokemon anime will become a very different place this year.

Pokemon: Year of the Rabbit

Pokemon's Official Twitter Account shared the contest which ends on January 15th and asks contestants to sport looks similar to that of Buneary, the pocket monster introduced in Generation 4 who is just one of a handful of rabbit-type Pokemon that have populated the series for years:

Currently, Pokemon fans are wondering if Ash and Pikachu will have any presence in the series moving forward, with a popular theory circulating the internet that Ketchum might in fact be the father of the new protagonist, Liko. Obviously, if this were the case, it would mean that a time skip will help usher in the new Pokemon trainers in the anime, meaning that viewers would have the opportunity to see old favorites as full-grown adults for the first time. 

Are you sad to see Ash and Pikachu exiting as the stars of the anime? Will you be entering this contest to win your own Buneary? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Pokemon. 

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