Pokemon Anime Goes Full Power Rangers in Upcoming Arc

Ash is about to suit up in an upcoming Pokemon anime arc.

The Pokemon Company released a new trailer and poster for the upcoming “Ultra Guardian” arc of Pokemon the Series: Sun and Moon, which sees Ash and his friends venture across the Alola region to find and capture Ultra Beasts. The group will also venture to Ula’ula Island, as evidenced by the appearance of Acerola and Grand Kahuna Nanu on the poster. You can check out the first poster below:

Ultra Beasts are powerful Pokemon that come from Ultra Space, a mysterious alternate dimension. Ash and his friends ventured into Ultra Space to rescue Lillie’s mother Lusamine after she was captured by a jellyfish-like Nihilego. While the rescue was successful, it appears that more Ultra Wormholes are opening up throughout the region. This leads to Lusamine founding the “Ultra Guardians” and tasking Ash with stopping these new extra-dimensional threats.

Ash and his friends will all get some spiffy new threads upon joining the Ultra Guardians. As you can see below, Ash and his classmates will all get coordinating spandex outfits. It’s a pretty clear homage to series like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Voltron, or Super Sentai. The Pokemon even get some extra bling in the form of special badges to denote that they’re on official Ultra Guardians business.

As the Super Guardians, Ash and his friends will even get a secret base hidden behind a waterfall and some spiffy new Poke Rides. Each character will get their own Poke Ride Pokemon to help them respond quickly when Ultra Beasts appear in the region. Each characters gets a Pokemon that coordinates with their suit color. Ash has a Garchomp, Mallow has a Flygon, Sophocles uses a Metang, and Lana rides a Dragonair.

Of course, the other big news coming out of the trailer is Ash holding a Beast Ball in his victory pose, a sign that he caught a Pokemon. It’s widely speculated that Ash will catch a Poipole during the Ultra Guardians arc and the poster and trailer only seem to confirm those theories.

The new “Ultra Guardians” arc starts up in a month, and will air in the United States later in 2018.