The Pokémon Anime Just Got Cancelled.

This is a video that I didn't really want to make because the topic is so big and shocking that I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it justice. But I'm not going to drag it out, I'm just going to get right to the point. The biggest leaker of the Pokemon anime, MootMonthly, who accurately leaked just about everything regarding Horizons, and also everything about the Gen 10 games too, he just leaked what the future of the Pokemon anime will be. Oh boy, I really don't even know where to start. If you don't want to hear these leaks, then click off the video now. If you do want to, then get ready because it's quite heavy. So this leaker announced that Pokemon Horizons will be the final Pokemon anime as we know it, the final weekly Pokemon anime after nearly 30 years. Apparently behind the scenes, production on the anime isn't going well at all right now, presumably partly because of Gen 10 being delayed and Horizons having to fill the time late notice. And the leaker also said that ratings and viewership for Horizons is really really awful, so the anime just isn't making enough money or having enough success to keep producing weekly episodes all year round. He said that Horizons might have like a half a year break in the middle of it, but the actual ending of Horizons will be 2027 or 2028, and then the Gen 10 anime that starts afterwards won't be weekly, it'll be seasonal. So more similar to other big animes where they drop a limited amount of episodes each year with huge breaks between. You know animes like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Spy Family, Chainsaw Man, rather than continuing to do what the Pokemon anime has always done, dropping a new episode every week all year round. Now we've seen this change happen with other big animes recently too, most notably One Piece, which just like Pokemon ran for nearly 30 years weekly, but then shifted its structure to a seasonal model, releasing seasons of 26 episodes a year instead with huge hiatuses between each season. So it's likely that from Gen 10 onwards, the anime could be releasing short seasons of like 24 episodes a year, before then going on a big break until the next year to release another season of 24 episodes, which is obviously a huge change from Pokemon releasing weekly episodes all year round for 30 years. Now for me, that's a change that I can't quite fathom right now, on like a personal, selfish level. As someone who's watched this show every single week since he was like 4 years old, I just can't imagine a world where we don't have weekly Pokemon episodes to look forward to. It kinda breaks my heart a little, like I remember every week so excited to sit down and watch the new advanced generation episodes and Diamond and Pearl episodes with my siblings. Like I remember when I was in high school, when Black and White and X and Y were airing and me and my schoolmates excitedly talking about them every week. And of course, now as a grown adult making review videos every week for all of the Pokemon Journeys episodes, all of the Pokemon Horizons episodes. I just can't imagine not getting them weekly, you know? That'd be such a big change. Like I can't help but be a little bit sad about it. I'll miss the weekly Pokemon anime so bad, I can't imagine not having it. So much of my attachment to the Pokemon anime is because of how it's like a constant presence all year round, like a friend you see every week. You spend so much time every week with these characters and grow so attached to them, they kind of define periods of your life in that way. I just don't know if I'll feel that if we only get like 12 or 24 episodes a year. Now don't get me wrong, I'm certain the quality of the Pokemon anime will be incredible if it becomes seasonal, since if the writers and animators only have like 20 episodes a year to work on, with big extended breaks between them, then they can lock in like crazy and have way more time to produce those episodes. The animation quality would be just insane, you know? And I do really look forward to seeing that. It just still doesn't feel real that the Pokemon anime as we know it could be ending forever. One thing I've gotta say is that people shouldn't really blame this decision on Horizons flopping or Ash retiring. Every Pokemon anime for decades has been decreasing in ratings every year. Ash's animes followed that pattern too after the first few seasons. Sadly it's just a result of the industry changing, less and less people consuming TV in the traditional manner, and also kids having more choice and more options of what to watch now. So don't be using this to slander Leko or Pokemon Horizons, okay? I've got my eye on you. I've seen some folks suggesting this seasonal change could be great for the staff to have less time constraints, less pressure, and I kind of assumed that too which I think would be great for them. It's also worth noting I saw an animator from Jujutsu Kaisen and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure reply to this leak. They're not confirming or denying it, they're just talking in like a general perspective. But what they said is that if this change is true then it's not as positive as people might assume. Weekly airing episodes aren't necessarily the issue, it's the deadlines for those episodes which would probably stay the same regardless of whether it's seasonal or weekly. So the staff will probably still be under stress and pressure and time constraint, just in a different way, you know? And they also said that moving from weekly to seasonal would actually be removing entry-level jobs for new workers in the industry, which is something I didn't really think about but it's true to be fair. If there's significantly less episodes then probably less staff are needed, you know? They finished their tweet by going on to say that we're possibly leaving behind a fundamental piece of Japanese animation through this change. We're losing something that can't really be recovered. And I totally get and agree with that, man. Like there are very very few long-running weekly animes left going now. Pokemon is one of the only ones left. And losing that feels like we're losing such a big part of like the 80s and 90s animation industry. It feels like we're losing a bit of history, you know? And that's sad regardless of how you feel about the change. So yeah, I don't know. I guess like I'm optimistic that it could be a great change, that it could lead to the Pokemon anime finally standing amongst the all-time greats by the quality being so much better. Like imagine if people watched and consumed and talked about the Pokemon anime in the same way they talk about like One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. Kind of that level of quality and success and celebration. That would be wild and deserves that. We all know that Pokemon has the ability to produce stories that good, but I also don't want to see the end of the weekly Pokemon anime. If I'm totally honest, I feel like Pokemon has the biggest, highest grossing media franchise in the history of the world. They could so easily do a weekly year-long round anime like they always have, but then also do a separate seasonal anime. One that's a lot more prestigious and ambitious with the quality and animation. Pokemon could easily do both, dude. And there's enough Pokemon fans that they would both be successful. But I don't know, maybe that's just selfish. I know they're a business after all and they want to make money, they want to make profit. But the fans have supported this franchise even through the darkest days. Arguably the most dedicated and passionate fanbase there's ever been. It feels like a little bit of a kick in the teeth to continue celebrating and supporting the anime even after they retire Ash. To continue to have their back and continue to watch their brand new show just for it to be cancelled and end like this, you know? When we know that Pokemon is making trillions every year and could easily keep it going no matter what. I don't know, in my delusional fairyland I feel like it would be nice if they said, yeah the Pokemon anime maybe isn't making the most money, but we're gonna keep making it anyway as like a thank you to our fans for supporting us for 30 years. If Pokemon wasn't the biggest media franchise there's ever been, the most profitable media franchise there's ever been, then maybe I'd feel different. But come on, they're making enough money that they could easily keep it going. I don't know, I know that's a selfish perspective, but what can I say? This anime has been one of the biggest things in my life since I was born. I don't want to see it end like this. I just wish we could have the weekly anime and a seasonal anime at the same time. Of course this big change isn't confirmed, but I am like 90% sure this is true. It aligns with a lot of the stuff I've heard from different leakers, and it just makes sense given how other animes have done the same recently. So yeah, what do you think about this? Do you think it'll be a great change or will you miss your weekly Pokemon anime hit too? I'm so conflicted man, and I feel like it probably comes across in this video. I feel kind of low talking about it, you know, like I feel like I'm not really putting on my regular YouTuber voice. Anyway, be sure to like and subscribe if you found the video informative, and thank you so much to my incredible channel members on screen right now, including Toten, NotMini, Hope, Jay, you guys are great. So thank you all so much for watching, and best wishes until we meet again.