Summary
ThePokemonanime made the biggest change to the show in its 25-year history in 2023 whenit waved goodbye to its protagonist Ash Ketchumand his companion Pokemon, Pikachu. A pairing multiple generations of Pokemon fans had grown up with replaced by Liko and her Sprigatito, a brand new team that embarked on their own journey via Pokemon Horizons, and nowyou can watch the first part of the journey on BBC iPlayer.
As pointed out by VGC, 12 more episodes of Pokemon Horizons have been added to iPlayer, bringing the total up to 32 out of the 52 episodes released so far. BBC iPlayer is a free service in the UK available on pretty much all platforms, all you need to start watching is a TV license. Technically you don’t even need that, although if the TV license people show up at your door, peer over your shoulder, and see Pokemon Horizons playing in your living room, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There have been 52 episodes of Pokemon Horizons so far, but the series has been rolled out gradually on BBC and then eventually on iPlayer once they’ve premiered on TV. The wait to wave goodbye to Ash outside of Japan was an agonizing one as the episodes aired in Japan first and were then translated for English audiences. By the time we were tearfully bidding farewell to Ash and Pikachu in the West, Japanese Pokemon fans had already embarked on their Horizons adventure alongside Liko.
Continue Liko’s Pokemon Journey On BBC iPlayer
Pokemon Horizons is available to watch on Netflix in the US but hasn’t yet arrived on that particular streaming service in the UK. That’s somewhat in keeping with the Pokemon anime which is incredibly difficult to watch if you’re trying to work your way through all 26 seasons in order. Due to the Pokemon TV app shutting down earlier this year which carried several seasons, you now need subscriptions to various streaming services if you want to watch the show from start to finish.
Despite that, it did get slightly easier - and cheaper - to watch the anime in the US recently.Hoopla added a Pokemon BingePassto its service which gets you seasons six through 13 of the show and all you need is a library card. No caveat or hidden catch, just the ability to rent a digital copy of the box set to watch through whenever you reach that point in your rewatch of the show.
