Over in Japan, the Pokemon anime is currently in the midst of an 11 episode mini-series which will serve as the final episodes starring Ash and Pikachu as the main characters.

The mini-series features the return of many classic characters and Pokemon from the anime’s rich history, including Misty and Brock as Ash’s main travelling companions. In an interview with Animedia, Pokemon anime director Kunihiko Yuyama revealed that a return to the roots was very much intentional, with the goal of creating a series where Ash could have one last adventure as a “10-year old boy” before retiring from the series.

Q: How did the current series, “Mezase Pokémon Master”, become a thing?
Yuyama: It started with the idea of tracing Satoshi (Ash) and Pikachu’s journey one more time. When it came to his travelmates, we basically just went “Gotta be Takeshi and Kasumi I guess”. It was such a natural desicion I don’t really remember exactly how we arrived at it. I like that trio, those two just kind of fit into the group, and it makes Satoshi’s 10-year-old-boy-ness very pronounced. We wanted to depict world battling champion Satoshi as temporarily forgetting about everything he’s been through on his journey and just living the life of a 10 year old boy again.

In addition, Yuyama also briefly teased what fans can expect from the mini-series’ ending, which will have Ash come to a “personal conclusion” of some sort.

Q: There’s only 3 episodes left of Mezase Pokémon Master now. What do you want to tell us about the climax?
Yuyama: The climax will involve Satoshi (Ash) coming to a personal conclusion. I hope we did a good job showing how he did so. Please make sure to catch the remaining episodes.

You can read a translation of the full interview here, via Serebii forum user Dephender.

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