History Anime / PokemonHorizonsTheSeries

* DarkerAndEdgier: {{Downplayed}}. The series still maintains a relatively lighthearted tone like it did during Ash's tenure, but it's overarching story places a greater emphasis on how dangerous the villains and the wild Pokémon can be. In particular, The Explorers are far more serious and threatening than the bumbling goofballs in Team Rocket, especially [[PracticallyJoker Spinel]] and the Pokémon connected to Lucius, especially the Galarian Moltres, are devastatingly powerful and take a great deal of effort by the heroes to calm down.
** [[spoiler: To show how evil the Explorers are, one of the new villains, [[PsychoPink Sango,]] is outright excited at the prospect of using Explosion to knock out and capture her targets, and indeed tries to outright harm Friede and Pikachu with it in episode 25, which was something previous antagonists considered [[EvenEvilHasStandards too far even for them]], and she's probably not as bad as Spinel.]]

* [[AWayOutOfACaveIn A Way Out of a Cave-In]]: Episode 38 {{lampshades}} this. Liko and the Pokemon with her are caved in, [[spoiler: and while the other characters all team up to pull the rocks out of the entrance since they assume she's trapped...but it's then revealed that after they work hard to try to clear the entrance, Liko and company found a way out, and it was basically around the corner from where the group was.]]

* [[AWayOutOfACaveIn A Way Out of a Cave-In]]: Episode 38 {{lampshades}} this. Liko and the Pokemon with her are caved in, [[spoiler: and while the other characters all team up to pull the rocks out of the entrance since they assume she's trapped...but it's then revealed that after they work hard to try to clear the entrance, they found a way out just to their right.]]

** The English dub has an original song ''Becoming Me'' sung by Creator/HavenPaschall used as the opening theme instead of Dokimeki Diary.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: The Explorers, like the Team Rocket Trio, are a CanonForeigner group exclusively made for the anime, but wheres Jessie, James, and Meowth were the infamous GoldfishPoopGang that could occasionally venture into NotSoHarmlessVillain territory, all of The Explorers' admins are a lot more serious in their efforts and far more competent. That said, their boss, Gibeon, who is similarly hidden in the shadows like Giovanni originally was, [[spoiler:will replace them with other admins if the ones initially assigned to a task fail him.]]

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: The series is the same in tone as previous ''Pokémon'' entires, but The Explorers are a lot more serious and hell-bent on stealing Liko's pendant to a more dire extent than Team Rocket's efforts to steal Ash's Pikachu ever were. And then when Spinel is introduced, he proves to be even viler than his teammates, being a [[PracticallyJoker Joker-esque]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who [[spoiler:''brainwashed Liko''.]]

''Pokémon Horizons: The Series'' (ポケットモンスター ''Pocket Monsters (2023)'') is the eighth chapter of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', and the [[BreakingOldTrends first story not to feature Ash and Pikachu as the anime's protagonists]]. Taking place throughout the Pokémon World including the Paldea region of ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', this chapter focuses on two new trainers--a young girl named Liko hailing from Paldea in possession of a mysterious necklace, and a young boy from Kanto named Roy who has a Pokéball of unknown origins--as they explore the wider Pokémon world with the help of Professor Friede and his partner, Captain Pikachu. Along the way, they'll encounter all sorts of strange and mysterious wonders, including a shiny Rayquaza, and the three starters of the Paldea region--Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly--all while a group of mysterious villains known as The Explorers seek to claim Liko's pendant by any means necessary.

* MacGuffin: Liko has her pendant given to her by her grandmother [[spoiler: that also contains a Pokémon later revealed outside the series as Terapagos in its Normal Form]] while Roy has his mysterious PokéBall [[spoiler:that housed a shiny Rayquaza]]. The Explorers are currently in pursuit of Liko's pendant in particular.

* OlympusMons: One of the many mysteries in the anime is the appearance of a black Rayquaza. [[spoiler:It was originally housed within Roy's ancient Pokéball but flew off after getting out in the sixth Episode.]] There's also the [[spoiler:Normal Form of Terapagos hiding in Liko's pendant, with how it got there and why it's hiding being another central mystery,]] as well as [[spoiler:a Galarian Moltres and an Entei that were once owned by Lucius]].

* WhamShot: After the Ancient Pokeball was marketed as being Roy's one-of-a-kind {{MacGuffin}} like Liko's pendant, Episode 9 reveals [[spoiler:the existence of another one on a giant Arboliva. As it turns out, [[ThereIsAnother there are at least 6 of them]].]]

* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: In episode 37, the main characters encounter a family of Sandile and Krokorok led by a MamaBear Krookodile; the Krookodile has eyelashes to indicate that she's female.

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. A trailer for the English dub premiered during San Diego Comic-Con 2023; the dub itself premiered on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC iPlayer]] and Creator/{{CBBC}} in the United Kingdom on December 1st, 2023, and on Creator/{{Netflix}} in the United States on February 23, 2024.

* BrightCastle: Liko's grandmother lives in a secluded, hard-to-access castle, the first place outside the ship in a while the main characters can relax in. [[spoiler: The Explorers make it a subversion fairly quickly by solving its puzzle then attacking, and causing enough damage that Liko's grandmother joins them afterwards, at least for the short-term future]]

** In episode 31, when an Ambipom and Toedscruel appear on the Brave Olivine in a sea off of the coast of Galar, Friede notes that those two Pokémon aren't found in Galar. Both are not playable in Galar in the games, as Ambipom isn't just omitted from the Galar Pokedex, but isn't even coded into VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield, and Toedscruel debuted in the following games.

* AmbiguousGender: Roy's Fuecoco and [[spoiler:Dot's]] Quaxly have no defined genders.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: One of the biggest differences between this series and the past is that this occurs much more.
** Liko has to take classes online once the Explorers start going after her, since there's nothing at the school that can protect her from them.
** The Rising Volt Tacklers need to make sure they stay within budget and don't run out of other resources, and if ''any'' damage occurs to their ship, they can't fly.
** [[spoiler:The moment the adults leave Liko and the pendant out of their sights for an extended amount of time, Liko gets tricked by a member of the Explorers into walking into a dead end, allowing him to brainwash her and steal her pendent, by a advertisement ruse that one of them surely would have seen through.]]
** Despite being a CallBack to Ash's Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Sprigatito's gigantic Leafage is still a bunch of leaves. It's practically useless against a Fire-Type like Ceruledge.
** Because she spent ages holed up in her room without getting any exercise, Dot has trouble keeping up with Liko and Roy and very quickly tires out.
*** Related to this, while Dot is very knowledgeable about Pokémon and Pokémon battles, she has absolutely no experience in them and only recently caught Quaxly, so she initially struggles against Spinel's Pokémon before Liko and Roy arrive.
** [[spoiler: Liko is very committed to making other people happy and doesn't care about what happens to her. Sounds noble, but it ends up stunting her growth because she's not letting herself do much of anything as a result, leading to Roy outdoing her a lot and her Sprigatito getting frustrated with her after she forfeits a battle out of concern of what would happen if her opponent failed the "test" the battle was.]]

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. A trailer for the English dub premiered during San Diego Comic-Con 2023; the dub itself is currently set to premiere on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC iPlayer]] and Creator/{{CBBC}} in the United Kingdom at some point in December 2023, and on Creator/{{Netflix}} in the United States on February 23, 2024.

* CatsAreMean: Liko's Sprigatito starts off this way, not wanting to really bond with its new trainer (even ''scratching her''), but over time it just becomes more aloof like ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' and shows that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold it's not as bad as it pretends]].

* DubNameChange: {{Averted|Trope}} for the first time in the anime; the majority of the characters either keep their Japanese names or have {{Barely Changed Dub Name}}s.

* OlympusMons: One of the many mysteries in the anime is the appearance of a black Rayquaza. [[spoiler:It was originally housed within Roy's ancient Pokéball but flew off after getting out in the sixth Episode.]] There's also the [[spoiler:Normal Form of Terapagos hiding in Liko's pendant, with how it got there and why it's hiding being another central mystery.]]

** It also begs the question of whether or not ''Horizons'' is in the same universe as the previous series, or is set in its own continuity unrelated to Ash's journey. A Hiker appears that looks like the one from "A One Stick Wonder!", but it's not confirmed if it's that same hiker.

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. A trailer for the English dub premiered during San Diego Comic-Con 2023, and the dub itself is currently set to premiere on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC iPlayer]] and Creator/{{CBBC}} in the United Kingdom at some point in December 2023. When the dub will be released in the United States is unknown.

* TheAllegedCar: The ''Brave Asagi'', the airship that the Rising Volt Tacklers use to fly all over the world apparently used to be a fishing boat owned by Ludlow that was then converted into the airship it is now. It's not exactly in the best shape, but it is lovingly cared for by Orla.

* CoolAirship: A massive airship, named the "Brave Asagi", is the main form of transportation for Professor Friede and his crew. Apparently it was turned into an airship from ''a fishing boat''.

** While the adults on the Brave Asagi seem to be mature and aren't too nosy, they all want to see how the feud in episode 17 play out.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the games, it is emphasized that Terastallization can only occur in a select few locations, and not in any region that the games were set in, but in this series, it can be used anywhere [[spoiler: such as in Galar, when Friede uses Tera Dark to defeat Amethio in episode 25.]]

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. A trailer for the English dub premiered during San Diego Comic-Con 2023, and the dub itself is currently set to premiere on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC iPlayer]] and Creator/{{CBBC}} at some point in December 2023.

** It also begs the question of whether or not ''Horizons'' is in the same universe as the previous series, or is set in its own continuity unrelated to Ash's journey.
* AmbiguouslyRelated: It's been implied that Liko might be related to the ancient hero, Lucius, due to his Rayquaza [[spoiler:giving her a look of familiarity before it flies off]], and from what little has been seen shows they do share a similar look, but nothing has been confirmed yet to suggest a connection.

*** Has a female protagonist as the lead character alongside the male protagonist.

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. A trailer for the English dub premiered during San Diego Comic-Con 2023, and the dub itself is currently set to premiere on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC iPlayer]] and Creator/CBBC at some point in December 2023.

The series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023, with an hour-long special. Its official release in the United States and when it will be dubbed into English is currently unknown, though the characters were introduced via the official Pokémon International Twitter accounts around the same time as the Japanese accounts. A trailer for the dub was finally showcased at the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con, although the full cast list and release date is still pending.

* DubNameChange: {{Averted|Trope}} for the first time in the anime; the majority of the characters either keep their Japanese names or have {{Barely Changed Dub Name}}s. Sadly, InconsistentSpelling may still apply to some of them.

* CanonImmigrant: Friede's Charizard, which could Terastalize into a Dark Type, was added into ''Scarlet and Violet'' as a limited-time distribution event.

** Friede's Charizard can Terastalize into a Dark Type, and it certainly looks menacing, but it's firmly a good guy.

* SequenceBreaking: [[spoiler: Implied in episode 25. Diana gives Liko a notebook that reveals the rest of Lucius's Pokemon are Lapras, Kleavor, and Entei. Given that Liko's mother Lucca made sure to direct The Rising Volt Tacklers to Diana, It seems that Diana originally assumed Liko would need that notebook to even know of the existence of the Six Heroes, but Liko had ended up already meeting half of them (and possessing two) by the time they got to Diana's castle, since Roy had one of them and chasing that led them to two others.]]