After becoming the first official champion of the Alola region, Ash Ketchum returns to Pallet Town and is ready to start a new adventure. However, right from the jump, Pokémon: Journeys seems to be just as interested in the franchise's history as it is interested in advancing the series forward. The first official episode starts off as a prequel to introduce our new main cast and give some backstory to Pikachu, which the franchise never really did before this point. Pokémon has never been particularly deep or overly complicated with its storytelling, but this idea of celebrating the past and bringing it back to make the world feel larger than it probably ever has been before can be considered an overarching theme of this installment.

Now that we've officially reached a definitive turning point in the Pokémon anime, it's time to look at the beginning of what could arguably be one of the most definitive seasons of the franchise. The eighth generation of Pokémon deals with the Galar region, but instead of the usual song and dance of gathering eight badges to enter a league in one specific area, the goal is much larger this time. The franchise has already broken conventions last generation by having Ash reach the status of a champion-level trainer, so Pokémon: Journeys seems to have no worries about continuing that trend. Now we are looking at a globally ranked tournament where Ash will have to compete with trainers from various regions worldwide to advance. Despite the larger scale, the goal is much more specific this time in that Ash wants the chance to go all out against the best trainer in the world, Leon. I would say the show also does an excellent job of foreshadowing just how intense things are going to get because not only does this tournament include your average run-of-the-mill trainers, but it'll also include gym leaders, elite four members, and former champions.

The entire series isn't just focused on battles, though, as Journeys tries to go for a healthy mix of battle-centric, one-off comedy, and world-building episodes or episodes that focus on the development of our main cast. This can include the new Pokémon that Ash catches, like his Dragonite and Gengar, or the development of his new travel companion Goh. Goh is an interesting partner for Ash because these two act very much like they could've grown up as brothers. Ash's joyful and quirky attitude is put on full display, and it fascinates Goh despite having very different goals from Ash.

Goh's goal is to get closer to the legendary Pokémon Mew but to do that, he will do his best to capture every single Pokémon out there. If you think about it, it took eight generations and almost 25 years for this series to embody the very idea of “gotta catch them all.” Not only is this humorous in the sense that it still kind of ties into that idea of tying the past to the future (whether it was done intentionally or not), but it also allows almost every episode to feel connected when you consider that Goh catches a different Pokémon in nearly every episode. Plus, this isn't treated as just a one-off, as those Pokémon Goh captures occasionally come back or are shown in the background for practical reasons. Most of them don't get as much focus as Ash's team, but his relationship with Scorbunny can be just as endearing as Ash's relationship with Pikachu.

Now because we're traveling to various regions, there are plenty of callbacks and re-introductions to old characters. The series effectively manages to play up the nostalgia and build up some proper foreshadowing regarding the journeys of certain Pokémon or how specific encounters will play out, making this section of Pokémon: Journeys probably one of the strongest in the franchise. When Ash returns to the Alola region and is treated like a big brother to Kukui's newborn son, I nearly cried. Plus, seeing Ash with a Riolu with a strong aura feels like a payoff that I think we've all been waiting for since the franchise was passively obsessed with the idea of Ash getting a Lucario.

The downside is that because the show expands that net so wide with its globetrotting setup and more varied episode types, your mileage may vary depending on what specific aspect of the show you find appealing. Suppose you're strictly here for the battles. In that case, some of the one-off comedy episodes may bore you, or if you're here just hoping to catch your favorite old character returning, you might have to wait a while for that even to happen. This obviously could've been circumvented if the series was shorter or chose fewer things to focus on, like in previous seasons. Unfortunately, that is a common complaint regarding long-running franchises like this.

The struggle of approach also applies to the show's animation style and voiceover direction, both pulling from different areas of inspiration. Pokémon: Journeys seems to go for a middle ground between the more intense battle direction established in XY and the more exaggerated cartoony style found in Sun & Moon. Unfortunately, we are left with an animation style that doesn't reach the heights of either anime. However, most characters still retain a soft smoothness without having a complete design overhaul, and the impact between certain moves feels especially heavy alongside plenty of well-choreographed sequences that seem to prioritize speed. Overall, it is a healthy marriage that allows the show to stay consistent, barely reusing any animations. The music is solid, with some nice battle themes that sometimes build up the hype and even tension.

As for the voice direction, this was a time when the Pokémon anime decided to mix both New York and LA talent. Not only does this mean we get to hear prominent LA voice actors in the series, such as Zeno Robinson voicing Goh, but it also means that we get the return of older actors playing some of those legacy characters, like Wayne Grayson reprising his role as Lance or Lisa Ortiz (who also happens to be the ADR director) reprising her role as Korrina. All of the old actors feel like they haven't missed a single beat, with many of the newer actors bringing fresh energy to the project. You can tell that many of them are ecstatic behind the mic, getting the chance to be a part of the franchise that they grew up with, like Alejandro Saab voicing Leon.

Also, this is a franchise primarily marketed towards kids, so while some of the more lighthearted and humorous episodes might not be funny to me personally, that's probably by design. Interestingly, there is arguably just as much here for older or veteran fans of Pokémon to enjoy. While I scoff at the fact that every episode starts with a bumper that claims this is a “Netflix Original,” I do think Netflix was probably one of the better platforms for this type of season because the best audience for the show now is probably families comprised of adults who grew up with the franchise and kids who are looking to get into it now. Since there's arguably a little bit here for all types of Pokémon fans, you could argue that this is one of the stronger seasons to watch, even though I still think there are some things to complain about.

For a show with this great setup about calling back and referencing so many different parts of the franchise, it feels like Pokémon: Journeys only does the bare minimum in these 48 episodes. With so many rivals and gym leader matches in his past to pull from, we only see a few of them, which feels like a genuine waste. Then there's also the rather underutilization of the show's central region. A gym leader of Galar, Bea, makes a great ongoing rival for Ash in the tournament and Leon, who's from Galar, has a great goal to reach. But even though Galar is seen as the next major region and is home to this generation's most defining gimmick, Dynamaxing, for some reason, it feels like we don't see that much of the area in and of itself. Dynamaxing, the idea of turning your Pokémon into kaiju, is a fun concept, and Galar is the only region with it. But the lore of the land, its culture, and its inhabitants are barely distinguished.

None of this is helped by the fact that the final batch of episodes here focuses on the main story based on the Pokémon Sword & Shield video game. However, it feels more like a footnote arc rather than something to help make the region feel more memorable, even though it's supposed to be about the region's history. Granted, as someone who played Sword & Shield, I will admit that anything done to expand upon that story was an improvement considering that it felt like there were huge gaps of pages missing from its game script. Yet, I feel like the anime wasted the opportunity to stretch that story and have it exist alongside some of the season's main episodes. Instead, it's relegated to roughly a 3- to 4-episode mini-arc, and while better than the games, I'm just left wanting more.

For better and worse, that is probably the best way I can describe Pokémon: Journeys. I like a lot of what's here, from the setup to the scale, the battles to the sense of validation I get by looking back at how far we've come. It is a strong start. However, there are times when I wish there were more of it or that the show would expand the intriguing aspects of its world-building and lore a little more. So far, I probably rate Pokémon: Journeys as my third favorite Pokémon series right underneath Diamond & Pearl and XYZ, which is incredibly high praise for a franchise that was over 20 years old at the time that these episodes first aired and has a lot of potential to expand.