Ash Ketchum is officially the world’s best Pokémon trainer, bless him

Finally made it friends, the boy who struggled to find his footing for so long, Ash Ketchum, is officially the best Pokémon trainer in the world.

On Friday, November 11, the most recent episode of the Pokémon anime aired in Japan, showing Ash (or Satoshi as he was originally known) winning the Pokémon World Coronation Series Masters Eight tournament. This comes towards the end of the current season, called Journeys, which has seen Ash and best boy Pikachu traveling through the world of Pokemon, visiting a few friends along the way.

The tournament saw him take on some classic champions, such as Cynthia, Iris, Steven, Lance, and lastly, the reigning Galar Champion Leon along with his signature Charizard. Obviously no such tournament is in the games, but the anime doesn’t really follow the same rules, so this is just a nice way to show that Ash really is the better trainer.

This isn’t the first time Ash has won a big tournament like this. In 2019, during the Sun and Moon anime era, he actually became the Alola champion, quite a change of pace considering he lost literally every single Pokémon League attempt before that.

With this momentous victory, that the real BBC reported on, raises some questions about what’s going on with the anime. Some fans think that the anime might be coming to an end, or at least Ash’s journey. The final episode of Journeys roughly translates to “Pokémon! Glad I met you!” (via bulbapedia) which obviously sounds very similar to the first episode of the anime “Pokémon – I choose you!”

The comments from The Pokémon Company International’s VP of Marketing Taito Okiura also present a strong sense of conclusion, especially when combined with the lack of announcements regarding a new season. “Ash Ketchum’s determination and perseverance in achieving his goal of becoming the best Pokémon Trainer in the world over the course of 25 seasons represents the best of what it means to be a Trainer,” said Okiura.

“We can’t wait to celebrate this moment with Pokémon fans when the newest season of ‘Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series’ and this adventure-defining episode air worldwide next year. This is a season fans will love.” You won’t want to miss it!”

Having seen a clip towards the end of the episode, there’s one thing I can at least promise you if you’re a fan of Pokemon: you’ll cry.