How Will The Pokémon Anime Use Hisui Pokémon?

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Pokémon Journeys: The Series.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series is celebrating the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus with a four-part TV special, but it remains unclear how the anime will incorporate the long-lost Hisui Pokémon into its narrative moving forward. The Pokémon anime is famous for keeping up with the events of the games, and part of that involves Ash Ketchum and his companions visiting the newest region and catching the latest Pokémon. However, with the new Hisui Pokémon and regional variants being locked to the past, just how will they enter the modern world of the series?

Pokémon Journeys: The Series formally introduces the Hisuian forms in an anime special titled “Satoshi and Go! Let’s Go to the Sinnoh Fest!” This episode has just recently played in Japan, though it has yet to get a Western release date. In the episode, Ash and Goh return to the Sinnoh region and meet up with his old companions, Dawn and Brock, as well as the Sinnoh champion, Cynthia. The group face the reemerging Team Galactic as they try to bring back their leader Cyrus, who is seemingly stuck in another dimension. The first of the four episodes features a very brief cameo that marks the first on-screen appearance of these unique Pokémon: Basculegion, Wyrdeer, and Hisuian Growlithe and Braviary. The four Pokémon appear in a flashback shot as Ash learns about them in the Canalave City library.

Beyond another set of special episodes, it’s difficult to see how the Pokémon anime will incorporate Hisuian Pokémon. These unique creatures are from thousands of years ago, in a time when the Sinnoh region was known as Hisui. As such, it’s pretty difficult to rationalize Ash adding a Hisuian Zorua or a Kleavor to his next team. Presumably, these monsters all went extinct long before the anime started, so it would make little sense to see Hisuian Growlithes running around in the present day with Ash, Pikachu, and the gang.

The Pokémon Journeys special does not seem to send Ash and co to travel back in time to the realm of Hisui, unfortunately. As such, this plot point is still open should the creators of the anime ever want to send Ash and Goh back in time to Hisui, perhaps to the events of the game Pokémon Legends: Arceus. If Ash (or Goh) caught a Hisuin Pokémon in the past and brought it back with him, this could reasonably rationalize their return to the modern-day world.

Another way they could feature is through DNA restoration, just like in Jurassic Park. Both the games and the anime have demonstrated the ability to bring back previously extinct Pokémon via fossils, so that option is always on the cards for Ash or Goh. Of course, it could be that these Pokémon simply won’t feature in the anime, though that seems unlikely. The anime always reflects (at least to some extent) what is new in the games, such as Mega Evolution in the Pokémon: X and Y series, Dynamaxing in Pokémon: Journeys, as well as the characters of the newest games. Without another game lined up, it seems inevitable that the anime will have to lean on Pokémon Legends: Arceus for its plot points and characters.

It’s difficult to say how Pokémon will weave the Hisuian Pokémon into the anime. It’s unlikely that these monsters will appear in Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and it may require a different spinoff to make them work. At present, these ancient creatures are currently just a flashback, though it seems certain that the creators will want to capitalize on the latest game’s popularity and bring these Pokémon into the anime’s modern world.

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