Warning: Contains spoilers for Pokémon Journeys episode 136.The Pokémon anime is officially retiring Ash, but there’s still one iconic Pokémon of his that needs to be brought back. Following Ash’s victory over Leon in the World Coronation Series, it was announced that the Pokémon anime would officially be retiring Ash as the protagonist of the series. The anime is set to close out Ash’s journey in an 11-episode story arc in 2023, and from there, the anime will shift focus to two trainers in Paldea named Liko and Roy.
With Ash officially leaving the Pokémon anime, there are several things that need to happen so that the new story can start on a clean slate. Some are more important than others, but one thing that certainly needs to happen is the return of one of Ash’s most iconic Pokémon: Pidgeot. Doing so would allow for Studio OLM’s Pokémon to finally resolve one of its biggest dangling plot threads, and with one recent cameo in the anime, the idea of it happening holds even more weight.
Why Ash’s Pidgeot Needs To Return To Pokémon
The first issue that needs to be addressed regarding Ash’s Pidgeot is why it needs to return to Pokémon, in the first place. Pidgeot left Ash to protect a flock of Pidgey in the Viridian Forest, but Ash promised he would come to visit once he finished his new business. At the time, that seemed to mean he would come back after delivering the GS Ball to Professor Ivy, which then turned into competing in the Orange Island League, but Ash never returned for Pidgeot when all of that was finished, and the issue has gone completely unaddressed since.
Ash Ketchum has released Pokémon on numerous occasions, but Pidgeot’s release was different because the anime provided a specific idea of when Ash would come back for it, only to never follow up on that. Now that the anime is retiring Ash, however, there’s finally an excuse to bring Pidgeot back: to resolve as many dangling plot threads as possible before moving on to the new story. It wouldn’t change the fact that the anime went over twenty years without acknowledging Pidgeot’s absence, but it would at least allow for Ash’s story to end with one of its biggest hangups finally being addressed.
Pokémon Journeys’ Butterfree Cameo Makes Pidgeot’s Return More Likely
The Pokémon anime bringing back Pidgeot would be great to see, and the idea of that happening is stronger than ever thanks to a cameo from Ash’s Butterfree in Netflix’s Pokémon Journeys. Similar to Pidgeot, Ash released Butterfree in the early years of the Pokémon anime, and aside from a few flashbacks, he was rarely ever seen or referenced again. Pokémon Journeys changed all of that, however; as the credits rolled in episode 136, the final shot of the episode was Ash reuniting with Butterfree and his mate, marking Butterfree’s return to the anime after over twenty years.
Butterfree’s return was a great moment for Pokémon, and it gives a lot of credence to the idea of Ash’s Pidgeot coming back. If Pokémon Journeys was willing to bring back Butterfree after so long, if only to tap into people’s nostalgia, then there should also be a willingness to bring back Pidgeot, who’s been absent from the anime for nearly as long. As of now, there’s been no word about Pidgeot reappearing in 2019’s Pokémon Journeys, but it would be a great thing to include for the end of Ash’s journey, regardless.
