'Pokémon Horizons' Resumes Its Hero Work In Fourth Arc “Rayquaza Rising”, Coming In October
There’s only two episodes of the current arc “Terastal Debut” left, The Pokémon Company announced
I see “Rayquaza Rising”, I see Kitakami on the way? Around here, coverage of Pokémon Horizons has usually kept to when the dub gets a new batch announced on Netflix. With everything it’s a lot to make room for episode title announcements and plot developments by episode. But Friday’s news surrounding imminent progression in its home country of Japan gave fans a glimpse of the future, and not just the already seen kind. The Pokémon Company announced that the current third arc of the series, “Terastal Debut”, will end on September 27, take a week off and followed by “Rayquaza Rising” on October 11. It will continue to air in its Friday 6:55 PM JST timeslot, which is anywhere from 2:55 AM to 5:55 AM in the contiguous United States.
In truth, it’s kind of right on time. The series debuted with the “Liko and Roy's Departure” chapter in April 2023, while “The Sparkling of Terapagos” began with episode 26 last October, and took the anime to its one-year mark (basically) when “Terastal Debut” began on April 12. Its final episode, episode 67 “Shine Terastal! Liko VS Roy!!” will see the protagonists face off for the first time in about 60 episodes, and so their battle prowess has changed a lot in that time. With the shift in arcs, it seems their focus will move on from Terastal training and back to their mission. “To a New Sky! Brave Olivine!!” will start bringing the focus back to uncovering the legend of Lucius and his Pokémon, known as the Six Heroes, including the mysterious Terapagos, the shiny Black Rayquaza the arc is named after, a Galarian Moltres, a scarred Titan Lapras, and a Titan Arboliva. It is the latter three who according to the episode description will emerge on the ship’s wing deck battlefield. Taking this chance to battle, Liko and Roy pick Arboliva and Moltres while Dot takes Lapras. The Brave Olivine will be taking the skies once again.
The new arc will see the evolution of Roy’s Fuecoco into Crocalor if it doesn’t happen during that “Terastal Debut” finale battle, as well as Dot’s Tinkatink evolving into Tinkatuff. Four characters from Kitakami in the Teal Mask DLC of the Scarlet and Violet games are making their way: The brother and sister duo, the initially standoffish Carmine and timid Kieran, who eventually gains the confidence and drive to become BB League Champion in such a fashion that he became popular among fans, their teacher Briar, and Perrin, the photographer in pursuit of Blood Moon Ursaluna.
The final five episodes of “The Sparkling of Terapagos” hit BBC iPlayer on September 9, revealing that “Enter the Intense Mom!” is now “A Wild Mom Appears!”, “Transform! The Hero of the Sea, Palafin!” is now “Transform! Hero of the Seas, Palafin”, “A Letter of Challenge from the Explorers” is now “A Challenge from the Explorers”, “A Plan to Capture Rayquaza” is now “The Plan to Capture Rayquaza”, and “To a Place Far, Far Away” is now “From So Far Away”. Unfortunately the final 11 episodes don’t hit Netflix in the States until November 22, which means Americans could be as much as 30 episodes behind by then, which will then be exacerbated by the wait until the next batch, which could be in February, maybe early March again like when the series finally premiered, mirroring the previously-mentioned Japanese start of the same arc.
The English dub cast features Alejandra Reynoso as Liko, Anjali Kunapaneni as Roy, and Faye Mata as Dot. Daman Mills voices Dot’s Quaxly and former Explorers admin as of Friday’s episode Amethio, Kira Buckland as Liko’s Sprigatito, and Zeno Robinson as Roy’s Fuecoco. Friede is voiced by Crispin Freeman, and of course Captain Pikachu is voiced by Ikue Ohtani. The cast also features Erica Mendez as Mollie, Mara Junot as Orla, Larry Kenney as Ludlow, and Major Attaway as Murdock. It’s worth noting that Sprigatito and Quaxly have evolved into Floragato and Quaxwell, retaining their Japanese voices of Megumi Hayashibara and Daisuke Namikawa respectively. Floragato’s evolution happens in “From So Far Away” but information on her English voice situation has not been given, and Quaxwell will not reach English audiences until early to spring 2025.
Source: Anime News Network