Pokémon Watch Order: Ash Ketchum's 25 Seasons, Then Horizons

For Ash Ketchum's story, watch the television series in broadcast order: English seasons 1 to 25, from Indigo League to Ultimate Journeys. That is one continuous run from 1997 to 2023, and the season numbers already put it in order. After Ash's final episodes, Pokémon Horizons takes over with new leads. The films are optional extras you can slot in by release year.

The Ash era, grouped by Japanese series

In Japan the anime is divided into named series; in English it is divided into numbered seasons. The table matches the two. The Japanese series and years come from the official Japanese title list; the English season names and numbers come from Pokémon's official season list.

Ash Ketchum's seasons in order (checked October 7, 2026)

Japanese series	Years in Japan	English seasons
Pocket Monsters, including the Orange Islands and Gold & Silver parts	1997–2002	1 Indigo League; 2 Adventures in the Orange Islands; 3 The Johto Journeys; 4 Johto League Champions; 5 Master Quest
Advanced Generation	2002–2006	6 Advanced; 7 Advanced Challenge; 8 Advanced Battle; 9 Battle Frontier
Diamond & Pearl	2006–2010	10 Diamond and Pearl; 11 DP Battle Dimension; 12 DP Galactic Battles; 13 DP Sinnoh League Victors
Best Wishes	2010–2013	14 Black & White; 15 BW Rival Destinies; 16 BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond
XY	2013–2016	17 XY; 18 XY Kalos Quest; 19 XYZ
Sun & Moon	2016–2019	20 Sun & Moon; 21 Sun & Moon: Ultra Adventures; 22 Sun & Moon: Ultra Legends
Pocket Monsters (2019)	2019–2023	23 Journeys; 24 Master Journeys; 25 Ultimate Journeys

Two of these groupings need a note. The official Japanese site lists the first five years as three entries (the 1997–1999 series, the 1999 Orange Islands part and the 1999–2002 Gold & Silver part), while Anime News Network's encyclopedia treats them as one series of 276 episodes, aired from April 1, 1997 to November 14, 2002, with the Orange Islands, Johto Journeys, Johto League Champions and Master Quest names among its English titles. The 2019 series reuses the plain title Pocket Monsters, which is why it is often listed by year. Three seasons are placed by their English titles alone: 13 (DP Sinnoh League Victors), 16 (BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond) and 18 (XY Kalos Quest) carry the DP, BW and XY abbreviations of the series they sit with, and their numbers fall between seasons that ANN does match to those series. We did not find an official page that states those three matches.

ANN's encyclopedia gives Advanced Generation 192 episodes and Diamond & Pearl 191. It splits several later series across separate entries, so we have not added the rest into totals here; the season names in the table are the reliable way to track where you are.

How Ash's story ends

ANN reported that a collection of 11 special episodes, titled Mezase Pokémon Master in Japan, premiered there on January 13, 2023 to conclude Ultimate Journeys, the anime's 25th season, and that it was the "final chapter" for Ash and Pikachu. Treat those specials as the end of season 25, not as a side story to skip. The same report notes that season 23, Journeys, has 48 episodes and that Master Journeys continues from the 2019 series' 49th episode.

After Ash: Pokémon Horizons

Pokémon Horizons: The Series premiered in Japan on April 14, 2023 with a one-hour first episode and, ANN reported, introduced two new protagonists, Liko and Roy. It is a new story rather than a continuation of Ash's journey, so it is a reasonable starting point for a newcomer too. It is still running: when we checked on October 7, 2026, TV Tokyo's program page listed episode 152 for broadcast on October 9, 2026. ANN's encyclopedia lists English season titles including Season 2: The Search for Laqua and Season 3: Rising Hope.

Where the films fit

The official Japanese film list shows a theatrical feature for every year from 1998 to 2020, plus short films. We treat all of them as optional. Our rule of thumb is simple: watch a film once you reach the series that was airing in Japan in its release year, using the years in the table above. A 1999 film sits with the first series; a 2009 film sits with Diamond & Pearl.

Two later films are easy to misplace. Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017) follows how Ash and Pikachu came to know each other and the day they set out from Pallet Town, according to ANN's summary, so it does not depend on the later seasons. Secrets of the Jungle (released in Japan on December 25, 2020) has Ash and Pikachu meet Koko, a boy raised by Pokémon. The official Japanese site announces Pokémon: Wild Card, its first feature-length animated film in about seven years, for release worldwide from 2027 (checked October 7, 2026).

We have not mapped each film to a precise episode, because we could not source each placement. When you are ready for the quotes, our Pokémon quote archive is the place to go.