23 years after it first aired, Pokémon: Advanced is making its way to streaming. Though the series had its fair share of controversies upon release, making Advanced freely available for all to stream is sure to bring back a wave of nostalgia for fans who grew up with Ash and Pikachu’s adventures in the Hoenn region.

On November 2nd, Pokémon’s official X account announced that the official Pokémon TV YouTube channel would be getting all 40 episodes of Advanced. Pokémon seems to be releasing one episode of the English dub per day, meaning only two out of the 40 total Advanced episodes are available at the time of writing.

This all means that Advanced will join the five previous seasons available for streaming on Pokémon TV at the moment. If Pokémon TV continues at its current release pace, then all episodes of Advanced should be released by mid-December.

Ash and Pikachu’s Most Underrated Season is Easily Advanced

Initially released in 2002 and running for 40 episodes, Pokémon: Advanced sees Ash, Pikachu, and Brock journey to the Hoenn region (the setting for the Ruby and Sapphire games). Also accompanied by May and her younger brother Max, Ash journeys through Hoenn to take on Gym Leaders so he can earn a spot in the Hoenn League.

Though the series doesn’t necessarily have a bad reputation among Pokémon fans, it is not commonly ranked among Ash’s best Pokémon seasons.

The sixth season of Pokémon’s anime marked the end of an era, as Ash left Misty and all of his Pokémon save for Pikachu behind in Johto. Though the intention was probably for this to make Advanced a great jumping-on point for new fans, it also made the season an easy jumping-off point for old fans.

Despite this, there’s some real charm to Ash’s journey through Hoenn. The season sees Ash really come into his own, allowing him to be a bit of a mentor to May.

Pokémon Advanced’s May Still Ranks Among Ash’s Best Companions

May is one of Ash’s best companions. While Misty is iconic, May has her own set of motivations with her goal of being a Pokémon Coordinator, giving her far more motivation and a bigger character arc than Ash’s past friends, whose goals were far more nebulous.

It’s telling that a few of Ash’s future companions, such as Dawn and Goh, would follow more in the mold of May by being on their own quest alongside Ash, proving the enduring legacy of Advanced’s female lead.

Fans eager for a blast of nostalgia should head over to the Pokémon TV YouTube channel to relive the glory days of Pokémon: Advanced, as the series is worth more of a revisit than some might think.

Release Date

1997 – 2023

Network

TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC

Directors

Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano

Writers

Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku

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  Rica Matsumoto

  Satoshi (voice)

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  Ikue Otani

  Pikachu (voice)