With Team Rocket retired, are these the Pokémon anime’s new villains?

New Pokémon Trainers Liko and Roy take over pokemon anime by Ash Ketchum, who starred in over 1200 episodes over the past 25 years. It makes sense that a new team of villains would also take over – and it seems The Pokémon Company has been waiting until Team Rocket’s apparent retirement to introduce the new characters to fans.

The Pokémon Company introduced three new characters in a video published on the game’s Japanese YouTube channel. The Pokémon experts at Serebii said that these characters – Amethyo and Conia – are part of an organization called Explorers. It’s not explicit that these new characters are villains, but the YouTube clip introducing the group is accompanied by fairly menacing music.

Amethyo’s Pokémon partner is Pokémon Scarlet And purple newcomer Ceruledge, while Zir and Conia are paired with Rhydon and Golduck, respectively. The YouTube video only gave a brief look at Zir and Conia, but Serebii’s published images from The Pokémon Company showing the two in more detail.

Beyond the Explorers, The Pokémon Company shared details about another new character named Gurumin, a streamer who wears a Nidoran suit. It’s very cute! These characters add to the characters The Pokémon Company shared in February: Professor Friede and Captain Pikachu.

Image: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series is the 25th and current season of the Pokémon animated series and will end the adventures of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu later this year. After 25 years of training, adventures, and meeting new friends, Ash fulfilled his dream of becoming the world’s top Pokémon trainer in an episode that aired in November. Ash defeated Leon in the Pokémon World Coronation Series to become the No. 1 Trainer in the show’s world.

English dubs of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series streaming on Netflix.