So Pokemon(2019) anime, "Pokémon Journeys: The Series" ended yesterday in Japan.

And, in the NEW Pokemon anime from next year April, the protagonist will be changed.
2 new characters, リコ / Liko ^{( girl )} and ロイ / Roy ^{( boy )}, will take the place of Ash Ketchum (and Pikachu).

[ Official Info with Eng translation ]
And from April 2023, a new series of Pokémon TV animation featuring new protagonists, Liko and Roy, will start.
In the new Pokémon TV animated series, the camera will follow the adventures of the duo.

Also, 1 ^{(next week)} + 11 ^{(next year)} special stories will be starting.

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Most likely, This is due to the fact, Long-running animes must change voice actors someday in the future, and now This is it.
Or perhaps the producers want to take this chance to reset and make an all-new Pokemon anime, leaving 26 years of history.

The Pokemon anime is 1 year younger than me, but I even kinda feel like my own time is done with it.
Hopefully, the changing of protagonists will bring good luck to Pokemon (anime).

Having said that, I am sure Ash and Pikachu's journey will continue ... Yes, Their jouney is To be continued！

Is there a concurrently published manga and does the Pokémon anime adapt it faithfully? If so, it's only a surprise to people who stopped caring years ago.

They should put Ash Ketchum in the hyperbaric time chamber and age him 10 years so he can get pregnant and have his son Boruto continue his Pokéventures.

lance_armstrong said:
Is there a concurrently published manga and does the Pokémon anime adapt it faithfully? If so, it's only a surprise to people who stopped caring years ago.

Yes and no, respectively. There are multiple official Pokémon mangas, but the only ones starring Ash were adapted from the anime rather than vice versa.

wat8548 said:
Yes and no, respectively. There are multiple official Pokémon mangas, but the only ones starring Ash were adapted from the anime rather than vice versa.

My personal favorite depiction of the Pokémon world outside the games is The Electric Tale of Pikachu, which is nominally an adaptation of the anime but improves upon it by being absolutely bonkers. Its version of Ash is a lot cooler, too.

Not everyone can be a voice actor up to their late 80s, like Masako Nozawa, ash’s Japanese voice actress must’ve gotten sick of the role and wanted to move on.

lance_armstrong said:
Is there a concurrently published manga and does the Pokémon anime adapt it faithfully? If so, it's only a surprise to people who stopped caring years ago.

@wat8548 is right.
There technically Was a manga series, which adapted the 2019 anime into manga, but with some omissions, some skipping entire episodes: [Jpn ver.] [Eng ver.]
It has ended earlier in November 2021 so I don't think it was done faithfully.　(( I bought vol.1 but couldn't see this part on ep.4 💢 ))

As far as I can tell, most of the few other mangas starring Ash are for Pokemon films on multiverse.
Someone said, losing the Anime means we lose the way to see Ash's universe.

neepokra said:
Not everyone can be a voice actor up to their late 80s, like Masako Nozawa, ash’s Japanese voice actress must’ve gotten sick of the role and wanted to move on.

There're many other rumors, One of which is that It's difficult to make any more stories with Ash who became a champion.　Great reset for anime