Pokémon: Black & White

Pokémon: Black & White (ポケットモンスターベストウイッシュ, Poketto Monsutā Besuto Uisshu!) is the newest season of the Pokemon anime. Pokémon: Black & White, under the title Pokémon: Best Wishes! in Japan, premiered in Japan in September 2010. TV Tokyo announced that the season will cover the main protagonist Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu's adventures in the new region Unova. As always, the past female companion of Ash, Dawn, has left the series, and is being replaced by a girl named Iris. Iris is revealed to have a Axew, who oddly, lives in her hair. For an unexpected change, Brock seems to have left the series permanently, and is replaced by a new boy named Cilan, who is also a Gym Leader. Team Rocket are still in the series, and new antagonists will appear: Team Plasma. Team Plasma may be after Reshiram and Zekrom like how other villainous teams went after the Legendary Pokémon in their region. Ash will also have a new set of clothing based on Pokémon Black and White's male player character's design, and Jessie and James also have changed clothes due to a promotion, they will be wearing a black uniforms instead of their old white uniforms.

This series is called Pokemon Best Wishes in Japan. In short Pokemon BW (it also can be coined as Pokémon Black and White). Like every region, this region also has its own main legendary Pokemon duo Reshiram and Zekrom and an additional legendary Pokemon Victini is also introduced. Ash Ketchum starts off his journey (complete with new outfit) to this new region along with his faithful companion Pikachu, leaving behind Brock and Dawn on their respective quests, and also the other Pokemon which he caught in the Sinnoh region at Professor Oak's Lab. This time Ash is going to compete in the Unova League by gaining the eight badges of that region capturing and befriending new Pokemon along the way. It is still unknown how many seasons will this fourth series have. Iris and Cilan will be revealed respectively. It is still unknown regarding what their personal goals are as of now, though they will surely be revealed when Ash meets them in the series in due course. More information regarding the series will unravel as the series progresses.

Protagonists

 * Ash Ketchum
 * Iris
 * Cilan

Rivals

 * Trip
 * Bianca

Antagonists

 * Jessie, James and Meowth - Although not after Ash's pikachu they get serious and are now rarely seen by the gang, They are still after Other's pokemon...
 * Team Plasma - the local troublemakers of Unova out to get the legendary Yin and Yang duo Reshiram and Zekrom.

Key Pokemon

 * Pikachu (Ash's)
 * Pidove (Ash's)
 * Oshawott (Ash's)
 * Tepig (Ash's)
 * Snivy (Ash's)
 * Scraggy(Ash's)
 * Sewaddle(Ash's)
 * Servine (Shooti's)
 * Frillish (Shooti's)
 * Tranquill (Shooti's)
 * Axew (Iris's)
 * Excadrill (Iris's)
 * Pansage (Cilan's)
 * Dwebble (Cilan's)
 * Meowth (Team Rocket's)
 * Woobat (Jessie's)
 * Audino (Nurse Joy)

Minor Characters

 * Gym Leaders - The gym leaders of Unova will appear in some episodes, most likely battling Ash.
 * Professor Juniper - Professor Juniper is be shown in the first two episodes of Best Wishes.
 * Trip- Ash's first Unova rival. Begins with a Snivy
 * Professor Oak - Professor Oak will most likely be shown sometimes in the series, mostly video chatting with Ash about his journey.
 * Delia Ketchum - the mother of Ash Ketchum, will most likely will appear talking to Ash on the video chat, making sure he has everything he needs for his quest.

Retired Running Gags

 * Brock's crush over girls will be gone, with Cilan replacing him.
 * Ash's Pikachu will not destroy Iris' bike since she does not have one.
 * Team Rocket may not blast off anymore, so far they managed to safely escape without a zap.
 * Team Rocket starts to get serious in the Anime.
 * Nurse Joy will no longer be using Chansey, Audino will be replacing her.

Episodes
See Episode Guide for details

Trivia

 * The Best Wishes part of Pokémon: Best Wishes are abbreviations for Pokémon Black and White.
 * This season features Generation V Pokemon.
 * In Anime, Pikachu (belonging to Ash), Meowth and Persian (belonging to Team Rocket) are the only pokemon other than Generation V appeared so far.
 * This series is more fast paced than the previous series; there will be less filler episodes.
 * Ash meets Iris and Cilan in a similar fashion to when he first met Misty and Brock.
 * This series would be considered a reboot of the Pokemon: Original Series, as it uses many dynamics from the first series.
 * Ash turns his hat around when catching a Pokemon like he did in the original series.
 * Ash tries to catch every Pokemon when he first arrives in the Unova region.
 * The series reuses music from the original series.
 * In the narration for the first episode of Best Wishes, Ash is said to be still ten, which is ironic since Pokemon has been airing for thirteen years.
 * Ash capture a Sewaddle, which is the first time Ash captured a worm based pokemon since Caterpie. This also marks Ash catching his sixth pokemon in his journey at a new region, since his Johto journey though he kept some of his original pokemon and didn't chose to make a fresh start yet.
 * Besides Ash usually catches a lot of pokemon, but so far he only usually keeps 5 from each region, not counting ones that can be called upon. Currently only his Johto and Unova journey, does Ash capture and keep 6 pokemon from the region.
 * The reason Jessie and James left all their pokemon at team rocket headquaters, is because they are not native to Unova and may look suspicious. Meowth is technically a member and a pokemon, so it was sent with Jesse and James.
 * Dawn and Brock will both be getting their own special episodes. Forest may Own a Rhyperior this was shown in a preview fighting Nurse Joys Latias.
 * Pokemon appear as a silver ball with blue sparkles when sent out of a pokeball.
 * Unlike when Ash captured Krabby, when Ash caught his seventh pokemon, Sewaddle, the pokeball would simply shrink with the button glowing red and remain inactive instead of automatically transfer to the professor. Also, Ash had to arrive at a pokemon center and manually transfer one pokemon he has on hand.

Official Sites
Official Japanese site