Earlier this past week, spring has finally sprung. That's big news for both the weather and for anime. The end of March is bringing the end of the Winter 2025 anime season and the start of the spring season, and the Bam Smack Pow team's got you covered for the latest on the upcoming anime series for the new season. We've also got a few pieces of juicy Pokémon news to share with fans this week!
First look & trailer for Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage
Pokémon fans got their first look at the upcoming third season of the Pokémon Horizons anime in the form of a feature article in the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic that quickly began making its rounds on the Internet, with the story being picked up by outlets like IGN and Screen Rant.
While the new designs for the anime's main characters were buzz-worthy, what was particularly shocking for fans was the fact that Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage seems to be taking place after a time skip of as-yet unknown length. This is particularly noteworthy because the original Pokémon anime never really advanced its timeline despite running for more than 1000 episodes — meaning that Ash was 10 years old for more than two decades. Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage marks the first time in franchise history the Pokémon anime has made use of a time skip to advance the timeline.
As the week has gone on, we've learned a few more pieces of information about Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage. Crunchyroll has announced that the new series's Japanese theme will be performed by the duo Yuzu, who previously provided the theme for Hunter x Hunter and other anime series. Crunchyroll has also shared the Japanese premiere date for Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage: April 11, when the new series will debut a special one-hour-long episode. The official Pokémon anime social media accounts have shared the first trailer (posted above).
The first half of season 2 of Pokémon Horizons is currently airing on Netflix in the United States, with the second half set to go live on April 25. In other international regions, Pokémon Horizons is airing either on Netflix or on cable TV, though the first season has gone live on Netflix in regions where it did not originally air on Netflix. An international release date for Pokémon Horizons: Mega Voltage has not yet been confirmed.
Get ready to electrify your imagination in 2026 💛 ⚡️ #LEGO #Pokemon #LEGOPokemon pic.twitter.com/EaFoVetuvg
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) March 18, 2025
Lego and Pokémon announce collaboration for 2026
On March 18, the official Pokémon X (formerly Twitter) account posted a teaser announcement revealing a collaboration between The Pokémon Company and Lego for a line of Lego building sets scheduled for 2026. Available information is sparse right now, but Lego has launched an official webpage for the Pokémon sets to keep fans updated.
Lego has released many licensed sets based on well-known media franchises, including Star Wars, Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies, Marvel and DC superheroes, and Dungeons & Dragons. The Pokémon collaboration is not Lego's first collaboration with an anime franchise. A line based on One Piece (specifically, the Netflix live-action version) was announced earlier.
A quick look at the Spring 2025 anime season
The four anime seasons every year match up pretty well with the four actual seasons: Winter is January-March, Spring is April-June, Summer is July-September and Winter is October-December. With spring starting on our calendars on March 20, the first anime season of the year is winding down and streamers like Crunchyroll are starting to ramp up in anticipation of the Spring season.
Crunchyroll has announced a slate of series for Spring 2025 including:
• One Piece's return from a months-long hiatus — notably, the production hiatus of new Japanese-language episodes allowed the English dub to catch up to the most recent episode of the series before the hiatus.
• Anne Shirley, an anime adaptation of the classical Canadian book Anne of Green Gables, which has been hugely popular in Japan for decades. The book was previously adapted into an anime in 1979 and its crew included Hayao Miyazaki in his pre-Studio Ghibli days doing scene layouts.
• Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers, based on the stylish fighting game series.
• New seasons of series including Fire Force, Wind Breaker, I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level, and The Apothecary Diaries.
The full list of Crunchyroll's announced series for Spring 2025 can be found here.
We'll have another anime recommendation for you this week as we take a look at the last of the Big Three of anime. Also, as we get closer to the Spring anime season starting in earnest, we'll have more updates about what new series to expect, so stay tuned right here to Bam Smack Pow!