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Pokémon TV Anime Brings Back Volkner After 11 Years

The staff for the Pokémon Journeys: The Series anime revealed on Thursday that the character Volkner/Denji will appear in the series, with Hirofumi Nojima returning to voice the character. This will be the character's first appearance in a Pokémon series in 11 years since the Pokémon - Diamond and Pearl anime. Volkner, who was the most powerful Gym Leader of the Sinnoh region, will appear in the episode airing on August 20.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series premiered on TV Tokyo and its affiliates in Japan in November 2019, two days after the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games shipped worldwide. The first 12 episodes of the anime debuted in the United States on Netflix in June 2020, and the service adds new episodes quarterly. The anime also premiered on the Canadian television channel Teletoon in May 2020.

Netflix confirmed in February that the new batch of episodes that it began streaming on March 5 would be the Pokémon Journey series' final episodes.

Netflix will premiere the 24th season of the Pokémon franchise's anime titled Pokémon: Master Journeys: The Series on September 10.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series had delayed airing new episodes in April 2020 due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but resumed airing new episodes in June 2020. Pokémon: Twilight Wings (Hakumei no Tsubasa) also delayed its fifth episode from May to June 2020 due to the effects of COVID-19 on the show's production. Gekijōban Pocket Monster Koko, the 23rd anime film in the franchise, was delayed from its planned July 10 opening to December 25 due to the spread of COVID-19. The film will open in the West in 2021 under the title Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle.

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web