Liko or Roy? The Horizons Experiment Is Working, and One of Them Is Quietly Winning

Let's address the Snorlax in the room: Ash Ketchum is never coming back as the lead. After 25 years, seven hundred–something episodes, and one genuinely earned World Championship, the kid from Pallet Town handed over the torch, and Pokémon Horizons handed it to two kids most US fans had never heard of.

The question everyone asked when Horizons premiered wasn't really "will this show be good?" It was "can two new leads possibly survive in Ash's shadow?" A year-plus in, we've got enough episodes to actually answer that. And the answer is more interesting than anyone expected — because Liko and Roy aren't competing to be the next Ash. They're competing to be something the franchise has never really had: two protagonists with completely different relationships to the world of Pokémon.

Liko: The Lead Who Didn't Want to Be Here

Here's the boldest thing Horizons ever did: it made its main character reluctant. Liko doesn't dream of being a trainer. She's a kid who got handed a mysterious pendant, enrolled at Indigo Academy, and spent her early episodes visibly anxious about the whole adventure thing.

That's a radical inversion of the Ash formula. Ash's superpower was always unstoppable enthusiasm — he wanted it more than anyone. Liko's arc runs the other direction. Her story is about a girl learning that she's allowed to want things. Watch the episodes built around her Sprigatito, or the run where she starts actually connecting with the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers, and you'll see a show that understands something the old series rarely touched: not every kid watching at home is loud, confident, and ready to charge into a battle. Some of them are shy. Some of them are figuring themselves out. Liko is for them.

Roy: The Kid Who Feels Like a Throwback (On Purpose)

Roy, meanwhile, is the one who looks like a traditional Pokémon protagonist on paper — a boy from a remote island, a mysterious ancient Poké Ball, a fiery partner in Fuecoco, and a grin that says "let's go." He's the safety net for longtime fans: if you miss Ash, Roy scratches that itch.

But the show keeps doing something clever with him. Roy's drive isn't about badges or leagues — it's about a mystery, the Six Heroes, and the strange artifact he carries. He's chasing a story, not a title. It's a subtle shift, but it changes the whole engine of the show. Where Ash's journey was a sports narrative, Roy's is closer to an adventure serial, and that gives Horizons room to breathe in ways the gym-circuit formula never allowed.

The Episodes That Prove the Point

If you want to see the two leads at their best, queue up the early Friede-focused stretch where Liko has to decide whether to go home or stay aboard the Brave Olivine — that's the moment her arc stops being about anxiety and starts being about choice. On Roy's side, the episodes around the Rayquaza sightings and his growing rivalry-adjacent dynamic with the other trainers show a kid who's learning that strength without understanding isn't much of a strength at all.

Neither of them is finished. That's the point. But the trajectories are very different.

So Who's Winning?

Here's our honest take after watching it all play out: Liko is quietly becoming the better lead.

Roy is fun, energetic, and easy to like — he's the crowd-pleaser. But Liko is the one the show is actually about. Her growth is measurable episode to episode in a way Roy's isn't yet, and she carries the emotional weight of the series' biggest moments. When Horizons wants to say something real about being a kid in a huge, complicated world, it hands the scene to Liko.

And honestly? That might be exactly what a new generation of US kids streaming the show need. Ash was an inspiration — the kid you dreamed of being. Liko is a mirror — the kid you actually are. Both have value, but only one of them feels like a genuine evolution for the franchise.

Horizons still has years of runway ahead, and Roy could absolutely close the gap — his mystery arc is loaded with potential. But for now, the reluctant girl with the pendant is the one quietly walking away with the show. Ash would probably be proud. He'd definitely challenge her to a battle.