Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump manga magazine is teaming up with The Pokemon Company for a special collaboration in the upcoming combined issue.
In the August 4th release of the combined Issue 36 and 37, fans will see illustrations by famous manga authors combining their creations with various Pokemon. The images will combine to form a collage for the cover of the combined issue.
Some of the special artwork has already been revelaed, including an impressive illustration by One Piece creator Eichiro Oda featuring Monkey D. Luffy punching alongside a electrified Pikachu.
In addition to the One Piece illustration, two others revealed so far include one by Me & Roboco author Shuhei Miyazaki featuring Roboco and Mega Blaziken. Another one by Blue Box author Kouji Miura has also been reelased featuring Chinatsu Kano and Totodile.
The next issue preview is feature in Issue 35, which can be found here. Additionally, the August 18th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump will also include a stick witht he complete group illustration as a pack-in bonus.
Pokemon has collaborated with Weekly Shonen Jump on a few occasions, bust mostly on rare, special occasions. Some special one-shots, like Pocket Monsters XY Special Episode, which was tied to the XY games, was published in Jump Live app, a digital spin-off of Weekly Shōnen Jump. Shueisha has also sometimes published Pokemon content in V Jump.
It's unclear why this collaboration is happening now, as it doesn't appear to be tied to any sort of big Pokemon release. That said, there are some major projects in the pipeline for the franchise, one of the biggest being the release of Pokemon Legends: Z-A. The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 title will be released on October 16, 2025.
Additionally, Pokemon Champions is another game planned to release in 2026. This is a stadium-style, turn-based strategy battler similar to Pokemon Stadium, set to arrive on Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.
On the animation front, we've got Netflix's stop-motion series Pokemon Concierge releasing the next batch of episodes in just a few weeks. The new episodes are set to arrive on Netflix on September 4, 2025.
And in another surprising collaboration, Pokemon is also teaming up with Wallace & Gromit studio Aardman for a new stop-motion animated series set in Galar. The new series, titled Pokemon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu, is expected to premiere in 2027.