He wanted to be the very best like no one ever was — and it only took him a couple decades to do it.
Ash Ketchum’s career as a Pokémon trainer has been more shocking than his Pikachu.
In anime, it's not unusual for young male protagonists to be voiced by women. This is
the case in popular anime like "Naruto," "One Piece," "Hunter x Hunter," and,
of course, "Pokémon." In both the Japanese and English versions,
Ash is voiced by a few different women. He's played by Rica Matsumoto in the Japanese version,
while Veronica Taylor, Sarah Natochenny, and Kayzie Rogers have voiced him in English dubs.
"I’m Ash Ketchum! I came from Pallet Town in the
Kanto region! And this is my good buddy Pikachu. Nice to meetcha!"
In addition to voicing Ash, Taylor and Natochenny have also voiced his mother, Delia,
along with other characters and Pokémon. That's an impressive feat, considering how differently
the two characters sound. The other characters Taylor and Natochenny have voiced — like Ash's
traveling companion May and the gym leader Skyla, respectively — also sound nothing like him. Rogers
voiced Ash in 2006's "The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon" special, but has also provided voices
for a number of Pokémon with their own distinct cries — like Mr. Mime and Jessie’s Wobbuffet.
Since the "Pokémon" anime is based on the "Pokémon" video game series, it makes sense
that Ash has a lot in common with the protagonists from the games. In every generation of the video
game series, the player characters receive their starter Pokémon from the professor of their
region, battle their rivals, and share the same goal of becoming the Pokémon champion. This is
also the case for Ash, who gets his Pikachu from Professor Oak, battles it out with rivals like
Gary and Paul, and participates in tournaments with the championship title on the line.
Perhaps the most specific similarity between Ash and the video game protagonists is that,
with one exception, they don't have a father figure around. Just as Ash always has his mother
Delia to come home to, the video game protagonists can always visit their mothers in their hometown.
However, it remains a mystery where all of the fathers are. The only exception is in
the third-generation games where the player's father is the Petalburg gym leader, Norman.
One of the most memorable parts of the "Pokémon" anime comes when Ash meets
Misty in the very first episode. While being attacked and chased by a flock of Spearow,
Ash rushes to get Pikachu and himself to safety
and gets caught on Misty's fishing line. Instead of properly introducing himself,
Ash hops onto Misty's bike without permission and speeds off toward the nearest Pokémon Center.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" "I’m borrowing this."
"Wait, hey, that’s my bike!" "I’ll give it back someday!"
Spoiler alert: the bike never gets properly returned. Pikachu ends up
destroying it while attacking the Spearow flock with a powerful electric move.
Unfortunately for bike owners in the Pokémon universe, this is not a one-time thing for
Ash and Pikachu: the same thing that happens to Misty also happens to several
of Ash’s other friends. In the first episode of "Pokémon Advanced," Pikachu
zaps May's bike along with Team Rocket. Likewise, the second episode of "Pokémon:
Diamond and Pearl" sees the destruction of Dawn's bike during a battle with Pikachu.
If it has two wheels and pedals, it probably won’t last a day with Ash and Pikachu around.
"Hey, what happened to your bike?"
"What happened to my bike?! You happened to my bike, you little loser!"
As someone who dreams of being the very best,
Ash must face off against the toughest Pokémon trainers in every region. That
might be easy enough to do in the video games with enough experience points, but it's no easy
task in the anime. Between gym battles and tournaments, Ash actually loses quite a bit.
In fact, Ash loses his very first gym battle. In Episode 5, the young trainer rushes into
the Pewter City Gym and challenges Brock to a battle without proper preparation. Brock's
Onix wraps its massive stone body around Pikachu and immediately forces Ash to surrender. Later,
in Episode 14, Ash and Pikachu suffer a demoralizing loss to Lt. Surge and
his Raichu that almost convinces the 10-year-old to evolve his companion.
The most humiliating defeat, however, comes during the hyped league battle between Ash
and his friendly rival Ritchie at the end of the Indigo League arc. Ash puts
his faith in his powerful yet disobedient Charizard to defeat Ritchie's Pikachu,
but Charizard lies down and refuses to obey. Because of this,
Ash loses the match and is eliminated from the Indigo Plateau Conference entirely.
In addition to losing a few gym battles in the Kanto Region,
Ash also acquires some of his gym badges in ways that don't really seem fair to
other trainers. The fact that this happens more than once throughout Ash's Kanto journey makes
us question his true talents as a trainer and takes away from his early achievements.
After Ash loses to Brock for the first time, he trains up his Pikachu and challenges the
rock-type gym leader to a rematch. This time, Pikachu defeats Brock's rock and ground-type
Geodude with a single electric attack — which should technically not be possible,
since ground-types are typically immune to electric attacks. When Onix is on the field,
the sprinklers conveniently go off and weaken Onix to the point where Pikachu's attack is
enough to bring it down. Ash ends up showing mercy to the Onix and abandons the match,
earning him the Boulder Badge along with Brock’s respect.
Another unconventional gym victory happens with Ash’s rematch against Sabrina and her Kadabra
in Episode 24. Just like their initial fight, Sabrina seems to be in full control. However,
the battle is interrupted by the mischievous Haunter who shows up after following Ash
from Lavender Town. The Haunter goofs around, making Sabrina and her Kadabra laugh until they
are deemed unable to battle. By default, Ash is declared the winner and receives the Marsh Badge.
"Maybe you should just quit now. Besides, the badges you do have, you got out of pity!"
"A badge is a badge!" "Ow!"
Since the beginning of his journey, Ash has captured many different Pokémon,
some of which turn out to be incredibly strong members of his team with a little
bit of training. The best example of this is Ash’s first fire-type: caught as a Charmander,
it evolves into Charmeleon and then Charizard, and it receives special training at Charicific
Valley. To this day, Charizard is still considered one of Ash's strongest Pokémon.
Unfortunately, many of Ash's other Pokémon don't get the same amount of attention or training to
become that powerful. This is most evident in the fact that Ash has a lot of Pokémon that aren't
fully evolved, including Totodile, Bayleef, and of course, Pikachu. Pikachu has expressed a lack
of interest in evolving, but that doesn't mean Ash can't evolve his other Pokémon to make them
stronger. While many people who play the video games tend to evolve their Pokémon pretty quickly,
Ash doesn’t seem to mind keeping his companions in their smaller, less powerful forms.
In the Pokémon universe, every species has an extremely rare color variant known as a
shiny form. For instance, a shiny Gyarados is mostly red instead of its usual blue color,
while a shiny Psyduck is blue instead of yellow. Many shiny Pokémon are noticeably different from
their normal forms, but some are pretty difficult to identify. Some particularly bad offenders,
like shiny Pikachu and shiny Gengar, are just slightly different shades of their
normal colors. Ash's one shiny Pokémon, Noctowl, falls somewhere between noticeable and subtle.
At first glance, Ash's Noctowl can probably fool anyone who isn't familiar with the species,
since the shiny variant and normal variant both have brown color schemes. However,
when Ash's Noctowl is side by side with a normal Noctowl, the difference is clear. Ash's Noctowl
has a much lighter body and copper-toned wings, while the normal Noctowl is darker overall.
Since his tenth birthday, Ash has put all of his time and effort into becoming
the best Pokémon trainer he can be. He focuses heavily on training and battling
and doesn't usually show much interest in anything that isn't related to Pokémon...
including romance. But despite Ash's lack of interest and experience in the love department,
a few characters have taken an interest in him.
As Ash travels through the Kalos region, he's accompanied by his childhood friend Serena. It's
revealed in Episodes 6 and 7 of "Pokémon the Series: XY" that the two of them met at camp,
where Ash helped and encouraged Serena during a difficult time. Since then,
he's held a special place in her heart and has been a source of inspiration
for her — although she hasn’t exactly had the same effect on him.
"Hmmm… Can’t say I remember you…" "Aw?! Oh nooo…"
Serena gives Ash a kiss before parting ways with
him in one of the most unexpected moments in "Pokémon" anime history.
In addition to Serena, Ash has won over the heart of one Pokémon in particular.
Chikorita might have acted stubborn and tough in the beginning, but the grass-type
Pokémon is ultimately swayed by the boy's kindness. She gives him a kiss on the cheek
when he asks if she'd like to join him on his adventure. Once Chikorita evolves into Bayleef,
she develops a habit of tackling her trainer out of love and excitement.
The "Pokémon" anime wouldn't be nearly as exciting without some chaos,
but it’s not just Team Rocket that’s causing trouble. Throughout Ash’s many adventures,
mischievous Pokémon seem to be naturally attracted to him. Whether these troublemakers are causing
problems around town or just messing with their trainers, it's always up to Ash to handle it.
There are two notable instances where Ash befriends and captures the leader
of a villainous Pokémon group. The first is the infamous Squirtle Squad that initially
helps Team Rocket kidnap Pikachu in Episode 12. After realizing who the bad guys really are,
the Squad works with Ash to defeat Team Rocket and put out a forest fire. The
leader joins Ash's team while the rest of the Squirtles become firefighters.
A similar group of Sandile appears in Episode 3 of "Pokémon:
Black & White," where they act out in an attempt to get everyone away from
dangerous geysers. Ash eventually sees their good intentions, and they all work together
to get everyone to safety. The leader of the pack follows Ash around in various
episodes before officially being caught later on after evolving into Krokorok.
Despite remaining 10 years old throughout the many seasons of the anime, Ash's appearance has
definitely undergone some changes. Ash always looks the same throughout the Kanto and Johto
eras, but alterations after that mostly come down to new clothes, hats, and an upgraded
Pokédex. Those changes in appearance are fairly subtle up until the series "Pokémon: Sun & Moon."
When Ash arrives in the Alola Region, more than just his outfit gets a makeover. There's a huge
shift in art style, which results in Ash having an overall younger appearance. He
even ditches the fingerless gloves previously considered a key part of his outfits. Then,
in "Pokémon Journeys," Ash gets bigger irises in his eyes to make him look even
more youthful. Perhaps the only physical features that always stay the same for
Ash are the zig-zag markings on his cheeks that look like Pikachu’s lightning bolts.
After traveling through region after region, Ash finally snags his first championship title in the
Manalo Conference of the Alola Region. In Episodes 46 and 47 of "Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon —
Ultra Legends," Ash's final battle against his rival Gladion starts out pretty balanced. Ash's
Melmetal is taken down by Gladion's Silvally, who is then knocked out by Pikachu. After that,
Pikachu faces down Gladion's Zoroark, and they both use their Z-Moves to take each other out.
This leaves Gladion and Ash with just one Pokémon each. Coincidence or not,
they both put their faith in their two Lycanroc. At first,
it doesn't look good for Ash's Lycanroc as it struggles to deal with the other Lycanroc's
counter-attack. But thankfully, Ash comes up with an unconventional strategy to secure the victory.
"Now, use counter against counter!" "No way!"
This gives Ash's Lycanroc enough momentum to deal the final blow.
While it's exciting to watch Ash's strategy play out, the win isn't as satisfying as
it could have been. In the video games, a counter cannot actually be countered itself,
making Ash's use of it not feel totally legit. This isn't the only time the anime
breaks the rules that the video games have established, but it's a shame that
it happens in the all-important battle that crowns Ash as the new champion.
While Ash may not have the best track record when it comes to putting together a solid team of six,
his squad in "Pokémon Master Journeys" is undeniably powerful — featuring Pikachu,
Lucario, Gengar, Dragonite, Dracovish, and Sirfetch'd. Surprisingly, all of these
Pokémon are in their final evolutions, with the exception of Pikachu. In this case,
it works out for Pikachu, as the electric mouse has a special Gigantamax form that Raichu doesn’t.
Aside from Pikachu, Ash has two of the strongest Pokémon from Kanto in his corner — Gengar and
Dragonite. Gengar is a speedy glass cannon and another potential Gigantamax option,
while Dragonite is a bulky and reliable flying dragon. Ash also has a great Mega Evolution in
Lucario. This Lucario has shown the most growth on the team by starting out as an egg in Ash's care,
training hard as a little Riolu, and evolving into a total powerhouse. The Galar duo — Dracovish
and Sirfetch'd — should not be underestimated either, despite their somewhat silly designs.