Ash Ketchum: Difference between revisions

Ash redirects here. For the item attached to Ho-Oh, see Sacred Ash. For the ash found at the foot of Mt. Chimney, see volcanic ash.

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Ash Ketchum (Japanese: サトシ Satoshi) is the main character of both the Pokémon anime and the manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu. Ash is apparently based on the main character of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, Red. He shares his name with the creator of the Pokémon franchise, Satoshi Tajiri. His Japanese name can be taken to mean "wisdom" or "reason" (智). His English last name is a pun on the original English Pokémon motto, "Gotta Catch 'em All!".

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

In the anime

Character

Ash's main goal in life, as described in the first episode, Pokémon - I Choose You!, is to be the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Ash began his journey at the age of 10 as a warm-hearted and well-intentioned but stubborn and unskilled Pokémon Trainer. He was forced to accept the irreverent Pikachu from Professor Oak as his starter Pokémon because he carelessly broke his alarm clock and woke up late on the day he was set to get his first Pokémon. He was determined to achieve his goal, however, and when he showed his willingness to give up his own safety to keep Pikachu safe, he formed a strong bond of friendship with his Pokémon which would set his course for the future.

However, from that point, Ash still had a lot to learn about becoming a Trainer. He caught his first Pokémon by luck, knew nothing about Pokémon battle, and showed a reluctance to admit when he was wrong. Many of his first Gym badges were given to him merely out of gratitude for his assistance rather than claiming a victory in battle over the Gym Leaders; of his first five gym battles, only his victory over Lt. Surge was an actual victory. Every time he thought he was doing well, he would somehow cross paths with his childhood rival, Gary Oak, who always reminded Ash that he was always a step or seven behind, with Gary catching around forty-five Pokémon by the time Ash had only caught his seventh, with matters being further hampered when his Charizard, his most powerful Pokémon, refused to listen to him due to his inexperience until he had proven himself to the powerful Fire-type.

Ash's dedication to his goal paid off over time, and after earning his first eight badges, he competed in the Indigo League, and advanced further in the rounds than Gary, making it to Round Five while Gary lost his fourth round. After recovering from his defeat, he continued on to improve his skill, take on new challenges, and compete in more Pokémon League competitions, triumphing in the Orange League and the Battle Frontier.

Ash has changed a great deal over the course of the series, particularly in regards to his skill at Pokémon training, but his earnestness and determination have remained. Never straying from his goal, he has remained loyal to his friends, his family, and his supporters, but most of all his Pokémon. Ash became a great Trainer by learning to find and use the inner strength of each of his Pokémon by bonding with them and learning where their hidden abilities lie, as well as resorting to unorthodox strategies when fighting particularly challenging opponents. For example, he uses his Pikachu's speed to outmaneuver larger foes and attack, and defeated Gary's Blastoise with his Charizard by causing the field to overheat and have Charizard mount a close-range attack while Blastoise was blinded by the steam. He also prefers to train a Pokémon to be the best it can without making it evolve, and he is hesitant to let his Pokémon evolve to get stronger, as evidenced by his treatment of Gligar in Fighting Fear With Fear!.

Additionally, during the first season of the series, Ash originally trained not to further himself but instead to catch more Pokémon than his rival, Gary. He later slowed his pace which allowed him to focus on the individual traits of each Pokémon. At the Johto League Silver Conference, with great humility and maturity, Ash finally won a battle against his old rival, signifying a great milestone in his history. His maturity has also increased in his dealings with Pokémon, as when a Mankey stole his hat in Primeape Goes Bananas, he screamed and yelled at it, even climbing trees just to get his hat back, but when an Aipom did the same in Slaking Kong, he stated merely that he would feel strange without a hat.

In most episodes of the anime, especially those during the Johto League saga, Ash befriends someone who will influence him and cause him to strive to become a better Trainer. Although he is not a dependent individual, he is still young and has learned to make his way relying on his friends, particularly the maternal skills of Brock. The honor of "best friend" is usually reserved for Pikachu but Ash has come to see his closest human friends in the same light over time; using the term for Misty and Brock in Gotta Catch Ya Later as well as May and Max in Battling the Enemy Within.

He has traversed much of the Pokémon world and has thus far participated in four Pokémon League regional competitions, but he is still learning new things about Pokémon all the time.

Ash apparently has a close connection with Legendary Pokémon, especially Ho-Oh, Lugia, Latias and Shaymin. In the English dub of the second movie, he was revealed to be "The Chosen One" - the one who would bring balance back to the world. Although viewed as a normal human, Ash does have some special abilities as he is said to have the same aura as Sir Aaron, a legendary hero, and is theoretically able to manipulate it in much the same way. However, he has not received any training in this field, opting to continue his Pokémon journey instead. He has also been likened to an ancient aura guardian in The Keystone Pops!, who also had a partner Pikachu. Later, in Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Parts 1 and 2, Ash uses aura again to locate a lost Riolu and read Riolu's mind as well. However, these were one time deals, as Riolu had an unnaturally powerful aura.

He has a Contest Pass for the Sinnoh region, though he has stated that the contest he got it for was the only one he intends on entering. He also has one for the Hoenn region as it was required to watch one of the contests held there. Ash also carries around a broken Poké Ball, of which the other half belongs to Gary and is a symbol of their ongoing, but now friendly, rivalry, as well as Misty's special lure, which she sent to him as a gift, and also half of a ribbon he received in a contest against May before she left the group to compete in Johto.

Family

Ash lived with his mother, Delia Ketchum, until he left for his Pokémon journey at the age of ten.

His father was never introduced. The anime suggests that his father was once a Pokémon Trainer that began his journey in Pallet Town, but it is unclear whether he is still living. There has been much discussion in the fandom as to the identity of Ash's father, though the writers have chosen to not focus on this aspect of Ash's life. Common characters put forward by fans for the role are Giovanni, Professor Oak and Silver.

An interview with the series' storyboarder confirmed Ash's father is a Trainer on his own journey. According the same storyboarder, Ash's father may or may not be introduced at the series, depending its necessity to Ash's further maturity and development as a Trainer.

Ash is an only child, breaking from the tradition of several other main characters, with the exception of Dawn and possibly Tracey, whose siblings are often a foil or focal point in their lives.

Pokémon

As a trainer, Ash has captured and befriended a sizable number of Pokémon over the course of the anime's run. His philosophy on training is that Pokémon are individuals and that a combination of trust, friendship and hard work are needed to overcome the toughest of challenges. He seems to battle best with Pokémon that are similar to Pikachu: ones that are speedy and maneuverable, yet able to preform high-powered attacks, but he is willing to work with any Pokémon that comes into his care. Ash tends to battle in a fairly unorthodox manner as well, and his Pokémon often reflect this.

On hand

Pikachu

→→ Starly → Staravia → Staraptor

→ Turtwig → Grotle

Chimchar

Buizel

→ Gligar → Gliscor

With Professor Oak

Bulbasaur	→ Krabby → Kingler		Muk
Tauros (×30)	Snorlax	Heracross	Cyndaquil
→ Chikorita → Bayleef		Totodile	Noctowl (Template:Shiny2)
File:Ash's Phanpy Egg.png → → Egg → Phanpy → Donphan			Corphish
File:Ash's Treecko.png → File:Ash's Grovyle.png → File:Ash's Sceptile2.png Treecko → Grovyle → Sceptile			Torkoal
→ Taillow → Swellow		→ Snorunt → Glalie

In training

Primeape	File:Ash's Squirtle2.png Squirtle
→ → Charmander → Charmeleon → Charizard

• Primeape: In training with Anthony.
• Squirtle: Returned to Squirtle Squad but can be called upon at any time.
• Charizard: Left at Charicific Valley but can be called upon at any time.

Released

→ → File:Ash's Butterfree.png Caterpie → Metapod → Butterfree
→ Pidgeotto → Pidgeot	Lapras

• Butterfree: Released to mate and breed with a pink Butterfree.
• Pidgeot: Released to protect various Pidgey and Pidgeotto from various Spearow and a Fearow.
• Lapras: Released to be with its family and other Lapras.

Traded away

Raticate

Aipom

• Raticate: Received from Gentleman for Butterfree; subsequently sent it back again.
• Aipom: Traded to Dawn for Buizel

Given away

Beedrill

• Beedrill: Caught Beedrill in the Bug-Catching Contest, but subsequently gave it to Casey due to his knowledge of her fondness for black-and-yellow-striped Pokémon.

Unofficial

Haunter

File:Ash's Larvitar Egg.png → Egg → Larvitar

• Haunter: Never officially caught Haunter, but it accompanied him back to Saffron City to aid in his Gym battle against Sabrina before it decided to remain with her
• Larvitar: Cared for Larvitar as an egg and took it home to its mother; he never caught it in a ball, but he did use it in battle on at least one occasion.

Temporary

→ Ponyta → Rapidash		Porygon	Weezing
Meowth	Arbok	Hoothoot	Seaking
Hitmonlee	Raichu	Spoink	Mantyke

• Ponyta/Rapidash: Borrowed from Lara Laramie after she was injured and couldn't ride Ponyta in the race in The Flame Pokémon-athon. It evolved into Rapidash during the race and earned Ash the win.
• Porygon: Lent to by Dr. Akihabara to help stop Team Rocket from stealing Pokémon from the Pokémon Center's PC system in Computer Soldier Porygon.
• Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth: Used during a Pokémon League exam in The Ultimate Test.
• Hoothoot: Borrowed (with Brock and Misty) from Hagatha in order to navigate the haunted forest in Illusion Confusion.
• Seaking: Caught and released during the contest in Hook, Line, and Stinker.
• Hitmonlee: Borrowed from Master Hamm in Pasta La Vista to battle May with a Hitmonchan.
• Raichu: Trained during Camping It Up!.
• Spoink and Mantyke: Used in the Pokémon triathlon in One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team.

Badges obtained

Indigo League

• Boulder Badge (EP005)
• Cascade Badge (EP007)
• Thunder Badge (EP014)
• Marsh Badge (EP024)
• Rainbow Badge (EP026)
• Soul Badge (EP032)
• Volcano Badge (EP059)
• Earth Badge (EP063)

Orange League

• Coral-Eye Badge (EP085)
• Sea Ruby Badge (EP093)
• Spike Shell Badge (EP103)
• Jade Star Badge (EP108)

Johto League

• Zephyr Badge (EP131)
• Hive Badge (EP144)
• Plain Badge (EP159)
• Fog Badge (EP182)
• Storm Badge (EP209)
• Mineral Badge (EP224)
• Glacier Badge (EP238)
• Rising Badge (EP254)

Hoenn League

• Stone Badge (AG016)
• Knuckle Badge (AG031)
• Dynamo Badge (AG040)
• Heat Badge (AG056)
• Balance Badge (AG070)
• Feather Badge (AG085)
• Mind Badge (AG100)
• Rain Badge (AG111)

Battle Frontier

• Knowledge Symbol (AG136)
• Guts Symbol (AG149)
• Tactics Symbol (AG153)
• Luck Symbol (AG158)
• Spirits Symbol (AG164)
• Ability Symbol (AG170)
• Brave Symbol (AG190)

Sinnoh League

• Coal Badge (DP018)
• Forest Badge (DP037)
• Cobble Badge (DP068)
• Fen Badge (DP083)
• Relic Badge (DP102)
• Mine Badge (DP108)

Pokémon Competitions

Pokémon League ranking

Ash placed in the Pokémon League competitions listed below.

Pokémon Championship battles

Ash challenged the following Pokémon championships as well:

Miscellaneous Competitions

Ash has also participated in the following competitions:

Voice actors

In the manga

Template:Mangastub The manga version of Ash Ketchum is based on the anime version, but there are many differences after both versions took different directions. For example, while anime Ash is indifferent to romance or members of the opposite gender (or same gender, some may argue), manga Ash has a big crush on Gary's sister, May Oak. He's also prone to quickly falling in love like Brock, but to a much less extreme degree.

Pokémon

Pikachu	Fearow	Pidgeotto
→ → Caterpie → Metapod → Butterfree
→ → Charmander → Charmeleon → Charizard
Bulbasaur	Squirtle	Oddish
Beedrill	Kingler	Muk
Tauros	Lapras	Snorlax

Traded away

Mankey

Slowpoke (giant)

• Mankey: Given away for a map, which turned out to be fake.
• Giant Slowpoke: Given away to Gary for May Oak's photo

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Ash or his Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Name	Type	Level	Rarity	Set	Set no.
Ash's Torkoal		-	-	7th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	9/19
Ash's Grovyle		-	-	8th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	1/20
Ash's Phanpy		-	-	8th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	4/20
Ash's Swellow		-	-	8th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	7/20
Ash's Aipom		-	-	9th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	10/19
Ash's Treecko		-	-	"ADV-P" Promotional cards (no English release)	36/"ADV-P"

Trivia

Pokémon

• Ash has caught 50 different kinds of Pokémon, including evolutions and counting Larvitar, Seaking, Beedrill, Haunter, and Raticate, even though Larvitar and Haunter were not officially his, Beedrill was given away nearly immediately, and Seaking was released as part of contest rules. The original tagline for the dub was "Gotta Catch 'em All!", but Ash has only caught 10.14% of the current number of Pokémon. This line was eventually dropped in 2003, when he only had 8.03% of the then total of 386.
• Ash has caught or received 64 different individual Pokémon, 30 of which are his Tauros.
• Ash's first choice of a starter was Squirtle. Later, it is revealed that Gary was the Pallet Town trainer who chose Squirtle. Ash's second choice was Bulbasaur, while his third was Charmander.
• Ash has captured each generation's Template:Type2 starter Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treecko, and Turtwig..
• Ash has captured one Template:Type2 Pokémon from each series region that players can encounter early in different games: Pidgeotto, Noctowl, Taillow, and Starly.
• In both the Kanto and Johto story arcs, Ash managed to capture all three of the starter Pokémon for both regions. This trend was broken in the Advanced Generation series, where he only captured Treecko, while the other two were May's and Brock's.
• Ash has the most Pokémon that know moves that they can't learn in the games: Caterpie with Counter (although it apparently failed to use the move); Charizard with Tackle; Bulbasaur with Tickle (debatable), Dig, and Whirlwind; Raticate with Hi Jump Kick; Staravia with Gust; and Larvitar with Harden.
• Ash has three turtle-like Pokémon: Squirtle, Torkoal and Grotle. Each corresponds to one of the three elemental types of the starter Pokémon, though Torkoal isn't a starter itself.
• Three of Ash's Pokémon were caught by him after first premiering in Pokémon movies: Donphan (Mewtwo Strikes Back), Aipom (Spell of the Unown), and Buizel (Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea).
• The last Pokémon that Ash has captured in every region are a part of one-evolution families, namely Phanpy in Johto, Snorunt in Hoenn, Aipom in Kanto and Gligar in Sinnoh. If the Orange Archipelago is also included, Snorlax also falls in this category.
  • All of them, except Snorlax, were caught in their base forms and has eventually evolved to its final form.
• All together, Ash has seen at least twenty-seven different species of legendary Pokémon, and at least ten of them multiple times.

Challenges/Gym related

• So far, every time Ash becomes the champion of something, he then battles and gets defeated by Gary a few episodes later, before heading off to a new region. This has happened after his championing of the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier, which were both "filler seasons" before the start of even-numbered generations.
• In each region (except for the Orange Islands), Ash always loses against at least one of the Gym Leaders before challenging them to a rematch.
• So far, Ash always befriends someone shortly before the regional tournament. That person will beat Ash later on in the semifinals.
• During his adventures in Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto, Ash pinned his badges to the inside of his jacket. From Hoenn onwards, they have been kept in some form of case.
• The most badges Ash has ever gotten in the first thirty-five episodes were six badges in Kanto, which makes sense considering that Kanto was significantly shorter than any other saga (aside from the Orange Island saga and the Battle Frontier saga). In every other region thus far, he has only won two badges in the first thirty-five episodes.
• Discounting Koga, who was a Gym Leader at the time of Ash's battle against him, Ash has so far battled three Elite Four members, namely Prima, Drake and Agatha, losing to all three.
• The most number of episodes that Ash has gone without obtaining a badge was the 31-episode gap between The Grass Menagerie! and A Triple Fighting Chance!.

Pokémon in relation to others

• Ash has owned four Pokémon that have also been owned by Gym Leaders. Falkner (Pidgeot), Flannery (Torkoal), Winona (Swellow), and Gardenia (Turtwig). Coincidentally, all of them either have bird or turtle-like Pokémon. Other Gym Leaders have owned Pokémon that happened to be either the evolved form or pre-evolved form of one of Ash's Pokémon. Lt. Surge's Raichu (Pikachu), Cissy's Blastoise (Squirtle), Falkner's Hoothoot (Noctowl), Bugsy's Metapod (Butterfree), and Crasher Wake's Floatzel (Buizel).
  • A related coincidence is that three of the four female Gym Leaders listed above own a turtle/tortoise-like Pokémon.
• All of Ash's primate-based Pokémon have been owned by two Trainers - Paul previously owned Chimchar, Anthony currently owns Primeape, and Dawn currently owns Aipom which later evolved into Ambipom.
• Ash owns the most Pokémon that have evolved twice since they were obtained, with four. His first three have parallels with the three Pokémon that May owns that have evolved twice. For both Trainers, they are the final form Template:Type2 starter from their own region (Charizard), the final form Template:Type2 starter from the other region that appeared in Generation III's handheld games (Sceptile), and the first Pokémon that they caught from the wild, their region's native butterfly (Butterfree). These correspond to May's Blaziken, Venusaur, and Beautifly. The fourth is his Staraptor.
• Ash has owned at least one Pokémon of each type except Dark, Dragon, Steel, and Psychic.
  • All of these types are those of the pseudo-legendaries. Dragonite, Salamence and Garchomp are all Template:Type2s, Tyranitar a Template:Type2 and Metagross is both Steel and Psychic. However, he did temporarily own a Spoink, which is a Psychic-type, for an event.
• Four of Ash's Pokémon have been introduced to moves by someone else: Pikachu and Iron Tail, Swellow and Aerial Ace, Turtwig and Energy Ball, and Staravia and Brave Bird. Of these, three are TM moves in the games.

Miscellaneous

• Though not as touched on anymore, a running gag in the English version of the series involved his mother making sure that Ash changed his underwear every single day.
• The only girl Ash has even shown a confirmed interest is named Giselle whom appeared in The School of Hard Knocks.

• Ash has crossdressed once in each anime series: Pokémon Scent-sation! was the first time, in the original series, Love at First Flight was the second, in the Advanced Generation series, and Tanks for the Memories! was the third, in the Diamond & Pearl series. Each time Ash has crossdressed, he was never willing to do so and was coerced or forced into it in some fashion.
  • In addition to dressing as a girl, Ash has dressed up as fruit on at least two occasions. The first time, he dressed as an apple in Pokémon Food Fight! while the second he dressed as an eggplant in Claydol Big and Tall. On both occasions he was used to lure a large Pokémon.
  • Ash has also had to dress up on numerous occasions as Pokémon to help out the characters of the day. He has so far been a Mr. Mime in It's Mr. Mime Time, as an Octillery in Octillery the Outcast and as a Seviper in Zig Zag Zangoose!.
• Ash's Diamond & Pearl series outfit looks much like Lucas's. The biggest difference between the two is the fact that Lucas wears a scarf, and that Ash retains the baseball cap style for his hat, while Lucas's is a flat cap. Also Lucas's stripe on the shirt is grey, while Ash's is yellow.
• Ash has been mistaken to be the son of two women from Kanto and the Orange Islands. The first time was in Hypno's Naptime where he was mistaken for a boy named Arnold, while the second was in Pokémon Double Trouble when Luana mistook him for her son Travis.
• The Family of Ash Trees, which are considered a possible name source for Ash, contain trees known as the Blue Ash, Green Ash, and the Red Ash, matching the first three games released.

Names

Related articles

• Ashley
• Ashachu
• Episodes focusing on Ash

External links

• Poké Master, the fanlisting for Ash
• Satoshi's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
• Satoshi's Pokémon pg. 1 on Pokeani (Japanese)
• Satoshi's Pokémon pg. 2 on Pokeani (Japanese)
• SPURT!, shrine to Satoshi.
• Ash-Ketchum-Fans art collection on deviantART

On Bulbagarden forums

• Ash Club

Ash's Pokémon
On hand:	Pikachu
Traveling with:	Rotom Phone
At Oak's/In rotation:	Pidgeot	Bulbasaur	Charizard	Kingler	Muk	Tauros (×30)
	Snorlax	Heracross	Bayleef	Quilava	Totodile	Noctowl
	Donphan	Swellow	Sceptile	Corphish	Torkoal	Glalie
	Staraptor	Torterra	Infernape	Buizel	Gliscor	Gible
	Unfezant	Oshawott	Pignite	Snivy	Scraggy	Leavanny
	Palpitoad	Boldore	Krookodile	Talonflame	Hawlucha	Noivern
	Dragonite	Gengar	Lucario	Sirfetch'd	Dracovish
With Kukui/In rotation:	Rowlet	Lycanroc	Incineroar	Melmetal
At home:	Mr. Mime
In training:	Squirtle	Primeape
Released:	Butterfree	Lapras	Larvitar	Greninja	Goodra	Nebby
	Naganadel
Temporarily owned:	Seaking	Buzzwole	Stakataka	Pheromosa	Rowlet
Traded away:	Raticate	Aipom
Given away:	Beedrill
Traveled with:	Haunter	Meloetta	Rotom Pokédex
The Power of Us only:	Ekans	Sentret
EToP only:	Fearow	Oddish	Mankey	Slowpoke
Newspaper Strip only:	Starmie	Clefairy
For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here