...Pixel Fetish

Profiles

Ash

Name: (English) Ash Ketchum (Japanese) Satoshi

Japanese Name: Satoshi

Age: 10 years (at start of series)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Height: about 5'5"

Weight: 95 lbs

Family: Delia Ketchum, his mother; unknown father

Status: Pokemon Trainer

Quote: Pokemon isn't about tests, it's about battles! Hahahahaha!

Anime: Pokemon

Voice: (English) Veronica Taylor, Jamie Peacock, (Japanese) Rica Matsumoto

History and Personality:  Ash is from Pallet Town in the Kanto (or Indigo Plateau) region of the pokemon world.  He lives with his mother, Delia, before setting off at the ripe old age of 10 to start his pokemon journey (gotta love a world where ten is old enough to travel the world on your own...).

Ash often does things without thinking. He is a typical shonen hero: very excitable, empathic (some might say spunky), determined, sometimes focused to the point of distraction, and clever when it comes to his obsessive interest (Pokémon training, in this case) though often clueless in other areas. He's also extremely confident and valiant, but he can be slightly arrogant and very stubborn. Though Ash is generally very kind and open he does have some trouble expressing his feelings and so will sometimes shout as an emotional defense. Ash also shows impressive stamina, having on several occasions been hit by Pokémon attacks without suffering any lasting harm, such as having Charizard breathe fire on him and being hypnotized by an Exeggcute, though such events are usually used for comedic effect.  Mainly he is just a good guy following his dream, who isn't afraid to take a detour to help a person, or pokemon, in need.  Many characters have commented that Ash's pokemon battling style is ingenious and unconventional.  This is generally do to the fact that he is able to see things from a different perspective.  And that is probably possible because he puts so much effort into getting to know his pokemon.  He knows their strength and weaknesses and is able to "think outside the box". On a somewhat comical note throughout the first few seasons Ash's love for all things pokemon seems to be rivaled only by his love for food.  He does mature beyond this by the Hoenn seasons where May takes over that role.

Like most shonen protagonists, he is on a great quest; in this case, Ash seeks to become the world's greatest Pokemon Master. In pursuit of this end, he travels around the world, battling Gym Leaders and entering in Pokémon League competitions, similar to the protagonists of the Pokémon video games. He is first accompanied by Misty and Brock, and later on by Tracey Sketchit during the Orange Islands saga, and May and Max in Advanced Generation.

Ash seems to have connections to Legendary Pokémon. In Pokémon: The Power of One, it's revealed that Ash is the Chosen One to help Lugia save the world and the Pokémon, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno. The most notable connection is that he is the only living person known to have seen Ho-Oh, a Legendary Pokémon that allegedly disappeared from the world three centuries ago. This more than anything seems to support the belief that he is already a great pokemon trainer in the eyes of pokemon if not in the eyes of other people.

Ash has quite the reckless streak, as shown in the movies. Ash says that he probably got this streak from his mom. In the first movie, he runs into the path of a pair of psychic attacks fired by Mewtwo and Mew, getting himself temporarily petrified; in the second movie, he runs into electrical cages containing Moltres and Zapdos; in the third movie, he runs into a force field protecting the elusive Uknown; in the fourth movie, he runs up the side of a tree after being hit by one of Celebi's attacks and also ventures into "a giant twig monster" to rescue a brainwashed Celebi; and in the fifth movie, Ash runs into a force field that is hurting Latios, Pikachu and Latias, doing likewise.

His lifelong rival is Gary Oak, who is the same age as Ash. On his tenth birthday, Ash was to receive his first Pokémon. But he overslept, and by the time he arrived at Professor Oak's Laboratory, all the starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle) had been taken (his original choice was Squirtle, which ironically was taken first by Gary Oak) and he had to start with a Pikachu instead. At the start of the series, Pikachu dislikes him, and shows it by shocking him frequently. It still shocks him to wake him up in emergencies. His Pikachu has the particular characteristic of hating Poké Balls so it always tags along with Ash. Because of Pikachu's powerful electric attacks, Ash is the frequent target of Team Rocket's plans of stealing Pokémon for their own interests.

Relationships: (with pokemon)  While Ash is surprisingly close to all of his pokemon the only one I really want to cover here is Pikachu.  Pikachu was Ash's first pokemon, and the relationship started out very rocky.  In fact, Pikachu actually attacked Ash!  But when Ash risks his life to save the small pokemon they become best friends for life.  Ash talks to Pikachu just like he would to a human being and he treats Pikachu with love and respect.

As for the rest of his pokemon, Ash treats them all as valuable members of his team, even when they aren't with him.  It is important to note that many of Ash's pokemon chose to be with him.  He has also befriended many pokemon who only traveled with him a short time or who were never technically his pokemon at all.  Ash seems to be able to relate to pokemon, helping them work through their problems and feel better about themselves.  He always takes their thoughts and feelings into consideration.

As a Pokémon trainer, Ash carries six Pokémon with him that form his team's active roster. However, due to the anime being not strictly conforming to the video games, there are Pokémon that are on Ash's team that have not been formally caught by Ash. This often allowed Ash to be accompanied by more than six Pokémon, especially since Pikachu, the only permanent member of his active roster, never stays in a Poké Ball. An even looser definition of Ash's team allows for Pokémon that are caught by other regular characters. Below is a list of every pokemon that has ever been a part of Ash's team.

Original six - Pikachu, Butterfree (released), Pidgeotto (who evolved into Pidgeot - released), Bulbasaur, Charmander (who evolved into charmeleon and then Charizard - training) and Squirtle (with Squirtle Squad)

Other Kanto pokemon - Tauros (lots of them), Krabby (who evolved into a kingler), Muk, primeape (released)

Orange Island Pokemon- Lapras (released), Snorlax

Johto Pokemon - Heracross, chikorita (who evolved into Bayleef), Noctowl, cyndaquil, totodile, phanpy (who evolves into Donphan)

Hoenn Pokemon - Swellow (who evolves into Taillow), treecko ( who evolves into grovile and then sceptile), corfish, torkle, snowrunt (who evolved into glalie)

Additional Pokemon - Aipom

Other pokemon (not officially on team): Haunter, beedrill, larvatar, jigglypuff

Relationships: (with people) As a trainer Ash has the opportunity to meet many people, and there just isn't space or time to go into the all.  For now we will focus on three major categories: friends, rivals,  and enemies, where family and professors are included among friends and friendly rivals are included as rivals.

Friends - Ash's most notable (and possibly controversial) relationship is with Misty.  He meets Misty early on when he borrows her bike to rush Pikachu to get medical help... and he kills the bike. For the rest of the season she follows him under the pretense of waiting for him to buy her a new bike.  The two often argue in the first season, but by the second they have both matured considerably and have a more caring relationship.  Most fans consider Ash and Misty a couple, or at the very least a potential couple.  I would agree that there does seem to be an attraction between them,  Ash even mentions to Max in the Jirachi movie that he misses "someone" very special to him, and he is thinking of Misty when he says it...

Ash's second (and ummm... most frequent?  The one who is around most...) companion is a young man several years older named Brock.  Ash and Brock have almost nothing in common (as Brock is a bit of the erm... motherly type - cooks, cleans, scolds... - and is primarily obsessed with pokemon breeding.. and girls - though not necessarily in that order) but they help each other out and seem to enjoy one another's company.  In the beginning Ash relied heavily on Brock's advice and experience, but now they seem to be equals, except where cooking is concerned ~.^

Ash briefly traveled with a boy named Tracy who taught him to watch pokemon carefully to see their skills, and who probably mellowed him out quite a bit as well.  In Hoenn and on the second trip through Kanto he travels with (in addition to Brock) siblings named May and Max.  Max looks up to Ash and knows his whole record, and though May would never admit it she is watching him as well.  Ash easily falls into the role of the older, more experienced trainer subtly assisting newer trainers in their growth.  For a short time it seemed as though May might have "Designs" on Ash, but that aspect of their relationship seems to have faded away.

Ash is also very close to Professor Oak, who has always mentored the boy and supported him.  Ash respects the man, but he often seems to relate to him more as a friend and equal then as a teacher.  Professor Oak seems to admire Ash's unique way with pokemon and Ash is grateful for the friendship offered.

And, of course, Ash is close to his mother who still worries about him as though he were just a kid and still reminds him to change his underwear.  Though he is often away from home and doesn't seem to call or write much, it is obvious that Ash and his mother love one another.  She is very proud of him, and he would do just about anything to keep it that way.    

In general Ash gets along well with people of all ages with all interests.  It isn't unusual for a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny to solicit his help or make a positive remark about him, and he is respected by Professors and League officials (such as the Pokemon League President) as well.

Rivals - Ash's strongest rival up until the Hoenn league is Gary Oak.  Gary is the grandson of Professor Oak and is the same age as Ash.  At first Gary seems to be a much more talented trainer than Ash, but he finds he can learn a few things from his rival as well.  Though their not-quite-good-natured verbal sparring gives us some tension and occasional comic relief, it was a relief to me when after the Johto competitions Gary decided to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a researcher instead of a trainer.  Ash seems as though he will miss him though, as the two did come to respect one another through their encounters in Johto.

Ash's most famous friendly rival is probably Richie.  We don't know much about Richie except that he is very much like Ash - only more mature.  From the time we meet him at the Indigo league competition Richie seems to understand what life is about.  He teaches Ash that a trainer can learn from anything, especially losing.  It is Richie who teaches Ash how to lose with dignity.  Like Ash he seems to have a very special bond with his pokemon.  Though Ash beats him they part as friends.

Throughout the series Ash encounters many friendly rivals.  In fact, he seems to make a point of befriending all kinds of trainers. Some of those trainers are so lousy we find it hard to see why he respects them, and others can wipe the floor with him.  But Ash encourages and congratulates them all appropriately, and he's always willing to lend a hand if they need one.

Enemies: Aside from various movie "one-time" bad guys, Ash's only real enemies are the members of Team Rocket (and for a brief time Teams Aqua and Magma).  While Ash never hesitates to thwart their plans and often (in the case of Team Rocket) send them flying with a pokemon attack he is always willing to put their differences aside when a joint effort is required, or when the villain is in desperate need or seems to want to change.  He is very forgiving in that way.  It seems as though he is able to separate what they do that is wrong from them as people.

Trivia: Ash's name in the Japanese, Satoshi, is the name of Pokemon's creator.  Incidentally, Pokemon's creator is also the co-founder of GameFreak.

Why we love him: There's something to be said for a guy who just never gives up.  Ash's character may be crazy inconsistent but he stands out in this made-up world.  His battle style is unique, and his whole strategy centers around building relationships with his pokemon.  In a world where more is often seen as better - that's really saying something.  So while Ash may not be the "greatest pokemon master" in terms of  winning battles and catching pokemon, he is definitely the greatest in terms of heart.