Ash Ketchum

For the alternate version, see **Ash Ketchum (M20)**.

* SM
* XY
* BW
* DP
* RS
* TB&GS
 Gender
 Birth date
 Eye color
 Hair color
 Hometown
 Family
 Friends

Pikachu
Misty
Brock
Tracey Sketchit
May
Max
Dawn
Iris
Cilan
Clemont
Bonnie
Serena
Lana
Kiawe
Lillie
Sophocles
Mallow
Rotom Dex
Goh

 Occupation
Member of the Ultra Guardians (during his time in Alola)
Unofficial Police (temporary when helping Officer Jenny)
The Chosen One of Azelf
Champion of the Orange League
Champion of the Alola League
Pokémon Champion (Orange Islands & Alola)
Research Fellow (Cerise Laboratory)
 Trainer class
Sarah Natochenny (S09-present)

**Ash Ketchum** is the main protagonist of the *Pokémon* anime series. Pikachu is the only Pokémon he travels with to every region he goes to in his journey. Ash's ultimate goal is to become a Pokémon Master, the greatest Pokémon Trainer ever.

## Appearance

### **Pokémon the Series: The Beginning** & **Gold and Silver**

Ash wore a blue short-sleeved jacket with gold trim, white collar and sleeves, a dark teal T-shirt, blue jeans with light blue cuffs, black and white sneakers with red dots, green fingerless gloves with light green borders, and a red and white hat with a green stylized "L".

Ash's eye pupils were not visibly shown, his lightning bolt-like markings are tilted and slightly longer and his spiky hair is sharper.

### **Pokémon the Series: Ruby & Sapphire**

Ash wore new clothing. He wore a black and red hat with a green Pokéball on it, a blue sleeveless hoodie with gold trim and a white hood, a black short sleeve undershirt with a red stripe, black fingerless gloves with light green borders, light blue jeans, and blue sneakers.

Ash's spiky hair is slightly short and his lightning bolt like markings are slightly short.

### **Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl**

Ash wore a black vest with a white collar and yellow stripe, a white short-sleeved undershirt, blue cargo jeans, and black and red sneakers. He also wore a red hat with a blue Pokéball print. Ash wore the same fingerless gloves he wore in the Advanced series.

Ash's spiky hair is slightly shorter and slightly dull, and his lightning bolt-like markings are short and slightly big.

### **Pokémon the Series: Black and White**

Ash wore a red and white hat with a blue Pokéball print, a blue and white hooded jacket with a golden zipper, black baggy jeans, black fingerless gloves with red borders, and red high-top sneakers.

Ash's eye pupils are visible shown and his lightning bolts-like markings are slightly smaller.

### **Pokémon the Series: XY**

In the XY and XYZ, Ash wore a blue collared shirt with short sleeves and white trim, a black undershirt, darker blue jeans, a red and white hat, and red high-top sneakers. Ash also wore the same fingerless gloves he wore throughout the entire Best Wishes series.

Ash's body looks the same only that he has tufts of hair on each side of his head that covers the top of his ears. Also, his jolt-like markings underneath his eyes are smaller than usual.

### **Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon**

Ash wore a loose short-sleeved shirt with white and blue stripes, brown capris pants with red outlines, baggy pockets and red folded sleeves at the edge, and blue sneakers. His cap was red, dark blue, and gray, and the Pokéball design was white. Ash also kept a silver Z-Ring on his left wrist, which was later upgraded into a black Z-Power Ring. Unlike in previous regions, Ash did not wear fingerless gloves while he was in Alola.

As a member of the Ultra Guardians, Ash wears an indigo and white uniform with light periwinkle accents as the edge of the short sleeves, collar and inlines of his uniform are black. He wears matching indigo gloves.

In "A Young Royal Flame Ignites!", while teaming up alongside Professor Kukui disguised as Masked Royal and Ash Royal, he goes shirtless but retains his capris and sneakers from his primary outfit and dons a red flame designed wrestling mask with green and light blue with blue designs at the back of his mask. The wrestling mask was given by Kukui before they teamed up together at the Battle Royal.

Ash's sided spike hair has decreased a bit and are rounder, his eyebrows and his spike hair tuft are shorter than usually seen in previously. When he is not wearing his hat, his hair remains the same, only smoother, and shorter.

Ash's two lightning bolts-like markings are slightly bigger.

### **Pokémon Journeys: The Series**

Ash wears a blue vest with yellow outlines, a white undershirt with short sleeves and a red stripe, indigo shorts with black outlines, and black sneakers with blue highlights. He also wears a red hat with a black Pokéball design formed into the letter C. During his second visit to Galar, he wears a Dynamax Band on his right wrist which he obtained from Leon. Also, Ash sometimes wears his Z-Power Ring on his left wrist or his Mega Glove whenever he is battling in an important match, especially World Coordination Series battles of the Ultra Class. During a visit to Kalos, Ash wears a Key Stone embedded to one of his gloves that resembled the ones he wore during his Unova and Kalos journeys that he obtained from Korrina.

Ash's sided spiky hair has increased a bit and are sharper like they were before; his eyebrows and his spiky hair tuft is larger than usually seen in previously. When he is not wearing his hat, his hair remains the same, only smoother and shorter. Ash's two lightning bolt-like markings still remain slightly bigger like they were throughout the entire of the Sun and Moon Series. However, his eyes are a bit wider than they were before.

## Pokémon

### On hand

As of *The Road Most Traveled!*, Ash has begun rotating his team with Pokémon from Professor Oak's Lab and Kukui's home. The only fixed member on his team is Pikachu.

### With Professor Oak/In rotation

This section shows the Pokémon that Ash keeps at Professor Oak's Laboratory.

### With Kukui and Burnet/In rotation

This section shows the Pokémon that Ash keeps at Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet's house.

### At home

This section shows the Pokémon that Ash keeps with Delia at home.

### In training

This section is for the Pokémon that Ash still owns but are in the care of another Trainer or a group of other Pokémon.

### Released

This section is for the Pokémon that Ash formally released into the wild.

## Pokémon League Status

Ash has competed in the following Pokémon League Conferences:

* Indigo Plateau Conference - Top 16 (*Friend and Foe Alike*)
* Silver Conference - Top 8 (*Johto Photo Finish*)
* Ever Grande Conference - Top 8 (*At the End of the Fray*)
* Lily of the Valley Conference - Top 4 (*The Semi-Final Frontier!*)
* Vertress Conference - Top 8 (*A Unova League Evolution!*)
* Lumiose Conference - Runner-Up (*Down to the Fiery Finish!*)
* Manalo Conference - Winner (*Enter the Champion!*)

## World Coronation Series Ranking Status

Ash has competed in the World Coronation Series. His rank and class are as follows:

* Rank 3,763 (Normal Class; as of *Destination: Coronation!*)
* Rank 1,512 (Normal Class; as of *Dreams Are Made of These!*)
* Rank 1,022 (Normal Class; as of *A Festival Reunion!*)
* Rank 921 (Great Class; as of *A Festival Reunion!*)
* Rank 901 (Great Class; as of *Betrayed, Bothered, and Beleaguered!*)
* Rank 890 (Great Class; as of *Trade, Borrow, and Steal!*)
* Rank 930 (Great Class; as of *Solitary and Menacing!*)
* Rank 975 (Great Class; as of *Making Battles in the Sand!*)
* Rank 1,021 (Normal Class; as of *Making Battles in the Sand!*)
* Unknown rank (Great Class; as of *Octo-Gridlock at the Gym!*)
* Rank 415 (Great Class; as of *Trials of a Budding Master!*)
* Rank 381 (Great Class; as of *Trials of a Budding Master!*)
* Rank 273 (Great Class; as of *Beyond Chivalry… Aiming to be a Leek Master!*)
* Rank 184 (Great Class; as of *Beyond Chivalry… Aiming to be a Leek Master!*)
* Rank 99 (Ultra Class; as of *Thrash of the Titans!*)
* Rank 64 (Ultra Class; as of *Ultra Exciting from the Shocking Start!*)
* Rank 36 (Ultra Class; as of *A Battle of Mega Versus Max!*)
* Rank 15 (Ultra Class; as of *Battling Turned Up to Eleven!*)
* Rank 9 (Ultra Class; as of *Taking Two For The Team!*)
* Rank 8 (Master Class; as of *Aim For The Eight!*)
* Monarch (Master Class; as of *Partners in Time!*)

## Trivia

* Ash was designed by Atsuko Nishida.
* Ash's height is around 4'7" (140 cm).
* Ash's hat in the original series was similar to Red's hat in his original design from Pokémon Red and Green before undergoing several changes until the final design.
* Ash originally wanted a Squirtle to be his starter Pokémon, but Professor Oak told him it was taken by a Trainer who was not late.
* In the anime, Ash is the first and, so far, only Trainer:
	+ With a known hometown to not be native to any of the regions he is the Champion of.
	+ With access to Z-Moves, Dynamax/Gigantamax, and Mega Evolution at the same time.
		- Who has used more than one of those in a single battle.
	+ Shown to have won two of the same Gym Badge, as he's earned a Rain Badge from both Juan and Wallace.
* Ash has never officially caught a female-only Pokémon or a Legendary Pokémon.
* Ash has caught at least one of the starter Pokémon of every region he has visited, except for Galar.
* Ash has caught at least one Flying-type Pokémon in every series.
	+ However, he has never caught a Flying-type Pokémon introduced after Generation VII.
	+ Moreover, Flying is the most common type among Ash's non-temporary Pokémon under his ownership, with a total of twelve representants.
* As of *A Chilling Curse!*, Ash has caught at least one Pokémon belonging to all eighteen types (this includes Pokémon he owns or has owned that have been retroactively made Fairy-type).
	+ Also, as of *Battling Turned Up to Eleven!*, he has used at least one move of every type with his Pokémon.
* All of Ash's Grass-type Pokémon are part of a three-stage evolutionary line.
* Ash's favorite move is Thunderbolt, as revealed by himself in *Climbing the Walls!*.
* Ash is still considered a 10-year-old in promotional materials and in main series episodes as recent as *Sleuths for Truth!*, despite at least a year having been implied to have passed between *A Goldenrod Opportunity* and *Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!*.
	+ Kunihiko Yuyama, creative supervisor for *Pokémon Journeys: The Series* and executive director for prior series, has stated in a interview with Daniel Arsham in *Arsham's Pokédex*, a collection of Pokémon-related artwork, that Ash doesn't age because the anime is set in an endless early summer.
* When Veronica Taylor was interviewed in the documentary "Adventures in Voice Acting", she stated that during her audition for the role of Ash, he was known as Casey at the time. This name would later be given to a recurring character from Johto.
* Ash can draw, as shown in *Up Close and Personable!* when he drew a Dewgong. However, his drawing was insulted by Angie.
* Ash has been shown to be a good climber at various points in the anime, such as in *Enter Iris and Axew!*, *Climbing the Walls*, and *Some Kind of Laziness!*, to the point of Misty saying "He climbs like a Mankey" in *Celebi: The Voice of the Forest*, and Brock calling him a "human Aipom" in *Lucario and the Mystery of Mew*.
* Ash has lost once to every Normal-type Gym Leader he has met. Out of the four Normal-type Gym Leaders he has battled against, Cheren is the only one against whom Ash has never won.
* The only region where Ash didn't lose any official Gym battles is the Orange Archipelago.
	+ Also, Ash did not lose any official trials in *Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon*, although he has lost to Nanu in an unofficial battle.
* Ever since facing Wattson in *Watt's with Wattson?*, Ash has not won a Gym Badge in the same episode in which he meets the Gym Leader.
* If only Trainer battles are counted, Ash's longest winning streak lasted a total of 87 episodes, spanning from his loss to Rinto in *Trials of a Budding Master!* to his loss to Misty in *A Fated Face-Off!*.
	+ If not, as all of his eligible Pokémon were defeated in a Raid Battle against an Articuno in *Battling in the Freezing Raid!*, the longest period Ash has been on a winning streak is exactly 70 episodes, going from *Battles in the Sky!* to *A Meeting of Two Journeys!*.
* Ash has defeated more regional Champions onscreen in the anime than any other Trainer, having won against Iris, Steven, Cynthia, and Leon.
	+ Additionally, he has also defeated Wallace, the former Hoenn Champion.
* Ash shares at least one Pokémon of the same evolutionary family with one of his rivals in each series.
* *Time After Time!* and *The Mew from Here!* are the only main series episodes during his time as a protagonist to not feature Ash in any capacity.
* In promotional material for the Manalo Conference, Ash was given the title of (Japanese: ゼンリョクチャレンジャ *Full-force challenger*).
* National Ash Ketchum Day is celebrated every September 15, the anniversary of Ash's first Pokémon League Conference victory, first being celebrated on said victory's first-year anniversary in 2020.
* In the Pokémon: Twilight Wings episode *Letter*, a Trainer who bears a resemblance to Ash can be seen at the entrance to Wyndon Stadium with a Pikachu.