Ash Ketchum

Ash Ketchum is a protagonist and a member of The New Action Squad.

## **BIOGRAPHY**

Ash is a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town whose goal is to become a Pokémon Master. His starter Pokémon was a Pikachu that he received from Professor Oak after arriving late at his laboratory. In *Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon*, he becomes the first Champion of the Alola region's Pokémon League.

Outside of Pallet Town, Ash is also a member of The New Action Squad.

## **APPEARANCE**

Ash is a skinny, slender young boy with dark black hair, slightly tan skin, and brown eyes with two distinctive lightning bolt-like markings underneath each one. Ash's pupils were not visible during the Indigo League and through the Diamond & Pearl series until the Best Wishes series made them more profound and distinguishable.

Ash wears 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 in the Best Wishes series.

## **PERSONALITY**

Ash is generally kind, brave, enthusiastic, passionate and adventurous. However, Ash can be stubborn, hot-headed, short-tempered, cocky, reckless, and impulsive at times. During his journey, Ash realized that some of those traits were affecting him as they had caused him to lose some of his Gym battles. Recognizing this, Ash trained himself for both his rematches and to help keep those parts of himself in check so they wouldn't not only affect him in battle again but also outside of it as well. Although those traits still remain, they have been shown to be less of a problem in Ash's Pokémon battles. Through his hard work, Ash has corrected the hot-headed, cocky, and impulsive parts of his personality, although he still shows them when Pokémon were being mistreated, when some of his friends tease him, and for various other reasons. Since then, Ash has demonstrated much greater maturity and level-headedness both in and out of battles. In addition, Ash has shown to give everyone around him good advice in order to better themselves and their goals. Ash also has a fascination with science and technology, even though he cannot understand most of it.

At times, Ash can have a hard time opening up, as he doesn't like to talk about his feelings and past. Ash also had difficult times when it comes to taking advice or criticism from others, especially from his friends, but that changed over time. While Ash has grown to be more open towards talking about his feelings and taking advice or criticism, he still has trouble opening up about his past sometimes. However, Ash does open up about his past with his friends and Pokémon whenever it comes up, if he needs someone to talk to or he felt like talking about it because it either reflects a mistake of his or he feels comfortable in sharing towards anyone who is closest to him. Despite being more open, Ash still shows his stubborn side at times, although it's mostly shown when he is depressed or upset.

## **TRIVIA**

* Ash's original Japanese name is "Satoshi" and he was named after and based on Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon.
* Ash's last name, Ketchum, may be derived from "catch 'em".
	+ His fake name, Tom Ato, might be derived from his last name, Ketchum, and be related to Ketchup.
* Ash's name is based on one of the three options for one's name in Red/Blue/Yellow.
* In the 20th Pokémon movie as well as previously in the anime, Ash's birthdate is confirmed to be the same day he began his journey.
* On a related note, Ash is still considered 10 years old in promotional materials as well as the first episode of *Black & White* (dub only) despite the episode "Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!" strongly implying that at least a full year had passed since his time in Johto. Also, in the "Pikachu & Pichu" short, which aired at least two full series before Best Wishes, it is stated a full year has passed since Ash and Pikachu first met then, as well. Though he is still officially "10", this would make Ash chronologically around 12, or, around 12-13. Takeshi Shudo also wrote the screenplay for the movie "The Spell of the Unown", which the Pikachu & Pichu short was originally shown with.
* Ash is the only human character to appear in every season.
* Ash was originally going to have a Clefairy instead of a Pikachu as his partner. This was changed because people found Pikachu to be cuter.
* Besides the Orange League and Kanto Battle Frontier, the Alola League is currently the only actual league tournament that Ash ever won.
* Ash is the only known trainer to have ever defeated Tobias' Darkrai.
* In the Kanto region, Ash often turned his cap backward when preparing for a battle or to capture a Pokémon. This habit wore off as time went on. However, he was shown turning his cap backward when he was battling Tobias, presumably because Tobias was arguably the strongest trainer he'd ever faced, being the only one who was capable of beating all six of his Pokémon using only two of his own. Although in the Best Wishes series, Ash is seen turning his cap backward more often. He recently turned his hat around in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! when he used Froakie to help defeat and capture Fletchling.
* Ash has seen every legendary Pokémon from Kanto to Alola.