Gary Oak

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**Gary Oak** (Japanese: **オーキド・シゲル** *Shigeru Okido*) is a recurring character who appeared in the Pocket Monsters Series. He is a Pokémon Researcher from Pallet Town and grandson of Template:An. He is a childhood friend of Ash Ketchum and his main rival in the original series. His Japanese name is derived from Shigeru Miyamoto.

## In the anime

### Main series

#### Character

The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant Trainer, much like his game counterpart, Blue. His chosen starter Pokémon was Squirtle, which was actually the same Pokémon that Ash originally wanted to start with. He even had a group of cheerleaders who cheered him on in all his battles and would go so far as crying whenever he lost. He didn't walk on his journeys like most Trainers did; instead, he had his own sporty red convertible with a chauffeur. Gary loved when he got a chance to make fun of Ash by bragging about how far behind Ash was compared to him. He also gave Ash the pet name of "Ashy-boy" (Japanese: "Satoshi*-kun*"), which occasionally seems to annoy him. His style of training at this point was to capture many Pokémon and to use the strongest, as a stark contrast to Ash, who focused on developing a bond with his Pokémon.

His arrogance continued over time during Ash's journey in Kanto until he challenged the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni, to a Pokémon battle for his final (but unnecessary) Badge in "Viridian City The Final Badge", where he was brutally defeated by Mewtwo. However, this still didn't change his arrogance. It would take a loss at the Pokémon League way later on against Melissa for him to finally realize that he greatly needed to change himself. Following his loss, Gary would become more polite and respectful of others, no longer showing any of his arrogant and extravagant tendencies from the past. This change in attitude would continue to be apparent throughout his few appearances during the Johto season.

As Ash's first and longest rival, his relationship and rivalry with Ash would prove to play a pivotal role on the latter's outlook as a Trainer. Despite his low opinion of Ash, Gary would make a point to show off his superiority in every way he could during his earlier appearances. The duo's dynamic would see a major change once Gary was abruptly eliminated in the Indigo Plateau Conference, with Gary growing humble and ceasing his arrogance and antagonistic attitude towards Ash, though he would still tease him at times. By the time of the Silver Conference, Ash and Gary would have a more amiable relationship with one another while still maintaining a sense of rivalry. After his defeat against Ash, Gary would graciously accept his defeat and gave him his half of the Poké Ball, symbolizing the end of their rivalry and the renewal of their friendship. Even after ending his rivalry with Ash, Gary would continue to have an impact on Ash and his journey moving forward, continuing to serve as a motivation towards him while at times lending him a helping hand.

#### Pokémon

Since the very start of his own journey, Gary has shown exceptional skill as a Pokémon Trainer, catching and training an astonishing number and variety of strong Pokémon in a short period of time and losing battles very infrequently. Despite the huge amount of Pokémon he owns, Gary takes very good care of them all, as noticed by Brock and Tracey when they first saw his Eevee. As revealed by himself in *??*, Gary often rotated the Pokémon in his party to suit the needs of the battles he would participate in. During his journey in Johto, Gary however was seen training and focusing only on specific members of his team such as Umbreon and Arcanine.

In ??, Gary chose to leave his Pokémon with his grandfather with the exception of Blastoise, but over time he recruited some of the Pokémon to help with various tasks and research.

As of ???, Gary had captured more than 200 Pokémon from 60 different species.

##### In rotation

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#### Achievements

##### Badges obtained

###### Kanto Badges

During his Template:Pkmn through Kanto, Gary collected ten Gym Badges. This listing is of the Badges Gary has obtained in the Kanto region:

* Cascade
* Rainbow
* Two unknown Badges
* Boulder
* Five unknown Badges

###### Johto Badges

This listing is of the Badges Gary has obtained in the Johto region:

* At least eight Badges

##### Pokémon League

Gary has competed in the following Pokémon League Conferences:

* Indigo Plateau Conference - Top 32
* Silver Conference - Top 16

## Trivia

* Gary is one of the few characters from the original series, who appeared during both dubs of the anime, to have his English dub voice remain unchanged; he is always voiced by Carter Cathcart.
* Gary is one of the few characters to have a surname in the Japanese version of the anime.
	+ Furthermore, Gary is the only rival in the anime to have a surname.
* In the original series, Gary's attire is similar to Blue's during Generations I and II. In his *Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation* and *Pocket Monsters: Diamond and Pearl* appearances, Gary wears Blue's outfit from FireRed and LeafGreen;s. Interestingly, the cape he adorns in OK!, resembles the one worn by his cross-canon manga counterpart Blue in the Yellow.
* Gary owns the final evolutionary forms of each of the special Pokémon that can appear on Template:Rt via dual-slot mod], swarming, or the Poké Radar (Arcanine, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Dodrio).
* Gary is the only character whose game counterpart is a Champion, but hasn't been a Champion at any point in the anime.
* Excluding Ash, Gary is the only character to have participated in more than one on-screen League Conference.
* According to *Pocket Monsters: The Animation*, aside from his being Professor Oak's grandson, he is also the grandnephew of Pallet Town's mayor. It also explains that his girlfriends are the mayor's electoral staff.

## Related articles

* Template:Cat
* Images on the Bulbagarden Archives

## References

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Template:Gary's Pokémon

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