Ash Ketchum

Ash Ketchum is a fictional character in the Pokémon line of game products.

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The trainer Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, known as Satoshi (サトシ) in the original Japanese and based on the character from the original games (most probably the same person), is the main character of the Pokémon anime, the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, and the Ash & Pikachu manga.

Related Topics:
Trainer - Pallet Town - Japanese - Main character - Pokémon anime - Electric Tale of Pikachu - Ash & Pikachu - Manga

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The names Ash and Satoshi (as in the creator of the Pokémon franchise, Satoshi Tajiri) were default choices for names in Pokémon Red (and similarly, Gary and Shigeru (named for Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of many other Nintendo franchises such as Mario and Zelda) for Pokémon Blue). The surname Ketchum is a pun on the phrase "catch'em". It is possible that he was given this surname to match the number of mouth movements in the anime (Satoshi has 2 more syllabes then Ash), so as to make redubbing easier.

Related Topics:
Satoshi Tajiri - Pokémon Red - Shigeru Miyamoto - Nintendo - Mario - Zelda - Pokémon Blue - Pun

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Ash is a typical shounen hero: very excitable, empathic, 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.

Related Topics:
Shounen - Hero - Empathic - Distraction - :clueless

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Like most shonen protagonists, he is on a great quest; in this case, Ash seeks to become the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world. 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.

Related Topics:
Quest - Pokémon trainer - Pokémon League - Competitions - Protagonists - Pokémon video games - Misty - Brock - Tracey Sketchit - May - Max

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His lifelong rival is Gary Oak. When he became ten years old, he was to receive his first Pokémon. He overslept and by the time he arrived at Professor Oak's Laboratory, all the starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle) had been taken and he had to start with a Pikachu instead. His Pikachu has the particular characteristic of hating Pokéballs 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.

Related Topics:
Rival - Gary Oak - Professor Oak - Bulbasaur - Charmander - Squirtle - Pikachu - Pokéballs - Team Rocket - Stealing

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In the fandom, there are two main sources of debate surrounding Ash. The first is in where his romantic issues lie. Shipping is a common theme seen in the fandom, and it is hard to miss the obvious hints towards Misty having a crush on Ash during the first few seasons of the show. Ironically, Ash failed to notice this, and it is generally agreed that he is more interested in his Pokémon than in girls. Since Advance Generation, however, the fandom has been divided in who Misty now fancies, and whether Ash has begun to notice any girls. Two main ships have emerged to counter PokéShipping (Ash/Misty). They are OrangeShipping (Misty/Tracey) and AdvanceShipping (Ash/May). As yet, none have been confirmed or unconfirmed, and any pairing has some value at the moment. However, it is important to note that, due to the nature of the show, romance has never played a large part, and the question of who will end up with who is much stronger in the fandom than in the show.

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Ash's mother is Delia Ketchum, (or Hanako in Japan.) She is caring, though strongwilled, and oftentimes pesters Ash to change his underwear every day; a gag runs throughout the series. However, the identity of Ash's father is the second biggest source of debate in the fandom. Many possibilities have been brought up, and while a number of familiar faces have been suggested, the general view is that he hasn't been seen yet, and is either a travelling trainer or dead. For some time, it was widely speculated that Ash's father may in fact be Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket. The speculations were based on the non-canonical musical Pokémon Live, in which it was revealed that Delia had a relationship with Giovanni while they were younger. Some people still believe that it could be Giovanni, because while it may be a big rip-off of Star Wars, it presents the best storyline opportunities.

Related Topics:
Mother - Delia Ketchum - Caring - Strongwilled - Underwear - Gag - Father - Possibilities - Giovanni - Team Rocket - Musical - Pokémon Live - Star Wars

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It should be noted that for a small time Ash had been turned into a Pikachu by a pokémon sorceress on accident near the end of an episode. The girl made a spell that was supposed to let the receiver see into the mind of a Pokémon. Ash was eager to be first, since he and his Pikachu helped gather most of the ingredients over the course of the episode; the spell, however, went wrong and he became a pokémon instead. This Pikachu version of Ash had messed-up hair (similar to the human Ash) and his trademark hat. His eyes and voice (he was still capable of speech) stayed exactly the same. The next episode, which took place four days later, showed Ash still as a Pikachu, but he reverted back to his human self before the plot started.

Related Topics:
Sorceress - Accident - Spell - Mind - Ingredients

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Satoshi is voiced by Rika Matsumoto in the original, while Ash is voiced by Veronica Taylor in the English version.

Related Topics:
Rika Matsumoto - Veronica Taylor

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