Characters / Pokémon: The Series — Ash Ketchum

Pokémon: The Series characters index
Series-wide: Original Trio (Ash Ketchum, Pikachu) | Team Rocket Organization (Team Rocket Trio) | Supporting Cast
Original Series (Main Cast) | Ruby and Sapphire (Main Cast) | Diamond and Pearl (Main Cast, Paul) | Black & White (Main Cast) | XY (Main Cast) | Sun & Moon (Main Cast) | Journeys (Main Cast)
Others: Movie characters

Ash Ketchum (Satoshi)

Troper, I CHOOSE YOU!

^{Click here to see Ash's Original outfit}

Voiced in Japanese by: Rica Matsumoto, Hana Takeda (younger, 2019 series)

Voiced in English by: Veronica Taylor (4Kids), Kayzie Rogers (10 year anniversary pilot, PUSA, credited as "Jamie Peacock"), Sarah Natochenny (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Gabriel Ramos (Seasons 1-12), Irwin Daayán (last episodes of season 11), Miguel Ángel Leal (Season 13-current), Pablo Gandolfo (Movies Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys), Alan Fernando Velásquez (Movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life), Rommy Mendoza (younger, flashback in Season 12), Nicolás Toledo (younger, Season 23)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Adolfo Moreno, Rafael Alonso Naranjo Jr. (Movie Pokémon 3 and special Mewtwo Returns)

Voiced in European French by: Aurélien Ringelheim, Charles Pestel (Movies Pokémon 4Ever and Destiny Deoxys), Nicolas Beaucaire (Movie Jirachi Wish Maker)

Voiced in Canadian French by: Sébastien Reding (Movies 1-7, Mewtwo Returns)

Voiced in Brazilian Portuguese by: Fábio Lucindo (Seasons 1-18), Charles Emmanuel (Seasons 19-22), Matheus Perissé (Season 23-current)

Voiced in Italian by: Davide Garbolino

Voiced in Dutch by: Christa Lips

Voiced in German by: Caroline Combrinck (Seasons 1–3 & 12–19 / Films 1–3 & 12–18), Veronika Neugebauer (Seasons 4–11 / Films 4–11), Felix Mayer (Seasons 20-present / Films 19-present)

Voiced in Swedish by: Dick Eriksson

The original hero of the series from 1997-2023. Hailing from Kanto region's Pallet Town, Ash is a brave young boy full of energy and passion who lets nothing stand in the way of his dream To Be A Pokémon Master. On his journey, Ash is joined by several Pokémon and human companions whose friendships help him grow and mature as a trainer. Ash is nevertheless quite naïve and immature in many regards, but that won't stop him from being the best. Yes, like no one ever was.

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#-B

• #1 Dime: In "Primeape Goes Bananas!", his first hat turns out to be one, as it's an official, limited quantity Pokémon League hat he had to send hundreds of postcards in just to get. A wild Mankey steals it, and he spends the entire episode trying to get it back without damaging it. Even his later hats hold similar value, as he doesn't like when any Pokémon steal them.
• The Ace: Downplayed in that he is still Book Dumb and has much to learn outside of Pokémon training, but Ash is consistently praised as a skilled, seasoned veteran from XY onward, with his peers all looking up to his skill in battle and bonding with Pokémon. It's especially pronounced in XY, where Ash is in better shape physically and Always Someone Better to both his companions and rivals alike. This all culminates in Ash becoming the Alola Champion and later World Monarch in his final two series, officially making him the world's ace battler.
• Achilles' Heel: Even with his vast array of achievements with many different Pokemon, he always has struggled getting the most out of bigger, slower mons. Such examples include Muk, Torkoal, Torterra, Goodra, and Melmetal, all of whom had difficulty getting around their lack of speed.
• Action Hero: Of the Pokémon variety. As a trainer, he's never been one to back down from a challenge, and has fought side-by-side with his team and his friends to take on the worst villains his world has to offer.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: A big flaw of his between Kanto and late Hoenn was that Ash would occasionally end up gaining an ego when he was on a winning streak, only for a stronger trainer to pop his ego and remind him that being a Pokémon trainer isn't simply about winning. It took a considerable amount of time before this lesson finally sunk in.
• Adaptation Name Change: While he's the anime's counterpart of the trainer protagonist from Pokémon Red and Blue, this one goes by Red in the games (and adaptations unrelated to the anime).^note Although players could give him any name, with both "Red" and "Satoshi"/"Ash" being among the default names, and early Japanese official sources alternated between the two when referring to him. It was around the second generation that his Canon Name was cemented as Red. Since the beginning of the series, however, the two incarnations began to diverge more in appearance and personality.
• Adaptational Badass: Zigzagged with Adaptational Wimp. Unlike his game counterpart who became the Champion at the end of his Kanto journey and was recognized as a Pokémon Master by Lance's definition, Ash took 22 years in real time to become Alolan Champion at the end of his seventh journey^note tenth if counting the Orange Islands, the Battle Frontier, and the Decolore Islands as separate quests. That said, he's currently in a far more prestigious place as World Coronation Monarch compared to Red, but still doesn't consider himself a Pokémon Master by his own definition (which is beyond simply becoming the strongest trainer in the world).
• Adaptational Dumbass: As Red's anime counterpart, Ash isn't nearly as skilled or (initially) as competent as Red, making a lot of crucial mistakes during his early travels or otherwise slacking off on his training. Even though Ash has grown significantly since then, Red is still the wiser of the two on account of being older and more mature.
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • How many times did Ash learn not to underestimate any trainer or Pokémon or be overconfident only to make the same mistake the next episode? While it's not nearly as prominent as it was in the early years, later arcs of the show will still force him to develop an inflated ego if the plot needs him to, such as with the Snowbelle arc from XY or the Bea arc from Journeys.
  • During the Kanto Saga, he was very lazy when it came to actually training his Pokémon, which eventually came back to bite him in the Indigo League. While the experience did humble him to an extent, the actual message itself didn't appear to fully sink in, as even throughout the Orange Islands and early on in the Johto region, he still only ever trained his Pokémon when the mood struck him (and usually just one Pokémon for that particular episode). It wasn’t until a while into Johto, and firmly by the Advanced Generation series that he finally kicked the habit for good and started training his entire team(s) on a regular consistent basis. The results definitely show.
• All-Loving Hero: He has befriended almost every Pokémon, even those that had antagonistic ambition beforehand, and continues to show sympathy for Team Rocket no matter how many times they betray his trust. Since so many trust and look up to him, and he can often empathize and understand their feelings, he can be considered a successful Pokémon Master in at least one regard.
• Almighty Janitor: After finishing the Battle Frontier, Ash was offered the position of a Frontier Brain, but declined it in favor of his journey. As such, he had no official title for years despite having dozens of powerful Pokémon and consistently high placements in regional conferences; this finally came to an end with Ash becoming Alola's first Champion in Sun & Moon and World Monarch in Journeys.
• Alliance with an Abomination: Ash has teamed up with several Legendary Pokémon who are normally feared throughout the world to face off against greater threats, most notably Giratina in Giratina and the Sky Warrior and a shiny Rayquaza in Hoopa and the Clash of Ages.
• Alternate Self: He has three alternate counterparts—a wimpy Mirror Universe counterpart, his I Choose You! iteration, and another wimpy Alternate Universe counterpart who wears blue instead of red. He's met the Mirror and Alternate selves thanks to some dimensional shenanigans.
• Always Second Best: When the regional conference comes around, you can expect him to do well — perhaps make the quarterfinals, or the semifinals if he is lucky — but never actually win^note While Ash did win the Orange League by defeating the Head Leader of the Orange Crew, the Orange League did not consist of an actual tournament. He also managed to conquer the Kanto Battle Frontier, but that is generally regarded as a separate venue from a Pokémon League. This is finally averted in Sun & Moon and Journeys, in which Ash successfully becomes a regional and later World Champion by the end.
• Always Someone Better: While most series give Ash a rival and/or mentor figure he aims to surpass, Ash himself is the one on the pedestal during the XY series, setting the bar that most of his rivals try to measure up to. Even the one who Ash eventually loses to in the Lumiose Conference finals realizes in the end that, between the two of them, Ash is the better trainer, especially after the Team Flare crisis.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Famously the case with his father, who was mentioned once in-series (the other three times being in the I Choose You continuity) and no details in the series were ever given of him, with it seeming like it is just him and Delia at his home. Various ideas raised by writers outside of the series have given him explanations as varied from out on his own journey to deadbeat who ran away from home not long after Delia got pregnant and failed to achieve anything, but as to actual canon details none exist beyond how long it took him to get to Viridian City on foot.
• Amusing Injuries: Ash is a frequent victim of this, especially in the original series, Unova, and Alola. He had them downplayed in Hoenn and Sinnoh, and in Kalos they're a fairly minor part of his role.
• And the Adventure Continues: This is how his journey in the series ends, with him deciding to travel around the world and see every single Pokémon so he can become a Pokémon Master at last, once again with Pikachu by his side, and Team Rocket reuniting to continue their endless pursuit of him.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Ash has had several rivalries over the course of the show, but the first and only one so far to ever reach this status was the one he had with Paul. As it was a battle of ideologies on what truly makes Pokémon stronger. Ash hated how incessantly cruel Paul was to his Pokémon, while Paul hated Ash's adherence to blind faith in his Pokémon over actual sound strategy. By the time Ash defeated Paul in the Sinnoh League, the animosity between them disappeared—Paul even dropped by during Journeys to act as a Stealth Mentor to Ash and help him train for the Masters Eight by using the Signature Mons of three Champions to give Ash an idea of what he may be up against.
  • Surprisingly, he doesn't quite have this with Team Rocket, whom, in spite of bothering him for 25 years out of universe in their relentless quest to steal his best friend and partner, he considers an annoyance at best.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • In Journeys episode 22, when he learns about Goh's intention to leave Raboot behind he coldly asks if he told Raboot about it. Go has a change of heart hearing this and tearfully tries to get off the train to find his partner (who made it on the train just in time).
  • Ash gets subjected to this himself in the finale of To Be a Pokémon Master, where Gary asks him how close he is to becoming a Pokémon Master after becoming the World Champion. After thinking it over for a while, he eventually decides that to him, becoming a Pokémon Master involves becoming friends with all of the Pokémon in the world.
• Art Evolution:
  • Ash has changed his clothes and appearance a few times in the past, but his Unova outfit seems to change his very character design, such as his eyes.
  • XY makes a few more changes in Ash's character design. His hair is much longer, with sideburns overlapping his ears in the same vein as Red's, his teeth are now more visible, his body frame is thinner and slightly taller ^note Does not necessarily mean that Ash has finally aged, and his fingers have actual fingernails.
  • The alterations to the art style in Sun and Moon and Journeys makes him come off closer to his intended age (10) than previous art styles.
• Artistic Age: Although officially confirmed to be always 10 years old since the start of the anime, some of Ash's character designs have a tendency to make him look much older, much like the direction Sugimori was taking in the games' art style starting in Generation III. The most notable is his design from the XY series, ^note Director Tetsuo Yajima personally designed this Ash, and took many inspirations from his video game counterpart Red. which gives him a thinner frame, extra hair tuffs overlapping his ears, and sharper edges. Consequently, Ash looks like he's between 12-16 years old rather than 10. Defied in Sun and Moon, which intentionally redesigns Ash to look like an actual 10 year old.
• Ash Face: No pun intended. Ash's recalcitrant Charizard has done this to him many times; burning him with Flamethrower in almost every appearance. This used to be how Charizard showed his disrespect, but now it is his way of showing affection. Torkoal and Pignite are known for invoking this trope as well, again out of affection. Misty once lampshades this after yet another spiteful Flamethrower from Charizard leaves him blackened:
  Misty: Now you really look like Ash.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: In "Love at First Flight" Ash is somehow convinced by May to dress up as a girl named Juliet to help a One-Shot Character practice confessing his feelings. He does it so well, Brock forgets what's going on!
• Aura Vision: He inexplicably has the ability to see Aura, hinting some sort of connection between him and Sir Aaron and Lucario, heroes of Cameron Palace. He doesn't really have any idea how to USE it, though. And it just became relevant after more than three and a half series with his new Riolu (later Lucario).
• Backported Development: Flashbacks to Ash's childhood will usually portray him as the good-natured Nice Guy he is in the present, despite the fact that he was originally much more stubborn and bratty before developing into a more mature person. This is most prevalent in the XY series flashbacks, where young Ash's attitude and demeanor are all but identical to his current-day XY personality. It is likely that his general altruistic traits were always there, they were just mostly buried by his Inferiority Superiority Complex during Kanto and Johto as a result of his struggles and insecurities as a rookie trainer.
• Badass Adorable: He's capable of using Aura, he shows superhuman reflexes, he's punched a legendary Pokémon in the face, he's become a regional Champion and bested three others, including Cynthia and Leon, who had never been beaten on screen beforehand^note Though according to Leon, Sonia bested him first to become the Champion of the entire Pokémon World, ...and he's only 10 years old! So cute!
• Badass Boast: Ash delivers a particularly powerful boast towards Leon in JN132 right before the final stage of their battle in the Masters Eight Tournament, which manages to both shake and excite the latter:
  Ash: "Thanks to you, we've gotten a whole lot stronger than we were before, Leon. This battle... is the peak of all the adventures Pikachu and I have had up until this point. That's why... we're gonna win!"
• Badass Unintentional: While Ash isn't exactly reluctant to saving the day, his main priority in life has always to become a Pokémon Master and win the leagues. His repeated attempts to do so have left him and Pikachu with tons of experience and prowess, meaning more often than not they end up being called upon to stop whatever dilemma occurs their direction. Often those witnessing it find this far more remarkable than he ever does.
• Badass in Distress: Ash often gets captured only to escape his captors alone.
• Balloon Belly: Give him enough food, and he'll usually emerge with one right after a good meal. This is best exemplified in DP055 and again in BW042.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Ash obtained a fair amount of fighting types over the years, including Primeape (which has since been released for training), Heracross, Monferno (after evolving from Chimchar)-Infernape, Scraggy, Pignite (after evolving from Tepig), Hawlucha, Lucario, and Sir'fetched.
• The Battle Didn't Count: He actually tells this to Trip when he refuses to battle him a second time and says that Pikachu wasn't up to the task when they first battled. Regardless, no one but the audience believes him.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't take his hat, even if you are just joking. A wild Mankey and his Aipom did this, and Ash was less than pleased.
  • Never insult his relationship with Pikachu either - ESPECIALLY never, EVER tell him that Pikachu abandoned him or vice versa, or you're going out of line, and this was shown in Movie 8, where Ash gets into a fight with Lucario because he said that Pikachu didn't want to be his Pokémon anymore, in his face. This causes his anger at him for his prejudiced attitude towards humans to reach the breaking point.
  • Don't call him a coward.
  • In later seasons, insulting his training skills or his maturity level gets him heated. Misty and Iris both did this frequently, and he was especially combative with the former until he lost the Indigo League.
  • Similarly to May, he won't take it well if food is taken from him. The Deino in "The Lonely Deino" learned this the hard way. This also happened in "Ignorance is Blissey", where Team Rocket stole the Pokémon Center's food. And after Ash fasted the day before.
    Ash: ('sporting a furious look with Pikachu on his shoulders with sharp fangs) Nothing ticks me off more than stealing my food!
• Betty and Veronica: In the Orange Islands episode where the trio meet Rudy, Misty is Archie, Ash is Betty and Rudy is Veronica when Rudy tries to flirt with Misty and Ash gets jealous.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ash is a usually pleasant guy, but pissing him off usually yields ugly results. Movie 8 best exemplifies this; Lucario dared to suggest Pikachu ran away from Ash, and he proceeded to try and beat the crap out of it as a result.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Yes, Ash is a goofball sometimes. Yes, he can get easily lost, is Book Dumb, and is clueless when it comes to most things that aren't Pokémon or food related. He's also an exceptionally powerful trainer who will end you if you dare to hurt his friends or his Pokémon.
• Beyond the Impossible: Ash in the anime has been able to do things with his Pokémon that normally couldn't be done in the games, notably having Pikachu knock out Brock's Geodude and Blaine's Ryhdon with an Electric attack despite both being Ground types that normally are immune to them (though this was a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, as later Electric attacks still have no effect on Ground types).
• Big Brother Instinct: Ash has shown to have this when he would protect younger children, especially Max and Bonnie, from harm. Also, Ash does this for Lillie and Sophocles as he tries to keep them safe from danger.
• Big Brother Mentor: From Ruby and Sapphire onward, Ash has this type of relationship to most of his new companions first starting their journeys, giving them advice and guidance based on his own experiences.
• Big Brother Worship: Ash is like this to Clemont, always squeeing over whatever invention he has created using science, despite his track record of them exploding. Ironically it's two way since Clemont, due to his geeky disposition, is in awe over Ash's confidence, battling skills, and physical feats.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pulls this off twice in Sun and Moon, both times to rescue Lillie; the first was when she jumped to save Snowy, and he used Rowlet's Leafage to stop her from hitting the ground. The second was when he had Pikachu use Electro Ball to stop the ceiling from falling on top of Lillie and Gladion in Totem Kommo-o's lair.
• Big Eater: Oh, boy. If there's one thing he loves as much as Pokémon and battling, it's food. The amount of episodes that have Ash randomly mention being hungry are far too plentiful to count.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: In the original series, he could act very haughty and immature, especially when it came to Pokémon or his skills as a trainer. But beneath all that bluster is a guy with a good heart, and a lot of doubts that he actually had what it took to be the best, like no one ever was. As he's gotten stronger, those doubts came to seize, and he eventually did shed his ego to become a Nice Guy all around.
• Birds of a Feather: Much of the reason that Ash gets along so well with his Pokémon and his companions is because they're all working very heard to achieve their dreams together—in the former case, many of them (i.e. Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja, Incineroar, Lucario) want to get stronger like Ash. Oak and Delia even take note of it during the Manalo Conference.
• Big Word Shout: "PIKACHU!!!!!!!!"
• Blood Knight: Ash is almost always eager for battles, especially gym battles. A good example of this was when he challenged Cilan, Chili, and Cress even though he was only required battle one of them.
• Blow You Away: Flying Types seemed to be a favorite of Ash, as he would have at least one of them every region. This included Pidgeotto-Pidgeot, Charizard (after its evolution from Charmeleon), his Shiny Noctowl, Tailow-Swellow, Starly-Staravia-Staraptor, Gligar-Gliscor, Pidove-Tranquil-Unfeazant, Fletching-Fletchinder-Talonflame, Hawlucha, Noibat-Noivern, Rowlet, and Dragonite. His Heracross and Glalie could also fly, albeit they weren't true Flying Types.
• Blue Is Heroic: He is The Hero and all of his main outfits have something blue on them. Despite being based on Trainer Red from the games, he is associated with the color blue among his teammates in each arc.
• Book Dumb: Give him a written test on Pokémon or ask him what moves a given Pokémon learns, etc and he'll fail every time. Battle him, on the other hand, and the opponent will find themselves going up against a skilled trainer. The Sun & Moon series shows him being fully aware of this; when struggling with an assignment he was given, he tells Professor Kukui that he thinks it would be better if Lillie or Sophocles did it instead but he told that his experience with this assignment is something only he can do.
• Book Ends:
  • The sighting of Ho-Oh during the original series; he and Pikachu first saw it after fending off a Spearow flock in the first episode, and they see Ho-oh again in the final episodes, right before he makes his decision to go to Hoenn.
  • The very start of his journey has Brock and Misty accompanying him through Kanto and Johto. The final journey he goes on has them once again by his side.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase:
  • In late Sinnoh and early Unova, Ash used Dawn's catchphrase, "No need to worry."
  • In a few occasions, he calls Iris a kid when the latter teases him.
• Both Sides Have a Point:
  • After losing the Indigo League, Ash spends all day moping in bed, humiliated over his exhausted team's performance and Charizard's refusal to battle against Ritchie. While Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak sympathize with him, they also chew him out for his attitude, pointing out he was lazy and didn't properly train for the league, and only lost because he never resolved the conflict between him and Charizard. While Ash was right to be upset, he did eventually acknowledge that he couldn't loaf around anymore, and started taking things seriously during his travels.
  • Throughout Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, Ash and his rival Paul come into conflict with their methods of training: Ash relies on the Indy Ploy and The Power of Friendship, while Paul relies on cold, calculated strategy and Training from Hell. While Ash's approach is far more inspiring and humane, it also leaves him highly prone to putting Honor Before Reason, while Paul's approach is much more tactically sound but often needlessly cruel. Ultimately, both trainers come to acknowledge their own shortcomings by the end, working to better themselves and their battle styles.
    • Above all else, Ash believed that Chimchar was strong on his own merits, and Paul believing his only worth was his exceptionally powerful Blaze. While Ash does succeed at raising Chimchar's strength without Blaze, his outright refusal to address it at all comes back to bite him when the ability finally activates, sending Chimchar into an Unstoppable Rage. Whether they like it or not, Ash and Chimchar would have to learn to control Blaze one day; however, rather than through Training from Hell like Paul tried so hard to do, Ash controls it through The Power of Friendship.
• A Boy and His X: While Ash is True Companions with all of his Pokémon, Ash's unbreakable bond with Pikachu is indisputably the most important and has been explored many times throughout the series. Also, Ash understands Pikachu's hatred for not wanting to be inside his Poké Ball as he lets him travel on his shoulder or head during their journey.
• Boyish Shorts: Zigzagged. Ash was the naive main character who became a skilled trainer, but almost always wore pants in all his appearances (at first, to resemble Red from the games). In Pokémon Journeys: The Series, however, he switches to shorts — which is the last series he appeared in before being retired from the series.
• Brains and Brawn: Almost always Brawn. While Ash isn't stupid in smarts and can often think up good strategies on his own, often his main strength is the power and agility of his Pokémon, and sometimes even himself. Very often one of the companions will be more educated in the situation at hand, with Ash providing raw power for them to direct. Brock, Clemont, Sophocles and Goh in particular effectively play Brains to Ash on occasion.
• Bratty Half-Pint: In the early seasons, while Ash was still altruistic at heart, he also had a tendency to be haughty, egotistical, and a Sore Loser. One of the most notable examples of this is his one-sided loss to AJ in "The Path to the Pokémon League", whom Ash not only accused of cheating, but even suggested his Sandshrew ran away because it didn't love him anymore for his overzealous training methods.
• Breaking Old Trends: As Ash has grown in his journey, each region sees him change up how he operates.
  • In Hoenn, he would start changing his outfit, catch only one starter instead of all three, end up in a mentorship role, and only bring Pikachu along with him while leaving his old teams at Oak's lab.
  • In Sinnoh, Ash would catch a pseudo-legendary in the form of Gible.
  • In Unova, he wouldn't have Misty or Brock to travel with, and would actually place lower than his previous League (Top 8 instead of the top 4)
  • In Kalos, he didn't catch the grass starter, his water starter and his entire team (except Pikachu) fully evolved, his fire type didn't learn Flamethrower (though it would after it was over), and he wouldn't reunite with a previous traveling companion who was passing through the region.
  • In Alola, he wouldn't catch the regional bird or a water type, he finally caught a Mythical (Meltan/Melmetal) and a Legendary (Poiple/Naganadel, an Ultra Beast that's equivalent to a Legendary), and the biggest of them all, winning his first League Conference.
  • For Journeys, Ash would capture his first non-generational Pokémon since his Gligar in the form of Dragonite (who would also be Ash's first fully-evolved, non-starter, non-regional bird or bug catch that a previous companion had also caught), Gengar (who would be Ash's first abandoned Pokémon that wasn't a fire starter), and Riolu/Lucario. It was also the only time he wouldn't get any of the starters, with Goh obtaining all three of the ones from Galar.
• Break the Badass: At his best, even Ash has moments where he gets utterly trounced. This is best exemplified in Journeys, where his goal to try and rise up the World Coronation Series rankings is temporarily stifled by Bea, who destroys him in their first match. He gets into such a funk, he loses more battles and his rank actually drops. Luckily, seeing Goh use a technique that Ash himself came up with helps him snap out of it, and he's eventually able to bounce back.
• Break the Cutie:
  • In the Indigo League Championships, on the day of his match with Ritchie, he is kidnapped by Team Rocket. After spending the entire episode using all of his Pokémon to escape (almost missing the match, and only not missing it because Ritchie kept stalling for time), he finally makes it back. Most of his Pokémon are too exhausted to battle by this point, meaning that he's handicapped. On top of that, he lost solely because Charizard refused to listen to him, thinking Ritchie's Pikachu was too weak to battle. Ash, feeling that his dreams were now over, was understandably depressed the next day, only everyone treated him like he had no right to mope. He bounces back afterward with Ritchie's more sympathetic help (after his own loss) and advice about how losing doesn't have to be the end of their dreams, as long as they learn from it.
  • After being beaten in a Curb-Stomp Battle against Paul, where he got beaten 6-2. Not helping the matter that at that point in time, Paul was humbled by his loss to Brandon and did not mock Ash for his loss like he would in earlier battles, but instead had genuine pride in his victory. He spent an episode moping until he finally pulled himself together, but though his attitude improved, he didn't battle for quite a while until the Twinleaf festival.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Whenever Ash begins to feel too overconfident about his skills, this is what tends to happen. AJ, Prima/Lorelei, Brawly, and Drake are just some of the many trainers that have had to knock some humility into him for letting his ego grow too big.
  • The most notable example is the Indigo League where Ash, despite doing little to no training or even heeding his friends' advice, had a surprising winning streak that easily allowed him to reach into the Top 16, and Ash continuously boasts of how he's going to win it. Then he is forced into a situation where he had to use his disobedient Charizard in front of the whole audience. The results had him tearfully reflect upon his own failures alone, setting up his eventual recovery as a true Pokémon Trainer.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: During Kanto, Ash proved he had the skills and makings to become a great Pokémon Master through his noble actions and befriending numerous different Pokémon without having to battle most of them, but he was rarely ever seen training his Pokémon outside of battles, and was particularly resistant to the idea of training for the Indigo League. When he lost the Indigo League, it sunk in that he had to drop the "lazy" part or else he would never achieve his dream, which he slowly built up towards throughout the Orange Islands and Johto. In later sagas, it's very rare for him to not be training his team.
• Broken Ace: After becoming Alolan Champion, Ash decides to challenge the World Coronation Series to beat Leon. A humiliating loss to Bea breaks his spirit, and he spends an entire episode in a funk until Goh is able to inspire him by using a strategy Ash himself developed.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: Throughout his journey, Ash had a mix of good and bad luck when it came to his goals. Amongst the most notable:
  • The Battle Frontier had been mostly smooth sailing for Ash, as he cleared the first five Frontier Brains despite the challenges. Anabel was the first to defeat him, knocking him out with only one of her Pokémon down. He also failed to defeat Pyramid King Brandon twice, only winning on his third try.
  • Sinnoh was not Ash's finest hour when going up against Paul. Though their first match ended in a draw, Ash only managed to gain a draw and win against Paul, who had two victories. Then they had their battle at Lake Acuity in a full 6-6 match with both of them putting their pride on the line, which ends with Ash only managing to beat 2 of Paul's Pokémon. Ash finally managed to overcome him (albeit narrowly) at the Sinnoh League.
  • In his rivalry against Trip in Unova, Ash lost or tied most of his matches (despite being more experienced) to a rookie, until he was able to best him in the Unova League qualifying round.
  • After tapping into the power of Ash-Greninja, Ash's growing attempts to tap into its strength with his partner would result in three defeats against Alain, Sawyer, and then in his last badge battle against Wulfric. After getting over a Heroic BSoD, he turned in around and got his mojo back, getting into better sync with Greninja.
  • Alola marked Ash's biggest milestone when he finally won a Pokémon League and defeated Gladion in the last round.
  • Journeys then turned things around in both directions. His loss against Bea ended his winning streak since becoming Alola Champion, but he was able to bounce back and not only defeat Steven Stone, but also Cynthia and then Leon, none of whom had ever been defeated on screen. But his final battle on screen against Misty saw him lose in a friendly competition to see who got to keep Clauncher.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Downplayed. Ash is very much a peppy guy, but in moments where his doubts overtake him, or he finds himself losing so badly to his rivals that he feels inadequate, his female companions (Notably May, Dawn, and Serena) have usually been the ones to help him. Often times, it gets Inverted when they're down and he's the one to help pick them up.
• Brought Down to Badass: On a few occasions, he's been held hostage or separated from his Pokémon or the group. It doesn't stop him from showing that he won't give up, no matter what, and turned the tables on those responsible for said captures or separations.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Put Ash in a Pokémon battle, and you're facing one of the most determined fighters out there who will give everything he's got and won't hesitate to unleash his power. Meet Ash off the battlefield, and you'll see one of the nicest, most caring people in the entire world.
• Bully Hunter: If Ash happens to see someone mistreating another person or especially their Pokémon, he will get involved and put a stop to it, even if said bullies warn him to back off or dismiss him as a nuisance.
• Bullying a Dragon: He's been both the bully and the dragon in a few instances.
  • When he's the bully, his ego had swelled up, he decides to challenge any trainer he can find and prove he's the best, especially if he thinks he can take them easily. AJ, Prima, Brawley, and finally Drake handed his rear to him on a silver platter, popping his ego and forcing Ash to remember (after several tries) that being a Pokémon trainer is not about winning. Since then, Ash has remembered that if he's going to challenge someone far more powerful, he at least needs to prepare for it.
  • When he's the dragon, it's usually Team Rocket thinking they can just swoop in and steal his Pokémon without issue. They keep forgetting that he won't quit, and that even at their most competent, they're still idiots. He only lost to them once or twice, and even when he becomes the World Monarch, they still insist on trying to steal from him.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Particularly in the Sun & Moon series. Despite his hyperactive and childish demeanor, he's far and away the most experienced trainer among his friends, with only Kiawe coming close.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Serena is just one of many (perhaps the first, maybe) people that Ash gave a helping hand to, in spite of Serena holding that memory fondly. That, and Serena never actually got to tell him her name.
• Butt-Monkey: Especially in the Kanto, Unova, and Alola sagas, though for varying reasons. While Kanto and Unova had a tendency to make Ash the butt of jokes regarding his immaturity and incompetence as a trainer, Alola focused more on subjecting him to heavy amounts of slapstick abuse.

C-E

• The Cameo: Ash and Pikachu, or look alikes, have cameod in the main games during the Abandoned Megamart Trial◊ and and the first episode of Twilight Wings.◊
• Canon Immigrant: He appears in the Pokémon Masters event, having been transported to Pasio while training for the Masters 8 tournament. There's even an event where he gets to face against his Cross-Canon Counterpart, Red!
• Casting a Shadow: He owns a couple of Dark Types, mainly Scraggy (a partial Dark Type), his Greninja after it evolved from Frogadier, and his Incineroar after it reached its final stage.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • He'll usually call out a Pokémon's name and say "I choose you!" ("kimi ni kimeta") or "Go, (Pokémon's name)" before sending it into battle.
  • Whenever he captures a new Pokémon or receives a Gym Badge, he'll say "I got (Pokémon's Name/Gym Badge)" ("Getto da ze!"), which is almost always followed up by Pikachu repeating him by saying "Pi-Pikachu!"
  • His other frequently used, but rather underrated catchphrase is "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town" ("Ore, Masara Town no Satoshi"). He'll almost always follow that up with "And this is my partner, Pikachu" ("Koitsu wa aibou, Pikachu"). It's used most often when Ash introduces himself to somebody new.
  • He would say "it's Paul/Trip" when he encounters his rivals.
  • In XY, he'll say "Wow, science is so amazing!" every time Clemont brings out one of his inventions.
• Challenge Seeker: Part of the reason why he sees winning Leagues and defeating Champions as just the first step to becoming a Pokémon Master rather than the endgame is because he wants to always find greater challenges to take on. This is why he challenges all three Striaton City Gym Leaders instead of one, and he never regrets inviting Alain to the Lumiose Conference League despite knowing that he is a very powerful trainer who could crush his chance to win a League. This is especially obvious during the World Coronation Series arc, as Ash is determined to beat Leon with everything he's got and dethrone him as the reigning Monarch.
• Character Development: Throughout the series, Ash Ketchum progresses from an eager but inexperienced trainer with only a temperamental Pikachu, a passion for Pokémon, and an overflowing heart to THE VERY BEST LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!!
  • Ash is initially brash and naïvely overconfident, but by the time of the Johto League he has grown into The Hero, valuing teamwork and loyalty above all else. Also, in some of the earlier episodes, mostly Kanto, he blows off training on a few occasions. However, starting in Johto, and especially noticeable from Hoenn onward, he is much more focused and more willing to blow off doing something fun in order to train. Several episodes show him training his Pokémon, whether preparing for Gym Battles, teaching them new moves, or exercising the ones they already know.
  • Ash's battling skills have also improved dramatically since his earliest days, evolving from an impulsive Leeroy Jenkins to a skilled veteran who's fully mastered his own unique battle style. His rivalry with Paul in particular pushes him to be vastly more creative and diverse with his tactics, whether they're developed over time or made up on the spot.
  • While other characteristics come and go depending on the series, Ash's temperament has consistently become more good natured as the anime has progressed. In early episodes of the original series, Ash was often tantrum prone and vindictive concerning his hubris, by the time of Sun & Moon and Journeys, while still Hot-Blooded and something of a Butt-Monkey, he is much more upbeat and patient, and very difficult to seriously anger.
• Character Shilling: In the XY series. ALL of his traveling companions (plus one of his two main rivals) have a degree of Hero Worship towards him, he becomes good friends with the other one (and not in the Defeat Means Friendship way; they hit it off almost instantly), and earns respect from the gym leaders and even the Champion. A good example of this happens in the Kalos League, where Sawyer's threat level is talked up by everyone solely on the basis that he defeated Ash once (despite easily losing every other time). By the end of the series, all of Sawyer, Alain, and Serena have delivered some kind of personal monologue about their admiration of him and how amazing he is compared to them.
• Character Tics:
  • Flipping his hat from front to back, whenever he gets serious. Disappears in the transition to the AG saga, until the ninth movie. He finally does it again in the series in DP189. As of Best Wishes, Ash now flips his hat anytime he is making a capture.
  • While rare, he's also prone to a pose that is seemingly inspired by Kamen Rider.
  • When he gets embarrassed, he usually puts his hand behind his head.
  • If defeated, or releases a member of his team, his hat tips down and covers his eyes as he solemnly accepts the situation.
• Character Title: Aim To Be a Pokémon Master, the final chapter of Ash's story in the anime, refers to his long-standing goal To Be a Master and him finally achieving it.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • His Chaste Hero status didn't show up much in the Indigo League saga—he himself briefly gets a crush in EP009, and he understands Butterfree's mating season in EP021. On occasion in later series, he seems to grasp the concept to a degree like he did during the Indigo League era, but he's still oblivious to it most of the time.
  • When it came time to prepare for the Indigo Plateau, Ash looked for every excuse under the sun to avoid training. He'd even use Pokémon who he'd never used in a battle before like Krabby and Muk. This is a far cry from the later seasons, where both he and his Pokémon have a passion for training and coming up with new strategies.
  • Overall, Ash was much more of a short-tempered brat in the original series, and could be extremely arrogant and self-serving towards those who questioned his skills. In later episodes, Ash is almost compulsively altruistic and good tempered, to the point that the times he does act like a brat are treated as a red alert for the others.
  • In the early seasons, Ash would often only resort to out-of-the-box thinking whenever he and his Pokémon had been backed into a corner. In later seasons, such inventive tactics have become an integral part of his combat strategies.
• Chaste Hero: Ash is perpetually oblivious to romance of any kind, with the strange, early exception of Giselle. This includes love between Pokémon too, such as when he assumed Grovyle had a fever when Grovyle was clearly crushing on a Meganium. It's to the point that his then-newborn Pokémon Scraggy understands more about love than he does. His response to Dawn's Piplup crushing on another trainer's Marill says it all:
  "But Pokémon like each other all the time. I don't get it. What's the big deal?"
• Chick Magnet: The list of girls to have shown canon feelings for him include Misty, Melody, Macy, Anabel, Angie, and Serena. To say nothing of the Pokémon (like Chikorita, Latias, Smoochum, Aipom, Oshawott and maybe Meloetta) who have developed crushes on him. He also gets a fair amount of Ship Tease with all of his other female companions.Ash, however, remains totally oblivious with the exception mentioned above.
• Childhood Friends:
  • Gary has been a neighbor of Ash since they were young. At one time they seemed to be friends and went to see movies as seen in Lights, Camerupt, Action. Shortly after the both of them started, Gary and Ash found an old Poké Ball while fishing. They began fighting over it but ended up breaking it in half. Since then, they kept the two separate pieces for themselves.
  • Serena had gotten lost while attending Professor Oak's summer camp in Pallet Town. She ended up scraping her knee after being startled by a Poliwag. Shortly after that, Ash found her, bandaged her knee and helped her back to camp. She had feelings for him ever since. Serena started traveling with Ash soon after the beginning of the XY series, and her crush on him would only grow from there. Come the end of the XY series, she gave him a kiss and was the only female traveling companion to do so.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: He always helps somebody in need, even strangers or wild Pokémon. Even back when he was a little kid, he helped Serena when she was injured and lost in a forest.
• The Chosen One: Ash seems to be the go-to guy for any Legendary which needs a hero to help them, be it for Ho-Oh, Lugia in Pokémon 2000, Azelf in Diamond and Pearl, Tapu Koko and Solgaleo in Sun and Moon, or Zacian in the Sword and Shield arc of Journeys.
• Clothing Damage: Ash's first wardrobe change was basically done for no particular storyline reason (besides the series-change from Original to Advanced Generation). His second one was because he pulled a Colossus Climb on Team Rocket's mecha at the beginning of the season and it exploded underneath him, leaving him rather unkempt (though his mother had sent him the new clothes before this anyway).
  • In Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel Ash has to wear an impact suit so he won't be harmed by constantly crashing into Volcanion. Unfortunately, it isn't waterproof. It inflates like a balloon and explodes, leading to a Comedic Underwear Exposure.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: In Sun and Moon especially, Ash is very upbeat and animated, and acts significantly more clownish than before. However he fails to quite fall into Idiot Hero territory, since his battle competence remains and his eccentricities tend to come in handy for unique methods of training and cunning in the field.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Despite having attracted a fair number of girls ^note including at least two of his long-term companions and several Pokémon including a Legendary, he remains completely Oblivious to Love.
• Color Motif: He always wear some variation of white, blue, and red with each of his outfits.
• Combo Platter Powers: At the end of Journey's he has the ability to Mega Evolve, use a Z-Move and Gigantamax all of which he uses in his final matches. Notably this is impossible in the games as the former two gimmicks were phased out of the generation Gigantamax debuted in.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure:
  • After losing to Sabrina for the first time, Sabrina's father showed him that guts aren't enough to beat someone with psychic powers - by telekinetically pulling his pants down, exposing his white boxers.
  • A Corphish knocked Ash and his friends into the sea, and he got reduced to wearing his shirt, his hat, and his black and blue striped boxers. (crosses over with Hanging Our Clothes to Dry).
  • And whenever Bianca knocks him into some body of water. This also crosses over with Hanging Our Clothes to Dry.
  • Ash's impact suit explodes, leaving him in his red and white tank top and blue and baby blue boxers and soaking wet.
  • A Stoutland pulls his pants to his ankles, leaving him in his boxers in front of Mallow.
  • Often played with as Ash's mother's words of advice before leaving were to "change his you-know-whats every day".
• Compressed Vice: Ash's more obvious character flaws tend only to show up in episodes designed to lecture him about it. More than once has he spontaneously developed an oversized ego and had it punctured all in the space of a single episode.
• Composite Character:
  • Of the male protagonists from the games, highlighted by the fact that his outfits in each region are based on the male protagonists'. In general, he mostly represents Red, but he shares some traits with the other male protagonists, especially when it comes to the respective Badge/League quests and facing the respective villain teams.
  • In Sun & Moon, Ash combines traits from both the male protagonist (Elio) and Lillie from the Sun/Moon games, despite the latter being an existing main character in the anime's cast. Like Elio, Ash moves from Kanto to Alola, is acknowledged by Tapu-Koko, and participates in the Island Challenge. Ash also becomes Alola League's first ever Champion. Due to Lillie's Adaptation Personality Change, Ash also received some of her game counterpart's elements. Like Lillie from the games, Ash lives in Professor Kukui's house (while also using its loft) and travels with the wild Pokémon Nebby, even carrying it in his bag.
• Confusion Fu: When he isn't being an Idiot Hero, one of his greatest strengths in Pokémon battling is coming up with off-the-wall strategies on the fly that surprise his opponents.
• Cool Big Bro: To many younger comrades such as Max and Bonnie. While the age difference is debatable he also acted a lot like one to May at times as well.
• Cooldown Hug: Ash was subject to this in the movies when his temper get the best of him (7 and 8 come to mind), and the one to cool him down was May.
  • Also delivers them to Pokémon, notably Chimchar (in Blaze) and Pikachu (Brainwashed and Crazy). Gets bitten, flamed at and shocked for his trouble, but shakes it off for their sake.
• Costume Evolution: With the exception of Johto, Ash always changes his uniform every region. Though he sticks with the basic hat, jeans, backpack, and jacket, along with the blue, red, and white color scheme, there's always a variation to his uniform. As of Alola he finally comes to his senses and starts wearing shorts, which are comfy and easy to wear.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In JN143, Ash and co. bump into his old Lapras, who calls for their aid in trying to rescue a trapped Wailmer. They go through all levels of hell just to get it loose throughout the day, and when they finally get it free, Misty points out they could have just caught it in a Pokéball. Ash realizes she's right, but he still thinks the whole experience was worth it.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He shows this during the Orange Islands, where he, of all people, was visibly displeased with Rudy flirting with Misty and actually calls out his rebellious Charizard to try and scare Rudy away from doing so.
• Crossdressing Voices: In-Universe, Ash voices a female Pikachu in The Lightning-fast Hero! Super Pikachu!!, a movie that he and his friends help make in a special between XY078 and XY079. It's just one line, though.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ash is often thought of as a ditz, but when the chips are down he can really prove his worth. Some of his battle strategies are flat-out crazy. And the lack of fear he possesses is borderline insanity. There are countless examples, but one thing they all learn by the end is not to take this seemingly unassuming kid lightly.
• Culture Blind: It's surprising how a guy who is so obsessed with Pokémon could be so uninformed of others in other areas.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He's been on both ends plenty of times.
  • In his first full battle against Paul at Lake Acuity, he only managed to defeat two of Paul's Pokémon with Paul being in full control of the battle thanks to his tactics and foreseeing Ash's blind trust in the Power of Friendship, which led to the defeat of both Grotle and Buizel due to Ash not switching them out.
  • On the winning end, if he's going up against someone far more inexperienced, odds are very likely that he'll come out on top with ease (which he did against both Casey in Johto and Hop in Galar).
• Curb Stomp Cushion: What his battle against Tobias in the Sinnoh League amounts to since, while Tobias won, Ash managed to knock out both his Darkrai and Latios with Pikachu managing a draw against the latter. For comparison, everyone else in the league was defeated solely by Tobias' Darkrai.
• The Cutie: In the older episodes, he had a very innocent outlook at the world and the various Pokémon in it, his face lighting up with joy every time he experienced something new. This lessened as reality kicked in, especially when he faced his first serious loss at the Indigo League.
• Darker and Edgier: Regarding his personality, downplayed in Diamond and Pearl. While he remains a lighthearted person by nature, Ash's stubborn, Hot-Blooded attitude was Played for Drama more often in this series than before, with a good deal of angst caused by his dark rivalry with Paul and the far more menacing Arc Villains in Hunter J and Team Galactic. This also applied in XY, especially during the XY&Z season regarding his bond with Greninja that brought out the Ash-Greninja form and the trials that came with it, including having to push that bond to its limit when Team Flare unleashed their evil plan on the world.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially in the older episodes, before going away in more recent episodes. He does pick it back up for Aim To Be a Pokémon Master though.
  Misty: Bugs are one of the three most disgusting things in the world!
  Ash: Aside from you, what are the others?^*Worth noting that this was before the two of them started frequently arguing.
• Death Glare: If he's pissed at someone (usually Team Rocket), he's not above giving them one of these. If he is, and you did something horrible to him or his friends, run.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype:
  • As the lead of the Pokémon anime, Ash does not fare better than most average Pokémon players. While a player with enough knowledge and skill could easily defeat all the gyms, the Elite Four, and the regional Champion in just under a few hours, Ash is given no such leeway. His first day out of the gate ends in disaster, he knowns none of the basic rules required to battle, his skills (him being a rookie aside) aren't given enough time to develop before he rushes in trying to prove he's the best, and the trainers he does face are either equal to or better than him. It takes him years before he even comes close to being able to match up with the best, and by then he's gone through eight regions and dozens of different Pokémon that would have taken players a few hours to obtain.
  • Ash himself gets picked apart in Diamond and Pearl by Paul, who shows that his reliance on The Power of Friendship is actually holding him back. True, it's far better for his Pokémon's well-being than Paul's methods, but Ash always struggles every time he challenges Paul. This eventually cumulates in their Lake Acuity battle in which Ash battles against Paul after his rival has been humilified by his devastating loss against Brandon. In the full battle, Paul not only anticipates every single move of theirs, but he explicitly relies on Ash either using specific Pokémon to avenge earlier losses or fighting against other Pokémon despite major type disadvantages, utterly humiliating Ash in the process. Ash only starts improving once he starts adding actual strategy to his battles and his own judgment, but also using it along with the friendship he's built up with his team rather than solely relying on it.
  • He's later subject to this again during XY with his bond phenomena with Greninja. Despite tapping into a tremendous power source that bolsters Greninja's strength, and proves to be devastating to anyone he opposes, Ash's sole concern about tapping it was for its power only. Unable to master it and losing to both Sawyer and Wulfric handily, Ash found himself at a low point. It was only when he remembered that the reason he wanted to become a Pokémon trainer was so he could form genuine bonds with all the Pokémon he met that he and Greninja were able to truly master this form.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: As Ash's skills and power as a trainer grow, so does his list of defeated or memorable opponents among the world's most exceptional trainers.
  • Ash manages to defeat Drake (the Head Leader of the Orange Crew) in their Orange League Full Battle, becoming the first trainer to take down the previously undefeated Drake and his Dragonite.
  • In Ash's first Frontier Brain challenge, he and Charizard are able to take out Noland and his unofficial Articuno, becoming the first trainer to defeat a Legendary Pokémon on-screen.
  • Ash defeats Brandon (the strongest of the Frontier Brains in Kanto) in their third battle, becoming the only known trainer to have fully conquered the Kanto Battle Frontier.
  • During the Lily of the Valley Conference, Ash becomes the first trainer to ever defeat Tobias's Darkrai, with Tobias having previously dominated the entire Sinnoh region using only Darkrai. While Ash ultimately still loses the battle, he would go on to take out Tobias's Latios as well, putting up a much better performance against Tobias than the actual finalist (who was swept by Darkrai).
  • While the battle never reaches a proper conclusion, Ash becomes the first trainer to match and actually overpower a Champion, managing to bring Diantha, the Kalos Champion, to the brink of defeat in their second battle. However, Ash passes out from the strain of Bond Phenomenon with his Greninja before the final blow is struck.
  • After winning the Manalo Conference and becoming the Alola Champion, he faces off against Professor Kukui (the implicit strongest trainer in the region, who also ends up having Tapu Koko, one of the guardian deities, battling for him) in a Full Battle and wins, solidifying himself as the new strongest trainer in Alola.
  • In Journeys, Ash becomes the first trainer to defeat both Steven and Cynthia on-screen, notably defeating the latter in a very difficult Full Battle.
  • After a long and grueling battle in the finals of the Masters Eight Tournament, Ash becomes the first trainer to ever defeat Leon in an official battle^note although Sonia was the actual first trainer to defeat him, doing so in Leon's very first battle; to Ash's credit, he pulled this off while Leon was in his prime and dethrones him as the Monarch of the World Coronation Series, thus now officially making him the strongest trainer in the world.
• Determinator: Ash will not give up on his goals regardless of setbacks he encounters. Azelf, the Willpower Pokémon, ends up connecting with him for this very reason.
  • He uses the same team he had during his first Full Battle with Paul in their rematch at the Lily of the Valley Conference for essentially this reason alone. Even though Paul initially gets the upper hand, Ash wins out thanks to his Infernape.
  • He finally accomplishes one of his major goals in winning a Pokémon League Conference and becoming a League Champion after going through seven main regions. And as Journeys demonstrates, even that's not enough to satisfy him.
• Demonic Possession: One episode of Battle Frontier had him possessed by the ancient King of Pokélantis. A Journeys episode had him possessed by one of the souls held by a wayward Spiritomb.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • If he's any good at dancing or not. He and Pikachu sometimes dance in endings, and some episodes show him at least not ruining a dance, but other times, he's shown to have no skill at it at all and draws the chagrin of those watching him.
  • While the series is consistant in that Ash can't explicitly tell who has a crush on him and doesn't return anyone's feelings during his tenure, some episodes show him engaging in some Ship Tease with his companions without going too far as if he was open to something more happening without realizing it, while other episodes show him having a more firm, platonic boundry in how he interacts with the girls he travels with.
• Denser and Wackier: Played straight in Best Wishes where he gained a more bumbling personality and randomly lost most of his battle experience. Zigzagged for Sun and Moon. While he's more hyperactive and comical personality wise, he retains a lot of his competence and knowledge from the previous regions and even shows a similar degree of insight as his more serious XY incarnation. Journeys mostly goes back to his more serious personality from XY, but he still retains some of his silliness from the previous series.
• Despair Event Horizon: In both the Black and White movies, when he's flying into space with a dying Victini, he feels this is the end and he's not going to make it. Fortunately, he's saved.
• Detrimental Determination: As Diamond and Pearl demonstrates, Ash's desire to prove to Paul that his friendship with his Pokémon can beat Paul's reliance on cold, calculated strategy never works in his favor. Every time they fight, Ash struggles, with Paul even using Ash's own tactics against him, which cumulates in Ash's most devastating loss in Lake Acuity, which happened after Paul's devastating loss to Brandon. Ash only wins when he accepts he has to use actual strategy alongside The Power of Friendship.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Sometimes, Ash would cockily challenges other trainers that were Elite-Four level powerhouses, thinking he could just sweep them because he was Ash Ketchum. Every single time, they utterly demolished him. It wouldn't be until Journeys that he actually took one of them (Drasna) down, and even then he had to train hard just to get even close to their level.
  • In the Gym Battle against Elesa, he sent out Snivy after waiting a few moments to get her (he thought he only needed one Pokémon to defeat Elesa). He tried to use Attract against Emolga despite attract having no effect on females and Snivy was in a major disadvantage because Emolga was also a Flying-type. Granted, Ash still defeated Elesa but he had to make several breaks during the battle to think of a strategy (given that Ash has travelled over a couple of regions and defeated multiple Gym Leaders, he should known by now that the Gym Leaders have their ranks and roles as Gym Leaders for a reason).
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In the Battle Frontier and later in the Sinnoh League. He was the only trainer shown who actually defeated Tobias's Darkrai in the Sinnoh semi-finals, and was able to take out his Latios, but lost since Pikachu fainted at the same time. Even though Ash lost 6 to 2 in the end, it's still much closer than anyone else got to beating Tobias in the tournament.
• Disappeared Dad: Ash's father was mentioned once in the second episode, with Delia stating that he left on his own Pokémon journey, but that aside, nothing is known of the guy, even by Ash's end as The Protagonist. Masamitsu Hidaka (head writer for the anime) has commented that he may or may not be introduced depending on whether it is necessary to further Ash's maturity and development as a Trainer.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Among the Ground Types he owns include Phanpy-Donphan, Torterra (which it gained after evolving from Grotle), Gligar-Gliscor, Gible, and Palpitoad, while his Rock Types include Roggenrola-Boldore, and his Dusk-Form Lycanroc.
• Disney Death: Ash has actually died (or come close to it) a few times in the series and films, but managed to pull through each time.
  • In "The Tower of Terror!", a trio of ghost Pokémon drop a chandelier on Ash and Pikachu, then yank their spirits out of their bodies. Both enjoy their time a ghost, but are able to return to their bodies so they could continue their journey.
  • In Pokémon The Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, Ash is Taken for Granite when he tries to stop Mewtwo and Mew from fighting one another, getting caught in their powerful blast and turned to stone. The tears of his mournful Pikachu and the entire gaggle of Pokémon there bring him back.
  • In Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, Ash and the entire human cast are consumed by the protective cells of the Tree of Beginning, who thought they were a threat to its safety. Mew is able to convince the tree to restore them all.
  • In Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, Ash nearly drowns trying to restore the titular temple from the damage caused by The Phantom. Luckily, Manaphy uses Heart Swap to save him.
  • In the thirteenth movie, Ash nearly asphyxiates in space while trying to save a dying Victini. This time, he actually feels like it's over and is ready to give up. Luckily, Reshiram and Zekrom pull him back to Earth.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • In "Pokémon Scent-Sation!", he winds up on the receiving end of this when he insults Erika's perfume. Her assistants respond by banning him from challenging her gym (though Erika's later comments indicate she has to accept all and any challenges, implying they went over her head). As such, he's forced to disguise himself as "Ashley" and sneak in with Team Rocket.
  • On rare occasion, he'll be the one dishing this out when Team Rocket appears, he'll assume that they're behind the episode's troubles when they're not, and have Pikachu zap them into oblivion.
• Distressed Dude: He's been tied up, netted, roped, and fallen into numerous pit traps thanks to Team Rocket appearing nearly episode to try and steal his Pokémon. If he doesn't get out on his own, his Pokémon, one of his companions (if they didn't end up in the same trap), or Team Rocket's own stupidity gets him out.
• Divergent Character Evolution: To his game counterpart, Red. While the games spent a good number of years letting players choose either Red or Ash/Satoshi as their choice of name, Ash grew out of Red's shadow by being presented as a Keet, Idiot Hero who grows out of a Bratty Half-Pint phase into an altruistic Nice Guy with a strong sense of fun and adventure before becoming the very best, while Red is The Voiceless Champion of the Kanto Region who prefers action to words, having accomplished a greater deal of feats than Ash in a shorter amount of time. Pokémon Masters even gives the two the chance to finally meet face-to-face and battle one another.
• Diving Save: Ash repeatedly shields his Pokémon from falls in this fashion, even the ones that are so big they end up crushing him! He also does this to Lillie in SM053, to protect her from Mother Beast Lusamine's attack.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: In Johto, he would challenge trainers and gyms using his team of far more experienced Pokémon, notably crushing rookie trainer Casey's entire team with just his Charizard barely doing a thing (though in his defense, he did warn her). Even though he wasn't doing so intentionally, Misty and Brock would often argue that it wasn't fair to other trainers.
• Dork Knight: He's usually this to varying degrees per series, though in Sun and Moon in particular, his solid heroics mixed with his boundlessly sweet natured but oafish personality make him a clear cut case of this, especially from Lillie's point of view.
• Dragon Rider: Several times with Charizard, although there are instances when he rides other, actual Dragon-Type Pokémon. In Sun & Moon, he gets a Garchomp as his personal Ultra Guardian Ride Pokémon. In Journeys, he has a Dragonite he sometimes flies around on.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Ash collecting a new team in each region not only serves to show off that region's Pokémon, but to keep Ash from having a team that would sweep through the gyms with no effort. Justified in that Ash's status as a Challenge Seeker means he'd rarely want the easy way out regardless.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite having pretty impressive stats when it comes to accomplishments^note including traveling through six regions (plus one archipelago) worth of gyms, winning the Orange League, conquering the Battle Frontier, winning several minor events, and making it to at least the Top 16 in seven regions' Pokémon League Conferences (with him outright winning Alola), and now World Champion, it's very rare for other characters to actually acknowledge this. Ironically, it was only when Ash let go of his need to prove himself that he actually ascended to his highest titles.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: His quest for gym badges would likely run much quicker if not for his neverending urge to help with whatever problems are occurrent with people along the way. He has also gradually put his companions' missions as first priority over his, even when they detour from his journey. His altruism is played off as detrimental in XY, where he starts to fall behind a few late runners to the league that he helped out earlier because of this.
• Dumb Is Good: His strong suit has always been guts, not intelligence, especially in the Unova series where his recklessness and naivety are played up. A group of Beheeyem actually fail to brainwash him because it doesn't work well on stupid people. That said, while he's pretty consistently Book Dumb in every series, he's become a lot wiser and more worldly when it comes to Pokémon and general life.
• Dumbass No More: He was, to put it bluntly, an immature Idiot Hero in the first season. Beginning with Orange Islands, he began to show more maturity and skill, and from Advanced Generation onward ^note  aside from Best Wishes, where he regressed and Took a Level in Dumbass , he's merely been reckless and occasionally naive, to the point that by XY it's inaccurate to call him an idiot at all. Sun and Moon zigzags this, since while he is more outwardly buffoonish again, a lot of his insight and competence remains during serious situations, making him more a Cloud Cuckoo Lander than an Idiot Hero. Journeys mostly reverts him to how he was in XY, though he occasionally still shows his more buffoonish personality from Sun and Moon, mainly in more comical episodes.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Starting out the series, Ash was a naive, overconfident rookie whose altruism was hidden behind several layers of self doubt, a massive ego, and a lack of knowledge of the very Pokémon he professed to love. After 25 years in real life that saw him travel through six regions before winning a league in the seventh, conquer 52 gyms, 4 island challenges, and the Kanto Battle Frontier with numerous companions and Pokémon, putting in plenty of hard work and experiencing a lot of heartbreak along the way, he ends the series recognized as the strongest trainer in the entire world after a narrow victory against Leon, ending with a clear mindset on how to accomplish his goal with his best friend by his side.
• Easily Forgiven: Has given Team Rocket who-knows-how-many second chances, sometimes crossing outright into trying to be their friend, despite them always ultimately stabbing him the back to try and steal his beloved Pikachu (and often all his and his friends' other Pokémon). His response to Meowth's Fake Defector stint was practically to nonchalantly tell him the offer's still there.
• Easily Impressed:
  • Even though he's been on his Pokémon journey for who knows how long, he still gets blown away by even the littlest things in the Pokémon world. For example, when he first arrives in Unova he gets excited out of his mind upon seeing the Unova starters.
  • Not being the most educated about science, he tends to find Clemont's bungled inventions amazing.
• Eccentric Mentor:
  • In Sun & Moon, he helps Rockruff learn Rock Throw and Litten learn Flame Charge by shaking his butt along with them. It works.
  • In Journeys, he helps a Dragonair who can't fly to learn the necessary move by using Pikachu's Electroweb as a trampoline. He predictably shocks himself and Dragonair, but in the end it does the trick and the Dragonair learns Dragon Dance to fly.
• Egg Macguffin: Ash has wound up in the care of eggs that eventually hatched into a Phanpy, Larvitar, Scraggy, Noibat, and Riolu. In some of these cases, the egg that ended up under his care would undergo slapstick hijinks whenever Team Rocket tried to snag it for themselves (though not always).
• The Empath: Ash has shown numerous times to understand the feelings of Pokémon as he feels or senses it sometimes.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Ash may have started his journey as a Badass Normal ten-year-old, but his dealings with Sir Aaron's Lucario and then his own Lucario have unlocked his latent Aura powers.
• Enemy Mine:
  • He involuntarily teams up with his hated rival Paul for the Hearthome Tag Battle tournament. They ended up winning, but certainly not because they were working together!
  • Frequently happens in movies and several times per season with Team Rocket; most of the time anyway...
• Era-Specific Personality: With a small handful of exceptions (see Characterization Marches On above), Ash's personality and development were relatively consistent from the original series to Diamond and Pearl. Starting from Unova, he's been subject to numerous reinterpretations based on the direction and tone of the current series.
  • Unova largely reset his competence back to that of a novice trainer, but without the bratty or snarky qualities he used to have in the original series, making his portrayal more that of a Kindhearted Simpleton.
  • Kalos played up his Action Hero qualities and portrayed him as The Ace and The Leader of the group, while heavily downplaying most if not all of his negative ones (the Team Flare climax at the end of the series pretty much treats him like a Messianic Archetype). This is mainly done to suit the very action-heavy XY series, as well as justify the Hero Worship he receives from nearly all of his Kalos companions and rivals.
  • Alola changes him yet again, playing up his childlike energy and naivete in accordance to the Denser and Wackier tone of the series. Unlike Unova, however, he still retains his battle competence.
  • Journeys firmly returns him to being The Ace like in XY while retaining some of his Denser and Wackier qualities from Sun and Moon. His emotional openness and hands-on nature is particularly highlighted to contrast him with the reserved, by-the-books Goh.
  • The Aim to Be a Pokémon Master saga of Journeys has him mostly retain the same personality, but brings back his Deadpan Snarker tendencies that had largely been absent since the original series, along with making him a bit of The Gadfly.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Subverted. When Team Rocket kept pestering him early on, he was always ready to give them a thrashing, especially if they dared to take Pikachu or did something that hurt or brainwashed him. But over time, as Team Rocket's competence dropped, he only sees them as a mild annoyance at worst. At times, he's even gone out of his way to help them if they're in a jam.
• Experienced Protagonist: Starting from Hoenn, he is this at the start of every series, demonstrating his battle competence from the start while the Deuteragonist companions take the role of the rookie. Downplayed in Black & White due to a Snap Back.
• Every Device Is a Swiss-Army Knife: The way Ash generally uses his Pokémon's moves: while many of his rivals will frequently teach their Pokémon a variety of moves to react to different situations, Ash uses what moves they know or learn on their own but applies them in a wide array of uses. Probably his most famous example is Counter-Shield, which takes a move like Water Gun or Thunderbolt to use a defensive shield, but it is far from the only time it has happened.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though he can't stand Team Rocket, he does NOT approve of other villains doing horribly cruel things to them.
• Every Year They Fizzle Out: He's certainly in an upper eschelon of trainers given only a select few compete in the league finals, but he always comes up just short in the end. It took 22 years in real time for Ash to finally win a major Pokémon League tournament, after which he went on to win the World Championships.
• Extra-ore-dinary: He owns the Steel Type Melmetal, and the partial Steel Type Lucario.
• Extremely Protective Child: As Spell of the Unown demonstrates, Ash won't hesitate to save his mother, getting kidnapped by a fake Legendary made by mysterious Pokémon at the behest of a grieving child be damned.

F-H

• Facial Markings: Those little zig-zags under his eyes.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Zigzagged. From the original series to XY, Ash would fail to win every Pokémon League. It wouldn't be until Sun & Moon that the pattern would be broken and he'd finally go on to win the tournaments in it and Journeys. In spite of his achievements, however, Ash still doesn't feel like he's become a true Master.
• Fake Crossover: Ash had a fair share of these during the 4Kids era while the show was airing on the Kids WB network.
  • In one such crossover, he entered into a Pokémon card match against Gotham City's most notorious villains—and he won! He's lucky it wasn't canon though, since Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc aren't exactly known to spare kids from their wrath when sufficiently angered.
  • Another one pitted him against Yami Yugi himself—in a Yu-Gi-Oh duel, no less!
  • And for one particularly humorous example, he, Misty, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff attend a thanksgiving dinner with Batman, Superman and Lois Lane, The Men In Black, and The Warner Siblings. Ash even uses a Pokeball to play baseball with Superman!
• Family of Choice: While he still has his biological mother, he's very close with Kukui and Burnett to the point they consider each other family. Once the two had Lei, they deemed Ash as his big brother—a title of which Ash happily accepted.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Initially, this was his massively overinflated ego. Right off the bat, he assumed he'd be the greatest Pokémon Master there ever was, so he walked out into the world with a lot of bluster and no actual experience. The result? Most of his battles went poorly for him because he failed to account for proper strategy or studying type advantages, and when he cockily challenged another, more stronger trainer, they'd flatten him in under a minute. Even with all this, he only bothered to train when the mood struck him, and went out of his way to goof off in the months leading up to the Indigo League instead of actually preparing for it, thinking he would just sweep the whole thing. While it wasn't the only factor in his loss (Team Rocket kidnaping him, the League or his friends not bothering to look for him when he went missing, Charizard refusing to obey him), he got eliminated in the Top 16 thanks to being vastly underprepared. Thankfully, it sunk in that he has to grow up and start taking his training seriously, and he's gotten better since.
  • Throughout Diamond and Pearl, his reliance on The Power of Friendship was this, as demonstrated by Paul. Up until then, Ash had been relying exclusively on blind faith from his team to win major battles. When Paul shows up, each fight is a huge struggle for Ash with Paul using Ash's tactics against him and playing off Ash's personality to leave him vulnerable. When Paul utterly destroyed Ash 6-2 at Lake Acuity, it made Ash realize that he couldn't rely on friendship alone if he wanted to get further in his career, and implemented both in his final battle against Paul at the Sinnoh League. It worked, as, excepting Unova, he managed to place second in the Kalos League before he won the Manalo Conference and then became World Monarch following his victory against Leon.
• A Father to His Men: Gradually strengthened over the course of the series is Ash's undying love for his Pokémon. He treats them as equals; as family. His Noibat in particular seems to view him as his father, since Ash was the first thing he saw upon hatching.
• The Fettered: Believes in determination and hard work to succeed? Yes. Protective of his friends and Pokémon? Yes. Refuses to win by cheating? Yes. Goes out of his way to help people/Pokémon he just met? Gloriously yes!
• Fauxshadowing: Throughout the DP series, Ash encountered every member of the Sinnoh Elite Four including the Champion Cynthia, who especially took a keen interest in Ash's potential. The series also elaborated upon how challenging the Elite Four is done for the first time in the anime's existence, and clearly made winning the Champion League one of Ash's goals. All of this seemed to suggest that Ash would actually win the Sinnoh League for a change and move on to face the Elite Four. Instead, he was shut out by a trainer using a team of Legendary Pokémon. It wouldn't be until Journeys that Ash not only defeated several Elite Four members from other regions, but Cynthia herself!
  • The Team Plasma arc in Best Wishes hints Ash to be the Hero of Ideals for Zekrom in contrast to N, who is hinted to be Reshiram's Hero of Truths...but nothing came out of that other than Ash helping N see a different viewpoint, and N subsequently proving himself to Reshiram with that viewpoint.
• The Fellowship Has Ended:
  • While Ash has had nothing but fond memories traveling with his companions, their respective paths always ultimately diverge from his own, leading him to continue to pursue his goal of being a Pokémon Master without his friends beside him, usually returning to Pallet Town they've parted ways.
  • At the end of each series, he also leaves all of his Pokémon (sans the ones he released or traded away, as well as Pikachu) at Oak's lab (with his Alolan team, whom he left at Kukui's being the exception) so he could start his journey afresh. He would occasionally call them back for special events or tournaments, but he wouldn't start rotating his old roster in and out until To Be A Pokémon Master.
• Fingore: Family-friendly version: how he first met his Krabby, after the latter didn't take kindly to Ash's "shrimp" comment.
• Figure It Out Yourself:
  • Almost towards the end of the Sun & Moon series, Ash was stuck on what's next for him, due to finishing his Island Challenge and the Pokémon League was over. Although he did think about catching some more Pokémon, Ash asked Professor Kukui for an idea but he told him that he should figure it out for himself, much to his frustration. When asked by Olivia about his plans, Ash answers her by telling that he should figure it out on his own but did listen to her words about seeing the world. After thinking about what Olivia said and realizing his Alola journey was coming to an end, Ash not only decided to continue his journey to become a Pokémon Master but also fingered out his next step in order to make that happen by going back out and seeing the world.
  • Likewise, at the end of his time on the series, Ash spent much of his final episode wondering what it truly meant to be a Pokémon Master. It would end with him deciding that it's someone who befriends all Pokémon in the world, and leaves with Pikachu to accomplish that goal.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • This is how his friendship with Pikachu started. When Ash got the electric mouse, he was a disobedient snot who refused to do anything his new trainer wanted. Then Ash set off a flock of Spearow and both he and Pikachu got seriously hurt. When all seemed lost, Ash stood in the way of the flock to protect his partner. Seeing this gesture, Pikachu understood that Ash truly cared for him, and used his powers to take the entire flock out. From there, an iconic friendship is born.
  • His relationship with Misty is quite complicated. When he steals her bike to save Pikachu and accidentally gets it fried, things got pretty tense between them. She was pretty angry with him and made sure to follow him around to make sure he paid her back for the damages. Even when they weren't talking about the bike incident, Misty couldn't help but tease Ash about his immaturity and bratty attitude (even though she could be a bit of a hypocrite herself). Ash wasn't one to back down from a challenge, though, and he gave as good as he got, leading to a lot of bickering between them during their time in Kanto. But after Ash lost in the Indigo League, he started taking Misty's advice more seriously, and she began to be more supportive and constructive. Over time, they grew into true friends, with fewer arguments and more mutual respect.
  • Later, after his Charmander evolves into Charmeleon, he stops listening to Ash and only bothers fighting against stronger opponents, which only grows worse when he evolves into Charizard. Nothing Ash did would get him to listen, and any sign of improvements between the two were just false hopes on Ash's part. During the Orange Islands arc, the big lug challenges a Poliwrath and is frozen alive, forcing Ash to stay up all night trying to heal him. Charizard sees that his trainer does truly care about him, and regains his loyalty.
  • In Aim To Be A Pokémon Master, a wild Latias that was being targeted by a Pokémon Hunter and has an intense distrust of humans winds up crashing in Ash's vicinity, leaving the boy to tend to its wounds despite the Legendary not wanting anything to do with him. Because of the Ash's kindness, it secretly follows him throughout his journeys and sees his heart, leading it to reveal itself and beg for Ash's help to rescue its captured sibling, Latios. Unfortunately, Latios still thinks humans are scum, which does make Ash realize he still has a long way to go before he can truly become a Pokémon Master.
• First Friend: Ash is this to Pikachu, and vice versa. They have been inseparable ever since their first episode together.
• Fist Pump: Loves making this gesture when he's getting fired up about something.
• Flanderization:
  • When Ash started out on his journey, he wasn't a complete idiot, but he was far less knowledgable that he claimed to be due to being bratty and immature. As he started to become a Nice Guy, he would become far more Book Dumb, with what knowledge he had being the result of his experiences. Black and White was the worst of it, where he Took a Level in Dumbass and lost the skills and competency he had picked up in the last four regions to where he lost to a novice with a starter and never recovered much from there. This would be dropped in XY, which restored his earlier skills and knowledge to an experienced (if still somewhat clueless) trainer.
  • Even ignoring his early crush on Giselle, Ash wasn't a complete Chaste Hero in the early seasons; while he was largely oblivious to girls who showed interest in him, he knew full well what Butterfree's intentions were for finding a mate, and denied that he and Misty liked each other romantically. In later seasons, he mistook Pokémon becoming attracted to one another as a sign of friendship, not romance, and seems to have no idea what a crush even is.
  • While Ash was never a particularly eloquent speaker, he was capable of explaining his methods and philosophies to others in the first four generations. Best Wishes onwards makes him more abstract and enigmatic in the way he carries himself, with XY establishing his tendency to describe various concepts with random sound effects rather than proper explanations. This trait would itself go on to be flanderized more in the next two series, with Ash's strange style of expressions becoming even more common and vague in Sun and Moon and Journeys.
• Flaw Exploitation: During Diamond and Pearl, Paul was easily able to wipe the floor with Ash in their first full battle by counting on Ash's blind faith in his Pokémon's battling skills and natural power, knowing Ash wouldn't recall them if they wanted to keep fighting or would seek to avenge their earlier losses.
• Forced Transformation: Briefly turns into a Pikachu in "Hocus Pokémon", which wears off the very next episode.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Though Ash is far from his bratty days in Kanto, Misty and Brock won't let him off the hook that he won their gym badges out of pity, much to his shame.
• For Want Of A Nail: This is Discussed In-Universe in a conversation between him and Gary shortly before the two clashed at the Silver Conference. Gary briefly ponders what might have happened had Ash woken up on time, thinking they may have wandered onto completely different paths.
• Fountain of Youth: In "Showdown at the Gates of Warp!", he, along with his alternate universe counterpart, Goh, Chloe, Dawn, and their respective counterparts, are deaged into toddlers when Dialga and Palkia (who had been tricked into fighting by an alternate Team Rocket) start destroying the very space-time continuum through their combined attacks. The eight kids, along with everyone in both dimensions, get Arceus to stop the two and revert everyone back to their proper ages.
• French Maid Outfit: He wears one as part of his once-a-series crossdressing gag in "Tanks for the Memories!" to help out a small little cafe in Sinnoh.
• Friendly Rivalry:
  • He eventually develops one with Gary after the two wind up in Johto, having spent most of Kanto getting taunted by his rival before both of them came to an understanding.
  • Additionally, most of Ash's notable rivalries are friendly in nature, with Gary (Kanto Saga), Paul, and Trip being the main exceptions.
• Friend to All Children: "Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!" proved this. When the entire class refuses to get rid of a Trubbish that they've grown fond of, but the teacher wants to get rid off, Ash is able to befriend all the kids and help them keep their friend.
  • With yet another kindergarten class in "Kindergarten Chaos" in the XY series, where he's very understanding and reassuring to a kid who has developed a phobia of Pokémon.
• Friend to All Living Things: No matter where Ash goes, he always makes friends with nearly every Pokémon he comes across, and this isn't just included his team or the Pokémon his friends own. Wild Pokémon, Gym Leader's Pokémon, Champion's Pokémon, the Pokémon of a trainer he happened to meet on his journey—he always manages to connect with them somehow. Even his friends can be amazed at how much he understands their feelings and needs.
• From Zero to Hero: When he started out, he was an overconfident, egoistical rookie who's altruistic heart was buried under a cocky exterior, lacking the basic knowledge of Pokémon training and battling and having little drive to actually train unless the mood struck him. 25 years in real-time, he's not only grown and become far more powerful, he's both a regional champion and the most powerful trainer in the world who's saved the planet numerous times.
• Fun Personified: A happy, go-lucky guy pretty much everywhere he goes, Ash is always looking to have fun with a bright smile on his face, seizing the day and encouraging the best in his friends and his Pokémon with a can-do attitude. Even he considers having fun with his Pokémon as actual training.
• Geeky Turn-On: A very mild one, but starting in XY, he (and Pikachu) is very interested and fond of Clemont's inventions. While Serena and Bonnie would make awkward or even embarrassed faces, Ash would instead have big, sparkly eyes. Even if they fail, he never becomes embarrassed for Clemont and sometimes gets inspired from them.
• Genius Ditz: He's really quite talented in Pokémon battling, but hopelessly naive and gullible at other times (such as constantly falling for Team Rocket's Paper-Thin Disguise). However, the Ditz part is seriously downplayed in the XY series, where moments of ditziness are few and far between.
• Generation Xerox: It's mentioned in "Pokémon Emergency!" that his father (and his grandfather in the original Japanese) set out on his own journey, making Ash the next generation to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, this is the only information we know about Ash's father.
• Genre Blind: While he's rarely the only one in his team as such, he falls to easy shortcomings, and against Team Rocket, he sparsely predicts them using the same tricks over and over.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Ash in Capacia Island UFO! told this to his hypnotized Pikachu when he saw him wearing a Beeheyem face as he tells him that he wanted him to be back to way he is, which got him to snap out of the trance.
• Goal in Life: Why, to be the very best, of course!
• Go-Karting with Bowser: On occasion, Ash would wind up in a friendly competition against Team Rocket when they weren't actively trying to steal his Pokémon, sometimes with them not being in a Paper-Thin Disguise. Ash would usually beat them most of the time, either by skill, sheer luck, Team Rocket being idiots, or because they couldn't help but to try to cheat.
• Glory Seeker: He set out to become the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Several humbling experiences later, he learns that being a Master isn't about winning or glory, but coming to accept all Pokémon as they are.
• Good Is Dumb: Ash frequently engages in dangerous, reckless heroics, all because he believes it's the right thing to do. He's also Book Dumb, is hyper-focused on Pokémon and Pokémon alone...and he's still the Big Good of the series by virtue of his heroic efforts and the friendships he's made along the way.
• Good Is Not Soft: Ash is altruistic and fond of giving second chances. If you try to screw him or those close to him, however, he will sic his Pokémon at you to do their worst.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Subverted. He initially wanted to catch every Pokémon in existence (one episode had him upset that Gary had caught far more Pokémon than he did), but as time went on and he progressed in his journey, he would only take Pokémon under his care that wanted to come with him. That said, he would befriend nearly every Pokémon introduced in the series during his tenure, so that counts for something.
• Go Through Me: In the very first episode, Ash does this to defend Pikachu from a flock of rampaging Spearow, when the two just met and Pikachu hates his guts. This ultimately earns him Pikachu's respect, and Pikachu jumps into the air and launches a massive Thunder Shock that knocks out the entire flock in one shot.
• Graceful Loser: Most of the time Ash takes defeat, if not gracefully, then by congratulating his own Pokémon for giving a good fight.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Ash is occasionally identified by characters of the day who saw him eat dirt during a televised tournament, but not often — even May and Dawn get recognized more often for winning random contests. Nobody ever seems to recognize Ash as the guy who smacked down two Legendaries in official Frontier matches and two more in the Sinnoh League semifinals on live television, or who saved the world every summer since 1998.
• Green Thumb: Ash obtained a few Grass Types in most of the regions he traveled in, such as Bulbasaur, Chikorita-Bayleef, Treecko-Grovyle-Sceptile, Turtwig-Grotle-Torterra, Snivy, Sewaddle-Swadloon-Leavanny, and Rowlet.
• Groin Attack: Ash gets on the receiving end of this in Alola, courtesy of a wild Milotic that Lillie was hooking at the time in “Yo, Ho, Ho! Go, Popplio!”.
• Growling Gut: Ash's stomach growls a lot over the course of the series. It comes with the territory when you're a Big Eater who doesn't always have access to a steady supply of food on the road.
• Gut Feeling: Ash will often make his choices in battle based on his gut, with mixed results. For example in the first two Gyms in Johto, he had a gut feeling to use Chikorita against the Flying-type user Falkner and Bug-type user Bugsy: his choice got Chikorita taken out without a knockout against Falkner while his gut was more on point with Bugsy where she won him a round.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Under certain lighting, his hair is sometimes depicted as dark green.
• The Heart: When he's not being The Leader, he acts in this capacity given his status as an All-Loving Hero. Whether he's helping the newcomers in the group learn the ropes of the Pokémon world, trains his team (and helps resolve the occasional feud between them), saving the world through his sheer determination, or helping out others in need because it's the right thing to do, Ash proves he has what it takes To Be a Master.
• Heartbroken Badass: When he releases one of his Pokémon, he's hurting over having to say goodbye, and misses them dearly to this day.
• Held Gaze: Has done this multiple times with Serena over the course of the XY Series, whether they're encouraging each other or just having a heart to heart talking about their dreams and bond with their Pokémon. In the final episode of XY, after being kissed by Serena, the two stare at each with their eyes lit up before happily exchanging warm smiles.
• Hero Ball: Team Rocket is supposedly "evil" to his eyes, yet he helps them when they're in trouble.
• Hero Does Public Service: Despite the fact he's saved the world countless times, no matter what, Ash will always help out others when he's asked because he wants to do the right thing. He's done everything from helping teach kindergarten classes to solving pest problems on farms, resolving wild Pokémon rampages, and even performing a few simple errands when folks get too busy.
• Hero Protagonist: As the protagonist, this is a given. Ash is always portrayed as an altruistic good guy who helps people, fights evil, and overall struggles to make the world a better place.
• Heroes Love Dogs: As of "Rocking Clawmark Hill", Ash now has a Rockruff (a canine Rock-type Pokémon), who has since evolved into Lycanroc. Even before then, the two got along very well.
• Heroic BSoD: Several throughout the series,
  • The most notable was when Ash lost to Ritchie in the Indigo League, where he starting moping the day after said loss. While the loss was at least partially due to Team Rocket holding him up (thus resulting in several of his Pokémon being exhausted before the match), Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak are quick to point out that he only lost because he was lazy in his training and refused to mend fences with his disobedient Charizard, which sinks in when he sees Ritchie lose his next match and allows him to snap out of it.
  • Ash has a pretty huge BSOD moment again after a crushing 6-2 loss against Paul especially since this happened after Paul's devastating loss against Brandon. Not to mention the fact that Paul didn't gloat over his victory at all and only showed pride over the battle in which the two threw their pride at the line.
  • After losing to Wulfric and seeing how badly hurt Greninja got, Ash really hits a low point. The episode actually ends as a Downer Ending, and the next episode preview is also mostly silent. It's also implied Ash has struggles with the idea he may not be the right trainer to bring out Greninja's true potential, which is new for Ash as no matter what has happened previously, he never questioned his bonds with his Pokémon before.
  • Ash goes through another one during Making Battles in the Sand! when he has a little bit of a losing streak in the World Coronation Series after losing to Bea, which put him back in the Normal Class. However, Ash regains his confidence when he sees Goh use a strategy that he developed after watching his battles and reaffirms his desire to battle Leon again.
• Heroic Rematch: This is the general theme for whenever he faces his main rival (i.e. Gary, Paul, Trip) in a region. Ash never wins a traditional Pokémon battle against them before they battle in the League of that region (the best he can hope for is a draw, though he can win against them in competitions that aren't battle-based). This is done to slowly build up their rivalry and Ash's desire to win, until they finally clash one final time in the League and Ash claims victory. The only exceptions to this were against Sawyer (whom Ash had beaten in battle beforehand a few times before he caught up and briefly overtook him), and Alain, whom Ash never managed to beat, even in the League.
• Heroic Resolve: When it comes down to the wire, Ash won't stop fighting until it's over. But if one of the villainous teams decides to try and Take Over the World or steal his or his friends' Pokémon, he won't rest until he's set things right, no matter how impossible the odds. Best exemplified in Kalos when Lysander unleashed Z-2 on the world and was prepared to destroy the entire planet, Ash refused to back down even when the villain had him at his mercy.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the first movie, he stood in the way of Mew and Mewtwo's fighting to try and get them to stop. He was Taken for Granite immediately thereafter (don't worry, he got better).
• Heroic Spirit: Ash has used his fighting spirit to resist Lysandre's control, even breaking free from Team Flare's restraints.
• A Hero to His Hometown: He may be "the pride of Pallet Town", but when he goes to a region outside his native Kanto, it's rare for him to meet someone who already knows who he is. This means that he has to prove himself all over again, which he's only too happy to do.
• Hero-Worshipper: Whenever Ash meets one of the regional Champions, he immediately becomes a fan (and tries to get them to battle him, of course). Lance, Steven Stone, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha, and Leon admire his spirit, and have helped him get stronger through a little crash-course training on occasion.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Pikachu, Brock, Cilan, Clemont and Goh. He got along far more swimmingly with Brock than he initially did with Misty to the point that Brock stayed with him throughout Hoenn and Sinnoh until he decided to leave to become a Pokémon Doctor, Cilan always stood behind Ash in his efforts (unlike Iris, who frequently mocked his immaturity), he valued Clemont as a skilled trainer in his own right that he came to him to train against Drasna for his WCS Match, and Goh and he hit things off pretty quickly that Ash was one of the few people that he could truly call a friend.
• Hey, You!: Team Rocket always refers to him as "twerp".
• Hidden Depths: Ash's Book Dumb and Pokémon-obsessed personality bely the fact that he does actually have a surprising number of talents on the rare occasions he deigns to show it, such as drawing sketches and being an excellent baker. By the time of Journeys, the writers also don't bother to hide the fact Ash's travels have actually endowed him with a wide array of expertise in regards to the lore and biology of various Pokémon-every now an then, he'll explain things even Goh doesn't know anything about.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Ash's early journeys through Kanto didn't go very smoothly, partly due to his overinflated ego and the thought he was the greatest Pokémon trainer who ever was. Yet much of these struggles stemmed from a crippling self-doubt that he actually could cut it as a trainer, which only intensified his ego as Misty and Gary both put him down for his failings. His humbling loss at the Indigo League helped to set him on the road to recovery, and those doubts have seized altogether.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • While Team Rocket's interference certainly played a role (tiring out Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pidgeotto), Ash's loss in the Indigo League can also be attributed to his own laziness. Arrogance also played a role since he kept Charizard around as his go-to for the big guns despite how it wasn't trained. Had he used ANY of his other Pokémon as his 6th, he would have fared much better, even with Bulbasaur.
  • During his rivalry with Paul, Ash wound up getting bested multiple times when his rival not only predicted the exact strategy he would use, but actively used it against him. Paul almost beat him in the Sinnoh League because he explicitly predicted Ash's lineup in advanced, and countered nearly every strategy of his with a backup plan specifically for those moments.
  • Then there is suggesting the league to Alain, which blew up in his face real easily when Alain narrowly beat him out.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Despite owning dozens of powerhouses that together could counter nearly any situation in theory, Ash is often prevented from having a team that is too strong, which often leads to his ultimate defeat at the end of each respective Pokémon League. It also makes his Gym Battles more difficult, so suspense can be held whenever he challenges a Gym or participates in a league. He rarely swaps out his Pokémon for ones he's caught previously, even if it might benefit him to do so, and many of his strongest Pokémon tend to leave his party for one reason or another to keep his matches from being too easy.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • In the earliest episodes, he resisted using more than one Pokémon at a time to fight Team Rocket because it was against the rules of the Pokémon League. He dropped this later on, and by the time double battles are introduced he will rarely hesitate to match numbers when necessary.
  • During his second battle with Brock, Piakchu accidentally set off the sprinkler system and soaked Onix, leaving it vulnerable to electric attacks. In spite of having it on the ropes, Ash called off the match and refused to cheat, wanting to beat Brock his own way. Misty, who's been watching in the rafters, lampshades his actions. In spite of that, Brock is impressed enough that he still gives Ash the Boulder Badge.
  • Ash will frequently use Pokémon in battles against their personal rivals and let their personal rivalries influence his decision over strategies. This, alongside his tendency to follow his gut in team picks, has backfired as often as it has succeeded for him, particularly tending to backfire on him in his battles against Paul, who is easily able to predict his strategies and bait Ash into leaving openings for him to exploit in order to turn their battles into one-sided beatdowns.
  • Defied but begrudgingly in XY. When Goodra goes to war with its wetland allies against invading Pokémon, Ash is dissuaded from assisting by the others, since it is a business between Pokémon alone. Ash complies, but visibly seethes from being unable to help his companion.
  • Played full on in Sun and Moon, where he follows Lillie and Gladion to Poni Canyon to help them in their mission to retrieve their mother, despite Gladion's insistence that he keep out of the matter. It turns out to be for the best, however, as Ash eventually proves very helpful in helping them save Lusamine and survive the hostile Ultra Space.
• Hot-Blooded: His passion for Pokémon and battles (or anything else that catches his interest for that matter) is quite staggering and he is extremely energetic.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: The XY series is where Ash's Stock Shōnen Hero persona reached its peak (excluding the Master 8 Tournament of his final journey) and noticeably, Ash's sideburns is shown to be longer and more wild than usual, with hair tufts partially covering his ears.
• Humble Hero: While he intially started off more brash and arrogant, Ash has become this thanks to Character Development. He's always proud of his Pokémon for their hard work, respects his opponents, and always willing to help anyone with their problems out of his own selfless nature. He also never mentions or brings up any of his past adventurers or achievements, including times where he has saved the world. Granted it's unlikely any of his new friends would believe him, but it's still impressive that he's happy to be treated as a rookie in each new region. Perhaps best shown in JN076, where it just casually happens to come up in conversation that he is the Alola League Champion (one of the biggest titles one can have in the Pokémon world) and never mentioned (let alone boasted) for 76 episodes even in scenarios where he could have brought it up.
• Humble Pie: He's gotten plenty a taste of it in the numerous episodes where his ego swelled up, only to get knocked down a few pegs by a stronger trainer who has to remind him he's not as powerful as he thinks.

I-N

• An Ice Person: The only Ice types he ever obtained were Lapras (now released) and Glalie, though some of his other Pokémon did know a few ice moves (such as Dracovish with its Ice Fang).
• Iconic Outfit: Amongst his seven outfits thus far, his original is the most well-regarded. In fact, his I Choose You counterpart wore one almost just like it, and even switched back to it for The Distant Blue Sky.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: By all means Ash is a good suitor for any girl who develops a crush on him. It's just that Ash is at an age where romance isn't his highest priority; he does appreciate beauty as shown with Giselle and he eventually starts recognizing romance between other people. He's just more focused on his goals and his personality will give him some attention from girls that will remain on a friendship level rather than advance to a love level.
• I Hate Past Me: When Brock and Misty bring up that Ash only won his badges from them out of pity, he noticeably hides in shame from his Alola classmates, suggesting he wasn't proud of not being able to earn them through skill back then.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Ash has pulled this off many times with his Pokémon (such as Pikachu, Infernape, and Lycanroc), whenever they were mind controlled or in a berserk state. While he is generally successful at getting through to them, there have been a few occasions where it didn't work.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: In "Dummy, You Shrunk The Kids!", Ash, Sophocles, and Lillie are accidentally shrunk when one of Faba's inventions backfires. They spend the entire episode in peril (including nearly getting eaten by an Alolan Persian with a knack for antagonizing people) before they're able to get back to normal.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Ash won't give up in the face of danger, and he won't allow anyone trying to destroy the world to stop him from protecting the ones he cares for. In Kalos, when Lysandre has Ash and his Pokémon at his mercy, preparing to corrupt them so he could employ the power of Ash's Bond Phenomenon with Greninja for his own twisted ends, Ash refuses to bend to the villain's will.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Ash was like this in the Kanto arc. He had his bratty and asshole moments due to his own insecurities about the mistakes he made as a rookie trainer. It didn’t help that people would always put him down for it. He grows out of this once he improves as a trainer.
• In-Series Nickname: Team Rocket only ever refers to him as "The Twerp".
• I Should Have Been Better: When Ash lost to Wulfric, he spent much of his time in the winding woods blaming himself for not being strong enough to tap into the full potential of his and Greninja's mysterious Bond Phenomena, making it one of the rare few moments he doubts his own capabilities as a trainer.
• It's All About Me: Downplayed during The Original Series and a little into Advanced Generation, but Ash occasionally showed a selfish streak in spite of his general altruism and care towards his Pokémon and friends. He would often goof off to do what he wanted rather than train unless the mood struck him (which played a role in him losing the Indigo League), and he initially scoffed when his friends went anywhere that wasn't in the direction of the nearest Gym. Now he's completely selfless.
• It's All My Fault:
  • After losing his full battle against Paul, Ash felt at fault for both his Pokémon's injuries and the loss itself, which is not helped at the fact that some of his Pokémon were indeed defeated due to his own poor decisions.
  • Ash felt ashamed for not only letting his fear of losing his Pokémon family get the better of him but also for his Gym Battle loss against Wulfric when he saw how badly hurt his Greninja was.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Okay, Ash. For the 267th time, the man with blue hair, the woman with long red hair and the talking Meowth are not to be trusted. No matter what they are offering, they are not to be trusted. Understand? Probably not. To be fair though, everyone (even adults that should know better) falls for Team Rocket's disguises.
  • When challenging Misty in the Whirl Cup, he has his Kingler use Vice Grip on Misty's Psyduck's head—which Ash knows can unleash its full Psychic powers when its headache is intolerable. The duck quickly turns the tables on the crab, which gets even worse when Ash explicitly avoided this during the fight over who got to keep Togepi much earlier by having Pikachu tickle Psyduck instead.
  • Even though he's gotten better about training, he still has his moments. Most notably, when he challenged Elesa's gym, he only brought Palpitoad thinking he could sweep it. When Palpitoad gets knocked out, he nearly forfeits the match running to get Snivy, while also forgetting that his next opponent is also a flying type that has a huge advantage against grass types. Pikachu has to literally zap him to get him to come to his senses.
• Idiot Hero: He gets smarter in regards to Pokémon training, but at the end of the day will always be a rash, impulsive kid prone to jumping in without thinking. The strongest proof of this is "Capacia Island UFO!", where a group of Beheeyem literally admit Ash and Team Rocket couldn't be hypnotized because it's difficult to hypnotize idiots.
• Image Song: Mezase Pokémon Master, Rivals, OK!, Challenger!, Spurt!, XY&Z, "Alola!", Type: Wild!. High Touch counts for both him and Dawn.
• In a Single Bound: Inexplicably, Ash can leap many times his own height.
• Indy Ploy:
  • Whenever Ash is facing an especially challenging opponent, his go to strategy is to just wing-it and make it up as he goes along. This makes it hard to predict what Ash has up his sleeve. The only one who was able to predict Ash's strategies was Paul, but even then he failed to predict some of Ash's more off-the-wall moves (notably using Infernape to burn the Toxic Spikes that Paul had set up by digging its way underground and burning them off).
  • In a promo video for the Top 4 of the Masters Eight, Ash along with several other high ranking trainers are given stats, and Ash is the only one of them to have a maxed out unpredictability stat◊.
• Interspecies Friendship: Mostly with Pikachu, but he considers all of his Pokémon to be his friends.
• Interspecies Romance: Or Interspecies Ship Tease at any rate. Ash's rather touchy-feely relationship with Pikachu aside, he's been crushed on by Chikorita, who kissed his cheek in her debut episode (and who later evolved into Bayleef) and Aipom. Latias in one of the movies actually might have kissed him on the cheek in the end, making her tied with Melody, Chikorita and Serena for the furthest anyone's ever gotten with him throughout the entire series.^note Jessie and James actually kissed him upon arrival in Saffron City to his hilarious disgust!
• Iron Butt Monkey: Most of them are Played for Laughs, especially when it comes to his own Pokémon being responsible for his misfortunes. This is at its finest at the beginning of the Lily of the Valley Conference, where all the Pokémon that he called up from Oak's lab greet him by...attacking him, one after another.
  • If the movies are taken into account, then to date he's been: Beaten up, electrocuted and burned countless times, hit by a chandelier, petrified at least once, half drowned twice (First in an episode of the original series, second in the Manaphy movie), eaten by a sentient tree (no really), dropped from a great height numerous times, and much, much more.
  • Alola takes this up to eleven. Just about Once an Episode, he'll end up in one painful situation or another. And yet he almost never loses his sunny disposition.
• Irony:
  • All of Ash's losses in previous Leagues wound up being undone during his Manalo Conference win.
    • In Kanto, his Squirtle fell asleep and was eliminated on that count. In Alola, his Rowlet fell asleep, but it was because of that he avoided being disqualified when it appeared the Grass Owl had been knocked out.
    • In Johto, he lost to a fully-evolved Fire Starter. In Alola, his Fire Starter defeated its final evolution.
    • In Hoenn, he lost to a Pokémon wearing clothes. In Alola, his Rowlet wore a Decidueye outfit and was able to win in part because said outfit got ruined.
    • In Sinnoh, he lost to a Mythical and a Legendary Pokémon. In Alola, he owned a Mythical and an Ultra Beast (which are often compared to Legendaries) that helped to defeat Professor Kukui's team.
    • In Unova, he lost when a Pokémon evolved mid-battle and flattened his team. In Alola, his Meltan evolved into Melmetal prior to the finals, giving him a serious powerhouse that played a key role in his victory.
    • In Kalos, he was defeated by a Blast Burn from a Fire Starter. In Alola, his Torracat is able to absorb a Blast Burn and throw it right back at its opponent to win.
  • In the original series, Ash lost the Indigo Plateau Conference, his very first league competition, because his Charizard refused to battle Sparky, Ritchie's Pikachu. In Journeys, he becomes World Champion after his Pikachu defeats Leon's Charizard.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: If Ash sees his Pokémon are happier elsewhere than they are with him, or are needed for a greater purpose, he'll let them go. That said, it doesn't discount the possibility of him reuniting with them down the line, as he's bumped into or called back all of them except Primeape.
• I Warned You: In "The Double Trouble Header!", a rookie trainer named Casey challenges him to a battle when he insults her favorite baseball team. He tells her that he's leagues more experienced, but she still challenges him anyway. Charizard barely has to do anything and successfully takes out her whole team.
• Jerkass Ball: Ash is a nice guy, but he does have moments where he loses it. These moments in particular show him at his worst—and when him holding the ball warrants consequences.
  • In "Turning Over a New Bayleef," Ash angrily yells at his Bayleef because he got tired of it tackling him, which results in the poor thing running away feeling unwanted.
  • He holds the ball a lot during Advanced Generation in general. He constantly rushes the group to his next gym battle with little regard for anything else, and got pissed at May in one episode for simply looking at a mirror. He also became a lot more arrogant and brash when challengeing gyms, the biggest example being in "Brave The Wave", where he acts like a Sore Loser after losing to Brawly, harshly critcizes the aforementioned gym leader's lifestyle, and angrily tells Brock to shut up after he tells him to calm down. He eventually mellows out by the time of the Battle Frontier.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • In "Friends to the End", Ash was very upset when he lost the Indigo League and accused Misty of calling him lazy, although she wasn't entirely wrong on that one. However, seeing and listening to Richie deal with his loses, Ash realized his bad behavior.
  • In "Turning Over A New Bayleef", after getting consistently tackled, Ash snapped at his Bayleef to get away and stay away from him when she tried to approach him slowly. However, after a while, Ash noticed his Bayleef absences and went looking for her. Through the help of his friends, Ash realized that his harsh words were the reason that Bayleef left and felt awful for snapping at her. After finding her, Ash attempts to apologizes to Bayleef for his behavior but kept getting the silent treatment from her, until he earned her forgiveness when she saw his attempts to save her from Team Rocket.
  • In "Brave the Wave!", Ash was upset that he lost his Gym Battle against Brawly as he thought he wasn't taking battling seriously because of his carefree nature. After getting scolded for pushing his Treecko too hard and tried to help see through his mistake, Ash's frustration got worse as he snaps at his friends then he ran off with Pikachu not far behind him. However, while walking with Pikachu, Ash not only realized that he really did push Treecko too hard during the Gym Battle and felt guilty for losing his temper towards his friends but also sees that Brawly is a serious Gym Leader when he sees him train his newly evolved Pokémon.
  • In "Seeing the Forest for the Trees!", after losing his Gym battle against Wulfric and went to the Winding Woods alone, Ash was depressed about how he let fear get the better of him as both his confidences have been shattered and questions himself. However, Ash was visited by a very concerned Serena as she attempted to help him up but gets frustrated with her. Although, after seeing Serena's angry and hurt face when she called him out for his behavior along with telling him that he wanted the real him back, Ash not only realized that he really hurt her feelings but also was right about how he's been acting.
• Jerkass to One: At times, he, an otherwise All-Loving Hero and Nice Guy, can be this to the Team Rocket trio. In "Wake Up Snorlax", Ash blasts off the trio in a Pokémon battle simply over the right to capture a wild Pokémon. While Team Rocket are thieves, notably in "So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd", Ash and company easily forgive a far more competent Pokémon thief.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This was his characterization during the Kanto Saga. In spite of being egotistical, lazy, and spending a lot of time arguing with Misty even when she was trying to help him, he was still The Hero of the series, and always went out of his way to help someone in need. Later sagas shed the "jerk" part entirely, leaving him a Nice Guy all around.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Ash and his friends wind up in the mind of the Larvitar that Ash was caring for in "Address Unown!", learning about its tragic past in the process.
• Karmic Jackpot:
  • In the first season, half of Ash's badges were earned, not because he was a skilled trainer, but because he performed a good deed that the Gym Leader acknowledged.^note The Boulder Badge because Ash refused to win unfairly. The Cascade Badge because Ash saved the gym from Team Rocket. The Marsh Badge because Ash made Sabrina laugh, giving back her joy and winning on a technicality. The Rainbow Badge because Ash rescued Gloom from a fire. This would be a source of teasing for him from Brock and Misty, much to Ash's own shame.
  • Throughout the series there have been many strong Pokémon in his roster that simply joined his team free of choice because of his kindness toward them. This list includes such storied names as Charizard, Torkoal, Infernape, Gliscor, Pignite, Greninja, Goodra, Lycanroc, and Dragonite.
• Keet: He's always had shades of this, but Sun & Moon cranks it up to eleven with him being very hyperactive and excitable.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: As of "One Journey Ends, Another Begins...", Ash has a feline Fire-type Pokémon called Litten, which has since evolved into an Incineroar.
• Knight Errant: Ash has all but become this due to the show's formula of him travelling from region to region to discover and befriend all Pokémon there and usually get caught in ceaseless good errands and world saving missions due to his compulsive altruism.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: In Kanto, Ash thought himself to be the foremost expert on everything Pokémon related. That is, until it came time to actually put those claims to the test, at which point it was shown he knew very little of what he was talking about. He slowly grew out of this, and now he's very knowledgeable about Pokémon, but he's more of a Book Dumb case since he doesn't quite know everything, though he no longer acts like he does.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: There have been a few times where Ash, despite being known to never give up, had to do exactly that when there's no option.
  • In his very first Gym Battle against Brock, he got walloped by the Pewter Gym Leader and forfeited when Pikachu couldn't escape Onix's Bind attack.
  • His first fight against Sabrina was so lopsided, he threw in the towel. Unfortunately, losing meant Sabrina was free to make him and his friends her new toys. When he tried again after getting a Haunter to follow him, he bolted when Haunter vanished on him, getting Brock and Misty turned into dolls when they tried to escape. He gets lucky that Haunter is able to get Sabrina to laugh on the third try.
  • When he first battled Duplica, she demonstrated how skilled her Ditto was when it turned into Bulbasaur and quickly wrapped Ash's own Bulbasaur in a Vine Whip. Ash knew he was licked and gave up.
  • During his first try against Blaine, Ash couldn't defeat his Magmar and Pikachu was his only Pokémon left, not to mention Blaine also had a Ninetales in peak condition too. Ash realize that it was simply not worth it and forfeited. Blaine congratulated his decision for putting his Pokémon's safety above all else.
  • In Diamond and Pearl He faces Fantina and fell victim to her Pokémon's hypnosis, putting all available Pokémon he had to use to sleep. Ash concedes, simply because he realize that they were all sitting ducks.
• The Leader: He is essentially the leader of his group of friends in every installment of the series, since they are accompanying him on his journey, and from Hoenn onward, he sometimes provides guidance and mentorship to his female companions who are just starting their journeys. His male traveling companions, though usually older and wiser, have more of a Team Dad role in the group.
• Leeroy Jenkins: One of Ash's earliest problems in his careers is that he tended to charge into a battle situation without thinking about strategy, type advantage, or the battling style of his opponent, resulting in him losing quite frequently. Once he stops and actually plans ahead, he does much better.
• Lensman Arms Race: Ash and Team Rocket's rivalry has slowly become this, due to the trio's constant quest to one up the twerps and Ash's team gaining ceaseless abilities and pointers from thwarting them. By the time the two sides enter the Kalos region, their rivalry earns an In-Universe "Holy Shit!" Quotient from the locales, just from the ridiculous skill and power displayed from an unfanfared rookie and a bunch of small time criminals.
• Lethal Chef: A Zigzagged example depending on the episode.
  • Ash's first attempt at making Poffins go so poorly, his entire team is left stunned at how bad they tasted.
  • Even he can't stomach his own cooking in the Sun & Moon series. If Ash is expected to cook, he really needs proper instructions - He almost always does too much or too little of everything otherwise.
  • Subverted afterwards. He actually does a good job of making salad and sandwiches in later on in Sun & Moon, but Professor Burnet's Munchlax is the only one who gets to enjoy them. In Journeys, Ash makes a cake that is clearly overdecorated and looks somewhat inedible, but Opal finds the cake to be the tastiest of the bunch and declares him to be the winner of her cake decoration competition.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In Kanto and Alola especially, Ash spends a lot of screen time goofing around and acting like an overexcited Fish out of Water. Whenever a battle is called or a villain causes trouble however, expect him to be the first to turn serious and skilfully unleash his powerhouse team, especially in Alola. And woe betide when he turns his cap backwards...
• Like a Duck Takes to Water:
  • In all major Pokémon competitions, such as sumo wrestling, racing, fighting championships, floral arrangements, and the like, he's managed to master them on his first try, and even win most of them. In the Pokéringer competitions, his Swellow and Staraptor both came out on top against skillful opponents, even evolving to accomplish it.
  • Regularly zigzags with this in the Sun and Moon series. While he often acts like an accident-prone Fish out of Water adapting to Alola's different Pokémon and conventions, his experience built up across other regions makes him the most battle-competent of his companions, and he adapts to the Z Ring mechanic even quicker than the native trainers do. In fact, he's only the second trainer to get said Z Ring (after Kiawe), and he winds up mastering all of his Z Moves relatively quicker than the rest of them.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: In "Showdown At Dark City!", Ash and his friends arrive to town in the middle of a gang war between rival gyms trying to get officiated by the Pokémon League. Not wanting their reputations to be soured if they happen to get roped in by either side, Ash goes by the alias "Tom Ato" after seeing a ketchup bottle Pikachu was enjoying (though he almost called himself "Ketchup" until Misty called him out on how dumb that was).
• Literally Prized Possession: Ash's first hat is an official Pokémon League hat—one of only 100 copies that exist in the world. He will not tolerate anyone stealing it from him.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Plays a lot into other characters' confidence and development, even if most eventually become independent. Serena's entire life was revamped by Ash's kindness for example, she initially only sought to travel because of him and she spent most early points meek and emotionally dependent on his encouragement. One episode also revealed Pikachu would be powerless without Ash.
• Loon with a Heart of Gold: Due to his exaggerated Cloud Cuckoo Lander Keet tendencies in the Sun and Moon series, Ash is often seen as rather strange and buffoonish by the other characters. His unflappably sweet and altruistic nature shines through however, especially in his patience with his sometimes dysfunctional Pokémon and his Big Brother Instinct towards the likes of Lillie and Sophocles.
• Loved by All: Gradually grows to become the most beloved figure in the entire Pokémon series over the course of his journey. At his first league, he was booed for showing up so late to his match against Ritchie and using a disobedient Charizard (though Team Rocket kidnapping him and nobody bothering to look for him didn't help). By the time he qualifies for the Masters Eight, all of Alola cheers for Ash—their Champion—to the point even Team Skull shows up to a special match in his honor. And when Ash does defeat Leon, he becomes recognized as The World Monarch everywhere he goes, with plenty of cheering thralls and fans to his name.
• Love Hurts: One downside of releasing his Pokémon into the wild or for training is that he doesn't want to say goodbye to them, but he tearfully fights through his own desires to see that they can enjoy their own lives. Butterfree was the first such Pokémon he went through this with, and he still misses him terribly.
• MacGuffin Escort Mission:
  • Tasked with delivering the GS Ball from Professor Ivy to Professor Oak, and then to Kurt, who viewers never saw him do anything with it.
  • He is later tasked by Professor Oak to deliver a Pokémon egg to his cousin, Samson. Though he gets distracted by a wild Grubbin, Delia ensures the delivery is completed successfully.
• Made of Iron: He's survived stuff no normal 10-year-old boy should be able to. It's a Running Gag of the series for Pikachu to electrify him and leave him somewhat charred. Some of his other Pokémon barrage Ash with attacks as a display of affection. He accepts it.
  • Nearly every time he goes back home to Kanto, his 30 Tauros run him down in a stampede, yet he's none worse for wear.
  • It gets to the point that when he was training Rockruff, he willingly used himself as a target for its new move, Rock Throw. His classmates are left surprised by how he seems to shrug it off.
• Magnetic Hero: Naturally, Ash draws a lot of attention from Pokémon who end up joining his team. He also has a talent for drawing people's interests, which is further exploit in XY, where at least three different characters are inspired by his personality.
  • The more interesting extension is that the Pokémon he trains end up turning into natural leaders as well. Pidgeot is now head of a massive flock on Route 1. Bulbasaur is the lead peacekeeper at Oak's ranch. Squirtle started as the leader of a gang, and went back to that. Then there are the several times one of the team is caught by Team Rocket and isolated from the trainers, and proceeds to coordinate fellow detainees into a revolt. (Pikachu, Starly, etc.)
  • Also during the Alola League, Professor Oak and Delia note that Ash tends to partner up with a lot of highly competitive Pokémon, and that they seem to flock to him. (Incineroar, Hawlucha, Buizel, Sceptile...) are they wrong?
• Making a Splash: Ash owns a few water type Pokémon, such as Squritle, Krabby-Kingler, Lapras, Totodile, Corphish, Buizel, Oshawott, Palpitoad, Froakie-Frogadier-Greninja, and Dracovish.
• Master of All: The second character, after Ilima to use both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution in the anime and the first character seen to use Z-Moves, Mega Evolution, and Dynamax.
• The McCoy: He's this to Misty's The Kirk and Brock's The Spock, being the most passionate between the three who's a bit more level-headed (at least when Misty isn't gushing over water Pokémon or Brock is trying to flirt with every pretty girl he sees), but nevertheless relies on instinct more so than logic to start with.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Doubles as a Punny Name. "Ketchum", anybody?
  • His English name, Ash, also means "Happy", which he definitely is when he's out on his journey.
• Memento MacGuffin: Cutlery, a handkerchief and a fishing lure, one half of the Terracotta Ribbon and a Teddiursa carving, from Brock, Misty and May (two each from the girls), respectively. The latter four appear later in the series, while Brock's gift was important...for only one episode.
  • Episode 2 of Aim To Be A Pokémon Master reveals that Ash also owns a fishing lure shaped after and gifted to him by Cilan, which he uses to try and catch the Clauncher him and Misty are competing over. The lure is mentioned again in episode 3, when Misty meets Cilan and used once more in episode 7, when Ash and Misty are trying to save a stuck Wailmer.
• Messiah Creep: When the series started, Ash was far more flawed and bull headed, and often fell into standard childish impulses like being arrogant or throwing tantrums. As the show progressed, he slowly matured into a Nice Guy with a more serious and insightful attitude, to the point that by XY he is nothing short of The Ace, idolized by most of the cast, with barely any of his former flaws still coming back to bite him. Sun and Moon dialed him back into a far more comedic and childlike character, though still keeps the majority of his Nice Guy characterization to maintain Character Development. Journeys reverts him back to this trope.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: At the end of the Indigo League, after both Ash and Ritchie lose their respective matches, Ritchie helps Ash realize that losing is an invaluable part of being a Pokémon Trainer. He also states that losing doesn't have to be the end of their journey as long as they learn from it, which Ash takes to heart from that moment forward.
• Mirror Character:
  • Ash will always mirror each of his rivals in some way, be it through similar ambitions, character flaws, values, or shared struggles. The specifics vary for each one, but in each instance, this proves key in settling their differences.
  • Subverted with Team Rocket. Ash's dream To Be a Master used to mirror their own goal of stealing Pikachu, as both were impossible goals seemingly doomed to fail, but as time went by Ash slowly but surely made progress toward his goal and has gained a wealth of insight in his pursuit of it. Team Rocket, in contrast, have learned little from their endless cycle of failures, and will likely be trapped in the same cycle forever.
• Momma's Boy: Don't screw with his mother around him. Just...don't. Or don't try to kidnap his mother and force her to act as your own, as the third movie demonstrated.
• Motive Decay: Originally, he wanted to catch every Pokémon there is. Now he is just bent on being a great trainer and having adventures with his friends. A case of Tropes Are Not Bad, since catching too many Pokémon brings a lot of problems to a show that focuses on the character development of the human cast and their Pokémon they carry with them.
• Mr. Vice Guy: In Kanto until the middle of Hoenn, Ash was The Hero of the series, and a very kind young man who always helped those in need, but his ego and immaturity kept holding him back from being able To Be a Master like he wanted. It took several humbling experiences, and a little bit of badass grinding, before he shed this aspect.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He's a scrawny kid to be sure, but Ash has javelin thrown logs and picked up Pokémon that weigh considerably more than he does without breaking a sweat.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • In Pokémon Scent-sation!, Ash becomes grief-stricken upon discovering that he was forced to become Team Rocket's Unwitting Pawn in their plans to steal Erika's perfume and blow up Celadon Gym.
  • In "Brave the Wave!", After snapping at his friends for scolding him, Ash had this reaction when he realized how hard he pushed his Treecko, during his Gym Battle against Brawly.
  • In Seeing the Forest for the Tress!, Ash had this when he realize how hard he was on Serena, after he yelled at her for trying to help him and this caused him to get thrown a couple of snowballs in the face. After meeting up with her and noticing her attempts to apologize to him, Ash stopped Serena from saying anything as he assured her that he understands her intentions were to help him then thanked her for that as she truly did help him get out of his depression, which was also an apology to her.
  • In Betrayed, Bothered and Beleaguered!, Ash is implied to have experienced this off-screen when Chloe told him how Pikachu was feeling neglected in favor of Riolu. After deducing where his partner and best friend would most likely be going, Ash rushed to Pallet Town in order to fix things with Pikachu.
• Necessary Fail: He continuously travels through each region of the world to progress into their league, only to fail each time and start anew in another. Of course along the way, he also solves a thousand other people's problems, helps his travelling companions with their life goals, and usually saves the entire planet from destruction at least once or twice. Finally averted in Alola, where even after he finally wins the league and becomes champion, he's still allowed to leave and continue his journey in other regions.
• Nice Guy: Well, his heart is bigger than all the regions AND the Orange Islands combined, so to speak. He was more abrasive in early arcs, though his good qualities still prevailed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In "The Problem With Paras!", Ash decides to help the titular Paras evolve into Parasect by battling, so he calls out his Charmeleon, who has a quad advantage against the bug. The problem is Charmeleon wants to fight stronger opponents, and is starting to develop a bit of a temper and disobedient streak. Then Ash asks him to throw the fight. Charmeleon utterly refuses, and loses any last respect he had for Ash, only bothering to fight against strong foes. Then he evolves in Charizard, and those problems only get worse, but Ash doesn't try to fix whatever issues he and Charizard have (though as the series proved, it took another near death experience to get the big lug to start listening). Then he won't fight in the Indigo League when Ash is on the cusp of defeat after he narrowly avoids getting disqualified, and Ash is eliminated.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The original and Unova trios operate on this dynamic, wtih Ash serving as the In-Between to Misty/Iris's Mean and Brock/Cilan's Nice. Ash is stubborn and argumentative, but generally good-natured when not provoked, Misty/Iris is a hotheaded Tsundere who constantly butts heads with her companions, and Brock/Cilan is the Cool Big Bro who tries to calm their arguments.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: For all the good Ash has done, not everything he does has positive consequences for him.
  • First, Ash saves the life of an abandoned Charmander whose Jerkass of a trainer ditched it out in the wild to die. Said Charmander initially paid such an act of kindness forward, but upon evolving into Charmeleon and then Charizard, he refused to do anything Ash asked of him unless he was going up against a very strong opponent. This cost Ash the Indigo League when, after exhausting himself escaping Team Rocket, he tries using Charizard as a last resort, only for the big lug to refuse to fight Richie's Pikachu and gets Ash disqualified. Later, it winds up being Zig-Zagged when Charizard almost dies again and Ash saves his life once more, giving him his ultimate powerhouse next to Pikachu.
  • Another thing that bit Ash in the ass was suggesting Alain challenge the Kalos League. Alain, who was already down in the dumps and trying his damndest to find his place in life, accepts, and gets his spirit reinvigorated—and then narrowly manages to beat Ash in the finals.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: If anyone manages to piss Ash off sufficiently, he will unleash his Pokémon's full power on them. Team Rocket is usually the ones who suffer this the most, as they made the mistake of trying to steal said Pokémon for their own gain.
• No Indoor Voice: Is very loud when excited, when cheering on his friends for whatever reason he yells so loud he could break glass. He even becomes louder in Sun & Moon, the series where his Keet personality is pronounced the most.
• No-Respect Guy: Throughout the Original Series, Ash was treated as just a rookie—a very skilled rookie, but an arrogant, egotistical, lazy slacker of a rookie that nobody took seriously. Gary thought he was a nobody, Professor Oak snarked at him for being late, Pikachu refused to obey him out of the gate, Nurse Joy gave him hell over the condition Pikachu was in following the Spearow attack, Misty picked on him all the time, Brock just barely defended him, Ash was given half his badges not for beating the gym leaders but out of a good deed (a fact of which Brock and Misty never let Ash live down years later), Charizard wouldn't do anything he asked, and when he lost the Indigo League, his friends chewed him out for his lazy attitude costing him the event. Granted, Ash's attitude at the time didn't help his case any, but it would be years in real-time before the rest of the world came to respect his skills as a trainer.
• No Sense of Direction: Zigzagged, but Ash tends to get lost if he's left to lead the way rather than someone else.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Ash Ketchum is forever 10 years old, as well as the other main characters remaining at their own ages. Despite numerous events that imply at least a year has passed^note Ash has noted a year's time passing between his first two visits to Viridian City (dub-only), celebrated the anniversary of meeting Pikachu during his time in Johto, and visited the fully built Magnet Train in BW141 despite being told it would take a year to do so, Ash continues to be referred to as 10 years old any time someone mentions his age.

O-S

• Oblivious to Love: His inability to understand romance is one of his most defining traits post-Kanto, though exactly to what extent varies Depending on the Writer. He could tell that Oshawott was in love with Osharina, while in in XY, while he did not notice Serena's crush on him (at least until she kissed him). He is sometimes able to recognize love between others when it is obvious or pointed out to him, and in Sun & Moon he gets dragged to a jewelry store by Mallow, Lana, and Lillie. When one of the workers says that he must have a close relationship with the three, he grins and blushes. He's also quite happy and excited for Professor Kukui and Burnet's wedding.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Prior to arriving to Lillie's surprise party at the end of Sun and Moon, Ash arrives on Nebby, having been on an adventure in Ultra Space and meeting an Ultra Beast he'd never seen before. This Ultra Beast, which is a type that would be unseen in game due to Ash having encountered every species of Ultra Beast prior, and what Ash got up to beyond helping said Ultra Beast, is unrevealed, unelaborated upon in the episode, and unseen by the audience. Though the Rotom-dex does have footage of it.
  • At the start of Octo-Gridlock at the Gym!, he has managed to climb back up to Great Class in the Coronation Series.
  • In A Crackling Raid Battle!, he is able to send Team Rocket blasting off out of the factory. However, you only see the blast off, and not the attack Ash did that made it happen.
  • In JN105, he manages to defeat former Champion Wallace in a mostly offscreen battle, with only very small and non-crucial portions of the match being shown.
• Old Shame: He's not too keen about Misty and Brock bringing up how he earned the Boulder and Cascade Badges out of pity to his classmates from Alola.
• Only One Name: Averted in the dub, played completely straight in the Japanese version, where he and his mother are only known as "Satoshi" and "Hanako", respectively.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Often applies when he tries to get Pikachu into his Pokéball. For example, in "Snow Way Out", it's freezing outside, and Ash is not interested in letting his Pikachu freeze to death. Think about it.
  • After Ash-Greninja's first complete transformation, Ash is in such an almost crazed frenzy that he orders Ash-Greninja to keep attacking Diantha's Mega Gardevoir, even though the latter had been knocked down. This showcases that the transformation is taking its toll on Ash, and he and Greninja soon fall to the Power-Strain Blackout.
  • After Fabah kidnaps Nebby, which is a young infant that Ash basically cares for as if it is his own kid and then dares endanger Lillie and tries to have her memories erased to cover up his tracks, Ash eschews Pokémon battling and just straight up body slams the man himself.
  • In Goodbye, Friend!, after Goh decides that he'll leave Raboot behind in the Hoenn region. Ash states, in a very cold tone of voice that while he will accept Goh's decision if he's serious, he then asks if Goh asked Raboot about it.
  • After his loss to Bea, Ash winds up on a very bad losing streak where his Riolu keeps getting walloped by the same "getting smacked around by tentacles" strategy that cost him the match against the Galar Gym Leader. After getting knocked back down into the Normal Class as a result, Ash is so despondent that he can barely muster enough energy to help Goh investigate a sandstorm in Hoenn. Luckily, Goh using one of the strategies that Ash himself created snaps him out of it, and gives him an excuse to return Alola so he can relax and refocus before going to challenge the WCS again.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: One of Ash's greatest attributes is his ability to perform seemingly impossible feats that leave other trainers in and out of the universe in awe. His creative and unconventional tactics often secure him victories before his opponents even have a chance to react to his moves.
• Pals with Jesus: How many legendary Pokémon has he (and even his close friends) befriended? The most notable include the Creation Trio in Movies 10-12 (as well as Arceus), Lugia in the Orange Islands, and the Lake Trio especially Azelf, for whom he is The Chosen One, Nebby the Solgaleo who he raised from birth, as well as being implied to be the Hero of Ideals for Zekrom.
• Papa Wolf: Never hurt his friends, human or Pokémon, especially his Pikachu. He even tends to go to more reckless lengths in order to save them when they're in danger. One time, he actually jumped into an active volcano to save his newly evolved Talonflame when it got knocked out and started falling to its doom.
• Parental Substitute: Along with Hawlucha, Noibat has imprinted on both of them and considers them his parents.
• Pet Positive Identification: In "Pokémon Scent-sation!", Ash, after being banned from the Celadon Gym, is forced to disguise himself as a girl to get in. Ash's disguise is able to fool even his travelling companions, but Pikachu recognises him all too quickly.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: With several of his female companions; Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, Serena, and Lillie (her backpack and Ultra Guardian uniform) all wear red or pink in contrast with his blue.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's absurdly strong for a kid who's around five feet tall, effortlessly picking up Pignite (who weighs 122 pounds) and Larvitar (who weighs 158 pounds), carrying a Hippopotas (who weighs 109 pounds) on his head, and grabbing and throwing an entire log. For reference, logs can weigh an excess of 1,000 pounds.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With all his female companions (even those who show an interest on him) notable examples are both May and Dawn since Ash served as a Big Brother Mentor to both of them. May also count as a life partner with Lillie, who considers Ash to be one of her closest friends and was very thankful for helping her family in their time of need.
• Playing with Fire: Unsurprisingly, given his fiery passion for battling, he owns a fair amount of Fire Types. These include Charmander-Charmeleon-Charizard, Cyndaquill-Quillava, Torkal, Chimchar-Monferno-Infernape, Tepig-Pignite, Fletchinder (after evolving from Fletchling)-Talonflame, and Litten-Torracat-Incineroar. His Gengar also knows the Fire move Will-O-Wisp.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure:
  • While Ash's bond with his companions in unbreakable, sometimes they can hit a bump in the road along their journey. This tends to happen at least once a series with his female companions (often accompanied by undertones of Ship Tease), as well as Rotom Dex in SM098 and a few times with Goh due to the latter's social awkwardness. Fortunately for Ash, these fights are always resolved by the end of the episode.
  • Even his Pokémon aren't immune to this. Metapod once thought Ash abandoned it to a swarm of angry Beedrill, Charmander refused to listen to him anymore when it evolved in Charmeleon and then Charizard because it lost all respect for him until it almost died, Bayleaf got pissed at him for yelling at her, and one time even Pikachu got angry that Ash was paying more attention to Riolu than him and stormed off from the Cerise Lab back to Pallet Town. He later tells Goh that he believes he had a similar falling out with Grenija after his loss to Wulfric, but Greninja showed no such animosity towards Ash during that time.
• Poisonous Person: Among his Poison Types are Bulbasuar (which is part Poison), Muk, Poiple-Naganadel, and his Gengar (also part Poison).
• Power Copying: Starting with the beginning of the Advance Generation series, whenever Ash sees someone use a move that's worth using, he decides to teach his Pokémon that move (starting with Iron Tail).
• The Power of Friendship: He caught several Pokémon without having to fight. Saving their lives was enough for them. However, this is subject to a Decon-Recon Switch in Diamond and Pearl, where his rivalry with Paul goes poorly for Ash due to him relying too much on his friendship with his team instead of actual strategy. Nevertheless, when he does apply proper strategy while also applying the strengths of his friendships with his team, he's able to finally beat Paul.
• Power-Strain Blackout: His synchronization with his Greninja in its Ash-Greninja form causes its power to spike to insane levels, on par with the power-ups of Mega Evolution. However, Ash feels all the damage that Greninja takes and prolonged time in this state causes Ash to black out and collapse from exhaustion. This becomes less pronounced after they master it, though some of it is still there.
• Primary-Color Champion: All of his wardrobes feature blue and red prominently, and with the yellow Pikachu ever at his side, Ash is undoubtedly marked as The Hero.
• Protectorate: Practically any distressed character within Ash's viewing range will compulsively get his help (even bad guys like Team Rocket at times), but he will at all costs stick up for his Pokéemon in nearly every manner possible.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia:
  • When Bianca/Latias gives him a goodbye kiss as he leaves Alto Mare, Ash is speechless and shocked after the fact. Even as both of his friends are outright bewildered by what happened.
  • In the final episode of the XY Series, before Serena leaves to go to Hoenn she essentially gives Ash her much anticipated Love Confession then she musters up enough courage to run up to him and kiss him. Ash is initially shocked and speechless where all he can do is stare at her in awe with his eyes lit up, but immediately gives her a happy warm smile before telling her he'll see her again.
• Psychic Powers: Has the power of Aura. (Powers that he used in both DP070 and DP071 and in Journeys at several points with Lucario's own abilities) He's decided not to get any training in Aura in order to continue his journey. Journeys implies Ash's Aura manifests during battles, empowering his Pokémon, as seen with his Riolu who used Ash's aura to identify him as the trainer who cared for it as an egg. As for actual Psychic Types he owns, the only one he has is Mr. Mime, a part Psychic Type, though some of his non-Psychic Types like Noctowl and Gengar have used moves of the type like Confusion, Extrasensory, and Psychic.
• Pure of Heart: For what faults Ash does have, his desire to truly understand Pokémon and befriend them has made him a Pokémon Master in a symbolic sense, if not a literal one yet. He's managed to befriend his world's equivalent to Gods with nearly every Mythical and Legendary in the franchise, he possesses a unique ability to tap into Aura Power, he's been The Chosen One on numerous different occasions for both prophecies and Pokémon alike, and he's gone to any lengths to protect his friends, his Pokémon, and the world without hesitation. If the Pokémon universe had a non-powered equivalent to Superman, Ash would definitely be it.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Aside from his crossdressing episodes (which he did unwillingly each time), there was one episode in the Johto arc where he, along with Misty and Brock, wore identical Slowpoke costumes (It Makes Sense in Context).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to all of his main series rival's blue. This is especially true with Paul, who is as cold and calculating as Ash is passionate and impulsive.
• Redemption Quest: After suffering a humiliating defeat in the Indigo League, partly due to his inexperience, laziness, and arrogance, Ash goes on to challenge the Orange Island League to refine himself as a trainer, along with his Pokémon. The trip through the archipelago proves to be a great boon for Ash in his growth as a trainer, culminating in not only winning against Drake in the League but also leading to further development and improvement in future leagues until eventually, he becomes Champion of Alola and the Pokémon World Coronation Series.
• Renaissance Man: Amongst Pokémon-related competitions, Ash, especially since Johto, has shown a remarkable ability to consistently win or do rather well in fields he is not directly specialized in via his own skills and intuition. Ash could very easily pursue a career in such fields as Pokémon Sumo, Pokéringer, Pokémon Contests, Pokémon Racing, and Pokéathalon alongside his own skills as a Pokémon trainer if he was so inclined, to say nothing of the unrelated fields he's shown skills in, such as artistry, rock climbing, cake decorating, and Aura, though in non-Pokémon fields he is far from being consistently skilled at most every related field as he is in Pokémon.
• Rescue Romance:
  • One-sided canon: Girl of the Week Macy, Ash's first quasi-important opponent in the Johto League, fell for him hard when he saved her from a fall. On a platonic sense, this applies to some of his Pokémon as well.
  • Also another one-sided Latias in Pokémon Heroes develops a crush on him thanks to Ash saving her and her brother, Latios multiple times. In spite of Ash being a human
  • Another one-sided example is Angie, whom Ash saved twice at a Sinnohan summer camp. Naturally, he doesn't notice how blushy she gets near him.
  • Another one-sided example would have to be Serena. He helped her out when she was lost in a forest as a young child, and only adds onto this when they start travelling together in the present. She is blatantly smitten by him as a result, but he doesn't seem to notice... at least not until she kisses him at the end of the series, which he seemingly appreciates.
• Ridiculous Procrastinator: Back in season 1, he refused to train for the Indigo League, which proved a major factor in his eventual loss. Fortunately, his Character Development means that he now takes his Pokémon training more seriously.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: During an argument with Serena, Ash was right that not everything is gonna be anyone's business but was wrong to be harsh with her. Although he knows that some of the things he said during their argument were true, Ash realized that Serena was more right than he was as he decided to apologizes to her by thanking her for her words and knocking some sense into him.
• Rule of Cool: The reason why Ash's Pokémon are capable of pulling so many cool maneuvers that would otherwise be impossible to pull off in the games (i.e. having Pikachu knock out a Rhydon, a Rock/Ground type who's immune to electric type moves, with a thunderbolt to the horn).
• Rule of Empathy: If there's one virtue Ash has, it's his empathy towards others. He truly cares about the happiness and well-being of Pokémon, whom he regards as his closest friends. Ash's journey has had him encounter countless people and Pokémon with troubles and problems he's worked to resolve.
• Running Gag: In the movies, his tendency to ram into things, mostly barriers.
  • If you're a girl that has a bike (except Iris or Serena), never let it near him or Pikachu.
  • His badges (and hat) seem to get stolen one way or the other every region.
  • If Pikachu gets mad and lets off a zap of frustration, chances are that Ash will wind up caught in the crossfire.
  • His disobedient Charmeleon/Charizard roasts him with Flamethrower in almost every single appearance, leaving him comically charred to varying degrees. Once Charizard starts being obedient, Ash still gets burned every time - but now as an affectionate gesture, or just by accident.
• Sad Clown: He gets put through a lot of slapstick early on in his journey, and he spends much of The Original Series acting very haughty and egoistical, but he's truthfully worried that deep down he lacks what it takes to achieve his dreams of being a Pokémon Master.
• Save the Villain: On occasion, he's had to get Team Rocket out of a scrape when they've gotten caught in their own traps or a far worse baddie comes along and puts them in their place. In spite of the fact they won't stop pestering him to steal Pikachu, he does try to help, and occasionally they won't stab him in the back and at least call a truce to deal with the bigger threat.
• Second Place Is for Winners: Though Ash ultimately lost at the finals during the Lumiose Conference, he fares better than the actual victor, Alain. During the League ceremony, Team Flare launch their attack upon Lumoise City. Alain, being involved with Team Flare, suffers the worst kind of loss when he realizes that his entire goal was a lie and his boss Lysandre only cares about power, ignoring Mega Evolution in favor for a potentially more powerful Bond Phenomenon that Ash possesses. In the aftermath of the Flare crisis, Ash is constantly recognized and praised by young trainers as the Conference League finalist while Alain quietly rebuilds his life with Prof. Sycamore and privately admits Ash to be the superior trainer.
• Seen It All: It usually isn't too explicit, as Ash is the sort of guy to just enjoy adventure in general, but he'll often remain calm compared to a friend or companion when something unusual happens. A notable occurrence happens when Ash, Dawn, and Goh first see Arceus and the lake guardians in The Arceus Chronicles four-part special, Goh is visibly shocked while both Ash and Dawn calmly discuss the situation afterward.
• Selective Obliviousness: He developed Oblivious to Love in later seasons, despite witnessing Brock becoming lovestruck over pretty girls on a near-daily basis (and often utilizing his Snivy's Attract during his Unova journeys).
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the Manly Man to his male companions Brock, Tracey, Cilan, and Clemont (all definitely Sensitive Guys), as he's a lot more physically active and engaged in battling than they typically are. With each of his 'primary' rivals (Gary, Paul, Trip, Alain and Gladion) though, he's the Sensitive Guy, as they're more brooding, serious, and snarky compared to him.
• Series Mascot: The most iconic human character of the Pokémon franchise, and the anime's lead protagonist for 25 years.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: He had this dynamic with Misty during The Original Series, which was especially prevalent as the two would butt heads more often than not.
• Sick Episode: Ash has only gotten sick twice in the entire series. The first time was when he and Tracey inhaled Stun Spore in "The Stun Spore Detour" back in the Orange Islands. While in Kalos during "Battling at Full Volume," he catches a serious cold and runs a fever and is incapacitated for nearly the entire episode, forcing Serena to disguise herself as him when a challenger comes around.
• Signature Headgear: He never goes anywhere without a baseball cap, changing it between seasons. His original hat (of which only 100 copies exist) is actually an official prize from the Pokémon League which he won by sending 1000 postcards.
• Signature Mon:
  • Pikachu, of course. He was Ash's first Pokémon, he's been the only one of his team that's consistently stayed with him, and he's used him in every major conference he's partaken in. Tellingly, it was Pikachu that brought down Leon's Charizard, cementing him as Ash's ultimate ace.
  • While Pikachu represents Ash's signature Pokémon overall, due to Ash frequently building up a new team from scratch in every new series, he tends to get a Pokémon that defines his regional team. They're usually his ace Pokémon who get the majority of the focus and marketing over the rest of the team, including Pikachu. Charizard represents the original team, Sceptile represents the Advanced Generation team, Infernape represents the Diamond and Pearl team, Greninja represents the XY team, and Lucario represents the Journeys team. Subverted with his Black & White and Sun & Moon teams, as while they did have powerful aces (such as Krookodile and Lycanroc), none of the team members are able to overshadow the rest, often leading Pikachu to remain as the undisputed signature Pokémon for Ash in those teams.
• Signature Move:
  • Out of all of his improvised techniques, the Counter-Shield is the only one used with enough regularity to become a signature technique (Diamond & Pearl only). In future seasons, several of his friends and rivals seems to have picked up on his Counter Shield move (most notably Dawn, Brock, and Leon).
  • It's also worth mentioning that, even though Seismic Toss is frequently referred to as Charizard's signature finisher, he only uses it while Ash is in command (even in "Volcanic Panic").
  • The same thing applies to Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Ash even explicitly states during his Cyllage Gym match that it is (unsurprisingly) his favorite move.
  • Ash is very fond of speed attacks, ranging from Quick Attack and variants like Aqua Jet and Accelrock to speed boosting moves like Flame Charge. They become a staple move of any Pokémon he has that possesses them, and a lot of Ash's Pokémon know these moves. ^note Specifically 16 of his Pokémon: Pikachu, Pidgeot, Cyndaquil, Sceptile, Swellow, Staraptor, and Unfeazant know Quick Attack with Greninja, as a side note, having tried to learn it, Corphish, Buizel and Oshawott knowing Aqua Jet, Pignite, Talonflame, and Torracat knowing Flame Charge, Infernape knowing Mach Punch, Lycanroc knowing Accelrock, and Lucario knowing Bullet Punch. While Greninja's Water Shuriken and Riolu's Vacuum Wave are priority moves in game, they are not counted in this list as they do not have a speed effect to it the way the moves above do in the anime.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: His early relationship with Gary, whom Ash wanted to beat with a passion. Gary, for his part, just considered Ash a mild nuisance until his own humbling experiences and Ash's own growth led him to start taking his rival more seriously.
• The Sixth Ranger: He is literally this from the perspective of the Sun and Moon cast, joining the five student class a while after they had all already met. Comparatively though, he's the most experienced between them all.
• Ship Tease: Despite his Chaste Hero nature, he tends to get at least few of these with each of his female traveling companions (aside from Bonnie), though almost always on their side rather than his. Though that hasn't stopped a few hints on his side, most notably his tendency to get jealous of guys that Misty showed attraction to, or seeming pleasantly surprised when Serena kissed him on the lips.
• Shock and Awe: His primary partner is the Electric-type Pikachu, who also doubles as his Signature Mon. It also helps that the markings under his eyes look like lighting bolts.
• Shooting Superman: Throughout all of his encounters with Team Rocket, he repeatedly orders Pikachu to use electric attacks on them and/or their current Humongous Mecha or gadget. He always forgets that Team Rocket usually shockproofs their gadgets (though in Ash's defense, Team Rocket isn't consistent about shockproofing their traps).
• Skewed Priorities: After experiencing first-hand what Sabrina can do to him and then suffering a Humiliation Conga from her dad, the only thing on Ash's mind is: "If I don't defeat her, I can't get into the Pokémon League!".
• Small Name, Big Ego: In the Kanto arc of the original series, Ash was arrogant and cocky despite being a rookie who had no idea about the basics of Pokémon battling, such as type advantages. Misty calls him out on it big-time after he captures Pidgeotto and gloats about it... after sending his Caterpie against it and watching it get curb-stomped. It takes losing the Indigo League to pop his ego, though it does take him a while to wind up as a Humble Hero type.
  Ash: I am the greatest!
  Misty: [slaps him] You're the worst! You have no idea what you're doing! It'll be a long time before you're a Pokémon Master, like a million years!^note Though 25 years later, Misty would be eating Murkrow when Ash beat Leon and became the World's Best Warrior.
• Smart Ball: During the Kanto Era, he would grab this occasionally despite his idiotic tendencies.
  • In "Who Gets To Keep Togepi?", he calls out Bulbasaur in his battle against Misty to give himself a type advantage against her water types, and when Psyduck calls itself out, forces Misty to play fair by reminding her it's a sudden death 1 v. 1 match with no switching allowed. When Misty tries to get Bulbasaur to attack Psyduck's head, Ash has it lick, then tickle the duck to get it to laugh itself back into its ball. Ash even lampshades that even he's not that dense to fall for that trick.
  • During his final qualifying match at the Indigo League, Ash has Professor Oak send Muk to him, anticipating that his opponent would use a powerful grass type. It works, as said opponent's Bellsprout proves too fast to attack or dodge, which a poison type made of sludge like Muk has no problem dealing with.
• Sore Loser: He initially had this attitude whenever his head got too big and he went into a battle thinking he was on top of the world, only for the trainer in question to knock him down a peg or two. He mostly drops this after the original series (outside of a few relapses, such as against Brawly).
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Downplayed. He can understand the meaning of what Pokémon say, especially those he knows well, but can't understand or translate their exact words.
• Status Quo Is God: Downplayed at the end of his tenure as the series' lead. Despite his accomplishments, he still does not consider himself to be a Pokémon Master, his newly obtained title as World Coronation Series Monarch hasn't dramatically altered his life beyond giving him crowds of adoring fans in certain locations, the bulk of his old Pokémon he released or sent away for training still remain absent, and Team Rocket is still endlessly following him to steal Pikachu. However, he finally managed to get his Pidgeot back, and though he doesn't consider himself a Pokémon Master, he has a better understanding of what he thinks it takes to be one, and walks the endless road with a greater sense of where to go next on his journey.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Ash is a textbook example of one: a Hot-Blooded, Big Eater Idiot Hero and a Friend to All Living Things on a quest To Be a Master.
• The Strategist: Often relies on the Indy Ploy in battle, but is more than capable of planning ahead for a battle. One of the earliest examples was when he taught Pikachu to use Iron Tail for the Rock-type Rustboro Gym in Hoenn. Sinnoh in particular puts a lot of focus on Ash practicing new moves and strategies for his upcoming opponents, the most notable one being Counter Shield, which would go on to be his Signature Move for that region.
• Straw Loser:
  • During The Original Series, despite his good heart and true friendships with his Pokémon, his immaturity and haughtiness saw him get the short end of the stick in most situations, especially when compared to more traditionally competent trainers such as Gary.
  • He gains conditional shades of this in the Sun and Moon series. While he is still very much the All-Loving Hero Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass in his areas of interest like battling and general world saving, he is a total Fish out of Water in standard sports and class activities, meaning an ideal way to emphasize another protagonist's talent in one area is to have Ash act like a complete Butt-Monkey in the same thing.
• Stunned Silence: On rare occasions after an especially meaningful victory, Ash will stand completely still for a moment with a dumbfounded expression. This has happened after defeating longtime rival Gary for the first time in the Silver Conference (where Ash had to make a 1 vs. 3 comeback with only his Charizard), winning the Manalo Conference against Gladion (to the point where he asks his opponent if he actually won), and defeating Sinnoh Champion Cynthia in the Masters Tournament (who had previously been undefeated on-screen).
• Subverted Catchphrase: When calling upon his entire party of Pokémon to do something especially important or fun, Ash usually yells "I choose everybody!"
• Sudden Eye Colour: Ash has always had brown eyes however they were on default Black Bead Eyes. They only became brown during close-ups or emotional scenes. Starting with Best Wishes, Ash was redesigned to have brown eyes all the time in order to fit the art-style that the games had used since Gen 3.
• Supernatural Aid: At the start of the Sun & Moon series, he receives a Z-Ring and Z-Crystal from Tapu Koko, Melemele Island's guardian deity. It's Downplayed since the crystal breaks after one use, making the bracelet worthless on its own. The intent of the gesture seems to have been to encourage Ash to earn one himself through the island challenges. When he wins Hala's trial, Tapu Koko swaps out the Fightinium Z he would have received for another Electrium Z.
• Super-Strength: Don't be fooled by him being 10 years old. He has among many things: thrown a giant log to help a Bagon (logs are calculated to be half a ton at least), able to carry a Flechinder with one arm (which weighs 35 pounds), and able to use both to lift a Pignite (122 pounds), a Larvitar (158 pounds), and a Cosmoem (2204.4 pounds). Furthermore he is strong enough to throw full-grown adults off their feet by tackling them as Dr. Namba and Faba learned the hard way.
• Super-Toughness: He's been electrocuted by Pikachu multiple times, he's been incinerated by Charizard multiples times (who, if the Pokédex is to be taken literally, can melt anything), and a wide bunch of other things, and he's barely phased. Notably when training Infernape's Blaze Ash would often be hurt by his own Pokémon's Unstoppable Rage yet Ash still pulled on.
• Surpassed the Teacher:
  • After becoming Champion of the Alola League, he wins a hard-fought full battle against Professor Kukui. What's more, during the battle he also defeats Tapu Koko, who'd served as a Trickster Mentor to him and Pikachu throughout their time in Alola.
  • Once he made it to the Masters Eight, he managed to topple Leon, who had been acting as something of a mentor to Ash, after a nail-biting round that ended with Pikachu overcoming Leon's Charizard and Cinderace despite being virtually exhausted. Leon takes the loss very well and congratulates Ash on finally being the one to (officially) beat him.

T-Z

• Taking the Bullet: Most prominently in the original series, this was occasionally Played for Laughs in that someone would start handling Pikachu too personally or roughly and Pikachu would get ready to shock them. Ash would notice this and pull Pikachu away just in time to keep them from getting shocked, only to get shocked himself.
• A Tale Told by an Idiot: Ash has a lot of first hand experiences, but when he tries to explain to younger people about things like evolution and Z-moves he often can describe them more in a manner that is very undescriptive despite his enthusiasm.
• A Taste of Defeat: If Ash is ever coming off of a big winning streak or achievement, he'll usually lose at least one battle soon after as a reminder that there's always another challenge ahead. On a side note, "Holy Matrimony" is the only episode to date where Ash and his team ended up suffering the End-of-Episode Silliness, while Team Rocket got the Happy Ending.
• Team Dad: While he has been this to his Pokémon teams, Ash Ketchum doesn't really serve this role to his human friends due to his relative inexperience and youth. That is until XY, where he's depicted as an inspiring role model for Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena. Most of the group bickering stems between the siblings Clemont and Bonnie, with Ash and Serena serving as somewhat the surrogate parents for those two.
• Tears of Joy: Sheds them briefly in the Sun & Moon finale when the rest of his True Companions fly by to see him off properly.
• This Loser Is You: Ash at first pretty much acts the way any little kid playing the games for the first time would act: forgetting key factors, refusing to train his team, being arrogant the second he got a strong Pokémon and not bothering to check a lot of facts needed to get through the Pokémon World. He drops this aspect after the Original Series, with him gradually turning into a smarter and more capable trainer who accomplishes many major victories.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After 22 years in real life of losing every Pokémon League he entered, he finally catches a break with the Pokémon League by winning the Manalo Conference, followed by winning the World Coronation Series in Journeys, and thus becoming the strongest trainer in the entire world. And if that wasn't enough, his arc in the main series ends with a more personal bone being thrown: being reunited with his Butterfree, 25 years after he said goodbye to it.
• To Be a Master: A Pokémon master! Even if only Ash seems to know what that exactly is supposed to mean, as Ash does not consider himself one after winning the Alola League nor the World Coronation Series. To Be a Pokémon Master ends with him deciding to walk the Earth and visit every Pokémon he can to achieve this goal at long last.
• Took a Level in Badass: When Ash started as a trainer, the guy was not a particularly talented trainer, struggling with his Pokémon's obedience and winning battles often through dumb luck while not putting in enough effort to truly maximize his potential. After the Indigo Plateau Conference, Ash began taking the steps to rectify this with more work at training his team and began winning more battles through skill. This began to bear fruit in the Orange Islands and Johto, and (besides Unova) Ash would only continue to become stronger in each subsequent series, finally culminating in becoming the World's Best Warrior at the end of Journeys.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: During the Unova era, Ash experiences an "off-season" of sorts compared to the experienced hero he was in the last couple of regions. He forgets how to catch Pokémon properly, loses to a far-less experienced rival, and has a far less stronger team of Pokémon than usual. He reverts back to full competence by the time of XY.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While he is prone to Snap Backs in competence and maturity from time to time, Ash's personality has, for the most part at least, became consistently more gentle and selfless as series have passed. The one time his ornery temper from earlier episodes arose in XY, it was treated as out of character by his current teammates, who were used to him being near infallibly good natured.
• Trademark Favorite Food: At first in the English dub, he was excited to get a burger when in a new town. In Black & White, Cilan revealed Ash's favorite food to be a croquette sandwich (this time in all versions). This would continue to be proven in Sun & Moon and Journeys, the former of which even shows the sandwich is one of few things he can cook successfully.
• Translator Buddy: Ash is this for Pikachu's Pokémon Speak, always having a perfect understanding of what his buddy is saying. It actually gets pointed out in a Kalos episode - Valerie, who speaks her Pokémon's language, notices that Ash seems to understand his Pokémon perfectly, and assumes he talks to them as well. He says that's not exactly it - He can't directly translate what they're saying, but he can easily tell what they mean. When this came up with Allister in Journeys, Ash elaborates that sort of connection is formed in battles when they are in synch versus someone like Allister or Iris who do not need battle and personal connection to achieve it.
• True Companions: Ash and his Pokémon, along with his traveling companions, are truly inseparable even when they're not together. Each reunion between them has them speaking fondly of old times, Ash's old Pokémon always warmly greet him when he comes back to Oak's, and Pikachu was able to push himself towards finally besting Leon when greeted by visions of all the Pokémon Ash had ever caught and even traveled with (including Larvitar and Solgaleo).
• Trying Not to Cry: Ash releasing his Pokémon, leaving his long time friends, and getting defeated by Paul in DP132 led to this.
• Tuckerization: Satoshi, his name in the original version, is the name of the head of Game Freak and creator of the games: Satoshi Tajiri.
• Victory Is Boring: His personal arc ends with him feeling this way after he defeats Leon and becomes the World Monarch. Despite achieving this seemingly impossible feat, Ash has no idea what to do with himself afterwards, and doesn't feel he's become a Pokémon Master yet.
• Victory Pose: Whether it's winning an important battle or just capturing a new Pokémon. Lampshaded in his capture of Starly, when he feels inadequate pulling the Victory Pose off in Pikachu's absence.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • He had this dynamic with Misty during The Original Series. While she ultimately cared for him deep down, the two would spend more time bickering with each other, even when she made an earnest effort to help him or at least be nice to him or vice-versa, leading her to snap that he fried her bike. This eventually dropped altogether when Misty Took a Level in Kindness and became a genuine friend and constructive coach to Ash in his travels (though she would lightly tease him on occasion), while he would eat some humble pie following his Indigo League loss and start taking her advice more seriously.
  • He also had this with Iris during Black and White. While she would constantly call him "a kid" for his immaturity, and he would be just as quick to call her on it, he was more than happy to travel with her. When she became Champion of Unova and invited him to a World Coronation Series Match, he happily accepted the chance to see her again.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • With Veronica Taylor, Ash's voice was a little deeper in the earliest Indigo episodes. When Sarah Natochenny replaced Taylor, his voice started out much rougher than later.
  • Also noticeable in the Latin American dub. Gabriel Ramos started to voice Ash when he was around the same age, but in the late Johto seasons, it's clear that his voice is beginning to sound more mature.
• Walking the Earth: How his story arc in the anime as the protagonist comes to an end, with him deciding he needs to visit every Pokémon he can truly be a Pokémon Master.
• Warrior Therapist: While Ash isn't exactly the most insightful speaker in the world, he's noted that Pokémon battles often help him clear his head when he's feeling down. He's used his passion for battle to help Volkner, Serena, and Cynthia get through their respective personal crises (the latter of which he was ironically never even told about).
• Was Too Hard on Her: Ash in Turning Over A New Bayleef kept getting tackled by his newly evolved Pokémon, Bayleef, then told her to leave him alone. After Bayleef runs away, Ash realizes that his Pokémon went missing and decided to look for her. While looking for Bayleef, Ash wonders why she ran away but Misty helped him realize that he was the one who told her to "go away and stay away" from him. Hearing this, Ash regrets for the things he said to Bayleef. He later finds Bayleef and tries to apologize, but she refuses to go back to him. However, Ash got Bayleef to realize that he truly was sorry for hurting her feelings and forgave him.
• Weak, but Skilled: In his early days as a trainer, Ash's Kanto team, though impressively resilient, were mostly not fully evolved or lacking in terms of the sheer raw power that most of Ash's opponents had—the only one who did have such power besides Pikachu, Charizard, developed a rebellious streak shortly after its first evolution from Charmander. Nevertheless, Ash was able to qualify for the Indigo League and at least make it to the Top 16 because he could come up with unique, off-the-wall strategies on the fly to catch his opponents off guard, and his bonds with his Pokémon were still very strong (excepting Charizard at the time).
• Weirdness Magnet: As the main character of the series for 26 years, Ash has a natural knack for attracting utterly insane situations at almost every turn. He saves the world and sometimes the universe on at least an annual basis, has befriended nearly every Legendary and Mythical Pokémon known to man, owns several ultra-rare Pokémon with special powers exclusive to him, and a normal day for him involves blowing up a mecha and sending a trio of thieves flying into the sky. Always to keep moving on to the next adventure.
• Willfully Weak: Ash very rarely ever uses his best possible team, normally preferring to go solely with Pikachu and get a new team for the next region. Notably, when he doesn't do this, he typically fares much better. This is a plot point in his rivalry with Paul: Ash beat Brandon, who curbstomped Paul, but refuses to change his team against Paul to prove his point to him. It gets downplayed every saga however, as his teams tend to exponentially grow in strength and by the end of the sagas reach a great amount of power after arduous training.
• The Worf Effect: Ash will occasionally lose to a Trainer in order for the series to establish how skilled they are, with Paul, Tobias, and Leon being notable examples. On rare occasions, he'll get hit with this even when the trainer in question is far weaker, such as getting beaten by Trip with a starter Pokémon after his Pikachu got zapped by Zekrom.
• Worf Had the Flu: The reason Ash loses his first major league tournament is that Team Rocket (displaying much more persistence than usual) keeps running him and his team ragged, and Ash barely makes it to the stadium in time for his match, with most of his team completely exhausted, and Charizard, who was still refusing to listen to him at that point.
• World's Best Warrior: In JN132, he officially dethrones Leon after defeating him in the finals of the Masters Eight Tournament, and is crowned as the new Monarch of the World Coronation Series (and, by extension, the strongest trainer in the world). Ash has finally "become the very best like no one ever was."
• Worthy Opponent:
  • A mutual case with Alain, who never even thought of competing in the Kalos League until he realized Ash and Greninja are the challenge he's been looking for, and entered the competition solely for a chance to face Ash again. After the Lysandre incident, Alain quietly accepts Ash to be the better trainer between the two, despite the fact that he beat Ash in the League finals.
  • He also shows respect toward Paul, praising his unorthodox counter-strategies and claiming there's nobody like him during their battle in the Sinnoh League. Paul (even though he wouldn't admit it for most of the Saga) saw Ash the same way. He finally drops his animosity with Ash when Ash finally beats him in the League.
  • As a whole, he grows to become this to nearly everyone he's faced over the years (from Gary to Team Rocket, Harrison, Tyson, Brandon, Paul, Tobias, Cameron, Sawyer, Kiawe, Gladion, and even Kukui), but two of the biggest examples so far aside from Alain himself are Volkner (who had gotten bored from facing so many weak challengers) and Cynthia (who was even planning to retire). After Ash beat both of them after a hard-fought battle, they both regained their passion for battling in full.
• Working-Class Hero: A minor aspect of Ash's character occasionally highlighted, but Ash comes from a rather humble rural background that is occasionally contrasted with richer, higher class characters, ranging from characters of the days living in mansions to longer term cast members such as James (who grew up ludicrously rich but left it behind), Lillie (who lives in a mansion), and Goh (whose a city kid whose parents live in a high class apartment and are high up workers in a tech company)
• Would Hit a Girl: He has no reservations about siccing his Pokémon on Jessie (along with the rest of the Rocket Trio), and even threw a punch at Misty's face in one occasion after being insulted by this one in the original series. In later series, he's gentler toward his female companions (and people in general), but female baddies like Jessie still get no special treatment from him.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In every Pokémon League prior to Alola, things seem to be going well for Ash. He's made it to the league, gotten past plenty of tough battles, and defeated (or at least gotten further than) his main rival at the time... only to just come up short against a new rival he recently met. He takes it progressively better each time, but it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for him when it happens.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • In Tears for Fears!, Ash assured his Infernape, while he was a Chimchar, that he didn't need Blaze to be strong and can show his strength without it.
  • In Coming Apart at the Dreams!, Ash tells Alain this when he is kicking himself for being tricked by Team Flare, saying that he's stronger than this and doesn't care about what he did in the past as he believes in the friend he got to know.
  • In This Could Be The Start Of Something Big, Ash assures Goh this when he is doubting about facing the world on his own without him there to help and guide him, saying that he was able to get on Project Mew and met the Mythical Pokémon through his own efforts.
• You Just Ruined the Shot: He sees a Shiny Hawlucha bullying a Snubbull and thinks that it's for real, attacking just as a Gallade jumps in to save the Snubbull, causing the Gallade to injure his leg. When he's forced to use his Hawlucha in the show, of course it goes wrong, as the two Hawluchas have their own view on how to perform in the show. Pictures here.
• You Shall Not Evade Me: Ash is usually Beware the Nice Ones at best, though the times Team Rocket have well and truly pushed him past breaking point, he'll damn well make sure the only way they leave is through a blasting off. "A Seasoned Search" was probably his most brutal, he ordered Pikachu to unleash Thunderbolt on them as they were crawling away in agony.
  Ash: I'm not done with you yet.....

Ash's Pokémon

In General

• Determinator: One trait all these Pokemon seem to pick up from Ash is perseverance. Giving up easily is not something they usually accept, and they will go above and beyond to win. They are willing to push themselves to the limit and beyond, demonstrating remarkable determination.
• True Companions: Ash's Pokemon share a strong bond with one another. They train together frequently and rarely engage in any bickering.

Original Series

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from the original series.

Ruby and Sapphire

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire.

Diamond and Pearl

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.

Black & White

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon the Series: Black & White.

XY

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon the Series: XY.

Sun & Moon

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon.

Journeys

See here for more about Ash's Pokémon from Pokémon Journeys: The Series.

Alternate Versions of Ash Ketchum

Mirror Ash

A version of Ash from a Mirror Universe, who's a big crybaby in comparison to his mainstream counterpart. His existence is revealed when his Pikachu runs off and accidentally steals the main Ash's one.

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• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In his universe, Serena is The Bully to him, and Team Rocket are heroes supporting his efforts from afar, rather than Serena having an obvious crush on him and Team Rocket trying to steal his Pokémon right under his nose. His relationships with the more magically-inclined Clemont and the more polite Bonnie seem about the same though.
• Adaptational Wimp: Mirror Ash isn't a confident fighter eager for a challenge, but rather a wimpy young man who can barely stand up for himself.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of it by Mirror Serena.
• In Spite of a Nail: Pikachu is still his partner, and he's still traveling with Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont in this reality despite having a completely different personality.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: He fell out with Mirror Serena because she not only crushed him in battle, but actively mocked him for it, causing him to run off and swear off traveling with his friends. It takes the main Ash to snap him out of it.
• Prone to Tears: He tends to cry whenever things get tough.

"I Choose You!" Ash

See this character page for more information regarding this version of Ash.

Alternate Ash

Another Ash from an Alternate Universe, who's also a big crybaby, and distinguished by his blue-colored hat.

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• Adaptational Wimp: Like with Mirror Ash, Alternate Ash lacks confidence in himself and is more willing to give up.
• Casting Gag: In the Latin American Dub he's voiced by Gabriel Ramos, Ash's original VA for the Latin American Dub.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: To distinguish himself from the main Ash, he wears a blue hat in contrast to the more familiar red hat.
• Fountain of Youth: In JN089, he, along with the mainstream Ash, and both Goh's, Chloe's, and Dawn's, wind up as toddlers, while all of their Pokémon end up as eggs, as a result of Dialga and Palkia's battling disrupting the space-time continuum. They have to pray to Arceus to get the two to stop fighting, at which point they're restored to normal.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the differences between him and main Ash, he still has Pikachu and Infernape.