Characters / Pokémon: The Series — Pikachu

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, 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's Pikachu

Pika-pika!

^{Click here to see Pikachu as a Pichu}

^{Click here to see Gigantamax Pikachu}

Voiced by: Ikue Otani^note Rachael Lillis and Sabine Bohlmann also inconsistently dubbed over some lines in the first few episodes of the English and German dub respectively. Also, in the LatAm Spanish dub of episode 17, Claudia Motta did the voice-over of Pikachu's dialogue.

Ash's first and ever-faithful Pokémon partner. Despite their first meeting being anything but friendly, Pikachu would go on to be Ash's longest-standing companion who has been with him every step of his journey. Unlike most of his species, Ash's Pikachu refuses to stay cooped up inside his Poké Ball for any period of time.

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Tropes involving Ash's Pikachu include:

A-G

• The Ace:
  • While Pikachu's strength varies wildly from episode to episode, nearly every series will make it clear by the end that at his peak, he truly is Ash's most powerful Pokémon. The anime almost always makes sure the final major battle of the generation ends with Pikachu: examples include Drake's Dragonite (Gen 1), Brandon's Regice (Gen 3), Tobias's Latios (Gen 4), Lysandre's Gyarados (Gen 6), Tapu Koko (Gen 7), and Leon's Charizard (Gen 8).
  • In Journeys, Diantha refers to him outright as Ash's ace, and his Double Knockout against Cynthia's Spiritomb via the latter's Destiny Bond is treated as a massive setback for Ash's chances against Cynthia.
  • The finale of the Masters Eight solidifies him as this, whereas the rest of Ash's team all score one KO at best (and said KOs were often team efforts) before going down and have to pull through a lot of effort for each win, Pikachu manages to defeat both Leon's Cinderace and his own undefeated ace, Charizard basically all on his own, firmly crowning himself as Ash's ultimate ace.
• Achilles in His Tent: Mostly from the first season, the most blatant example being Ash's Gym battle with Misty; Pikachu's excuse was allegedly because he doesn't want to fight a friend, though Misty's sisters point out that there's no way she could have beaten him, and even Misty (reluctantly) admits to it.
  • Played for laughs in "The Flame Pokémon-Athon!" when Ash decided to sic him against a stampede of Tauros; Pikachu pretended to go to sleep instead.
• Adaptational Badass: In the game series, Pikachu is a rather frail Pokémon with a good moveset and speed stat, but awful base stats and horrible bulk due to it not even being the evolutionary line's final form. In the anime, Ash's Pikachu has defeated multiple legendaries and has withstood multiple powerful attacks that it would never be able to withstand in the games. Justified, as Ash's Pikachu has always been considered exceptionally powerful for his species. With the release of Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, it can be reasonably assumed that Ash's Pikachu is a Partner Pikachu, whose stats are more comparable to Raichu than they are to a normal Pikachu.
• All Webbed Up: He learns Electroweb in SM076.
• And Call Him "George": Many human girls can't resist his cuteness and squeeze him too hard as a result. They usually get a bad shock for their troubles.
• Apathetic Pet: In the first episode, he has no respect for Ash due to just being a novice trainer. He laughs at him whenever he makes a mistake and refuses to obey his orders. He comes to respect him after he saves him from a flock of Spearow.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: In one XY&Z episode, as a result of temporarily losing his powers, Team Rocket decide to abort stealing him until the crisis is solved and walk off nonchalantly. An offended Pikachu shouts for them to come back.
• Art Evolution:
  • Compare his character pic above with his first appearance. Maybe all the battling and traveling caused him to lose weight?
  • In Best Wishes, his attacks look better. For example, Iron Tail goes from a glowing-white tail to a shiny-black tail.
• Artistic License – Physics: In Sun and Moon, he jumps out of a Gyarado's Hurricane attack by rebounding electricity off the walls of the cyclone and using them as footholds. Electricity is a stream of electrons that can't possibly support any kind of weight. Then again, it's Pokémon, and in fairness this was Foreshadowing for eventually learning Electroweb.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Revealed to be Gigantamax-capable, doing so for the first time in episode 13 of Journeys.
• Audience Participation: Pikachu manages this in XY092 while he wasn't chosen for Ash's double battle with Olympia, Pikachu did help Ash keep track of when the Future Sight from Olympia's two Meowstic would strike by using his tail as a makeshift timer, thus eventually allowing Frogadier and Talonflame to turn the attack against them, and ultimately win the battle.
• Back to Base Form: In his final battle with Leon's Charizard, he's uses 1,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt and Gigantamaxes, leaving him to fight to the finish with the Monarch's legendary Charizard, who also had previously Gigantamaxed, in their base forms.
• Badass Adorable: Much more powerful than the average Pikachu, with power to rival legendaries, but has the same level of cuteness. He was the first to defeat a pseudo-legendary Pokémon (a Dragonite) and the second one to defeat a Legendary Pokémon (a Regice).^note In case you're wondering, Charizard was the first, defeating an Articuno.
  • He's normally Badass, winning major battles quite often. He won Ash's battles against Lt. Surge, the Team Rocket trio (substituting for Giovanni as the Viridian Gym Leaders while borrowing his Pokémon), Luana, Drake, Whitney (against THAT Miltank, though only in a rematch), Pryce (via a forfeit), Roxanne, Wattson (that was a Curb-Stomp Battle), Tate and Liza, Juan, Lucy, Anabel, Brandon, Burgh, Elesa, Roxie, Trip, Viola, Grant, Korrina, Totem Gumshoos, Hala, Mimikyu (as part of the Thrifty Megamart trial), Hapu, Guzma, Visquez, Volkner in the World Coronation Series, Wallace, Steven, and Leon, let alone the fact he contributed to the wins against many other Gym Leaders, Totem matches, League Matches, and World Coronation Series battles with knock-outs. He notably took down two of the three Pokémon in Ash's league victory in Alola and two knockouts in Ash's battle with Cynthia, along with finishing off the exhibition battle against Professor Kukui and Tapu Koko.
    • For particular cuteness, see Pikachu in Ash's hat in the opening to Battle Frontier. Never has a Pokémon looked more huggable or squishable or kissable or just plain freaking adorable!
    • Or see him during Contests, when he wears a Kimono (blue under May, Pink under Dawn!) and has two fans and starts dancing with them!
• Badass in Distress: He's a powerhouse, but still the most frequently kidnapped character in the show as a result of Team Rocket's obsession with claiming him. He does very often get himself out of it however, especially since the trio's plans aren't always air tight.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Mostly regarding the Straying Baby Togepi, but woe betide Pikachu whenever he's trying to keep younger Pokémon out of harm's way.
• Battle Aura: Pikachu is on the verge of fainting after a grueling battle against Leon's Charizard in the climax of the championship. Suddenly, an Imagine Spot flashes before his eyes, and he sees all of Ash's Pokémon cheering for him. This motivates Pikachu to stand up again and summon all his remaining energy. He is surrounded by a bright aura of golden thunder and rainbow lightning, which he channels into a powerful Thunderbolt attack. Then, Leon's Charizard responds with its own Fire Blast attack. The two attacks collide, creating an intense and mesmerizing display that resembles the iconic clash between Volt Tackle and Flare Blitz. In the end, Pikachu emerges victorious, overcoming the odds and proving his strength and determination.
• Berserk Button:
  • In the first episode, he didn't take kindly to Ash's mother calling him weird, resulting in him shocking the entire crowd.
  • Don't tell him to his face that he isn't cute. Burgundy found that out the hard way!
  • Pikachu doesn't take kindly to getting squeezed or having his cheeks pulled, as Casey, Iris, Bonnie, and Lana's two sisters learned this the hard way. Delia's Mr Mime, known as Mimey, seems to be the exception to this rule as in The Dream Continues! Pikachu and Mimey play happily together with Mimey holding Pikachu on his head and then swinging him like a baby in a swing! Hugging, it seems, is reserved for those who know not to squish him, such as the aforementioned Mimey, or Delia, or Ash.
  • Pikachu does not like the suggestion that he should evolve to grow stronger or that him still being a Pikachu means he's weak. Because of this he tends to freak out whenever a Thunder Stone gets anywhere near him.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Pikachu is small, cute, fairly docile and one of Ash's more patient Mons who is more than content to just sit on his friend's shoulder while they travel around - basically, he's just something you want to smush in a hug.^note We would, however, suggest you don't as he'll probably spark you by mistake, unless you're Mimey, Delia or, of course, Ash himself. However, there's a limit to that patience. If you dare attack him, particularly while his back is turned, all bets are officially off as you have finally pushed Pikachu's buttons and he'll blow!
  • Pikachu literally explodes in “10,000,000 Reasons to Fight!” when trying to rescue Lusamine. A friend's mother is in danger and Pikachu performs an utterly glorious to watch and exceptionally powerful explosion of thunderbolts to rescue her.
• Big Brother Instinct: When it comes to younger and inexperienced Pokémon, Pikachu has taken on this role. “Pikachu’s Vacation” highlights his relationship with Misty’s Togepi as he comforted the baby Pokémon whenever it was sad and chased after it when it wandered off into a dangerous area.
• Blue with Shock: In "Berry, Berry Interesting", he goes Blue with Food Poisoning after being made to eat May's purple Pokéblocks. Ikue Otani's voice work really sells it, too: [munching] "Pika, pika...pecch!!"
• Brainwashed and Crazy: This happens at least once per series, where Pikachu gets brainwashed by some villainous source and make him attack his friends. His behaviour differs depending on the brainwashing, e.g. he can be rather quite monotone (Malamar's brainwashing), very aggressive (several brainwashings done by Team Rocket or Team Plasma) or even utterly Ax-Crazy (Blue Orb). Most of the time, his bond with Ash will help him break out of the mind control, but there are a few times where it doesn't work.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Acts like this in the first episode. He was disobedient, lazy, and openly mocked Ash whenever Ash made a mistake as a trainer. After Ash attempted to save it from a flock of Spearow, Pikachu came to Ash's rescue and has mellowed out since then.
• Breakout Character: Pokémon's original mascot was meant to be Clefairy, but it ended up being upstaged due to the popularity of Ash's Pikachu.
• Break the Haughty: After Ash saved him from a flock of Spearow he'd earned the ire of, his arrogance towards him faded and he became a loyal follower.
• Bullying a Dragon: In one episode, Pikachu (with Piplup, no less) makes fun of Dawn’s Mamoswine. Bare in mind that Mamoswine is not only bigger than Pikachu, but it’s also a ground type (Pikachu is weak to ground types and his Electric moves can't hurt it).
• But Now I Must Go: Even after living happily with Kangaskhan and her baby, he decides to go his own way at the end of the flashback in the first episode of Journeys.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Having practically solidified his species as the Series Mascot, the mainstream games make ceaseless nods to Ash's particular Pikachu, what with Yellow and games based on the anime. Red's Pikachu was almost certainly a Mythology Gag to him as well. Ash's Pikachu was also specifically distributable during certain special download events for several installments of the series. It mirrored most of the anime counterpart's current move set as well as having a characteristically high level.
  • On a more literal level, a sequence in Detective Pikachu for the 3DS shows the aforementioned Detective chat with another Pikachu that is at the very least implied to be Ash's - voiced by the same actor, in fact.
• Celibate Hero: Seems to feel little but embarrassment about Buneary's and Togedemaru's attraction to him. A downplayed example in that he seems to mostly have a problem with mons that come on too strong rather than them liking him in the first place. Pikachu himself has shown to feel attraction; albeit mostly towards human girls.
• Character Development: At the start of the series, Pikachu is a very disobedient and lazy Pokémon, until he witnesses Ash risking his own life to protect him from the Spearow flock. Even after gaining respect for his trainer, Pikachu is easily terrified of going into tough battles and would try to avoid them as much as possible. As the series continues, however, Pikachu gradually musters up enough courage to help Ash at his Darkest Hour, even when facing the likes of Lt. Surge's Raichu and Sabrina's Kadabra. Now, Pikachu is an eager battler in his own right and is one of Ash's best fighters on the team, able to face off Legendaries on his own.
• Characterization Marches On: His enmity towards his evolved form Raichu. Aside from an early DP episode, this kind of behavior was never adhered to again when they meet other Raichu.
  • It seems Pikachu doesn't hate all Raichu in general - unlike Tyson's Meowth in Advanced Generation, who was positively murderous towards any Persian he saw - but rather that he gets pissed when they think they're stronger than him just because they're his evolved form. He was quite kind to the Raichu that Ash was trying to bond with during the Pokémon Summer Academy arc and ballroom danced with a Raichu in "Lights, Camera, Quack-tion". Not all Pokémon refuse evolution out of spite for their evolved forms after all.
  • In his first appearance (and to some degree a few following) Pikachu was more arrogant and anti-social, disliking having a trainer and thundershocking anyone who got too affectionate. Nowadays, he's pretty much The Hero of the Pokémon cast, being altruistic and incredibly loyal, and often something of a Straight Man to the other Pokémon.
  • Also early episodes depicted Pikachu as a bit of a Lovable Coward due to his inexperience, shirking from some daunting challenges Ash would recklessly volunteer him for. In later seasons, Pikachu jumps to the call just as often as Ash does.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Volt Tail, first seen in "Pika and Goliath", later reused as the finishing blow against Tobias' Latios. A funny example is his talent for mimicking other Pokémon whenever he needs to communicate something about them. He even used it in a Pokémon impersonation contest in Sinnoh.
  • Throughout Sun and Moon, Pikachu's habit of using his electricity as a solid object is given a subtle yet strong focus. This eventually manifests as Electro Ball morphing into Electroweb, which upon learning how to control it gave Pikachu a very versatile support move that can pin down enemies, be a defensive barrier, or even be used as a springboard. This becomes a key factor against Silvally and Tapu Koko.
• Cobweb Trampoline: Upon learning Electroweb, Pikachu has used the move as a springboard or slingshot a few times - most notably slingshotting off of it to increase the power of Iron Tail during his fight against Gladion's Silvally in the Alola League.
• Comically Lop Sided Rivalry: On the blatant winning end against Meowth toe-to-toe. It took until "A Frenzied Factory Fiasco" all the way in XY for Meowth to so much as land an attack on Pikachu. Give Meowth a Humongous Mecha and he can make it interesting, but even then, ultimately, The Good Guys Always Win. Meowth and Pikachu are of course cat and mouse like Tom and Jerry, whose current owners Warner Bros. have released four Pokémon films outside Japan - the first three anime films and Pokémon Detective Pikachu.
• Cool Big Bro: Whenever the team gain a younger or more inexperienced capture, Pikachu is almost always the most proactive Pokémon in looking out for them and keeping them safe from the likes of Team Rocket. He’s been this since as caught Caterpie and has g e onto be this to many Pokémon.
• Cowardly Lion: In the first season, whenever Ash wanted Pikachu to fight someone stronger than him, he would pretend to go to bed in a sleeping bag to get out of it.
• Crash-Into Hello: In BW065, Pikachu gets blasted off and lands in the arms of a kid and then accidentally zaps him. Said kid, who doesn't know much about Pokémon, initially believes that Pikachu (whose species doesn't exist in the Unova region) is the pre-evolved form of Zekrom.
• David Versus Goliath: A recurring theme with his battles, since Pikachu is one of the smallest Pokémon. Most of his opponent's are much larger than him, and more often than not, they even might have a type advantage over him. If he wins, it is often because of his speed or the sheer power he has in his small body, often combined with Ash's brilliant and improvised tactics. However, in other cases, Pikachu simply loses.
  • Early in the series, Pikachu would refuse to fight Pokémon who were either too strong or too scary or tougher than the weaklings he would have taken on. He later grew out of it and accepts every challenge now.
  • He often clashes with a Raichu, the bigger, stronger, evolved form of Pikachu.
• A Day in the Limelight: The 8th generation series premiered with an origin story of how Pikachu spent his life in the wild before being caught, including his evolution from Pichu to Pikachu.
• Death Glare: Knew Leer.
  • He's also capable of pretty powerful regular ones. Special note goes to the one Meowth receives in BW047.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: The first Pokémon ever to outright defeat Leon's up-to-this point undefeated Charizard and by extension, Leon.
• Defiant to the End: Pikachu refuses to get in his Poké Ball even if he is critically injured after a defeat. Nurse Joy has had to use the Magical Defibrillator on him at least twice (EP014 and DP074).
• Defrosting Ice King: A non-romantic one. When first introduced, Pikachu is an aggressive jerk towards everyone, especially to Ash (who just became his trainer at the time). After he tries to protect him from a flock of enraged Spearow, however, he warms up to him and becomes nicer overall.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • During the battle against Gary in the Johto League, Pikachu is not part of Ash's full team (Tauros, Heracross, Muk, Bayleef, Snorlax and Charizard) and is just a spectator in the stadium. The same thing is implied when Ash battles Conway in the Sinnoh League, since besides having Noctowl, Donphan and Gible in his team, he also had Infernape, Torterra and Glalie at the beginning of the episode, which were the original line-up against Conway, and Pikachu is seen with the other spectators rather than with Ash. While Ash's exact roster isn't as clear, Pikachu is also notably in the stands during Ash's battle with Stephan, implying that the three Pokemon in his current roster for that round he didn't use in the battle did not include Pikachu.
  • While still a main character, he receives less attention in DP and XY (in terms of both story and battling) compared to Infernape and Greninja, respectively.
• Determinator: One of the traits he has in common with Ash. In any given battle Pikachu will push himself to the limit and then some to win. Ash's victory over Leon basically boils down to Pikachu absolutely refusing to faint, even when hit by attacks that should by all accounts do him in.
• Deuteragonist: For all intents and purposes, considering he and Ash have been together since the beginning.
• Didn't Think This Through: In addition to the Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment mentioned below, he once tries to eat an entire apple whole, resulting in him choking and requiring Ash and co. to take him to a hospital.^note There isn't a Pokémon Center around for miles.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • He's defeated several Legendary Pokémon in his time, not to mention several psuedo-legendary Pokémon including Dragonite, Tyranitar, and not one, not two, but three Metagross, including Steven's Shiny Metagross.
  • JN132 has Pikachu get his crowning moment of this trope when he singlehandedly defeats Leon's up-to-this point undefeated Charizard, becoming the first non-legendary Pokémon to do so after Leon became the Champion (Sonia's Rookidee defeated Leon's Charizard as a Charmander but that was at the start of Leon's trainer career).
• Discard and Draw: He forgot how to use Volt Tackle when he learned Electro Ball, and Electro Ball when he learned Electroweb. This is acknowledged in SM091, as he is unable to use Castropika due to no longer having Volt Tackle.
• Distressed Dude: Team Rocket often succeed in capturing him. Then again, he really is the target of their schemes for most of the series' run.
• Easily Forgiven: Similar to Ash considering Team Rocket's obsession with capturing him. It was almost subverted after Meowth's Fake Defector scheme, which infuriated Pikachu. Still, by XY, it is clear that, despite knowing the inevitable, he will always submit to his conscience and give Meowth a second chance.
• Easy Amnesia: In the episode "A Scare to Remember" he was hit on the head by an object and forgot all about Ash, instead joining Team Rocket. Another tussle brought his memories back.
• Epileptic Flashing Lights: In the Banned Episode "Electric Soldier Porygon", when his electric attacks collided with missiles, the resulting explosion caused this effect, and had dire real-life consequences in the process.
• Empathy Pet:
  • He's not always on the same boat as Ash, but generally in the face of stopping unfair antics and sheer gung-ho attitude to competition, Pikachu will often mimic his hammy passion.
  • Reversed in some regards. Both Ash and Pikachu have a Cool Big Bro attitude towards their team mates, however, since younger less experienced Pokémon were inducted to the main cast much earlier on in the anime than human ones, it was Ash who adopted this trait after Pikachu.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Pikachu knew something was up with Chairman Rose when he meets him and was pleased when Ash turn down his offer to help him achieve his goal.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Knows Iron Tail, a Steel-Type attack that was originally taught to counter Rock-Type Pokémon, notably Roxanne's, and has since become Pikachu's go-to move for when his Electric attacks are ineffective or compromised.
• Fat Bastard: Was fat in the earliest episodes of the original series, this has now become Averted after his Character Development and Art Evolution. His Gigantamax form is far chonkier in appearance calling back to his original design.
• Fauxshadow: The aforementioned "electric fever" fiasco made fans believe that the Magnemite would soon become a member of Ash's team. Of course, Ash does make a capture during that episode, but it's another mon entirely: Muk.
• Finishing Move:
  • Pikachu has never failed to defeat an opponent after using his 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt Z-Move, including Tapu Koko in the Manalo Conference exhibition match against Professor Kukui. However, an ambiguous case crops up against Kukui's Incineroar in JN112 in Journeys, where the outcome of the match is never shown.
  • Steven's Metagross is the first Pokémon to explictly be seen enduring the attack, although Pikachu follows it up with an Iron Tail to secure the victory.
• Fire-Forged Friends: If there's a Pokémon that he doesn't get along with that joins the group, chances are they'll become friends by the end of a battle.
• First Friend: To Ash at the beginning of his journey, and vice versa. The two have remain inseparable ever since.
• Flash Step: Quick Attack makes him look like he's instantaneously moving from one spot to another.
• Flawless Victory:
  • All of Pikachu's battles against Meowth which didn't involve mechs or some other device were not only wins, but a one hit KO in his favour. It took until "A Frenzied Factory Fiasco", the 878th episode of the show, for Meowth to finally get in at least a Curb-Stomp Cushion and break this humiliating streak (and even then, largely because the fight was a Single-Stroke Battle).
  • In the opening for the first movie, Ash's opponent tries to gang up on him with three Pokemon at once. Pikachu downs them all with one Thunderbolt before they can even attack.
  • When Hop first challenges Ash, he sends out Wooloo to Double Kick, only for Pikachu to Iron Tail it and send it flying. Even Pikachu seems rather stunned the battle ended so quickly.
• Foil:
  • To Ash, of course. It's a lot more prominent in the earlier seasons, when Pikachu would frequently need to step in to prevent Ash from going clear off the deep end (it's perhaps because Ash has matured somewhat over the course of the series that the contrast is less obvious in more recent episodes), but even to this day it's clear that Pikachu is much more reasonable and level-headed than his Trainer, and he's not above reproachful glares and exasperated sighs (or, y'know, electrocution) when the humans around him get a little too stupid for their own good.
  • In the early series, he's presented as one to The Ace of Kanto, Charizard. Pikachu starts out disobedient, earns Ash's respect when he saves Pikachu's life, and remains somewhat aloof before he fully warms up to Ash and becomes unquestionably loyal. Charmander starts out as loyal, but he turns into a disobedient loafer when he evolves into Charmeleon and then Charizard, and only regains his loyalty when he almost dies and Ash saves his life.
  • Also with Dawn's Piplup during the Diamond & Pearl saga. Pikachu being the mature veteran to contrast the rash newbie, Piplup.
• Fountain of Youth: He's temporarily devolved into a Pichu in JN90 as a result of Dialga and Palkia fighting, then winds up an egg. Luckily, Arceus is able to restore him and everyone else to normal.
• Fragile Speedster: Pikachu is very fast and agile, but can't take too many hits. Unless you make him really angry - in which case it goes out the window and he'll smash the ever loving crud out of you, no matter what you throw back at him.
• Friendly Enemy: While most of the heroes dabble in this with Team Rocket, Pikachu gets the most developed and obvious moments against Meowth. For all the latter tries to capture him and his allies, he shows recognition and forgiveness whenever Meowth displays his sympathetic side, and when the two frequently get separated from their owners, they often decide cooperating is a better strategy. In some of the Pikachu shorts, he and Meowth are outright pals. The other Team Rocket Pokémon usually have similar relationships.
• Funny Background Event: Usually the source of it in the early series (with the most famous being his association with ketchup), but can still pop up from time to time.
• Gender Reveal: Like most Pokémon, Pikachu's gender was ambiguous originally. While hinted at a few times throughout the series, "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before" (and female Pikachu gaining Secondary Sexual Characteristics through gaining that heart-shaped tail notch) finally confirms that Pikachu is male.
• Genius Bruiser: As well as being one of the strongest of Ash's Pokémon, Pikachu is occasionally clever at evading capture from Team Rocket.
• Ghostly Animals: Briefly becomes one in "Terror Of Terror" courtesy of Astral Projection.
• Glass Cannon: Pikachu can dish out enough electrical power to stun and even take down Legendaries, but can't take much physical damage himself, and can easily get taken out by a mere human. Of course, this is Depending on the Writer. Or how angry he is.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Done a lot with Meowth and the other Team Rocket Pokémon. The Pikachu shorts are often all about this, along with a lot of Japanese credit sequences.
• Good Is Not Soft: Same as Ash. While he's slightly more skeptical to the likes of Team Rocket, he will give the benefit of doubt. As soon as you cross him however, it's a full throttle Thunderbolt.
• Greater Need Than Mine: When he was a Pichu, he was Happily Adopted by a Kangaskhan. However, when he started getting too big for her pouch and began slowing her down, he left so he wouldn't be a burden.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Pikachu has always hated being sidelined by Ash in favour of more suitable Pokémon for a battle. In Betrayed, Bothered and Beleaguered!, he gets very jealous of Ash's Riolu to the point of temporarily running away.
• Grief Song: The first movie's soundtrack has "If Only Tears Could Bring You Back", written from Pikachu's point of view at seeing his beloved Trainer and best friend turned to stone.
• Growing Up Sucks: Zigzagged as of the 2019 series — he was pleasantly surprised at his evolution from Pichu to Pikachu, but it's likely he slightly matured enough over the years to realize going the next step was something he didn't need when offered the choice.

H-Z

• Hair-Trigger Temper: A running gag in the earliest episodes is Pikachu getting pissed off and electrocuting people, usually Ash, for the slightest indiscretion.
• Happily Adopted: As a Pichu, he was found by a Kangaskhan who took care of him along with her own baby, and was clearly very happy with them. So much that he evolved shortly before he decided to leave them.
• He Really Can Act: In-universe. As mentioned, Pikachu has an amazing talent of mimicking characteristics of many other Pokémon, usually for communication purposes for both in-universe and out. Ash and other humans can easily tell who he's mimicking, highlighting how convincing his impressions are.
• Head Pet: Early on he liked to ride on Ash's head, but later is seen more on his shoulder.
• Heroic Second Wind: Occasionally gets them during tough and climatic battles, but Pikachu gets an exceptional powerful one in episode JN132. After his Imagine Spot of seeing all of Ash's Pokémon cheering for him, Pikachu stands up and uses every energy he has left, being covered in golden thunder and rainbow lightning. It gives Pikachu enough strength to defeat Leon's Charizard in a Thunderbolt vs Fire Blast clash, which heavily resembles a clash between Volt Tackle and Flare Blitz.
• Heroic Willpower: After getting hit by Team Plasma's control device for the third time, Pikachu was able to maintain control of himself through strong force of will.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Ash and he are inseparable.
  • He also has this kind of dynamic with Piplup in the DP saga.
  • He was also close with Butterfree in the Indigo League. It's worth noting that Pikachu actually cried when Butterfree had to leave.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • Similar to Ash when it comes to helping others who don't want it. He similarly has to be forced not to help Goodra in his war with Florges, while Hawalucha has to dissuade him from helping Noibat in his fight with a Breloom.
  • He also seems to have this attitude towards helping Team Rocket, especially Meowth. He's one of few savvy that they'll inevitably double cross the team, but even when others think nothing of letting them rot, he doesn't quite have the heart.
• Hot-Blooded: He's more rational than Ash (or any other character for that matter), but still loves the head-on approach and the battling all the same.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Quite literally. Throughout SM076, Pikachu's Electro Ball starts malfunctioning and splitting into particles. It is only after Team Rocket's Mimikyu rebounds and encases one with its Z Move "Let's Snuggle Forever" that it forms a net, having fully evolved into an Electro Web.
• Hurt Foot Hop: In "The School of Hard Knocks", after falling off a treadmill he was playing on, Pikachu angrily kicked it, only to end up hurting his foot.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Pikachu has pulled this with Ash by calling out to him when he was controlled by the spirt of Pokélantis and attempted to by Team Flare. However, Pikachu tried to reach out to Ash when he was possessed by the fury of the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa but failed, which led to the Pokémon in freeing him itself and succeeded.
• Image Song: "Pikachu's Song", the sixth XY ending theme. Thankfully, there is a translation for what he's singing below all the Pika-speak.
• Imagine Spot: Pikachu gets an incredibly powerful one during JN132. After collapsing during the battle against Leon's Charizard, Pikachu sees all of Ash's Pokémon that stuck around for at least two episodes cheering for him. This includes even the released ones, the traded Ambipom, and even Larvatar and Solgaleo who were never officially captured. This vision motivates Pikachu enough to get a Heroic Second Wind.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: His tendency to keep giving Meowth second chances despite knowing better plays into this. One Easy Amnesia plot also has him being convinced by Meowth he in fact serves Team Rocket. Despite this he never quite catches on that the team is evil, and spends the rest of the episode being nice and altruistic by reflex until his memories return. Meowth even laments to himself that he makes it very hard for him to pull off the dupe.
• Inexplicably Awesome: It's established in universe as early as episode 2 that he's not just an ordinary Pikachu, but quite why is never expanded on. Over-levelled? Good IVs? An outright anomaly like the partner Pokemon in the Let's Go games? Something analogous to the games at all? It's never explicitly confirmed.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Well, to Ash anyway. Other characters that have spent significant time with him have also gained a bit of understanding.
• Interspecies Romance: Not all the way to Bayleef's level, but every so often he starts making eyes at human females - which amusingly makes him far more aware than his own trainer!
  • Not to mention that he was the target of affection of three other mons; while one (Magnemite) was only attracted simply because of Pikachu's "electric fever", the second and third one (Buneary and Togedemaru) were/are overly blatant.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Seems to suffer his fair share of Amusing Injuries with Ash at times, especially in Alola.
• Keet: He's very energetic and high spirited. In any series Ash is especially hyperactive, Pikachu will often replicate.
• Killer Rabbit: Ash has warned a few people that this is a Pokémon that can shock in a moment's notice, though Pikachu liked Misty and Ritchie owns a Pikachu himself nicknamed Sparky.
• The Kirk: Between Chespin and Froakie in the XY era, Pikachu serves as the balancing leader.
• The Lancer: Ash's ever-present companion and ally, though he also offsets Ash's brashness by being the more mature and level-headed of the two.
• The Leader: Default leader if the group is currently devoid of humans. Generally this to each team of Ash's Pokémon in whichever region.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In Alola, like Ash, he seems to have relaxed into a more playful overenthusiastic mood and spends a lot of the new competitions and situations acting like a Fish out of Water. When a threat or battle occurs however, we are reminded that Pikachu is by far the strongest and most experienced Pokémon of the entire class.^note With Kiawe having both the second (Charizard) & third (Turtonator) strongest and experienced.
• Lightning Bruiser: Depending on the Writer, Pikachu may become much tougher than he usually is, turning from a Fragile Speedster to a Lightning Bruiser who is not only strong and fast, but also tough enough to throw down with powerful Pokémon like Dragonite and even Legendary Pokémon like Latios. This tends to happen near the end of the respective sagas, when Pikachu is at the peak of his strength.
• Limit Break:
  • In the Sun & Moon series, Pikachu can use Gigavolt Havoc. When he first does, the result is extreme, even compared to Kiawe and his Turtonator's Z-move from the previous episode. The crystal breaks after the first use, but Ash is able to earn another through the island challenges. Before long, he's also able to use Breakneck Blitz as well, although Gigavolt Havoc is still preferred.
  • Starting in SM054, Pikachu is able to use 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt. When he and Ash try to use Gigavolt Havoc, Ash's Electrium Z suddenly transforms into a Pikashunium Z, and goes back to normal once the move ends. How this happened hasn't been explained as of yet.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: In SM076, he learns Electroweb, and encases himself in it to block Mimikyu's Let's Snuggle Forever.
• Magical Defibrillator: A living one, and he's revived Ash from unconsciousness on multiple occasions. Does not work on petrification.
• Mirror Boss:
  • His final battle in the Hoenn League has him fighting a Meowth that knows half of the same moves that he has.
  • In Ash's battle with the Orange League Champion, Pikachu was the one who fought Drake's first Pokémon, Ditto.
• Mundane Utility: Pikachu has used his moves for mundane reasons:
  • Mallow had Pikachu use Thunderbolt on her Alolan Stew to give it extra flavor.
  • Pikachu himself used Iron Tail to cut an apple in half to share with Poipole.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After rescuing Mimey from a Spearow in JN030, Pikachu realized his mistake in running away and for assuming that Ash didn't care about him anymore.
• Narrative Shapeshifting: He has a knack for imitating other Pokémon and even humans, which he sometimes uses to communicate with trainers.
• New Friend Envy: In JN030, Ash begins to neglect him in favor of Riolu, which eventually results in Pikachu running away for a while.
• Nerf: Fans have accused the producers of nerfing Pikachu's power at the beginning of two series: Hoenn (Advanced Generation; he overused his power on the cruise to Hoenn), and Unova (Best Wishes; result from a run-in with Zekrom).
  • As seen with the run-in from Zekrom, Pikachu is unable to use his Electric-type moves and gets easily tired if he has too little electricity.
  • Recent beginnings downplay this. The beginning of the Kalos anime pitted him against the Normal-type Bunnelby, who knows Dig, but he still handled Team Rocket fairly easily. The Alola anime showed him and Ash having difficulty with some sample competitions, but they were nothing like actual Pokémon battles. In Journeys, he still could easily beat Team Rocket single-handedly despite them having a revolving-door of mix-and-match mook Pokémon at their disposal, and only had slight difficulty with Scorbunny due to unfamiliarity before ultimately beating it easily.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon", Team Rocket's dynamite was seconds from going off with him, Ash, and Team Rocket a few feet away. In a moment of panic, Pikachu attempted to stop the fuse by blasting the dynamite with a Thunderbolt. The look on his face◊ immediately afterward shows that he had forgotten that electricity and explosives are a bad mix.
• Nice Mice: He's a Pokémon based off of a mouse, and he's a sweetie through and through.
• Noodle Incident: Though the first episode of Journeys finally revealed some of his backstory and how he evolved from a Pichu, it still failed to tell us anything about why he grew to hate humans so much, as well as how he ended up with Professor Oak in the first place.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Part and parcel of being franchise marketing representative the world over. Sort of justified as Pikachu doesn't want to evolve. Ash had kept the Thunderstone from Electric Shock Showdown until Sinnoh where Team Rocket stole it from his hands. Not that either of them cared - that's pretty much resolved the debate of Pikachu's evolution, permanently.
  • Zigzagged in the first episode of Journeys, exploring his past — he evolved from a Pichu to a Pikachu in the wild, but cannot be older than 4 to 5 years old in the present day.
• Not So Above It All: Many an occasion shows he can be just as hot-blooded, if not moreso, than his trainer. It must also say something that he also never sees through Team Rocket's disguises as they capture him.
• Only Sane Man: Not so much at first, but as time draws on it becomes rather obvious he's more level-headed than the other Pokémon, and even trainers.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Although he is usually Ash's go-to Pokémon for everything, in DP and XY, he gets overshadowed by Infernape and Greninja as Ash's main battlers, respectively. However, Pikachu is no less competent than before, and plays as large (if not as flashy) a part in the league and gym battles.
• Papa Wolf: Hurt Togepi? BAD idea.
• Parrot Pet Position: Spends most of his time on Ash's shoulder.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Keep in mind he's an oversized mouse creature with enough power to take down legendaries and pseudo-legedaries.
• Pokémon Speak: Has a more variety in speech patterns than most Pokémon, but is still limited to only saying syllables from his name. If you listen close enough, you can tell when he's calling for someone. "Pika-pi" is what he called Ash (Satoshi). "Pi-pi-pi" is what he called Togepi. Here are some others:
  • Pikachu-Pi = Misty (Kasumi)
  • Pika-Chu = Brock (Takeshi)
  • Pikaka = Dawn (Hikari)
  • PikakaPika = Bulbasaur (Fushigidane)
  • PiPi-kachu = Team Rocket (Rocket-dan)
  • Pi-Pikachu = "Gotta catch 'em all!" ("Get da ze!")
  • Pika-Pikachu = My name is Pikachu
  • Chaaaa! = Whenever he is happy or yawning or in pain. In some Early-Installment Weirdness, this is also how he referred to Misty.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Not him, but for Ash whose he's seen be kissed a couple of times before, however after seeing Ash get his first main series kiss (On the lips rather than cheek like in the past) from Serena, Pikachu's shock/blushing Reaction Shot qualifies as this.
• The Power of Love: The first episode of the Galar-era anime shows his experiences with Kangaskhan empowered him to evolve from Pichu to Pikachu, as with the in-game Friendship mechanic.
• Properly Paranoid: While the other heroes and their Pokémon tend to always fall for Meowth's manipulative antics, Pikachu tends to usually be suspicious. Despite knowing his track record however, he usually submits to giving Meowth a chance, with the expected results.
• Psychoactive Powers: In one episode, after being separated from Ash and worrisome, Pikachu's power and fighting spirit becomes nerfed, unable to blast off or even hurt Team Rocket with his electric attacks. The trio aren't taken to capturing their Worthy Opponent in such a weakened state, and remain dormant until he finds Ash and his full strength is recovered.
• Psycho Electro: When possessed by the Blue Orb during the Magma/Aqua arc's finale, he's lost to the world, unable to tell friend from foe, and becomes a bit crazy, shocking them with his Thunderbolt. He's also covered in Tron Lines which make him visually look like a real monster.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Pikachu is perfectly comfortable wearing things an American audience might consider "girly". In XY021, he wears the same pink frilly apron that Fennekin is wearing.
• Reflexive Response: Being manhandled or tussled the wrong way can cause Pikachu to electric shock people as a defence mechanism. Judging by his often embarrassed or apologetic look afterwards, he can't quite help it. The amount of times he's shocked Ash has reduced too, usually only being when he can't help himself.
  • It's telling that Pikachu has never purposefully shocked Ash when Ash shows him affection - Ash even tickles and strokes Pikachu's stomach and head affectionately at one point when they're in Sinnoh and Pikachu doesn't shock him. Seems that "giving affection" is reserved specifically for Ash.
    • Also for Misty - in Alola, Kanto, he jumps straight into her arms and nuzzles her affectionately without sparking.
    • Mimey and Delia both seem to be in no danger from his shocking either. In The Dream Continues!, Mimey actually holds Pikachu in his hands and swings him up and down like a baby in a swing and there's nary a spark! He also gets thunderbolted by Pikachu in JN034, and is completely unharmed by it. Delia, of course, is Ash's mother, so she's safe regardless of anything.
• Red Baron: Supplementary materials for the Masters Eight finals dub Pikachu Pallet Town's Yellow Flash. He also was noted as the Flaming Bolt of Lightning and Greatest Partner during the battle with Steven Stone.
• Riddle for the Ages: There are two questions about Pikachu that have never been answered — why he hates being inside a Poké Ball, and why he's so abnormally powerful for his species.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: As the franchise mascot, Pikachu was designed to be as marketable and cute as possible.
• Rocket Punch: In "The Punchy Pokémon", Pikachu seemed like he was delivering a rocket-powered boxing punch towards Hitmonchan, but it turned out a weak punch fueled by his imagination.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: It's a good thing Pikachu is so damn adorable; a 1'4" (0.41 meters) mouse would be pretty freaky otherwise. This is before Gigantamax, by the way which towers over Ash by at least 68'11" (21.0 meters).
• Rubber Man: Not an actual power of his, but often shows stretching his own face elastically, for either funny faces or mimicking other Pokémon. For the latter, he can also puff his body for impressions, such as fluffing his lower body fur (Buneary), inflating himself (Cacnea and Jigglypuff), manipulating his ears (Budew and Lotad), or curl his zigzag-shaped tail (Meowth).
• The Runaway: Pikachu temporally ran away in Betrayed, Bothered and Beleaguered! when he felt alienated by Ash and felt he didn't care about him anymore.
• Running Gag:
  • In almost every region until the Best Wishes series, he has unwittingly and accidentally fried a female companion's bike with his Thunderbolt. This is "replaced" by Pikachu shocking a prospective female companion instead after she got too close to him for comfort.
  • His love for ketchup is a subtle case. It started in "Showdown at Dark City", brought up early in AG when Ash and May are eating supper, and again when the XY group first meets Korrina. There's even a Pikachu-centric ending theme dedicated to the stuff!
  • Pikachu also has a... thing... for orange juice too.
• Running on All Fours: Like many real rodents, he regularly stands on two legs but runs on all fours.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: He's able to harm Ground-type Pokémon with electric attacks due to sheer training. Most notably, he managed to defeat Blaine's Rhydon by shocking its horn, which acted as a lightning rod.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Retroactively, after female Pikachu started being depicted as having heart-shaped notches in their tails.
• Series Mascot: The anime incarnation of Pikachu in particular became the mascot of the entire franchise since he's more marketable than the originally intended Clefairy, and many other Pikachu would take cue from him. His species became a Breakout Character and they are prominently featured in many different media of the franchise.
• Shock and Awe: The only Electric-Type in the main team until Dawn captured a Pachirisu. He still remains Ash's only Electric-Type Pokémon.
• Signature Mon: Unmistakably Ash's most iconic Pokémon partner for the entire series. While Ash has often got himself an ace Pokémon that defined his regional team like Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja, and Lucario, Pikachu has remained a consistent and reliable team member in all of them. In fact, Pikachu was the Pokémon that delivered the final victory for Ash in the Orange League, the Battle Frontier, the Alola exhibition match against Professor Kukui, and the Master 8 Tournament, the last of which made Ash the World Champion.
• Signature Move:
  • Originally, it was simply the Thunder-based variants, but as the series went on, Volt Tackle (which was later replaced by Electro Ball) and Iron Tail have become his game clincher moves. In Alola, he can now use the Z-move Gigavolt Havoc as his Finishing Move. Later on, Pikachu has access to the Z-move 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt - which is a unique move that only he can use.
  • Rock Tomb Climb and its variants, a technique Ash developed in Kalos, ultimately became one of Pikachu's signature tactics against opponents who use solid projectile attacks like Rock Tomb, Ancient Power, and Rock Blast: having Pikachu use them as jumping off points to rapidly approach the opponent while avoiding attacks. Pikachu notably used this technique constantly in the Masters Eight Tournament in all the matches he participated in.
• Silent Snarker: Okay, not quite silent, but in the earlier episodes Pikachu seemed to be quite aware of Ash's Idiot Hero tendencies.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: In the episode "Wherefore Art Thou, Pokémon", while searchng for a female Nidoran, he catches sight of a tree full of delicious looking fruit. He then pretends to keep calling out for the Nidoran while conspiciously inching towards the tree.
• Status Quo Is God: Pikachu is adamant that he will never evolve into a Raichu. He also hates traveling in his Poké Ball, and insists on staying out of it at all times.
• Stealth Pun: Pikachu's love of ketchup is pretty appropriate considering his Undying Loyalty to his trainer, Ash Ketchum.
• Strong and Skilled: Despite being a Glass Cannon, Pikachu more than makes up for the amount of raw power he dishes out, which has been capable of beating Legendaries. Being with Ash for the entire series, he is also Ash's most experienced Pokémon who had received extensive training to hone his skills.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Despite Pikachu originally being hailed as uncommonly powerful, his actual strength is wildly inconsistent, with the single most infamous example of this being Pikachu losing to Trip's starter Pokémon Snivy who hadn't fought a single battle in his life at the beginning of the BW arc after tying with a Latios at the end of the DP arc. That's also failing to mention his many other feats, like grabbing Lance's Dragonite by its antennae and tossing it to the ground. He is generally portrayed as an above average battler, but he rarely gets any exceptional feats in battle until the end of each saga.
• Stuff Blowing Up: His Thunderbolt tends to cause explosions when it hits something. This is usually used to blast off Team Rocket, but occasionally he and Ash find other uses for it, such as re-shaping a battlefield to their advantage.
• Superpowered Evil Side: When possessed by Groudon; Pikachu's never been scarier.
• Super-Speed: Pikachu's already high speed is boosted even further with Quick Attack, which was first showcased in the Vermillion Gym and stayed that way since. It even enabled him to learn Volt Tackle!
• Support Party Member: During the Double Battle against Kalos' Psychic-Type Gym Leader Olympia, Ash chooses Frogadier and Talonflame instead of Pikachu. However, after the first Future Sight of Olympia's female Meowstic, Ash orders Pikachu to determine the time of how long Future Sight takes to be executed, giving Ash the chance to use Future Sight against the two Meowstics.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Almost all of the Pokémon have some sort of quirk that makes Pikachu look like the Only Sane Man by comparison. Not to say he doesn't do some dumb stuff himself...
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Iron Tail can either work as a blunt weapon or as an improvised blade.
• Tail Slap: His Iron Tail. Even when not using the move, Pikachu's tail is pretty strong by itself.
• Taken for Granite: Twice — by Hunter J's petrifying gun, and by Yveltal in the Diancie movie.
• Team Dad: Pikachu is often trying real hard to guide & care for all the younger (or just less experienced) Pokémon, and is highly protective of them - from babies like Togepi, to rookies like Axew, to even his buddy Piplup. In fact, it's likely part of the reason he was so infuriated by Meowth's reveal as a Fake Defector in BW047.
• Third-Option Adaptation: Former Trope Namer. Instead of Ash choosing a starter like in the games, he was given Pikachu, and was able to obtain the starters later.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Was livid when Meowth turned out to be a Fake Defector in Best Wishes, to the point Ash had to calm him down. Granted this didn't stop them from reverting to their Friendly Enemy dynamic in many later episodes.
• Too Dumb to Live: In "A Chansey Operation!", he tries to swallow an apple whole and ends up choking on it.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Ketchup. It occasionally pops up now and then. There is an entire ending dedicated to his love for ketchup.
  • He also has a love of apples and berries.
  • Pikachu adores orange juice.
• Undying Loyalty: Wherever Ash goes, Pikachu will always be by his side. In "Pikachu's Goodbye," Ash tries to release him so he can live with a colony of wild Pikachu, thinking he'll be happier there, but Pikachu returns to him without hesitation.
• Unskilled, but Strong: When Pikachu achieves his massive Gigantamax form in JN013, he's powerful but cumbersome and slow in battle. Having to exchange his once lightning fast attacks for brute-strength, he's now out of his element. Pikachu never uses the form again after this (barring a fake out in JN082, where he grows to massive size after eating Opal's Gigantamax Alcremie's G-Max Finale), and Gengar takes over as Ash's Gigantamax user. The form makes a return in JN132 after Eternatus restores power to Ash and Leon's Dynamax Bands and both trainers Gigantamax Pikachu and Cinderace. One collision between G-Max Volt Crash and G-Max Fireball and Cinderace's down for the count.
• Vague Age: The distinction is unclear for Pokémon in general, but it's especially unclear whether Pikachu is considered an adult or child. He's intelligent and frequently act as a mediator between other Pokémon. He's also quite excitable, playful, and gets caught up in Ash's enthusiasm very easily. In Pokémon: I Choose You!, his speaking voice implies that he's a child, but there's never been a real answer. SM126 also hints that Pikachu is a child, or at least young; In the narrator's translation, he refers to himself using "boku", a pronoun typically used by young boys. Rowlet also the uses the same pronoun, lending further credence to Pikachu being a young Pokémon.
  • Some clarity is given in the Journeys, where the first episode shows him as a Pichu, and shows him evolving into Pikachu. It does not, however, show how he came into Professor Oak's possession before being granted to Ash.
• Vocal Evolution: Ikue Otani's voice for Pikachu has gotten higher in the newer episodes starting in 2003. Dubs for English and some other languages also sound inconsistent due to making attempts to redub some of Pikachu's lines, though that idea was abandoned fairly quickly.
• The Worf Effect: Pikachu frequently falls victim to this, due to being established as one of Ash's most dependable Pokémon.
• Worf Had the Flu: Team Rocket frequently use lightning resistant traps against Pikachu for example. There was one occasion where it was actually used to his advantage: Applied Phlebotinum caused Pikachu to strike a fever, which also gave him an insane power-up, leading to Ash's easy yet unintentional victory over Wattson.
• World's Best Warrior: As of the end of Journeys, Pikachu's performance in the Masters Tournament has effectively proven him the strongest Trainer-owned Pokémon in the world. Not only was he the only one in the series to defeat multiple of Leon's Pokémon, but he even took down Leon's strongest partner, Charizard, after already taking heavy damage against Cinderace. He's also the only Masters Eight Pokémon that was never outright defeated in battle, as the only time he was knocked out was due to Spiritomb's Destiny Bond. In fact, Pikachu had the second highest amount of KO in the whole tournament, beating 5 Pokémon in Steven's Cradily and Metagross, Cynthia's Gastrodon and Spiritomb, and finally Leon's Cinderace and Charizard. Second only to Leon's Rillaboom at 7.
  • In addition, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt is implied to be the single strongest attack in the anime. This special Z-Move is so mind-bogglingly powerful that it can overload Electric-immune abilities such as Motor Drive, and Pikachu has never once failed to defeat his opponent after using it — it overpowered the deity Tapu Koko's Guardian of Alola, Steven's Mega Metagross was easily finished off despite partially avoiding it, and it completely canceled out G-Max Wildfire from Leon's Charizard, which normally has a secondary effect of surrounding flames.
• You Dirty Rat!: Played straight in the earliest episodes. He has always been a mouse-based Pokémon, and back then he was an utter jerk to Ash. Averted later on, as now he's more of the Nice Mice variety.

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