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Ash Ketchum (Satoshi)

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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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  • #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: Following a period of setbacks in the Unova region, Ash manages to regain his momentum and never looks back. Despite the challenges he faces along the way, his unwavering determination to become the best Pokémon trainer never falters.
    • Ash is this during the XY series, at least in relation to his traveling companions (one of which happens to be a Gym Leader). He is a much more powerful trainer than they are, is by far the one who handles things best in a crisis, large or small, and is in much better shape than them. Not to mention they all look up to him. It's downplayed in that he is still Book Dumb and doesn't master everything right away, but this series is still by far the smartest and most mature he's ever been.
    • Sun and Moon tones down this characteristic a fair deal, though he's still often this in regards to his expertise in battling and bonding with Pokémon. Winning the Manalo Conference, becoming Alola's first League Champion, and beating both Professor Kukui and Tapu Koko in a well-fought 6-on-6 battle cements his status as an ace, crowning himself Alola's most powerful trainer.
    • He returns to this in full force during Journeys, which makes sense, given that he is coming off of his win in the Manalo Conference. Alolan residents actually recognise and respect him as their Champion, while the PWT news circuit dubs him "Kanto's rising star" after he makes it to the top 15.
    • At the end of JN109, he becomes part of the Masters Eight. While he currently sits in 8th place due to his late entrance, he is otherwise now officially on the same the level of Champions such as Leon, Cynthia, Steven, and Lance, which firmly places him as one of the world's strongest and most skilled trainers. He even goes as far as to finally defeat Cynthia in JN125 which is telling since Cynthia was never defeated on screen prior to this episode.
    • Ash actually managed to defeat Leon's entire team and become World Coronation Series Champion, making him the world's strongest trainer! Neither Alain (whom Ash never defeated) nor Diantha (whom Ash would have most likely beaten if not for a Power-Strain Blackout) could even defeat half of Leon's team.
  • 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, notably Muk, who he rarely used because of this and never got much out of when he did, as well as Torkoal and Torterra who took the most defeats in Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively, and struggled getting the most out of Goodra in the Kalos League. Even Melmetal, who was on his team when he finally won a championship, struggled and was defeated without getting a KO in its first battle, and Ash had to train its attack to become faster and put it against a fellow slow Pokemon for it to get some success, and even then, it was immediately taken out afterwards, albeit in a disadvantaged Type matchup. Ash notably mostly avoided this issue in Journeys, with his only Pokemon that might be considered slow, Dragonite, having Dragon Dance to increase its speed if needed.
  • 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  Since the beginning of the series, however, the two incarnations began to diverge more in appearance and personality.
  • Adaptational Badass: Eventually. As noted below, his early feats paled in comparison to Red, who became Champion of Kanto and a Pokémon Master relatively quickly, while it took Ash 22 years in real time to become Alolan Champion. That said, he's in a far more prestigious place as World Coronation Monarch compared to Red. Zigzagged in that Ash still doesn't consider himself a Pokémon Master.
  • 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.
  • 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, Ash was kept by the writers as a skilled but not Champion-level trainer for most of the series' duration in order to prevent him from becoming overpowered against most opponents, and to justify him visiting the many regions of the Pokémon world, always challenging the next Pokémon League after losing in the last one. He's slowly closing the gap, though, having finally become the winner of a major League at the end of the Alola series, after which he moved on to the loftier goal of entering the World Coronation Series as his next step in his quest toward becoming a Pokémon Master. By JN109 he's even joined the Top 8 trainers in the world in the Masters Eight Class participating in the World Coronation Series, dialing back on this even more. And then, he manages to rise to defeat the number 2 ranked trainer by JN125, putting him just behind Leon until JN132, where he manages to defeat Leon himself!
  • 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. Since so many trust and look up to him, and he can often empathise and understand their feelings, he can be considered a successful Pokémon Master in at least one regard.
    • Frequently has sympathetic moments with Team Rocket, despite them constantly trying to snatch his best friend. Even after Meowth betrays him, Ash says he'll always treasure their time together, and despite constantly delivering whoop ass to his team afterwards, he tends to keep giving them the benefit of doubt.
    • Faba tried to abduct Lillie and erase her memories and kidnapped, but he and Lillie forgive him when he apologizes.
  • Almighty Janitor: After finishing the Battle Frontier, Ash was offered the position of a Frontier Brain, but declined it in favor of his journey, although he can still take up Scott's offer later.
    • His current treatment as a "rookie" trainer also counts; as detailed below, in his young age he has already competed in so many competitions already, and had the experience for it as well.
    • Deconstructed in Kalos, where very few sell his abilities short. Most seem completely dumbstruck by all the heroics he and Pikachu perform in just the first few days they've arrived there.
    • This is averted in Journeys, where Ash is not only recognized as the Alola Champion, but also as one of the members of the Masters Eight (which consists of the eight best trainers in the world).
    • And now, Ash isn't just the Alola Champion; he's the World Champion!
  • 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 quarter finals, or the semi finals if he is lucky - but never actually win. Then again, it could just be the writers deliberately parodying the trope, with Tobias and his team of Legendaries in the Sinnoh League and Cameron's Riolu, not only beating Unfezant, but evolving into a Lucario to beat Snivy and Pikachu in Unova.
    • 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.
    • In the Alola League, this is averted. Ash wins the Pokémon League in the Sun and Moon series, becoming the first ever Alola League Champion in the process.
    • He tops his Alola League win by becoming World Champion in a nail-biting 6-v-6 against Leon, narrowly coming out on top. Because of this, Ash is no longer Always Second Best. He is now the very best!
  • 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 in Sinnoh and Kalos they're a fairly minor part of his role.
    • Thus far, this trope has been one of Ash's defining traits in Alola—just how many times he gets beat up, electrocuted, burnt, trampled, etc.
  • 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 Aim 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 , 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  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!
    • This is a Running Gag where Ash will dress as a girl at least once per saga (except for XY and Journeys), each time against his wishes - EP026, AG042, DP062, BW098, and SM068.
    • Ironically, during the Bell of Wishes Festival in BW071, Ash was the only participant to pick out a male to cosplay (Alder), while both Cilan and Stephan needed to crossdress (as Elesa and Nurse Joy, respectively!) Then, in XY, Serena crossdressed as him when Ash was out sick with the flu and a challenger showed up wanting a battle.
  • 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 beforehandnote  to become the Champion of the entire Pokémon World, and ...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:
    • He most notably mentors both May and Max - Not Allowed to Grow Up aside, he was always ready to dispense some personal advice and assistance to the Petalburg siblings, and it's clear that both of them look up to him as a veteran Trainer. Ash also seemed to take responsibility for their well-being: the first time May lost a Contest, he lamented that he should've spent more time teaching her, and during the time she pushed her Bulbasaur too hard, and lost for a second time, he was patient and forgiving even while she was acting like a brat. With Max, he seems to be an honorary big brother, since the boy is quick to point out Ash's lack of 'book smarts', so to speak, yet whenever the party splits up, he and Max, more often than not, are seen hanging out together.
    • He helps Dawn in this way as well, with her often looking to him for guidance and having a sibling-like relationship with each other.
    • He fills the role for Bonnie, although he travels with both her and her older brother Clemont, as they bonded through their love for Pokémon and lets her take care of his own in order to help her prepare for being a Trainer someday.
    • He helped Serena in becoming a Trainer and supported her goal in becoming a Pokémon Performer, in addition to giving her important advice.
    • His mentoring is especially prominent with Lillie in Sun and Moon:
      • He becomes quite active in helping her become a Trainer and overcome her phobia of touching Pokémon, even becoming uncharacteristically morose when she almost regressed it. However, Ash inspired Lillie to find answers to her past in hopes of ending her fear once and for all, which they were able to do.
      • When she runs away with Gladion in an attempt to rescue her mother from Ultra Space, Ash makes a beeline to assist her, ignoring Gladion's insistence that he stay out of it. Ash explains to the two siblings that sometimes you can’t do everything alone, which got Lillie to stand up to Gladion as she realized that he was right and sees that they have a better chance in getting their mother back if they all go together.
      • He even mentors Lillie in her Z-Move training, with his advice and encouragement coupled with her desire to see her long lost father again allowed her to become in sync with her partner.
    • He also becomes this to Goh in Journeys, dispensing key information about knowing to honor his Pokémon's feelings and working as a true team.
  • 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 many of Ash's physical feats.
    • Clemont even began traveling with Ash because of how much he admires him and wanted to emulate him, feeling like it'd make him a stronger gym leader. Clemont even shortly separated from the team to go to Lumiose City alone because he wanted to train for their upcoming gym battle so he could give Ash the battle he deserved.
  • 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. This was also somewhat lampshaded in the mid-Advanced Generation episodes, where after a bunch of episodes where he's shown pigging out, he started to get a little chubby.
    • In an early Kanto episode, when a gang of kleptomaniac Clefairy stole everyone's stuff, he was more upset about losing his ice cream than his backpack.
    • In XY, Ash asks Serena what he should gift his Pokémon. She responds they would like whatever he would. Ash gets them a mountain of berries to eat.
    • In Sun and Moon, Snowy actually picks up his eating habits after staying with him for a weekend.
  • 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. Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak chew him out for this 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 his disobedient Charizard. It's true that Ash spent a lot of time getting sidetracked on adventures that had nothing to do with his training, only earned half his gym badges with actual skill, only ever really fought a team of incompetent criminals, and never tried resolving things with Charizard. Nevertheless, Ash only lost his match with Ritchie because Team Rocket kidnapped him just minutes before things got underway, had to exhaust half his team just to get there, and nobody, not even his friends, bothered to check what happened to him, especially since Team Rocket had pulled several of their stunts like this just days before. Lazy or not, Ash just ended up in a bad situation, and the show later made it clear that it would take almost dying for Charizard to finally start listening again. While Ash was right to be upset, he did acknowledge that he couldn't loaf around anymore, and started taking things seriously during his travels.
    • In later years, during Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, Ash and his rival Paul come into conflict with their methods of training, both of which have valid points, but also their drawbacks. Ash relies on The Power of Friendship, which gives him strong bonds with his Pokémon to the point they've surpassed their limitations out of sheer loyalty to their trainer, yet a reliance on their strength alone and not any valid strategy has led Ash to keep getting flattened in crucial battles. Paul, on the other hand, relies on Training from Hell, cold and calculating strategy, and powerful stat-based mons to wipe the floor with his opponents (especially Ash), even using Ash's own tactics against him through several Batman Gambits. Where Paul's training falls flat is that he abuses his poor Pokémon, especially Chimchar, scolding them for being too "weak" whenever they fail him and releasing them if they keep failing. It's only when Ash starts using good strategy that he beats Paul fair and square, and implements this for his future travels (barring Unova), but Paul comes to see Ash's way of thinking after Brandon—whom Ash has actually beaten—trashes Paul's team and pokes holes in his training methods. This shows when Paul thanks Brandon for a good battle, and even thanks his Electivire for a job-well done after it loses.
      • Infernape is a particularly crucial point of debate between Ash and Paul, with Ash believing that Chimchar was strong on his own merits, and Paul believing his only worth was his exceptionally powerful Blaze. When Ash first receives Chimchar, he explicitly refuses to train Blaze, focusing instead on rebuilding his self-esteem through positive reinforcement. Even without it, Chimchar serves as one of Ash's most reliable Pokémon all throughout Sinnoh, even moreso after his evolutions. However, Paul's belief is validated when Blaze is finally activated in an intense battle, sending Chimchar into an Unstoppable Rage that Ash could just barely contain with a Cooldown Hug. 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, adding several more layers of nuance to the ultimate result.
  • A Boy and His X:
    • Ash's unbreakable bond of friendship with Pikachu has been explored many times throughout the series as they have each others back. Also, Ash understands Pikachu's hatred for not wanting to be inside his PokéBall as he lets him travel on his shoulder or head during their journey.
    • During the Sun and Moon series, Ash forged a similar bond with his Rowlet as it stays out with him like Pikachu does, although it doesn't have a problem in being in its PokéBall, because it enjoys sleeping inside his backpack. In addition, Ash lets Rowlet sit or sleep on his head or shoulder, which shows how close their bond is to each other.
    • In Journeys, Ash easily formed a strong relationship with his Riolu because of their similarities with Aura as he lets it spend time with him and Pikachu. However, Ash's closeness to Riolu nearly cost his friendship with Pikachu when he spend more time training with it. After Riolu evolved into Lucario, Ash maintain his relationship with it, as it became able to use Mega Evolution because of their strong bond.
  • 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. It took losing the Indigo Plateau Conference to start shedding most of these negative traits, but even then some of these aspects remained visible until later on in his travels. In later series, while he can still have these moments slip through the cracks every once in a while, they are now rare moments rather than the norm, with his newer traveling companions getting shocked upon seeing this normally nice guy act that way.
  • 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. 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.
    • After Ash gets the Boulder Badge and Cascade Badge, he ends up on a 10-win streak. Then he hears about AJ, an unofficial gym leader with a 98-win streak and decides to challenge him. His absurdly powerful Sandshrew hands Ash's entire team their asses on a silver platter, leading Ash to accuse AJ of cheating.
    • 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.
    • During the Orange Islands arc, Ash had bested a few trainers in battle, and thought he was on top of the world. Then Prima of the Elite Four broke that streak and beat him into the ground hard (though it didn't help that Charizard was being much more disobedient than usual).
    • In Hoenn, while Ash was on a hot streak following his first gym battle, he thought he could beat Brawley given how lax he seemed in his training. Brawley reminded him otherwise, giving Ash a harsh beating and popping his ego once more.
    • His ego swells up and he thinks he's on top of the world during "Vanity Affair!" after he beats a Scizor. Drake, a Hoenn Elite Four member who saw Ash embarking down a path he once did in his youth, challenges Ash to a battle and handily bests him. After that, then Ash would stop letting his ego grow so big.
  • 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:
    • During Kanto, Ash failed to defeat Brock (forfeiting twice, but still getting the badge the second time) and having his match with Misty interrupted by Team Rocket (though still getting the badge from her sisters). He would win ten battles in a row, the last of which occurred on screen, only for AJ and his Sandshrew to soundly hand him defeat on a silver platter. After that, he would lose his third gym match against Surge, but would fortunately win the rematch.
    • While in Johto, Ash managed to defeat Falkner and Bugsy, but it was Whitney and her infamous Miltank that put an end to that run.
    • Hoenn saw Ash go through this twice. After defeating Roxanne, he wound up on a hot streak and got a swelled head. Then Brawly beat him, popping his ego so badly that he actually exploded at his friends. He did win the rematch, but after yet another hot streak through each of the other gyms swelled up his head yet again, Drake of the Elite Four sensed Ash's ego and challenged him to a battle. The Elite Foursman quickly taught Ash a lesson.
    • The Battle Frontier was better for Ash, as he cleared the first five Frontier Brains despite the challenges. Annabel 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, every subsequent match between the two saw Ash beaten, with his worst loss being at Lake Acuity in a full 6-6 match, managing to only beat 2 of Paul's team. 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 League match 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.
    • Expanding on Kanto, hardly anything went Ash's way. Even though he could be overconfident, there are times he is given a very hard time for minor infractions, such as Misty's burned bike and his comment on Erika's perfume. Speaking of Misty, he gained a rather critical travelling companion who barely had any respect for him at the beginning, with another somewhat more supportive travel mate (Brock) only making things slightly better, both only being supportive around half the time. People commented on what a bad trainer he was despite the fact he was just starting out. Even his own Pokémon only had respect for him around half the time and when they didn't, it cost him dearly, such as with his Charizard. It was only when Ash headed for the Orange Islands that things started to look up for Ash.
    • Unova wasn't his best season either (Took a Level in Dumbass aside). Aside from having the Legendary Pokémon Zekrom zap Pikachu and cause him to be unable to use electric attacks during a match against a new trainer who beats him with a starter Pokémon, he winds up with another traveling companion who puts him down half the time for "being a kid". Most of his team winds up getting subject to as much slapstick as he does, he gets knocked into a body of water every single time Bianca runs up looking for him, he doesn't win many of the major tournaments being held in the region, and he loses the Unova League to a trainer who's much more of The Ditz than even Kanto-era Ash was.
    • This seems to be a defining trait for him in the Alola Region. Whether it's being burned, frozen, electrocuted, or whacked by blunt force, it's rare for Ash to escape any physical 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.
    • When Ash and Gary finally returned to Pallet Town after acquiring enough Badges to qualify for the Indigo League, Gary mockingly gave Ash some advice to show how superior he was over Ash. That advice was team rotations and analyzing the opponent's moves before choosing your Pokémon. Later seasons would show that Ash had taken that advice to heart (if so maybe subconsciously). In Unova, Ash caught too many Pokémon again, but this time he actually rotate his team members, which is a huge improvement of what he did in Kanto. In some Gym Battles, especially apparent in the Kalos ones, Ash would analyze the Gym Leader's strategy beforehand or during the battle and then develop a countermeasure to deal with them, choosing the right Pokémon to do the job. His improved relationship with Gary is also shown as Ash doesn't hesitate to take Gary's (honest) advices, such as evolving his Gligar to Gliscor to give it a boost in confidence.
    • A key point up until Diamond And Pearl was that Ash was relying too much on the strength of his bonds between him and his Pokémon, which kept him from getting as far as he did in the various Leagues. Paul shows up and keeps wiping the floor with Ash in each of their battles, even using many of his tactics against him, in spite of the fact his methods are horribly abusive to his own Pokémon. Ash realizes he can't rely solely on The Power of Friendship and starts implementing further strategies into his training, which eventually leads to him beating Paul in the Sinnoh League. He still loses that League thanks to Tobias, and he loses the Unova League because his personality had been reset, but it turned out much better for him in Kalos when he makes it to the finals (although he loses), and then Alola, where he actually wins! By the time of Journeys, he's made it a point to prepare specific strategies in dealing with specific trainers, notably bringing out his Z-Ring to deal with Volkner, or training Lucario to Mega Evolve and Gengar to Gigantamax to give them both a power boost.
    • As Ash journeys through the Unova region and beyond, he gradually develops into a more independent and self-reliant trainer and individual. Unlike in earlier seasons where he heavily relied on the guidance of Brock and Misty, Ash now charts his own course and faces challenges with newfound confidence and maturity.
    • While other characteristics come and go depending on the series, Ash's temperament has consistently became 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, while still Hot-Blooded and something of a Butt-Monkey, he is much more upbeat and patient, and very difficult to seriously anger. For example, he would frequently butt heads with Misty, and occasionally lost his cool with May, Dawn, and Iris, but XY would see him act as The Leader to the quartet of him, Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont without skipping a beat, only getting into an argument with the former once during a Heroic BSoD following his lost to Wulfric.
    • In the earliest seasons, Ash had a habit of letting any winning streak go to his head, and become smug and overconfident. In Journeys, Ash enjoys an early winning streak in his World Coronation Series battles (until he faces Bea, that is), but he doesn't let it make him overly boastful or arrogant. In fact, he's been on his longest winning streak thus far, even defeating five other Champions (counting Wallace, who is a former Champion), including Cynthia and eventually Leon himself, but he's still humble about it.
    • During Advanced Generation, though Ash was happy to help show May the ropes about Pokémon, his first time in the mentorship role wasn't an easy one. Despite his unconditional support for her goals, he would get into arguments with her when she was running late, and he would try to put his goal of challenging gyms above hers. With Dawn and Serena, he rarely argued with them, and he would make sure they got to attend their events first before they went to the next gym.
    • As Kalos nears its end, Ash is depicted as a somewhat plain and overly serious character who is solely focused on battling. He lacks any distinct personality traits. However, when he arrives in Alola, he begins to develop in various ways. Not only does he find a second home and love the people and Pokémon there, but he also becomes more expressive and childlike. He even regains some of his awkward tendencies without compromising his skills as a trainer. This portrayal blends strategies and training techniques from both Kalos and Alola, resulting in a well-balanced depiction of Ash. The series "Journeys" builds on this foundation, presenting Ash as a well-rounded character with both strengths and weaknesses, poised to become the next World Monarch.
  • 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: Always, with the strange, early exception of Giselle.
    • He's been having trouble recognizing love between Pokémon too. He assumed Grovyle had a fever when Grovyle was clearly crushing on a Meganium and, throughout Sinnoh and Unova, he's been clueless to it all, to the point that his then-newborn Pokémon Scraggy understood more about love than he does. He does employ his female Snivy's Attract against opponents, though it's most likely because he recognizes it as an effective move when it hits without understanding how it works.note 
    • 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?
    • In Unova, he doesn't understand that two Cottonees wish to mate, thinking that the male one just "wants a best buddy". This might just be the definitive showcasing of how his Characterization Marches On as, back in the first ever season of the show, Ash's Butterfree fell in love and wished to mate and Ash was well aware of this fact. This can be supported by the fact that in the Decolore Islands, Ash was aware that his Oshawott was in love with Osharina.
    • During the Kalos era, he doesn't seem to pick up on Serena's obvious crush on him, or Miette hitting on him in response to try and play Shipper on Deck with them. It doesn't stop him from blushing when Serena gives him a kiss before she leaves for Hoenn, indicating he's finally getting the hint.
  • 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. 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. In addition, he's officially been this for the Lugia in Pokémon 2000 (though this is dub-only), might be it for Ho-Oh given how many times he sees the damned phoenix (and how many characters he tells this to respond that he was only seeing things), Azelf of the Lake Trio in the Diamond and Pearl Saga (Mesprit and Uxie also chose his companions Dawn and Brock) and Melemele Island's Guardian Tapu Koko sees something in him as he gave Ash a Z-ring and a Z-Crystal in the Sun and Moon Saga. Ash is also chosen by Zacian in Sword and Shield to battle Eternatus alongside it.
    • He was hinted (though unconfirmed) to be the Hero of Ideals chosen by Zekrom (the Foreshadowing in the first Best Wishes episode is rather blatant). N, meanwhile is hinted to be the Hero of Truth chosen by Reshiram.
    • May be in play again in Sun and Moon, where it seems he was chosen by Solgaleo and Lunala to receive their offspring, Cosmog.
  • 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).
  • 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 , 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, although some exist in the animenote . 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. Another special trait Ash got from a specific protagonist is Hilbert's Chosen One status, even though it is never played out in the actual series beyond the "help N understand a different view about people and Pokémon" aspect.
    • 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.
    • He also takes a lot from the role of the lead male protagonist of Pokémon Sword and Shield, Victor, in that he seeks to challenge Leon and end his winning streak, and partakes in saving Galar from the Darkest Day by fighting Chairman Rose and helping to best Eternatus.
  • 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.
    • It can backfire though, such as his first battle against Sabrina for her badge: Ash orders Pikachu to fill the entire battlefield with electricity to beat her Abra, who was teleporting all around the field to dodge Pikachu's attacks. Abra promptly gathered all the electricity and one-shotted Pikachu with it.
  • 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.
  • 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 Pokémon: The First Movie has him stare down Mewtwo, after taking out a Gyarados, and calls him out. A Pokémon that could literally flood the world while sitting on his throne and he shows zero fear.
    • This is actually a bit of a plot point in a Diamond and Pearl episode, where Ash and co. attend classes at a school in Snowpoint City where Gym Leader Candice teaches. One of the adult students is utterly dumbfounded that Ash could have obtained six badges when he can't even pass a single test, but when Team Rocket shows up and said student has no idea how to battle properly, Ash quickly bests the baddies with his own skills. The student quickly realizes that, yes, Ash did earn those badges.
    • This is also notable in the Sun and Moon arc where Ash is kind of a naive idiot when it comes to most things. Most things, however, does not include battle where he is shown to be a master of strategy and thinking quickly on his feet, able to come up with counters for attacks that caught him off guard and skillfully escape sticky situations.
  • Culture Blind: It's surprising how a guy who is so obsessed with Pokémon could be so uninformed of others in the other areas.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: He's been on both ends plenty of times.
    • Two of the most notable instances on the losing end are his 2-6 losses against Paul at Lake Acuity and Tobias in the Sinnoh League (although Ash was also the only trainer that was able to knock out even one of Tobias's Pokémon).
    • 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).
  • 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?*
  • 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 to his Pokémon's well being than Paul's methods, but Ash keeps getting the floor wiped with him every time he challenges Paul, simply because he puts too much faith in his team's abilities. 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 in actual strategy to his battles, but he still proves himself as better than Paul by using it along with the friendship he's built up with his team.
    • 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 it proving to be devastating to anyone he opposed, 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 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 battlenote  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.
    • 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, Paul wins, using Ash's own tactics against him. 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.
    • Subverted in Journeys, which in general turns the usual formula on its head. Ash's arc deals with competing in the World Coronation Series this time around, meaning he's going to be competing against countless experienced veterans who are far above the average gym leader (even most Champions are competing) once he reaches the higher tiers. Understandably, making him raise a new team entirely from scratch would really do him more harm than good this time around if he really wants to boost his rank, so Ash's captures reflect him building a powerhouse team from the onset, rather than the newbie-to-regional champion arcs of previous series. His first two captures (Dragonite and Gengar) were already fully evolved by the time Ash caught them (with the former in particular being a pseudo legendary, of all things), and his final capture so far (Dracovish) is an absurdly powerful fossil Pokémon with no evolution to speak of. The only two new captures he had to spend the most time training were Riolu and Galarian Farfetch'd, but by episode 60, both have fully evolved as well. Lastly, all of the new captures, save for the aforementioned fossil Pokémon, are all Pokémon introduced in earlier Gens (Farfetch'd is a regional form). It's safe to say it pays off, as he's able to beat Steven Stone, Cynthia, and Leon using these Pokémon.
    • It's played straight in the Aim to Be a Pokémon Master miniseries when Ash battles Misty for ownership of a Clauncher, with Ash opting to not use Pikachu (his strongest partner that also has a type advantage over Misty's Pokémon) in favor of Corphish (who, while powerful in its own right, had not been used by Ash in a battle since Advanced Generation). Ash ends up losing as a result.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite having pretty impressive stats when it comes to accomplishmentsnote , it's very rare for other characters to actually acknowledge this.
    • In Kanto, he earned half his badges by performing a good deed for the Gym Leader. When he saved Blaine's gym from blowing up, he actually thought Blaine was going to give him his badge just for doing so!
    • Case in point: Trip. Granted, he probably doesn't watch the other regions' Leagues given his tendency to talk down Kanto, but still.
    • For one battle, this is actually averted. When he goes to the Battle Frontier and does battle with Tucker, he gets swarmed by press and/or paparazzi, and his numerous achievements are actively talked about.
    • In the second episode of the XY series, he climbs all the way to the top of Lumiose City's tower and risks his life saving a Garchomp, and it was being filmed on national television for all of Kalos to witness. Serena seemed to be the only one to even notice the act of bravery.
    • Most rare occasions Ash's previous endeavours are brought up it is to shoot him down mercilessly. Max doesn't leave him alone about the fact he lost the Johto league, and when Kiawe asks about his Kanto badges, Misty and Brock teasingly point out he was given theirs' out of pity.
    • Journeys both plays this straight and subverts it. When Ash runs into anyone who he's met before people will often bring up his past achievements, such as defeating Lt. Surge, saving Erika's Gloom, etc, and several Alolans note his status of Champion. In the Ultra Class and later battles of the World Coronation Series, his achievements in the World Coronation Series, and his title of Alola Champion, come up. However, no one recognizes him outside of just these achievements.
    • Finally Subverted for good in Aim To Be a Pokémon Master, where a crowd flocks around Ash and recognizes him as the World Champion after he and his friends aid the Squirtle Squad in putting out a warehouse fire.
  • 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.
    • From Johto to XY (with the aforementioned exception of Unova), this is played with. Ash is pretty consistently Book Dumb, but he slowly improves as a battler and becomes more insightful in terms of raising Pokémon, as well as mentoring the new Trainers that he travels with.
    • Similarly downplayed in Sun and Moon. While he's outwardly buffoonish, he can still come up with elaborate tactics and training methods, and even in non-battle situations he can think up unconventional ways to solve a problem.
    • This continues to be downplayed in Journeys, still showing the tactics and strategy he had from the two previous series.
  • 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 , 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.
  • 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 the select few with all (usually eight) badges compete in the league finals. Plus, he managed to win two side tournaments (Orange Islands and Battle Frontier) that didn't involve an elimination bracket. Yet only in Sinnoh, his fourth championship, Ash managed to go beyond the quarterfinals. And two more until he got to the final in Kalos, and even then it was a defeat in a Down to the Last Play bout. Ash is downright shocked when he finally wins it all in Alola! And then in Journeys Ash manages a Cinderella Run to become World Champion by defeating Leon, down to the wire!
  • 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 Best Wishes due to a Snap Back.
  • 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: Ash will never win a major tournament. How badly he loses tends to vary, as his showings tend to improve with each arc. The fact that he manages to get in at high ranks is a feat by itself, especially if the participants are taken into account. The Kalos League is his best performance, managing a very close second which came down to one Pokémon on each side. While he did win both the Orange Islands league and Battle Frontier, the Orange League was made up for the anime universe and neither of them were tournaments anyway. This trend finally came to an end with the Alola Pokémon League, which allowed him to later rise to the top in Journeys by beating Leon.
    • Ash very rarely obtains more than the bare minimum of six Pokémon for a given region (the only major exceptions being Kanto, where he obtained 40note , and Unova, where he obtained 9). This is downplayed as the anime tends to put more focus on the bond between trainer and Pokémon, as opposed in the games where catching all of them is part of the challenge. When Gary insulted the low number of Pokémon Ash had caught in "Showdown at the Poké-Corral", Ash retorted that his stronger bond with each of them individually is more important. Trainers that capture dozens of Pokémon are the exception rather than the rule, and Ash himself hasn't actually cited that goal since the early days of the show. Regardless, even if Ash's overall captures are low, he's certainly explored more of his world and seen more Pokémon in a few years of travelling than most people would in a lifetime.
  • Fake Crossover: Ash had a fair share of these during the 4Kids era while the show was airing on the Kids WB network.
  • 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, he's able to flatten Ash each time they face, 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 often 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 when he parted ways.
    • Brock was the first to leave the group when he decided to stay behind on the Orange Islands as Professor Ivy's assistant, making room for Tracey in the process. He quickly came back at the end while Tracey was Put on a Bus and stayed behind at Oak's (what drove Brock to leave Ivy, he won't divulge). Brock then left temporarily at the end of The Original Series and Advanced Generation to wrap up some things at home before he finally left the group permanently at the end of Diamond and Pearl to pursue his new goal of becoming a Pokémon Doctor. He would return twice in Sun and Moon and as a guest for The Arceus Chronicles four part-special, making a cameo in JN132 watching Ash's final battle against Leon alongside Cilan before they would reunite once more in 'Aim To Be a Pokémon Master''. By the end of that series, he would return home to Pewter City.
    • At the end of The Original Series, Misty is called back to Cerulean City to take over for her sisters as Gym Leader. She comes back twice in Advanced Generation, once more for the Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon special, twice in Sun and Moon, and as a silent cameo in Journeys watching Ash battle Leon before the two would cross paths again in Aim To Be A Pokémon Master, at which point she asked to travel with him again. She ultimately left him once again by the end and returned home to Cerulean City.
    • At the end of Advanced Generation, May decides to step out from Ash's shadow and further pursue her Coordinator career in Johto, while Max is forced to return home to Hoenn. She stops by in Diamond and Pearl for the Wallace Cup arc, but hasn't been seen sincenote  outside of flashbacks or silent cameos, including her and Max watching Ash battle Leon while in Serena and Lisa's company.
    • At the end of Diamond and Pearl, Dawn stays behind in Sinnoh so Buneary can temporarily serve as a Pokémon fashion model for Paris, before deciding to travel to Hoenn shortly after to continue her coordinator career. She has come back for a Tournament Arc in Black and White and four times total in Journeys.note 
    • Black and White would see both Iris and Cilan leave for Johto (Iris to train with Clair and Cilan to compete in a fishing competition held by Mr. Briney), with the two parting ways shortly after. While Iris would eventually return in Journeys as the Champion of Unova and later a member of the Masters Eight, Cilan hasn't come back outside of a flashback or cameo appearance until his silent cameo in Journeys watching Ash's match against Leon alongside Brock (though he returns in the third episode of Aim To Be A Pokémon Master).
    • X and Y saw Ash head home to Kanto while Serena would fly to Hoenn to start a new chapter in her Performer career as a Coordinator (though not before planting a kiss on a surprised Ash), leaving Bonnie and Clemont back in Kalos so the latter could continue to fulfill his role as a gym leader. He would reunite with the former two in Journeys to help him train for his match against Drasna, while he'd only bump into the latter very briefly in JN105. She would pop up later with May, Max, and Lisia, watching Ash battle against Leon, while Bonnie and Clemont would watch the match from home.
    • Sun and Moon would see him leave Alola behind, and his classmates along with it, though he would come back a few times more in Journeys, as well as hanging out with Sophocles in Mossdeep City, whenever he needed to clear his head or partake in a local competition there. They all tune in to watch Ash's final match against Leon.
    • Ironically, Journeys would see him on the receiving end of it with Goh, who leaves for a Project Mew mission before Ash could battle Leon. While he does come back for a few more episodes, the two officially decide to go their separate ways shortly after.
    • At the end of each series, he would leave 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 Aim To Be A Pokémon Master.
    • Of all the Pokémon he released, this would include Butterfree so it could mate, Pidgeot so it could protect its pre evolutions from a flock of Spearow and Fearow, Lapras to allow it to reunite with its herd, Goodra so it could protect its home now that it was more powerful, Greninja so it could aid both the Zygarde cores in cleaning up the mess that Lysandre made, and Poiple so it could be with its own kind. He would reunite with Lapras in Johto and is set to meet it again, called Goodra back for the Kalos League, Poiple (now a Nagadael) came back to him to stop a horde of rampaging Guzzlord, he met up with Greninja once more to assist in training Lucario, and Butterfree came back to see him at the end of the main Journeys arc. At the end of Aim To Be A Pokémon Master, Pidgeot returns and rejoins his team.
  • 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 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.
  • Foil He's this to Team Rocket. All of them start out as losers—Ash being a rookie who's arrogance and immaturity keep him from advancing as a trainer, Team Rocket being a bunch of Smug Snakes who's own criminal incompetency makes them the laughing stock of the organization they serve—and both are close with their friends (Ash, his Pokémon, and their friends versus the TRio and their Pokémon). Where the two are vastly different is that Ash takes his journey and lessons to heart, allowing his altruistic heart to grow through his ego and become a Pokémon Master in the sense that he's forever bonded to those he's close to, and he Took a Level in Badass (barring Unova) to become Alolan Champion and later World Champion. Team Rocket, Depending on the Writer aside, never shook off being bumbling idiots that never quite got the idea that Good Feels Good and they'd be far more successful in their lives if they weren't so devoted to just stealing a single Pikachu, and their competency has varied from series to series (Unova ironically being their most competent series yet when Ash was at his lowest since his growth). It's this willingness to grow that's not only made Ash a better person, but given him more experiences and friendships in his lifetime, granting him the opportunity to live his best life, while Team Rocket's stagnation left them with nothing but empty dreams, constant failure, and a brief parting of ways. Even at the end, Ash chooses to begin another journey anew so he can grow further, and Team Rocket reunites and still chooses to follow him, having learned nothing.
  • 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.
    • Averted at the start of the XY series, where his appearance on live television calming down the Garchomp that escaped from Professor Sycamore's lab is watched by Serena, who recognizes him as the childhood friend she has known in years gone by. It also allows her to know that he is in Kalos and that she now has a good chance of meeting up with him.
    • This also applies with Mairin from the Strongest Mega Evolution special where she tells Alain about Ash's exploits at Prism Tower, meaning she watched the broadcast as well.
  • 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.
  • Here We Go Again!: Ash really cannot go a single region without having to be treated like a rookie again. Unova is the most apparent, and having Iris berate him for it at every opportunity didn't help any.
    • It got better after a few episodes though, when he steadied down on the initial excitement and hyperactivity - case in point, when first trying to catch Snivy he threw the ball immediately, but not out of idiocy; rather, he'd tried to get her while she was distracted and after that failed, he subsequently fought her. His excitable nature in the series is pretty consistent, really, no matter how much he learns.
    • Averted in the XY series. While he still is excited at the prospect of meeting Pokémon he's never seen before again, he does cool down once he visits - and subsequently gets kicked out of - Lumiose City Gym. Plus, he doesn't have the same rash battle style this time around, using proper strategy in his first battle in the Kalos region. Which was against a gym leader of all things.
    • Averted hard in Journeys, where he retains his strategic battle style from the previous two series. This is mainly thanks to this series rotating between different regions instead of staying put like before. This trope stays averted, even when he does eventually go on a trip to Galar.
  • 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.
    • 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 confidences 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, who 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. Leading up to the league, Ash repeatedly looked for every opportunity to avoid actually training his Pokémon. He was even warned before his Charmeleon evolved that he also needed to work on making it obedient again (something he also slacked off on, though it became clear that it would take almost dying before Charizard would finally start listening to him). His loss came as a result of his Charizard not listening to his orders. It clearly had an effect on him, since he now works much harder training, and several episodes showcase it. 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: Ash is often prevented from having a team that is too strong, which often leads to his ultimate defeat at the end of the 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. Most of the time, Ash's team is held back by not having members that are exceptionally strong in the first place — he never catches a Legendary Pokémon, mostly out of respect for them, or some of his Pokémon never evolve or only evolve once, keeping them from unleashing their true potential (although, there are a few examples that are fine as they are, and one evolved Pokémon basically received a Power Up Letdown from evolving in the first place). Those who do evolve tend to evolve very late. And if he does have Pokémon that are too strong, they tend to leave his party for some reason. He also rarely swaps out his Pokémon for ones he's caught previously, even if it might benefit him to do so.
    • The original series, most specifically the Kanto journey, is very guilty of this. Pikachu and Bulbasaur don't want to evolve at all, keeping them from potentially becoming stronger, but Squirtle takes the cake, since he is never shown to have an issue of evolving, but he never shows any signs of it. After Ash releases his first fully evolved Pokémon (Butterfree), he's left with a team of five members for the majority of the journey, and strong Pokémon who could fill this spot (Krabby/Kingler, Muk, Tauros) are left at the lab and only ever come back for some occasional battles. The powerful Primeape starts out as very disobedient, but he becomes loyal to Ash when it gets its Day in the Limelight, but is then Put on a Bus in the same episode, which effectively prevents Ash from having a strong member in his team. Charmander suddenly becomes disobedient after evolving (twice even!), which makes it very difficult for Ash to use him at all, and it ultimately costs him the Pokémon League. The loyal Pidgeotto is often Out of Focus and tends to be forgotten in battles where Ash could have need it (most notably against Sabrina), and it doesn't evolve until the beginning of the Orange League journey, where it is released in the same episode, which not only prevents Ash from having a loyal and strong party member that is fully evolved, but it prevents him from flying from island to island, a job that is occupied by the swimming Lapras who is large enough to carry multiple people at once.
    • The Orange League does a good job of making Ash more competent, but still gives him some struggles when it comes to half of his party. The two new additions, Lapras and Snorlax, two Pokémon whose species are known for being very strong, come with their own issues that prevents Ash from having an even stronger team. Lapras is still very young and inexperienced, making it a rather ineffective battler, and Snorlax sleeps most of the time and is Brilliant, but Lazy and is even absent in the League match because of this (although Ash does win that one). Charizard doesn't start to obey Ash until about 2/3 of the journey.
    • The Johto journey is another fine case of why multiple characters can often lead to Pokémon not pulling their weight as much as they otherwise could. Similar like in the Orange Archipelago journey, Ash starts out with four Pokémon, but since the series requires him to catch and raise new Pokémon native to the region (you know, to promote stuff), two of Ash's Pokémon are Put on a Bus to give space for two inexperienced newcomers. Ash's first Johto Pokémon and powerful Bug/Fighting-type, Heracross, leaves the party once it is given the opportunity to get send to the lab, whereas Bulbasaur is Out of Focus and is never used in any Gym Battle. He finally leaves for good and gives the space for the newly hatched Phanpy, who is not given enough time to be properly raised before the League begins. The only starter who evolves is Chikorita, albeit only once. It becomes obvious that Ash's final Johto roster is inferior to his Kanto Pokémon when the League happens, causing the Johto team to be Out of Focus; to clarify further, the only Johtos in the last two matches of the League were Bayleef, Totodile, Noctowl, and Heracross.
    • The Hoenn League shows again that having a team of with half of its members being not fully evolved (specifically Grovyle and Corphish, who did a good job in the previous matches) is a factor of his loss against a trainer who is equally as good as Ash, but has five fully evolved Pokémon.
    • The Sinnoh series is much better in handling a strong team for him, as four of his six Sinnoh Pokémon fully evolve (though, one of them gets Power Up Let Down), there are some cases that do hold him back. Buizel is soon Overshadowed by Awesome when his teammates start to evolve, Torterra suffers from the Power Up Let Down trope after going through two evolutions, and while Gible has great potential, he is caught too late to evolve. Charizard doesn't come back for the Sinnoh League unlike most of Ash's Pokémon, and instead he uses Torkoal in his semi-final match against Tobias, his weakest Fire-type Pokémon. Speaking of Tobias, his presence as a Diabolus ex Machina is another factor that prevents Ash from winning the Sinnoh League.
    • The Unova series shows again why many characters don't work well in the anime series. Ash's rotating members don't become as quite as strong as his previous team, and while three of nine Pokémon fully evolve, three others aren't evolved at all. Since Ash uses all nine of them (plus Pikachu) throughout the Unova League, most of his weaker members are used in his match where he loses, and his arguably strongest Unova Pokémon, Krookodile, is used in a previous match.
    • Aside from some late evolutions, the Kalos series does have notable cases that hold Ash's team back. First of is Goodra, who became Ash's strongest team member in a short amount of time, but is temporarily released to care for some Pokémon. When it comes back to his team, it hasn't been trained by Ash for quite some time, thus it suffers from The Worf Effect and only gets as far as a tie against Sawyer's Slurpuff. Next is Noivern, a Pokémon who starts out very strong after his evolution, his young age and inexperience in battle prevents him from being too good and thus doesn't really gets much glory in the league often acting as the fall guy. And then finally is Greninja, who has an exclusive Super Mode that is on par with Mega Evolution. Greninja is released at the end of XY&Z in order to deal with the remnants of the Zygarde Megalith along with Z2, causing Ash to lose one of his strongest Pokémon for the rest of the series, barring a possible return in the future.
    • Even in Alola, Ash's team was slightly held back in some instances. His Rowlet uses an Everstone as the projectile for Seed Bomb (thus preventing it from evolving), Incineroar didn't evolve all the way until after it bested Kukui's own Incineroar, and even then it fainted right after, he had to struggle with his Lycanroc going into a pure, unbridled rage when its fur got dirty for a good while, he released his Poiple after owning it for a short while, only coming back fully evolved for his six-on-six exhibition match, and his Meltan didn't evolve into Melmetal until before his final match against Gladion. That said, he was able to win the Manalo Conference and his exhibition match against Kukui and Tapu Koko.
    • Ash does this on purpose in Aim To Be A Master when he and Misty have a friendly match to see who gets to keep a Clauncher. While he has Pikachu, his most powerful Pokémon, and both his Rowlet and Leavanny on him, he instead uses Corphish rather than the former three (all of whom have a type advantage) to make the match between him and Misty an even fight. He winds up losing as a result.
  • 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 Sinnoh (see below)
    • Becomes a recurring plot point in Diamond and Pearl; whenever Ash battles Paul, he doesn't just aim to win but to win in a way that makes his Pokémon the most happy. He continuously puts his pride on the line by using Pokémon that are clearly outmatched note , something that bites him in the ass time and again because Paul 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, especially prominent in the League where Paul uses 3 new Pokémon (Drapion, Frosslass, Gastrodon) to throw off Ash who brought his Sinnoh team for payback and almost wins with Drapion alone after using Aggron and Gastrodon as fall guys.
    • 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.
    • Ash is more than willing to let a Pokémon go or let someone else capture it, either because they are more happy where they are now, and/or because the trainer/friend is most active for it. Case in point, his Charizard was abandon by his trainer as a Charmander, and Brock was the most active in trying to save it, it's why he was insistent in having Brock look after him rather than catch it himself, and only did so when Brock trusted Ash to take care of him instead. Another example comes from his capture of Noctowl, because of it's smaller size and shiny form, another person, Dr. Wiseman, spent a long time trying to capture it through man-made traps, but never could. While Ash does make attempts to catch it and fail, he is more considerate to Dr. Wiseman, since he spent so long trying to catch it, but when Wiseman respectfully stepped aside saying he's had plenty of tries and Ash is more deserving to try, Ash does proceed to battle and catch the Noctowl. As for letting Pokémon go, Rowlet was with his adoptive family ran by a Toucannon, so Ash decides to forego catching it, as he did not want to separate them. When Rowlet got permission by Toucannon to go, and made it clear to Ash he'd rather be with him.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    • 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.
    • The only times he drops it in regards to Team Rocket are when Team Rocket isn't actually at fault for what's going on, such as in 'Viva Las Lapras' where he assumes they're the poachers Nurse Joy is telling them about, only for Team Rocket to show up beaten and broken thanks to said poachers.
    • 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.
    • Earlier in the series, 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.
  • Idiot Hero: Gets smarter in regards to Pokémon training, but he stays an idiot in other areas.
    • To further emphasize this point, "Capacia Island UFO!" involved a bunch of Beheeyem hypnotizing the whole town in order to help them find a device needed to get their UFO running again. They say that they were able to get everyone but a small group of people. Those people being Ash, Jessie, and James. They started to get Pikachu, but Ash snapped him out of it. Using Meowth as a translator, when asked why they weren't hypnotized, Beheeyem said that it's hard to hypnotize idiots. Ash, Pikachu, Jessie, and James all have a blank expression of disbelief on their faces from the reaction.
    • Thoroughly averted in XY and Journeys, where he comes off as rational and inquisitive. He has a typical knowledge on his surroundings, and when he has no idea about something, he makes it a point to learn about it. He retains some comical naiveté and obliviousness, though it's more a case of Book Dumb.
  • 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 
  • 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. Thus far the list includes Butterfree, Pidgeot, Lapras, Goodra, Greninja, and Naganadel for his permanent releases, Squirtle and Primeape for special trainingnote , and Aipom for a trade. Pikachu was almost on that list in "Pikachu's Goodbye!" when he saw how happy his friend was with his own kind, but Pikachu still wanted to travel with him. 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 Pidgeot and 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  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. Ash's leadership skills develop over the course of the series, to the point where it's more obvious than ever in the XY series that he's the one calling the shots. Sun and Moon downplays this due to the standstill format and Ash's more pronounced Fish out of Water status, with him often willing to follow the direction of peers, though when situations become more serious he is still often the most fluent leading the others. Journeys further downplays this, as the only person he's traveling with this time is Goh.
  • 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:
    • 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 and 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. He actually does a good job of making salad and sandwiches later in the Sun and Moon series, but Professor Burnet's Munchlax is the only one who gets to enjoy them.
  • 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 has a tendency to resemble people throughout his career as a Pokémon trainer, be it a traveling companion or a rival.
    • Ash was much like Gary in the Kanto region as they were both snarky and immature. However, they both grow out of their immaturity later as their journeys changed them for the better. Gary would retire from competitive battle after losing to Ash in the Silver Conference to pursue the field of Pokémon research, while Ash would continue on in the field of Pokémon battle.
    • Ash's Friendly Rival Ritchie is pretty much who Ash would be if he were a little bit more competent. Their Pokémon rosters are very similar (both using a Pikachu, a member of the Charizard line, a Butterfree, and a member of the Pidgey line), they have similar appearances aside from wearing contrasting colors, and they managed to have a very close championship battle.
    • Ash and Misty have been shown to be too overconfident and hot-headed for their own good, not to mention both had powerful Pokémon at their disposal they were too lazy or arrogant to try and train up properly. However, Ash has learned to dial himself back and tries not to let it get the better of him most of the time as his skills grew, but Misty’s tendencies increase because of her status as a Gym Leader. However, she does learn to be less temperamental with time.
    • Ash and May were both clueless rookies at the start of their journeys, and both get a seriously swelled head that costs them dearly at a crucial juncture in their careers. Such a loss allows them to grow better, the biggest difference being that May eventually decided to become a coordinator while Ash always wanted to be a trainer.
    • Ash and Dawn were overconfident at the beginning of their journeys, but a significant and heart-breaking loss for them helped them realize how too far they went. Dawn has a degree of rotten luck when she starts her journey in Sinnoh like Ash did when he was starting out in Kanto. They both have a hard time getting any respect as rookies, even from their own Pokémon. They then gradually became more humble in losing even as their skills grew, whether it was in gym battles or contests. Dawn is a coordinator, while Ash is a battler.
    • Despite their polar opposite philosophies on training, Ash and Paul are described as "two sides of the same coin," having always had the same dream but taking wildly different paths to achieve it and even managing to influence each other.
    • Witnessing Iris' cocky attitude and her not opening up to those around her, Ash is sympathetic towards her as he was once like her when he started his journey, but sometimes he argues with her when she calls him out on his immaturity. Also, Ash and Iris may be Champions, but they believe that it isn’t enough to fulfill their dreams, with Ash wanting to be a Pokémon Master while Iris seeks to be a Dragon Master.
    • Ash and Serena share a similar mindset and approach to achieving their goals relating to Pokémon. Despite having different careers, with Ash being a battler and Serena being a performer/coordinator, they strive to become the best. Although they may have different ways of achieving their aspirations, their underlying motivations are similar.
    • Alain and Ash were quite similar in the beginning about making friends as they wanted to travel alone with just their Pokémon. However, after meeting their best friends and traveling companions, Alain and Ash realized how wrong they were about making friends as they had their opinions changed.
    • Ash and Lillie are a lot alike when it comes to helping Pokémon in need, as they would risk their lives to help them, especially their partners and best friends.
  • 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 cause any, but it would be years in real-time before the rest of the world came to respect his skills as a trainer.
    • Charizard not respecting him was a major plot point in his rookie days. After Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, it developed a rebellious streak and wanted to fight stronger opponents. Ash made the mistake of asking it to throw a fight against a Paras, whom Charmeleon was quad-effective against. The fire lizard refuses and starts loafing off or throwing tantrums at his owner, and the character of the day's grandmother points out that he'd grown too powerful for an inexperienced trainer like Ash to command—problems of which only grew worse when he evolved again two episodes later. Nothing Ash did got Charizard to listen again, which partially contributed to his Indigo League loss when he called him out as a last resort, only to get snubbed when it refused to fight Ritchie's Pikachu, Sparky. Only after Charizard is nearly killed fighting a Poliwrath does the big lug realize how much of a jerk he had been to Ash, especially when Ash spends all night trying to save his life, and he starts following his commands once again.
  • 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. However, as far as the Dub goes, the Pokémon series documented the passing of at least three years. Ash has noted a year's time passing between his first two visits to Viridian City (dub-only), celebrated the anniversary (when Ash and Pikachu first started their journey) during his time in Johto (which would presumably be on the same day as Viridian City), and that another year passed since he first met May.
    • Until Best Wishes came, where even the dub Narrator outright states that Ash is still ten.
    • With Journeys, it's getting worse. In episode JN002, his room has a shelf with many of his badges from previous series, including the trophies for winning the Orange League (Orange Islands) and the Manalo Conference (Alola), and badges from every region plus the Kanto Battle Frontier. That's an awful lot of stuff having been done all allegedly at the age of ten. The Japanese narrator even outright states in JN001 that he and Pikachu have had "many aventures" together to that point. Not to mention that the child of Professors Kukui and Burnet, Lei, is several months old when Ash meets him. Even though they got married while Ash was on Alola, and Lei's conception occurred at some point close to Ash's departure from Alola. And yet, Ash is still ten.

    O-S 
  • Oblivious to Love: In later seasons. For example, in the first season, he knows damn well that Butterfree is trying to court a mate in "Bye Bye Butterfree". In Best Wishes, he is completely clueless that a Cottonee wants to do the same and thinks that it just "wants to make a best buddy". Though he later shows a bit less of this trope as he could tell that Oshawott was in love, while in in XY, while he did not notice Serena's crush on him (at least until she kissed him), he is 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.
  • 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.
    • Misty, in spite of her putting down Ash, didn't actually experience this (preferring to beat him in a battle to solve their dispute) until the end of The Original Series, where she ran off upset when Ash congratulated her on getting her bike fixed...right as she was being forced to leave the group to take over for her sisters at the gym, leaving her to think Ash didn't care she was going away. Ash proved otherwise at the end, leaving Misty satisfied that he did really care for her.
    • In the middle of Hoenn, Ash and May started bickering worse than usual, culminating into a "Boys vs Girls" argument that even Team Rocket got involved with. Brock, Max, and a very confused Pikachu could only hang out on the sidelines until the two patched things up.
    • Early on in Sinnoh, Ash and Dawn took on a pair of trainers with a Crocanaw and a Quilava, but handily lost when the two's sense of coordinating with each other was way off. The two spent all episode bickering until they were able to get into better sync and rematch the trainers, repairing their relationship and winning the match at the same time.
    • Late into the Delcore Islands Arc, Iris and Ash got at each other's throats so badly after a series of minor mistakes that the former decided she was going to travel alone. Cilan and Ash's Pokémon gently forced the two to make up.
    • After his lose to Wulfric, Ash got into his first (and only) argument with Serena in an attempt to cheer him up, as the latter pouted and left him in the woods to stew in his own pity. She regretted it quickly when a blizzard struck the mountain and left Ash stranded, but both parties were able to find each other and patch things up.
    • One time, when his Rotom Dex was invited to join the cast of his favorite TV show, he and Ash got into a spat when Ash thought Rotom Dex was going to leave. It was on Lillie's suggestion that the two mend things.
    • Twice this would happen with Goh. First, just after the two met, Ash and Goh got into an argument over helping some Bulbasaur evolve—the former wanting to help them, and the latter wanting to leave them be—but their shared amazement at witnessing the event led them to patch things up. Then, in JN135, Ash announces he and Pikachu are going on their own journey together. Goh takes it as the ultimate betrayal and swears off their friendship before running into the woods. Goh's Cinderace refuses to take his attitude and leads him to setting things right. The two fully reconcile the next 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.
    • This gets Invoked on him by Team Rocket in Aim To Be A Pokémon Master. When Ash learns that his Squirtle and his squad are in town putting on on a show, he, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Charizard go to visit. However, Team Rocket had hijacked the show for their own profit, and shooed Ash and co. off before they could go see him, thinking he was coming to get his Pokémon back, then trick Squirtle into thinking Ash didn't care about him anymore. When they do bump into each other, Squirtle is peeved at Ash and gets Bulbasaur and Charizard angry enough that a fight breaks out between the three starters. Things might have stayed that way if Team Rocket hadn't bungled things up in their latest capture attempt and set a warehouse on fire by accident, at which point everyone came together and put out the fire.
  • 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. This would be even more ironic in Journeys when Alain, in spite of ranking higher than Ash, gets destroyed by Leon during their World Coronation Series match, while Ash would manage to narrowly overpower Leon and emerge WCS Monarch.
  • 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 
  • 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.
    • One of the more notable ones is Misty, who at times was all but said to have a crush on Ash herself. Ash has taken notice of her appearance more than once and has been shown to feel jealousy towards other guys paying attention to her, like Gym Leaders Danny and Rudy.When the two bump into each other again during Aim To Be A Pokémon Master Misty greats Ash with a very flirtatious tone, and Ash gets very smug when she uses their Pokémon's connection to each other as an excuse to travel with him again.
    • Ash was notably very kind and concerned about May (when they weren't bickering that is). When she loses her first contest, he blames himself for not helping her to train. In Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, he even puts May in a torpedo tube to keep her and Pikachu from drowning while he goes to fix the titular temple.
    • He was always notably gloomy whenever Dawn was in a funk following a loss, and did his best to cheer her up. In "Cream of the Croagunk Crop" he also asks her out on a dance at the festival. Later series imply that she is the only female companion Ash has ever talked to any of his later companions about without said companions meeting an older one first or having to learn about them from outside sources. Dawn is even the only of his entire list of companions to attend his match against Leon, though it's shown everyone else was pretty busy.
    • After a fight with Iris that ends with them almost swearing off their friendship in "The Path that Leads to Goodbye!" Cilan makes them both reconcile and Ash does so by giving her a flower gift.
    • He is notably stunned when Serena kisses him on the lips and smiles back at her after she is done and is ready to leave. When they briefly reunite in JN105, the two share a very passionate look as they discuss the changes to their prospective careers.
    • He has had a lot of moments of this with Lana during his time in Alola, including smiling awkwardly when first meeting her.
    • The Alolan girls (Lillie, Mallow and Lana) take Ash out for a shopping spree at a jewelry store in SM020, when a woman there tells Ash that he must have a good relationship with all three of the girls he notably blushes at her comment.
  • 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 
  • 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: He starts out as an Idiot Hero Big Eater and is a Friend to All Living Things on a quest To Be a Master. In the early seasons he was always put down for acting before he thinks, but after going through about 4 regions he's the more experienced mentor to whatever newbie starts traveling with him. He only displays The Gift in the films, but season to season he averts it, having only come home a success twice in over 900 episodes, from the tournament of the Orange Islands season and the Battle Frontier. Though as he gets better as a trainer he starts coming closer and closer to the top of a League, culminating in his victory in the Alola League, followed by a successful title defense exhibition match even when the mighty Tapu Koko stands in his way as Kukui's 6th Pokémon. Then he becomes the World's Best Warrior by defeating Leon towards the end of Journeys.
  • The Strategist: Often uses unconventional strategies 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. In Sinnoh, the most prominent example was his development of the counter shield technique and especially the out-of-the-box tactics he had to use to stand up to his toughest rival yet, Paul, which included burrowing underground with Infernape to vaporize Toxic Spikes with the fire for example. Shows that he still has it in Unova during his league battle with Stephan. He fully regains this status in XY, first by spending time training to counter Viola's techniques for their rematch after a crushing first battle, spending several episodes training to counter Grant's Onix and its Rock Tomb at the Cyllage Gym. His attempt to copy Tierno's Rhythm strategy didn't work at all, though. And at the Alola League finals, Ash uses Dusk Lycanrock's Counter, the exact attack Gladion was spamming against them and the only move he didn't know Ash's Lycanrock had, to counter Midnight's own Counter and finish the fight.
  • 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 a lot of instances where he wasn't entirely at fault. In "Challenge of the Samurai", he gets berated by the titular Samurai for losing a Weedle he was about to catch, then losing his Metapod to a swarm of Beedrill said Weedle summoned, and called an impatient and immature trainer by the Samurai—even though Samurai was the one who caused the mess in the first place. Then, after he lost the Indigo League, his friends hold him as the sole party responsible for his loss—not Team Rocket for kidnapping him and forcing him to exhaust half his team, not the League for failing to postpone the match, not Charizard for refusing to listen to him, and not them for failing to go look for him. Granted, they weren't entirely wrong that he was lazy and refused to train for the League or fix things with Charizard, but still.
    • 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: As Ash's experience and competence as a trainer has excelled, his odd follies or losses have become more exceptional and a case of this trope.
    • Following his victory in the Orange Islands League, Ash returned home and wound up in a battle against Gary (after yet another Team Rocket attack ended with Gary rescuing everyone). Gary's Eevee proved exceptionally powerful and wiped the floor with Pikachu.
    • As Ash was seemingly unstoppable with his Charizard in Johto following his victory against Falkner, he's humbled by having his Charizard be curb-stomped by the Charizards of the Charrific Valley and subsequently leaves Charizard behind to train with them.
    • After his decisive victories in the Battle Frontier, he would end up losing to his former rival Gary and his Electivire at the end of the saga, as well as meeting a formidable new rival in the Diamond and Pearl series, with Paul managing to tie with him in their first battle and defeat him outright in their second battle. These battles helped to show just how tough he's going to have it in Sinnoh.
    • This became the pivot of a Heroic BSoD in the Kalos arc, suffering a Curbstomp Battle to Wulfric after a rather thorough winning streak beforehand.
    • His loss to Bea in JN034 marked his first loss to someone outside of Leon ever since winning the Manalo Conferencenote .
    • The Aim to Be a Pokémon Master miniseries provides a Downplayed example: After winning the Masters Eight Tournament and dethroning Leon as the new World Champion, he ends up losing to Misty in a battle to determine the ownership of a Clauncher. However, it was an unofficial battle and Ash consciously made the decision to not use Pikachu or his two grass types on him at the time in favor of Corphish, a Pokémon that had not seen serious action since Advanced Generation.
    • 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.
  • Tears of Joy: Sheds them briefly in the Sun and 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 pulls off his second biggest win of all time by winning the Manalo Conference. The first biggest? Winning the World Coronation Series, and thus becoming the strongest trainer in the entire world, only 3 years later! 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. However, he does get to experience a variation of it when he defeats Leon, the strongest trainer in the world, and thus Ash claims the role for himself. Aim 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 by the time Ash was battling his way through Hoenn he was reaching levels of competence in battle, training, and tactics that would define him in all following sagas (with the exception of Unova, which even then did not regress him to a point that matched his starting levels).
      • For a specific point, he only won two of his Gym badges without getting it handed to him or having to rematch the Gym, with most of the other gyms having seen him get his rear handed to him. In all later regions, he would earn each of those badges fair and square, only having to rematch one or two gyms, and he won all four Orange Islands Gyms and all four Island Challenges in Alola without having to try again.
    • Ash is no match for Elite Four members or Champions prior to his adventures in Kalos. However, starting with XY&Z, he becomes strong enough to be able to match or even potentially overpower them (as shown with his battle against Diantha). He earns his first victories over both a Champion (Iris) and an Elite Four member (Drasna) in Journeys, along with defeating former Champion Wallace. At the end of JN109, he finally joins the Masters Eight, officially being recognized as one of the eight strongest trainers in the world and culminates in decisive victories against Steven and Cynthia before he's able to topple Leon as the reining World Monarch.
  • 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 Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Bonnie, Clemont, the Alola Gang, and Goh, 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:
    • Battling Ash was what finally helped Volkner regain his love for battle.
    • Close to the tail end of XY, he immediately notices Serena is sad and silently contemplating her future and decides to battle her with the reasoning whenever he's sad about something or is stuck on his journey he uses battling as means of cheering himself up and that it helps him figure things out. Sure enough, a battle with Ash was just what Serena needed to cheer up and decide on what path to take next for her journey.
    • He even ends up being this to Cynthia of all people, as it's revealed that Cynthia was planning to retire from Pokémon battling altogether once the Masters 8 Tournament was over so she could focus on her research. But after having a long, tough battle with Ash (where Ash won), Cynthia changed her mind as she realized battling was too much fun, resolved to master both researching and battling. The kicker? Ash himself never even finds out what he truly did, because Cynthia only ever shared these secrets with Diantha. He prevented one of the most famous champions in the world from retiring by complete accident.
  • 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: Ash's early days as a trainer showcased he was far from being the very best. His 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). With the lessons learned from his earlier losses, Ash's teams became more varied in terms of skill levels and strength, helping him to get higher up in the Leagues (barring Unova) before he won the Manalo Conference and then later defeated Leon.
  • 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:
    • Ash makes it to the Top 16 of the Indigo League and...wait, Team Rocket kidnaps him before the match begins. It takes him several hours to get loose and escape, exhausting half of his team in the process, and he's nearly disqualified while nobody bothers to look for him or postpone the match. And when the chips are down, Charizard won't battle and gets him eliminated.
    • He came remarkably close to winning the Johto and Hoenn League's Top 8 matches, but Harrison and Tyson narrowly edged him out.
    • Well, congratulations Ash! you managed to make it to the Final Four in the Sinnoh League, scored a decisive victory against your arc-long rival, and even managed to KO Tobias' Darkrai...oh wait, he has a Latios too. Sucks for you, at least you did get to take down that Latios too which is far more than anyone else in Sinnoh did who all never got past Darkrai.
    • Okay, so maybe Unova is Ash's big break, right? Nope! His opponent (who is even more of The Ditz than Ash is on a bad day) explicitly plans for his Riolu to evolve into Lucario mid-fight and it does just that, sweeping the rest of Ash's team and placing Ash in his only downward bracket. And this guy only brought 5 of his Pokémon with him to a 6 vs 6 matchup. The only consolation is that Cameron gets eliminated the very next round.
    • Okay, Kalos for sure! Oh wait, Alain's Charizard just narrowly eliminated Greninja with a Blast Burn, a move that Greninja normally resists. Sorry, Ash. Better luck next League.
  • 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.....

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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