Ash Ketchum was the star of Pokémon anime for nearly 25 years, and fans’ feelings about him as a character have changed over that time. Even I had a huge change in my opinion of the character, all thanks to a specific story arc from Diamond and Pearl was.
When I watched Pokémon As a child, I was often irritated with Ash because of his behavior. He often makes illogical choices in battle, ignoring the typing rules that are so essential to the games, and frequently gives up opportunities to catch Pokémon, which is especially frustrating for the powerful ones he lets pass by. For me, Pokémon it was always about the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” element; It’s a collection game, and the goal is to have a complete collection. Despite the Pokémon anime’s catchphrase, the anime rarely reflected this, however.
What makes Ash a frustrating protagonist sometimes
Ash’s personality, especially at first, can be irritating to watch
While the anime not perfectly mirroring the games was often a point of annoyance for me, it wasn’t the only one. Ash often seemed to not remember the lessons he learned episode after episode in those early days, making the same kinds of mistakes over and over again when he really should have known better.. Misty and Brock even pointed this out from time to time, so this was obviously an intentional part of her character and not a mark of bad writing. Ironically, this probably made him more authentic, like he was a 10 year old, but being around the same age and knowing he wouldn’t make those mistakes would still be annoying.
The show actually makes fun of Ash a lot in the first few seasons, making jokes at his character’s expense, which kind of reinforces the idea that he’s kind of… incompetent. At the beginning of the anime, Ash is often treated more like a comedy protagonist, who doesn’t really learn or grow much. This would change over time as the anime continued into new eras like Ruby and Sapphirewhere Ash would go from being the one who needs help to being the one who helps May.
These changes as the story progressed into new eras ended up being crucial to Ash’s character growth, but by the time the anime got there, I had already stopped watching. Pokémon for a while, and I wasn’t able to experience this growth until much later. For a long time, my opinion of Ash was very low as a Pokémon trainer, as he apparently didn’t do things that brought him closer to his stated goal of being a Pokémon Master, which to me meant catching every Pokémon.
Ash’s best story arc completely changed my opinion of him
Ash and Chimchar helped me understand why Ash taking them all was a bad idea
Returning to anime as I got older, I went back to experience some seasons that I missed, especially the Diamond and Pearl era, which many fans consider one of the greatest periods in anime. There were already some noticeable differences in Ash, with his behavior toned down and his strategies generally making a little more sense than in the original series. He still often missed opportunities to catch wild Pokémon, which still bothered me a little, but overall he was a much more solid character.
Node Diamond and Pearl era, Ash came across a Chimchar that belonged to his cruelest rival, Paul, who Paul had abused and planned to abandon. Ash took Chimchar in and helped the defeated Pokémon recover and regain trust in people, gradually becoming a powerful ally. As Ash and Chimchar’s bond built, Chimchar would grow and become stronger, eventually evolving into Infernape. Ash would finally have a dramatic confrontation with Paul in the Pokémon League, where Infernape helped win the day, proving that Ash’s caring way of raising Pokémon was superior.
Chimchar’s arc was very well executed, and the fiery little Chimpanzee Pokémon became incredibly endearing. I started to realize why the anime didn’t follow the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” premise – because by doing so, it wouldn’t be able to focus on the bond that Ash and his Pokémon would gradually develop, like his bond with Chimchar. If Ash had hundreds, or even just dozens of Pokémon, the Pokémon themselves would stop being distinct characters and instead become simple tools for Ash to use in battle. By only having a few, the anime could focus more on Ash’s relationships with his Pokémon.
The anime eventually proved its original approach was correct with Goh
Goh took “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” seriously, but it didn’t work
In Pokémon JourneysAsh travels with another companion, Goh, who catches Pokémon much more indiscriminately than Ash. Upon seeing a wild Pokémon, Goh would immediately throw a ball at it and catch it… and most of the time, that was the last time fans actually saw that Pokémon. Of course, Goh was the owner now, but these Pokémon rarely reappeared, and Goh had no real relationship with most of the Pokémon he captured. The anime tried to address this with episodes centered around the care of Goh’s collection, but failed to do much.
Even when Goh captured a Legendary Pokémon in Suicune, it just didn’t have the kind of impact it should have. Goh became a very unpopular character with many fans as a result of this and this finally proved that the Pokémon the anime was right to approach things with Ash the way it did, focusing on building bonds with just a few Pokémon. Character arcs like Chimchar’s growth simply wouldn’t be possible for someone like Goh. Treating Pokémon as characters rather than possessions was the right decision on the anime’s part, I just couldn’t see that when I was a kid.
With Ash’s days behind him, it’s nice to be able to appreciate his character and the anime in general on a deeper level than when Pokémon it was new. Pokémon taught fans to see their creatures as more than just collectibles, at least as far as the anime is concerned, and this pet approach was the perfect way to tell the reality of a Pokémon adventure.