Ash Ketchum

Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime series who has always dreamed of becoming a Pokémon Master. As soon as he was ten years old, he rushed to Professor Oak's Laboratory to get his first Pokémon. He is the first character to be introduced in the series. Originally wanting to choose Squirtle, Ash ended up getting the Pokémon Pikachu, and left on his journey.

At first, Pikachu did not obey Ash and kept running away, so Ash had to tie him up. After getting chased by a flock of Spearow, Ash attempted to save Pikachu from them; seeing Ash so determined to help him, Pikachu protected Ash from the Spearow by electrocuting the entire flock, thanks to being struck by lightning at that exact moment, supercharging his Electric-type move. From then on, Pikachu and Ash became best friends for life. As a completely unskilled trainer, Ash started his adventure while meeting his friends Misty and Brock and capturing new Pokémon.

Ash eventually defeated all the Gym Leaders in Kanto, allowing him to enter in the Pokémon League. Since then, he has continued to travel, journeying through the regions, making new friends such as Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris and Cilan, challenging all the Gym Leaders, entering each region's Pokémon League, and catching new Pokémon while still following his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Since this goal is so close to his heart, he sometimes acts a bit rash and rushes to the next battle he can as fast as possible without thinking. Ash is currently traveling in the Kalos region, with his new friends Bonnie, Clemont and his old childhood friend Serena. Ash's name in the Japanese version of the anime is Satoshi, likely after Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon. While there is much speculation, ultimately It is still unknown who Ash's father is; but according to 'Pokémon Live!', his mother dated Giovanni and was in his gang but took a better route in life when she met Ash's father.

Appearance
Ash wears a few outfits, as seen on the Pokémon anime, he also has black hair and brown eyes, and always wears a cap.

Original series
In the original series, Ash wears a medium blue jacket with gold trim, white collar and sleeves, dark cyan or teal T-shirt, blue jeans with light blue cuffs, black and white sneakers with red dots, green fingerless gloves with light green borders and a red and white hat with a green stylized "L".

Advanced Generation
In the Advanced Generations series, Ash appeared with new clothing - a black and red hat with a green Poké Ball on it, a blue hoodie, black gloves, new jeans and sneakers.

Diamond & Pearl
In the Diamond & Pearl series, Ash appeared with another new outfit, consisting of a jacket, white undershirt, new jeans, new sneakers, and his hat's Poké Ball is blue.

Best Wishes!
In the Best Wishes series, Ash appeared with a new outfit, new hat and new sneakers, wears a red and white hat with a blue Poké Ball, wears a blue and white hooded jacket with a golden zipper, black baggy jeans, black fingerless gloves with red borders and his sneakers are high tops.

XY
In the XY series, Ash wears yet another new outfit, consisting of a blue collared shirt with short sleeves, darker blue jeans, red and white hat and red high top sneakers.

Personality
Ash is very determined to be a good Pokémon trainer as seen in every episode. He shows a lot of sympathy towards Pokémon usually helping and befriending Pokémon he meets on his long journey. He doesn't like trainers who mistreat Pokémon such as J, Jessie, and James. He is a role model to many people such as May, Dawn, N, and Serena. Ash never changes his strategy of all out attacking and using water + Electric type Moves to defeat other Pokémon. Ash is generally kind, compassionate and brave, but can be stubborn, hot-headed, reckless and impulsive at times. He has also been seen to be quite athletic, several times through the Best Wishes Series, and once in the movie Pokémon 4Ever.

Since entering the Kalos region, Ash has demonstrated much greater maturity and level-headiness; both in and out of battles.

Pre-series
When Ash Ketchum was a little boy, he was enrolled in Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp where he would learn about the basics of Pokémon and being a trainer when he gets older. While looking for a Poliwag, Ash happened upon a young girl and fellow camper named Serena who got lost in the forest while looking for her group. She'd fallen and injured her knee after Poliwag startled her. He wrapped a clean, blue handkerchief with a Poké Ball on each corner around her wounded knee to brace it. But she couldn't get herself up due to the pain, so Ash lent her his hand and helped her stand up. Then he guided her out of the forest and took her back to the campsite.

At some point before starting their journeys, Ash was friends with Gary Oak until they both fished out a Poké Ball on both their lines. After arguing about who keeps it, they broke it in two, each keeping one half as a reminder of that day.

Kanto League

 * 1) Boulder Badge
 * 2) Cascade Badge
 * 3) Thunder Badge
 * 4) Marsh Badge
 * 5) Rainbow Badge
 * 6) Soul Badge
 * 7) Volcano Badge
 * 8) Earth Badge

Orange Islands

 * 1) Coral-Eye Badge
 * 2) Sea Ruby Badge
 * 3) Spike Shell Badge
 * 4) Jade Star Badge

Johto League

 * 1) Zephyr Badge
 * 2) Hive Badge
 * 3) Plain Badge
 * 4) Fog Badge
 * 5) Storm Badge
 * 6) Mineral Badge
 * 7) Glacier Badge
 * 8) Rising Badge

Hoenn League

 * 1) Stone Badge
 * 2) Knuckle Badge
 * 3) Dynamo Badge
 * 4) Heat Badge
 * 5) Balance Badge
 * 6) Feather Badge
 * 7) Mind Badge
 * 8) Rain Badge

Sinnoh League

 * 1) Coal Badge
 * 2) Forest Badge
 * 3) Cobble Badge
 * 4) Fen Badge
 * 5) Relic Badge
 * 6) Mine Badge
 * 7) Icicle Badge
 * 8) Beacon Badge

Unova League

 * 1) Trio Badge
 * 2) Basic Badge
 * 3) Insect Badge
 * 4) Bolt Badge
 * 5) Quake Badge
 * 6) Jet Badge
 * 7) Freeze Badge
 * 8) Toxic Badge

Kalos League

 * 1) Bug Badge
 * 2) Cliff Badge
 * 3) Rumble Badge
 * 4) Plant Badge
 * 5) Voltage Badge
 * 6) Fairy Badge
 * 7) Psychic Badge

Hoenn Battle Frontier

 * Knowledge Symbol
 * Guts Symbol
 * Tactics Symbol
 * Luck Symbol
 * Spirit Symbol
 * Ability Symbol
 * Brave Symbol

Pokémon League Status

 * Indigo Plateau Conference (Indigo League) Loses to Ritchie: Top 16
 * Silver Conference (Johto League) Loses to Harrison: Quarter-Finals
 * Ever Grande Conference (Hoenn League) Loses to Tyson: Quarter-Finals
 * Lily of the Valley Conference (Sinnoh League) Loses to Tobias: Semi-Finals
 * Vertress Conference (Unova League) Loses to Cameron Quarter-Finals

Pokémon Championship Battles

 * Orange League: Champion
 * Hoenn Battle Frontier: Champion

Tournaments

 * Bug-Catching Contest: Champion
 * Extreme Pokémon race: Champion
 * Big P Pokémon race: Champion
 * P1 Grand Prix: Champion
 * Pokémon balloon race: Champion
 * Pokémon Contests
 * Jubilife City Pokémon Contest: Quarter-Finals
 * Terracotta Town Pokémon Contest (unofficial): (Winner - Tied with May)
 * Wallace Cup: Quarter-Finals
 * Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition: Champion-with Paul
 * Hearthome Collection Contest: Runner-up
 * Pokémon Summer Academy Triathlon: Winner
 * Pokémon Swap Meet Tauros-Battling competition: Champion
 * Fire and Rescue Grand Prix - Unknown
 * Grass tournament: Runner-up
 * Pokémon Orienteering: Unknown
 * Pokémon Dress-Up contest: Runner-up
 * Tour de Alto Mare: Unknown
 * Whirl Cup: Top 32
 * Seaking Catching Day - Unknown
 * Hoenn PokéRinger - Crossgate Town: Champion
 * Sinnoh PokéRinger - Squallville: Champion
 * Rota tournament: Champion
 * Sumo conference: Champion
 * Twinleaf Festival Battle tournament: Champion
 * Sinnoh Pokéathlon Tournament: Runner-Up
 * Pokémon ping-pong tournament: Top 32
 * Club Battle: Runner-up
 * Wishing Bell Festival Contest: Runner-up
 * Clubsplosion: Runner-up
 * Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup: Runner-up
 * Marine Cup tournament: Winner
 * Scalchop King competition: Disqualified due to Oshawott's shell being broken
 * Grand Harvest Festival Pokémon Sumo tournament: Winner
 * Pokémon Summer Camp: Winner (along with Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena)
 * Pokémon Sky Relay: Runner-up

Voice actors and actresses

 * English: Veronica Taylor (Seasons 1 - 8, Movies 1 - 8) (4Kids)
 * English: Sarah Natochenny (Season 9 - present, Movie 9 - present) (PUSA/DuArt)
 * English: Kayzie Rogers (The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon first dub only)
 * Japanese: Rica Matsumoto
 * German: Caroline Combrinck (1st-3rd Season & 12th- ), Veronika Neugebauer (4th-11th Season, dec.)
 * Italian: Davide Garbolino
 * Greek: Voula Kosta
 * Dutch: Christa Lips (Season 1 - present)
 * Arabic: Buthaina Shaya (Season 1 & 2)
 * Filipino: Klariz Magboo (All Seasons)
 * Brazilian Portuguese: Fábio Lucindo (Season 1-14, present)
 * Latin America: Gabriel Ramos (EP001-DP090) Irwin Daayán (DP091-DP104) Gabriel Ramos (DP105-DP157) Rommy Mendoza (young, DP138), Miguel Ángel Leal (DP158-present), Pablo Gandolfo (movies 6 and 7), Alan Fernando Velázquez (movie 12)
 * Danish: Mathias Klenske
 * European Spanish: Adolfo Moreno (all seasons), Rafael Alonso Naranjo Jr. (Pokemon 3 and Mewtwo Returns)
 * French: Aurelien-Ringelheim and Sebastien Redin

Design
Ash's design is based on the player character from Generation I, Red.

Etymology
Ash's Japanese name, Satoshi, comes from Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon. Ash may be a shortening of Satoshi and his last name, Ketchum, comes from the phrase "Gotta catch 'em all".

Trivia

 * Ash has had 49 Pokémon including different evolutionary forms (78 if all Tauros are included).
 * Ash has caught at least one of the Starter Pokémon in every region, and has caught the main bird Pokémon that appears in that region's Pokédex.
 * With the exception of the Orange League, Ash has never won a league tournament.
 * Ash is the only known trainer to have ever defeated Tobias' Darkrai.
 * In the Kanto region, Ash often turned his cap backwards when preparing for a battle or to capture a Pokemon. This habit wore off as time went on. However he was shown turning his cap backwards when he was battling Tobias, presumably because Tobias was arguably the strongest trainer he'd ever faced, being the only one who was capable of beating all six of his Pokemon using only two of his own. Although in the Best Wishes series, Ash is seen turning his cap backwards more often. He recently turned his hat around in A Battle of Aerial Mobility! when he used Froakie to help defeat and capture Fletching.
 * Ash's birthday is on May 22.
 * Ash has the ability to sense and control aura, as it was shown in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and once again in the Diamond and Pearl episodes, "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 1" and "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 2". Aaron's Lucario has stated that Ash's aura is the same as Aaron's, and Ash was able to use his aura to find and save Riolu. Ash only used his aura abilities when it has something to do with either Riolu or Lucario.
 * Ash has seen every legendary Pokémon from Kanto to Kalos.
 * Ash is one of the default name options for the player in Pokémon Red and Blue.
 * In Tekken 6, there is a female character named Eleonore "Leo" Kliesen, who can be customized to look like Ash Ketchum. Coincidentally, both characters were voiced by Veronica Taylor and sounded very similar.
 * Almost every character in the Pokémon anime are featured in the games, such as Misty (who even appeared as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee), Brock (who appeared in Pokémon Red/Blue version), and Lyra (from Diamond & Pearl), as a Trainer♀ in Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver version and Gary, who appeared as main rival in Pokémon Red/Blue version default named as Blue. However, the only game Ash has ever appeared was in Pokémon Puzzle League for the Nintendo 64.
 * According to Climbing the Walls!, Ash's favorite move is Thunderbolt, mostly since this is his Pikachu's most notable move throughout the entire series.
 * Among all of Ash's Pokémon, he had only one -type Pokémon and that is his starter pokémon Pikachu.
 * Ash was Veronica Taylor's favorite role to voice in her career.
 * Although he has used them, Ash has not officially caught any Psychic, Steel, Ghost or Fairy-type Pokemon as of yet.
 * In the French Dub, His name was now changed to Sacha for unknown reasons.