Ash's Pikachu

This Pikachu is an -type Pokémon owned by Ash. He is the first Pokémon Ash ever had and is always by Ash's side, along with being one of his greatest battlers.

Personality
Pikachu is Ash's best friend. Pikachu has always been there for Ash and also takes a leader position for the team. He is curious, smart and friendly, but shares Ash's fondness for battling. One of his most noticeable features is his determination and unwillingness to give up whenever a situation gets tough. He is shown to be responsible with younger Pokémon, particularly Misty's Togepi, who he is often forced to shepherd out of danger by putting himself in it. Although stubborn at times, he obeys Ash's commands in battle and rarely leaves his side. He is also a constant target for Team Rocket. They try to capture him, but, on the few occasions that they do, their plans are always thwarted by Ash and his friends. Even after getting out of their traps, avoiding capture, or that he wasn't part of their schemes, Pikachu also thwarts his enemies by attacking or getting rid of them using his Electric-type moves, like Thunderbolt. He can also imitate some Pokémon by making their face shapes.

Like his master, Pikachu shares Ash's love for science and technology; even if he cannot understand most of it.

Pikachu's best friends throughout the series' run other than Ash are Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, Chikorita, Phanpy, Misty's Togepi, Brock's Mudkip, Dawn's Piplup, Buneary, Iris' Axew, Cilan's Pansage, Snivy, Oshawott, Froakie, Clemont's Chespin, and Dedenne.

In some episodes, Pikachu has a strong rivalry with other trainers' Raichu which is Pikachu's evolved form who is much stronger than the latter and also responsible for injuring Pikachu in every first battles with the exception of both Volkner and Tierno's Raichu who appears as a calm, serious and a friendly Pokémon. The prime example is when Lt. Surge's Raichu manage to overpower Pikachu with its abilities and also injures it in the process. This also carries to Sho's Raichu who also overpowers all of Pikachu's abilities such as his Iron Tail and Volt Tackle. Despite their overpowered prowess, Pikachu is able to withstand against them by using its speed and its tactical in battling in order to defeat them.

During the time when Pikachu was injured in each of the first battle against the trainer's Raichu, he was given the chance to evolve into a Raichu using a Thunder Stone but Pikachu often refuses. This trait is later shared by his best friend, Dawn's Piplup who also given the chance to evolve, but also refuses as he has an Everstone to prevent it.

Anime
Pikachu was Ash's Starter Pokémon, given to him by Professor Oak. Ash showed up late to pick his first Pokémon, so he got stuck with Pikachu. Though he detested Ash at first, Ash demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice himself for Pikachu, and they quickly became friends. Pikachu, who is rather independent in general, believes that he is strong enough without evolving and refuses to evolve into a Raichu, even when he was easily beaten by Lt. Surge's Raichu in their first battle. Later in Ash's adventure in the Sinnoh region, Pikachu was given another chance to evolve after being seriously injured by another Raichu, but he refused once again.

Early in the series, Pikachu was given an operation to increase the strength of the electric sacs in his cheeks in order to beat the first Gym Leader, Brock. Despite this, Pikachu can also get a cold and go out of control when he cannot release his electricity. Most notably, exposure to a magnetic field will cause Pikachu to get a cold. This has been done to him at least three times, two times by Team Rocket and one time by Zekrom: the first time, Pikachu was cured when the extra electricity was used in attacks against a group of Grimer and a Muk, and in the second time was inadvertently cured by one of Team Rocket's battery robots, which subsequently overloaded and exploded. The last time is when Professor Juniper heals him after Ash's battle with Trip in Unova.

Many of the Pokémon animated shorts with all-Pokémon dialogue have featured Pikachu as the main character, and as the main voice of reason. As such, Pikachu is often a leader, helping to break up conflicts among other Pokémon.

A running gag is how he burns all of main female character's bike with Thunderbolt, which, in turn results in that girl following Ash, except for Iris following Ash after she and Ash bumped into each other. Pikachu also has a fondness for ketchup, which is seen multiple times in the anime.

Kalos
In ''Lights! Camera! Pika!'', Pikachu serves as the leading role of all of the Pikachu celebrities in the movie created by the Pikachu director, Frank who is very fond of all the wild Pikachu from the Pikachu village including Ash's. Pikachu plays the role as Super Pikachu which it was also dubbed by Ash on the movie and Pikachu's stunt double when it flies down on the ground was Ash's Hawlucha who also wears a Super Pikachu costume. After watching Frank's movie creation, Pikachu was amazed about the movie he had created as well as the bloopers they have in behind the scenes.

Shortly after Team Flare and Lysandre began their assault on the city, Pikachu was knocked out by Celosia's Drapion's Confuse Ray but before he was, he tried to protect an unconscious Ash while fighting the effects of the Confuse Ray right before losing consciousness. He was then cuffed and hung up in the air unconscious with Ash and the rest of his Pokémon at the top of Prism Tower by Lysandre's behalf as a hostage for Ash and Greninja. Pikachu regain consciousness right after Ash did. Looking at the horror and destruction of Lysandre's plans, Pikachu became shocked and worried when Lysandre used the mini version of Mega Evolution Energy Wave machine on Greninja and Ash but was relieved when he called out to Ash and when they used Bond Phenomenon to break free. Thanks to Alain's Charizard, Pikachu and the other Pokémon were set free and were ready to battle.

After Team Flare's evil ambitions were finally put to an end, Pikachu and the rest of Ash's Pokémon received Honor of Kalos medals for their heroic efforts against Team Flare.

Improvised moves

 * Leer
 * Electric Slam
 * Rocket Punch
 * Thunder Armor
 * Quick-Iron Tail
 * Spin
 * Swift-Quick Attack
 * Thunder Tackle
 * Volt Tail
 * Counter Shield
 * Thunder Whirlpool
 * Hydro Volt Tackle
 * Electro Bolt
 * Massive Electro Ball
 * Electro Iron Tail
 * Draco Meteor Climb
 * Aura Sphere Climb
 * Electrified Dragon Pulse

Voice actress

 * Ikue Ōtani (Japanese; in both the Japanese and English-language versions of the Pokémon anime)
 * Rachael Lillis (English; in some episodes of the English version of the Pokémon anime)
 * Kayzie Rogers (English; Pokémon Learning League)
 * Claudia Motta (Spanish)
 * Sabine Bohlmann (German)

Trivia

 * Pikachu is Ash's only -type Pokémon and was the only Electric-type owned by a main character in the anime until the capture of Dawn's Pachirisu.
 * Despite multiple main characters currently owning -type Pokémon, Pikachu is still the only one of them which is a member of an evolution family. This ended upon the debut of Clemont's Magnemite, Magneton and Heliolisk.
 * When Ash received Pikachu from Professor Oak, his Poké Ball had a lightning bolt on the top part.
 * Because Pikachu doesn't like being inside his Poké Ball, it has only been seen a few times since the first episode. The first was against Brock when Pikachu was being attacked brutally by Onix and the second was in the episode Snow Way Out when Ash becomes worried about the safety of his Pokémon in the cave's freezing conditions. Both times Ash's attempted return of Pikachu was blocked, by Onix the first time and by Pikachu the second.
 * Pikachu had a chubby appearance in the beginning of the series, but lost the weight for a more slender appearance from Generation II onward.
 * Ash attempted to evolve Pikachu with the Thunder Stone after Pikachu lost to Lt. Surge's Raichu, but Pikachu chose not to evolve because he wanted to prove that he could defeat stronger Pokémon without evolving. This makes him the first of Ash's Pokémon to choose not to evolve.
 * Pikachu occasionally has acted as a responsible leader of the main cast's Pokémon, mainly Ash's Pokémon.
 * In the season one episode "Showdown at Dark City," Pikachu displayed a strong fondness for ketchup. In fact, when the ketchup bottle he was carrying was smashed, Pikachu was seen crying over the smashed ketchup bottle. The animation for the Japanese ending song "Pikachu's Song" in the XYZ series features ketchup bottles, reaffirming his fondness for it.
 * In the Season One episode "Ash Catches a Pokémon," when Team Rocket was trying to steal Pikachu, Meowth accidentally says that Ash's Pikachu's power exceeds the power level he would possess as a Raichu.
 * In Climbing the Tower of Success, a Thunder Stone was tossed to Ash, thus it almost landed on Pikachu which would cause him to evolve. However, Ash was scared about Pikachu evolving, so he prevented this, which contradicts to the time he offered Pikachu a Thunder Stone to evolve. The most likely reason is that Ash now knows Pikachu doesn't want to evolve (and likes keeping him the way he is and respects his wishes), which is supported in the Diamond and Pearl generation episode Pika and Goliath and in the Pokémon X and Y generation episode The Cave of Trials.
 * Both Ash's Pikachu and Snorlax are evolved baby Pokémon, but in the generation that they're obtained, they are just the first forms.
 * There was a special event for Pikachu in Generation IV. The event Pikachu knew the moves that Ash's Pikachu had in Sinnoh League Victors.
 * Ash's Pikachu is a male, because male Pikachus' tails have straight ends, while females have a tail end similar to the top of a heart.
 * Ash's Pikachu has pretended to be female before.
 * Pikachu seems to have a great dislike, or even hatred, against Team Rocket's Meowth. As after Meowth and his team got away from the failed rail road mission in Unova, Pikachu still exerted a lot of anger and Ash had to hold him down. While Meowth was in Ash's group, Pikachu was the one to always be suspicious of Meowth's loyalty. This could stem from the fact that every time Pikachu started to trust Meowth, Meowth then betrayed that same trust.
 * Ash's Pikachu is the most recognizable Pokémon, therefore being the main face of Pokémon.
 * Somehow, for every region Ash has traveled through with Pikachu, he has always been for the most part surpassed in power by another Pokémon that Ash catches and trains until they fully evolve or learn new moves.
 * Beginning from Hoenn onward, every time Ash and Pikachu enter a new region, Pikachu has been exposed to high levels of electricity or magnetism, before or after arrival, and loses control of his own electricity, becomes confused, and runs away, forcing Ash to chase after him.
 * This could explain why Pikachu's strength is "reset" each time they go to a new region, with the exception of Kalos and Alola.
 * He is so powerful in Alola that he shatters the Electrium Z, forcing Ash to do the Island Challenge to get a new one.
 * Pikachu has had many moves over the seasons, but the amount it now actively uses has been lowered to only four, to be accurate with the games.
 * Pikachu's hatred of being in a Poké Ball made him the last and hardest to be captured by Mewtwo in the Pokémon movie Pokémon the First Movie.
 * Pikachu is the only Pokémon in the anime to defeat two Legendary Pokémon without being a Legendary Pokémon himself. His first victory against a Legendary Pokémon was when he defeated Brandon's Regice, and the second was when he knocked out Tobias' Latios, although the battle against Latios ended as a draw rather than a victory.
 * Pikachu is also the first of Ash's Pokémon to defeat a Mega Evolved Pokémon.
 * Pikachu was also the first of Ash's Pokémon to habitually disobey him. Primeape and Charizard would also follow suit and are better remembered for their disobedience than Pikachu.
 * Like the Diamond & Pearl series, Pikachu didn't learn any moves in the XY series.
 * Pikachu seems to have his own language when referring to certain people or things. He often refers to Ash as "Pika-pi" because it sounds almost identical to his Japanese name, Satoshi. This also applies to Misty's Togepi who often calls Togepi as "Pipi-pi" and Misty who calls her as "Pikachu-pi" almost referring to her Japanese name as Kasumi. He also refers to Dawn as "Pikaka", partially referring to her Japanese name of Hikari.
 * On the UK quiz show "Think Tank", it was incorrectly stated by a member of the Think Tank that Pikachu was the first Pokémon that Ash caught, when really Ash was given Pikachu as his starter Pokémon and then the first one he caught was Caterpie.
 * Almost every villainous organization in each region had him captured or for a hostage.
 * Team Rocket had captured Pikachu for their schemes in different regions, but they were thwarted a couple of times by him. Sometimes, he was captured with another Pokémon or with his trainer so he wouldn't get in their way.
 * Team Magma had Pikachu captured because he had something they wanted in his body.
 * Team Galactic had Pikachu captured so he wouldn't get in their way.
 * Team Plasma had Pikachu captured (controlled) as part of their scheme.
 * Team Flare had Pikachu captured as a hostage for his trainer and for one of his friends.
 * Team Aqua is the only team not to have Pikachu captured or for a hostage for any reason.

Gallery
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Improvised moves
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