Ash Ketchum

Ash Ketchum (サトシ Satoshi) is the protagonist of the Pokemon anime. He's the main character, famous for traveling about with his very first Pokémon, a Pikachu. There are also incarnations of him in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, the Pocket Monsters Zensho manga, and the Ash & Pikachu manga. He is mostly based on the protagonist of the Red and Blue Pokémon.

In the earliest episodes, he made his journey to become a Pokémon Master with friends Misty and Brock, each with a goal of their own. Throughout the years, everything from Ash's clothes to the people he travels with have changed. He is first dressed in a dark undershirt, blue and white short sleeve jacket, and blue jeans. He is then seen wearing a dark blue hoodie in the Hoenn episodes, and a white shirt with a dark vest in the Sinnoh region.

Ash's only known family so far is his mother, Delia Ketchum, who lives in Pallet Town with her Pokémon, Mr. Mime. She's a caring, but somewhat overprotective mom that tries to ensure Ash did everything to make his life better, such as the constant reminder for Ash to change his underwear (blue and white striped boxers) everyday. Ash's father was mentioned in one of the earliest episodes, but his identity has never been revealed.

Character Design
Ash's design is based on the main character known as Red in Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal. "Ash" is one of the optional names for him in the first three games, and is a westernization of "Satoshi", taken from famous creator of Pokémon and founder of Game Freak Satoshi Tajiri. For the Game Series, Ash's character design was overseen by Ken Sugimori and Atsuko Nishida. For the anime, Ash's character design was overseen by Sayuri Ichishi (OS~AG), Yamada Toshiya (DP).

Biography
At the beginning of the series, Ash Ketchum was 10 years old, and later, in the episode "The Battle Of The Badge", Ash said that it was a whole year since he and Pikachu had visited Viridian City, making him 11. Furthermore, in the short called "Pikachu & Pichu" which was attached to Pokémon 3: The Movie, he said the day when the events depicted in the short took place was the anniversary of the day he met Pikachu, meaning his age at that time would be at least 12. However, two seasons later, Pokeani reported that he was the same age as May, who was 10 years old at the time. This and the fact that the two are at the same height suggests that both of the characters are the same age.

Ash is a caring and valiant trainer but he can be confident to the point of arrogance and is known for being stubborn at times. He also has quite the reckless streak, which has led him to troublesome situations. But when in a Pokémon battle, he is highly competitive, and he shows tremendous presence of mind, taking advantage of the battlefield as well as the nature of his and the enemy Pokémon's moves to claim victory after victory, though he has been known to lose from time to time. At the beginning of his journey Ash saw a mysterious flying Pokémon, which was later identified as Ho-Oh. It was believed in ancient times that Ho-Oh would appear only to a human that truly cared for his or her Pokémon, and that they would be promised eternal happiness. Ho-Oh has appeared for Ash twice more; when Ho-Oh flew towards Hoenn which gave Ash inspiration to journey there, and appeared again after Ash lost to Brandon. He also saw it in the end of the first episode.

Ash has matured greatly over the course of the series, and has considerably improved his abilities as a trainer, but his earnestness and determination remain the same. He always has trouble beating Gym Leaders (even though they are relatively easy sometimes, such as the Oreburgh Gym Leader). During the first season of the series, Ash trained to catch more Pokémon than his childhood rival, Gary Oak, although Gary has caught more, much more. He soon begins to focus more on each of his Pokémon's abilities. He also impresses many trainers by winning battles in which his Pokémon has a type disadvantage. At the Johto League Silver Conference Ash finally won a battle against Gary. Ash also has a best friend that was mentioned in one episode named Bennett. Bennett lives in Alamos Town and has only one known pokemon, a Gyarados.

Ash's primary nemesis is a group of comical antagonists named Team Rocket. Ever since the second episode, "Pokémon Emergency!", two Team Rocket operatives named Jessie and James, along with a talking Meowth, have tried to steal his first Pokémon, Pikachu, but have always failed. There are some occasions when they work together like in Pokémon: The Movie 2000.

Ash's mother is Delia Ketchum (Hanako in Japan). She is a caring and thoughtful woman, though occasionally oblivious as her son, and in the English version of the anime often pesters him to change his underwear every day, a running gag throughout the early episodes of the first few series.

The identity of his father has remained unknown. One reference to him exists in the anime. During a phone conversation between Ash and his mother in the second episode, she states to her amazement that he got from Pallet Town to Viridian City in one day. "It took your father four days to get there when he started Pokémon training", she says, "He'll be so proud!". A line from the play, Pokémon Live!, suggests that Delia, at one time, had a relationship with the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni when he was a teenager, but in the anime, this is never mentioned.

On Hand
The following Pokémon are currently being used by Ash in the most current episodes of the Anime series.

With Prof. Oak
The following Pokémon were once used by Ash during previous travels but are now residing at Professor Oak's Lab. These Pokémon can be called on and used at any time.

Temporary

 * Weezing/Arbok/Meowth: Used in a test during the episode The Ultimate Test!.
 * Groudon: Temporarily gained control of.
 * Raichu/Spoink/Mantyke: Trained during the Pokémon Summer Academy.

Given Away

 * Beedrill: Caught during a Bug-Catching contest and given to Casey.
 * Togepi Egg: Originally found by Ash. The Togepi that hatched from it was kept by Misty.

In Manga

 * Fearow
 * Oddish

Rivals

 * Paul
 * Jun
 * Morrison
 * Harrison
 * Tyson
 * Ritchie
 * Gary Oak

Titles

 * Aura Seeker
 * Prince of the Sea
 * Chosen One

Kanto



 * Boulder Badge
 * Cascade Badge
 * Thunder Badge
 * Marsh Badge
 * Rainbow Badge
 * Soul Badge
 * Volcano Badge
 * Earth Badge

Orange Islands



 * Coral-Eye Badge
 * Sea Ruby Badge
 * Spike Shell Badge
 * Jade Star Badge

Johto



 * Zephyr Badge
 * Hive Badge
 * Plain Badge
 * Fog Badge
 * Storm Badge
 * Mineral Badge
 * Glacier Badge
 * Rising Badge

Hoenn



 * Stone Badge
 * Knuckle Badge
 * Dynamo Badge
 * Heat Badge
 * Balance Badge
 * Feather Badge
 * Mind Badge
 * Rain Badge

Sinnoh

 * Coal Badge
 * Forest Badge
 * Cobble Badge
 * Fen Badge
 * Relic Badge
 * Mine Badge
 * Icicle Badge

Symbols



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

Pokémon League Status

 * Indigo League: Top 16
 * Silver Conference (Johto League): Top 8
 * Ever Grande Conference (Hoenn League): Top 8

Pokémon Championship Battles

 * Orange League: Champion
 * Battle Frontier: Champion

Contests

 * Bug-Catching Contest: Champion
 * Extreme Pokémon: Champion
 * Fuchsia Pokémon Race: Champion

Voice Actresses

 * English: Veronica Taylor(4Kids)
 * English: Sarah Natochenny (Pokémon USA/DuArt Film & Video)
 * Japanese: Rika Matsumoto

Trivia

 * Ash is based off of the Generation I video game character, Red.
 * Ash has had 27 Pokémon throughout the series. (Not counting evolution and the thirty extra Tauros as one) 44 including different evolutionary forms, and 73 including the individual Tauros.
 * In a game called Adventure Quest Worlds there was a parody version of Ash named Bash Ketchup.