Ash Ketchum (seasons 1-13, 17-25)

Ash Ketchum (Japanese: サトシ Satoshi) is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime series. His signature Pokémon was always a Pikachu. He is also the anime counterpart of Red, the player character of the Gen I games.

Why He's Gotta Catch Em' All

 * 1) Ash made a lot of really good friends in the past seasons; especially in the original series.
 * 2) His Pikachu was iconic to the point it became the Pokémon franchise's mascot, he however became the anime's mascot.
 * 3) Ash's Pokémon, such as Pikachu, Charizard, Heracross, and Greninja are awesome (especially Charizard and Greninja).
 * 4) He only got more mature as the episodes went on (until Black and White, though he did improve in XY)
 * 5) He has saved many lives and many legendaries. He has such a big heart for Pokémon, he even carried Mewtwo's dying body in "Mewtwo Returns".
 * 6) He won the Battle Frontier and was wanted for Frontier Brain, but he turned it down so he could keep traveling the world, which was a great and adventurous choice.
 * 7) He believes in treating Pokemon with respect and has every right to get angry at anyone who abuses their Pokemon.
 * 8) His designs are extremely iconic, especially his Original Series design.
 * 9) He starts fresh each time he goes to a new region with brand new Pokemon (with the exceptions of Pikachu, Aipom, and possibly any others), which shows that he likes to play fair.
 * 10) His relationship with Serena is extremely heartwarming, and his backstory of both when he and Serena were kids was really cute.
 * 11) His character is so faithful to the games, that people consider Ash to be the anime version of Red.
 * 12) He has a tendency of surprising people with out-of-the-box thinking and unpredictable strategies in grave situations, one of the most notable being in a battle against Viola when Pikachu stuck its tail into the ground to avoid getting blown away.
 * 13) In Pokémon Journeys, he now has a Riolu of his very own after its egg was hatched. However, that wasn't the first time he has a Pokémon that he first got as an egg. It was notably Phanpy.
 * 14) On the twenty-second season of the series, he finally won a Pokémon Championship Finals League in Alola, much to the joy of most fans.
 * 15) He is the most amazing in the Kids' WB commercials. One time, he managed to play poker against the Joker.
 * 16) He has greatly redeemed himself since XY, and has remained his lovable self since then.
 * 17) In 2022, he won the Galar League, and became World Champion.
 * 18) As of the final episode of Journeys, he has reunited with all of his released Pokémon:
 * 19) * He reunited with Goodra and Greninja in Kalos, in the former's case, for the Kalos League, in the latter's case, it redeems Greninja's poorly-written released and gave Ash and Lucario character development.
 * 20) * He reunited with his evolved Naganadel in Alola, which he used in his battle against Professor Kukui.
 * 21) * He reunited with his released Kanto Mons. He meet Lapras again twice, once in Johto, and then more recently in Kanto. He reunited with his Butterfree in Kanto after he and Goh went their separate ways. In the final episode of Journeys, he reunited with Pidgeot, who saved Pikachu from Team Rocket and rejoined Ash's team, meaning that in terms of the English dub, Ash did keep his promise of coming back for it.
 * 22) The final episodes of Journeys has Ash rotate with his older Pokémon, travel with Misty and Brock, and has ended his journey on a high note. We will miss you, Pokémon Master Ash.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Ash was flanderized in the Black & White seasons. Thankfully, he has redeemed himself since XY.
 * 2) Disappointingly, he rarely wins in Pokémon leagues despite gaining a lot of experience as time goes by, the only leagues he won are only four:
 * 3) * The Orange Islands league.
 * 4) * The Battle Frontier
 * 5) * The Alola League (where he finally won a general league).
 * 6) * The Galar League (Which marked him as the Pokèmon champion)
 * 7) Even though narrator states in the first episode of the entire anime that Ash is 10, he obviously looks and sounds like he was 12. The same thing applies to Misty.
 * 8) He has done a lot of stupid things and made a lot of bad mistakes in the past.
 * 9) He can be kind of a jerk towards his friends at times, especially when he was around May.
 * 10) His Sun and Moon design looks pretty off-looking to most people, but it's mainly the face. Luckily, his personality was still the same (unlike the beginning of the Unova era), but after Sun and Moon, his face design thankfully changed to a much better looking one in the currently running Journeys series.
 * 11) In the episode “Pallet Party Panic” he released his Pidgeot to protect the Pidgey and Pidgeotto from the Spearow and Fearow, although he promised to come back for it after he returns from the Orange Islands, he never did…
 * 12) * This is only the case in the English version. In the original Japanese version, he never promised to come back for his Pidgeot. This is a result of an unnecesary dialogue change in the English version.

Trivia

 * His English name, Ash is derived from his Japanese name Satoshi as those letters came from that name (Satoshi).
 * In turn, he is named after his creator, Satoshi Tajiri.
 * In fact, his Japanese name meant "wisdom" or "reason".
 * His outfit varies as he travels through region.