Top 10 Things Pokemon Wants You to Forget About Ash
Top 10 Things Pokemon Wants You to Forget About Ash
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Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things Pokemon Wants You to Forget About Ash. For this list, we’ll be looking at all the embarrassing, problematic, or downright head-scratching moments Ash would prefer you didn’t remember. Did you forget about any of these? Let us know in the comments!
#10: Pidgeot’s Last Flight
Ash has accrued quite the deep bench of Pocket Monsters over the years. Naturally, he’s had to let a few go, but most of them are left in Professor Oak’s care. Or, in the case of Pidgeot, left in Pallet Town with a promise Ash will return for it one day. Except, half a dozen-regional leagues later, he’s yet to fulfill his end of the bargain. For a trainer who preaches about genuine bonds with his partners, it’s inexcusable that he’s pretty much abandoned one of his very first captures. To this day, Pidgeot may still be perched in a tree waiting for a trainer that’s clearly forgotten about it.
#9: Bye, Bye Butterfree… Again
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After Pikachu, Caterpie was the very first Pokemon Ash ever befriended. He raised the worm all the way into a Butterfree, and that bond led to one of the series’ most heartfelt farewells. In fact, it’s so moving that it makes you forget Ash tried to get rid of it just a few episodes prior. On the S.S. Anne, the wannabe Pokemon Master is easily manipulated into trading away one of his oldest companions. He later changes his mind, but the fact he parted ways with Butterfree at all is downright cruel. Kind of puts their future farewell into a different light.
#8: Ash Forgot Strength
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One of Pokemon’s cardinal rules is that field-move HM’s can’t be forgotten easily. But, Ash somehow found a way around that. In his journey across Hoenn, he learned “Strength” to help a Bagon who was drifting down the river. But, by the time he made it to Alola, he’d apparently replaced that move with something else. As embarrassing as it is to watch him struggle to lift a log, it’s even worse because we’ve seen him perform much greater feats in the past. Either the franchise has lost all sense of internal logic, or Ash’s muscles have gone through some atrophy somewhere between regions.
#7: An Absent Father
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Parenting is tough, but surely Ash’s Dad could’ve squeezed in a visit at some point in the past twenty five years. Despite some notable references and plenty of fan theories, he’s yet to officially appear in the series. They don’t talk about him in the past tense, or reference any sort of falling out, which makes his continued absence even more confusing. It’s not like phones don’t exist in the Pokemon world. Even as Ash competed and won various regional leagues, he didn’t so much as receive a text from his father. At this point, it would make more sense if Ash’s Dad just didn’t exist at all.
#6: Perennial Ten-Year Old
At this rate, Pikachu will retire before Ash has a birthday. The Pallet-Town prodigy was introduced in the very first episode of the series as an eager ten-year-old boy. Now, twelve-hundred episodes deep… he’s still ten. To put that into perspective, kids born after the anime’s debut could now be twice as old as Ash is now. It’s not like the series intentionally takes place over a few months, either. Ash has traveled eight regions, gathered over fifty badges, and got into more battles than there are Pokemon. Unless Celebi and Dialga are involved, there’s just no way all of this happened in under a year.
#5: Koffing, Who?
Ash already has a spotty track record identifying Jessie and James, but what’s even more baffling is that he doesn’t recognize their Pokemon, either. The ineffective Team Rocket grunts used the exact same toxic pair of Ekans and Koffing against Ash hundreds of times throughout their journey. But, when Pikachu’s trainer went up against Roxie in Unova, he still had to flip out his Pokedex to recognize Koffing. It’s not like the walking gas-bubble doesn’t leave an smelly impression or anything. For someone who’s devoted his life to catching them all, Ash sure has trouble remembering basic information about Pokemon.
#4: Super Effective/Not-Very Effective
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This dopey trainer may have more in common with his partners than he thinks. Over the course of Ash’s journey, he’s had more than a few run-ins with a thunderbolt. And a poison tail. A lot of moves, actually. But, it appears the hyperactive ten-year-old has his own share of type coverage, since he’ll occasionally shrug off the attacks like they were a string shot. But, other times, like against Mewtwo, he’ll literally die. The only explanation is that, much like any Pokemon, Ash has his own resistances and weaknesses. Except, in this case, inconsistent writing isn’t just super effective, it’s a one-hit KO.
#3: Locked Lips With A Latias
For the entire duration of this film, a major plot point involves the legendary Eon Pokemon transforming into a copy of a human, Bianca. It only becomes a problem when, right before the credits roll, she runs up and gives Ash a peck on the cheek. The quick and dirty show of affection leaves no room to verify whether it was the real Bianca or not. Honestly, we don’t know what’s weirder: that a legendary Pokemon might have just kissed Ash, or that no one seems fazed by it in the slightest. For peace of mind, we’ll convince ourselves it was the real Bianca. This kiss is better left forgotten, either way.
#2: The Elesa Incident
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Ash’s lack of rudimentary Pokemon knowledge is unfortunately nothing new. Even though he’s had trouble against plenty of Gym Leaders in the past, he has the gall to think he can defeat Elesa with just a single Pokemon. Predictably, it didn't go well. Then, his hasty back-up plan features him forgetting that “attract” doesn’t work on Pokemon of the same gender. But, the worst part of it all is that he’s rewarded for this idiotic behavior with a shiny new gym badge. It’s an insult to the entire Unova League, and only proved that Ash is in desperate need of some time at the Trainer School.
#1: Passimian Dress-Up
Even for a kid with a skull thicker than a Rampardos, this is still an impressively bad idea. In an attempt to bond with some local Passimian, Ash has the problematic idea to dress up as one. So, he covers his face with black make-up. Really. Since he then spent the rest of the episode acting like a mindless ape, the connotation was hard to ignore. The incident was quickly flagged by western viewers as Ash performing in black face. It got banned in several countries, and became the first episode in eight years to be skipped by the English dub. Clearly, Pokemon didn’t just want to forget this episode, they wanted to ignore it ever happened at all.
