After 25 years of adventures, Ash’s time with Pikachu is about to end. The duo, who have long starred in anime based on popular video games, have made it their ultimate goal to become the best. Now the two have finally achieved that goal by winning a world championship on an episode of Pokemon Ultimate Journeys: The Series at the end of 2022. That winter, The Pokémon Company International announced that Ash and Pikachu’s journey would come to an end and a new set of heroes would take over.
It’s a bittersweet transition and the start of a new chapter of Pokémon. To reflect on Ash’s journey and legacy, Polygon interviewed Sarah Natochenny, Ash’s English voice actor since 2006. We talked about Ash, his influence on the fandom, and the difficulty of saying goodbye to the two faces of one of the biggest names in the world. most popular franchises.
It’s hard to think of Pokémon now without thinking of Ash Ketchum, but he started off as an unlikely protagonist. On his very first day as a trainer, he overslept and missed the chance to get one of the original three starter Pokémon. Instead, he ended up with a bull-headed Pikachu that refused to enter his Poké Ball. What set him apart then wasn’t any kind of talent, but a stubborn dedication to his relationship with his Pokémon and a love of adventure. He was a trainer who put his life on the line time and time again to protect his fellow Pokémon.
This exuberant spirit inspired Natochenny, who was more reserved and introverted, but eventually came out of her shell after playing Ash.
“Playing a series of protagonists, starting with Ash, proved to me that my deepest self is an outgoing, adventurous person who screams a lot – I literally found about 200 video clips of me screaming for my 2022 recap video I’m so grateful that I decided to become an actor, because I might not have discovered this side of myself otherwise. Ash never gave up on his greatest passion, and neither did I. To be clear, passion is to act, not to shout.
Image: The International Pokémon Company
Ash Ketchum, whose name is a pun based on the act of catching Pokémon, has long been the butt of internet jokes. He is known to not have aged and his Pikachu seemed to more or less reset levels after traveling from region to region. Even when I watched the show as a kid, the idea of Ash’s Pikachu being challenged by a low-level Gym Leader in a new region seemed weird. Because of this constant resetting, Natochenny didn’t think Ash or Pikachu would ever leave the show. “I couldn’t imagine a series without Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket,” she said.
Of course, despite aging – or, to be honest, progressing towards his goal – Ash eventually achieved it. When he won the world championship in the anime, many online fans celebrated him as if he were a achievement in real life. For fans, he was a reminder that sometimes achieving your goals takes much longer than expected, and not giving up is perhaps the most important part of this journey. Ash taught Natochenny “to stay optimistic and to remember that there’s always a way to get where you’re going without intentionally hurting people along the way,” she said.
Ash isn’t a real person, so he doesn’t need to change or retire. He could live as a 10-year-old child for several decades, perfectly preserved in animation. I asked Natochenny why she thought big life changes, even in fictional worlds, were important.
“Everyone experiences changes and discomfort in their lifetime to some degree,” she said. “But sometimes stagnation is uncomfortable and change is welcome. I think people generally find comfort in cartoons, so watching them go through transitions can help us go through ours in a healthier way.
