"Obstacles are put in our way to see if we really want something or we just thought we did." In Japan, you may know Ash as 'Satoshi'. The fact that he's from a humble, almost unknown little town does not deter him in the least; his aim is to be a Pokemon Master and he won't stop before he becomes one! Ash's surname sounds like 'catch 'em', something which Ash is NOT good at doing, mostly because he doesn't try. ^_^. But let's start from the start. When you reach 10 years old, you can get your Pokemon trainer's license. Ash has been eagerly awaiting this opportunity and sets off on his quest to become a Pokemon master with much enthusiasm. And it seems as though enthusiasm is all he's got. At first, Pikachu won't obey him, he catches hardly any Pokemon, his rivals are always beating him and his travels are constantly being interrupted by Team Rocket trying to steal Pikachu. Several others begin their Pokemon adventures at this time, and they are Ash's rivals. Ash's greatest rival is Professor Oak's arrogant grandson Gary. Gary has a negative effect on Ash's self esteem (translation: Gary makes Ash feel like a nobody) and makes him feel like he'll never become a good Pokemon master... but when Gary's around, that's the only time Ash doubts his ability to become a Pokemon master! He's super dedicated and always has his goal in mind. He says "I'm gonna become a Pokemon Master!" or something akin to it in almost every episode. ^_^. Ash is actually a really nice guy. He can be a bit obnoxious and rude, and sometimes teases (especially Misty) but even if it causes his quest to be interrupted, he'll always try to help out someone in trouble. He's also pretty dopey... rather funny, actually. He likes to be dramatic but really does care about things. A great scene is where Ash firmly tells the Yas gym leader that he will not join them, because it's not fair to use Pokemon for street fighting; Pokemon are his friends. Then he marches off, proudly thinking "now THAT was dramatic!". Then he trips on some ketchup and groans "THAT was pathetic..." ^_^. Another bad trait of Ash's is that, at the beginning of the series, he has a huuuuge ego. He's also a bad loser. But he really does improve a lot. The hat Ash always wears is very special to him. It's an official Pokemon League hat and he won it by sending in 'about a million postcards'. He's really brave and never gives up, although he does get scared. But absolutely nothing is going to stand in his way of getting the 8 badges and becoming a Pokemon master! I think a really good example of Ash's character is when he's trying to get the Marshbadge from Sabrina. After losing to Sabrina and facing a near-death experience (Sabrina is not in a fit state of mind ^_^;;), Ash is still absolutely determined to beat her. He begs a strange man to teach him how to beat Sabrina. The man tells him he doesn't have a chance, and blasts Ash back with his psychic powers. But Ash gets up and walks towards him again, begging to be told how to beat Sabrina. The man blasts him back again and tells him to go home. Ash is looking a bit battered at this stage, but keeps walking towards the man. Brock and Misty tell Ash to just give up and don't worry about beating Sabrina, but he ignores them. The man is using his power to keep Ash back, but Ash struggles forward on his hands and knees and finally collapses at the man's feet. Impressed at his guts, the man finally tells him how to beat Sabrina - get a ghost-type Pokemon from Lavender Town. Ash is scared of ghosts and really doesn't want to go get one, but that doesn't stop him, and eventually his efforts pay off. Obviously, such dedication to acheiving your goals makes Ash an admirable and popular character. Ash can be funny too. But of course, all the characters are. ^_^. Ash is also very enthusiastic. Whenever he catches a new Pokemon or gets a new badge, he gets happy and lets everyone know about it. He strikes poses a lot. When getting a badge, he often does this cool swing-around thing where he ends up striking a pose and holding the badge out in front of him saying "I got the Whatever-badge!" Another of his passions is food. He claims to never be late to a meal or a Pokemon battle, even if he is irresponsible in other things. Living rough, he sometimes goes for quite some time without food, and will never decline hospitality when it is offered him. ^_^. Ash cares a lot about his Pokemon and always looks horrified if they get injured or something. All his Pokemon want to do their best for him, and he'd protect them with his own life, that's how much he cares about them. Sometimes he's a bit insensitive towards Pikachu (trying to make him fight when there's no way he can win) and Pikachu has given Ash many an electric shock, but the two are really best friends and it's sweet. Another anecdote, I liked Ash a lot in this scene... Ash was all excited because his Bulbasaur was ready to evolve. Bulbasaur went to this enchanted garden in the middle of the night, I think it felt sort of led to, and lots of other Bulbasaur went to the garden too. A Venusaur stood before all the Bulbasaur and said something, then all the Bulbasaur began to evolve. It was their evolution festival. However, Ash's Bulbasaur was desperately fighting the evolution. It didn't want to evolve, it was happy being a Bulbasaur. The Venusaur and all the newly evolved Ivysaur got mad at it, but Bulbasaur just replied something and refused to evolve, even though all these bigger, stronger Pokemon were threatening it. (Misty: Bulbasaur's even more stubborn than you, Ash!) Ash-tachi watched with increasing dread from their private vantage point in the bushes. Bulbasaur's pretty brave; there were several dozen Ivysaur there. The Venusaur got mad and flung its whips at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur cringed, but before the vines could hit it, Ash raced down the hill to where Bulbasaur was and dove in front of it. The whips hit him instead, and even though you could tell it hurt him a lot, he turned and grinned weakly at Bulbasaur, reassuringly. Then Ash apologised for Bulbasaur's 'ruining' their evolution festival and pleaded on its behalf that they shouldn't make Bulbasaur evolve. Even though Ash had been so enthusiastic about Bulbasaur evolving, he knew it was Bulbasaur's choice. Sorry, that was kind of a long anecdote, but it just made me have more respect for Ash so I had to include it. ^_^. The Pokemon that Ash has are: Pikachu Charizard (formerly Charmeleon and Charmander) Squirtle Bulbasaur Kingler (formerly Krabby) Muk Lapras A herd of Tauros Snorlax Ash once also had a Haunter, briefly a Raticate, a Butterfree raised from Caterpie (which he released), a Primeape (which he left for some obscure reason), and a Pidgeotto/Pidgeot, which he also released. He caught his Tauros in the Safari Zone by accident, in an episode that was cut from the English version. Every time Ash went to throw a Safariball at a Pokemon in the Safari Zone, this herd of Tauros would run past in front, and one would be caught in the ball. ^_^; In the game, you don't really get to tell what Ash's personality is like. Someone said that Ash 'seems gentle', someone else says that he's the 'strong silent type', someone else says he's cute... Ash's voice sample - click here to hear what he sounds like. "Listen Misty, it's okay if you're a total chicken. Brock and I are brave enough to handle things here!" My thoughts on Ash: I like him a lot! He's one of my favourite characters. (Of course, all the characters are one of my favourite characters. ^_^.) His energy, his devotion to his Pokemon and things like that make me like him. I like his voice in both the Japanese and English versions. Actually, I think the English version voice actress managed to capture Ash's personality very well and something about it is similar, in a way, to the Japanese one. That's just my thought.