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My theories on Ash Ketchum


Makuta_of_Oz

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An age-old debate exists as to exactly how old Ash Ketchum of the Pokémon Anime is. I've been watching the first 11 and a half seasons of the Anime that I have on DVD, and observing events of the rest of the Anime from afar. This is what I found:

  • The Pokémon Anime airs once a week, and has ever since it began. During the early stages, time was mentioned as having gone at the same rate as it does in real life. For example, in the episode The School Of Hard Knocks (episode 9, aired May 27 1997, nearly two months into the Anime, which started on April 1), Ash said that he had been travelling for "about two months". Later, at the beginning of the episode The Battle Of The Badge (episode 63, aired September 17 1998), Ash stated that a whole year had passed since he was last in Viridian City, proving that he was 11 years old at this point and not 10. Shortly afterwards, in the episode Showdown At The Poké-Corral (episode 65, aired September 30), Professor Oak said that the Pokémon League was exactly two months away. Nine episodes later (All Fired Up, aired December 10), the Pokémon League began, with battles starting in the following episode (Round One - Begin, aired December 17). The episode To Master The Onix-pected (episode 71, aired November 19) was said by the narrator to have been 3 weeks away from the Pokémon League, and it aired 3 episodes before All Fired Up, further backing up this claim. Time was shown to continue at the same rate in the Pokémon Chronicles episode The Blue Badge Of Courage (aired February 25 2003), when Misty, while introducing Sakura to Tracey, says that he had "been assisting Professor Oak the past few years", implying a few years had gone by between its airing and that of The Rivalry Revival (episode 116, aired October 7 1999), where Tracey officially became his assistant. These episodes were about three and a half years apart in real life, matching Misty's comment. The Anime's novelisations by Takeshi Shudo state that Ash was 10 years, 10 months and 10 days old, and that Trainers can get their first Pokémon the first April after their birthday (April 1 according to the Anime), making Ash's birthday May 22. Following the matching time patterns of he Anime and real life, it is safe to say Ash was born on May 22 1986, and that makes him 29 years old at time of writing.
  • The first episode of the Black and White saga states that Ash is still 10 despite all this. This is a proven error and must be disregarded.
  • Despite being 29, Ash is still shorter than, or the same size as, younger characters he meets. The simple explanation to this is that he is short by nature, which isn't that unusual at all.
  • Ash has also proven to have issues regarding memory. In the episode Rocking The Virbank Gym! Part 1 (episode 740, aired June 14 2012), Ash didn't recognise Koffing, despite having faced one belonging to James in multiple episodes early in his journey between Pokémon Emergency (Episode 2, aired April 8 1997) and Dig Those Diglett (episode 31, aired October 28 1997). Later, in the episode Facing The Grand Design (episode 853, aired December 25 2014), Ash stated that he would love to meet a Pokémon from outer space, which he has done multiple times before, such as Solrock (Take The Lombre Home, episode 337, aired February 12 2004), Lunatone (Crazy As A Lunatone, episode 361, aired July 29 2004) and Deoxys (Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys Crisis! Part 1, episode 445, aired April 13 2006). He once even WENT into space and encountered Rayquaza (Where No Togepi Has Gone Before, episode 608, aired September 10 2009)! Yet as of Christmas 2014 he remembered none of the above!

Feel free to critique my theories and point out any mistakes I may have made.

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