
When necessary, he is known to risk his life to save Pikachu or any other Pokemon held captive by Team Rocket. Ash is currently working at the Sakuragi Institute as a research assistant (while also competing at the Pokemon World Championships in Galar) along with his new friend Goh and received a Dynamax Band from Galar Region Champion Leon for his Gigantamax Pikachu. In the series, Ash competes in Pokémon Leagues in Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola, and also competes in the Battle Frontier in Kanto. He is loosely based on Red, the protagonist of the games Pokémon Red and Blue. There are also incarnations of him in many manga adaptations, of which include The Electric Tale of Pikachu, and Ash & Pikachu. A 10-year-old Pokémon trainer, his dream is to become the greatest Pokémon Master in the world. Japanese voices: Rika Matsumoto Hana Takeda (age 6 new series, JN001) English voices: Veronica Taylor (4Kids), Kayzie Rogers (TCPI, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon broadcast version), Sarah Natochenny (TPCI, all other media) Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime. Ash also competes with a number of recurring rival Pokémon trainers in his journeys, including Gary Oak, Ritchie, Harrison, Morrison, Tyson, Paul, Nando, Conway, Barry, Tobias, Trip, Bianca, Stephan, Cameron, Virgil, Tierno, Trevor, Sawyer, Alain, Gladion and Hau. Recurring antagonists of Ash and his friends throughout the show are the frequently comedic thieves from Team Rocket, made up of the humans Jessie and James, a talking Meowth, and later, a Wobbuffet. These friends are usually Pokémon trainers, such as Misty, Brock, Tracey Sketchit, May, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Clemont, Lillie, Kiawe, Mallow, Lana, Sophocles, Goh, and Chloe though some of the friends Ash has adventures with, such as May's brother Max, and Clemont's sister Bonnie], are too young to raise and train Pokémon of their own, but Max & Bonnie promised that they will be Pokémon trainers later in the future.


Ash is usually joined by his electric mouse partner Pikachu, and a regularly changing line-up of human friends. The show's central protagonist is Ash Ketchum, a ten-year-old aspiring "Pokémon master", who participates in competitions involving battles with creatures called Pokémon in the fictional regions of Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and recently Galar. (formerly Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd.). It began broadcasting on TV Tokyo on April 1, 1997, in association with MediaNet (formerly TV Tokyo MediaNet and Softx) and Shopro, stands for Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. Pokémon, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters ( ポケットモンスタ-, Poketto Monsutā), is a Japanese anime television series based on the Pokémon video game series published by Nintendo.
