Pokémonfans around the world rejoiced when Ash Ketchum defeated Leon and became the world champion. However, there’s one factor that makes Ash’s victory almost completely unbelievable, and that’s his age.
Despite thePokémonanime having aired for 1200 episodes and 25 years,Ash Ketchum in the final episode is the same age as he is in the first episode: 10 years old. This fact has irritated fans for years, especially those who’ve been watching since the beginning and hoped to see the protagonist grow older and more mature alongside them. Beyond that irritation, though, it literally doesn’t make sense–there are more episodes ofPokémonthan days in a year, and background events occur which imply the passage of time, such as the construction of a train line in Johto.
Ash’s Rise in the Pokémon World Must’ve Been Stunning to Watch
A 10-Year-Old Who Just Started Training Became World Champion
Even ignoring the nonsensical nature of Ash’s lack of aging, the implications of Ash staying the same age can get really bizarre. If Ash is still 10 during the World Coronation Series, then that means that his journey with Pikachu started less than a year ago.In other words, Ash went from having no Pokémon experience at all to winning regional and world championships in less than a year’s time.And it’s not as if Pokémon battling is some small thing; it’s the biggest sport in the Pokémon world by a huge margin, with Pokémon training and battling acting as the central pillar of their economy.
It must have been truly wild for fans of Pokémon battling and tournaments to see this nobody kid from a backwater town take part in championship after championship, placing better and better each time, until at lastbecoming the champion of Alola’s new Pokémon League, and then defeating countless well-known figures, such as Gym Leaders and Champions, until finally being the one to defeat the “unbeatable” Leon and claim the world champion crown for himself. People would be talking about Ash’s rise for years to come, and Ash Ketchum would almost certainly be a household name.
Even more surprising than that must’ve been Pikachu. No one else who participated in the Masters' Eight had even a single unevolved Pokémon, much less their “ace” Pokémon. As a species,Pikachu don’t have a reputation for being particularly strong, and Ash’s Pikachu didn’t have any special moves or anything that could explain away its incredible power. One has to imagine that if gambling on Pokémon tournaments were a thing, a great many people lost a lot of money the day that Ash and Pikachu became champions.
Ash’s Rise Was Inevitable from a Narrative Perspective
There Was Really No Choice But to Have Ash Become Champion
Of course, when talking about Ash’s rise as a story, it makes perfect sense.The whole premise of the series was to watch Ash slowly grow and become stronger and more skilled, until finally achieving his dream and becoming a world champion-class trainer. Had Ash lost to Leon, it would’ve been supremely unsatisfying for viewers, and there would absolutely have been outrage. Even the producers of thePokémonanime were aware of that, and were careful when discussing Ash’s exit from the anime, lest they provoke an act of violence.
So, as bizarre as it is to have a 10-year-old defeat adults with years of experience on him, the fact was that the producer of the anime wouldn’t let Ash age, and so that was literally the only direction the story could go. The anime certainly tries to downplay this strangeness, but even throughoutthe early stages of the World Coronation Series, Ash is mostly battling adult trainers rather than his peers. It’s clearly unusual for someone of Ash’s age to even be participating, much less doing exceptionally well. In-universe, Ash must be seen as nothing less than a prodigy.
In a Weird Way, Ash’s Rise is True to the Games
Pokémon Game Protagonists Often Have Meteoric Rises as Well
While Ash may have gone from nobody to world champion in an astonishingly short period of time, that’s actually not that far off from what tends to happen in thePokémongames. Although the protagonists' ages have varied throughout the various generations, they’re usually on the younger side, not much older than Ash. Most games don’t have a defined period of time over which they take place, but given the amount of playtime it typically takes to beat the eight gyms and tackle the Elite Four, your average Pokémon protagonist is also going from no experience to champion in a particularly short time, too.
Of course, most of the time, the player of aPokémongame has far more experience than their trainer avatar does, having played previous games and possessing a good understanding of Pokémon types and other important information.Given that Ash accumulated 25 years of experience in his less-than-a-year of being a trainer, one could argue that there’s something similar going on in the anime as well. Ash’s rise is possible because he has more experience than anyone his age should have, just like a player character in thePokémongames would.
Ash’s story may, in the end, be the epitome of “journey, not destination.” The story wasn’t about Ash being champion so much as it was about Ash’s journey to becoming a champion, and all the people and Pokémon he met along the way. Ash had some incredible experiences throughout that period, seeing Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, and even catching some of his own, something that 99% of trainers can only dream of. Even if Ash had never become world champion, he’d still be one of the most uniquely experienced trainers in the world, and that’s worth something.
Ash himself seemed to realize this in the final episode of the series, and it explains whyPokémonended the way it did. Becoming a champion was a narrative necessity, but it was never the end goal for Ash. IfPokémonis all about the journey, then the journey can continue forever– a fitting quest for the eternal 10-year-old.
