OK, so hear me out... I love the "Pokemon Indigo League" so much so that I am currently watching it every night before bed and just showing it. What I have noticed though is that I don't like Ash at all. There are several reasons why I think he is terrible, and I think that a lot of Pokemon fans are blind to Ash being awful at mostly everything because they love the video games, and show so much. You might be enraged by this claim, and I would be too if someone was taking a stab at my childhood... However I have more than enough to back of my claim.
1. Why doesn't Ash know about Pokemon Centers?
In the very first episode we are all introduce to Misty, thank goodness for Misty otherwise Ash might not even be alive honestly. Pikachu is badly injured when Misty fishes them out of the water. She starts yelling at Ash to hurry and take Pikachu to a center and he says, " Like a hospital?"This implies that Ash doesn't know where he was supposed to take his Pokemon is they got hurt. Why is he allowed to be a trainer if he doesn't even know where to take an injured Pokemon?
2. Ash doesn't care about his other Pokemon.
So I am currently 63 episodes into Indigo League and Ash just visited his Krabby and Muck when he went to see the professor. His Krabby his so weak because he never uses into to battle to be stronger, it is really unfortunate because Ash clearly picked his favorite Pokemon. Ash need to be told by Gary that switching out you Pokemon makes sure all of them get a chance to be stronger. I used to think Gary was just a jerk at the beginning of the show but Gary is a lot more skilled than Ash is. Gary has at least battled with his Krabby helping to make it stronger noticeably than Ash's Krabby.
Ash's is on the left, Gary's is on the right in the above shot.
3. Ash doesn't call his mother.
Maybe it is just me, but Ash being the only part of his mother's family that is alive and he only calls her every several months... Also I don't know why a 10 year old is deemed fit enough to travel around the world collecting Pokemon by themselves, with out Ash's Pokemon and his human friends he would most definitely died. That is a different story, Ash is a bad son though, in the first episode he basically is snappy when his father gets brought up in conversation and Ash is unset that his father left. Well Ash being upset his father left is normal, but if he feels this way why leaver his mother alone for possibly years at a time?
4. Ash doesn't know how to select Pokemon based on type.
The idea that certain Pokemon are stronger battling against certain different types of Pokemon seems lost on Ash. Through out the first 63 episodes at least Ash forgets this many times, for example in episode 5 Ash doesn't even know that rock type Pokemon are weakened by water. It seems like every other trainer picked up a book to study up on how to be a trainer and need to knows about Pokemon.
5. Ash constantly brags about his badges.
Many of Ash's first Gym Badges were given to him merely out of gratitude for his assistance, rather than claiming an actual victory in battle over the Gym Leaders. Of his first five Gym battles, only his victory over Lt. Surge was an actual victory. I noticed this shortly into watching this series that Ash more often than not received badges for doing something nice out of pity rather than being a good trainer.
Even with all this said I do understand that Ash is a 10 year old but I don't think that should have to lessen him as a talented person, he is relying on luck and his friendships and that seems to be enough for him. I am going to continue watching all of Indigo League and hopefully Ash grows as a trainer and a human into a less terrible person/friend/Pokemon trainer. Once I finish this series I will go on to watch different Pokemon shows to see if I like them better. I have heard that Pokemon Origins has a different main character that all the other shows, and this new main character actually seems to do what he set out to do. If there is something about why Ash is terrible that i didn't have time to get to feel free to comment and share your opinions.
