Ippei

Ippei イッペイ Ippei
Ippei
Gender	Male
Hometown	Ninja Village
Region	Kalos
Relatives	Sanpei and Nihei (brothers)
Trainer class	Trainer
Anime debut	A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!
English voice actor	N/A
Japanese voice actor	Tatsuhisa Suzuki

Ippei (Japanese: イッペイ Ippei) is a recurring character in the Pokémon anime who first appeared in person in XY098. He is the older brother of Sanpei and Nihei and hails from Ninja Village. Ippei is the strongest ninja of the village, as well as the village's current chieftain.

History

Ippei and his brothers

Ippei was first mentioned by Sanpei in A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!, and was seen only in a fantasy.

Ippei made his first physical appearance in XY098, making preparations for the festival. He then welcomed Sanpei, when he returned to the village accompanied by Ash and his his friends.

While watching a Pokémon battle between Sanpei and Nihei, he analyzed the battle and later commented on Sanpei's mistakes. Later, Ippei and Nihei met Sanpei, Ash and his friends in the temple dedicated to the village's heroes. He told the group about the legend of the Pokémon that had protected the village once, when a battle between ninjas took place, and showed them the leader of the heroes, a Greninja.

When the attack on village began, Ippei sent Sanpei, Ash and his friends to protect the village's chieftain, Hanzō, while he and Nihei went to face the ninja army. After discovering that Hanzō had been captured, Ippei joined the others to hear Saizo tell about Kagetomo. After discovering Hanzō's location, Mount Otori, everyone decide to head there and save him.

Ippei becomes the leader of Ninja Village

Upon arriving at Mount Otori, Ippei and Saizo continued on towards the mountain's summit, while the others fought against Heidayū and the ninja army. At Mount Otori's summit, Ippei personally faced Kagetomo and had a battle over title of chieftain. During the course of the battle, Hanzō saw Ippei's potential as chieftain. After a hard fought battle, Ippei managed to win, defeating Kagetomo and his ninja army.

Finally, when the festival took place, Ippei was chosen as the new chieftain of the village and got handed the Symbol of the Ninja by Hanzō, as proof of his new position. After the ceremony, Ippei bade farewell to Kagetomo and Heidayū and promised Kagetomo to look after his ninjas.

The next day he was seen again saying goodbye to Ash and his friends. After their departure he, Hanzō, Sanpei, Nihei, Saizo and Shinobu had a conversation about the mysterious power of Ash's Greninja. Ippei mentioned that, again, in the words of the legend, a Greninja had saved the village.

Pokémon

This listing is of Ippei's known Pokémon in the anime:

Froakie → Frogadier → Greninja

Debut	A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!

Greninja is Ippei's first Pokémon. Ippei revealed he chose Froakie as his partner, since he idolized the hero Greninja, who had supposedly saved Ninja Village once. Together they are the strongest of Ninja Village.

Greninja first appeared in A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!, albeit only in a fantasy. It made its first physical appearance in XY098, where it was sent out to face the ninja army's Skarmory. In the next episode, Greninja was used to battle Kagetomo's Weavile. After a hard fought battle, Greninja eventually managed to defeat Weavile with Water Shuriken.

Greninja's known moves are Double Team, Water Shuriken, Night Slash, and Cut.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese 鈴木達央 Tatsuhisa Suzuki

Trivia

• The names of Ippei, Nihei, and Sanpei are a play on the Japanese words for one, two, and three: "ichi" (一), "ni" (二) and "san" (三).

This article is part of Project COD, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each one-time character of the Pokémon animated series.