Ash's Pikachu

Ash's Pikachu サトシのピカチュウ Satoshi's Pikachu

File:Ash Pikachu HD.png Ash and Pikachu

Debuts in Pokémon - I Choose You! Caught at Pallet Town Gender Male Ability Static Current location With Ash

This Pokémon has not evolved.

Voice actor Japanese English As Pikachu Ikue Ohtani

Ash's Pikachu (Japanese: サトシのピカチュウ Satoshi's Pikachu) was the first Pokémon obtained by Ash on his journey as a Pokémon Trainer. His universal voice actress is Ikue Ohtani. However, in some episodes during the first season of the English dub series, Rachael Lillis provided his voice when the original Japanese track couldn't be saved.

In the anime

History

File:First Meeting.png

Ash and Pikachu meeting for the first time

In the first episode of the Pokémon anime, Pokémon - I Choose You!, Ash woke up late the day he was supposed to go to Professor Oak's laboratory to obtain his first Pokémon. When he arrived at the lab, the three available starter Pokémon, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, had already been taken by other Trainers who arrived earlier. Seeing that Ash was disappointed, Professor Oak gave him Pikachu, which did not take a liking to his new Trainer, constantly zapping him and anyone else nearby. He refused to go into a Poké Ball, and when Ash failed to catch a wild Pokémon, he laughed at him. However, by the end of the episode, Ash gained Pikachu's trust by protecting him from an attack by a flock of Spearow and rushing him to the Pokémon Center. Pikachu and Ash soon became inseparable. In Pikachu's Goodbye, Ash gave Pikachu his consent to remain in a forest filled with Pikachu, but Pikachu returned to Ash's side.

File:Ash's 1st Poké Ball.png

The Poké Ball Professor Oak stored Pikachu in, which has a special lightning bolt mark. It is unknown if this Poké Ball was permanent as Ash uses regular Poké Balls to attempt to recall Pikachu, and the other three Poké Balls that held Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle were still on the podium but empty. Also, Gary's Blastoise is held in a regular Poké Ball.

In general, Pikachu as a species are not particularly powerful, but Ash's Pikachu is an anomaly, overcoming odds in battle numerous times. In Showdown in Pewter City, he defeated Brock's Onix with an Template:Type2 attack that triggered the sprinkler system causing Onix to be drenched in water, one of its weaknesses. In Electric Shock Showdown, Pikachu fought Lt. Surge's Raichu and lost. During a resulting hospital stay, he refused to become Raichu's equal by evolving via a Thunderstone, and in the second battle, Pikachu overcame Raichu by using his superior speed. In Pokémon Emergency!, Meowth remarked that Pikachu's power "far exceeds its evolutionary level." Ash's Pikachu has also defeated very powerful Pokémon that Ash's other Pokémon were unable to, such as Dragonite and Metagross. He has helped Ash win innumerable battles and Gym and League matches.

However, at times, Pikachu has lived up to his species' frail and brittle strengths, particularly in Gym battles where he was defeated with relative ease by his opponent; for example, he was overpowered very easily by Lt. Surge's Raichu, Sabrina's Kadabra, Blaine's Magmar, Bugsy's Scyther, Whitney's Miltank, Roark's Rampardos and Fantina's Drifblim. He also drew against Winona's Pelipper, and struggled against Crasher Wake's Floatzel.

Pikachu is extremely loyal to Ash, and while he is not always immediately trusting of strangers, he is generally friendly to humans and Pokémon alike. He acted as a guardian and big brother to Misty's Togepi, and has been seen mediating and even breaking up fights among other Pokémon, such as in Pikachu's Vacation. In Mewtwo Strikes Back, Pikachu, Meowth, and Meowth's clone were the only Pokémon not to participate in the giant battle; Pikachu stood motionless as his clone repeatedly slapped his face.

However, even Pikachu has had exceptions to this rule. In Pikachu Re-Volts, Pikachu was controlled by Butch and Cassidy, which caused him to become evil and disobey Ash's commands. During the Hoenn Saga, Pikachu developed amnesia at one point and sided with Team Rocket for a while. Later within the same series, Pikachu was possessed by the Red Orb and controlled by Groudon, nearly causing a disaster. On several occasions, Pikachu has developed an "electric flu" causing him to become overcharged, and extremely powerful. During these instances, Pikachu will sometimes attack his friends and Ash. In all of these cases, Pikachu did not intentionally mean harm upon anyone.

Since Ash's first encounter with Team Rocket in Pokémon Emergency!, Pikachu has been pursued by the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth. Throughout the series, it has been Jessie, James and Meowth's desire to steal this Pokémon from Ash and present him to their boss. To do this, they have come up with many schemes. Though they have tried and continue to try hundreds of times, every last one of their plots fail, usually with the help of Ash, his friends, other Trainers, an Officer Jenny, or even themselves (such as in the first episode of the Diamond & Pearl series).

As shown in a handful of episodes, the first being Showdown at Dark City, Pikachu has a special fondness for ketchup, but he will eat and enjoy almost any other human or Pokémon food. A running joke in the anime also seems to be the destruction of a female character's bike with one of Pikachu's Thunderbolts at the beginning of each series, which then causes her to follow Ash for the remainder of the series. This has happened to Misty, May, and Dawn so far.

Pikachu is the primary mascot of the Pokémon franchise, mostly due to Ash's ownership of him. It appears on nearly all merchandise and promotional material for the series, and became, due to the anime, the version mascot of and only starter Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow.

Pikachu took a liking to Misty very early in the series, and he has retained this liking of Misty throughout the series, such as when he was very happy to see her in The Scheme Team.

Pikachu became the second non-legendary Pokémon to defeat a legendary Pokémon in the anime after Charizard, beating Brandon's Regice in Pace - The Final Frontier, giving Ash his final Frontier Symbol.

Pikachu was also the only Pokémon to come with Ash to Hoenn, and just the same one of only two Pokémon to join Ash on his journey to Sinnoh. Ash tried to bring only Pikachu again but Aipom snuck on board the ship. Up until the capture of Dawn's Pachirisu, Pikachu was the only Template:Type2 Pokémon in the anime owned by a main character.

Even with its high level of electrical power, Pikachu has not stopped learning new attacks. Upon learning that Roxanne, the Rustboro Gym Leader used Rock-types, Ash had Pikachu begin learning Iron Tail in All Things Bright and Beautifly. After training hard, Pikachu finally perfected it in A Winner By a Nosepass where it used it to defeat Roxanne's Nosepass and earn Ash his first Hoenn badge. In addition to giving Pikachu an advantage over Rock-types, Iron Tail has allowed Pikachu to defeat many powerful opponents. In May's Egg-Cellent Adventure, during a battle with Team Rocket, Ash ordered Pikachu to do a Quick Attack. Much to the surprise of Ash and his friends, the Quick Attack morphed into Volt Tackle which sent Team Rocket blasting off. Since then, it has become one of Pikachu's signature moves.

In Hoenn, Pikachu learned how to surf. He also learned how to box from Ash in The Punchy Pokémon. In Sinnoh, Ash used him during the Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament.

File:PikachuStatic.png

Pikachu activating his Static ability.

In Sinnoh, he defeated Roark's Onix in the Oreburgh Gym rematch. Pikachu battled again in the Pastoria Gym battle, where he battled Crasher Wake's Gyarados and defeated it with a Volt Tackle to the face. He also battled Crasher Wake's Floatzel for a moment, allowing Ash's Buizel time to recover. In A Shield with a Twist Pikachu lost to Fantina's Drifblim after a fierce battle.

Pikachu's next major battle after Fantina was when he was used against Paul in Evolving Strategies!. First he went up against Magmortar; however, when he attacked with Quick Attack, he was burned by Magmortar's Flame Body and Pikachu was recalled. Later he went up against Paul's very powerful Ursaring and paralyzed it with Pikachu's Static. This actually made things worse for Pikachu as being paralyzed activated Ursaring's Guts ability, and Pikachu found himself completely outmatched by Ursaring's massive power and was defeated and thrown into Lake Acuity, taking him out of the match as well as injuring him. This defeat meant that Ash had to defeat Paul's remaining five Pokémon with only Chimchar.

Later, in DP165, Pikachu battled Flint's Infernape, but it was defeated after a long fight.

In DP179, Pikachu battled against Volkner's Electivire and won, giving him his first victory over Pokémon in the Electebuzz evolutionary line. However it was defeated by Volkner's Luxray.

Moves used

Using Tackle	Move	First Used In
File:PikachusTackle.jpg
	ThunderShock	Pokémon - I Choose You!
	Thunderbolt	Showdown in Pewter City
	Leer x	The School of Hard Knocks
	Agility	Electric Shock Showdown
	Quick Attack	Electric Shock Showdown
	Thunder	Showdown at Dark City
	Double-Edge	Friend and Foe Alike
	Tackle x	The Double Trouble Header
	Iron Tail	All Things Bright and Beautifly!
	Volt Tackle	May's Egg-Cellent Adventure
An x shows that the move cannot be legitimately known by this Pokémon in the games.
Moves used recently are in bold unless all moves all fit this case.

Moves improvised

File:Pikachu's Counter Shield.png

Pikachu using Counter Shield

Leer was first seen in The School of Hard Knocks. When Giselle called for Cubone to use Leer, Ash told Pikachu to 'Leer right back' by making funny faces. Ash also told Pikachu to use Leer in Hour of the Houndour, when a Houndour used its own Leer on Pikachu.

An attack where Pikachu stored electricity in his tail similar to Slam was used to defeat Lt. Surge's Raichu in Electric Shock Showdown.

"Rocket Punch" was a move that Pikachu used while "boxing" Anthony's Hitmonchan in The Punchy Pokémon. Pikachu glowed red and shot off his boxing gloves, leaving off a trail of smoke. Once the smoke disappears, Pikachu still has his boxing gloves on and flies towards Hitmonchan at high speed.

Thunder Armor was a one-time technique in the episode Solid as a Solrock, Pikachu is seen using Thunder on himself while riding Ash's Swellow. This increased their attack power greatly, and they easily overpowered their opponents.

Spin, originally made by Dawn and first used by her Piplup and Buneary, was also used by Turtwig and Aipom in the episode O'er the Rampardos We Watched!, where he was able beat Roark and obtain the Coal Badge.

Volt Tail, a combination of Volt Tackle and Iron Tail, was used in Pika and Goliath! against Sho's Raichu.

Counter Shield can be used by Pikachu by utilizing Thunderbolt, similar to Ash's Buizel and Infernape who can do the technique with their own moves.

In the games

Main article: Red's Pikachu (game)

Pikachu was one of Ash's three Pokémon in Pokémon Puzzle League. The Pikachu in the Super Smash Bros. series may be based on Ash's Pikachu.

In the main series, Red's Pikachu is noticeably based on Ash's Pikachu: not only does Red receive it from Professor Oak after his rival, Oak's grandson, takes the last starter Pokémon, but in Pokémon Yellow, it follows Red around rather than being kept in a Poké Ball. In Generation II and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Pikachu is the highest-leveled member of Red's team when he is encountered at Mt. Silver, and the highest leveled Pokémon owned by a Trainer in the entire series excluding battle arenas. His moves, notably in HeartGold and SoulSilver, are the four moves used most recently by Ash's Pikachu, as well.

In the manga

File:Pikachumangaash.jpg

Ash's Pikachu in Electric Tale of Pikachu

Pikachu has appeared in two manga series based on the anime, namely Electric Tale of Pikachu and Ash and Pikachu. In both, he was Ash's starter Pokémon, much like the first anime episode, though in Electric Tale, he was found in Ash's house, not given to him by Professor Oak.

A Pikachu is also owned by Ash's Adventures counterpart Red, known as Pika.

In the TCG

Ash's Pikachu is featured in the TCG as a Pokémon . The following is a list of cards named Pikachu .

Name	Type	Level	Rarity	Set	Set no.
Pikachu M		45	-	Movie Commemoration Random Pack (no English release)	012/022
Pikachu M LV.X		X	-	DPt-P Promotional cards (no English release)	043/DPt-P

Trivia

Pikachu and his love of ketchup

• Ash's Pikachu is the subject of many 'gamebreaking' abilities that normally do not fit in the general stasis of the games. This includes Pikachu's ability to sometimes hurt Template:Type2 Pokémon with Electric moves (sparking the meme "Aim for the Horn!"), and using moves that do not exist, or moves in a way that do not work in the games, such as the infamous "Thunder Armor".
• Despite the fact that Volt Tackle, the signature move of his evolutionary line, is in fact an egg move, Ash's Pikachu learned the move "by accident," when using an electrically-charged Quick Attack.
• Pikachu is Ash's only Template:Type2 Pokémon and was the only Electric-type owned by a main character in the anime until the capture of Pachirisu by Dawn. However, Pikachu is the only Electric-type Pokémon owned by a main character that can evolve.
• For A Staravia is Born, Professor Oak's lecture is about Ash's Pikachu. He writes this Pokémon senryū about him: パートナー　サトシとピカチュウ　いいかんじ Partners Satoshi and Pikachu: a pleasant feeling.
• Out of all five regions that Ash visited, Kanto and Hoenn are the only ones that Ash started out with just Pikachu. He did try to go to Sinnoh with Pikachu alone but Aipom followed him. At the beginning of each, Pikachu was also, in some way, injured, and ended up destroying the bike of a particular girl who would later travel with Ash.
• Pikachu was the first of Ash's Pokémon to disobey him. Other Pokémon that would do so, and be better remembered for their disobedience than Pikachu, are Primeape and Charizard.
• Ash's act of keeping Pikachu outside his Poké Ball on a permanent basis has been mimicked by several other characters in the anime.
  • Ritchie, when he first meets Ash, keeps Sparky inside of its ball, but later is shown to carry it on his shoulder much like Ash does.
  • Misty, when she gets to keep Togepi, has never placed Togepi inside a Poké Ball and is always shown carrying it in her arms.
  • Dawn, likewise, does the same with her Piplup.
• Out of Ash's Pokémon, Pikachu was the first one to defeat a pseudo-legendary Pokémon during battle in the anime, defeating Drake's Dragonite in Enter the Dragonite and Tyson's Metagross during the Ever Grande Conference of the Hoenn League in At the End of the Fray. However, in both occasions, the two pseudo-legendary Pokémon had been weakened by other Pokémon in Ash's team at the time; Squirtle, Charizard and Tauros had weakened Dragonite while Swellow and Grovyle had weakened Metagross.
• Pikachu is the second Pokémon in the entire anime series to have managed to defeat a legendary Pokémon, which he did by defeating Brandon's Regice in Pace - The Final Frontier!. Ash's Charizard was the first Pokémon to have achieved this feat, against Articuno.
• Most of the moves Pikachu used in the original series were first used in an episode with the word showdown in its title.
• In Sparks Fly for Magnemite, it was revealed that Pikachu has a fear of Ash leaving him.

File:PikachuDP.png

Pikachu

• In many new episodes, Pikachu's tail sparks instead of his cheeks when using Thunderbolt.
• In Where No Togepi Has Gone Before! it was confirmed that Pikachu is male. When a Togepi used Attract on Pikachu, Meowth, Piplup, Croagunk and Yanmega, all but Yanmega were affected (coincidentally, this also revealed Yanmega as being female).
  • Pikachu's gender can also be inferred from Buneary's infatuation with Pikachu, first seen in Setting the World on Its Buneary!.
  • Prior to Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!, Ikue Ohtani stated once that the writers intended to keep Pikachu's gender ambiguous so the fanbase can connect with him more easily.
• Pikachu is Ash's only Pokémon he has on hand that has not learned a new move yet in the Sinnoh region.
• It is the only Pokémon of Ash's to be used in every gym battle in a region.
• In Latin America, Cartoon Network has a "Biografia Toon" segment, which consists of biographies and histories of cartoon characters. This segment has done a two-part feature on Ash's Pikachu. According to the segment, Pikachu is the result of an experiment conducted by Professor Oak and allegedly destroyed the lab where he was created in a momentary loss of control.
• As of DP170, it is the only time when Ash does not use Pikachu against an Elite Four member.
• The defeat of Volkner's Electivire marks the first time Pikachu has defeated a member of the Electabuzz evolutionary line one on one. All previous times it has either tied or lost, with the exception of Dr. Namba's Electabuzz, where Pikachu teamed up with Ritchie's Pikachu, Sparky to defeat it.

Pikachu's language

Some of Pikachu's speech is consistent enough that it seems that some phrases actually mean something. (In Stealing The Conversation, Team Rocket refers to this language as "PikaSpeak," however, this most likely isn't official.) For instance, Pikachu always uses "Pikapi" when referring to Ash (notice that it sounds somewhat similar to "Satoshi"). Other speech includes:

• Pika Pikachu or Pika-Pika Pikachu: My name is Pikachu. When Ash and his friends are introducing themselves to the characters of the day, he says this.

File:Pikachu wobbuffet.png

Pikachu as a Wobbuffet

• Pi-Kachu: He says this during the sponsor spots in the original Japanese.
• Pikachu-Pi: Kasumi-chan (Misty)
• Pika-Chu: Takeshi (Brock)
• Pikaka: Hikari (Dawn)

File:Pikachu as ash.png

Pikachu imitating Ash

• PiPiPi: Togepi (Togepi)
• PikakaPika: Fushigidane (Bulbasaur)
• PikaPika: Zenigame (Squirtle) or Mukuhawk (Staraptor) or Goukazaru (Infernape)
• PiPi-kachu: Rocket-dan (Team Rocket).
• Pi-Pikachu: Get da ze! He says this after Ash wins a badge, catches a new Pokémon or anything similar.
• Pi-ka: Used for multiple things such as "eiga" (movie) as seen during trailers for each upcoming Pokémon movie. Can also be used for "yes".
• Pi-ka-chu?: Are you alright?: When a character or Pokémon is injured, Pikachu says this.
• Specific names for Tracey, May, and Max have not been heard.

File:Pikachu Imitating Turtwig.png

Ash's Pikachu imitating his Turtwig to alert him that it is missing.

• Chuuu-Pika: Iron Tail. He says this when using Iron Tail.
• Piiika-Chuuuuuuuu: Thunderbolt. He says this when using Thunderbolt, "Pika" when charging up and "Chuuuuu" when discharging.
• Pikaaaaaa-Chuuuuuuuu: Thunder. He says this when using Thunder, like above but with different and a longer stress.
• PikaPikaPika... Pi-ka: Volt Tackle. He says this when using Volt Tackle.
• ChuChuChu...: Quick Attack. He may also say this when using Agility.
• PiPiPiPiPi...: Quick Attack. He may also say this when using Agility.
• Pikachu seems to have a talent for mimicking Pokémon, as seen from his performance during a cosplay competition. He will occasionally use pantomime to specify what he is talking about. He can contort his face and his ears to imitate Ash, his Turtwig, Wobbuffet, among others.
• Pikachu has also used his face to tell when a character is in trouble by imitating people and Pokémon.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Pikachu.

• Episodes focusing on Pikachu

External links

• Pikachu's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)

Ash's Pokémon
On hand:	Pikachu
Traveling with:	Rotom Phone
At Oak's/In rotation:	Pidgeot	Bulbasaur	Charizard	Kingler	Muk	Tauros (×30)
	Snorlax	Heracross	Bayleef	Quilava	Totodile	Noctowl
	Donphan	Swellow	Sceptile	Corphish	Torkoal	Glalie
	Staraptor	Torterra	Infernape	Buizel	Gliscor	Gible
	Unfezant	Oshawott	Pignite	Snivy	Scraggy	Leavanny
	Palpitoad	Boldore	Krookodile	Talonflame	Hawlucha	Noivern
	Dragonite	Gengar	Lucario	Sirfetch'd	Dracovish
With Kukui/In rotation:	Rowlet	Lycanroc	Incineroar	Melmetal
At home:	Mr. Mime
In training:	Squirtle	Primeape
Released:	Butterfree	Lapras	Larvitar	Greninja	Goodra	Nebby
	Naganadel
Temporarily owned:	Seaking	Buzzwole	Stakataka	Pheromosa	Rowlet
Traded away:	Raticate	Aipom
Given away:	Beedrill
Traveled with:	Haunter	Azelf	Meowth	Meloetta	Rotom Pokédex	Latias
The Power of Us only:	Ekans	Sentret
EToP only:	Fearow	Oddish	Mankey	Slowpoke
Newspaper Strip only:	Starmie	Clefairy
For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here

Pokémon the Series characters
Protagonists Ash Ketchum (Pikachu) • Misty (Togetic) • Brock • Tracey Sketchit • May • Max • Dawn (Piplup) • Iris (Haxorus) • Cilan • Serena • Clemont • Bonnie (Dedenne) • Lana • Kiawe • Lillie • Sophocles • Mallow • Rotom Pokédex • Goh (Grookey) Rivals Gary • Ritchie • Harrison • Drew • Harley • Morrison • Tyson • Solidad • Paul • Nando • Zoey • Kenny • Conway • Barry • Ursula • Trip • Bianca • Burgundy • Stephan • Georgia • Cameron • Aria • Alain • Miette • Tierno • Shauna • Trevor • Nini • Sawyer • Gladion • Horacio • Hau • Leon • Raihan • Horace • Bea • League Conference participants • Coordinators • Performers • World Coronation Series participants Antagonists Jessie (Wobbuffet) • James • Meowth • Giovanni • Butch • Cassidy • Dr. Namba • Matori • Pierce • Dr. Zager • Gozu • Tabitha • Maxie • Shelly • Archie • Hunter J • Saturn • Cyrus • Mars • Jupiter • Charon • Colress • Aldith • Ghetsis • Barret • Malamar • Lysandre • Mable • Celosia • Aliana • Xerosic • Bryony • Tupp • Zipp • Rapp • Plumeria • Guzma • Viren • Rose • Oleana Professors Professor Oak • Professor Ivy • Professor Elm • Professor Birch • Professor Rowan • Professor Carolina • Professor Juniper • Dr. Fennel • Cedric Juniper • Professor Sycamore • Professor Kukui • Professor Burnet • Professor Cerise • Professor Magnolia • Sonia • Professor Amaranth Relatives Delia Ketchum • Daisy • Violet • Lily • James's parents • Flint • Lola • Forrest • Brock's siblings • Norman • Caroline • Johanna • Chili • Cress • Grace • Meyer • Lana's father • Lana's mother • Harper and Sarah • Rango • Sima • Mimo • Kiawe's grandfather • Mohn • Lusamine • Gladion • Sophocles's parents • Molayne • Abe • Mallow's mother • Ulu • Walker • Camille • Halta Supporting Officer Jenny • Nurse Joy • Magikarp salesman • Todd Snap • Charles Goodshow • Casey • Liza • Sakura • Lance • Clair • Raoul Contesta • Mr. Sukizo • Steven Stone • Vivian Meridian • Robert • Scott • Lilian Meridian • Solana • Brandon • Marian • Yuzo • Rhonda • Cynthia • Reggie • Angie • Looker • Izzy and Cara • Lyra • Khoury • Tobias • Don George • Elder • Alder • Luke • Freddy O'Martian • Ingo • Emmet • Jervis • Virgil • N • Anthea and Concordia • Porter • Alexa • Sophie • Cosette • Clembot • Sanpei • Mairin • Astrid • Diantha • Korrina • Gurkinn • Monsieur Pierre • Palermo • Keanan • Malva • Samson Oak • Anela • Hobbes • Nina • Anna • Laki • Dana • Yansu • Wicke • Faba • Ilima • Acerola • Dia • Chloe • Chrysa • Ren • Parker • Talia • Lei • Danika • Quillon • Hop • Gym Leaders • Elite Four • Frontier Brains • Island kahunas • Many temporary characters Supporting Pokémon Fearow • Ho-Oh • Squirtle Squad • Pink Butterfree • Haunter • Jigglypuff • Mewtwo • Mimey • Lapras herd • Granbull • Pichu Brothers • Lugia • Silver • Delibird • Wynaut • Larvitar • Kyogre and Groudon • Articuno • Deoxys • Lake guardians • Forces of nature • Meloetta • Reshiram • Super-ancient Pokémon • Wooper • Florges • Squishy • Z2 • Guardian deities • Bewear • Toucannon's flock • Stoutland • Oranguru • Nebby • Stufful • Ultra Beasts • Grandpa Forest • Necrozma • Lunala • Shaymin • Mew • Rotom Phones • Pelipper • Thievul trio • Eternatus • Drone Rotom • Legendary heroes • Latias • Recurring wild Pokémon
See also: Pokémon Horizons characters

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.