Ash's Charizard
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Ash's Charizard (Japanese: サトシのリザードン Satoshi's Lizardon) was the fifth Pokémon acquired by Ash Ketchum in the Kanto region. Its voice actor in both Japanese and English is Shin'ichirō Miki. In English, Michael Haigney was the voice of it as a Charmander and Eric Stuart was its voice as a Charmeleon.
History
In Kanto
Charizard was originally obtained as a Charmander in Charmander — the Stray Pokémon. The Charmander was abandoned by Damian, and Ash and his friends found and nurtured it back to health. Charmander then chose to join Ash. It was immediately one of Ash's most used Pokémon, defeating such opponents as a Golem, a Jynx, Koga's Golbat, Erika's Weepinbell, and a Primeape (which Ash subsequently captured).
Charmander evolved into Charmeleon in March of the Exeggutor Squad and quickly lost its loyalty to Ash, attacking a Paras when Ash was trying to deliberately lose in order to help Paras evolve (The Problem with Paras). A few episodes down the line, it evolved again into Charizard in Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon to battle an Aerodactyl. From the time of its becoming Charmeleon to the Orange Islands episode Charizard Chills, Charizard refused to obey Ash, the only exception being when he decided to test his strength against Blaine's powerful Magmar during Ash's attempts to win a Volcano Badge. Charizard's disloyalty especially hurt Ash the most during the Indigo League championships, causing Ash to forfeit the fifth round when it refused to battle Ritchie's Pikachu, Sparky.
In the Orange Archipelago
Before Charizard Chills Charizard was still disobedient towards Ash. In the episode Navel Maneuvers Charizard, along side Pikachu and Bulbasaur, was used in the second round of the match between Ash and Danny, but it decided not to participate at first. Danny nearly won the round but when Charizard used its Flamethrower to get rid of Ash (As he was trying to get Charizard to move) it also accidentally hit the ice, which perfectly carved it into a sled, thus Ash won the round and remained in the match.
After Charizard Chills, however, it became one of Ash's most reliable Pokémon, considered by many to be his strongest, even stronger than Pikachu. Charizard's return to Ash's side is due to being frozen by a powerful Poliwrath; Ash stayed up all night trying to help it, thus earning Charizard's respect and reminding it of all that Ash had done for it back when he was a Charmander.
It participated in Ash's Gym Battle against Luana, which was also the series's first double battle, pitting it and Pikachu against Luana's Alakazam and Marowak; although the two Pokémon initially had trouble collaborating, they eventually managed to work together, Pikachu helping to free Charizard from Alakazam's Psychic attack and Charizard 'catching' Pikachu after it was hit by Marowak's Body Slam attack. Ash then used it in his Orange League battle against Drake, defeating his Electabuzz and subsequently battling his Dragonite before it fainted.
Johto
It participated in Ash's first Johto Gym battle against Falkner, where it defeated Falkner's Pidgeot despite the latter's impressive Speed. In Charizard's Burning Ambition, Ash left his Charizard in the Charicific Valley with Liza to train and become more powerful. While there, it took the role of bodyguard for Liza's Charizard, Charla, and the two have struck up a romantic relationship. The two Charizard occasionally visit the Dragon's Valley in Blackthorn City, one such visit coincidentally being when Ash was there for his final Johto gym battle, resulting in Charizard helping Ash defeat Clair's newly-evolved Dragonair in his rematch with her by causing the water in the gym's pool to evaporate with its Flamethrower and Fire Spin, thus depriving Dragonair of its protection.
Charizard can be called upon at any time and has been used in many major battles when Ash requires its firepower. Ash later used Charizard in the Silver Conference during his fight against Gary Oak in Can't Beat the Heat! (during which it decisively defeated Gary's Blastoise despite the type disadvantage and having already defeated Gary's Scizor and Golem). It was then used in Ash's fight against Harrison, where it was defeated by Harrison's Blaziken after a tough fight. However, Charizard injured Blaziken so badly that it couldn't fight the next day.
Kanto Battle Frontier
In The Symbol Life, Charizard returned for Ash's first Battle Frontier battle, where it took on Noland's Articuno at the Battle Factory and despite Articuno knowing Water Pulse it won thanks to its use of the newly-learned Overheat, the unorthodox strategy of catching Articuno as it tried to use Steel Wing on it, and its trademark Seismic Toss.
Charizard also battled alongside Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu in a four-on-four battle against Brandon's Pokémon in Gathering the Gang of Four!, but despite a good fight it was defeated by Brandon's Dusclops.
Moves used
| Using Dragon Rage | Move | First Used In |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Flamethrower | Charmander – The Stray Pokémon | |
| Leer | The Tower of Terror | |
| Rage | Primeape Goes Bananas | |
| Skull Bash | Pokémon Scent-sation! | |
| Ember | The Ninja Poké-Showdown | |
| Fire Spin | The Ninja Poké-Showdown | |
| Seismic Toss | Volcanic Panic | |
| Dragon Rage | Charizard Chills | |
| Take Down | Charizard Chills | |
| Tackle x | Pokémon Double Trouble | |
| Fly | Fighting Flyer With Fire | |
| DragonBreath | The Symbol Life | |
| Overheat | The Symbol Life | |
| Steel Wing | Gathering the Gang of Four! | |
| 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
- "Aerial Submission" was a move used by Charizard in Volcanic Panic. Charizard spins while flying, causing damage to Blaine's Magmar, who was clinging on to Charizard.
- "Flaming Seismic Toss" was used in Better Eight Than Never which is a combination of Charizard's Seismic Toss and Fire Spin along with Dragonair's Dragon Rage.
In the manga
Ash's Charizard makes a few appearances in the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu. The circumstances in which Ash captures a Charmander appear to be different in the manga. While Damion appears in Pikachu's Excellent Adventure, he was seperated from his Charmander because he was injured, not because he abandoned it. At the end of the chapter, the two reunite in the Hidden Village.
Despite this difference, Ash is still seen owning a Charmander, which first appears in You Gotta Have Friends. Charmander's capture is not shown in the manga, instead, it is explainined that "Ash has been busy since the last comic!" when Charmander first appears from its Poké Ball.
Later in the manga, Ash's Charmander reappears as a Charizard. In the manga, Charizard is much more violent, and can normally only be calmed by a torch that Ash carries around, which contains a flame from Moltres.
In The Indigo Finals, during Ash's battle against Ritchie, both Trainers send out a Charizard as their last Pokémon. Ash's Charizard goes berserk and severely injures Ritchie's, to the point that it's shown bleeding heavily from multiple wounds. Overwhelmed by guilt, Ash leaves the arena, thus forfeiting the battle even though he technically won. It is later mentioned that Ritchie's Charizard will be okay.
Trivia
- Out of all of Ash's Pokémon, Charizard has used the most moves (14).
- Paul's Chimchar was later in a similar situation to Charmander, with the original Trainer releasing it due to it never winning any battles and Ash subsequently taking it in and managing to encourage it to release its full potential.
- During Tanks a Lot!, Brock mentioned that Charizard was male when saying that Charizard could use his Flamethrower to destroy the Arbo-Tank, but since this only occurred in the dub it is uncertain how dependable this information is. Further hints to Charizard's gender were applied with the introduction of Charla.
- According to the anime, Charizard and its pre-evolutions die if the flame on their tails go out. However, Ash's Charizard once had its tail completely submerged in a pool of water, as well as falling into the ocean as a Charmander, but it was not harmed either time.
- Interestingly enough, on the Orange Islands DVD box set, the thumbnail picture next to the episode Enter the Dragonite on the menu shows Charizard facing Dragonite, but Charizard's flame is missing.
- Charizard was actually Ash's third Pokémon to disobey him. The first two were Pikachu and Primeape, although it disobeyed Ash for far longer than the other two.
- Charizard was the first of Ash's starter Pokémon to evolve to its final stage, the following ones being Sceptile, Infernape, and Torterra.
- From Volcanic Panic, Charizard has ended every major battle it has won with Seismic Toss, with the exception of double battles and episodes in which it was unable to use the move.
- Charizard was the first Pokémon in the anime to have defeated a legendary Pokémon. It fought and beat Noland's Articuno in The Symbol Life.
- Charizard is similar to Dawn's Mamoswine in several aspects. Both Pokémon began to disobey their respective Trainers after rapid evolution, only to begin following orders after each facing another Pokémon who severely injured them.
- At the moment, Charizard is the only Pokémon Ash has had that refused to obey him after evolving. Every other Pokémon obeyed him without question following their evolutions.
- Even though Charizard have not been able to learn DragonBreath since Generation II, Ash's Charizard first used the move in The Symbol Life, even though it is impossible for Charizard to learn the move at that time.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard.
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| For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here | ||||||
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
