Ash's Pikachu
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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 Pikachu's voice when the original Japanese track couldn't be saved.
History
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.
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 Norman's Vigoroth, 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. Contrary to his distrusting nature, 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.
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. A Pikachu 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 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.
In the special episodes, Pikachu was seen in the christmas specials. He was seen helping Delibird collect his missing presents, helped to build the Snorlax snowman, helping to put up a Christmas tree and help reunite the baby Kangaskhan to it's perent. It was also seen in a dream that Misty had.
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.
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 Flint Sparks the Fire!, Pikachu battled Flint's Infernape, but it was defeated after a long fight.
In The Eighth Wonder of the Sinnoh World!, Pikachu battled against Volkner's Electivire and won, giving him his first victory over Pokémon in the Electabuzz evolutionary line. However it was defeated by Volkner's Luxray.
In DP186, Ash used Pikachu in his battle against Paul in Suzuran Conference. It was used against Paul's Aggron, where it put up a good fight and weakened Aggron before it was recalled in place of Infernape. Pikachu was also used in the continuation of Ash's battle against Paul in DP187. It went against Paul's Froslass where he was seen having some trouble at first, but by the end, he was able to pull through and defeat Froslass with a powerful Volt Tackle attack. This gave Pikachu his first win against one of Paul's Pokémon and also gave Ash the lead in the battle. In DP188, he battled Paul's Electivire. Ash tells Pikachu to use Volt Tackle. It hits Electivire but as Electivire had activated its Motor Drive ability, the attack took no effect at all. It was soon defeated by Electivire's Brick Break attack. In DP189, Pikachu was the last Pokémon chosen by Ash to battle Takuto in the semi-finals. Despite Ash losing five of his Pokémon, Pikachu tried its best to defeat Takuto's Latios. Pikachu used Quick Attack on Latios, but it misses. Pikachu then used Volt Tackle to attack Latios, however, Latios countered it with Giga Impact and hit Pikachu. Latios used Giga Impact again, and Pikachu tried to counter it with Iron Tail. But before Iron Tail hits, Giga Impact affects Pikachu first. Latios flew to the sky and came down, trying to use Luster Purge. Ash told Pikachu to get on Latios' back, so Pikachu dodged the attack and jumped on top of Latios. Pikachu used Thunderbolt twice on Latios, while they flew around. Latios then used Light Screen. Pikachu continued to use Thunderbolt thrice until it was shaken off. As Pikachu is about to land, Latios used Luster Purge. Pikachu used Volt Tackle and Iron Tail, taking against the force of the Luster Purge. However, it was tied with Latios as both fainted. As Ash's last Pokémon also fainted, Takuto was crowned the winner of their battle.
In BW001, Pikachu had an encounter with Zekrom, which unaware by Ash, caused Pikachu to lose its ability to use electric type moves. Ash finally noticed this when it battled Shooti's Tsutarja, losing in the process. In BW002, it regained its ability to use electric type attacks and was used in battle which lead to the capture of Mamepato.
Ash will use Pikachu in his gym battle at the Sanyou Gym in BW005. He will face Corn and his Hiyappu.
Moves used
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Moves improvised
- 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. A similar move, referred to as "Shocking Tail" by the MC, was used to defeat Drake's Ditto in Hello Pummelo!..
- 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 and once again in DP189 against Takuto's Latios.
- 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.
- Hydro Volt Tackle is used as a finishing blow against Team Rocket in DP191. It is a combination of Pikachu's Volt Tackle and Dawn's Piplup's Hydro Pump creating a massive Electric-Water shot.
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.
A Japanese event distributed an in-game representation of Ash's Pikachu via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and at participating Japanese McDonald's locations which was held from July 15th through August 10, 2010.
| Pokémon Info | Trainer Memo | Battle Moves | Ribbons | ||||||||||||
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 ピカチュウ
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♂ | Dex No. | 0025 | Naughty nature. | Electric | Volt Tackle | None | ||||||||
| Lv. 50 | Type | Jul. 15, 2010 | Steel | Iron Tail | |||||||||||
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Electric | Wi-Fi Gift | Normal | Quick Attack | |||||||||||
| OT | サトシ | Met at Lv. 50. | Electric | Thunderbolt | |||||||||||
| ID No. | 07150 | This Pokémon was available in Wi-Fi from July 15 to August 10, 2010. | |||||||||||||
| Item | Ability | ||||||||||||||
 Light Ball
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Static | ||||||||||||||
| The date this Pokémon was received is determined by the date on the DS when it was obtained from the Poké Mart. | |||||||||||||||
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In the manga
In the Ash and Pikachu manga
Ash's Pikachu is a starring character in the Ash and Pikachu manga series, which is based on the Johto saga of the Pokémon anime.
In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Ash's Pikachu is a starring character in the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu, which is loosely based on the Pokémon anime. Pikachu appears in every chapter of the manga.
Like in the anime, Pikachu was Ash's first Pokémon. However, Ash did not receive Pikachu from Professor Oak - instead, he finds Pikachu under the floorboards of his home, chewing on wires to eat the electricity. His mother asks him to take Pikachu outside, but when Gary Oak taunts Ash about how he has not yet become a Pokémon Trainer, Ash decides to keep Pikachu as his first Pokémon.
Like in the anime, Pikachu was originally unwilling to obey Ash, but after Ash protects Pikachu from a herd of wild Spearow and Fearow, Pikachu gains respect for Ash.
Pikachu likes Misty and greets her enthusiastically whenever she appears, often ignoring Ash in the process.
In the Magical Pokémon Journey manga
Ash's Pikachu, along with Ash, Misty and Brock, makes a cameo appearance in the bonus chapters at the end of every volume of the Magical Pokémon Journey manga series. In the bonus chapters, Ash and friends have mistakenly wandered into the Magical Pokémon Journey world and are trying to return back to the world of the anime, encountering many unusual situations along the way, including encounters of aspects of the Magical Pokémon Journey canon which are different in anime canon.
Ash's Pikachu shows a video to Pikachu of him bouncing a Poké Ball on his head in One Hundred Fifty-One.
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. |
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| 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
- 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 six regions that Ash visited, Kanto, Hoenn and Isshu 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 all three, Pikachu was also, in some way, injured, and in case of the former two, 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 never put Togepi inside a Poké Ball and was always shown carrying it in her arms.
- Dawn, likewise, does the same with her Piplup.
- Iris also does this with her Kibago and keeps it in her hair.
- 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. Pikachu also tied with Takuto's Latios in DP189.
- 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.
- 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). Voice actress Ikue Ohtani stated prior to this episode that the writers had intended to keep Pikachu's gender ambiguous so the fanbase can connect with him more easily.
- Ash also referred to Pikachu as a male in the dub of Pikachu Re-Volts. Shortly after Officer Jenny first arrives, Ash proclaims in dismay, "You just gotta find him, Officer Jenny!"
- Pikachu's gender can also be inferred from Buneary's infatuation with Pikachu, first seen in Setting the World on Its Buneary!.
- Pikachu is the only member of Ash's Sinnoh team that did not learn a new move 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.
- An Elite Coverup! has been 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 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.
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.
- 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)
- Pi?: Used when addressing something unknown. Can mean, "What?"
- PiPiPi: Togepi (Togepi)
- PikakaPika: Fushigidane (Bulbasaur)
- PikaPika: Zenigame (Squirtle) or Mukuhawk (Staraptor) or Goukazaru (Infernape)
- Pi-kachu: Pochama (Piplup)
- 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.
- 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.
Related articles
- For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Pikachu.
- Episodes focusing on Pikachu
External links
- Pikachu's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
