Tracey Sketchit
| Tracey Sketchit ケンジ Kenji | |
| [[File:File:TraceyOutfit.gif|{{{size}}}]] Tracey Sketchit and Marill | |
| Age | 14 or 15 (as of debut, est. by Pokeani) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair color | Green |
| Hometown | Unknown; currently resides in Pallet Town |
| Region | Unknown; currently resides in Kanto |
| Trainer class | Watcher |
| Anime debut | The Lost Lapras |
| English voice actor | Ted Lewis (Template:4Kids) Craig Blair (TPCi) |
| Japanese voice actor | Tomokazu Seki |
Tracey Sketchit (Japanese: ケンジ Kenji) is a Pokémon watcher from the Orange Islands saga of the anime. His Japanese voice actor is 関智一 Tomokazu Seki, his English voice actors are Ed Paul (Template:4Kids dub) and Craig Blair (TPCi dub), his Brazilian voice actors are Rogério Vieira (until the end of the Johto League) and Vagner Fagundes (Pokémon Chronicles; AG128-present), and his Latin-American Spanish voice actors are Alfredo Leal (until the end of the Orange Islands) and Javier Olguín (rest of the series).
Character
Tracey enjoys sketching Pokémon and uses this skill as a Pokémon watcher. He meets Ash and Misty in The Lost Lapras and finds out that they're friends with Professor Oak, his idol. Because of that, he decided to travel with them in order to meet him.
Although no details are known about his past, Tracey does have a very broad knowledge about Pokémon. This has helped the three of them in their journey many times along the way. Like Brock, he seems to have a soft spot for pretty girls. However, Tracey is more self-conscious and doesn't go overboard about them as Brock does. He expresses his interest by simply drawing them.
Since The Rivalry Revival, Tracey lives with Professor Oak in Pallet Town, where he serves as his loyal assistant. He occasionally visits the Cerulean City Gym, either to run an errand for Professor Oak or invited by Misty's older sister, Daisy.
He is very reserved and gentle person and has a hard time saying no to anyone. This is most predominant in his relationship with Daisy, who uses him often to help out with her chores. While taking care of the Pokémon in the Oak Corral Tracey has befriended many of the Pokémon that reside there, particularly Ash's Bulbasaur.
There have been a rare incidents where Tracey was seen getting angry. In The Lost Lapras, Misty comments that she doesn't know how famous Professor Oak is and Tracey barks back at her saying that Professor Oak is the most respected researcher on the entire planet. Another time was in Journey to the Starting Line when a boy named Gilbert said that he wouldn't want to have the annoyance of raising a Pokémon himself. Angered, Tracey yelled at him saying that training Pokémon was the most important part of being a Pokémon trainer. Professor Oak even had to step in to calm Tracey down.
Like Tracey has admiration for Professor Oak, Max seemed to have admiration for him. He complimented Tracey on his artwork and told him how lucky he was to be working with Professor Oak and even wished that he could draw Pokémon one day.
Pokémon Watching
Tracey has some tricks of the trade when it comes to Pokémon watching. To avoid being detected by the Pokémon he's observing, he always makes sure that he approaches it from downwind to avoid his scent being picked up by his subject. Also he makes sure to change his breathing rhythm to match the Pokémon's so that he will not be heard.
He also has the unique ability to know what move a Pokémon is going to use just by the way it moves about.This was seen when he knew James's Victreebel was going to use Razor Leaf while battling with his Scyther in Tracey Gets Bugged.
Pokémon
On hand
 Venonat |
 Marill |
File:TSSprite.png Scyther |
Previously owned
| File:DPEgg.png Egg |
The offspring of Marill. Given to Misty and later hatched into her Azurill.
Status unknown
 Dodrio |
Tracey was seen riding a Dodrio in a flashback in The Lost Lapras when Nurse Joy described the work of a Pokémon watcher. Whether it belonged to him or simply borrowed is unknown.
Trivia
- Tracey is the only one of the main charecters with an officially revealed last name. Though some might argue about Misty and Brock's last names, Tracey's name was the only one to be mentioned in the anime.
- Tracey is the only one of Ash's companions and main protagonists in which there is no information about where he's from or who his family is. Though a lot of people suspect he is from somewhere in the Orange Islands, there is really no proof that his home town is located there.
- Tracey has the shortest amount of airtime out of all of Ash's companions.
- It is thought that his Japanese name, Kenji, is based on the name of Ken Sugimori, the graphics design lead for the Pokémon games. The ji element in Kenji may be 二, second (son), which could be taken to mean that he has an older brother, much similar to that of Paul Shinji. His name also contains ケン ken which can mean "to see" possibly referring to his Pokémon watching.
- Though most of the main characters have carried a Pokémon egg with them, some multiple times, Tracey is the only main character whose Pokémon actually produced an egg.
- Tracey is one of two of Ash's friends who is not or part of a Gym Leader family. The other is Dawn. Though this is only a presumption being that his family is a mystery.
- Tracey is one of two of Ash's friends whose debut episode didn't really focus around them. The other is Misty.
- In the original Japanese, as well as the Spanish dub, his surname hasn't been mentioned.
- He is the only main protagonist not based on an in-game character.
- Tracey holds a rather dubious honor: since he replaced Brock during the Orange Islands episodes, he was heavily bashed by some vocal Brock supporters.
- Tracey's color scheme changed as of the Advanced Generation series. His hair went from black to green and his skin has become tanner. Also, he appears smaller than he was in the original series.
- Tracey is the only main character who has had no Pokémon evolve.
- If the egg of Misty's Azurill does not count, Tracey has only owned Pokémon from the first two generations.
- Also, if Azurill does not count, Tracey is (except Max, for obvious reasons) the only main protagonist to never own a Normal-type Pokémon.
- If one counts Ash's Aipom's appearance in the 9th Movie Half Deck as one of Dawn's Pokémon, Tracey is the only main character of the anime who has had none of his Pokémon make a TCG appearance.
- In the Japanese version of the anime, Tracey's sketchbook has a Poké Ball symbol on the bottom right-hand corner and some writing in the top left-hand corner. This is painted out in the dub.
Interview with Hidaka about Tracey's creation
There had been some debate between members of the fanbase in regards to why Tracey was created, as well as why he replaced Brock, and vice versa. In a recent interview with former Pokémon anime director and storyboard artist Masamitsu Hidaka, he stated his own reason why Tracey was created and why he replaced Brock. He (or, rather his translator) revealed that the true reason they replaced Brock is because, once they realized Pokémon is going to go global, there was a chance that Americans, if not anyone else outside of Japan, would view Brock as a racist stereotype because of his eyes (even though there wasn't an actual complaint yet). So they created a "tall, anglo-saxon looking person to be on the safe side". They later replaced him with Brock again once they realized that no one really cared as to what Brock looks like, and actually enjoyed his character.
However, this was only stated by Hidaka and not by any other staff member.
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ケンジ Kenji | Can be taken from ケン ken "to see". |
| English | Tracey Sketchit | Sketchit sounds similar to sketch it. Tracey is taken from trace. |
| French | Jacky | |
| German and Spanish | Tracey | |
| Korean | 관철 Gwancheol | Derived from 관찰 (觀察) gwanchal, Watcher. |
| Chinese | 小建 Xiǎo Jiàn | 建 is from "ken" in 建二 kenji. |
Related articles
External links
- A boy in Orange Islands, the fanlisting for Tracey
- Kenji's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
- Kenji's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)
On Bulbagarden forums
| Tracey's Pokémon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On hand: | |||||||
| Given away: | |||||||
| Status unknown: | |||||||
