Gary Oak
| Gary Oak オーキド・シゲル Shigeru Ōkido | |
| [[File:File:Gary-AG.jpg|{{{size}}}]] Gary as seen in Home Is Where The Start Is | |
| Age | 10 (as of debut) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Hometown | Pallet Town |
| Region | Kanto |
| Relatives | Professor Oak (grandfather), May Oak (sister) (manga only) |
| Trainer class | Trainer, Researcher |
| Anime debut | Pokémon - I Choose You! |
| English voice actor | Jimmy Zoppi |
| Japanese voice actor | Yūko Kobayashi |
Gary Oak (Japanese: オーキド・シゲル Shigeru Ōkido) is the primary rival of Ash Ketchum and grandson of Professor Oak. His Japanese voice actress is 小林優子 Yūko Kobayashi, his English voice actor is Jimmy Zoppi, and his Brazilian-Portugese voice actors are Rodrigo Andreatto (regular), Marcelo Campos (in H015), Eduardo Serandini (in AG186) and Thiago Barione (in AG191). His Japanese name is derived from Shigeru Miyamoto, who is sometimes seen as a rival of Satoshi Tajiri.
In the anime
Gary has been a neighbor of Ash Ketchum since they were both young. At one time they seemed to be friends and went to see movies together as seen in Lights, Camerupt, Action!. Before either of their journeys began, both Gary and Ash found an old Poké Ball while fishing. The two boys began fighting over who would get to keep the Poké Ball but ended up breaking it in half. Since then, they decided to keep the two separate pieces for themselves. It was revealed in The Ties That Bind that they still carried the pieces with them.
In the original series
The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant trainer, much like his game counterpart, Blue. His chosen starter Pokémon was Squirtle which was actually the same Pokémon that Ash originally wanted to start with. He even had a group of cheerleaders who cheered him on in all his battles and would go so far as crying when ever he lost. And he didn't walk on his journeys like most trainers did. Instead he had his own sporty red convertible with his own chauffeur. Gary loved when he got a chance to make fun of Ash by bragging about how far behind Ash was compared to him. He also gave Ash the pet-name of "Ashy-boy" (Japanese: "Satoshi-kun"), which occasionally seems to annoy him. His style of training at this point was to capture many Pokémon and to use the strongest, as a stark contrast to Ash who focused on developing a bond with his Pokémon.
Soon he would eat his words when he would challenge the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni to a Pokémon battle for his final, but not necessary, badge in The Battle of the Badge. At first he seem to be winning against Giovanni, knocking out most of his Pokémon. But then Giovanni sent out Mewtwo against the trainer and even let Gary use both his Arcanine and Nidoking against it. Mewtwo made quick work of the two Pokémon and Gary experienced his first (known) loss. However this still didn't change his arrogance. It would take a loss at the Pokémon League in The Fourth Round Rumble during his fourth battle to finally realize that he needed to change himself.
Gary eventually returned in A Tent Situation. Much unlike his former self, he congratulated Ash on his victory in the Orange League. Soon Ash challenged him to a battle with his Pikachu as his choice. Gary in turn used his Eevee. Gary managed to defeat Ash and then left on his journey through Johto.
In his few appearances during the Johto season, he seemed to have become the complete opposite of who he was. He became polite, intelligent, and respectful to others, including Ash. In Can't Beat the Heat! he battled Ash at the Silver Conference. Ash ended up winning the battle when his Charizard defeated Gary's Blastoise.
In Gotta Catch Ya Later!, Gary decided that he didn't want to be a Pokémon Trainer anymore, but instead wanted to be a Pokémon researcher like his grandfather.
Advance Generation
In Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl, Gary works on Sayda Island with Crystal. There, he revived an Aerodactyl from an Old Amber. At first the Aerodactyl was afraid of him and every other person on the island. But it soon gained his trust after he fed it some fruit that Aerodactyl used to eat.
Eventually, he moves to the Sinnoh region where he is currently conducting his research.
In Home Is Where The Start Is, Gary reunited with Ash and battled him with his new Electivire and defeated Ash's Pikachu once more.
Diamond and Pearl
In Ill-Will Hunting! he was taking care of a group of Shieldon and protected them from the evil Pokémon Hunter J and her minions. He appeared once again in DP085 where he helped Ash and Gligar by giving a Razor Fang to Ash which caused Gligar to evolve later. He was in the area after hearing rumors of Azelf.
Pokémon
This listing is for Gary's Pokémon as of DP085:
On hand
 →  →  Squirtle → Wartortle → Blastoise | ||
 →  Eevee → Umbreon |
 Electivire | |
In storage
 Alakazam |
 Arcanine |
 Golem |
 Houndoom |
 Kingdra |
 Fearow |
 Magmar |
 Krabby (Giant) |
 Nidoking |
 Nidoqueen |
 Pinsir |
 Scizor |
 Skarmory |
Gary also has more than 150 Pokémon in his collection including more of one of the same species.
Temporary
 Hoothoot |
 Aerodactyl |
 Shieldon (x4) |
Shieldon - took care of in Ill-Will Hunting!
Aerodactyl - revived in Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl but left in the care of Crystal
Hoothoot - rented in Illusion Confusion!
In the manga
Pokémon
Trivia
- His English name could have been derived from his Japanese name. It may also be a play of the Garry oak, a type of oak tree.
- Gary is one of the few characters to have his English dub voice remained unchanged throughout the series. From Pokémon - I Choose You! to this day, he has been voiced by Jimmy Zoppi. However, he is now credited as Billy Beach under his TAJ Productions work.
- Gary's Krabby is the only known unevolved Pokémon he owns.
- The only known losses Gary has had during the entire series were against Mewtwo (while under Giovanni's control), against Melissa at Indigo Plateau, and against Ash during the Silver Conference. In the manga, he is defeated by Ritchie at the Indigo League instead of Melissa.
- In the original series, Gary's attire is similar to that of Blue during Generation I. In his Advanced Generation and Diamond & Pearl appearances, however, Gary wears Blue's outfit from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
- Gary has the final evolutionary form of a Pokémon owned by Ash and each of his friends, excluding Dawn. These are: Blastoise (Squirtle and Wartortle), Kingdra (Horsea), Golem (Geodude), Scizor (Scyther), and Umbreon (Eevee). Both Ash and Gary have also caught a Krabby, but only Ash's evolved.
- Gary has been shown to have Pokémon from all generations except Generation III.
- Gary is so far the only one of Ash's rivals to appear in a Pokémon movie, appearing briefly in Mewtwo Strikes Back.
- Gary has already made twice as many appearances to Ash in the Diamond and Pearl series than he did in the Advanced Generation series, where he only appeared in Home is Where the Start Is (the final Advanced Generation episode). In the Diamond and Pearl arc however, he appeared in Ill-Will Hunting! and DP085.
- Gary owns the final evolutionary forms of each of the special Pokémon that can appear on Route 201 via the dongle method, swarming, or the Poké Radar (Arcanine, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Dodrio).
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | オーキド・シゲル Ookido Shigeru | Derived from Shigeru Miyamoto. |
| English | Gary Oak | Possibly taken from garry oak, a type of oak tree. |
| French | Régis Chen | |
| German | Gary Eich | Direct Translation. Eich means Oak. |
| Brazilian-Portuguese | Gary Carvalho | |
| Korean | 오바람 O Baram | 오 O is from the first syllable in "Ōkido", while his first name, Baram is Native Korean for wind. |
| Chinese | 小茂 Xiǎo Mao | 茂 is from 茂る shigeru. |
External links
- Victorious, the fanlisting for Gary
- Shigeru's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
- Shigeru's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)
| Gary's Pokémon | ||||||
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| In rotation: | ||||||
| Traveling with: | ||||||
| In storage: | ||||||
| Temporary: | ||||||
| Electric Tale only: | ||||||
| Newspaper Strip only: | ||||||
| Trainers in League Conferences | ||||||||||||||
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