Pokémon doesn’t seem to be as big as it once used to be due to the introduction of several similar game and anime franchises in the ensuing years, but there will always be a dedicated fanbase for the character of Ash Ketchum who forms part of the childhood memories of scores of people.
These fans have a kind of understanding of the character only they will know best about, and even the presence of subtle jokes won’t be enough to evade the comprehension of these fans. With that in mind, here are 10 hilarious Ash Ketchum memes that every real Pokémon fan will understand.
10 How They Massacred Out Boy
Those who might have taken a break from watching Pokémon from its initial days and checked back on how the series is doing now will be in for a world of surprise, as Ash has become unrecognizable. For some crazy reason, the show has redesigned him to resemble a stereotypical anime character.
Even those who had been watching Pokémon without tuning out at any point were aghast at this sudden change, and we’re still holding out hope that better sense prevails and the good looking version of Ash returns once more.
9 What's Your Secret, Ash?
This complaint will never not relevant, as Ash has been the same freakin’ age for more than 22 years now. He should chronologically be in his mid-30s at the moment, but the show has slowed down his aging to the point where it isn’t even numerically possible for it to be believable.
After all, Ash has had thousands of adventures by now, meaning there aren’t enough days in the calendar to accommodate for his perpetual age of 10. The only explanation might be that Ash is secretly part of The Matrix and his life just keeps resetting.
8 You're A Pokémon Trainer, Harry
This one might actually connect the fandom of Pokémon with that of Harry Potter, as both their protagonists have the scars in common. Of course, we don’t know what exactly is up with Ash’s face considering the two “Z’s” don’t seem to have any purpose.
Still, it does make for a good talking point between people of different fandoms, which then leads to interest in the other person’s choice of media. Maybe we could have some sort of wizarding influence in the Pokémon world. It can’t get any weirder than it already is, right?
7 Every Time!
The real way of catching Pokémon is really simple, because it’s only supposed to take one small fight and throwing a Pokéball to do the trick, but Ash needlessly complicates things every time. There’s always some sort of a backstory with the Pokémon he catches, leading to an entire episode around it.
Making things even longer is the addition of Team Rocket, who relentlessly pursue Ash and his new Pokémon until the end of the episode. All this drama takes place, and yet the next episode completely downplays that new Pokémon’s importance.
6 This Kid Needs A Clue
Being oblivious to love is one of the skills Ash has possessed without any need to hone it, as he’s been shown to be clueless when a girl is clearly interested in him. It makes sense, though, seeing as a 10-year-old really shouldn’t be in the mood to get a girlfriend.
However, since girls his age do seem to show interest in him you’d think Ash would catch a clue by this point and understand the signals. Instead, he always fixates on Pokémon, making him look like a bit of an idiot.
5 One-Trick Pony
Ash’s Pikachu was established as being a more gifted Pokémon than any other on the show, which was why Team Rocket has always been after it. However, this has led to Ash becoming predictable and having just the one move in his kitty.
Every time he wants to get a job done, all Ash does is tell Pikachu to hit the other Pokémon with a lightning bolt. This is also the reason why Ash hasn’t had much success in big competitions, as he’s taken to relying too much on Pikachu than actually training his Pokémon.
4 About Freakin' Time
There didn’t seem to be an open-world bigger than that of Pokémon, as Ash was shown losing one tournament after another and somehow finding more places to compete in. Like Leonardo DiCaprio had contested and lost at the Oscars so many times, so did Ash at these competitions.
In 2019, after a 22-year wait, Ash finally got his hand on a real win in the Alola league and took away the winner’s trophy. This victory didn’t feel as satisfying as it once would have, because fans found the fact that Ash lost so many times more amusing than his victory.
3 Giant Waste Of Time
Ash’s track record is quite horrible when you stack up the statistics in front of him, considering the boy has been out in the world for so long and still hasn’t managed to capture that many Pokémon for himself. After all, we’ve seen him in several hundred episodes, but he has very few Pokémon to show for it.
What has this kid been doing with all his time? Wasn’t the point of heading out in the world to capture Pokémon? Whatever might be the case, the numbers don’t lie, and it’s clear that Ash has been wasting his time more than doing something productive.
2 All For Nothing
You won’t find any Pokémon fan who doesn’t scratch their head over what happened with Charizard and Ash, seeing as the Pokémon up and left Ash like their history meant nothing. For any normal trainer, having a Pokémon that they kept from a young age to its last form would mean they were bound for life, but Ash easily lets his go.
We’ve seen most of the major Pokémon Ash has trained eventually leave him for bizarre reasons, with Ash being perfectly willing to let them go too. This is pretty nonsensical if the whole point of catching them was to train them for his own benefit.
1 That's Not How Utensils Work
The dining scenes in Pokémon always seem reminiscent of TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, where it’s painfully obvious the actors aren’t really eating the food. In the same vein, Ash and his pals always seem to be pretending to eat even though they’re animated characters.
It doesn’t help to quell these doubts when you have scenes such as this where we can see Ash eating soup with a fork. Had it been noodles we might have given him the benefit of the doubt, but how the heck is he supposed to have something that he’s supposed to be drinking with a fork?