Today the very last Pokemon episode with Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu aired. It’s like bidding farewell to old friends. Seems like a lot of people feel the same way?
Satoshi and Pikachu’s journeys end in Japan today. Please join me in congratulating @Pokemon_cojp on an incredible 25 year run with this iconic protagonist, by ✨POSTING YOUR FAN ART BELOW.✨
As I continue recording the final episodes of Ash and Pikachu’s journey on Pokémon, I’d like to thank and congratulate the incredible woman who has inspired my performance as the English voice of Ash Ketchum for the last 17 years, @rica_matsumoto3. 👏👏👏#ThankYouAshandPikachupic.twitter.com/3gzhLjc5fm
— Emma #ThankYouAshandPikachu (@EmmaTheDPStan) March 24, 2023
When I was a small child using the name “pokeprincess” online (I was among the first generation to grow up on the internet, for better or worse, I mostly survived it) Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu were EVERYTHING to me. Look! Look at these terrible, beautiful “drawings” I did as a kid!
My room would’ve been a shrine to Pokemon if my parents had allowed it. But check out the posters!
My 35th birthday is just over a week away. It’s the 1st April and I discovered just yesterday that Ash’s first Pokemon episode aired in Japan on the 1st April too. So all this time I’ve been sharing a birthday with Ash Ketchum! What a great way to end the journey! Thank you guys. You really were the very best, like no-one ever was.
Pokeshipping moments in episode 2 of Pokémon aiming to be a Pokémon master
Pokeshippers how are we all feeling after the latest episode? I loved it! I didn’t expect much but I saw so much and am happy. I loved the banter and teasing in between ash and misty and the way their Pokémon really took care of one another/interacted. I noticed a few hints that I thought were huge and would like to share it with all of you
1. Clauncher and Corphish falling for each other-
Okay so it sounds random at first but let me explain what I noticed. Corphish is Ash’s Pokémon and Clauncher became Misty’s Pokémon. Throughout the episode we see how the two go from enemies to lovers. It sounds strange but I believe their Pokémon were meant to represent their trainers. Literally their whole relationship was the exact replica of ash and misty especially how they went from enemies to lovers and showed stubbornness while they developed their relationship. I believe this was the case even more due to the fact in the end of the episode misty was blushing while telling Ash that she would join him on his journey due to Clauncher and Corphish liking one another(don’t worry we know you like him and that’s why you are following him misty)
2. The red string of fate
This one I found major! In the recent episode Misty explains how she thinks her and clauncher were tied together by the red string of fate from their multiple meetings and ash questions her. So this hint ties into pokeshipping very interestingly. Earlier in the series Ash had to choose between two paths to go through. He choose one path over the other because he felt like it was the right way/had a good feeling about that specific path. That path led Ash to meet misty again and he was captured by the wrist with Misty’s string from her fishing rod. This scene proved that they were destined to meet like how Ash told her they were destined to meet before she had to go back to cerulean city and leave him on his journey. Now why is this important? Many of you may say ash was destined to meet all his companions but the difference between what Ash told her before and the current episode is that they mentioned the red string of fate and had ash get wrapped by Misty’s “red string of fate which has never happened with any other companion before in the series. What is the red string of fate? The red string of fate is a string that ties two people together regardless of place, time, or circumstances and these two people are DESTINED LOVERS. The string is able to be stretched or tangled but it never breaks. Doesn’t that remind you of Ash and Misty’s relationship exactly? They found each other in a tangled situation first meeting but overtime together they grew feelings for each other although they haven’t admitted it directly. Then when she left they got tangled and the string stretched the further apart but they were always linked to each other. Misty supported him from cerulean while Ash carried her lure even being possessive over it from other companions. But in the end both of them found each other again due to their fate and the red string that connects them.
3. Pickachupi-This shouldn’t be a shocker but they brought back Pikachu’s nickname for misty. The whole episode pikachu stuck by her side and even hugged her wanting her to come along with them. As I mentioned with clauncher and corphish pikachu also represents Ash. Ash didn’t say it aloud but pikachu was showing his true feelings. Also misty is the only female companion that ever has recieved a nickname from pikachu. Out of the entire series misty is the only companion in which pikachu holds her to a higher level of love and appreciation. Showing that the bond she has with ash and pikachu is on another level from the others. Also I would just like to add on that pikachu pulled a misty when he reunited with her lol. Psyduck wanted a hug from pikachu as he ran up to him but pikachu avoided him and jumped right to misty for a hug. Reminded me of that one pokeshipping moment with Danny lol.
4.Ash being himself- What I noticed was that Ash brings out his true nature with Misty. The smug/arrogance/teasing all came out in this episode. I love how ash doesn’t have to Put up an act with her. He knows he doesn’t have to impress her because she and him already accepted each other as they are. When misty saw cilans lure and asked him what happened with hers he teased her saying cilans was better for catching but avoided bringing up that he used her lure and almost lost it which was why he probably kept it secure and not used anymore. He got out of it this time but I’m sure that if the two meet dawn, dawn will expose him.
– That’s the hints I noticed in the episode and if I’m being honest I didn’t expect a lot especially some of the scenes the writers/animators did. All I have to say is I think the writers/animators showed where they stand with the ship. They knew what they were doing by mentioning the red string of fate and having Ash and misty meet again with her literally catching him with her string.
They also especially knew what they were doing by putting A giant heart with two hearts in between clauncher and corphish and putting ash and misty in the same frame with their dialogue/banter. Having the Pokémon represent them and adding them into that scene was icing on the cake. Even if they don’t officially announce pokeshipping I think the solidified it with this episode. The red string of fate mention was just showing that these two are destined lovers that will always find each other. They didn’t have to do all of this but they did and I think it was for a reason. Just look at the way he looks at her after everything and she joins him again!
I first encountered Pokeshipping when I was 12, and now I’m in my thirties, and I’m SO GLAD it’s still going on
Ash has been a fictional friend of mine since the late 90s and I will very much miss following his adventures. Though it has occurred to me he is doing a hell of a lot better than a lot of people our age.
Thanks for everything, Ash. And thanks to the people who brought him to life.
“Pokemon was great escapism for me but it also taught me that not necessarily being the best, that was OK too,” 27-year-old Jake Saunders from Bromborough tells BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat.
“Putting it bluntly, it was like being a loser is OK. The important lesson is to pick yourself back up, roll with the punches and keep going.
This little graphic I found on Twitter illustrates the point nicely. Look how he kept on getting better and better! Sometimes you really do gotta keep working for twenty years.
And Laura Kate Dale, who’s 28 and from Surrey, says Ash proved to her that you could be “still worthy of praise” even if you failed every single time.
“He was always the underdog, half the times he won gym badges it was because he did something nice, not because he was the best at fighting,” she tells Newsbeat.
“There was something really beautiful about seeing that growing up – that it’s OK if you’re not the strongest, the most qualified, as long as you keep trying to be the best person you can be, the nicest you can be to people around you.”
That was probably the most important thing Pokemon taught me, to be honest.
Kate says an episode in which Ash met a Charmander (small, red, dragon-ish, tail on fire – you know the one) which had been abandoned by its original trainer has stuck with her to this day. “At the time, I was a child dealing with the fact that my biological dad had left and didn’t seem to care the way he was supposed to,” she says. “The episode’s story was about learning to move on and be OK after someone who was supposed to look after you just vanishes – it was really tasteful in dealing with something that as a child was really difficult to comprehend. “That’s what the show was really good at. It told stories about relatable themes in digestible ways for children.”
It was, it really really was. As a child I related to Brock the most because he was forced by circumstances into caring for his younger siblings. That wasn’t too far away from my reality. So here I was, clinging to a fictional story for children that every adult within the vincity mocked and mocked and mocked while the home life got ever worse.
Don’t make fun of stuff children like. Please don’t. Look what they can do with it.
I love the movie credits sequences that show the characters just travelling or relaxing or doing mundane things. They give the sense that even when nothing relevant to our interest is happening and we’re not looking, their adventure continues on.
