Summary
- Ash Ketchum’s portrayal has varied series by series, and a heated debate recently sparked over which of his Sun & Moon or X & Y versions is best.
- Twitter user MizukiAlola prefers Sun & Moon Ash, claiming he’s more fun and is a massive character improvement over X & Y.
- Meanwhile, others think X & Y improved Ash’s character more, and that he a lot more serious and relatable.
Pokemon gave us a lot of different Ash Ketchums over the years before letting him kick up his feet, and while he’s obviously the same character, his personality has been tweaked ever so slightly to fit the setting that he finds himself in. For example, he was a lot less mature during the Kanto days, which is understandable given it was at the start of his journey. In stark contrast, his portrayal in the Diamond & Pearl anime is a lot more mature.
This has naturally led to many debates over the years as to which version of Ash Ketchum is the best, and one such debate erupted on social media earlier today. A Twitter account specializing in Pokemon called OOC_Unova asked fans to give them the most controversial opinions about the franchise they had, and another user called MizukiAlola delivered a piping-hot take by claiming that Sun & Moon’s version of Ash Ketchum was better than the X & Y’s.
Pokemon Fans Are Debating Over The Best Ash Ketchum
If you ask a Pokemon fan which version of Ash Ketchum is the best, you’ll more often than not get either Diamond & Pearl or X & Y. MizukiAlola goes against the crowd by claiming that Ash Ketchum in Sun & Moon is “fun and full of personality” while also saying that he’s a “huge improvement” on X & Y Ash Ketchum. That post managed to rack up over 18,000 likes, which brought the Anipoke fandom out in droves.
Funnily enough, with so many people attempting to get their arguments across, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus among fans. You have quite a few people that agree with the take, such as Kol_Lateral, who reckons that Sun & Moon’s art style is what turns so many people away, rather than the contents of the series, and Ash Ketchum himself. A lot of other people also claim that Ash had his best battles in Alola, and that Ash actually “feels comfortable being himself” rather than in X & Y.
On the flip side, you also have people claiming that X & Y had a lot of character building for Ash, such as AvatarKyber, who references a clip of Ash confronting Team Flare’s leader as the “best interpersonal Ash character moment in the whole anime”. Then you have a lot of people that prefer X & Y’s more serious tone (and less goofy Ash Ketchum), and that Ash became less relatable in Sun & Moon because of more anime-esque tropes.
It’s an argument that will never be resolved, as everyone has their favorite anime series (and therefore favorite Ash) for a number of reasons, whether it be nostalgia or just general taste. I think we can all agree that Sun & Moon and X & Y were both pretty high points for the anime in general.
