Ash's father, come on down!

[fruitsmoothierevenge]

I'm moving this from the GS thread.
Ash's dad. Dead? Alive? Important? Insignificant?

But - but - that doesn't make sense. That's saying, "this character is never mentioned, thus he must be important".

I'm trying to say, his dad must be important, because they would have answered it by now if it hadn't been. It would be simple to write in a character bio, "Ash's mother lives in Pallet Town, but his dad...", whatever the situation may be. They're leaving it open for a story to tell, like they did with Brock's mom coming back in the first Housou.

 

[Murgatroyd]

If you're going to ask about his father, why not also about his grandfather? They've been mentioned equally often: in one episode, and both in the same sentence. (In the original Japanese, of course.)

 

[fruitsmoothierevenge]

Oh, really? Now that's interesting. I'll have to DL it.
Now it creates a point that it's a family tradition, sort of. That's cool.

 

[Murgatroyd]

Admittedly, the grandfather is only mentioned once in the conversation ("You're going to be a greater trainer than your papa or grandpa!"), whereas his father is mentioned twice (the "four days" bit).

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

It also begs the question if the grandfather is Delia's father or the father's father.

 

[Crystal Mew]

you fools.

THAT is Ash's dad! Hal Ketchum

lol totally kidding. I think they should have something on his dad in an episode sometime. or maybe even in a movie. just like you said, brocks mom was mentioned and soon enough she was in an episode. so who knows.

It should be a movie actually. Ash thinks team rocket wants his pikachu, when in all reality Giovanni is his father and just used the "get the pikachu no matter what" as an excuse to find his son. That would be an awesome movie.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Giovanni seems completely unaware that JJ&M are even after a Pikachu, though, and seems content to let them do what they want because it gets them the hell away from him.

 

[MondoTR]

Goku's his dad.

 

[Jo-Jo]

I'm trying to say, his dad must be important, because they would have answered it by now if it hadn't been. It would be simple to write in a character bio, "Ash's mother lives in Pallet Town, but his dad...", whatever the situation may be. They're leaving it open for a story to tell, like they did with Brock's mom coming back in the first Housou.

But they did tell us about Brock's mom. Flint told Ash exactly what happened with her - she ran away and abandoned the family. That is a cue from which a possible interesting story could develop. I'm not sure if you can say the same for "your father took four days to get to Viridian City", which is not exactly a very exciting or telling piece of information.

On a slight tangent, I now have an image of Delia and Ash's dad growing up together in Pallet Town. Aww.

 

[Misty]

For the answer to this, I point you to the basis of the anime: Pokemon Red and Blue. See how the main character doesn't have a dad? Yes? That's why Ash has no father.

 

[creepy_kecleon]

Giovanni: Ash, i am your father
Ash: Noooooo!!!

Heh, there is a small chance that he is his father because they didn't make them meet face to face yet, know what i mean?

 

[WolfinOutlawAsi]

Its the Mr. Mime dammit! Ash just assumes his mom said Pokemon Trainer when really she means Pokemon. Its ALWAYS around the house doing chores.....and Ashs mom has brown hair while Ash has black hair....where did this black hair gene come from you ask?

Lets compare to this:

Im seeing the resemblance LOLZ

 

[Unregistered]

I hope we never see Misty's parents either, just so people realize that family members aren't important on this show. (Well, the only exception being May and Max's family)

 

[nYoo]

Its the Mr. Mime dammit! Ash just assumes his mom said Pokemon Trainer when really she means Pokemon. Its ALWAYS around the house doing chores.....and Ashs mom has brown hair while Ash has black hair....where did this black hair gene come from you ask?

Lets compare to this:

Im seeing the resemblance LOLZ

"Image Hosted by tripod" How funny HAHAHAAHAHAAAA

 

[FabuVinny]

I hope we never see Misty's parents either, just so people realize that family members aren't important on this show. (Well, the only exception being May and Max's family)

Why are May and Max's family so much more important than Misty or Ash's family? Because they were there from the start?

This goes with what MistyIRC was saying about the games being a basis, but there is no reason for them not creating their own backstories. Because Ash is not Red.

Just look at where the anime currently is in America. Ash is going south to Mossdeep City!

 

[Misty]

This goes with what MistyIRC was saying about the games being a basis, but there is no reason for them not creating their own backstories. Because Ash is not Red.

I'm not saying Ash CAN'T have a father, I'm saying the basis in Red/Blue is the most likely reason he DOESN'T have one yet.

 

[WolfinOutlawAsi]

"Image Hosted by tripod" How funny HAHAHAAHAHAAAA

It shows up for me, it doesnt show up for you? Im using firefox so that could be why ^-^()
Anyway, you get the idea, since you cant see it the first pic is a Mr. Mime, and the second is Ash. I tried to find similar expressions but Im lazy as well lolz

 

[Misty]

You probably have the image in your cache, so it just displays what's on your computer.

 

[Unregistered]

Why are May and Max's family so much more important than Misty or Ash's family? Because they were there from the start?

May's and Max's father is an important GYM leader, one said to almost be on the same level as an ELite 4 member. Their mother was even developed in the Petalburg trio episodes and in the Grand Festival.

As for Ash's family? We know of his mother that's it, who barely gets any screentime anymore. We see her line once every 70 episodes now, or sometimes even more than that. And when she DOES appear, it's not terribly important.

 

[BenRG]

Ash's father in canon

I think that it is worth remembering that, around the time that Pokémon The Movie 3 came out on DVD in the US, there were, according to 4Kids, some tentative plans to include Ash's father in the series (in series 5 - Master Quest). This was possibly as a result of Delia's recollections of her youth in parts of the third movie. While these plans obviously didn't pan out, it does show that the script writers have been thinking seriously about spending more time on Ash's family and back story.

With this in mind, it might be premature to dismiss the little that has been said about Ash's father in the animé. Before the the show goes the way of all exhausted crazes, it may yet offer us a few surprises. :secret: