#025 - Pikachu

PIKACHU

IN SHOW

Now we come to it, the man of the hour, the pokemon that even your grandmother can recognize on sight. Ash’s first pokemon who hated him in the beginning and by the end of the next episode was inseparable from him. Pikachu has been shown to hate being in a pokeball and is constantly on the run from the evil Team Rocket who are trying to enslave the poor guy because of his amazing strength. And it’s true, not all Pikachu are like the Pikachu we’ve come to know and love. Most Pikachu live out in the forest, in groups, finding food and just in general being electric mice. Pikachu has been in every single episode, except for special ones, and every single movie. He’s even been the subject of some of his own shorts. He loves ketchup and beating people, but he’s also very kind and loves to make other people happy.

WHY YOU WANT A PIKACHU

Despite Pikachu being omnipresent in the show’s universe, Pikachu is actually a pretty uncommon pokemon so if you can catch a Pikachu you can show it off to people and be proud. Plus, he comes in handy for the gym battle against Misty when, depending on the pokemon you chose, it can be hard to keep your head above water.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A PIKACHU

Almost everyone goes out of their way to locate and catch a Pikachu so that they can show it off because it is so popular so having a Pikachu won’t lead to any originality points. The only place you can locate a Pikachu is in the Veridian Forest and the next gym is Brock, so you won’t find much use for him in that battle. Pikachu is actually only really useful for the Water gym, as most other gyms are resistant to him or take only normal damage. Also, he looks a little chubby in the picture, and I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s been eating too much ketchup.

IN SUMMARY

Pikachu in the show is one of the main characters, and the only pokemon to never leave Ash for any reason, even if it’s just to be stored with Prof. Oak. He’s cute and cuddly and he’s got a personality that we all love. He’s at the center of almost every single one of Team Rocket’s plots and that’s saying something. Pikachu is the mascot of the entire franchise, and sure that’s mainly because he’s Ash’s pokemon, but still. But the Pikachu in the show is extremely smart, fast, and over powered. He can defeat rock and ground pokemon just because he wants to. When Pikachu defeated Brock by simply powering up his electricity or Rhyhorn by aiming for the horn, people laughed. It was one of the most ludicrous things we’d ever seen, and a clear break of the game rules. But our Pikachu would never be that awesome. Though Pikachu is a pretty nifty pokemon and is one of the most useful for defeating Misty, unless you’re running into a lot of water trainers, Pikachu can be pretty useless in game. So catch Pikachu because he’s hard to catch and it’s nice to say you did it, but don’t stick with him the whole game.