Red vs. Ash

When you were first looking at that character sprite on pokémon Red and Blue(or male sprite on Firered and Leafgreen), were you think of the name of the game,


Red,
 

or



were you thinking of the anime kid Ash?










Well whether you think so or not, it was Red, not Ash.

     Often there is the Red vs. Ash debate, about who is who, who is better, and whatnot. Here's my opinion: Red rules, and Ash is stuck in the past.

     The shed some light on this debate, let's look back at the humble beginnings. In Pokémon Red and Blue, you noticed those extra names you could have selected from? How one said Ash on Red, and one on Blue said Gary? Well, those are English translations of the maker of pokémon's name, with Satoshi Tajiri's first name in place of Ash, and his mentor's, Shigeru Miyamoto, first name be in place of Gary. With this in mind, you can tell how those names got chosen to be the names of Red and Blue in the anime.

     When the idea of the anime came around, the idea was that Ash go through the land of Kanto like Red did, and play similar to the game, where he learns to be a better trainer throughout his journey(the aspect of two gym leaders joining him made it better), and become champion in due time. That is why the first two seasons were better than they are now! However, it didn't come to light.

You want to know why?

Only one thing!

It fuels a lot of motives to change things just please the crowd.

Money.
 |
v
(remind you, this happened in Japan)
 ^
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     Yes, money changed it all. Back when the anime came out, Game Freak and pokémon itself was still new, and when money was pouring in from child viewers, they kept it kid tone in order to not lose business rolling in on a red carpet. That means Ash really never grows up, keeping his young age, never really learning anything, and constantly moving from region to region as if he was starting with that for the first time(and losing all his previous experience)!

     So that's my stand to where Ash is just a bad clone of Red, to where Red in the games becomes a champion, and you get to live through him, and learn how to get better, train more, and beat the elite four, and your rival in the original pair. Red lives up to his name, even the second generation games when he is the final opponent, and has the highest level team in game of both second generation, and the fourth generation remakes! Ash, well, I've said enough.

     This blog post isn't done yet. Remember when I mentioned that there was the idea basically involving Red outside the game? Tajiri did come up with the anime idea like that, but he was upset when he didn't get to keep the cool idea of Red outside the game, and in a darker and more mature style of pokémon. As there is anime, being Japanese cartoons, there is the manga, which is basically Japanese comics. Pokémon in the way Tajiri wanted it came true in the manga.



     Tada, Pokémon Adventures! Warning: Pokémon do die in this comic at various points. Tajiri wanted a more mature version of pokémon, and he got it. In here the protagonists learn to get better through many events that affect their lives, and their names are based off of the versions! They also give their own story they isn't super direct to the in-game plot, but still has the become pokémon champion, and defeating Team Rocket.

     Red vs. Ash is often transcribed to the anime vs. manga a lot, or at least from what I've heard for the while. If you want my suggestion, I say read the manga over the anime, and always play the game!