Why doesn’t Ash age?

Whether or not you watch the anime, there is one question you’ve probably heard of or discussed and that question will be answered right now! Why doesn’t Ash age? All throughout the series Ash remains ten years old. As I dug around and asked some friends on their thoughts on the subject, I found some legitimate, funny, and just plain disturbing answers to this puzzling question.

Well at least his hat changed.

One of the most popular theories making it across the web is the coma theory:
This theory basically states that when Ash got struck by lightning in one of the first episodes, he got knocked out and put in a coma. Ash was found and brought to a hospital afterwards and put in a stable condition. All of Ash’s adventures are just dreams while he’s in the hospital, and none of his accomplishments are actually fulfilled. All his friends are the different personality changes that one would normally go through when growing up, but since Ash remains ten in his dream, his brain creates these feelings in the sense of different characters. Ash’s brain is trying to break free of the coma, but it needs to overcome some things first. To create this in his mind, his brain made up a network of gyms and eventually the league tournaments. Ash can never win a league tournament because if he does, he will wake up from his coma and realize it was all a dream.

I give http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Ash%27s_Coma credit for this theory. If you have the time I would give this a look-through, because it explains literally EVERYTHING that takes place in the anime.

On another, more disturbing, note there is the beauty products theory:
This theory tells of how Ash is aging, but because he uses several beauty products he seems to stay young forever. This theory is a little disturbing to think that Ash is an old man who looks like a ten year old, but Ash isn’t the only person to keep himself looking young. We see several characters leave the show for a while and then come back for a special occasion, looking exactly the same as the day they first met Ash. This is a very common practice that just about everyone knows about. Perhaps when Silph Co. perfected the Pokeball, they decided to pool all their research money into something else. After a bit of research, they realized that no one had made a beauty product that actually worked. A couple of years later and their master product took the market by storm and no one has aged since. Ash and his friends are in fact aging, but thanks to various beauty products their skin stays young forever.

Ho-oh makes a cameo appearance in this theory appropriately named the Ho-oh theory:
It is commonly said that if you see a Ho-oh, you will be happy forever. When Ash saw a Ho-oh in the beginning of the series, he thought about what would make him happy forever. The bliss from this encounter made Ash young forever so he could go on Pokemon journey after Pokemon journey. When Ash finally gets tired of going on all these journeys, he might continue to age and move on with another aspect of his life, but as we can clearly see from the anime, Ash is nowhere near being close to done. We also never see Ash sad or depressed in the anime, but if we do see him sad (which only happens a couple times a season) it never lasts for more than a day because something always happens to cheer him right back up. Ash never gets older or becomes sad because his encounter with Ho-oh prevents such depressing things from happening.

How come nobody else noticed that giant sparkling bird by the rainbow?

Demons have possessed certain people in the Pokemon universe, and apparently Ash is one of them in this theory called the demon theory:
Ash is a demon who needs to feed off of children’s souls in order to live forever. When Ash travels with his companions, he is actually slowly feeding off of their youth. Ash then takes all this harnessed energy and makes sure that he never ages. The reason Ash chooses to remain his current age is that he is almost immediately accepted by all age groups, especially young kids. Young kids would provide the most energy, and no parent would just give their child off to some stranger to play with for hours a day, unless that stranger was a child among the same age group. You might take care to notice Ash never spends much time with any adult, only his young traveling companions. Once he has sucked all the youth that he can from his companions, he simply moves on to the next region in search of new prey.

Brock lasted a very long time, but even he could only offer so much.

People are, in fact, Pokemon that need to grow in order to move on with their life in this theory entitled the evolution theory:
If you’re an avid watcher of the anime, you have probably asked yourself why Ash often forgets simple things such as moves, types, and even evolutions. The fact is, people are like Pokemon and, as they gain more knowledge and wisdom, they “evolve” into the next phase of their life. Since Ash never seems to get any better, he is unable to move on to the next stage of his life. A statement that is supported by the fact Ash lost with his Pikachu to a Snivy belonging to a trainer named Trip that Trip had just received not even five minutes earlier in one of the first episodes set in Unova. Ash never spends time studying and, in episodes where Ash finds himself in a school, he can never seem to concentrate long enough to learn a thing. Ash does this by choice as when he grown into an adult, certain responsibilities will come up in his life that will force him to stop going on journeys. Pokemon evolve by becoming stronger and smarter, so Ash just decides to try his best to avoid being both. Ash doesn’t want to stop going on journeys, so he tries not to learn anything as an attempt to stop from growing up. Apparently it’s working very well.

The ultimate evolution. But what would Ash evolve into…?

This has been all fun and games, but now it’s time for the serious theory on why Ash stays ten years old forever:
The fact is that Pokemon is a kids’ show and the producers want a protagonist that kids can relate to. When people first read the word Pokemon, one of the first things that come to mind are Ash and Pikachu. Just about everyone knows who they are, and if the producers keep changing who the anime follows, then the Pokemon franchise won’t have such a great spokesperson. Pokemon isn’t the only series to do keep their main characters from aging. The popular show “The Simpsons” also does this as a way to keep working with a successful idea. The producers realize that the reason the show worked in the first place was because the main character was young and could relate to the younger audience. Some people complain that Ash never gets replaced. The target audience is children, and with older kids getting replaced by younger kids who don’t know Ash, there isn’t a really good reason to switch main characters. Why change something if it’s doing such a great job, anyway?

Now that there is a list and a short summary of a few theories on why Ash stays young forever, you can decide which one you like best. Not only will this be your theory you defend, but it will also be your answer to the impossible question “Why doesn’t Ash age?”

Written by Slayr231
Theories suggested/Editing by An-chan, Bay Alexison, bobandbill, Latios, Richard Fightmaster and Slayr231

Author: bobandbill

I AM A GUY WHO PLAYS GAMES AND WRITES ABOUT THEM AND ALSO DOES KARATE AND SCIENCE INDEED, I SAY QUACK View all posts by bobandbill