Pokemon: Ranking Ash's Companions
The 20th anniversary of the first Pokemon anime episode is this Saturday, so we're taking a look [...]
11) Iris
Key Pokemon: Dragonite, Axew, Emolga, Excadrill
Ash's first traveling partner during the often derided Best Wishes series, Iris ranks as the worst of Ash's companions. Ash and Iris spent most of their time together bickering, usually because Iris enjoyed putting Ash down for his mistakes and alleged immaturity. In reality, Iris was probably the only one of Ash's companions that was consistently portrayed as less mature than he was over the course of the entire series.
Even Iris's Pokemon had problems with her. Her Excadrill considered her to be an inferior trainer during its first appearances, largely due a disastrous battle against a Dragon trainer. She also had trouble taming her Dragonite, despite the fact it willingly chose to accompany her on its first meeting.
After suffering multiple defeats against Ash, Iris eventually left Ash to explore the Johto region. Iris was shown losing to the Dragon Master Clair in her last appearance...a fitting end for a pretty insufferable character.
10) Tracey
Key Pokemon: Venonat, Scyther, Marill
Tracey Sketchit has spent less time with Ash than any of his other companions, as he only accompanied Ash during his travels through the Orange Islands. As his last name suggests, Tracey is a skilled artist who used his artistic abilities to help with his Pokemon watching hobby. Tracey joined Ash and Misty after finding out they knew Professor Oak, whose work he greatly admired. When he eventually met Professor Oak, Tracey remained behind at Pallet Town to become Oak's new assistant.
Tracey sits near the bottom of the list because he's pretty darn bland. Although he was supposed to fill Brock's role as the caretaker of the group, he largely spent most of his time doodling and acting as a weird sort of hanger on to Ash and Misty. Tracey's only real standout Pokemon was a pretty cool Scyther that had a whole "aging samurai" thing going for it, complete with a weird set of sideburns.
9) Cilan
Key Pokemon: Pansage, Crustle, Stunfisk
Ash's other companion through the Unova region, Cilan was an aspiring "Pokemon connoisseur," a trainer that could evaluate the relationship between Pokemon and their trainers. Cilan met Ash as the co-leader of the Striaton Gym and decided to join Ash after losing to him in a Gym Battle.
Cilan was definitely the "adult" of the group, handling both the cooking and the navigation, but was easily the worst trainer. With an underwhelming collection of Pokemon, Cilan usually lost his battles pretty quickly. While Cilan left Ash at the end of Best Wishes, he made two appearances in later episodes, meeting Brock, Bonnie, and Clemont while attending fishing competitions.
Although not as terrible as Iris, Cilan was annoying in his own way. He had a lot of weird catchphrases and seemed more interested in making cooking puns than actually battling.
8) Max
Key Pokemon: None
Max is the only one of Ash's companions to neither own a Pokemon or have an unofficial Pokemon partner. The seven year old kid brother of May, Max was considered too young to have his own Pokemon when he first joined his sister and Ash through their travels through the Hoenn region. While he was too young to own a Pokemon, Max still knew a lot about Pokemon, which led to plenty of arguments with Ash and his unconventional battle style.
Although Max and Ash didn't always get along, Max had an unusual bond with Brock. While Brock helped Max learn about Pokemon firsthand, Max kept an eye on Brock and his womanizing ways.
Ultimately, Max returned home when Ash decided to go to Sinnoh and May went to the Johto region. He hasn't really been seen since, outside of a few flashbacks and brief cameos.
7) Bonnie
Key Pokemon: Dedenne, Zygarde
It's a bit funny that Ash's youngest traveling companion is also the one who had a legendary Pokemon as a partner. Bonnie, Clemont's younger sister, found and befriended a mysterious Pokemon named "Squishy" halfway through Pokemon XY: The Series. Bonnie and her friends later discovered that Squishy was part of Zygarde, a Legendary Pokemon that could collect "Zygarde Cells" hidden throughout the region to grow into more monstrous and powerful forms.
Unlike most of Ash's other companions, Bonnie's character remained static during her travels through Ash. She was an admitted Pokemon fanatic who loved to play and pet Pokemon even at the risk of bodily harm. Bonnie also looked out for her older brother, often trying to pair him off with different girls they met through their journey. Bonnie also played matchmaker for Serena at times, often poking fun at her unrequited crush on Ash.
6) May
Key Pokemon: Blaziken, Munchlax, Venusaur, Skitty, Glaceon, Squirtle, Eevee
When Misty and Brock left the series at the end of their journeys through the Johto region, Ash travel to Hoenn and met the rookie trainer May. Unlike Ash's previous companions, May was inexperienced and looked to Ash for guidance as she tentatively entered the world of Pokemon Contests. Using Ash as a teacher instead of a student was an interesting change of pace and kept Pokemon: Advanced Generation interesting and different from the original anime.
May had one of the biggest character arcs throughout the Pokemon anime. She started off as an inexperienced trainer, but her exploits and skills in Pokemon Contests were internationally known by the time she permanently left Ash's side. She also was one of the few people to recognize that Ash's reckless battling style didn't necessarily sync up with other kinds of Pokemon training. May left Ash's company in part because she realized his offense-heavy battling technique didn't work well in Pokemon Contests. When she returned in the Diamond and Pearl series, her skills had improved by leaps and bounds thanks to her time apart from Ash.
5) Clemont
Key Pokemon: Bunnelby, Chespin, Luxray
Clemont replaced Cilan as Ash's "caretaker" during Ash's travels through Kalos, handling the cooking, navigating, and other daily camp activities. However, Clemont was much younger than Cilan or Brock, and was usually presented as Ash's equal instead of an older mentor figure. Like several of Ash's other companions, Clemont was a gym leader, although their inevitable battle happened a lot farther into the series than usual. Both Ash and Clemont had assembled some pretty powerful Pokemon by the time they faced each other in a gym battle, leading to a powerhouse brawl between Ash's Goodra and Clemont's Luxray.
Clemont's true love was science and he usually unveiled at least one ridiculous invention per episode. While some of the inventions worked, most usually exploded on him. Despite Clemont's frequent scientific failures, he seemed to instill a love in Ash. Ash was always excited whenever Clemont pulled out one of his new inventions.
4) Misty
Key Pokemon: Togepi, Staryu, Psyduck, Politoed, Corsola, Horsea
Ash met Misty in the worst of circumstances: fleeing from a flock of angry Spearow with his injured Pikachu. He stole Misty's bike, hoping to create some distance between himself and the Spearow, but he ended up gaining one of his most valuable traveling companion.
While Misty claimed she only followed Ash because he owed her a new bike, her real reasons for following Ash were far less clear. She clearly enjoyed being around Ash, even though they spent many episodes bickering with one another. Unlike Ash's later companions, Misty was already an established gym leader with no desires to explore alternative avenues of Pokemon training. She was even presented as Ash's equal in battle, beating him several times in key competitions.
Ash and Misty clearly had a complicated relationship, one that many fans felt bordered the romantic. Unfortunately, that romantic tension often presented itself in the form of constant bickering, something that grated on fans over the years.
Misty eventually left Ash to run the Cerulean City Gym, although she met up with Ash again in the Hoenn region. She was last seen taming a Gyarados and gaining the full confidence to run her gym without her sister's help.
3) Dawn
Key Pokemon: Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Quilava, Mamoswine
When Ash first arrived at the Sinnoh region, he quickly met and befriended Dawn, his primary companion throughout the Diamond and Pearl series. Ash and Dawn bonded much more quickly than his previous female companions and quickly became best friends. The two even traded Pokemon at one point, marking the only time that Ash has ever permanently traded one of his Pokemon away.
Dawn represented a weird mix of Ash's previous two female companions. While Dawn was a new trainer and aspiring "Pokemon Coordinator" like May, her over-confidence was much more in line with Misty's personality. Over time, her cockiness was tempered by experience, leading to Dawn becoming a more mature, but still highly confident trainer.
Dawn ranks high in our rankings as she had a positive character arc throughout the series and was one of the few female companions whose relationship with Ash didn't seem to devolve into constant bickering.
2) Serena
Key Pokemon: Pancham, Sylveon, Braixen
Ash's most recent female companion is also the one who's known him the longest. When Ash and Serena were children, they both attended a Pokemon Camp at Professor Oak's lab. Ash helped Serena when she got hurt exploring Viridian Forest, forming the foundation of a longstanding crush.
Serena reunited with Ash when he traveled to her native Kalos region and calmed a rampaging Pokemon on live TV. She immediately traveled to his location and reintroduced herself, thus starting on her own Pokemon journey to become a Pokemon performer. Serena quickly proved she was a natural at Pokemon performances, dancing her way to the finals of Kalos's Showcase Competitions. If not for an untimely ankle injury, she might have even won the event on her first try.
Serena is the only one of Ash's companions to explicitly have romantic interest in him, and their friendship/romance was much more of a focus than in past anime series. Ash and Serena even went out on a date together, although it's unclear if Ash even realized what he was doing. When Serena left Ash to go to the Hoenn region to continue her training, she gave Ash an unexpected going away present: a romantic kiss. Ash didn't quite know how to react to Serena kissing him, but it sure looked like he didn't mind one bit.
1) Brock
Key Pokemon: Geodude, Onix, Croagunk, Crobat, Ludicolo, Marshtomp
Sitting at #1 in our rankings is Brock, Ash's longest partner (next to Pikachu, of course.) Brock is the only one of Ash's companion to follow Ash between different anime series, following Ash from the original Pokemon anime all the way to the end of Diamond and Pearl. Brock was easily the most mature of Ash's companions, acting as Ash's older brother and providing valuable guidance about Pokemon training and life to Ash as he roamed the Pokemon world.
Brock's only real weakness was to a pretty face, as he usually chased any girl he met with reckless abandon. All of his advances were met with failure, although a few girls weren't totally disinterested in Brock. Most of the time, Misty, Max, or one of his Pokemon would pull Brock away by the ear before he made too much of a fool of himself.
Although Brock initially wanted to be a Pokemon breeder, he eventually discovered that his true passion was in taking care of Pokemon. When he finally left Ash, it was to return to Pewter City to become a Pokemon doctor.
