[Editor's note: This incredible, epic article has been floating around the web for about a year; it's originally from one of the memers at 4chan (though it is suspected to have actually been written by either Francis Bacon, Mary Anne Evans, or George Eliot). Recently over at deviantART, an individual known only as BellicoseBreakfast took it upon itself to edit and proof the article for improved readability and coherence, and post it on the deviantART forum. For this, we are most grateful. Rather than merely link to a forum, diaphanous and mercurial as feline affection, we have taken the liberty of reposting it below in its lengthy entirety, with a merciful page break.]
Have you ever noticed that the pacing, tone and story development of Pokemon changes after Ash is hit by lightning in the early episodes, how Ash and his world were relatively normal until after the incident?
I have a theory.
The accident with the bike put Ash into a coma. Days later he was found and was hurried to the hospital and treated with heavy medications, which is why Team Rocket became less menacing. The medication took effect and stabilized his coma dreams so that instead of being terrifying, they became idyllic, allowing him to live out his Pokemon master fantasies.
After the beginning episodes, the series is the result of Ash’s subconscious mind fulfilling his desires, as well as attempting to escape reality. Should Ash realize he’s in a coma, he would wake up, but suffer brain damage, so he must take down all of his mental barriers one by one until he can come to grips with who he is and escape his coma (since his mind will not allow him to escape until he’s come to terms with himself).
Further evidence comes from the realization that even though his journeys take him vast distances, he never travels on a bike due to having developed a phobia.
The coma and fantasy explains why he doesn’t change much physically. It also explains the worldwide socialism, as he thought up a safe system of government that would run smoothly and keep the world going, allowing his adventures to work like they do. It also explains how a child can go off on his own into a world full of dangerous and untamed animals, and why town has the same police officer and every Pokemon centre has the exact same nurse. Joy and Jenny he knew from his hometown, and they act as a safety net or anchor, allowing him to feel safe no matter where he goes. Joy and Jenny represent stability. The professors represent Ash’s ideals, which is why Gary became a professor. The fantasy also explains why every time he enters a new region, virtually no one has heard of him, despite his conquests. How could Paul, the rival of the Sinnoh area, not know of someone who has placed in at least the top 16 of all three leagues and has destroyed the Orange League and Battle Frontier?
Moving on to the characters closer to him, Ash’s traveling partners are aspects of himself that he can enjoy, but doesn’t like to associate with himself. Brock is Ash’s repressed sexuality. Ash fell into the coma a virgin and needed an outlet for his growing sexual frustrations — since he can never experience sex, Brock must never succeed. But Brock isn’t just a projection of Ash’s sexuality, he is also a projection of Ash’s fatherly instincts. Brock leaves his siblings to journey with Ash because Ash can’t cope with having that much responsibility at his age. Brock’s stay with professor Ivy was an attempt to outright suppress his sexuality. You may notice that James got much more dialogue in this part of the series, as well as getting more touchy-feely with his Pokemon and exposing most of his backstory. Ash didn’t enjoy this much, which is why Brock comes back horrified and refuses to speak about it (Ash’s subconscious was repressing him at the time, so other than a general feeling of dread, he has no idea of what happened). Further evidence of Brock being Ash’s sexuality is that he keeps returning to the series after Ash meets a new girl aspect of himself.
Misty is the first such aspect we encounter. Because she is the first and because she is merely an aspect of Ash are explanations for why Misty plays so prominently in the show but is ultimately unattainable (because he never really knew her before the coma). Since Misty is his initial love interest — if only subconsciously — he needed her to reach a certain level of womanhood. He felt that people could only have relationships after they’ve matured. In practice, though, he finds that he can’t cope with it (lacking the real-world experience) and wants the normal pushy, arrogant Misty he knew, thus not letting her keep Togepi. We can see this arc in the constant berating of his sexuality (Brock), but her eventual mellowing until she had faded into the background. Since Ash was quite attached to her, this was traumatizing and after this experience, anyone around him “threatening” to mature quickly ends up leaving for another, more naive fill-in.
Gary Oak is what Ash wants to be. He is wish fulfillment. He succeeded, and then settled down to a normal life. Ash needs someone to succeed in his world or he won’t be able to validate it and will start questioning why he is where he is. It’s a subconscious trap to keep him from becoming too aware of his situation. His mind must have figured out that awareness of the coma would snap him out of it, but it would cause brain damage, so it took something the boy already loved and built a way out for him with it. However, Ash is too complacent to make a final stand and fight his way out of it, and so cannot escape. This is why he keeps encountering Legendary Pokemon. They’re his mind’s way of showing him he can do great things if he tries, and it’s a way to encourage him to push forwards.
Team Rocket are the qualities of himself that Ash deems “negative” but is coming to terms with. Jesse and James want to appease Giovanni, Ash’s father figure, and Jessie will trick the submissive James into doing her bidding to achieve this. Meowth especially wants to appease him because he remembers the good times with Giovanni. This places Meowth in a category known as Ash’s (corrupted) innocence. This is apparent because Meowth is able to speak. In fact, the whole reason Meowth can speak is so that Ash can eventually accept the aspects of Team Rocket as parts of himself.
Ash has issues with his father, so he put him atop the evil corporation and demonized him. There may be an actual Team Rocket (in the real world) but it’s doubtful that Ash’s father is their leader. Ash likely feels that the split between his parents was partly his fault, but also partly blames his father. The split caused his mother to move out of the city, down to Pallet Town and is one reason why Ash initially embarks upon the journey: to escape the turmoil at home. But the whole organization, including Butch and Cassidy, is symbolic of his inability to escape his father’s machinations.
James is implied homosexuality (which does not necessarily make Ash homosexual) and gullibility, and Jesse is vanity and manipulation. Since Meowth has the potential for rehabilitation, and doesn’t want to be evil, this once again fits in with the conflicting personalities and demonized-self theory. Team Rocket cross-dresses because Ash is exploring his sexuality (a different facet than what Brock represents) and this was a method that allowed his gay/vain side to experiment freely. When he found that it wasn’t something for him, his “free” side stopped playing with it.
Max came with May. He played the ego and she played the id with great aspirations in that “session”. They worked for a little while, but with Ash being a teenager, his sexuality had to come back into play. He kept reinventing himself and eventually wrote new aspects, but his mind slowly brought the old ones back as a crutch to make the transition easier.
Dawn is Ash giving himself a chance to love. Since he already established Misty as someone he’s not likely to go anywhere with, he created a new super female, one that was more like him, and less violent. You may note that while both May and Misty had no tolerance for Brock, Dawn seems to try to shrug it off.
Tracey, the Breeder, was a possible future for Ash that he discarded. This future was one that he sent off to work with the professor (Ash’s ultimate ideal of a father figure) when Tracey disrupted the dynamic Ash had with his other possibilities. With Ash’s mind fighting the coma and Ash viewing this person as a companion, Tracey was quickly replaced with a more threatening rival.
Pikachu represents Ash’s humanity, hence the episodes where they get separated and Ash wants desperately to find him, even to the point of working with the Rockets (aspects of himself he would never normally associate with) but for some reason cannot. Team Rocket want to steal Pikachu and hand him over to Giovanni. Jesse and James will always oppose Ash because Ash is terrified of the thought of his humanity lying in the hands of his father. However, this is the same reason that he will work with those aspects of himself in order to save his humanity from just becoming flat out lost. Ash couldn’t evolve Pikachu because that would mean challenging his concept of who he was, which was something he wasn’t comfortable with while still working through his original issues.
The narrator is Ash’s higher mind, recapping and explaining the progress he’s made and the tribulations he will face, allowing itself insight into how best to awaken him.
Team Rocket’s methods gradually become more and more ludicrous because Ash is only a child dreaming these things up. That is why Team Rocket’s disguises are always believed. He knows it’s them (at least on a subconscious level), but chooses to ignore it so that he can better himself. In a sense, the Ash who wants to escape is sabotaging the Ash who wants to stay lost in his mind so that there can be more conflict, and hopefully an eventual escape. The escape being a consequence of coming to terms with who he is, as, mentioned previously, Team Rocket are a method for Ash to deal with grounds he’s uncomfortable with tackling on his own.
You may recall that early in the show there were animals and references to animals. For example, the fish in the aquarium of the Cerulean city gym, or that the Pokedex lists Pikachu as “rat-like”. These animals don’t matter to Ash’s psyche so they don’t come into play much. If Ash had loved puppies, everything would be about different breeds of dogs, and a dog fighting circuit, but as the series goes on, you see fewer realistic animals and more Pokemon. This could be a sign of Ash’s mind deteriorating. As he’s in the coma, he’s losing concepts of some animals and machinery and replacing them with Pokemon. It could explain things like electric Pokemon working as power generators; these are signs that his memory of the old world is slipping more and more as time goes by. The Pokemon realm will be idealized continuously the longer he has no stimulus from the real world. Ash may or may not be mentally deteriorating, but he is becoming more accustomed to his fake world’s rules. The wild Pokemon are his rationalizations for the functioning of his created fantasy. It’s the “a wizard did it” syndrome. If he doesn’t know how it works, his mind says Pokemon.
The Pokemon in Ash’s team, however, serve the purpose of displaying his issues and aspects of himself. For example, Charmander represents his sex drive (not his sexuality, like Brock). At first it’s a cute, easy thing to control, but eventually becomes a raging inferno of disobedience since Ash has no real understanding of his sexuality and thus has no way to vent or keep it in check. Bulbasaur was his unwillingness to change, reflected in when it declines to evolve and almost decided to stay behind unless he battled it. Squirtle was his willingness to follow the lead of others, as evidenced by the gang it ran with, even though he ran the gang, they were viewed as one group, and Ash’s subconscious just gave him the strongest one. Butterfree was his crushing loneliness, which he dealt with when he released it to join a flock. His bird types are his recklessness, always willing to sacrifice something at a moment’s notice for the win. When Ash is trading Pokemon, it’s an attempt to push his own problems away on someone else; however, he realizes this and usually trades back fairly quickly.
Not only are Ash’s Pokemon a manifestation of different parts of himself, the Pokemon of other trainers are as well. Koffing and Ekans were symbolic of Team Rocket’s willingness to change, hence their evolutions. Once his mind was able to overcome that roadblock and allow them to change once, it gave him the chance to truly change.
An interesting note is that Pupitar is a rationalization: a Pokemon that a rival caught before he met him. Even Ash would become suspicious if everyone he met had no carry-over from previous places he had been to.
Other trainers are more direct forms of his issues — ones that he must either come to terms with or outright suppress. Gym Leaders are more primary aspects of his personality, with each Pokemon being stronger than the last, to display a level of skill he could be capable of if only he gave into it. In effect, he is doing battle with a part of him that he would rather not have in control. Originally, Ash had the battles, which evolved into team battles and contests. The explanation for this is that his issues became more and more complicated, and the means of dealing with them needed to become more complex. The fact that he uses issues that he has already dominated to win these are signs that he’s growing stronger.
Ash releases his Pokemon because his mind is forcing him to let go of them. The second he raises an overpowered team, a tournament comes up, and after fighting his way through it he has to go to a new land for new challenges. But with an overpowered team, there won’t be any challenges, and no way to motivate him further, so the part of Ash that wants to stay in the coma and keep journeying releases his solved issues so that he can continue and overcome the unresolved ones. This is essentially his mind forcing him to deal with his issues.
Ash’s rivals and the Elite Four are ultimately the strongest part of this cycle. Having Pokemon that are essentially godlike, they represent both what can be attained and what is unattainable. Ash’s rivals are all possible future he envisions for himself (note that they are all older than him). This originated with Oak, someone Ash knew from real life and built up into a sort of god within his mind, but Oak progressed and changed to suit Ash’s vision of himself and his ultimate desire, eventually settling down into a professor role after beating the Elite Four. With Gary Oak in retirement, his mind needed a new rival for him, thus the births of Richie (the good aspect of his rivalry) and Paul.
Paul is his mind’s last ditch efforts to snap him out of this, to force Ash to actually come to terms that this perfect world is not the best option or path to waking up. Paul is Ash’s shadow, one that wants to push on even harder and harder, and the part of him that will stop at nothing to escape this coma world.
Mewtwo is a new form of treatment, done with electric impulses and a machine to knock Ash out of it, taking down every last one of his mental guards (the original Pokemon in the movie). In Ash’s mind, Mewtwo and his clones were (in the real world) the treatment for the mental safeguards that were protecting Ash and keeping him comatose: the Pokemon of his world. The clones were counters to the issues that Ash had thought solved, and so each appeared to Ash as the exact copy of his defense. The clones didn’t play by the rules of Ash’s world, they didn’t use any special Pokemon attacks or moves — they just beat down their counterpart through brute strength. The treatment was working.
There were side effects. The electric jolts were beginning to affect Ash’s nervous system, and if the treatment continued, he would be paralyzed. His mind manifested this in the dreamworld by petrifying him. Were it not for the end of the treatment by Ash’s mother (who knew her son wouldn’t want to live in a world he couldn’t explore), Ash would have remained as stone forever. After this, Ash needed to recover from the damage caused by the electric therapy. In order to reduce the danger Ash’s consciousness felt from it, his subconscious began downplaying the effects of electricity in his world, which is why Pikachu’s electric attacks — once noted for their strength by Team Rocket — no longer have any effect on Ash, other than comic relief.
As we can see, Ash may well have been trapped forever in this world. But like every dream, like everything, there is a beginning and an end. What would happen if Ash never recovered? In his hospital room, we see Delia, obviously distraught, talking to a doctor with a grim look on his face. He’s saying that their insurance is up, and the boy has had no change in brain activity for seven years. That the shock of taking him off life support has a very small chance of awakening him.
She tearfully agrees.
Back in Ash’s world, he has finally defeated the Elite Four, and one by one, the people around him start disappearing. Eventually, everything is black. Pikachu comes dashing towards him, glowing brighter and brighter in the darkness. Eventually he reaches Ash and the two embrace one last time.
Back in the hospital room, his life signs fading, Ash mutters his final words.
I…want to be…the very…best…
He will die, never having known his dream, except as naught but a dream. When he came back to reality, he knew it all for the lie it was, knew it as his imagination. Knowing that his efforts, ambitions and friends were nothing, he will let go.
As he utters his final phrase, he barely opens his eyes and sees the silhouette of his mother, her face hidden by her hands wiping away tears. They make eye contact, and one final realization fills him before he loses all strength.
He sees that his mother was holding out hope that he’d recover all that time. He sees her and finds that her hope had been broken as she’d come to the realization that she’d outlived her only child. He dies knowing that he is loved, but that it means the one person closest and most real to him is utterly crushed.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine
April 9, 2009 at 8:15 pm |
Too long
April 10, 2009 at 8:56 pm
That’s what she said.
April 11, 2009 at 3:17 pm
For this blog, there’s no such thing as “too long.”
July 27, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I’m think I’m about to cry…
August 18, 2009 at 3:18 pm
…maybe if i still cared about pokemon
December 30, 2009 at 7:37 pm
okay this is shit. its just a damn TV show not real life so just leave it a lone.
April 9, 2009 at 8:40 pm |
This was amazing.
Fourty stars!
April 9, 2009 at 8:49 pm |
Those of you that didn’t even bother to read the first 2 paragraphs are retarded, as it is well worth at least a little bit of reading
April 9, 2009 at 9:30 pm |
Well…that was depressing.
April 9, 2009 at 9:34 pm |
This is incredible.
Given I was about 10 at the time this stuff came out, I never thought about it.
But your theory is nice and backed up very well.
Kudos
April 9, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
I must say that was a pretty amazing read. I never even considered any of that when I watched the show, though admittedly I was only like 10 when they first started, maybe younger idk.
and as I pretty much lost interest in the show about halfway through Johto League, did the last few paragraphs about the doctor and his mom and stuff actually happen in the show or is that just conjecture? that’s what it seemed like to me
November 4, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I was like… five or six. o.O
I lost interest in the show somewhere in the TV equivilant of the Ruby and Saphire versions of the games. I’m kinda wondering if that last part was made up, too…
If it was, then I can’t believe I fell for it, ’cause I was hanging on to the story for some reason…
(I guess I’m James, huh? =3 The gullibility?)
January 30, 2010 at 7:06 pm
don’t worry that has never actually happened, and it will not end in any year in the near future. it’s making too much money.
omg, i remember the first episode when i watched it about 10 years ago, and the differences between before and after the bolt of lightning is noticable to the point to where i’m suprised i didn’t notice it. i would love it if the series ended like this though.
April 9, 2009 at 10:24 pm |
Crazy nut-so tripfest 9000. Huge pokemon fan when I was like 10. All i could do was just reminisce and think about it. I definitely agree. I was thinking about forwarding this to my contact list but only one person on it would genuinely appreciate this. SOOOO out to you Keith.
April 9, 2009 at 10:29 pm |
That was a sad ending there. But it was a very interesting article, and it pulled a lot more out of Pokemon than I thought possible.
April 9, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
Best thing I’ve read all week. Good job, it was pretty convincing.
April 9, 2009 at 11:46 pm |
Stop that.
What if I don’t need any unnecessary DEEP in my animu.
December 27, 2009 at 7:22 am
Then don’t read and learn to spell?
This wasn’t made for people like you, so go away?
April 10, 2009 at 12:12 am |
Wall of Text, but some funny parts.
April 10, 2009 at 12:16 am |
As a fan of Pokemon from the start, I’ll say that the entry was completely dead-on. It explains everything.
April 10, 2009 at 12:20 am |
Wow. I knew someone would figure it out eventually. Really good insight! I swear, if you didn’t read it because it’s too long or too hard to understand, you are definitely missing out.
April 10, 2009 at 12:35 am |
motherfucking
“Back in the hospital room, his life signs fading, Ash mutters his final words.
I…want to be…the very…best…”
I bawwed. You made a grown ass man cry over a cartoon’s theme song. Amazing article, I stumbled this and I’m glad I did.
April 17, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Me too, and I haven’t watched pokemon in so loonnng.
All of a sudden I want watch all the time I missed.
April 10, 2009 at 1:33 am |
Deep bro. Reading this at 3 Am is not a great idea. You start thinking that you are in the coma too. What if the Pokemon are real and I am suppressing them in coma state. gay man gay lol
April 10, 2009 at 7:21 am
being slightly drunk doesn’t help either!
April 10, 2009 at 8:54 am
hahaha
April 11, 2009 at 4:07 am
I sh** thee not, That Exact Thing happened to me and i have not played a Pokemon game in years; a temporarily reality altering experience. Ow. My brain…
November 20, 2009 at 8:06 pm
DUDE
I did the same thing
screws with your head
January 8, 2010 at 3:00 am
Man! Reading this high is a must!
April 10, 2009 at 1:55 am |
A-freaking-mazing!
I believe the last part was just a kind of wrapping up point, but it was extremely well thought out. Pokemon is one of my guilty pleasures and I never thought about it in that context.
It was part essay, part story in my book. Thank you. Some parts were a little “off”, but it was so minor that I’ll forgive you.
Some how this makes my love Pokemon even more. You sneaky bastard.
This was the best, most well written article that I’ve read in a good long while. A plus!
April 10, 2009 at 2:18 am |
that was awesome
loved the sad ending
April 10, 2009 at 3:49 am |
I think the fist paragraphs were awsome and so was the ending but some stuff aren’t really that necessary, like describing all characters (not worth it)
April 10, 2009 at 4:09 am |
Very interesting. I didn’t watch the complete series back then, but this analysis makes perfectly sense.
I guess there really are quite resembling patterns in this world, if a drama series can be translated into a freudian complex this flawlessly.
Or in the human mind, at least.
December 14, 2009 at 12:12 pm
You can do this same analysis thing with any work of literature and it makes everything make sense. Also with some movies, too.
Great article, makes pokemon seem more important kind of like DBZ did with eastern philosophy lol. Glad I read this!
April 10, 2009 at 4:38 am |
Pokemon would have been way better if this was the case! O.o
I applaud you. You gave me plot bunnies. XD
Though I wonder… what if it ended not in death, but in rehabilitation? As in, his coma finally ends and he wakes up and stuff?
December 5, 2009 at 1:06 am
Ehh… I think that if he woke up, it would cause too much drama and be too traumatic for him, as well as the viewers. In my opinion, I feel it’s best to leave it as a dramatic tragedy and be grateful for the amazing times he had in his dream world. It wraps everything up and brings it to a nice close. Plus not too many people get to experience a world like that, nor would anyone actually comprehend or appreciate the tales of his dream world.
April 10, 2009 at 4:39 am |
Wow, this is an amazing, perfectly described, beautiful and tragic analysis of the pokemon series.
I’m glad I found this
April 13, 2009 at 11:32 pm
wow, the only thing to make this better is if right before he died, his mother sobs near the hospital window as he rocks back and forth in the beetle position chanting “I-I-I C-c-c-c-h-h-h-hoose Y-Y-Y-You”
April 10, 2009 at 4:47 am |
Someone needs to lengthen this and put it into book form. Pay the royalties or whatever to the copyright owners of Pokemon and make the kiddies cry. This would become the next Harry Potter!
So fucking awesome! Of course, people need to realize that just because something sounds good, or “deep” does not mean that it makes sense. This is a great site though! Just realized the name of it (got here by stumble). Definitely an awesome ovearanalyzation!
April 10, 2009 at 5:00 am |
this version is somewhat amputated
the full version can be found here:
http://community.livejournal.com/pokemon/1575631.html?thread=23233999
April 10, 2009 at 5:08 am |
Someone needs to animate this and turn it into a children’s show. This could become the next Yu-Gi-Oh!
April 10, 2009 at 8:30 am |
i stop watching like a year ago is he show over
April 10, 2009 at 8:52 am |
Wow. Jesus. This guy must have aced his high school English course. To make such deep analysis out of nothing…wow. Im thoroughly impressed and would love this put into a video form. Great job.
April 10, 2009 at 9:25 am |
big time pokemon fan. this was completely amazing. never would have thought of it myself. “I…want to be…the very…best…” the second time something pokemon related made me cry, the first time being when butterfree was released
December 2, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Omg… I cried when Butterfree was released also. AND when I read this article. Not really cry but a tear drop.
April 10, 2009 at 9:34 am |
Magical. I always questioned the changes in pokemon from animals to…pokemon (get what I’m saying?) and other things like why Ash just never “gets” girls, why the seemingly homosexual times in pokemon were short-lived, why every one of Ash’s rivals were older, and etc. Though not the factual, this is pretty good. Kudos.
April 10, 2009 at 9:36 am |
though not factual***
April 10, 2009 at 9:41 am |
wow, thats deep….
April 10, 2009 at 9:59 am |
the full version is harder to read but less edited by an outside source
this is amazing, its something that makes pokemon so much more interesting! All these tl;dr make me angry, ignore that and open your mind to this
April 10, 2009 at 10:08 am |
So what is Snorlax? The elephant in the room/subconcious? AKA his realization that he is doomed to a life of constant slumber?
June 2, 2009 at 11:57 am
Snorlax would be his mind been eatten away (Snorlax has to eat 900 pounds a day to stay “happy”, the human memory can remember up to 20-35 years worth of infomation before you really forget, since ash had problems at times remembering people/places Snorlax would be his mind deteriating (forgive spelling)
April 10, 2009 at 10:17 am |
This is fantastic.
April 10, 2009 at 10:17 am |
Nice point, Billybob. Who knows? If awakened, terrible things could happen to him, similar as to what happens when Snorlax wakes up.
April 10, 2009 at 10:35 am |
Well I was never a big pokemon fan but this was an amazing article. Makes the shoe seem much more worthwhile.
April 10, 2009 at 10:48 am |
And i suppose slowpoke is a sign of the brain damage if he wakes up?
Anyway, excellent read.
April 10, 2009 at 11:30 am |
I’m sad now.
April 10, 2009 at 12:06 pm |
Oh. My. God.
pokemon will NEVER be the same again…
amazing article, very well thought out.
was this for an assignment?
April 10, 2009 at 12:11 pm |
confirmation bias…
April 10, 2009 at 12:16 pm |
This has got to be the best thing i’ve read in a long time. Everything makes perfect sense, wow, my only wish is that i thought of something like this first.
April 10, 2009 at 12:19 pm |
Holy crap. Thats like insane. BUT AWESOME!!!! IT MAKES ME WANT TO WATCH POKEMON NOW!!!!!
April 10, 2009 at 1:49 pm |
I wonder if this could have been the template from which the actual show was written. WOW ill never look at anything the same way ever again…
April 10, 2009 at 2:00 pm |
There may be some slight truth to some of this, but for the most part I think part the author is just way over-analyzing.
Didn’t like how this started out as a theory and ended as fan fiction. The end is extremely stupid.
April 10, 2009 at 3:06 pm |
tldr
April 10, 2009 at 3:13 pm |
Excellent. That was hilarious. Rather well written too…
April 10, 2009 at 3:48 pm |
That… was… just… incredible.
That was so amazing, I really don’t know what to say about it, other then that it is AWESOME.
April 10, 2009 at 4:59 pm |
That just killed my childhood.
October 21, 2009 at 9:58 pm
lolololoolololololo
April 10, 2009 at 5:23 pm |
You.
Are a genius.
April 10, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
^^^^^ haha
April 10, 2009 at 5:51 pm |
ummm…ok it was pretty brilliant, the only problem I have with it is, you said he goes into an coma after being hit with a lightning strike and that’s when things get weird, but the very first thing you see is ash putting on his gloves while watching a Pokemon match… so that would mean that Pokemon isn’t something made up in his head at all…
April 10, 2009 at 9:25 pm
It was never said that pokemon were all made up in his head, most of the first generation is “real” and the later ones are in his head. He just starts distorting how pokemon would look in other regions with less sense and realism than before.
April 10, 2009 at 11:54 pm
oh ok, so Pokemon werent fake he just wasnet like as great as he was…
ok that works…
April 10, 2009 at 6:00 pm |
tl;dr (lol pokemans)
January 5, 2010 at 12:42 am
Wilford brimley, perhaps it is an analysis of archetypes /and/ basic Freudian principles.
April 10, 2009 at 6:30 pm |
[...] Pokemon Explained [Editor's note: This incredible, epic article has been floating around the web for about a year; it's originally from [...] [...]
April 10, 2009 at 6:44 pm |
Funny idea, but clearly whoever came up with this has no understanding of neuroscience. The brain does not work this way.
June 27, 2009 at 5:47 am
Wow, you’re so awesome, ruining a great read like that. Whatever would we do without you? Quick, hop in the Internet Party Pooper-mobile, I sense some originality somewhere else on the web that needs to be stopped!
Fuckin’ jackass.
August 15, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Could you explain this better, please?
October 21, 2009 at 10:00 pm
yeah what KoNP said, fuckin downer
November 22, 2009 at 1:19 am
our understanding and knowledge of dreams and certain functions of the brain are largely theories, so a statement as blunt as “the brain does not work this way” is really not a very educated thing to say. And give it a rest, this was a very entertaining read! I love the freudian psychoanalytic approach to a great series that has been a part of most kids’ lives at one point or another over the last decade and a half.
December 27, 2009 at 7:32 am
If the brain couldn’t possibly, at all, work this way, explain hallucinations and sleep walking? Dreams and visions? Dejavu?
The brain isn’t all figured out – we don’t even use all of it!
This was a great theory.
April 10, 2009 at 7:12 pm |
Hat’s off to you, that was a great analysis.
April 10, 2009 at 7:16 pm |
This reminds me of Yume Nikki, only difference is the girl is completely batshit and does not dream of pokémon but horrible sexual traumas, bullying,gender identity disorder and god knows what. She kills herself in the ending. So Ash is looking pretty good but it’s still sad:(
April 10, 2009 at 7:28 pm |
Wow, I love reading stuff like this regardless of the medium. I.E. anime, music children’s tails. Thank you for the repost and the clean up of the article.
April 10, 2009 at 11:24 pm |
[...] The Journal of Cartoon Over-analyzations: Pokemon Explained [...]
April 11, 2009 at 12:14 am |
Too long man … but thanks for letting me know … cheers
http://abhi.com.np/blog/
April 11, 2009 at 12:15 am |
Thanks man
April 11, 2009 at 12:50 am |
Very good read, it gave me… a sad and depressing look on the pokemon world, but it made sense…
This was a childhood pleasure that helped me grow up, and to think of someone theorizing this depressing alternative makes me really think about life. Thank you
April 11, 2009 at 2:43 am |
Decent theories, I just have a problem with a couple things.
1. Ash must live in a world where Pokemon do indeed exist because the bike accident happened AFTER he got Pikachu.
2. He can’t have a bike phobia because there have been two episodes(or maybe more, haven’t seen every episode) basically dedicated to traveling on a long road(like in the game) on bikes.
April 11, 2009 at 7:21 am
1. Yes, pokemon do indeed exist in his world. But he barely had any contact with them. In the real world, it seemed that the pokemon were more violent then they were after the lightning shock. Correct? The kindness in pokemon were depicted only in his head to keep his dreams alive. He *was* just a kid, after all.
2. Ignore the games, this is based solely on the anime. In the games you can play as whoever you want to be, not necessarily Ash.
June 2, 2009 at 12:04 pm
i think there are ep’s where they ride bikes (and i think in one of the opening themes they ride bikes) but when they get to the cycle road in the game Misty started up about the no bikes thing (ash was angry at misty for bringing this up) but nurse joy DID give them bikes so they could deliver the Shellder to the pokemon center on the other side of cycle road
January 5, 2010 at 12:49 am
The “Bridge Bike Gang” episode did have Ash on a bike. In fact, he took a really big leap (literally), for someone who has a phobia of bikes. I think here it is important to note that Team Rocket (with a gang) soon appeared after Ash and his friends began to ride the bikes. Perhaps this was Ash’s attempt to overcome his phobia, but the presence of these ‘bad guys’ shows his opposition to bikes.
In future episodes, Ash may attempt to overcome this phobia once again, but the bike is always quickly forgotten. Each bike must be given back or destroyed in order to stop Ash from panicking too much.
April 11, 2009 at 4:55 am |
Omg, this makes me baww. Great job. Whoever did the original is seriously a genious.
April 11, 2009 at 7:38 am |
I wanna cry now, thx.
April 11, 2009 at 7:50 am |
I know it has been said a thousand times already, but I would like to applaud you personally. Making something so simple so goddamn deep is simply brilliant!
April 11, 2009 at 8:02 am |
It was quite interesting, an incredible deduction.
April 11, 2009 at 9:49 am |
[...] Pokemon Explained [...]
April 11, 2009 at 10:02 am |
HAY GUYS! Lets copypasta something from 4chan from over a year ago and get website views with it!
April 11, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Worked for me! I highly recommend this approach.
Actually, if you cared to read the brief note at the top of the article (tl;dr?), I gave full credit, with links, to everyone involved.
December 27, 2009 at 7:34 am
I’d have never got to read this if they hadnt. Im glad they did
April 11, 2009 at 12:09 pm |
this is fucking lame! and you are fucking lame for coming up with this elaborate back story to a stupid children’s show. dont you realize this show had no premis to it? its for kids! kids will buy into anything colorful and weird looking, even if it has no point to it. watch the Chinpoko Man episode of South Park. that will explain everything.
October 25, 2009 at 6:24 am
please note the website name – “CARTOONOVERANALYZATIONS”. I tough, personally think this makes disturbing amounts of sense, and could be elaborated on immensely.
April 11, 2009 at 12:42 pm |
FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT FOR OTHER SHOWS ALSO
April 11, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Dare I recommend the other 100 articles on this very web site?
April 11, 2009 at 3:12 pm |
Holy Crap dude. Another fan from the start. Still watched occasionally up to the middle of Dawn/Paul/etc. You nailed it right on the head man. Don’t know if the show ended- has it? Hence the the last paragraph?
Another Stumble- glad it found this.
April 11, 2009 at 4:19 pm |
i think that beat the nail on the head
April 11, 2009 at 7:40 pm |
wow thats pretty cool…it does explain how everyone looks alike in each town and how all the nurses have the same exact name and such..
i like it
April 11, 2009 at 8:59 pm |
I was going to post that Pokemon analysis on my blog after I edited it for readability. It seemed like a daunting task so I put it off and now it looks like you beat me to the punch.
April 11, 2009 at 10:08 pm |
An interesting take on pokemon, but I think it got a little ridiculous toward the end.
April 12, 2009 at 4:59 pm |
Wow, that actually made a lot of sense..
o__o
April 13, 2009 at 12:02 am |
Intense stuff. I realize this is just supposed to make us think and it does that well. Personally I’d say Pokemon may be the deepest show that tries to hide it that I’ve ever seen.
I cried when Pikachu said he wasn’t going to evolve. <333
April 16, 2009 at 11:23 pm
“I cried when Pikachu said he wasn’t going to evolve.”
Pansy
…
okay so did I :’(
April 13, 2009 at 4:38 am |
Ash actually does ride a bike though, in the bridge bike gang episode where he must deliver medicine to a sick pokemon across the bridge. Funny enough though, it’s not a pleasant ride, full of enemies and stormy weather. Makes sense if you think about it.
October 25, 2009 at 6:26 am
simply a confrontation of a phobia, hence the fact that it’s not a pleasant ride, full of enemies and stormy weather.
December 27, 2009 at 7:38 am
Maybe confronting a phobia to do something great was over coming a personal fear for the greater good? I doubt he would have done it in sunny conditions to deliver something of less value or importance.
Maybe in his own mind he wants to be a hero?
April 13, 2009 at 8:21 am |
Wow. I can’t explain what I am feeling right now.
It’s funny and depressing…
Very good.
April 13, 2009 at 8:28 am |
Sweet Jesus. That’s what I watched as a kid?
April 13, 2009 at 10:12 am |
Wow, I am blown away. I almost cried as I read the end, it all made sense as I kept going.
I need to check if that show has ended yet. >>;
September 18, 2009 at 6:23 pm
It’s still a cash cow, I doubt it will end until it stops making money.
April 13, 2009 at 10:55 am |
I would actually go out, and buy, then watch pokemon if it ended like this. I would. Really. If pokemon had such a deep story to it and it ended like this and explained this etc. I would totally watch it. It would be a great story to watch then and something way beyond just a kid’s show.
Even if this is completely wrong, it still is a great idea.
April 13, 2009 at 11:04 am |
Very Interesting take on a fun (used to be) show. Like most I liked the show when I was younger, more as an amusing pasttime than a fan. I got bored with it after the original episodes were done. Kinda like Power rangers it was just beating the dead horse for me.
Regardless, my hats off to the original author and to the people that cleaned it up. It’s still very in depth psychology, and I can only imagine what It must have read like to begin with.
April 13, 2009 at 11:47 am |
great success
April 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm |
wow this is the gayest crap ever. whoever wrote this article needs to get a life, go to college, get fucked up, get laid, and move on with his/her life. this is damn sad. its a cartoon for gods sake, who gives a fuck. jesus christ, i hate nerds
May 6, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Then why are you here?
July 15, 2009 at 1:09 am
Whose to say that the OP hasn’t gone to college, gotten fucked up and gotten laid? It’s kind of sad that you’d bother commenting on something that you don’t give a fuck about. If you care that little, why make a comment? Just vote 1 and move on.
September 12, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Who’s to say, this wasn’t an assignment for class he wanted to post on the internet.
December 27, 2009 at 7:41 am
And you’re here… and you read this whole thing…?
You’re like the guys that walk up 3 flights of stairs to my internet cafe and pay money just to tell the gamers they have no lifes… they just make fools of themselves.
I think you maybe just wish you were this intelligent and sulk knowing you’ll never do anything half as interesting.
April 13, 2009 at 2:40 pm |
Says the guy posting on a site about nerdy cartoons.
April 13, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
Pretty cool but here is my explanation of Pokemon:
It’s a cartoon…
April 13, 2009 at 4:41 pm |
Most excellent!
One of the best reads I’ve had in a while and what a theory!
For those who read it would agree, it’s a valued work of literature.
April 13, 2009 at 4:43 pm |
I would never relate anything like that with pokemon.
i would never also write an essay about pokemon, expressing its really, really hidden meaning. All i can say is: WOW!
April 13, 2009 at 6:24 pm |
Wow. Just freakin’ wow. Stumbled this.
April 13, 2009 at 7:42 pm |
[...] such as: Does Donald Duck suffer from PTSD?, What happens when Dr. Seuss meets Wordle?, and What’s really going on in Pokemon? Is it all in Ash’s mind?. Don’t lose another minute of sleep over these taxing questions. You have other important [...]
April 13, 2009 at 8:15 pm |
ok was that last paragraph from a real episode?
April 13, 2009 at 9:15 pm |
Uh…I thought this was a joke. I love pokemon but seriously I think this is taking it a little too far…and making it a much far more depressing scenario than anyone wants to think about while they are watching it.
I mean, nice try though…I thought it was pretty funny on a non-serious stance
October 21, 2009 at 10:09 pm
the authors a realist
probably aethiest too 
October 25, 2009 at 6:29 am
hail atheismo!
April 14, 2009 at 12:35 am |
very entertaining but i think ur looking to much in to it
May 5, 2009 at 6:53 pm
i think youre missing the point here, sweetheart.
please read the URL of this page several times outloud.
April 14, 2009 at 1:11 am |
you put a lot of thought into that, and it was good. 5/5
BTW, Please visit website
April 14, 2009 at 1:19 am |
I made it through the first several paragraphs, but geez, that was long.
This is really great. I enjoyed what I read very much. It reminds me of literature class. Reading a book and then picking it apart piece by piece and finding “secret meanings” in words and phrases.
But what bothers me about this essay is that it starts off a lot like a movie I watched. I can’t remember the name, but it was about a group of college kids. They get into a car accident, and the story follows this one girl through a series of both realistic and completely whacked out adventures. She’s living her normal life after the accident, but her boyfriend had died in the accident and she’s trying to deal with it. Then he comes back from the dead. Then her friends get involved in this weird cult. And she’s still trying to live a normal life. At the end of the movie, she wakes up in the E.R. next to one of her friends. They had all died except for her (although it could be said that she died too and the end scene was of her being gurney-d to the morgue), and the whole movie was just her mind coping with the death of all her friends.
April 14, 2009 at 1:25 am |
please tell me you used this for some sort of college essay. that’s just too well thought out to be wasted on the atrophied brains of the webhead.
April 14, 2009 at 4:16 am |
I can’t fully agree that this is flawless. The theory gets more and more holes, the more that is added. However, the part with Mewtwo is spot on.
April 14, 2009 at 8:20 am |
You know what? I was gonna call tl;dr on this
But… man, that is awesome
For serious, stumbleupon rocks
April 14, 2009 at 9:56 am |
But Pokemon ARE real!
April 14, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
Someone needs to make this into a anamated movie mabe start it off with the first ep. then wene he gets shocked so his mom wondering were he is find him 3 days later then take him on a strecher and show him geting hocked up to the life suport then make the sence go back to his fanicy land
AND WUT HAPPEDND TO PICACH????
That is a queston pepol will peobuly wondering
And in the frist ep. in the beging i think the spicky haird batteler is Ash’s dad [mabe]
April 14, 2009 at 7:04 pm |
sad….vary sad… sniff…made me cry…and in the end he dies? like it but sad. I wonder if it could be the last ep. in the entir pokemon and mabe a stays alive in sted of fully dieing
April 19, 2009 at 9:40 am
Something tells me you missed the point…
April 14, 2009 at 9:20 pm |
this is absolutely amazing.
April 15, 2009 at 4:39 pm |
dude, just write your paper for class already.
April 15, 2009 at 10:45 pm |
Just read this in it’s entirety. Very well thought out, and similarly applied. I must say, though, I’m surprised that the creator of this didn’t include the opening song in his/her analysis. Just think about it. If this theory is applied, the [original] intro basically dictates what Ash would have to do in order to escape the coma. I’ll probably end up writing an analysis of it tomorrow, when I’m not half-asleep. =P
And to all who said tl;dr, this is actually quite a good read. You’d realize this if you:
1) Learned to speak english, not ebonics
2) Listened to music, not rap. A song must constitute of more than one sentence repeated over and over
and 3) If you….you know what? Just go back to trolling forums and jacking off. Those are the only two things that your pitiful minds can handle
April 16, 2009 at 7:10 pm |
stick to fanfiction
April 16, 2009 at 11:00 pm |
To me this proves more than anything my high school English teachers were making stuff up! You can pull something incredibly complex and deep out of just about anything.
Great piece though, make me laugh quite a lot. I did feel that James representing homosexuality was just there for it’s own sake (seems everything has to have homosexual reference these days); although the constant cross dressing does support it.
Totally worth the read, I’ll be passing this on to others. Not only that, apparently there’s more of these articles on this site? Let’s go see!
April 17, 2009 at 12:50 am |
And also, in the first episode, did anyone else notice that after pikachu Does his lightning attack, the sky instantly gets brighter, theres a rainbow and he sees his first legendary pokemon, It almost signifies, his entrance into the coma. (sorry for any misspelled words)
November 9, 2009 at 1:57 am
it never actually showed that it was right after the thunderbolt. so time could have passed before it happened
April 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm |
I don;t think that would ever air on TV, or would ever be released as canon by the writers of the show, it would ruin it, and if it isn’t written, it didn’t happen.
Though they could hint at something like this.
I think Ash would survive the ordeal, seeing as how all the legendary pokemon are supposed to show him he can be great.
April 17, 2009 at 8:19 pm |
[...] [...]
April 17, 2009 at 10:43 pm |
[...] Pokemon Explained This really does make that show make sense. [...]
April 18, 2009 at 10:45 am |
You’re really creative, and since you love analysis so much, have you considered the career path of a psychologist?
April 18, 2009 at 10:46 am |
oh you seemed to run out of ideas at some parts and did some ‘forced fitting’ into the story’s context
April 20, 2009 at 9:58 pm |
*APPLAUSE* This was really insightful and mind blowing! I am very impressed by this and I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to look at Pokemon the same way again. Magnificent work!
April 22, 2009 at 12:09 pm |
Greetings all, I’m your original author.
This whole theory was formed one night on 4-chan. It was driven by my Intellect, and the questions asked of me by posters on the 4chan website’s “/a/” section. I’m available for contact at Psychicdefective@gmail.com if you have any questions for me. I’m not some crazy person who sat down and wrote it all out in one go to prove something. It was done for my personal amusement all out of one errant thought.
Why did pokemon start to suck after the first season? Well, characters eventually get stripped down to their core. Patrick starr from spongebob is a perfect example. In the early episodes he was passably intelligent, and frequently had decent ideas that were slightly… odd. Now, he has become a pure buffoon, capable of not even the SIMPLEST tasks.
This is the actual reason. But I happen to have an imagination, so I crafted a theory that fit. Expanded upon it, Fleshed it out, and added some depth. Any work of fiction has infinite possibility to be awesome, it simply needs to have the right perspective applied.
April 22, 2009 at 3:36 pm |
This page is funny and cool………
April 22, 2009 at 11:34 pm |
number one this is stupid because in the first episode of Pokemon there were actually Pokemon in the opening seen with ash watching a Pokemon battle of a gengar and a nidoran he then is shown with a whole bunch of pokemon toys posters and etc in his room and his mom comes in and tells him to get ready because tomorrow professor oak allows him choose his starter pokemon … even though ash does go to sleep in his house it still doesn;t mean pokemon never existed…
the part were all this nonsense you say started was when ash feel off his bike well for one ash already had his pikachu at time because they were being followed by a flock of sparrows and pikachu was in the basket of the bike at the time right before the lighting bolt struck causing ash to fall…. So Pokemon were already real in the world so it could not be a dream or a coma.
other thing u said ash never meets misty before he falls were do you think he gets the bike from man… From misty and i recall ash in at least 5 episodes were he rides a bike to run away from certain Pokemon.
In conclusion This is just a dump attempt to ruin Pokemon from a guy who has nothing better to do with his time then criticize one of greatest rpg games and shows ever created and he doesn;t even have actual detailed facts to support this theory.
April 23, 2009 at 12:38 am
Uh, what the fuck were you reading? The author never said that Pokemon didn’t exist. He said that the ones AFTER the first generation were just Ash’s imagination speculating on what Pokemon would look like in different parts of the world. Next, Ash falling off his bike didn’t cause the coma, nor does the author say that it did. The coma was a direct result of his getting struck by lightning (which is quite realistic for someone lucky enough to get struck by lightning), while riding the bike. The fall would have only increased damage to his body, not caused the coma. And as for your final argument, this thing doesn’t say ANYWHERE that Ash never met Misty. If you want to prove me wrong, then just hit Ctrl + F on your keyboard, and type in “Misty.” Now read the text around each instance of the word. What you claim is not there. The author said that Ash never got to know the REAL Misty, due to the coma.
As for the phobia of bikes, yes he does ride them (not including the first episode) a few times, but realize that this around ten times in a series approaching 250 episodes (if it hasn’t already exceeded that). Not only that, but don’t you think that if Ash didn’t have a phobia, riding a bike around would be less time consuming, and cause less fatigue overall?
Huh, look at that. I just took all of your arguments (and I use that term lightly) and ripped them apart. Here’s a tip: READ THE ARTICLE FOR WHAT IT FUCKING IS! The sites name is fucking cartoonOVERANALYZATIONS.com for crying out loud! This isn’t supposed to be serious! The author has plenty of facts that support this theory, even though it is OBVIOUSLY made in jest. Now, I know that I used a lot of big words, like “speculating,” “approaching,” and “the,” but try and get your single digit IQ around the fact your a fucking dip-shit, and you don’t know how to read a fictitious article because your head is too far up your ass to see the damn page (let alone respond in fucking proper english!) Once you obtain half a brain, read this article again, and realize how fucking stupid you really are.
September 12, 2009 at 7:18 pm
HAHA!!! That retort was as entertaining as the article!!
October 25, 2009 at 6:36 am
hi five.
December 21, 2009 at 12:16 am
Wow, that was the best bitch out I have ever seen.
April 23, 2009 at 12:40 am |
[/extreme sarcasm]
April 27, 2009 at 1:03 pm |
Wow. I really loved it how it all explained everything. But that end bit there was pretty sad.
This was just . . . EPIC
April 30, 2009 at 4:25 am |
sick
May 5, 2009 at 9:21 pm |
Damn… this article was absolutely mindblowing… makes me wanna watch the first few seasons again and look at it through this perspective.. effin spectacular!
May 7, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
why should you never take a shower with a pokeman?
because he might picatchu
December 27, 2009 at 7:57 am
epic fail
May 10, 2009 at 2:47 am |
LOL! that was funny. I think Dawn is HOT! ! that is one girl I wouldnt mind dating…. other than Molly, Tori, Lexi,& Becky.
May 14, 2009 at 11:46 pm |
Wow, nearly tears to the eyes of someone that grey up on pokemon. That is so sad. A+, awesome. It makes so much sense.
May 23, 2009 at 6:05 pm |
Whoa that was amazing. XD I never thought of any of that, but it all makes perfect sense. XD
1,000 stars!
May 24, 2009 at 11:17 am |
I read the whole thing and ALL the comments. Awesome. Pure awesome.
May 24, 2009 at 5:04 pm |
Well, that was absolutely hilarious. Ludicrous, of course – you’d have to be pretty whacked out to give an in-depth analysis of a cartoon – but as a comic piece, I like it.
To all those offended by this (and I can’t see why)- of course there is no ‘deeper story’ behind pokemon. The laws of the pokemon universe make at least more sense than those in a lot of other anime universes, and are in keeping with a story already establishe in a comic and a game.
What does crack me up is people taking this seriously – both for and against it. Either this is some guys having fun, or it is an honest psychological examination on an impossible topic. Either way, don’t take it SERIOUSLY!
May 25, 2009 at 2:21 am |
Quite hilarious. Yup after the first season it went all down hill. Once u beat the elite 4 what else do u really have to do. Should have just been a mini-series. But still what a glorious season it was and how we wasted our parents valuable money on those damn cards. How it was great to b a kid. And yes this comment was too nostalgic.
May 28, 2009 at 2:33 pm |
This reminds me a bit of the book ‘I Am the Cheese’ by Robert Cormier. Except that the main character isn’t in a coma, but is in a mental institution, doped up on medication.
But anyway, very nice essay. It must have taken whoever wrote this a long time, since it’s so in-depth. I can’t believe that this might have come from 4chan.
May 28, 2009 at 9:31 pm |
Wow, that was some intense realist St. Elsewhere mess, as dark as it was brilliant.
…it also ruined my childhood.
June 2, 2009 at 12:23 pm |
that pokemon Anime thing was mind blowingly good i was 9/10 when pokemon came out so you don’t think about cool little monsters blowing shit up like that but hell that makes some sence it also would be why ash was the only person to see Ho-ho since in his dream state no one else is round to see it but if it really happend i’m sure a few random people walking around or pokemon trainers would have seen it hell Misty was close enuff to have seen it and she never muttered a word so very deep
June 2, 2009 at 6:02 pm |
very interesting and brilliant. this sounds like a paper on psychoanalysis, freud, etc. i agree with mandz, i cant believe this came from 4chan :]
June 8, 2009 at 1:44 pm |
That….
That might have been the greatest thing I have ever read.
June 9, 2009 at 1:04 pm |
[...] the editor at the Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations: [This incredible, epic article has been floating around the web for about a year; it's originally [...]
June 12, 2009 at 6:06 am |
Heh, psycho analyze, fun stuff, this article is funny as hell
June 13, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
I found a plot hole in your plot hole.
If someone knew he was going to die, couldn’t they have tried electroshock again?
October 21, 2009 at 10:24 pm
you realize that in the article they say if the doctor tried electroshock again it would make ash paralyzed forever ? o.0
October 25, 2009 at 6:53 am
yet not dead
December 27, 2009 at 8:00 am
Cause his mum didnt want that. I’d NEVER forgive my family if they brought me back with brain damage or paralyzed. I’d live a hopless misrable life.
She did him a favour out of love
June 15, 2009 at 10:33 am |
As a great fan of pokemon for many, many years i must admit that this was a wonderful read and very well thought out and explains everything quite thoroughly. But seriously, come on, can’t we just let people enjoy pokemon for what it is.I have enjoyed pokemon for many years and i dont need it anaylzed for what it may be. I don’t think pokemon company had all that intended. But nonetheless it all does make really good sense, so good job.
December 27, 2009 at 8:02 am
….you didnt HAVE to read it. No one made you.
I enjoyed this more then the show. Can you let people enjoy over analyis? Geez
June 15, 2009 at 10:40 am |
Side note, i think now im gonna do an analysis of Bleach or Inuyasha.
June 16, 2009 at 11:48 pm |
god i love this!
funny thing is i was watching Pokemon today…but it was a newer episode which i didn’t like cuz the older ones are better…
it took me about five minutes to remeber the lightning scene
that last part made me want to cry…you’ve made my love for pokemon evolve…pun not intended XD
god i have to share this with my friends!
June 21, 2009 at 6:43 pm |
Aweome. It’s so sad.
June 23, 2009 at 9:04 pm |
This made for a really good read. Over-analysis is really entertaining to read; stretches the mind.
Let’s see what else this site has to offer…
June 23, 2009 at 9:54 pm |
NOOOOOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NO YOU SKIP AROUND AND MAKE NO SENSE stop trying so hard loser. OBviously youve never watched the show because everything you are saying does not make any sense die die die. The medication made team rocket less menacing? are you joking? thats the first time he meets JESSE and JAMES, the “less menacing” recruits of team rocket. fucking idiot! if you don’t kno anything about pokemon don’t go making some fagtastic theory about it especially if your one of those “old school” pokemon fans that thought it sucked after the first season/game…it didnt suck, your friends just got over the “fad” then you had to too! oh yea ash never even got struck by lightning! it just hit his bike and he fell. fuckkk you your not creative or imaginative you are just a complete loser. die
July 19, 2009 at 2:56 am
You’re an asshole. This person just wrote something that is probably one of the MOST creative things I have read in a really long time. So stop insulting people you don’t even know, twat.
August 11, 2009 at 8:54 pm
dont even bother he is obviously just some butthurt twelve year old who couldn’t even understand the article
September 12, 2009 at 7:23 pm
He couldn’t jack off to it, so it upset him, and took his anger out on his grammar itself.
June 25, 2009 at 9:18 am |
It was somewhat intriguing.
That being said, it’s poorly constructed and/or coherent.
Also, the ending is ridiculously and unnecessarily melodramatic. Remove it, and fix this piece of shit.
December 27, 2009 at 8:08 am
hmm…
And what ending would you have preferred hmm? That he magically got better? That just doesn’t happen, not in reality – and it was reality that he woke up into with a broken useless, hopeless body. And so he died.
It didn’t meet your small minded, childish expectations so it’s “shit”. Goodness, you must think you’re so important.
Grow up.
June 26, 2009 at 1:19 pm |
Well, it’s a theory which is why it’s not proof! You are not the creator/author so doesn’t matter how good the arguments/cohesion this is no real and probably it will never be real. coherent arguments can never i mean never be logically use in cartoon. YOU KNOW Y? CARTOON DOES NOT NEED TO MAKE SENSE
June 30, 2009 at 12:36 am |
HOLYSHIT
July 1, 2009 at 3:10 pm |
This article was quite the mindfuck. It makes me question whether my life is a coma or not :p
July 5, 2009 at 4:07 am |
[...] Explained Pokemon Explained The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations [...]
July 5, 2009 at 7:11 pm |
That was amazing.
July 5, 2009 at 10:39 pm |
simply amazing, well though out & written, If only this were the plot the series would take.
July 6, 2009 at 10:33 am |
My childhood… it died… D:
July 9, 2009 at 12:59 pm |
I bawww’d. Thanks for raping my childhood.
December 27, 2009 at 8:09 am
You knew what this was – why did you read it?
Because you’re a retard and would have had your childhood ruined sooner or later by something you were too dumb to avoid. Get over it.
January 25, 2010 at 4:38 am
@Alex
umm…. im almost 100% percent sure he was being sarcastic…
no need to me so offensive
July 9, 2009 at 1:54 pm |
[...] full article here [...]
July 11, 2009 at 2:28 am |
Like to watch Stargate Atlantis episodes and also Lost. I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
July 17, 2009 at 11:27 am |
What about Jigglypuff?
September 12, 2009 at 7:27 pm
This is probably stupid, but maybe jigglypuff, with it’s ability to make people fall asleep is his naive, subconcious jealousy of others who aren’t comatose, and creates a pokemon that can put people to sleep at will. I don’t know, that was just 5 seconds of thought, haha.
July 20, 2009 at 8:14 am |
That ending was heartbreaking
.. Great work though.
July 21, 2009 at 9:04 am |
want analysis of jigglypuff!
July 21, 2009 at 11:50 am |
I agree with conor
July 21, 2009 at 11:54 am |
who am i!?!!?!?!?!
July 23, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
You…killed….my childhood. I almost wanna cry. I probably will now.
July 24, 2009 at 2:18 am |
good read. but if charmander and his evolutions represent sex drive, then why does he rid his sex drive? doesnt he know it is part of his being and he cant just abandon his problems, right? didnt it say he must confront and overcome them in his coma, and does ludicolo represent his hatred for mexicans?
September 12, 2009 at 7:29 pm
He probably came to terms with it, by realizing he’d never get any, and got rid of charizard.
December 27, 2009 at 8:12 am
I think Charizard was released as something he finally accepted that he just doesn’t understand so was finally able to stop fighting it (like he did with charizard through the whole show). It couldnt stay after he’d accepted that fact because it’s something he’s too young and inexperienced to comprehend…
thats just my thoughts though.
July 30, 2009 at 3:44 am |
damn that blew my mind i cant beleive that story as in dont understabd y the writers would make that a story cause if u look at it its seems like the writers or a bitch settin a boys dream like that thats harsh low indeed
July 30, 2009 at 11:14 pm |
WAIT, IF ASH WAS WITH PIKACHU WHEN HE GOT PUT IN A COMA, YOUR WRONG.
July 31, 2009 at 9:53 am |
There is pretty much similiar book about this already. Its called brothers lionheart, movie too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Lionheart
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075790/
August 1, 2009 at 1:21 am |
I can’t believe people are bitching about the length of it.
If you don’t wanna read, don’t read. Go off and stare blankly into a TV instead.
Lazy oafs.
But yeah, great theory. Really makes sense when you think about it.
September 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm
For idiots, it’s physically exausting to read anything longer than a See Spot Run book.
August 1, 2009 at 3:15 am |
wow…… that was intense. i would totally kill myself over the ruined childhood, but in the newer ones, i believe diamond and pearl, maybe the ones right before, ash is more mature for a while. so the whole thing about mature people get pushed out gets sorta ruined there. i applaud you on the immense amount of thought you put into this though. truly amazing.
August 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm |
Whoa. I would call you a nerd if this wasn’t so convincing. Pokemon has never been deeper. 0-0
August 8, 2009 at 12:40 am |
Everybody is too serious… can’t you see this probably started as a joke, and got bigger and bigger?
Come on guys.
October 21, 2009 at 10:35 pm
fuck you seungmin282, dont you have a sense of humor? of COURSE people knew it was a joke…it’s just some people took it more personally than others,or they didn’t get it…so go be a downer somewhere else ya dick
August 10, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
[...] http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2…mon-explained/ Excuse me while I go into the corner and cry in a fetal position [...]
August 12, 2009 at 9:17 am |
it was interesting and depressing, but still awesome. i couldn’t stop reading until i got to the end XD
August 12, 2009 at 9:17 am |
do you have any other theories?
August 12, 2009 at 10:51 am |
Wow. Really, Really Wow
August 12, 2009 at 9:20 pm |
wow…this changed my thinking of a lot of things, it was absolutely amazing…and for the idiot kid ‘Wow’ youre either really young and just do not understand, or youre just an idiot jerk. this has so much detail and depth in it you dont even understand. yeah maybe it is just a show or cartoon, but whats wrong with creating something amazing like this for others to read and be awed by. if you dont like it, the leave the page dnt put any stupid ass comments. no one wants to hear them. especially from people who dont know wht theyre talking about.
anyways, this was absolutely amzing, good job
August 13, 2009 at 4:16 pm |
ima cry
August 14, 2009 at 5:00 pm |
Wow… that was… sad and depressing. Started off kind of absurd-like but the “I…want to be…the very…best…” at the end… wow.
August 15, 2009 at 4:03 pm |
Wow, this is probably the best anime-centered article I’ve ever read.
The author is a genius! O_O
August 15, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
LOOPHOLE
there was a later episode where ash and friends went down cycling road or w/e its called.
and if you REALLY want to over analyze it. You need to explain that event which conflicts with the “phobia”
Maybe his mind tried to rechallenge his fears? Or it was another attack on his already weakened mind?
Well the conclusion is that the end of that episode was nice, Ash even teamed up with the bike gang at the end, and Ash had no fears of the bicycles or anything related to the matter when the pokerap came on.
Don’t get me wrong, this was the most original text I’ve read recently. But you have to look at the whole picture and not cut out a few bits which may have significance.
October 25, 2009 at 7:07 am
ash doesn’t know he was put in a coma by a bike, and hence has no concious fear of them. His subconcious, the part that stayed awake for a few seconds after the crash, knew he a bike did it. So ash going in the biker episode was him getting over his fear of bikes. The reason he doesn’t go on a thing on wheels much later on though is because there is always that underlaying fear of of general wheeled craft.
August 15, 2009 at 11:38 pm |
Holy… Shit…
I now want to watch the whole fucking series…
August 16, 2009 at 1:36 am |
what about wobbaffet?
October 25, 2009 at 7:07 am
Another personification of his stupidity
December 27, 2009 at 8:15 am
Maybe the part of him he felt that no one understood and was mostly ignored? haha
August 18, 2009 at 12:41 pm |
tl;dr !!
but im still amazed that i finish reading it.
btw this brilliant.
you got all the point there.
August 19, 2009 at 8:21 am |
If someone is in a coma, they don’t wait 7 years to pull the plug.
September 10, 2009 at 8:45 am
It’s right.
September 12, 2009 at 7:33 pm
It’s the decision of the family as to how long they continue to keep them alive. Unless they’re DNR(Do not resucitate) Shit, I dont know if I spelled that right.
December 27, 2009 at 8:16 am
Just cause it’s 7years in his head, doesn’t mean it’s 7 years in the reality.
August 23, 2009 at 1:58 pm |
Well, I found one flaw right off the bat, and since I found one, that means that there are others. and that means this theory is not sound and full and not only did the author fail, but so did the person on deviantart because they were supposed to proof it
they said that ash never rode a bike after the lighting… but there is at least one episode where they do nothing but ride bikes. they have to pass that bike bridge on route whatever. they fight a muk and a golem I think.
August 29, 2009 at 1:29 am |
wait wait wait…
doesnt ash get hit by lightning before he meets team rocket?
if so then they could never be less menacing than they were before he was hit because he didnt know of their existence.
idk i havnt seen the first episodes in a while
August 31, 2009 at 9:17 pm |
to those of you offended by this, IT’S JUST A THEORY! i highly doubt the writers of Pokemon wrote the story w/ “deeper” meaning behind it all. and no, this is not technically true, but it’s an interesting perspective.
August 31, 2009 at 10:49 pm |
HE WAS ON A BIKE IN THIS EPISODE!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0761147/
August 31, 2009 at 11:02 pm |
When i read this, i thought about Link’s Awakening.
September 6, 2009 at 12:07 am |
I wanna watch my anime. I dont need more deeper “means”. If you were wrote more, you could be said that Pokemon is a kind of hentai.
I think that is silly.If this theory is right,I am the prime minister.
October 21, 2009 at 10:38 pm
its meant to be funny ya douche, so stop bitching -.-
October 25, 2009 at 7:09 am
well, the girls do wear impossibly revealing cloths, but never show their ‘parts’, due Ash’s ingorance on that level.
September 6, 2009 at 12:10 am |
AND DONT KILL MY POKEFANNESS!
or it will born again from its ASHes.
September 9, 2009 at 3:51 am |
Bu yazıyı yazana neşeyle kayanın,hakkıyla oyanın selamı var.
September 10, 2009 at 8:44 am |
I have a theory too. Somebody wrote the theory. Somebody read it. And all the writer(s) are fuckin’ idiots.
And if your theory is true,
this too.
December 27, 2009 at 8:20 am
Of course it’s not true. People that write kids books don’t think that deeply.
Now go read the URL of this website 10 times OUTLOUD. If you haven’t got it then, stop reading things way beyond your intelligence.
September 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm |
That is probably the saddest/creepiest thing I’ve read. I will NEVER look at the Pokemon anime the same way again.
September 11, 2009 at 9:46 pm |
you guys just flipped my world around and raped it
September 23, 2009 at 5:29 pm |
Whoa man.
Never again will I looks at Pokemon the same way.
This was an incredible read.
Very deep.
September 24, 2009 at 3:44 pm |
….holy shit.
I almost cried.
September 27, 2009 at 11:49 am |
This is quite the intriguing argument. It’s entirely a possibility, were Ash real and all.
September 28, 2009 at 1:17 pm |
Ash rides a bike once in a while in the series, so yeah that part might be wrong. Other than that, it was a pretty cool article and it makes pokemon seem really well made. If pokemon ended like that it would almost be worth watching all one billion seasons.
September 29, 2009 at 2:40 pm |
just like everyone else, i will never look at pokemon the same
October 4, 2009 at 8:05 pm |
Best thing to come out of 4-chan yet.
October 5, 2009 at 11:00 pm |
this is blasphemy.
October 5, 2009 at 11:02 pm
true that
October 21, 2009 at 10:39 pm
LIES!!!! IT IS EPIC
October 25, 2009 at 7:10 am
so is ‘life of brian’ biatch
October 5, 2009 at 11:01 pm |
I wish I was in a coma now so I could go on Pokemon adventures. Why does Ash have all the luck?
October 5, 2009 at 11:16 pm
because he is a boy and we are girls and everyone knows that men have all the power.
October 5, 2009 at 11:17 pm
true that again. this is a sexist world we live in. a girl can’t even go into a coma and fantasize about pokemon. bull.
October 21, 2009 at 10:40 pm
lol then theres something wrong with you :3
October 24, 2009 at 9:45 pm |
I just had my mind blow.
October 24, 2009 at 9:49 pm |
[...] must read Pokemon Explained The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations A must read for anyone, even if you do not/never liked Pokemon. It's a tad long though :3 [...]
October 25, 2009 at 1:19 pm |
[...] Depressing Read About pokemon. Pokemon Explained The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations Don't need to know much about them to read it. Took me maybe 15 minutes to read. Makes some sense, [...]
October 27, 2009 at 12:07 pm |
looks like someone else is going to die a virgin.
October 29, 2009 at 8:31 pm |
I really don’t want to accept the fact that your theory is true, because it will ruin my childhood. But this is very well done every part makes sense.
November 3, 2009 at 12:31 am
Don’t look at it as “ruining” your childhood, but giving you a new way to enjoy it. Think about the Warner Brother cartoons and all the references they made that you missed as a kid, but didn’t understand until you were older.
November 1, 2009 at 11:56 pm |
That was beautiful
November 7, 2009 at 11:16 am |
You forget that this is Japanese Anime. There’s no such thing as a ‘logical explanation’ for it. Ash is more likely to get struck by lightning in the same spot after being tentacle raped than this theory being true.
November 9, 2009 at 12:08 am |
i cried at the end..
;__;
BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
November 9, 2009 at 2:41 pm |
Wow. Holy shit. You really put some thought into this, you know how you can tell? IT MAKES SENSE.
However, I will still look at Pokemon the same. I mean, this is a really awesome theory, but I can’t just see that happening in the series (4-kids would totally censor out that ending anyway… NO WAIT, THAT WAS THE ORIGINAL ENDING BUT 4-KIDS FOUGHT HARD AND NOT JUST GOT RID OF IT ALL TOGETHER, BUT THEN DECIDED “ASH KETCHUM, YOUR JOURNEY WILL NEVER END.” And thus, all the Pokemon episodes after Misty left were born.
November 9, 2009 at 5:56 pm |
where did u get this information
u ruined my childhood
November 11, 2009 at 10:09 pm |
OMFG! Best piece of Fan-Fiction kinda thingy yet! Granted a few flaws, and this amputated version left a few important things out, but after reading the original, I was thoroughly impressed! This can also explain why they NEVER EVER in the series mentioned precise change in time from Ash’s start. They never say “It has been 20 years since we started”, or something like that. I am still wondering how/when the actual TV series will come to an end, but this sure has opened up the possibilities in my mind!
November 13, 2009 at 11:57 pm |
This explains so much. It makes you think about the nature of reality. How do we know that this world is nothing but just a delusionary pigment of our imaginations, and the concept of God is like the narrator in Pokémon. Like there’s a bunch of stuff here that can’t really be explained either. If matter is neither crated of destroyed, than how was anything initially created? It’s kina like a “wizard effect” we don’t question how of why, we just except it as truth. The creation thing is just one example there are many more examples out there that have the wizard effect.
I wish this could be extended and be made into a book.
Also, the ending is a perfect idea for a big finale of Pokémon.
November 18, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
I teared up there at the end…
I wanna be…the very best…
November 19, 2009 at 4:20 pm |
the only part of your theory that doesn’t make sense is that ash had pikachu before falling off the bike and that he never actually hit his head on anything in order to fall into the coma it would make more sense if the whole thing was him dreaming from the begining of the first episode where he actually is shown dreaming dreams aren’t actually as long as they would be in real life they only seem that way
November 20, 2009 at 3:45 am |
Okay, really? In case you havent forgetten, this is Pokemon. No child who actually watches this thinks about this entire article. You’re 25 living in a shack. Im a college student who happened to “stumble upon” this and i watch Pokemon and never thought about this when I watched it as a child. Get a life. Its a cartoon, for kids. If your theory is longer than this…YOUR LIFE SUCKS SORRY!
December 7, 2009 at 2:31 pm
why? just because he was smart enough to connect all of this together? What if this was written by a psychology major?
just because someone sees a pattern does not mean they have researched it and spent hours on it. Some people just see things like that.
I think this is f*ing amazing. glad most of us can see it for the brilliant piece it is.
November 20, 2009 at 3:46 am |
who happened to “stumble upon” this and i watchED Pokemon
November 21, 2009 at 1:42 am |
I think there is few words about Gary and the competition between them. This must have been mentioned.
November 23, 2009 at 7:25 am |
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.
November 27, 2009 at 1:04 am |
[...] pokemon: Pokemon Explained The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations [...]
November 28, 2009 at 12:28 pm |
…I think you must be some sort of psychology major/nerd to take the time to analyze Pokemon…It’s a simple show with a simple story with limited details because it’s FOR. KIDS. Go jump off the same cliff I told every other moron who analyzes something really unecessary. Art was made for FUN. for the sole purpose of CREATING it. Pokemon was made for FUN…and money. not because someone had this burning desire to create an anime that you can psychoanalyze. good grief…
December 8, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Haha, this made my day. I just love how you post almost as if you don’t know where you are posting. If you did this on everything here then ignore this comment. Just a little background information…this site is called “cartoonOVERANALYZATIONS.com” Everything is a joke. Have a nice day.
November 28, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
^^^ YOU BITCH wheres the harm in analyzing.
you go jump off that cliff and yell free willy you fat hungry kyke
November 30, 2009 at 11:22 pm |
Very interesting! I wish I knew the more current episode references…I don’t remember watching past Jhoto :/
December 1, 2009 at 12:06 am
Therein lies the thing with a kid’s cartoon that has been around for a decade. Those old enough to remember the earlier episodes most likely lost interest in the later ones. I myself stopped watching after Misty got replaced with that other chick. May and Dawn were poor replacements for Misty.
December 1, 2009 at 7:27 pm |
Wow. Good read.
December 2, 2009 at 3:31 pm |
Japaneese symbolism…enough said.
great overanalysis, spent a good 20 minutes reading it.
December 3, 2009 at 5:00 pm |
Ok so this is a well thought out idea, but this could not be true based on the fact that in the first episode ash never gets hit by lightning. Pickachu uses thundershock and he gets hit, which amplifies his move hitting all the spearows and also Ash. Ash takes two thundershocks from pikachu so I know he can take many more so he is simply knocked back and is weakened, not knocked out. what i think is that pickachu realized Ash truly cared about him so pickachu threw himself in front of Ash and took most of the blow. And for the whole moving to different regions and releasing his pokemon its just human nature to be competitive. But your story is extremely well thought out, good job.
December 3, 2009 at 5:44 pm
but he does get knocked out by the thundershock. he is saying that when he was knocked out, he was knocked into a coma.
December 3, 2009 at 8:36 pm
well in the same episode he gets hit by two other thundershooks so he should be somewhat immune to it or built some what of a tollerence to it so it would only knock him out because he woke up like minutes later.
December 3, 2009 at 9:09 pm
pikachu is struck by lightning as he does his thundershock, making it much more powerful. the bolt of lightning combined with the thundershock makes quite a large “beam” that i would guess is like 15 feet in diameter, and possibly quite larger being that the camera view zooms out. it is also strong enough to toast misty’s bike, and get rid of the large flock of spearow. it also knocks pikachu himself out. ash and pikachu dont wake up until the storm is gone, which you can either interpret as the next day, or a few seconds. either way, they are knocked out, and wake up in the coma world, according to this.
December 4, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Just because he is closer does not mean he gets more damage. Pikachu could have somewhat focase it towards teh spearows.
December 3, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
i mean i get what you are saying in all but like the thunder that came down was absorbed by pickchu and thats why he got knocked out. it was because he got over charged. when he released the electricity it was mainly in the fround so it did not get Ash as bad as the spearows
December 3, 2009 at 9:44 pm
You must not remember that scene correctly. I suggest going back to watch it. When pikachu does his thundershock, I Is a spherical expansion of electricity, and he is closer to Ash than the spearows.
December 4, 2009 at 3:45 pm
just because Ash was closer does not mean he got more damage. Pikachu might have focused most of the blast forward.
December 5, 2009 at 2:34 pm
but it is a spherical expansion. any other time, it goes foreward, but not this time.
December 5, 2009 at 8:24 pm
its not a shpere its a column and it only pushes Ash back and does not put him in a coma.
December 5, 2009 at 8:41 pm
it starts as a sphere and turns into a column. pikachu is in the center of the sphere/column, and is closer to ash than the spearows. if it is strong enough to get rid of a large pack of spearows, AND completely torch a bike, i would think it would do some serious damage to ash. and yes, it pushes ash back, so he’d be hurt from the force pushing him back, and when he falls, logically, he would hit his head. that could put him into a coma by itself, and with the added damage, the chances are only increased. im not saying it definitely happened, just that it is a possibility, and cant be ruled out simply because he has been hit by a normal strength thundershock.
December 5, 2009 at 10:54 pm
well how do you know he hit his head? if you got pushed you most likely would fall on you back and not your head. Also since Ash was pushed by the blast the thundershook would never hit im so thus he would not end up in a coma. For the bike it was covered by water the electric move speed up the corrosion process and made it “fry”.
December 5, 2009 at 11:16 pm
im assuming he hit his head being that he fell on his back. have you ever fallen on your back? you cant use your arms to stop yourself, and youll hit your head. thats how people get concussions a lot of the times, with the whiplash effect and all. and ash was covered with just as much water, if not more since he was in the river, and got just as much rain on him as the bike. when the thundershock expands, he gets pushed back, but then it expands even more when it turns into a column. he would be hit then. and if he would have been pushed back by the expanding column, then wouldnt the bike have been as well?
December 6, 2009 at 10:32 am
the bike would not have been pushed away because Ash hit a rock and fell so the bike was laying on the ground, on its side. The handle bars would have stuck in the mud or something. and Ash got pushed away when pikachu first got hit by the bolt so the column would not have it him. Finally when Ash wakes up he is on his stomach so our whole ideas of him falling on his head was kinda just blown away.
December 6, 2009 at 10:50 pm
when he falls over, he is clearly falling over backwards. the next morning pikachu is laying next to him, and he is on his stomach. this is impossible since he was pushed back somewhat, supporting the fact that it is no longer reality. and with the thundershock, it expands into a ball, and then it zooms out when it turns into a column. the column then expands even more, and there is no way ash is still in the air to be pushed back further. it cant be a replay of the lightning hitting pikachu, since the sound of him shouting pikachu continues, and the initial lightning bolt is blue, not yellow.
December 7, 2009 at 8:14 pm
If he is in a coma the how come he knows all these things about pokemon that he never experienced such as seeing Ho-oh. He had no prior knowledge to this event so he could not be in a coma and making all this up.
December 7, 2009 at 11:33 pm
well, he possibly had seen it before, but highly unlikely. it doesnt matter though. the anime has its own “canon” so what is true and exists in the games/manga isnt necessarily true in the anime, and vice versa. in ash’s real world, ho-oh might not even exist, and he could in fact be making it up. if the writers did have this whole coma plot twist thought up, then they would just have him make things up and it “coincidentally” match up somewhat with the game.
December 8, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Ash has never seen Ho-oh, also Ho-oh does exist because he is mentioned in the Johto season. He simply can not be made up by Ash, even if he was in a coma…which he is not.Finally the game is somewhat based off of Ash’s adventure so he just cant be in one.
December 8, 2009 at 7:29 pm
the game came out before the anime, so there is no way the game was based on his adventures…. and in the johto season, he would still be in the coma. why couldnt he have been made up by ash?
December 8, 2009 at 8:05 pm
well i was refering to the yellow version (my bad) and Ash was not the only pokemon trainer in Johto. there is the character who was also in the game. I forget what his name was but i know he had a Typhlosion, and he was from Johto and mentioned Ho-oh.
December 8, 2009 at 8:14 pm
yellow version is an exception to the game/anime separation, yes. the trainer that mentioned ho-oh, was he in a game or in the show? which game, if it was the game?
December 8, 2009 at 8:26 pm
ummm he was the main character for gold, silver, and crystal, but they took him and made a Johto season without any involvement with Ash. Ash did not know about the other regions and the other pokemon. So if Ash was really in this coma how would he be able to catch pokemon from this area he has never heard of…. he couldn’t have just made them up if the character I mentioned earlier caught/ seen them also.
December 8, 2009 at 8:55 pm
are you talking about jimmy? the kid with the hair coming out of his hat? he didnt have his own season, he appeared in a pokemon special with raikou. no one from the actual pokemon seasons appeared in that special, and i dont think ho-oh was mentioned in it. ive tried looking it up, but i cant find anything. could you point me in the direction of a link or something?
December 8, 2009 at 9:48 pm
yea thats him but I thought he mentioned Ho-oh or one of the bandit people did. If not raikou is a legindary dog pokemon and so is Entei and Ash sees him in pokemon the movie 3 so he just cant be in a coma if that happened, because he has never seen him before…even if he is an illusion from the unowns.
December 8, 2009 at 9:54 pm
this is where i cant technically prove you wrong. movies are widely considered not canon. check http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_movie#Relation_to_the_main_anime
December 8, 2009 at 10:24 pm
this is one of the few pokemon movies i consider to be like legit, because it has Ash’s pokemon such as Charizard which he trained from a charmander that almost died. So my point still stands with Ash seeing Entei.
December 8, 2009 at 11:12 pm
i, myself, dont consider any movies canon, and thats my response to the fact that the dogs are seen by ash after being seen by someone who hasnt ever met him. i will continue to accept this as an unlikely, but plausible, storyline.
December 9, 2009 at 1:41 pm
well, that was a good little battle there and I do agree on the fact that the movies are not canon but I think that like a few of them are.
December 4, 2009 at 3:12 am |
Great article, but the reason the show got all pansy and less focused on action was due to the change in writing staff
December 5, 2009 at 9:38 pm |
wow man you need to look into what you are going to write about. most of the things you write about is either not true and is shown in the show or is just way to far fetched.
December 5, 2009 at 9:54 pm
if you are talking about me, i do. go and watch the episode. i check everything i say before i say it.
December 7, 2009 at 10:45 pm |
wow, this is just great and well written. This also explains many things in the show. The analysis sounds like an analysis my English teacher would do, but the way you do it is great
December 8, 2009 at 3:33 pm |
wow thanks for ruining my childhood!
but really this is an awesome theory that pretty much has no flaws that you can poitn out with the series. It pretty much explains everything
December 8, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
HAHA I spent like 20 minutes reading this and thought it was quite good then spent about 15 minutes reading ppls comments and found out theres a lot of twats out there.
Why don’t ppl see this and the jokey OVERANALYZATION that its meant to be.
PS if you liked this and you haven’t seen it already you might enjoy an article called Diary of a Charmander which is on the interent some where is kinda interesting in a weird way too lol
December 8, 2009 at 11:21 pm
i read it just now, thats really weird. the squirtle part was hilarious. “it is foul”
December 10, 2009 at 12:31 am |
Brilliantly written. I nearly cried. Despite the sad ending, it seems like the perfect story. I bet that all high school language arts teachers across the nation are applauding your strong usage of analysis…haha.
December 11, 2009 at 8:38 pm |
[...] reminded me of the Calvin and Hobbes – Fight Club analysis. Pokemon Explained & The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations What if they turned this blog into a movie? The ending is crushing, which I think will make it [...]
December 12, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
This was amazing. It’s utterly crushed my childhood around me, but a great read.
As I finished the final paragraph, I simultaneously felt my heart hit the floor and the entire 5-13 span of my life take a turn for the worst out the window.
December 12, 2009 at 7:45 pm |
This shit made me cry
QQ
December 12, 2009 at 8:24 pm |
Man this just fucked my pokemon chil hood.I have watched all pokemon series since it came on TV for the first time.i just cry right now…
December 12, 2009 at 11:19 pm |
I feel all empty inside now…
December 14, 2009 at 3:07 am |
wow.Awesome. Strange. But awesome
December 14, 2009 at 8:25 am |
Here’s a thought. Let’s go to the second verse of the theme.
“Every challenge along the way
With courage I will face.
I will battle every day
to claim my rightful place.
Come with me, the time is right
There’s no better team.
Arm in arm, we’ll win the fight.
It’s always been our dream.”
Every challenge is a mental roadblock. His “rightful place” is his place in the real world.
That’s as far as I’ve thought about that, but it’s still something to think about.
December 16, 2009 at 3:03 pm |
*Slow clap*
Holy crap, thats the most awesome thing EVER.
December 18, 2009 at 7:33 am |
So wait, what do the various regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, excreta represent, (stages of the mind repairing process?)
(PS: TOM GET BACK ON SKYPE!)
December 19, 2009 at 3:55 pm |
what about the fact that the manga is severely different from the show and the show is made off the video games that are vaguely based on the manga
December 20, 2009 at 9:10 pm
what about the fact that based on doesnt mean exactly the same? and the games came first, then manga, then anime. and the anime is based off the games, as is the manga.
December 20, 2009 at 6:56 am |
At first i was like “that’s an interesting theory.” Half-way through i was impressed by your thinking, and by the end i believed it.
December 20, 2009 at 9:20 pm |
This has just totally crushed my childhood innocence of what I perceived Pokemon to be about… it’s a slap in the face, I must say, saying that Ash and Misty’s love will never work (Kind of wanted to slap a bitch ’cause I was an AML (Ash and Misty love) fan from the very beginning of when I watched the show at age 5) crushed my little heart… this article makes so much sense… but I know that the ending never happened because Pokemon is still going, although I stopped watching, I would know by now if it was gone. So sad, though…
December 22, 2009 at 1:49 am |
[...] Revisited Pokemon Explained I'm sorry, but I find this amazing. __________________ 4w3, IEI, so/sx/sp, female, and Cancer [...]
December 22, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
GENIUS.
That is all.
December 23, 2009 at 1:36 am |
Holy God, that was intense, i was literally on the edge of my seat reading that…
Dude? Like for real? This just really makes so much sense. I think you just ruined Pokemon for me… QQ
Now what will I watch Saturday mornings to pass the time before I go off and do something else?
I really loved this, you are truly an amazing writer. Keep it up, and never back down.
December 23, 2009 at 5:19 pm |
Wow. I nearly cried when I read the ending! This was really thought-out and I definitely plan on sharing it with my friends.
December 25, 2009 at 7:55 pm |
stumbled from Alberta.
wow. just wow. there are no words.
December 27, 2009 at 8:36 am |
This makes so much sense :O
Like why the pokemon never eat each other and why people eat meat, but no one kills a pokemon for food. A kid that loved pokemon wouldnt think about the animals that lived in reality and would focus on the pokemon he loved. (It never ONCE said that pokemon didnt exist – just that normal animals are noticably absent in the coma)
And also how no one drinks, cause Ash was too young to experience alcohol.
And how Team Rocket are all idiots and yet still manage to rule everything.
And NO ONE DIES! Cause I imainge Kid Ash didnt experience death before the coma.
And how pikachu just suddenly liked him. In the reality the Pikachu probs took Ashes coma as a chance to bugger off back into the wild.
And how a kid manages to beat adults that have been training for years.
How his hair never grows and he can survive so many pokemon attacks! These things bugged me so much when i watched it as a kid cause the world seemed so sugar-coated.
:O I AM AMAZED AND SATISFIED!
It’s a shame so many idiots mis-read this and thought their opinions mattered enough to stain the comments section with their stupidity.
December 27, 2009 at 6:41 pm |
“The Pokemon in Ash’s team, …” paragraph has a typo: a “to” is missing a “t”.
December 28, 2009 at 11:28 am
You, sir, get a gold star.
December 28, 2009 at 5:59 pm |
Wow, that’s deep, like really deep, but I found it so fascinating and amazing. Excuse me now as I go ponder on this.
December 29, 2009 at 11:26 am |
the explanations are good, but i don’t think you need the coma thing to back it up. i think that’s just kinda weird & highly unlikely. i think merely explaining that the world revolves around ash would be enough.
December 31, 2009 at 7:31 am
Are you kidding? The coma was the bone of the plot.
11/10
December 31, 2009 at 12:58 am |
IT’S BASED OFF A VIDEO GAME FOR TEN YEAR-OLDS AND WHAT ABOUT THE SPECIAL SHOW THEY MADE FOR THE PEOPLE ASH MADE FRIENDS WITH AFTER HE LEFT!
PS. I really liked this article.
December 31, 2009 at 5:05 pm |
So much for my childhood.
I still love Pokemon though, haha!
XD
January 3, 2010 at 1:31 am |
Impossible, pokemon would be real because before he is struck by lightning, he goes to professor oak’s laboratory for a pokemon for himself, although all that remains is pikachu. The episode then progresses with Ash traveling with pikachu to start his journey, only to encounter where you are STARTING off.
January 3, 2010 at 5:56 pm
he never said pokemon werent real.
January 3, 2010 at 4:34 pm |
???!?!?!?!?!? your comments ars soooooo long
January 4, 2010 at 11:23 pm |
this is retarded, you ruined pokemon
January 5, 2010 at 7:15 am |
I bawww’d. over9000/10.
January 5, 2010 at 11:01 pm |
lol dead. thus the name ash.
January 6, 2010 at 4:53 pm |
so bad… makes no sense… im a psych major, whoever wrote this has no sense of the subconscious theories
January 9, 2010 at 8:36 am
Then write a better one.
January 7, 2010 at 11:14 pm |
[...] TODD: And your theory that the entire series is the dream of a comatose child is better? [...]
January 8, 2010 at 1:01 am |
There is more to it. There is an alternate good ending where he wakes up.
January 9, 2010 at 1:32 pm
He wakes up, only to find himself locked in a laboratory, his body covered in surgical scars. A dozen men in white coats poke and prod him like a piece of meat. Little does he know he is a science experiment in Soviet Russia. He does indeed wake up, only to find himself in another nightmare.
January 8, 2010 at 11:40 am |
ummmm…
its an anime
January 9, 2010 at 1:29 pm
O rly? I thought Pokemon was a Dutch cartoon.
January 8, 2010 at 8:14 pm |
Simply mind blowing, I will never look at the series the same way again. This was like the Matrix of Anime series. Well written. As for the people who called bullshit on minor things, how many theories do you know of that are 100% true?
…..
Stumbled from Ontario, Canada
January 11, 2010 at 3:19 pm |
This was just amazing. The fact that someone can write so much, and have it all make soo much sense, is just crazy. I love how its just all in Ash’s mind, everything. But, its so sad that he wakes up just to see that the one real person in his life is crushed beyond belief.
Bright side, Ash would go to heaven and probably be back in his Pokemon world. Though, he may just have Pikachu since it seems that he woke up and realized it was all just a dream. But, Pikachu would probably represent his mother that he left behind.
January 12, 2010 at 8:50 pm |
I thought the ending was a little melodramatic, but otherwise this article turned out to be a very good read. The people who think this piece is too long are definitely missing out.
January 12, 2010 at 10:33 pm |
omg you have officially raped my childhood. now i’m depressed, thanks man
But seriously, really interesting stuff, shed a little tear at the end.
January 13, 2010 at 12:18 pm |
you fail…..
big time
gosh
pokemon is cool
its a magical show
January 17, 2010 at 7:43 pm |
Dude.. Childhood is gone. This just revealed a “theory” which now I fully believe states that, “pokemon is a lie”. Of course pokemon was just a tv show that was fake, BUT IT WAS REAL IN THE SHOW. And now it just seems like– idk what I’m talking about. But I feel like if I watched pokemon again, It wouldn’t be the same.
But without a doubt, this has got to be one of the most well thought out plots I have ever read about. Kudos to this guy. I find this article to be amazing- simply put.
January 18, 2010 at 10:58 pm |
This is brilliant, I am not even going to ask how long this whole thing took out because it might override my brain. Now I have a new WHOLE way to look at Pokemon XD.. but this time with a understanding! And the Brock being his sexuality.. it made me laugh XD
January 20, 2010 at 3:19 am |
Hahaha, that’s so brutal!
January 24, 2010 at 5:24 am |
ho…ly……crap
so that’s why ash never really changes but his voice (just a little)
January 25, 2010 at 7:02 pm |
wow, that really is amazing. very well thought out and at the end, i almost wanted to cry. beautiful.
January 25, 2010 at 9:13 pm |
I will never be able to watch pokemon the same ever again. This made me tear.
January 31, 2010 at 1:51 am |
So yeah, I’m the original author of the theory, just popping in to say Hi.
I started a new project Over on hxxp://psychic-defective.deviantart.com/ I know the coma thing is beyond old, and some of you may doubt my original authorship. Feel free to look the original threads up in the 4chan archive, and check the email the I use as pokemon master blaster, it IS indeed psychicdefective@gmail.com. Also feel free to email me.
January 31, 2010 at 12:53 pm
He’s the author, I’m just the publisher. He should get all the credit.
January 31, 2010 at 7:30 am |
Wow, you’re truly awesome!
January 31, 2010 at 11:25 pm |
Bullshit, its just a cartoon live with it.
February 3, 2010 at 4:34 am |
Nah man, you deserve some credit for hosting this bugger up here.
Also, seriously people. I came up with this on 4chan one night. It’s just supposed to be another way to look at the series, so it seems more meaningful than it is.
I was mocking the people who overanalyze Evangelion by doing it to pokemon, and there’s no such thing as “Overboard” on 4chan. The more believable and crazy it is, the cooler. So just sit back decide if you like it and continue your day.
February 3, 2010 at 7:18 pm |
What the fuck are you talking about dude???
February 5, 2010 at 9:41 am |
I am highly amused that people are actually taking this seriously.