Pokémon fans horrified by truth behind Ash’s father

For decades, loyal Pokémon fans watched as Ash Ketchum journeyed across multiple regions on his way to being the very best.

He was always supported by his friends, and his mother, yet one person stayed absent from his life, right up to becoming a Pokémon champion.

Ash’s father was never a focus in the anime and for years, fans have wondered about him, particularly why he wasn’t around to watch his son live out his dreams.

In fact, if you go back through every episode and movie, Ash’s father is barely mentioned, which led fans to wonder more about him.

Enter Reddit, where one such fan asked, “Was there ever any info on Ash’s Dad?”

The answer came from websurfa11, who explained the details, saying, “The head writer for the first few seasons, Takeshi Shudo, wrote him as a generic deadbeat dad who failed his Pokémon journey.”

Ahh, maybe that’s where my Dad is too? Perhaps he’s also a failed Pokémon trainer.

Another user, Furiza_ explains further: “Years later, Ash and Delia searched on a database, which contained the data of all trainers, but they never found him. He was a failure as a husband and as a trainer.”

Yikes, what a deadbeat. If you don’t like the idea that Ash came from such a pathetic man, then you’ll be pleased to know that this was retconned in the alternate universe version of the story.

Here, he’s a much better person and still keeps in touch with his family, mostly Ash’s mother, but he’s still not a featured role model, nor is this the ‘canon’ explanation.

Thankfully, despite his father being absent, Ash still grew up to follow his dreams and become the very best, and maybe one day his Dad will return with the milk and see that Ash never needed him.