I Figured Out Why Ash Never Seems to Age

The fact that Ash Ketchum has been 10 years old for almost 20 years is a long-running joke on the internet, and I have seen plenty of people who try to theorize why this is. There have been people who think Ash is in a coma, he received infinite youth from Ho-Oh, or that he's just a hallucination of Team Rocket because they're in purgatory and so he never changes. One theory even suggested he has an Everstone stuffed in his bag preventing him from aging, just like it prevents Pokemon from evolving. But I've never seen anything quite like my personal theory.

What all these people fail to take into account is this: the passing of time in the Pokemon anime isn't the same as it is in our world. In fact, Pokemon XYZ (Season 19, which is currently in the process of being produced) likely takes place only 2-3 years after Ash first leaves his home in Pallet Town, rather than 19.

We first have to take into consideration the speed at which the anime is being made. A new episode is being released every week, and as far as I know that's how it's been since the start. Secondly, we need to estimate how much time passes in Ash's world per episode. As some episodes cover a few days and sometimes a single day lasts multiple episodes, we can safely say that on average an episode covers one day. Now, combine these two facts together, and we can see that rather than a year in real life being a year in the anime, it's actually only about 50 days (I'm rounding it from 52 for the sake of simplicity). That's a little over a month and a half.

Now, we can apply that to the 19 years the show has been running: if one season is 50 days, and there are now 19 seasons (not even that, as the 19th isn't finished yet), then from the day Ash left Pallet Town to where he is now, not quite 950 days have passed (50*19=950). That's a little over 2 and a half years.

So if this is true, then Ash is actually about 12 years old right now. I know this doesn't go along perfectly with the original prospect that he's still 10, but to me it's a lot more feasable than some of these other theories I've seen. Besides, look at Ash in season 1 and then look at his current design. If he was originally 10, I can easily see him being 12 or 13 now.

So there it is: the mystery solved. Or so I think. I could be wrong. Do you agree with me?

There's been movies and some episodes stating that "few months have past by" or something like so.
But I remember in one of the first movies, Ash says to Pikachu, "it's almost been a year we've been together!" (not word for word but it's similar)
And considering its one of the first movies (I believe it was some Johto movie) you would think he'd would gained some years.
I think Ash is supposed to be around 15 in my opinion but I could be wrong :p

Ok, so add 5 years instead of 2.5. It's still way more plausible than adding 20 :P

To this day I still don't believe the Ash is 10 to be canon. I think they were trying really hard to make BW seem more like the old days and kinda just deaged him and gave up on the plan part way into Unova. (Since they went out of the way to not mention anything from the other series till Nimbasa. Plus it is odd that was the only time his age was even mentioned besides the first episode. Think is in each series bar BW he does look like he has grown and while you can say it is a change in art he does mature as the series go on to the point he is a bit like Brock in Kalos.

I agree with Avia. I don't think Ash is still 10 currently. I think he aged through the seasons, because they never said anything about his age until the BW saga, which was a soft reboot. I think he was 15 by the time he finished Sinnoh, but then they dropped his age again in BW. And again, Kalos they don't mention his age.

At the start of Unova, I think, his mother says something around the lines of "Oh Ash, I wonder how much you would have grown by the time I see you again."

In the manga, it confirms that it takes about 80 days to get around Hoenn, maybe a bit more if it was one person. The others have a similar timeline, Sinnoh has seasons change by the end.

And it is extremely hard to believe that Ash is only 10 in Kalos. He seems like he is about 14 or 15 again. Not to mention his art even makes it look like he has aged.

I don't think he is forever 10, and until it is confirmed otherwise, I think he ages until they reset him like they did in BW.

IcyIce said:

I agree with Avia. I don't think Ash is still 10 currently. I think he aged through the seasons, because they never said anything about his age until the BW saga, which was a soft reboot. I think he was 15 by the time he finished Sinnoh, but then they dropped his age again in BW. And again, Kalos they don't mention his age.

At the start of Unova, I think, his mother says something around the lines of "Oh Ash, I wonder how much you would have grown by the time I see you again."

In the manga, it confirms that it takes about 80 days to get around Hoenn, maybe a bit more if it was one person. The others have a similar timeline, Sinnoh has seasons change by the end.

And it is extremely hard to believe that Ash is only 10 in Kalos. He seems like he is about 14 or 15 again. Not to mention his art even makes it look like he has aged.

I don't think he is forever 10, and until it is confirmed otherwise, I think he ages until they reset him like they did in BW.

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Plus the trainers in the anime we see get new Pokemon do seem younger than Ash in looks. I wonder if the writers hoped the Ash is in 10 at the start of BW thing would be like the GS ball and be forgotten by fans.

Or the anime takes place in a span of one year, so if a year is past, then Ash would've been 11. Also keep in mind that some Pokémon fans don't consider most of the Pokémon movies as canon, much like the movies of other shonen anime, so the Pikachu shorts, which is where the statement that a year has past, are also non-canon.

Pinkie-Dawn said:

Or the anime takes place in a span of one year, so if a year is past, then Ash would've been 11. Also keep in mind that some Pokémon fans don't consider most of the Pokémon movies as canon, much like the movies of other shonen anime, so the Pikachu shorts, which is where the statement that a year has past, are also non-canon.

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Wouldn't Dawn have debunked that since she said in BW it had been a year since the last Wallace Cup?

AlolaGirlAvia said:

Wouldn't Dawn have debunked that since she said in BW it had been a year since the last Wallace Cup?

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Then Ash would have to be 11 years old by the time he's traveling in Kalos, unless they somehow reconfirm him still being 10.

I think there's more than one ash. Like ash, ashtwo and ashthree.

I love this theory and it's one I personally agree with simply based on the fact it makes the most sense logically. This of course is in the case the entire series was a continuous plot and no "reboots" took place.

smocks said:

There's been movies and some episodes stating that "few months have past by" or something like so.
But I remember in one of the first movies, Ash says to Pikachu, "it's almost been a year we've been together!" (not word for word but it's similar)
And considering its one of the first movies (I believe it was some Johto movie) you would think he'd would gained some years.
I think Ash is supposed to be around 15 in my opinion but I could be wrong :p

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You are correct, there was an instance in the first season (the academy episode before Vermillion) where Ash tells the Lass he's been traveling with PIkachu for about 2 months if I remember correctly. However it is important to consider the fact this could be a translation error, along with any other mention of time throughout the series. It wouldn't be the only time the english translators screw stuff up, I have no hard evidence to support this but you know it's just something to consider.

kerbingamer376 said:

I think there's more than one ash. Like ash, ashtwo and ashthree.

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This actually kinda makes sense. There would be one ash in every region. This could also explain why he becomes so weak at the beginning of every new region, and also why he doesn't recognize some people.

Lucario said:

I think there's more than one ash. Like ash, ashtwo and ashthree.

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If BW!Ash is Ashtwo (Because he is reset to newbie), and XY!Ash is Ashthree (Because he is too mature compare to the idiot immediately before him), then what happened to the Ashone? Also what happened to Ashtwo when changing from Ashthree?

I kind of see something dark behind this theory...... :badsmile:

He is 10 years old even now.

The long of the series doesnt matter, we have series even longer than pokémon and that doesnt mean they get old. The simpsons, Detective Conan, Shin chan etc.
Ash have the same age because pokémon is a long comercial for a kids game, so the series need to be relatable for the kids. That doesnt need to follow a logic.