Game Theory: Who Does Ash MARRY? (Pokemon)

facing another strong Raichu. That is, Ash and Pikachu must once again contemplate whether or not to use the stone to evolve. I love that it's not enough to recycle the same plot theme, but even do it against the same Pokémon. Why not a dragon Pokémon or a God Pokémon or something like that? No. Those damn Raichu always give you that real existential crisis. Anyway, as you can probably guess, they decide not to evolve back into Pikachu. But this time there is a twist. Team Rocket shows up, steals the thunder stone, and at the end of the episode reveals that they plan to sell it.

In short, the Thunder Stone is no more before Ash thinks about having children. And before you say it, no. Riko is not the daughter of Team Rocket. Believe me, I checked it. Even genetics are against Ash. Sure, Ash could have a recessive blue allele, but that's a big "if." And the whole black hair thing. Characters with black hair and blue eyes in the series abound. Just take Goh from Journeys or even Riley from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. For good measure, I also ran an analysis of their faces and found that again, the likelihood of it being Ash was slim.

If you watch the episode where I revealed that Bo Burnham is secretly Dream's father. You will know that face shape can be a great genetic factor. So I found the best shots of all the characters looking forward, did some pixel measurements, put them into an online face shape calculator and the results were amazing. Most of the women ended up having the same or very similar proportions. Basically, all of them were categorized as heart-shaped faces. Rijo also has a heart-shaped face, so she

does

n't really help me narrow the field. Now, scientifically speaking, daughters are supposed to have a balanced combination of the face shapes of their mothers and fathers.

And although Ash's measurements lead to a heart-shaped face. All of his other proportions are too large to match Riko's. Her jaw is much longer, her cheeks are wider, and her forehead is too bulbous... Saur couldn't help himself on that. All of this means that Ash's head is simply too big to combine with any of the show's companions to produce a daughter shaped like Riko's face. The science just

does

n't add up. I don't think Riko's parents end up having any major involvement in the story. And you know what? I'm more than happy with that. Although yes, it would be cool to see the daughter of the legendary Ash Ketchum embark on her own journey to become a Pokémon master like her father.

I also think it would defeat the purpose of bringing in a new protagonist in the first place. Pokémon is a story about how anyone can achieve greatness through hard work and determination. Ash started out as an idiot from a small town in the middle of nowhere. He had good intentions and a big heart, but not much skill. Honestly, he still doesn't have much skill. Using thunder for everything is not a strategy. But he has matured. He has learned, he has grown. He's been through more than his share of failures. And now he has achieved his childhood dream.

Simply handing the torch to his daughter is falling into the trap that so many other franchises have fallen into recently, that you have to be one of the chosen ones to win. It undermines that core idea that this coach could be anyone, it could be you. It's scary that things will change, but it's also okay. I also know that Ash will eventually appear as a surprise battle for Riko towards the end of her journey, because that's how Pokémon do it. So although yes, I hate that Ash is leaving. I'm also fine to move on. Because let's be honest, he really should have been with Serena or Misty the whole time.

But hey! That's just an opinion, MY PLAYER OPINION! Thank you for your time. And hey, if you're not ready to say goodbye to Ash yet, why not watch our other episode where we find out how old he really is? It might make you rethink all the shipping we've been talking about in this episode. That video is further to the left. Or, why not? Check out the video on the right to see our other massive Pokémon episode where we calculate Pikachu's actual level. For both of us, we had to watch a lot of anime to come to accurate conclusions, so if you could hit the subscribe button, it would definitely be worth all the hard work.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm taking off again.