Ash's Pikachu

This Pikachu' is an electric-type Pokémon owned by Ash. He is the first Pokémon Ash ever had and is always by Ash's side, along with one of greatest battlers.

Personality
Pikachu is Ash's best friend. Pikachu has always been there for Ash and also takes a leader position for the team. He is curious, smart and friendly, but shares Ash's fondness for battling. One of his most noticeable features is his determination and unwillingness to give up whenever a situation gets tough. He is shown to be responsible with younger Pokémon, particularly Misty's Togepi, who he is often forced to shepherd out of danger by putting himself in it. Although stubborn at times, he obeys Ash's commands in battle and rarely leaves his side. He is also a constant target for Team Rocket. They try to capture him, but, on the few occasions that they do, their plans are always thwarted by Ash and his friends. Even after getting out of their traps, avoiding capture, or that he wasn't part of their schemes, Pikachu also thwarts his enemies by attacking or getting rid of them using his Electric-type moves, like Thunderbolt. He can also imitate some Pokémon by making their face shapes.

Anime
Pikachu was Ash's Starter Pokémon, given to him by Professor Oak. Ash showed up late to pick his first Pokémon, so he got stuck with Pikachu. Though he didn't like Ash at first, Ash demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice himself for Pikachu, and they quickly became friends. Pikachu, who is rather independent in general, believes that he is strong enough without evolving and refuses to evolve into a Raichu, even when he was easily beaten by Lt. Surge's Raichu in their first battle. Later in Ash's adventure in the Sinnoh region, Pikachu was given another chance to evolve after being seriously injured by another Raichu, but he refused once again.

Early in the series, Pikachu was given an operation to increase the strength of the electric sacs in his cheeks in order to beat the first Gym Leader, Brock. Despite this, Pikachu can also get a cold and go out of control when he cannot release his electricity. Most notably, exposure to a magnetic field will cause Pikachu to get a cold. This has been done to him at least three times in the series, two times by Team Rocket and one time by Zekrom: the first time, Pikachu was cured when the extra electricity was used in attacks against a group of Grimer and a Muk, and in the second time was inadvertently cured by one of Team Rocket's battery robots, which subsequently overloaded and exploded. The last time is when Professor Juniper heals him after Ash's battle with Trip in Unova.

Many of the Pokémon animated shorts with all-Pokémon dialogue have featured Pikachu as the main character, and as the main voice of reason. As such, Pikachu is often a leader, helping to break up conflicts among other Pokémon.

A running gag is how he burns all of main female character's bike with Thunderbolt, which, in turn results in that girl following Ash, except for Iris following Ash after she and Ash bumped into each other. Pikachu also has a fondness for ketchup, which is seen multiple times in the anime.

Know moves

 * Thundershock
 * Thunderbolt
 * Agility
 * Quick Attack
 * Thunder
 * Double-edge
 * Tackle
 * Leer
 * Iron Tail
 * Volt Tackle
 * Electro Ball

Voice actress

 * Ikue Ōtani (Japanese; in both the Japanese and English-language versions of the Pokémon anime)
 * Rachael Lillis (English; in some episodes of the English version of the Pokémon anime)
 * Kayzie Rogers (English; Pokémon Learning League)
 * Claudia Motta (Spanish)
 * Sabine Bohlmann (German)