It’s that time of the year again – the time to dress up as your favorite variety of spooky characters!

You can become a zombie, a witch, a fairy, a ghost and so much more. However for favorite Pokémon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum, the spirit of Halloween has occasionally gone a little beyond just a fun, spooky season.

In other words, our favorite Pokémon anime protagonist is no stranger to death. Having ‘died’ a whopping six times throughout the series, we found ourselves asking an undeniably important question: how would we rank each of Ash’s on-screen deaths based on how memorable they are? Read on to find out.

Frozen in Space (#6)

The first and – currently – only set of dual movie pairs to release, as of now in 2024, was White: Victini and Zekrom and Black: Victini and Reshiram. Although the overall story and plot of both movies were the same, they featured some key differences – such as one movie focusing more on Zekrom and the other on Reshiram. Other differences were also present, like matching version-exclusive Pokémon (some even Shiny in one but not the other!) appearing throughout the films, as well as different locations being shown.

This may be a pair some fans missed watching. While not as good as some other movies, it was nonetheless a fun one to experience. Unfortunately though, Ash just could not get a break from situations of imminent death looming overhead to claim him.

The movie begins with Ash and Pikachu battling an opponent – a Throh in White: Victini and Zekrom, and a Sawk in Black: Victini and Reshiram, before the movie cuts to the main antagonist, Damon, traveling through a desert in White and a tundra in Black. Damon’s intentions are to discuss the revival of either Eindoak Town or the Kingdom of the Vale depending on the movie.

In the meantime, Ash opts to participate in a festival in town where he must battle and win against other competitors. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for him, an invisible Victini provides Ash’s Scraggy with a power-up, which results in its win against an opponent’s Hydreigon. His opponent concedes that she has lost, but is suspicious of this strange burst of strength. She suggests Victini is responsible for it. It later reveals itself, and our heroes find out that Victini is trapped within the confines of the town due to a barrier erected long ago. This barrier, called the Pillars of Protection, was put up to protect the town from being ravaged by the powers of Reshiram and Zekrom, with Victini being asked to provide support for this cause by the previous king of the town long ago.

Damon intended to use Victini for his own goals of reviving his ancestors’ homeland, which was destroyed by Reshiram or Zekrom in the far-off past.

After the ensuing danger of Damon attempting to make his wishes a reality, Ash eventually ends up in the castle (or Pillars of Protection), which is carried up into the Earth’s atmosphere. There, the temperature grows cold, and despite his efforts to stay warm enough to protect his friends – Pikachu and Victini – he succumbs to the cold and freezes, but not before tears fall down, freeze, and shatter along his face. Pikachu and Victini are both distraught by this.

As you may expect, Victini did revive Ash using the power of its Searing Shot. Had it not done so, there would have been no hope for our protagonist in the ice-cold atmosphere of the Earth. The castle then returns to the ground once again with the help of Reshiram and Zekrom, ensuring all is safe.

While less moving, Victini’s friendship with Ash throughout the movie is still touching. Ash truly cares for the little one, knowing how much it has had to endure all of these years. Personally, we’d rank this ‘death’ at the bottom, but that doesn’t mean it was very poorly executed – just less memorable. Some may view this more as ‘falling unconscious’ rather than dying, but we wanted to mention it anyway, as it’s generally agreed by the community to essentially have been his demise.

Underwater Disaster (#5)

Manaphy has always been considered a cute Mythical Pokémon, being heralded as one of the guardians of the sea. It’s unique in the fact that it’s the only Mythical Pokémon, even now, to be able to breed in the mainline games – though only with Ditto. You may remember how tough it was to get a Manaphy, as well as its fellow sea guardian and offspring, Phione, back during the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl days. I still remember my struggle!

Personally, I am quite the fan of the Generation III movies, with Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea being no exception.

This movie begins with an Egg – Manaphy’s – floating in the ocean, surrounded by aquatic Pokémon. It is then snatched by a group of pirates led by Captain Phantom, but is immediately taken from their clutches by Jack Walker, a major movie-exclusive character. He is a Rank-9 Pokémon Ranger, which is a term you may be familiar with if you played a Pokémon Ranger game previously.

We then see Ash and his friends traveling down a very hot road, drenched in sweat, lacking water, and overall not having a great time. Little does Ash know, his day is about to get a lot worse.

Fortunately, they come across a traveling circus group, where they are able to get some much-needed hydration and recuperate from their travels. They decide to come along with the travelers to see their next troupe performance in a nearby town. Afterwards, May, one of Ash’s companions during his adventures in Hoenn (and later Kanto), spots what looks to be Manaphy’s Egg on a bunk bed – of course, they have no idea what this Egg is quite yet.

A clown traveling with the performers later reveals himself to be Jack, the same Pokémon Ranger who rescued Manaphy’s Egg from the pirates’ hands at the beginning of the film. This explains the Egg’s presence with the circus group.

We soon see our protagonists come face-to-face with the pirates, back to reclaim the Egg they originally stole. Here Manaphy ends up hatching from its Egg while Ash and his friends protect it, and eventually, they manage to escape from the thieves once again.

Manaphy’s first instinct upon hatching is to cry, similar to that of a Baby Pokémon, which adds to its cuteness. May mothers it, trying to get it to relax. It later has a swim in the ocean, filled with all sorts of beautiful corals and Water Pokémon. Thanks to a mural, they soon find out that Manaphy is heralded as the Prince of the Sea, and that a long-gone people known as the People of the Water had once lived in an ocean temple now below the ocean. It was sealed underwater due to invading evil spirits.

It’s not long before the pirates make a return, keen to put their all into reclaiming Manaphy for a final time. The villains and our heroes eventually end up at the underwater ocean temple, Samiya, encased in a sea bubble, which boasted a treasure – the Sea Crown – deep inside. What Captain Phantom was truly after was not the crown, however, but the crystals located within. These crystals needed to be kept in place in order for the temple to be kept safe, but not knowing this, he pulled them out. In response of its crystals being plucked, the water bubble began to break apart and water started flooding the temple; Captain Phantom realized what he had caused and gave up on his thievery, valuing his life and scrambling to try and make it out alive.

What makes this movie all the more heroic is Ash’s brave actions: he places May, Pikachu, and Manaphy into a diving pod originally belonging to the Phantom Pirates, and tells Pikachu to watch over May and Manaphy. They are shocked realizing his intentions.

Desperately trying to return the crystals to their rightful spot and struggling to hold his breath, Ash dove down to the last spot where a crystal needed to be returned. He tried again and again to make it without running out of breath, but in the end, despite his yearning to save the temple, simply could not stay conscious. Shortly after, the boy drowned, the crystal fell out of his grip, and his body began floating up to the surface.

Manaphy, understanding May’s distress as she awaited his return from the pod, used Heart Swap to pass along her prayers to Ash, who awoke with a burst of energy. He channeled his energy into diving down once again, and finally – with immense struggle – managed to return the crystal to its rightful location. The temple was saved.

What makes this ‘death’ such a memorable one for me was that it was the only death so strongly influenced by the power of another human rather than a Pokémon. Without May’s strong wishes for Ash to succeed, Manaphy’s Heart Swap likely would have had no effect, and our hero’s body may have been lying somewhere deep in the flooded temple.

For me this ‘death’ deserves the #5 spot.

The Start of An Adventure, Remade (#4)

I Choose You! was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. It was unique in the fact that it was a retelling of Ash’s beginnings as a Trainer – from when he first met Pikachu to his encounter with his new, movie-exclusive friends (sorry, Misty and Brock!). Ho-Oh makes an appearance as well, leaving behind a Rainbow Wing for Ash. Its initial reveal of information surprised fans, as not many expected Ash’s story to be retold in a new way.

While a retelling means aspects will be different, there are many, many familiar moments – from the classic poster of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle in Ash’s room, to Ash dragging Pikachu along with him using a rope.

The classic scene of being attacked by Spearow shows early on in the movie, and we can later see a montage of Ash’s progress immediately after: his Pikachu begins to obey him, he obtains his first Pokémon, Caterpie, he wins Pokémon battles, and he obtains some new Gym Badges.

Later at a Pokémon Center, he finally calls his mom to update her on his progress, and it is here where he hears of the Legendary Pokémon Entei being nearby. He later spots it outside along with a female Trainer named Verity and her Piplup; she proceeds to battle it, but in the end it gets away. Later the two are forced to take shelter due to heavy rain, and it is here where Ash finds and catches Charmander – a familiar face left abandoned by its former Trainer. Ash also meets Sorrel, an aspiring Pokémon Professor, who joins him along with Verity on his travels.

Over the course of the movie Ash’s Caterpie evolves into Metapod, the group spots a Suicune, and his Charmander evolves into Charmeleon. Unlike the original series, Charmeleon does not disobey him upon its evolution, nor has he caught Bulbasaur or Squirtle.

Later, being upset over a battle he had using Charmeleon against its former abusive Trainer Cross and his Midnight Form Lycanroc, Marshadow appeared, putting Ash in a dream-like state. Here, he dreamt of the most horrifying thing that could occur to anyone, not just on Halloween, but in general – a world where you go to regular school, and Pokémon do not exist.

His poster of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle is replaced by a poster with cars. Just awful. How could the writers do this?

He realizes the sadness of such a world and wakes up to see Pikachu in front of him. The Rainbow Wing Ho-Oh entrusted to Ash, having dimmed in response to his sadness earlier, regains its color. Ash continues his journey with more motivation and more familiar scenes occur: him and his friends find a Pink Butterfree, which eventually leaves with Ash’s own Butterfree in order to mate.

They then encounter Marshadow. It goes out of control due to the Rainbow Wing’s overwhelming power when a Trainer, Charmander’s original owner, takes and causes it to darken in response to him having a ‘cold heart’. It possessed Cross’s Midnight Form Lycanroc as well as some wild Pokémon, and a battle between them and Ash and Pikachu ensues. However, Pikachu is unable to keep up with all of his opponents, and takes a powerful hit from Marshadow. The possessed Pokémon prepare a large attack. Then, we have a shocking turn of events that surprised many fans, and I remember people talking about it quite a bit on the movie’s release – Pikachu spoke!

Ash, initially shocked, knew what end awaited him from these oncoming Pokémon attacks, and forced Pikachu to return to his Poké Ball. He took the hit, but not after proclaiming he would be the world’s best Pokémon Master.

Once the smoke cleared, we could see what remained of Ash: a fading, lifeless body. He laid motionless as Pikachu left his Poké Ball to see what happened. Unable to hold back tears, Pikachu cried out for his partner, sending out a powerful Thunderbolt that released both Marshadow and the possessed Pokémon from the corruption of the Rainbow Wing.

Ash finds himself in what appears to be a parallel world; here, he sensed Pikachu’s presence. He runs forward, a field of yellow flowers blossoming all around him, and then returns to reality with his best friend awaiting him. His life was saved, and he had become a ‘Rainbow Hero’. His journey continues, but not after a trip to the Pokémon Center and surprising Nurse Joy that it was Ho-Oh who was responsible for all of his and his Pokémon’s injuries.

This was a truly unique movie, with a ‘death’ scene that I think deserves its #4 spot. Pikachu speaking just moments before the inevitable was odd at first, but is now unforgettable.

From Something to Nothing (#3)

Many Pokémon anime fans rank Lucario and the Mystery of Mew as one of their favorites, if not their top favorite, Pokémon movies, and for good reason. It has an excellent plot, a good cast of characters, some both very funny and touching moments, and of course, it features Lucario and Mew, both fan favorites.

However, while it may be favored by many a fan, Ash Ketchum would probably disagree on ranking it as one of his favorite adventures.

His journey begins in a city called Rota, an anime-exclusive location in the northern part of Kanto. Ash and his friends arrive just in time for him to opt to participate in a tournament titled the ‘Hero of the Year’ – likely a testament to Sir Aaron and Lucario, heroes and legends of centuries past.

Ash participates in this tournament and, of course, takes victory with the help of his Pokémon team.

He later meets the very same Lucario that accompanied Sir Aaron long ago, as it was released from a painting it was sealed in upon sensing Ash’s aura due to its similarity to that of Sir Aaron’s. It hesitantly joins Ash in his journey across the vast expanse of the surrounding fields and forests in order to rescue Pikachu, who was teleported by Mew along with Meowth in an effort to rescue them from a villainous group of Weavile and their Trainer.

Anime fans can remember certain points later in the movie well. Ash eventually finds and rescues Pikachu, an act of bravery which moves the stubborn Lucario, who was set on the belief that humans and Pokémon could not get along due to it being sealed by Sir Aaron in the distant past.

They later approach and enter the Tree of Beginning, which activates its defense mechanisms and sends red globs after what it considers to be intruders. Regirock, Registeel, and Regice also join the fray in assistance of the tree.

Following a lengthy escape, right after getting Pikachu back – after being separated for what felt like an eternity – Ash could not stop the red globs from capturing him. He made an attempt to escape, but quickly realized it was futile and released all the Pokémon he had on hand from their Poké Balls, telling Pikachu to watch over everyone – and that he loved him. From there, he is consumed by the glob, which disappears into the ground.

All of his Pokémon cry, awash by the fact that their best friend and Trainer is now gone. Even Lucario, who was stubbornly angry with Ash earlier in the movie, is both hurt and moved by this.

Although Ash is later revived by Mew, this ‘death’ is made so much more impactful knowing the effects it had on Lucario. It had realized the truth about what occurred in the past between it and Sir Aaron, and passed away – without any power-of-friendship revivals – with the knowledge that its Trainer truly cared about it.

It was a beautiful moment and definitely deserves the #3 spot.

Becoming A Ghost (#2)

Imagine this: You have a goal to catch Ghost Pokémon and are traveling with your friends. In front of you stands a creepy-looking mansion, and it’s the middle of the night. Your friends know how badly you want to become a Pokémon Master and agree to come into the building – eerily echoing with laughter – with you. After some exploration, a mysterious poltergeist spooks them, so the group leaves and refuses to re-enter.

So what do you do? Of course, you go back in… after some convincing for your partner Pikachu and Charmander. After all, you really want those Ghost Pokémon, and to become a stronger Trainer to defeat Sabrina, the Psychic-type Gym Leader. So Ash Ketchum set off inside once again, accompanied only by his Pikachu and Charmander.

Little did he know that he would become the very thing he sought to obtain.

When inside, he finally encountered Haunter and Gengar, failing an attempted battle against them with his Charmander. From there, they joked around and try to make him laugh. In the end, Ash was unamused, but still determined. As the Pokémon try to leave by phasing through the floor, he jumped after them – causing the frail chandelier above him to collapse. It didn’t just collapse anywhere; it fell right on top of him and Pikachu. He was then unresponsive. You guessed it: he died.

Of course, the jokesters Haunter and Gengar, rejoined once again by Gastly, laughed this off before they realized that Ash actually was unresponsive. It’s okay, though – Haunter has the power to pull his soul out of his body to give him consciousness again, which it quickly did. Ash then had an epic adventure flying and exploring the depths around the mansion, teasing Misty and Brock in the process, before being returned to his body, where his panicked friends awaited him.

Many of us grew up on these early episodes of the Indigo League, so seeing Ash become a ghost was spooky – and very memorable. Although the Tower of Terror episode is filled with silly little escapades and laughter, it will always be remembered as the only time Ash died in an episode, rather than movie, of the Pokémon anime. Thus, we just had to rank it as #2.

A Touching Classic (#1)

I’m sure this will come at no surprise. Remember those distant childhood days and your young excitement about the Pokémon movie coming out? Do you recall any Pokémon fan from your class being suspiciously absent during the day of the movie’s release… or perhaps you were out at the theater – or, wait, ‘out sick’ – yourself? Then you’ll likely remember this classic. I sure do.

The first movie journey begins with Ash receiving an odd letter from Dragonite, which displayed a hologram of someone that looked like Nurse Joy; she spared no time to ask them to go to an isolated island called New Island, normally accessible by ferry from the Old Shore Wharf. Once they arrive at the wharf they are met with the awful news that no ferry is currently operating due to severe storms. The piermaster advises them to stay behind, as finding their own way to New Island would mean risking their lives.

Of course, being protagonists, Ash and his friends chose not to heed this warning. They use their Water Pokémon to swim to the island, just barely making it through the intensity of the storm.

There, they meet Mewtwo, clone of Mew and one of the strongest beings on Earth. Mewtwo invites Ash and the other Trainers who made it past the storm, a clear set-up, to participate in a Pokémon battle. Its aim is to see whether its team of cloned Pokémon, cloned directly from the participants’ party members, are stronger than their originals.

A fierce battle ensues, with Mew joining in on the side of the originals, although Mewtwo’s clones prove to be very powerful. Even Team Rocket’s Meowth participates, having its own clone created like the rest of the Pokémon on the island.

Ash watched from high above on a pillar; the result of Mewtwo’s blast sending him flying. The Pokémon battles got more intense as he struggled to make his way back down, until eventually, all Pokémon except Mewtwo and Mew were left unable to move. They prepare to launch a blast at each other right as Ash finally gets back down. Seeing the destruction laid in their wake, he could not handle it any longer. He runs in between them, and takes their hit himself.

Immediately, the iconic scene plays out: he falls to the ground, turned to stone.

Many of us Pokémon anime fans are aware of this scene, and many more will probably never forget it.

Pikachu tries desperately to wake Ash with his Thunder Shock, again and again. After his umpteenth attempt, he falls into exhaustion and gives up, realizing that this may be futile. He begins to cry knowing that this may truly be the death of his partner, and other Pokémon join in, both original and clone. An endless display of glistening lights are brought forth from each Pokémon and float towards Ash. In response, his stone body slowly dissipates and he regains his normal appearance.

The two look at each other upon Ash regaining consciousness and share a touching embrace, reunited once again.

This is an unforgettable scene. For those of us watching Mewtwo Strikes Back for the first time when it was just released, we may not have known as children that Ash would get revived. The moments of sadness persisted for quite a while, and there is a lot of build-up to making this happen. Despite his exhaustion, Pikachu’s desperate attempts to wake his best friend are powerful, along with Ash’s desire to stop everyone from fighting. We remember how far they have come since the first episode, where the pair could not get along.

The memories of Ash’s first ‘death’ will last a lifetime, and it’s impossible for us not to give this one the #1 spot.

Conclusion

And that’s it! All of Ash’s ‘deaths’, personally ranked by how memorable they are.

As a huge fan of the anime series, I could not resist the idea of putting this list together – just in time. Happy Halloween!

What kind of ‘death’ do you want to see Ash have in the future?

Edited by bobandbill and Arcaneum