I was wondering about ash ketchum's age: in general he's 10 but how come when he returned in viridian city he said: its been a year since the last time! but in the japanese he said its been a while. how come all of the seasons including kalos he's still 10?!? he has to be like 20, 21.... anyway reply to this question

Green, Ash is ageless. He's a relative of Peter Pan who defies space and time to stay ten forever, or he's just proof that Olay Anti-Aging Cream really works.

No one knows how old ash ketchum is, He's been 10 ever since the first episode of Pokémon originally aired which was in 1996 I think. There has been lots of conspiracies such as ash being in a coma and him not aging due to ho-oh helping find eternal happiness when traveling to new regions and such.

The one thing has really bothered me is that it seems not even ONE character in the anime ever ages. Sure some characters changes their outfit from time to time yet that doesn't really show that much of them actually growing up.
Pokemon what a riot

Bulbapedia article.

Ash Ketchum has been 10 from the start of the series.

He has won 52 badges/symbols, has over 70 pokemon "caught" in his pokedex, and been involved with 5 league championships in what amounts to less than one calender year.

Clearly, Ash is god.

Obviously Ash is some kind of time lord. He simply forces time to wrap around himself, allowing him to do all of this in one year. Even though that's impossible. You must remember he is not human, and can simply train as long as he needs. That's why his team always loses. Time control has negative affects on Pokemon strength. One moment Pikachu beats a Regice, the next he loses to a Snivy. Just time travel side affects wearing on him.

Its possible that not only Ash got eternal happiness of seeing Ho-oh in the first episode he might have also earned eternal youth but who knows? So anyways I came with a theory a long time ago this theory involves all current seasons of Pokémon so lets say that each 3 seasons takes 2 to 3 months so Ash must be about 14 or 15 or 16 even if I don't really know Ash's age there are theories spread everywhere the most famous is the Ash Coma theory but I don't really get that one but anyways I hope I helped (speaking of Pokémon I would really like it if you check out my hack Pokémon Vherestorm and some of my stories I post in Vizzed) so anyways, bye!

greenluigi : Ash is ten...most of the staff says he is ten,The narrator says he is ten,And he says he is ten,He is ten.

Who wants to see a 27 Pokemon catcher story???? Not me and I've watched it since it aired way back when. Mind you not as much. But an "old man" is not attractive to children and that's why he is still 10. BTW this aint the only show that has done this.

steel_attacker : i know i hate pikachu so much in general because i don't know why there making pikachu the main pokemon! did you know that ash's strongest  pokemon is charizard not pikachu

Ash isn't 10, or 27. He's approximately 10,000. He's a Time Lord from the planet Gallafrey. He crash landed on Earth, and has been catching Pokémon ever since. Which also explains why his friends always leave. Time Lords seldom travel alone. So Ash did what any Time Lord would do, he found some companions.

A user of this : XD

I think he travel too fast. Ash is too addicted to Pokemon anyway.

It is a cartoon.... anyone take into consideration that just because a cartoon show has been airing for 17 years doesn't mean 17 years has passed in the show? Look at the Rugrats (for older people who remember that cartoon). That show aired for quite a few years, but they were all still babies. If those years that it aired were reflective of how much time passed in the show, they would have been out of diapers after the first year or two. You don't take the years a cartoon has aired and assume that many years has passed in the show.

rcarter2 :

Difference is that if you aired every episode of Rugrats on back to back days, there are only 170 episodes. Meaning you could even skip a day after each episode and have them all reasonably take place within a one year time period.

Meanwhile, there are 795 episodes of Pokemon (in America, 812 in Japan), and counting. (Still ongoing after all)

For Ash to reasonably stay 10 within the time frame of one year (I think he turned 10 in episode 1...?) he would have to reasonably accomplish 2 episodes in one day. Not to mention all the time skips we see (we don't see all the traveling. That'd be boring as crap) not to mention travel between regions, and days where he feels like resting (He's a 10 year old boy, if he doesn't rest, he'll eventually die of fatigue).

So I don't buy for a second this whole Ash hasn't aged a day thing. Either that, or the Pokemon year is wicked freaking long, and contains 8-12 seasons, rather than our four.

I know it's a cartoon, and I shouldn't take this seriously, but it's a major flaw in their story telling, and now it irks me.

legacyme3 : I'll concede to that logic. Rugrats is a poor example How about the Simpsons? They have been running since 1989, and has 538 episodes and counting. Granted, that is fewer episodes than Pokemon. But they have holiday specials every year, so they have 365 days a year like in real life, AND they keep current on what is going on as far as current events. So they are not only subject to the same time span as real life, but attached the the current events of real life. Yet NOBODY in Springfield ever ages. 

rcarter2 :

Both are cases of poor calendrical logic (what).

Bart should be in his what, 20's now based on the episode count? And I'm pretty sure Ash should be somewhere between 12-13.

They aren't though, and it irritates me.

Its funny how I think about it.....I have stopped watching Pokémon ages ago...and ash still looks like ten, till this day....what has made me upset is what, and how they do things, in Pokémon now. That is why I refuse to watch it. The whole plot has changed remember, what ash said he was going to do? Ash* I am going to catch them all!* the Pokémon has expanded now and...hes dreams are taking a different turn. Pokémon is not how it used to be....its just upsetting now. I know others can see this too, and feel the same...Pokemon should had ended ages ago....I say when dawn was still there. That was when, they should had end it. They  will have too one day.

well he was ten years when he first got a Pokemon and the first season took a year and so on. I think he will be about eighteen years old at the end

I think he's 10 due to the show being for kids near 10 years old. I watch Pokémon a lot and sometimes when I'm watching a certain episode, the narrator all of a sudden says he's 10. I don't know anything else pretty much. I'm sorry if I don't have enough info for you.