IN Pokémon, Ash’s Greninja is one of the strongest companions he’s ever had, but Greninja partly gets his strength from a period of special training with a real ninja of unusual appearance. Naruto. With Greninja’s obvious inspiration, the training session is not only appropriate but actually necessary for Ash’s role as Froakie as it develops further.
In the episode “A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!”, Ash and his friends encounter a boy dressed as a ninja named Sanpei, who happens to have Frogadier, the mid-evolution of Froakie. Ash and Sanpei fight, but Froakie ends up losing, which causes Ash to ask Sanpei to help train his Froakie to be like Frogadier. Sanpei agrees and begins teaching Froakie some essential ninja tricks, like running on water and flying through treetops, just like in Naruto. Although it takes Froakie some time, it eventually learns how to perform these abilities, which it will continue to use as the series continues.
Ash’s Froakie Ninja training is essential in Pokémon
Through his ninja training, Froakie eventually learned the technique “Double Team”, known in Japanese as “Shadow Split”, which sounds very similar to Naruto’s Shadow Clone jutsu. Double Team becomes an essential tool in Froakie’s moveset, maintaining it as it develops, and it appears in several later episodes, such as in “A Riveting Rivalry!”, where Greninja can use the power of his Double Team copies to increase the attack power of Water Shuriken. For a one-off episode, the character of the day, this ninja named Sanpei is actually quite important in Froakie’s story arc throughout XY, if only because of Double Team.
This encounter may also play a role in the larger part of Froakie in another sense. This is the first time Froakie meets its evolved form, and although there is a bit of competition at first, Froakie respects Frogadier and tries to imitate it. Seeing what its evolved form can do could make Froakie more open to the concept of evolution, paving the way for it to eventually become Greninja. Training experiences like these are also key to building the relationship between Ash and Froakie, as Ash also attempts to train the ninja (to mixed results). The incredible bond that Ash and Froakie forged was what would eventually allow the Pokémon to manifest the Ash-Greninja state, and this initial training experience helped put them on the right track.
Ninjas always exist in the Pokémon world
It’s quite fitting that the key to Froakie’s success is his actual ninja training, brought to him by a Naruto-like character. The episode is a fun reference to the popular series, featuring Pikachu and others dressed in ninja costumes and Sanpei from a secret village with the goal of becoming the greatest ninja. Ninjas have actually played a role in the Pokémon world since the days of gym leader Kanto Koga in the first generation, so having real ninjas for Froakie to train with is hardly a stretch. towel. Ash’s Froakie’s training here is the foundation for everything Pokémon will do later, make this an important experience besides a cold nod to Naruto.