Ash Ketchum’s Pokémon encountered many rare Pokémon in his travels, from divine Pokémon to alien Pokémon from another universe. Of course, he catches far fewer of them, but one of the rarest Pokémon Ash has ever owned is also one of his oldest.
Despite the Pokémon anime’s motto of “catch them all!”, Ash still respects Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, Pokémon that are often shown to be able to speak in the anime and rarely attempt to catch one. An exception to this is Meltan, who despite being Mythic is one of many. Many would say that Meltan’s evolved Melmetal is the absolute rarest Pokémon he’s caught and fought with, since it’s still a Mythical Pokémon, and that’s a fair point. Even his Poipole, which he possesses for a relatively short time, is quite rare as it is from another world, but it is said that Poipole is the starting Pokémon of the world in the game, which suggests that they are relatively obtainable in their home world. Instead, the rarest Pokémon Ash has ever caught is a Pokémon from the Johto era: Noctowl.
Shiny Pokémon in Anime is even rarer than legend
In the episode “Fowl Play!” Ash met a very rare Pokémon, a shiny Noctowl. Shiny Pokémon are Pokémon that have rare mutations that make them look different from others of the same species; that difference can be very significant (many shades are hot pink) or barely noticeable (some shadows just change their eye color). The Noctowl was on the more conspicuous side, and when Ash saw it, he spotted someone else trying to capture it. As it turned out, this Noctowl was quite clever and was smarter than the man trying to catch it, so he decided to let Ash do the work. Ash uses Pikachu, who is hypnotized by Noctowl’s Hypnosis, and shoots out sparks at random until finally escaping from it. Pikachu avoids being hypnotized by closing his eyes and listening to the sound of Noctowl’s wings, attacks the source of the sound and defeats the Noctowl, allowing Ash to capture it.
Shiny Pokémon are extremely rare, with odds at the time being around 1:8,000, and thus they don’t appear very often in the anime. Shinies is a new mechanic in the Johto-based Gold and Silver games, so it makes sense to include that new feature in the anime and do it prominently by turning it into Ash’s Pokémon that is sure to make children enjoy. Ash’s Noctowl is also unique because of its size, as it is slightly smaller than other Noctowls in the area. The latest games, Scarlet and Violet, include a resizing feature, and getting a very small Pokémon is also quite difficult, so a shiny, small Pokémon like Ash’s Noctowl is actually rarer than a bright Pokémon. ordinary ball. Ash still owns his Noctowl and keeps it at Professor Oak’s Lab along with most of his other Pokémon. The fact that it’s shiny often goes unnoticed these days, so many new fans may not even know that Ash has owned a shiny Pokémon all this time!
Ash’s rarest Pokémon
In addition to this shiny Noctowl, Ash has caught many rare Pokémon over the years. Ash has encountered many rare Pokémon in the Alola region, such as the aforementioned Meltan, a Mythical Pokémon, considered the rarest classification a species can have. That Meltan eventually evolved into Melmetal, making it extremely unique; no other Melmetal has ever been seen in the series. As a Pokémon not native to his world, Poipole is of course rare, and it has also evolved into Naganadel, making it even rarer. Naganadel, however, eventually returned to its home dimension, while Melmetal remained in Ash’s possession. Ash has also evolved his Rockruff into a unique form of Lycanroc, the Dusk form, which seems to be rare. In Journeys, Ash used Dracovish, a fossil Pokémon created from the union of two fossils, which is also unique. Ash’s Greninja has a unique shapeshifting ability, making it quite rare. It’s also important to note that of Ash’s companions, only one has ever caught a shiny Pokémon, and that’s Goh, who has caught a shiny Voltorb.
In the final episodes of Ash, he encounters a wounded Latias. By gaining the creature’s trust, Ash was eventually able to command it in battle, even though he never officially captured it. This is the closest Ash has caught a Legend, and many fans were hoping it would be his first, especially since Ash has had a special connection to Latias since the fifth movie. As a result, in over 1200 episodes of the series, Ash never caught a Legend. However, the same cannot be said of his companions; Goh has captured Suicune, which it has chosen as his Pokémon as long as he allows it to continue to roam the world and purify the polluted lakes. Goh also obtained, albeit temporarily, several other Legends, such as Eternatus and Regieleki, although these were transferred to other parties after their capture.
With Ash’s journey complete, it seems like Ash Ketchum may never possess a Legendary Pokémon, but he is much rarer. Pokémonincluding the rarest of all – his shiny Noctowl.