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Ash's Pikachu Changes His Level At Will?

Super_Shimzy

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The question is: Does Ash's Pikachu change his level at will and is it affected by stress?​

Synopsis: Ash's Pikachu will be referred to as Achu for the remainder of this synopsis for reasons. The premise of the idea comes from how Achu for some strange reason can fight Pokemon that are fully evolved and win while he can fight lower leveled Pokemon and lose. There are situations where Achu is ill or damaged and cannot fight in a normal manner, these situations will be ignored because they don't fully represent the battle capacity Achu has when facing Pokemon of the same level. Achu has been under very close observation as to what level he has, yet people cannot seem to grasp it since he knows higher level moves, can fight higher level Pokemon on par, but can still lose to lower leveled Pokemon. How is this possible? Well it can be summed up as Achu having the inert ability to change his level as he sees fit. Now the question is why doesn't he just change it to a higher level? Pride is a simple answer to that question. Achu is much like his trainer Ash, thus the pride in fighting on an even plain satisfies him and gives him the opportunity to show his trainer how skilled he is in combat. There are out of battle situations where Achu is required to do something strenuous in order to complete certain tasks. These situations also cause Achu to level up and learn moves within a small time span. The opposite can be said when Achu is in a relaxed state thus allowing Team Rocket to be able to capture him with ease. Examples of all of these events can be seen throughout the Pokemon Regions Ash has traveled with Achu.​
 
Brendino

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Hey Super_Shimzy, I know that Pokemon General deals with theories about the Pokemon world, but since this is one that is exclusive to the anime universe, I'm going to move this over to our Pokemon Anime section for you.

MOVED.
 
Lizardo

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The writers don't use levels in the anime in the same way as they're used in the games.

Satoshi's Pikachu wins or loses based on the needs of the episode. And it loses because giving your main character a Pokémon capable of defeating almost every trainer he comes across would make for a boring show. It can be frustrating, and at times it's just plain stupid (see: Best Wishes), but Satoshi's battles need an element of drama to them that a Pikachu only capable of losing to champions and the like would ruin. I don't think it's worth looking into any further than that.

For what it's worth, Pikachu has usually been commented on numerous times by characters throughout the different series as being well-raised and pretty strong, so one can assume it's pretty high-leveled.
 

weedle_mchairybug

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Lizardo said:
The writers don't use levels in the anime in the same way as they're used in the games.

Satoshi's Pikachu wins or loses based on the needs of the episode. And it loses because giving your main character a Pokémon capable of defeating almost every trainer he comes across would make for a boring show. It can be frustrating, and at times it's just plain stupid (see: Best Wishes), but Satoshi's battles need an element of drama to them that a Pikachu only capable of losing to champions and the like would ruin. I don't think it's worth looking into any further than that.

For what it's worth, Pikachu has usually been commented on numerous times by characters throughout the different series as being well-raised and pretty strong, so one can assume it's pretty high-leveled.
Click to expand...

I know that levels aren't the same as in the games. For starters, there aren't numerical levels at all (School of Hard Knocks aside, that is). However, they need to show Pikachu and Ash actually BEING experienced, and generally when an experienced veteran goes against the rookie, it's the latter that loses easily.
 
Wobbu

Wobbu

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I wouldn't say Achu can change its levels at will, but rather something more complicated. Achu is a powerful Pokémon, as been shown since the start of the anime and pointed out in Lizardo's post. Ash was all about using it during OS, and during that time we saw continuous growth in Achu's levels (when I say levels, I mean its abilities and strength, not the video game mechanic). But, as the show progressed, Ash used Achu less often and focused on his other Pokémon, using Achu as a last resort of sorts (AG Gym battles, for example).

Why can Ash's Pikachu defeat powerful Pokémon, yet lose to weaker Pokémon?
Achu is at a point where it can't get that much stronger at its current state. That's why we see it defeat many opponents with ease. However, there are only a limited number of strategies that Ash has learned to counter with Achu. It's those opponents with a style of battling unfamiliar to Ash who make Achu appear weak and can easily defeat it. One of Ash's duties as a Trainer is to spontaneously come up with effective strategies during battles, something which he does fairly often, but not always.
 

Super_Shimzy

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Kk Thanks Brendino. This is a hypothetical theory I guess then. If the Pokemon in the Anime were rated on levels then Achu would most likely follow a similar scheme as to the one theorized up top. @Lizardo he knows Volt Tackle in the anime, thus your reasoning for it not being higher leveled isn't very stable. If we go by the leveling scale in the game we can see that it takes a high leveled Pikachu to learn such a move. If the anime doesn't revolve around a level scheme, then it would mean that Pikachu must be strong enough to be able to be on par with high leveled/very strong non-legendary Pokemon. If that is true then how does Achu lose to so many low leveled/1st evolution Pokemon?
 

Alpha_Spike

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Another way to look at things, even in the games a weaker pokemon can defeat higher levelled pokemon. For example, I recently defeated a level 53 Mega Gyarados with a level 37 Dragonair. Strength doesn't make for everything, as is shown often for Ash's battles where he has to come up with something different, such as making new moves by comboing them or something, like when his buizel had a counter shield attack from using an existing water attack while on its back forcing it to spin and become surrounded.
 
Lizardo

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weedle_mchairybug said:
I know that levels aren't the same as in the games. For starters, there aren't numerical levels at all (School of Hard Knocks aside, that is). However, they need to show Pikachu and Ash actually BEING experienced, and generally when an experienced veteran goes against the rookie, it's the latter that loses easily.
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That's what I was getting at when I wrote "see: Best Wishes". I don't think they should be losing to new trainers, either. But it's equally important to remember that Satoshi and Pikachu aren't the only characters in the world with experience to draw on, and that Pikachu needs to be able to lose so that Satoshi's battles can have some drama to them. Just because Satoshi and Pikachu can lose doesn't always have to mean that they vary in strength; not intentionally, anyway. It also doesn't have to require some overly-complicated reasoning to explain. It could just mean that we're watching a long-running series of television shows where other trainers also have their own sets of skills and experiences.
 

Alpha_Spike

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Thought I'd add another theory: Achu can lose because Ash/Satoshi does not age a day despite at least two years in the show having been stated as being passed since his first starting journey. So the reason Achu can lose to "weaker" pokemon is because his trainer is somehow unable to age, and that could mean Achu cannot increase in level.
 

Jonathan1990

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Ash's Pokemon Pikachu must have been at level 5 when he left his journey but I heard it's now at level 50.
 
Megan

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The whole anime is just a simulator created by aliens Team Rocket Arceus and every time Ash goes to another region the parameters get reset to default, sucking all the levels out of Pikachu and all the skill out of Ash.

Or Ash is just a little bit too overconfident and has to experience defeat in order to realize that he still has to learn a lot, before he can become a Pokemon master.
 
alisaie

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Plot devices and things aside there really is a lot of things that can influence Pikachu's and Ash's skill level. As mentioned before, strategies that Ash has yet to face can knock them for a loop and cause them to lose against a what seems to be weaker opponent. Some things, such as the 'resets' that happened with Pikachu could also cause these moments to happen (beginning of Best Wishes for example). But when it comes down to it Pikachu and Ash really have gradually (though it has been somewhat of a rollarcoaster... a huge one) gotten better throughout the seasons. Sometimes about some things more than others things but it's all based on skill. The Anime doesn't have levels to allow this leeway, so to speak.
 

weedle_mchairybug

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Sora said:
Plot devices and things aside there really is a lot of things that can influence Pikachu's and Ash's skill level. As mentioned before, strategies that Ash has yet to face can knock them for a loop and cause them to lose against a what seems to be weaker opponent. Some things, such as the 'resets' that happened with Pikachu could also cause these moments to happen (beginning of Best Wishes for example). But when it comes down to it Pikachu and Ash really have gradually (though it has been somewhat of a rollarcoaster... a huge one) gotten better throughout the seasons. Sometimes about some things more than others things but it's all based on skill. The Anime doesn't have levels to allow this leeway, so to speak.
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Sorry, but I don't buy Zekrom simply disabling Pikachu's powers. Even if that did play a factor, he also has access to abilities besides his electric abilities, such as Iron Tail and Quick Attack, heck, Agility as well.
 
alisaie

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weedle_mchairybug said:
Sorry, but I don't buy Zekrom simply disabling Pikachu's powers. Even if that did play a factor, he also has access to abilities besides his electric abilities, such as Iron Tail and Quick Attack, heck, Agility as well.
Click to expand...

I really don't feel like getting into this debate, but there was more to it than Pikachu not being able to use his electric attacks. That's all I'm going to say on the matter because I highly doubt anything I say is going to affect your opinion in the end.

But, as a side note Pikachu hasn't had the move Agility since like.... Indigo League as for the most part (there have been some strange exceptions or whatever) Pokemon do seem to be limited to four moves in the anime.
 
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