Pokémon (anime)/WMG

Wild Mass Guesses pertaining to the Pokemon Anime and previous films. WMGs for future movies and Anime seasons belong under WMG. For all other Pokemon Media, see WMG.

'''The "Eagun is Ash" theory goes on the Colosseum page. There are also pages for crossovers and Ash's father.'''

Ash Ketchum is actually Negi Springfield in disguise
Due to the events of the Magic World arc, Negi was. However, because of his, he was forced to go into hiding, but because he did not want to leave Japan, he stepped half a dimension away. Just as the Magic World is, the Pokemon world is an overlay on the Earth. And so, he ended up in Kanto and assassinated the real Ash Ketchum, dying his hair black and acting the part until he recieved Pikachu and went on his journey. This would explain Ash's ability to attract women for no apparent reason, as well as his non-aging (Even though a year in-universe had passed between Ash's first arrival in Viridian City and the Indigo League, the execs still insist that Ash is only 10 at the beginning of Best Wishes), as well as his without much training. It would also explain why Ash is able to survive damage that most people wouldn't even come close. Negi would be discreet, but he wouldn't stop using magic completely.

Sooner or later, Team Rocket will resort to KILLING Ash to get Pikachu.
I mean, come on. They've sometimes taken him along with his Pokemon. And some of the mecha that the trio uses were proven to have nearly killed the boy.
 * They've already tried using lethal force before. Just look at the episode with Snap, Ash and he were hanging over a significant drop and James was chucking bombs at them and laughing the whole time. Killing just isn't their priority, they're perfectly fine with attempting it.
 * Not necessarily. In that example, their "bombs" were seriously under-powered, and James's purpose may have been not to kill Ash, but to force him to let go and drop into the water below. That wouldn't be lethal (anime physics + he can swim, AND he has a Squirtle), but which would prevent him from going after them until they got clean away. By "missing" Ash and talking loudly about his aim getting nearer, James was telegraphing things pretty blatantly, even for Team Rocket.
 * They're TEAM ROCKET. They were disgusted when Hunter J tried that. I don't think they could go through with it

When the series finally ends, Pikachu will evolve to Raichu.
He'll probably do it to help win the final battle standing between Ash and becoming champion. Nothing could signal the end of the series like that.
 * This troper and his friend actually had some fun with this idea. We imagined it being identical to the original Japanese version of the scene in Dragonball Z where Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2.
 * Wait, would this mean some poor Steel Pokemon gets their decapitated head stomped on by Deoxys or Mewtwo or somebody? That falls both into Squick and Rule of Cool at the same time...
 * Actually, we were thinking Giovanni crushes Dexter (Ash's original Pokedex). Who somehow got there.
 * Hmm, interesting... I like it. Sounds like the beginnings to a cool fanfiction.
 * So that would mean Pikachu would evolve entirely on his own, without a Thunder Stone. His rage causes his power to spike, and his body evolves out of necessity in order to accommodate it. Granted, that's happened before, but Pikachu was likely holding back the evolution. Or the evolution happens because his body has adapted to the situation after the first time. That. Would. Be. FRIGGIN. AWESOME.
 * Pikachu used Spiral Energy. It's Super Effective! Who the hell do you think he is?!
 * Semi-confirmed, since you can buy merchandise depicting Pikachu wearing Kamina's Cool Shades and Badass Cape on VG Cats and their affiliated website, Shark Robot.
 * How does a bad comic's merchandise confirm anything?
 * Pikachu came in contact back during the Surge gym battle. Clearly he's just been holding back the evolution ever since.
 * Pikachu will defy the laws of Pokenature and evolve with out the use of a Thunder Stone. Wouldn't be the first time the anime series violated the game mechanics.
 * A Whole Plot Reference
 * 1
 * 2
 * 3
 * 4
 * 5

The reason for Team Rocket's efficiency thus far...

 * Team Rocket stole all of Tobias's Pokemon at the end of Sinnoh. When they appear in Unova, they appear as being completely competent and take orders directly from Giovanni. What better reason than that they got him 6 legendaries (or at least 2, but considering Tobias...) Later, Tobias will arrive in Unova searching for revenge, and give the entire reasons why he has such legendaries. Hey, far fetched, but, this is WMG.
 * I like that theory. Though I'm pretty sure Giovanni would have a heart attack from shock...

Ash somehow sweats the primary ingredient of Rare Candies.
Rare Candy are items in the game that instantly level a Pokemon. Ash has somehow leveled up and evolved Pokemon that he's never trained prior to that episode.
 * Likewise, Jessie's and James's tears are made of Rare Candy. That's why Koffing and Ekans evolved when they were crying.
 * Along with James' toe. Magikarp and Primeape for starters.
 * Wait a second... that must mean... Rare Candy is people!
 * Or that the main ingredient in Rare Candy is something akin to taurine, and Ash has a serious condition...
 * If that's true, then why don't they just cry on Meowth so he'll learn Pay Day, and they won't have to work for Team Rocket anymore? Then they can get rich easy!
 * Because Pay Day uses the trainer's own money in the attack, which is picked up afterwards.
 * Erm, it doesn't work that way. You can have 0 Pokedollars, use Payday on a wild Pokemon, then pick up a small amount of Poke right after the battle.

Ash's Pikachu had somehow ingested a Light Ball prior to being caught by Oak, thus doubling his Special Attack (and Attack starting in the DP arc).
This could be the reason Pikachu fries even Ground Pokemon and utterly pulverizes everything else. This is also the reason he's wanted by Jessie and James. Oak probably captured Pikachu in the first place because he wanted to study it, to know why it was more powerful than its brethren. This could also be why Pikachu refuses to evolve: it knows this at some level, and it knows it would become a normal Raichu after evolving.
 * Pokemon Yellow gives this idea some support - if the starter Pikachu is traded to Gold or Silver, it will be holding a Light Ball.
 * Also supported by HeartGold and SoulSilver; . (Spoiler tags added just to be safe.)
 * Then how do you explain the Espeon, which is from the manga?
 * It's switched out for a Lapras in HG/SS.
 * Nitpicking, but Espeon isn't based on the games. It's based on the event Eevee. A few other important trainers already had an Umbreon.

Ash is immortal, a la Captain Jack Harkness (of Doctor Who/Torchwood fame), after the first movie.
Think about it. Ash has been in far more potentially lethal situations after the first movie (being hit by a massive onslaught of Pokemon attacks, falling from implausible heights and surviving, being buried under tons of metal, etc.). Therefore, in the first movie, when, Ash was over-affected and became immortal, just like Captain Jack. This would also explain why he doesn't seem to age at all.
 * Bear in mind, Never Say Die is a universal law in this show. If Ash is immortal, so are Team Rocket. This may be due to all the attacks that they were subjected to over the years.
 * Team Rocket's immortality is canon. In the Japanese version, they've commented on their own immortality more than once.
 * Awhaaaaaaat?! When did they ever say that? Prove it.
 * Ash did 'die' early on in the show, in the Lavender Town episode. He played with a Haunter for a while, then got back into his body and was ok. That was a weird episode.

99% of the show is a giant dream sequence hallucinated by Ash. He's in a coma, and all the other characters are manifestations of various aspects of his psyche.
The theory is explained here. Also here.
 * Well, that's damn depressing.
 * It's pretty stupid. First, they assume Giovanni is Ash's father, but it only starts getting ludicrous after "The split between ash's parents was likely over ash's homosexuality..."
 * Therefore, Pikachu is Gene Hunt.
 * Or Windy.
 * Alternate idea: Not 99%, but everything since Everything from then on, including, was All Just a Dream.

Brock's Mom is some sort of Nekomata-type Pokemon shapeshifting to look human.
She's way too hot after 11 kids to be aging on a human scale. Her mysterious disappearance must have been some ritual or problem relating to her Pokemon family she couldn't let on. That eternal Cat Grin is bit of a clue - she must be related to the Mews. Her affinity for water Pokemon is a combination of love of fish and an attempt to overcome a fear of water gone wrong.
 * A simpler explanation: She's the step-mom, but everyone's too polite to say so.
 * And yet they weren't too polite to say she was dead...?
 * Probably linked to the original language. The Japanese language doesn't usually differentiate between half-relations. If you're related, you're all the way related. So it's more than possible she's a stepmom in disguise.
 * She seems more like the Japanese, G-rated version of Eric Cartman's mother. Huge ditzy slut, but everyone is too polite to call her on it.
 * And parthenogenic?
 * This could tie in with the theory that humans in this world evolve like Pokemon. She just hasn't had her "older woman" evolution yet.
 * PRESS B TO CONTINUE BEING HOT! PRESS B TO CONTINUE BEING HOT!!!
 * Here's my theory: Brock's real mom is dead, and "Lola" is really a man.

Anime Brendan is Birch's son.
Simple process of elimination: in the games, whoever you play as becomes Norman's son/daughter, while the opposite gender character becomes Birch's. Since anime-May is Norman's kid, that would leave Brendan (who exists in this continuity, albeit as a completely silent, never-seen-in-focus Easter Egg character) as Professor Birch's son. As for why he never mentions him, the Professor is said to be quite forgetful in the games; it's conceivable that it simply slipped his mind at the time. ... No, it's not a particularly interesting one, but it's a theory, nonetheless.
 * Another possibility, which includes both player choices, is that both of them are actually siblings, and Norman is only the main character's stepfather/Birch is only the rival's stepfather/they're half-siblings and the player's mom is a slut.
 * But in the Birch household in-game there is a woman and even a little boy downstairs. Perhaps she is your rival's step-mother, which would makes sense as she uses the awkward term of 'our daughter/son' when referring to them, as if she's trying t convince you that they really are her child.

Paul is somehow connected to Team Galactic.
The evidence is minuscule at best, but it's there: he comes from Veilstone City (where TG's home base is located), and he displays an attitude toward Pokemon that's altogether not too different from that of Galactic's members (for example, he uses them as tools and discards them without a second thought).

Team Rocket is incompetent because Pikachu fried their brains one too many times.
Self-explainatory.
 * This makes sense when you think about it. In the beginning, the Team Rocket trio were sinister, ruthless, and fairly competent, if overconfident. But after having the living daylights shocked out of them by Pikachu in the second episode, they became obsessed with capturing it and steadily lost intelligence from repeated shocks, but as a result became a bit nicer.
 * That makes quite a bit of sense, considering that the brain is one of the most delicate organs we have and some of the bizarre real life things that have happened to people. Team Rocket's pretty lucky that they only ended up with altered behavior instead of paralysis, more severely impaired brain function, and heart attacks.
 * As of now, it seems they're regaining their original personalities
 * Brains are also quite good at recovering from damage after severe trauma... I'd say an entire season without blasting off once is enough time to catch up on some lost brain cells.

The Ho Oh Ash always sees is actually Mew, shapeshifted, and Ash's guardian.
Well, we've only seen Mew in the anime and movies a few times now, every time saving Ash from death or bringing him back from it. Also, we saw it in the beginning of the eighth movie - disguised as a Ho-Oh. Well, combined with the "Aaron is Ash's father/Ash's former life/A distant relative of Ash" theory, I think Mew has always been in contact with Sir Aaron, since he was the only one who actually knew how Mew could save the Tree of Beginning. Maybe he was chosen for something and Mew was his guardian. Mew just likes taking on the form of the majestic Ho-Oh and it has been stated to be immortal. Well, now, some hundred years later, Ash embarks on his journey and immediatally comes into mortal danger. I guess that lightning that hit Pikachu and powered it up when it was frying the flock of Spearow was actually a move that multiplies the power of Electric attacks, sent by Mew to save Aaron's son/distant relative/reborn form. And so, a few moments later, they saw it flying away in its Ho-Oh form.

Ash's Pikachu has an EXP Limiter of some sort...
...similar to what the gym leaders would have to have in order to use their Pokemon for more than a few battles without it becoming unfair to trainers.

Ash doesn't age because of his relationship with the legendaries.
I'm sure if you're able to make friends with pokemon able to manipulate time and whatnot, looking a...few years younger isn't that hard.

Why Ash is forever 10, and the end of Pokémon
Pokéballs emit a field of radiation which mutates anyone exposed to it, eventually ceasing their aging and turning them immortal. Unfortunately for Ash, in-utero exposure to this radiation has a one in a million chance of causing this to happen before one reaches puberty, and his mother was exposed to a major radiation leak on a tour of Silph Co. when she was a traveling trainer; she's just finishing radiation therapy by the time Ash's journey starts, which is what Mr. Mime was for. However, Ash was also gifted with an aura that makes pretty much anyone and anything see him as a friend, allowing him to easily tame any 'mon. The series will end with a "There can be only one" Highlander scenario, where Ash eliminates the competition with his army of animal slaves, leaving only his closest friends (and female companions) alive. And Team Rocket for comic relief.

James is actually from Felarya.
That's why he keeps getting Pokemon that try to eat him; they remind of home.

The Joys and Jennies are not the only human "clones" in the Pokemon world.
Jessiebelle bears a striking resemblance to Jessie, and in one of the Hoenn episodes, Max meets his doppelganger, albeit one who is older and has brown hair.
 * Conway, dammit. Freaking Conway.
 * In the final episode for Jessie's Dustox, the other Dustox's trainer very closely resembled the boy Jessie left behind years ago to pursue her career. Even worse, they were named Austin and Astin.
 * Not to mention all the Don Georges that run the Battle Clubs in Best Wishes.
 * How about the Champ In Making guy? HE'S IN EVERY GYM!

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are both Dittos that have been mode locked into a random they saw on a swimsuit magazine.

 * I can't decide whether this is adorable or creepy.
 * ...probably gonna go with creepy.

Ash suffers from a genetic disease that will make him look 11 years old until he dies from it.
Like Kanata, the missing parent died of the same thing. The only thing still keeping Ash from constant suffering is the Pokemon tears from the first movie.

Jessie and James are immortals.
They constantly get subjected to stresses that would kill a normal human, and no matter how long it's been since they had food, they don't look any the worse for wear, just miserably hungry. James's family appears to be not only upper-class, but from an earlier time period than the average town and citizen might suggest. Jessie and James are from two feuding immortal families, since James ran from an arranged marriage with Jessiebelle, Jessie's cousin/niece/half-sister, or even great-aunt for what a few generations matter to people who live forever. (That or the descendant of the original Jessiebelle, but there are no feuding immortal families in that guess.)
 * Or they're Higlanders

Legendary Pokémon are much more powerful in the anime universe than in the games.
Sort of a counter to the "Myths are just Myths" theories in the main archives.
 * Or, alternatively, there are both Legendary Pokemon powerful enough to fit the legends (whether or not those legends are true), but they also created (either through breeding or through giant pulses of light) normal legendary Pokemon with more reasonable levels of power.
 * This explains the differences between Silver and his mother in the anime and the Lugia in the movie. It could be the same sort of thing as the difference between Ash's Pikachu and all the other Pikachu.

The Jennies and Joys that happen to look different from the mold...
Well, they are around. They don't disappear, nor are they killed (despite what Soylent Green conspiracy theorists say). They receive different names, and try to excel at other areas. How to notice them? By their hair color, of course. Whitney and Maylene could be related to Joys, while Duplica and Suzie (the Vulpix girl) could be related to Jennies, and so on. A strange male variation of a Jenny would be Wallace. Although, not every aqua-haired person would be related to Jennies, or pink-haired ones to Joy, as it would make the family bonds way too much strict. Also, they don't even need to look different. Hell, look at Marble! It's a Jenny with a different name!
 * And then, we have Crystal/Kris/Marina...

Jessie and James are also Pokemon who can talk.
Their 'ability', or whatever the appropriate word is, is to survive great impact.

The anime Pokemon world has a frighteningly small gene pool...
Explains the weird resemblances and somewhat common act of mistaking total strangers for family members, without necessitating time travel or such. Also explains why they've died out in the not-too-distant future (see Mystery Dungeon WMG above).

Professor Ivy and her assistants are actually hermaphrodites.
It explains why they were so eager to have Brock as their personal maid, and why Brock broke up with them, and refuses to talk about them; he found out they were traps, and it squicked him for life.

Ash is blowing up girls' bikes on purpose.
He likes to have someone to travel with him and after seeing how well it worked the first time, he goes out of his way to have Pikachu destroy girls' bikes. This not only breaks the ice but also hampers their mobility, forcing them to walk beside him instead of easily outpacing him as they would if their bikes remained intact.
 * Bear in mind Ash wasn't actually present when Dawn's bike was destroyed.
 * It would be a poor strategy if it required his personal presence, wouldn't it?

Ash's Pikachu is already partially evolved.
In Electric Shock Showdown, Ash procures a Thunderstone and considers using it, and Pikachu hits it away. That brief contact was enough exposure to start the changes that would have it evolve into Raichu, but not enough to do anything that would be externally visible. It therefore combines the power of a fully evolved Raichu (or at least, a partially evolved Raichu) with the smaller, more nimble body of a Pikachu, allowing it to do things that would normally be impossible, such as "Thunder Armor" and "Volt Tail". (It still doesn't explain how it managed to take down a Rhydon just by aiming for its horn--the only explanation for that is that the first season really didn't give a crap about game mechanics.)
 * Perhaps Pikachu managed to overload the Rhydon's lightning-rod horn...?
 * Later seasons don't care much for mechanics either. Meowth (Normal-type) gets hit by a Shadow Ball (Ghost-type attack), used by a Weavile.
 * We can safely say that this particular Meowth is not normal. (We can say the same thing about Ash, judging by the end of Mewtwo Strikes Back.)
 * Or we can speculate that there is a Dark-type attack that resembles the Ghost-type attack we call Shadow Ball so much that it's easy to confuse them, and the Pokemon experts have not yet realized they are two separate attacks. Weavile are Dark-type, so that particular Weavile happened to know the Dark-type version.

Ash will eventually become a Pokemon Master... and it has nothing to do with the Pokemon League.
How many times do we hear him go on a lengthy speech about how his Pokemon are his friends? How many times does he release one of his Pokemon into the wild as soon as they reach a level of understanding with him? And isn't it clear by now that he is more interested in becoming accomplished through winning badges than being considered the best?

There's a reason for this. It's all part of an ingenious plan that he may not even realize yet. He only releases Pokemon once they have proven their strength and respect him. They will reintegrate themselves into the wild. Due to their effective upbringing, they will become leaders among their kind. And they will spread the word of his name.

His tendency to get personally involved with practically every legendary in existence won't hurt, either.

Now consider the situation a few decades from now. Ash's name will be known far and wide among the Pokemon. Stories of Ash will be told to the newly hatched. Every Pokemon worth their salt will respect him. And if he ever comes around, they will do everything in their power to gain his favor.

In other words, all Pokemon will essentially be at his call. Without Poke Balls. Without drawing circles around them. When he speaks, the Pokemon will obey. All Pokemon. And that is what being a Pokemon Master truly means.
 * So, Ash is Obfuscating Stupidity personified? Hard to believe, but...
 * He might not be conscious of it. If, as has been speculated elsewhere on this page, Ash is the Pokessiah, it could just be an instinct brought on by his divine nature as opposed to a consciously thought out long-term plan. If this is so, then Ash will become the Pokemon Master in this sense not because he plans to or is putting on an act, but because it's a fundamental part of his nature.
 * Basically, aiming to be a Friend to All Living Things among Pokemon... now that's kind of a scary thought.

Ash always visits the eight weakest gyms in a region.
Any "Strongest Gym Leader is Kanto/Hoenn/Johto" guff is just townspeople or apprentices, or even the Gym Leader, bragging. That's why he never wins Pokemon League tournaments. Gary probably went after some of the stronger gyms first, and could barrel through the other gyms with ease, which is part of why he could get ten badges in the time it took Ash to get seven (aside from not stopping to help people as often). "Legendary" gym leaders cheat (Norman's underleveled Slaking) or are famous for other things, like being a hero or having a big fancy gym that attracts trainers who are impressed by a big construction budget (it's been shown in canon that stronger or better gym leaders are passed over or even kicked out of the league for budget/territory concerns, so why couldn't a really strong gym leader be unnoticed because their city is too small for the Town Map?).
 * I noted four problems in his arguments:
 * A) Is funny you mention Gary, he not only lost both Pokemon League tournaments he participed, but in both with a worst position than Ash. Come on, the second time he was defeated by Ash himself!
 * B) Yes, Ash lost all the Pokemon League tournaments he participed. In compensation, both his more recent defeats were by an inch- in Johto against a guy that losed only to the guy that ended turning champion, without use his best pokemon because he was seriouly injured during the fight against Ash. In Hoenn, against the guy that ended winning the tournament. In Sinnoh, against the guy that ended up winning the tournament again, since the jerk had A FREAKING DARKRAI AND A LATIOS.

Ash is Arceus's human avatar, come to announce the Messianic Age.
Think for a second. The immortal-tears thing couldn't have happened unless Ash was very special to the future. Considering Pokemon battle to the death in the wild (and the predators have to eat something), I think they've had their fair share of death. Why not just let it go? Answer: Mew's avatar is Pikachu, and she was in on the whole thing. I haven't seen the first movie in a while, so there is a high chance of this being Jossed, but hey, I can try. That's also how he got electrocuted several times in the first episode and still survived, Arceus was pulling the strings.
 * Then how come Ash died in the movie?
 * Don't forget that this is a mere distant projection of Arceus, and is made of matter. A few shocks can easily be survived by an avatar, but don't forget just what he was up against, and an ordinary body just can't survive it.

About the passage of time in the Anime universe. ..
Since it would be patently ridiculous for Ash to still be 10 years old in the Anime verse, and yet a 1:1 ratio leads to a whole other set of problems, this troper proposes that time passes as follows in the Anime:

Each official region (like Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn) equals one year. That means all the seasons that take place in a particular region up through the Pokemon League challenge equal one year of time.

Each unofficial region or filler arc (that is, the Battle Frontier and the Orange Islands) is equal to half a year.

That would mean as of the beginning of the Sinnoh region, Ash would be 14 years old, a number this troper can happily live with.


 * IIRC, around the time he battled Koga, it was mentioned that he'd been on the road for about a year. So, 14 and a half, maybe?'
 * It's also possible that rather, with each region, Ash is gaining his badges quicker than the previous region. So if say in the Kanto region he took a year and a half, possible by Johto, he's only taken a year and two months, and by Hoenn, he's down to 11 months, etc. Also, each region hold their Leagues are different times of the year, so it's possible for the timing to work out. Except for Johto, which share a league with the Kanto region, however this could be explained with the league alternating its date each year, to allow trainers the chance to win the eight badges necessary. And, each town or village isn't too far away from each other; the forests are just small boundaries for Pokemon wildlife to thrive but otherwise will take between less a day or week tops to pass - it's quite possible that each episode is showing us every DAY that passes on in Ash's life (or multiple days for those episodes that show it changing from one day to the next). And we have seen Ash at least age up to 11 somewhere in his Johto journey, so the idea that he's 14 would still stand within reason.

Ash never shows interst in girls because he has ridiculously high standards.
The only girl he was ever interested in is Giselle, who is so hot, even Brock wanted her (and he's never interested in girls younger than him.)
 * Which is just as well, given that he's (supposedly) ten. He's also drooled over other girls occasionally.
 * Really? Who?
 * Misty. First season. Festival episode. Admittedly, she was really cute.
 * Obvious, since Giselle had a Cubone, one of the Pokemon able to be cute, creepy, and totally badass at the same time. Add that to her smoking good looks and schoolgirl outfit, and you have boys and some girls drooling. I can't blame Ash for being attracted.
 * His standards aren't just high. They're at the end of the fucking universe! Come on dude, May and Dawn, seriously, you're going to turn them down? You have no taste.

Ash's Pikachu if it becomes a Raichu will become a real literal Godchu.
Hell, it's that strong has a Pikachu; if it were to become a Raichu, it would probably be the Pokemon version of Bleach's Kenpachi in terms of how damn crazy awesomely powerful it would be.

Seeing the talking Meowth stops people from aging.
Team Rocket's Meowth has some sort of subconscious Fountain of Youth power. Both Jessie and James have been children at some point, so it can't be them, it has to be the Meowth. Anybody who's spent time in the anime has likely met Team Rocket at least once, and that's all it takes, they'll be stuck that age forever. This is notable, since in Dawn's first episode, Meowth tells Dawn, a ten year old girl, that they've been chasing Pikachu since before she was alive, referring to the fact that the show has been around for ten years. So canonically ten years really have passed, and everybody else seems to be aging normally. That is until they meet that magical, talking Meowth....
 * Except there's nothing magical about Meowth or his ability to talk...?
 * So... Ash is a twenty-year old... with a teenager's body & voice?
 * Yes.

Between episodes of the anime, Team Rocket actually have caught Pokémon and brought them to the boss.
This would explain why the trio has yet to be fired.

Meowth's ability to walk and talk like a human is actually a tutored move any Pokemon can learn.
It gives a non-humanoid or non-Psychic Pokemon the ability to interact with other Pokemon and humans on an even keel, as well as grant them increased agility and strength (hence Meowth's occasional bouts of hyper-Fury Swipes), but also prevents new moves from being learned, during and after the battle it's used. Since Meowth has instinctively grown to rely on the move ever since he learned it, he's been unable to learn any other moves since then.

Ash's Pikachu from the first few episodes is the original Godchu. The current one is a fake.
Okay, we saw Pika take down a flock of spearow by itself with massive power. The Spearow disappeared. This was clue one. Next, Pika's ultimate power was unlocked by Ash supercharging it in Pewter. This gave it the power to effectively damage any Pokemon. Even Ground-types, as shown with Brock's Geodude. Poke Mart also knew, and decided that Capitalist Team Rocket COULD NOT get their hands on it on the off chance they succeeded. So, the next Pokemon center Ash visits, BAM. Switcheroo. Who would guess? No one, that's who. So now Godchu is sitting alone in a special room, where its power is being hidden, just in case someone comes close to possibly bringing them down. Never mess with Pokemart.

Team Rocket keeps failing because if they succeeded, they'd be out of a job.
At least in the dub, Team Rocket has consistently demonstrated an awareness that they are characters in a television show. Thus, they realize that their role in the show (and thus popularity) hinges on them constantly failing to capture Pikachu. If they actually got Pikachu, their relationship with the main characters would be finished and they'd thus be out of a recurring role in the series, at best relegated to cameo roles. Also, they have shown that they are better at playing fair and being good guys as opposed to villains, so they are Punch Clock Villains along the lines of Ralph Wolf.

When Ash dies in the first pokemon movie, it's Mew, not the Pokemon, that revives him (though the Pokemon helped in a way).
Sort of. Mew could have changed Ash back from a rock, but he couldn't have brought him back to life. So, he used the Pokemon's tears and changed them into some kind of life force energy, and revived Ash that way. This explains why their tears are magically attracted to and absorbed by Ash. Why use their tears? Two different theories:

1. Mew relized that Ash's death could be used to convince Mewtwo to stop the fighting, and he thought it might have a greater impact on him if Mewtwo thought the tears of the Pokemon and clones brought him back to life. Or:

2. He couldn't just make life force energy out of thin air. After all, he isn't a god like Arceus. He could, however, change already-existing elements. He chose their tears to change because it was a liquid, and could be 'absorbed' more easily by Ash's body.

Brock’s mother did die- however, she was replaced by a Ditto
Part of an even more ridiculous theory: Dittos are like mail-order-spouses and are synthetically created for single men. One bad batch later, you have a bunch of Officer Jennies, Nurse Joys, and Brocklets running around, varying slightly in form when bred with humans. This also explains Brock’s natural urge to breed with every female he comes across as well as his obsession with Jennies and Joys- he’s just following his genetic programming to breed, breed, breed. He even wants to be a Pokémon Breeder - no doubt subconsciously doing everything he can to get females under his care. As for the female Brocklets- Brock’s dad overused his broken Ditto, and the more it bred, the more corrupted it became. What a scary family.

Ursula is from a rich family.
Look at her dress. Look at her shoes. You think even a 10-year-old girl would walk through the forests for days on end wearing that. I don't think so. She probably has a chaufer to drive her from contest to contest, and buys her pokemon rather than catch them.
 * To drive this even further, most of her Pokémon could actually be caught in Mr.Backlot's mansion in the DP Pt games. Jigglypuff, Plusle, Minun, Eevee...

Potential evolutions for Ash's Pokémon:
into : It took FIVE HUNDRED AND FOUR EPISODES (a series record) for the damn thing to evolve, so it should be ready to evolve again soon, once it shows up in Isshu.

The real reason why Brock felt like he did when he left Professor Ivy is that nothing particularly happened between the two of them.
Think about it, for a while Brock got to live with one of the loveliest ladies in the show (the largest breasts in the show), but when Ash and friends were away at the Orange Islands, nothing ever happened between Brock and Professor Ivy. And when Ash and friends were coming back to Kanto and reuniting with Brock, Brock had a adverse reaction to Ivy's name due to how it reminded him over how he failed miserably to be more than "just friends" with Professor Ivy. (But he got over it over time, in which he was able to mention Professor Ivy's name and feel fine with it occasionally afterwards.)

Ash and co. often see through Team Rocket's disguises; they just don't care.
At first, they fell for it. But when they cheered Pikachu on in Electric Shock Showdown, Misty saw through their disguise. Perhaps the twerps have come to see through their disguises (though occasionally falling for it) but want to keep them around:
 * A) So they can pull a Heel Face Turn.
 * B) Because they find them lulzy.
 * C) Because they need experience.
 * D) Beating Team Rocket makes them look like Big Damn Heroes to the locals of the week, normally getting them shit.
 * E) Because they aren't a threat, and aren't that evil. Considering that Ash recognizes them in Best Wishes when they've taken levels in badassery, this would explain a lot.

Brock's "mom" really is dead.
Or at least the one that gave birth to him and his siblings. His actual mother looks a lot more like him and his siblings, complete with squinty eyes and coarse hair, like Flint and all their children. She died giving birth to Tilly and Billy. Flint, grief stricken, left Brock to take care of his younger siblings. When "Brock's mother" actually returned, it wasn't really her. Flint had hooked up with "Lola", who was actually a man, and the two decided to state that she was the children's mother, which the older children went along with and the younger children believed, until they were old enough for it to be explained to them. This explains why none of the children look like "Lola" and why "Brock's mom" reappeared very suddenly.
 * And why does Lola need to be a man? Other than the Shout Out, I mean. Seems to me that Flint finding another woman after his first wife's death is more plausible than him suddenly and out of nowhere coming out as gay or bi, especially with American ideas about what is or isn't OK to show kids. No, I'm not reading American values into a Japanese show. The "Lola" question only exists in the dub, which was a 4kids product and as such will reflect what Americans, especially American Moral Guardians, think is OK for kids. Honestly, getting them to avert Never Say Die at all, even if it was through forcing the Sadistic Choice between that aversion and showing double Parental Abandonment, was probably a bigger step than we would have realized at the time. Expecting them to acknowledge homosexuality and/or bisexuality pushes that part way past the sanity limit even for a WMG.
 * Hey, it's wild mass guessing. I don't care if it's never gonna happen, the thought amuses me, and I basically based the whole theory off the Shout Out, and it stuck in my mind. Look at the "Ash's father" section and tell me I'm pushing sanity limits.
 * Expecting the Pokémon Company to acknowledge homo/bisexuality in a children's cartoon in America is farther off than "Lugia is Ash's father" or even "Ash is Jesus, Delia is the Virgin Mary, and Ash's Father is Arceus". When your WMG would involve not only improbable occurences In Universe (which is pretty much a common feature of everything in the WMG section) but Real Life Character Derailment (not to mention putting yourself in the crosshairs of Political Correctness Gone Mad), it can firmly be considered Jossed. Same with the "Dawn is a Transsexual and Ash's father" guess up there, also commented (and not by me) to be at least pushing the bounds of WMG sanity.
 * Pokémon's not entirely terrified of the sexuality issue, just look at Tucker.
 * So you're saying there's something in the series that says Flint is 100% completely straight and not bisexual? I mean, it's not Character Derailment unless something says it's not possible at all. Unless Pokemon has suddenly become a No Bisexuals universe, it's possible within the universe. WMGs can be about being possible in universe, not about whether or not a TV channel will show it.
 * Yeah, you can thank 4Kids for the confusion. In reality, Brock's mom just left to train pokemon after Flint left. I guess they thought saying the mother of young kids was dead, as opposed to away and alive, was better on kids. Values Disassociate anybody?

Lola isn't Brock's biological Mom...
She's Misty's. Let's take a look at the facts: Lola is smoking hot (like Misty and her sisters), is a good enough Water Pokemon Trainer to lead a Gym (putting her near, though not necessarily at, Misty's level of skill), and decorated her Gym with reckless abandon (a trait more befitting her sisters; Misty would've had the same reaction as Lola's (current) husband did.) Granted, Lola's Curtains Match the Window, a trait that neither Misty nor her sisters have, but that may just be a recessive trait. So why didn't she try to take over the Cascade Gym? Well, she probably approved of how Daisy and her sisters "ran" it. Also, recall what happened in Saffron City in the games: One clan, with a clear type-advantage, trounced another clan and got its Gym License. Now, in this case, I'm not sure that the League would have let stand there being two Water-type gyms. Or maybe she just enjoyed her new catch a lot and just wanted to work at her man's place.
 * Why would the League care about there being two water gyms? There are a LOT of gyms in each area, so type duplications are only natural. Seems to be that all you have to do is prove your worth as a trainer to the inspector from the League, and then what you do with your gym is up to you (apparently whether OSHA likes it or not.)
 * Lola may be guilty of Parental Abandonment. She may not want to deal with the rigors of taking care of her daughters, and felt the older siblings could take care of Misty themselves. Much like Flint.

Salvia and Dawn are twins, separated at birth.
Well, Lucas does have a sister in the games, and since we won't see him and his sister, why not do it with Dawn? They do look more alike than Jessie and Jessiebelle. Their only difference is their accents, which is something you obtain by how you're raised.

Ash's Butterfree is gay.
According to the markings on its wings, Ash's Butterfree was male. But so was the pink Butterfree he wanted to be with. Now they're off raising adopted baby Caterpies together.
 * Ash's Aipom has male fur yet she's female. Chu looks like a boy. The entire Pikachu pack in Pikachu's Goodbye has male makrings. Let's just say that gender differences are a Sinnoh thing that has been branching out into other regions.

The Pokemon League for Sinnoh, in the anime, was symbolic.
Ash is the kid who plays with his favorites and loves his Pokemon. Tobias (the Darkrai guy) was a cheap player with his ubers. Paul was an IV-EV like competitive battler.
 * Conway would be Paul turned Up to Eleven, in that case. Barry would be the guy who enters even though he doesn't know much about pokemon.

Ash is still the anime's protagonist because he hasn't become champion.
Think about it. In the games, Red becomes champion. End of his story until the Time Skip, really. The other Reds from other continuities also usually don't stay that long in the spotlight after becoming champion. Ash hasn't accomplished what Red has done; he has yet to defeat Team Rocket or make it to the big leagues.
 * Orange Islands. Enough said.
 * And the Battle Frontier.
 * The former may not be official,and the latter isn't techically part of the leauge

In the anime, Leaf's counterpart was given Bulbasaur.
Since Gary was given Squirtle, it follows that Gary is the rival of a Charmander trainer (which could be either Ritchie or Damian.) This leaves Bulbasaur for Leaf's counterpart.
 * And we're assuming the anime follows the game canon for what reason in hell again?
 * Quite often.
 * So... none, basically? Let's not forget that Gary's Blastoise is basically in opposition to Ash's Charizard. In the anime, Leaf just does not exist- we've seen versions of every protagonist except her, even if only in cameo form.
 * She probably exists, but hasn't been seen. She's never been the most popular protagonist when it comes to counterparts; she only has two

Leaf's counterpart will be the opposite of Ash, both personality and success-wise.
Everything he is not. She may not have (initially) succeeded as a trainer but that doesn't mean she isn't successful. Also, on top of these, I expect her personality will tick Ash off in a similar way to Gary or Paul.

Lucas won against Brendan in the anime.
At the beginning of the Giratina movie. Lucas's Pokemon just stood there, apparently unharmed, and Brendan wasn't shown. From the impact, we could believe that one of them had to have taken damage. This would also be a counterpart battle to Dawn Vs. May, where Dawn won. In the games, and apparently in the anime, Brendan is cocky and believes in his powers quite well. Lucas was the one to bring him down, since May never met him.

Nando's harp has some magical properties.
It would explain why he has a flying, Sing-using, Perish-Song-surviving Kricketot...
 * And how Pokemon not native to Sinnoh appear. Maybe the Mew on his harp are a clue?
 * (original poster) It would also explain these:
 * 1) In Dawn's Early Night, he had Sunflora and Kricketune use GrassWhistle and Sing as part of their appeal. Nobody fell asleep.
 * 2) The infamous scene in Coming Full Festival Circle! where he's outside singing to all the wild Pokémon, at night, and there are two Cherrim out there in their Sunshine Forms. Yeah.
 * (other guy) Mew can learn any move, right? This explaining the Kricketot. And the harp must control the music. In a way, he's cheating!

Ash is actually training to become a Nurse Joy.
All this time training his Pokemon is actually him trying to learn how to properly take care of them. He pretends to want to be a Pokemon Master because, well, he's not exactly the right gender for the job. Notice that A: he's never won a Pokemon League tournament except during a short Filler Arc, and B: he has no problem with dressing in drag.
 * Ash has had plenty of problem dressing in drag. Why do you think he's only done it three times in eleven seasons, or however many it has been?
 * Eh, it's more than I have...
 * And he woulda won that last one, were it not for

The GS Ball contains Missingno..
Because something has to be inside, since apparently Celebi is not in it. Not anymore.

Ash has awesomeness potential.
Red in the games is presumably Hot Blooded, hardheaded, and a friendship fan; not to the extent of Ash, but still quite so. Plus, their teams are the same in HGSS.

Best Wishes takes place in a parallel Alternate Universe.
Why else would Ash actually have pupils, Pikachu's iron tail move look diffrent, and Team Rocket look like (and actually be) a significant threat? All of the past seasons had happened in that Alternate Universe almost exactly, which explains the Continuity Nods in the first BW episode.

Most of the trainers Mewtwo invited to New Island declined.
After all if he was trying to gather the world's best rainers he certanitly would have invited atleast some of the champions, as well as people who have caught Legendary Pokémon. Taking this further, Ash and the other trainers we saw were only invited because everyone else who Mewtwo tried to invite declined. As for why the other trainers declined, they simply thought Mewtwo was some rich overconfident newbie, and not worth their time.
 * But there was a big storm; not many made it to the island. But the guess can be right for some people.

Tobias is a Possession Sue.
Face it, Nintendo isn't going to be so lazy that they'll have a God Mode Sue due to the Hatedom it'll create. And if Tobias was a Parody Sue or Take That to the hackers, they'd damn well show it. Somehow, a hacker managed to infiltrate the anime universe, but due to being an uber-user, he was stripped of any real personality and took over the intended plot point that always prevents Ash from becoming Champion. The only reason why Ash managed to beat two of his ubers or why he didn't use higher tiers was because the Pokemon anime universe was fighting back. The writers are trying to ignore it, and by now Tobias only remains in our memories (unfortunately).

(Alternate to the above) Tobias is YOU
Ok, stay with me here. Raise your hand if you ever took on the Elite Four with an uber. The point is, how are you (and you, and you, and you, and you, and all the rest of you that are guilty of this) any different? Tobias is the anime version of all of us (yes, I've done it as well) who bust out the legendaries and sweep the Elite Four. We all hate Tobias because, secretly, we all hate ourselves.
 * Not all of us...
 * Support for this may come in the form of his original name: The best theory for his name so far is Takuto Itagaki, senior division champion for the pokemon TCG. His name come from an actual player, and in the version of the game where legendaries are not frowned upon.
 * Hey, it's Game Freak's fault for all putting the legendary directly in the path of the plot (I'm looking at you, weather and creation trios!) before you get the eight badge.

Mysterial and Tobias are related.
Mysterial's team is almost entirely legendaries, including Dialga/Palkia. So why not have Tobias as his son? Somehow, Tobias fell through the dimensions and crashed into the anime universe. As the Poketopia and anime universes are so different (Poketopia has trainable Olympus Mons, while legendaries in the animeverse, are, well, LEGENDARY), he broke, becoming an Empty Shell. The Tobias we saw has been warped and broken due to the radical differences between the two universes, reducing him to an Empty Shell whose only surviving trait is "being an impressive trainer".

Domino is an Evil Twin of Ai.
From Mewtwo Returns, earlier there was a Psycho Prototype of the Ai Cloning Process. But she turned evil.

Paul hit puberty.
Notice his deep voice and Emo Teen personality - he hit puberty early and is all hormonal. He's just displacing his anger on others.

Ash's Scraggy and Iris' Axew will battle each other for Ash's 8th Unova Gym Badge.
Optionally, both will be fully evolved when this happens. If you really think about it, this is a rather good reason why both Ash and Iris have such noob-like Pokemon at the same time. Also, depending on how you interpreted Scraggy's introductory episode, they have a bit of a rivalry.
 * Jossed, 8th Gym Leader in animé is Homika

Hunter J is Bashou's mother.
They look very much alike, have the same professional persona, and are in similar lines of work. Although YMMV if J would be old enough to have a son in his 20s, as her age seems to vary from episode to episode.

Airships are to the wealthy in the anime setting like private jets or yachts are in our world.
That is to say, snazzy, but not unheard of. No one seems to be too surprised to see airships the sizes of cities descending from the cloud layer.

Brock got laid with Professor Ivy.
Its not that Ivy violated him, or that he was rejected. He ended up dating her, and let his Onix meet her Cloyster. However, he was bad at it. And that's why he was traumatised. After all, it's fitting for a Lovable Sex Maniac like Brock, and besides, Rule of Funny. The reason it's a Noodle Incident is because the Moral Guardians won't let us know about it.

Ashachu will become catchable, or become a cameo character.
Think, if Ash could be turned into a Pikachu once, don't you think it would happen again? Either that, or you meet the real Ashachu.

The evil Togepi was created by Team Rocket scientists.
In "Island of the Giant Pokémon", Ekans explained that no Pokémon are evil. They can only have evil masters. So the only possible explanation for the Togepi being evil is that it was made that way WITH SCIENCE.
 * Bill Nye The Pokemon Guy!
 * That was hyperbole. If Pokemon are intelligent, they can easily be just as wicked as humans. Meowth, for instance...

Ash is NOT Oblivious to Love.
He is fully aware of all of the girls and Pokemon that have fallen for him. The reason he never acknowledges any of it is to avoid breaking anyone's heart.

When the show does eventually end...
We'll get an epilogue episode that takes place 3 years later showing a new trainer (Gold, probably) fighting his way to the top. He'll have some big montage showing his biggest, most important battles, and finally climb to the top of Mt. Silver. And Ash will be there, a total badass, and will completely thrash him. It would be awesome.

Zekrom didn't restore all of Pikachu's power
That would explain why several trainers have easily beaten Pikachu.

Ash caught a Pokemon in the "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma" episodes.
There is reason to believe that Ash and co. were in those episodes. The writers have been willing to have Ash catch more than a full team's worth of Pokemon than they have in the past. The episodes were postponed because of the damage done to the desert and to Castelia; due to the scheduled airdate being so close to the Earthquake/Tsunami that devastated Japan, it got postponed so as to avoid claims of insensitivity. There was also an episode after those two that was delayed for unknown reasons.

I think it went down like this; Sometime during the episodes when the events that got them postponed were going on, a Pokemon's life was in danger. Ash goes to save it, but he can't... unless it's in a Pokeball. He convinces it to go along with this with the intention to release it when it's safe, but it likes him enough that by the time he can get the chance, it decides to stay with him.

The reason that other episode was postponed as well was because he sent out that Pokemon during that episode and they didn't want to ruin the surprise.

If this guess is right, than I'd further suggest it might be the Venipede he saved from the pipe. It seemed to really like Ash, as much as some of his own Pokemon.

Movie 11 is what movie 2 was originally slated to be.
The original rumors surrounding movie 2 were that the villian was a mad scientist out to intentionally destroy the world. In the finished product, he's only a slightly addled art collector... but then a production sketch surfaced that claimed he's also a scientific genius, something that never manifested in the movie. Were the rumors true? Movie 11's Big Bad is, you guessed it, a mad scientist out to intentionally destroy the world (eventually). Both characters also have huge airships and are kept company only by their feminine-voiced computers.

Red and Blue are the 'other two trainers from Pallet Town' (besides Ash and Gary)
Gary Oak has a twin brother, Blue, who has always been overshadowed by Gary's effortless high achievement, to the point that their own grandfather, Professor Oak, has difficulty remembering Blue's name. This sibling rivalry makes Blue desperate to do at least one thing better than his brother for once, so he shows up several hours early on the day that they're to pick out their starter Pokemon, so he can choose the best one. Unfortunately, Gary has another prospective rival in town, Red, who also shows up early, though Blue still beats him by a few minutes. Professor Oak's constant disappointment in Blue causes him to give the other boy, a complete stranger to him, the first choice instead. Red happens to choose the Pokemon that Blue wanted (though they've never been friendly with each other, and Blue knows he chose that one on purpose), adding insult to injury, and watering the seeds of a new rivalry. Gary who?

Meanwhile, across town, Gary Oak is just waking up. Like the titular leporid in 'The Tortoise and the Hare', the self-assured boy has overslept, and ends up arriving a bit late at the lab. (Plus, it takes a while to gather his fan club.) When he finally reaches his destination, Red and Blue are long gone, and there's only one Pokemon left, which he grudgingly takes. His brother had actually outdone him for once, not only getting his Pokemon first, but also getting a head start on his journey. Gary is so busy stewing over this, that he doesn't see the sleepy fourth Pallet kid hurtling towards him until it's too late. His anger at Blue projects onto the easy target as he begins to berate Ash for running into him, until he realizes something... here is at least someone he's managed to be better than today--Ash doesn't even get a Pokemon, let alone his first choice. Gary steels himself with this knowledge, and hides his disappointment and anger under a big show of bravado, even bragging about how his last-option Pokemon is 'the best'. He departs in a swirl of put-on self confidence, leaving Ash to receive Pikachu from Professor Oak. Another rivalry takes root.

Meanwhile, Blue and Red are already on their respective journeys. They reach each town ahead of Ash or Gary, and so never hear either of them mentioned, though everywhere Ash goes, he hears about the other trainers from Pallet Town who are doing so much better than him.

Note: This doesn't explain why Professor Oak said the other two Pallet Town trainers had 'quit' in EP 065, or how the player in the games catching Mewtwo works out. But then, this is WMG.

Brock impregnated Professor Ivy, and is unable to face the fact
Just think about it - they were doing all happy and fine. Ivy and Brock more or less saw each other as pefect for them. Now skip forward to when Ms Ketchum finds him - he's obviously been on the run. Furthermore, he seems intent on trying to get as far away from the lab as possible, doing things like bumming rides to new regions, etc. The conclusion? That their relationship went so well Ivy became pregnant, and Brock on an impulse of cowardice, left, but disgusted with himself, couldn't find it in himself to return. So he's been on the run ever since. When he leaves Ash for good is when he decides he has to man up and go back to his life there. Further as proof is that his dad did the EXACT same thing. Professor Ivy is okay with this because she is generally chilled out, and she knows Brock will inevitably come back. Furthermore, Lola probably talked with Ivy too, and said not to worry. Whateevr it was, its likely just Brock who freaked out, as Ivy still views Brock in the same good light - Professor Oak for example delivers the message "By the way Brock - Ivy sends her best regards!" to Brock

In the anime, all filler is non-canon
That's why Ash is still only ten, 90% of the episodes we see aren't really happening. Only episodes where something significant happen, new catch/new attack/badge/contest/relevant battle/released pokemon, the rest are just irrelevant.

The Zekrom that zapped Pikachu was actually Ryouga from Pokémon Re Burst
He intentionally depowered Pikachu and made Ash look like a chump so that fans would give up on him and flock to Ryouga as a real Pokémon protagonist.

"Ash" is actually a group of clones, much like the Nurse Joy's and Officer Jenny's, designed to record data all over the Pokémon world in a relatively quick manner
Originally, Professor Oak simply employed the original Ash Ketchum to help record data in Kanto (and perhaps in Johto and the Orange Islands); Oak was involved in a project to document the entire Pokémon world. However, Ash was taking much too long for Oak's needs, so Ash pays Professor Oak a special visit. After Oak examines Ash's body (strictly for research; I know what some of you may be thinking), he fires up his cloning machine; soon after, Professor Oak creates several slightly-different copies of Ash to document different regions of the world.

This explains why Ash never seems to age: first of all, all of these region documentation missions take place around the same time. The clones are not engineered to age, either. The clones are engineered to place their utmost attention on their mission (explaining why none of them get caught up in love). In case anyone begins to suspect what is going on, Oak plants "memories" of what other Ash's have done into a particular clone.

Misty's "mermaid costume" is actually her natural form
For some reason or another (shipping related, perhaps?), Misty has a desire to roam in the surface world. Using some form of magic (I was going to say a necklace she wears, but then I saw that she does not wear such a thing!), Misty's tail morphs into a pair of legs (and Misty gains the ability to breathe out of water). When Misty wears the "mermaid costume", it is simply she transforming into her native form.

Her sisters are either mermaids too, or simply human. If her sisters are simply human, then there are two possibilities for Mermaid Misty: either she was born a human, gaining her mermaid form later in life; or her "sisters" are not related to her at all.

Anime Iris is a Zoroark
Anyone else ever noticed how much Iris looks like a human version of a Zoroark? her hair is the same, even tied off at the end like a Zoroark's mane. Her ponytails are actually the tufts of fur on a Zoroark's chest. (just take them, flip them upside down, and move them under her neck) her sarong-thing is the part of a zoroark's waist where the leg fur is thicker than the fur on the belly. Her top is tight along her waist just like a Zoroark is thin, but the sleeves suddenly get thicker, just like a zoroark's arms. The little ribbon things tied around her ponytail-things are actually her Zoroark ears. Her hair dips into her forehead in a triangle, just like Zoroark, and she keeps a young pokemon in her hair like the Zoroark in the movie did with Zorua. Iris was raised in the wild by pokemon because she really IS a pokemon! One day she decided to see what human life was like so she transformed herself using her illusion ability and wandered into town and has been living as a human ever since. Flashbacks showing her as a human before coming to town are actually her just lying about really being a pokemon. This is also why Iris dodges ANYTHING that tries to hit her and the twerps. If she were to take any damage, her illusion might break and she'd be exposed. This is also why Iris is so agile, Zoroark are naturally fast and agile pokemon. She talks by using some form of psychic-type move, while making her illusion move its mouth to match, making look like she's really speaking when it's actually just in people's heads.
 * I wonder what that says about Luke's Zorua imitating Iris' rival Georgia a lot during the Don George Tourney. Granted, Iris used the double often to make fun of the genuine article, but she never outright requested the doppelganger.

Tobias is a Take That to hackers/legendary users.
It would make a lot of sense.

Tobias is Arceus in disguise
It got the idea from Dragonball, where Kami (God) disguises himself as a normal guy and participates in a tournament. Arceus, however, decided it'd rather curbstomp everyone with ubers rather than use common pokemon.

Trip is going to get more depth soon
We're coming up on Nimbasa City, which is where Cheren got hit by his blue screen of death in the games. Since Trip is essentially an Expy of Cheren, I'm guessing that either we're going to see what happened to get Trip from adorable little kid to what he is now, or Trip is going to get broken hard.

Jessie and James are anti-fighting.
No. I mean as a type. What Pokemon have we seen them successfully capture and order around? A large number of poisons and psychics, a couple of bugs, a couple of flyings, and now a ghost. All of these are types that have a defensive advantage against fighters. Now, we've seen several grasses as well, but all of them are fully capable of harming James, though not in a dominant manner that suggests type advantage. Most significantly, the two are easily hurt and pushed around by a normal.

Ash died when he was turned into a ghost during episode 23. And he STAYED dead.
Remember how Haunter turned Ash into a ghost, but Ash eventually came back to life? Well guess what? He didn't. Instead, his soul was merged with a ghost pokemon who then possessed his body. This is both why he doesn't seem to change, why no one can vividly recall him until they see him (with the exception of people who knew him before he was alive). But it gets better.

See, his father is, in fact, a demon who was trying to kill Ash so that Ash could be reborn as the dark messiah (who would thus free the father from hell, which he can't escape, but he can briefly overpower to manipulate the world. The people of Pallet are ALL, in fact, worshipers of this demon. However, the plan was slightly foiled by various pokemon, including the ghost pokemon who prevented Ash from full awakening by joining his soul. Now, Ash is unknowingly a demon in training. The reason he seeks to make so many "friends" is because he is, in fact, marking their souls and enslaving them, but in exchange he grants their desires. For people who follow him an especially long time (such as Team Rocket and Brock), he gains special control, removing any will to resist. However, since he doesn't KNOW he's a demon, all of this works subconsciously, which just makes him seem like an odd but friendly boy. Eventually, however, Ash will mark enough souls to truly awaken. When this occurs, EVERY person and pokemon he's "befriended" will become his slave, giving him enough power to open hell.

Anime Pikachu's "Volt Tail" is actually Thunderpunch.
Fact 1: The Pikachu line can learn Thunderpunch from an Ampharos as an Egg move. Fact 2: Pokemon can use different body parts for the same move (Slam, Cut, etc.). Pikachu had an Ampharos in his ancestry, and used his tail, since his arms are little.

Pikachu will evolve, but not into Raichu
Pokemon have been established to have previously unseen evolutions. And When Pikachu does evolve, with how long it's been around, just becoming a Raichu would be sorta anticlimatic. No, When Pikachu finally evolves, it's going to be into some new form that has never been seen before. With stats on par with a legendary. And it will know judgement.

Meowth will get some Laser Guided Karma for what he did in BW047 and BW048.
What he did in those episodes was probably the worst thing he's ever done in the entire anime. You could tell from the look on Pikachu's face. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen him this mad before. There is no doubt Meowth will get some sort of comeuppance for that trick he pulled on the gang and it will probably be worse then any of the past TR blast offs ever.

BW052 will finish the season with Team Plasma's appearance
It may also involve N. Theoretical titles include ''Ferris Wheel Battle! Team Plasma Appears!'' This entry written on Sunday, September 18, 2011.
 * Different troper. So we got 49 and 50 (the two parter) 51 being Elesa vs. Bianca, 52 will be Ash vs. Elesa, 53 being Subway Bosses vs. Ash and Cilan and 54 is implied to be the Pokemon Musical. I think you got the episodes wrong if you're using Bulbapedia as the episode reference.
 * Both of us have been disproved, apparently. 52 is going to be Ash vs. Alder. I'm still holding out for the season finale involving N and/or Team Plasma, though.
 * You mean episode 54 right?
 * Unless you're counting the unaired Team Plasma two-parter, it's 52. The two-parter was 47-48, Bianca vs. Elesa was 49, Ash vs. Elesa will be 50, and Ash and Cilan vs. the Subway Bosses will be 51.
 * Yeah, this troper doesn't like how Bulbapedia moved all the episodes up making it very hard to find the episode online because people are getting it mixed up.

Cilan raped Burgundy.
Anyone else get the feeling?
 * Fits in with the WMGs.

Ash switches out his Pikachu with each new region.
After defeating everything important in Kanto, plus a ton of other crap, Pikachu should probably be level 60 or so. After he then defeats Johto (with Pikachu fainting against gym leaders) Pikachu should be in the high 80s to even 100. And then when they get to Sinnoh, Pikachu would be on the verge of breaking the level barrier (if electric hits ground, it's a possibility) and yet is defeated by a level 14 Rampardos, among other low level creatures. Despite Cranidos being a glass cannon. The only explanation for these losses? It's a new Pikachu that starts the new region off at level 5. Maybe the original one's kids.
 * Or maybe tomato ketchup is the opposite of Rare Candy, like how certain berries work as anti-vitamins.
 * Well, Tamato berries do reduce Speed EVs.

The Best Wishes anime takes place a few years before the events of the game.
And at least one of the things we will see in Best Wishes is how This would also explain why the female playable character isn't travelling with Ash; because she hadn't started her Pokemon journey yet!
 * Also, Team Plasma shows up only after a while.
 * And with the loss of the Rocket vs Plasma Episodes, this may actually be more likely, as Plasma is not as visible in the Anime thus far...

Best Wishes takes place after Black and White's storyline.
I know it's a little early in the story to be calling this, but I figure that if Bianca is already working for Juniper (may be likely she's raising a new Pokemon or something), this must be happening after the main storyline. Why do you think they're focusing on Team Rocket? Because Touko (I'm going to assume) took care of them already. And they needed a main villian so...yeah. This is a wild guess, so I can (and likely will) be proven wrong.
 * Though before seems more likely since the anime tends to take place at the same time as the game, we haven't seen hide nor hair of . Those Plasma members could be what remains of the team- Team Rocket didn't vanish in the games after they were thwarted in RBY/FRLG. Also, since Iris is only the gym leader in the White version, whos to say that it isn't the Black version it's following, with Drayden as the gym leader?
 * What Plasma members?
 * Let's just say it takes place after Black, but before White, per se.
 * Alternately, it can take place whenever the hell it wants since the games and the anime are different universes.
 * Maybe the series takes place during Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 given that

Best Wishes takes place in an Alternate Universe to the First 3 Anime Sagas.
It only makes sense. Ash's old adventures haven't been referenced, nor have any of his old pokemon. He's STILL ten, and he's as inexperienced as a new trainer. Pikachu lost to a level five Snivy and a low level Panpour. Team Rocket is a credible threat all of a sudden, despite Giovanni knowing their track record in the past. Every shred of evidence points towards this being a world where this is Ash' FIRST journey into a new region.
 * Not so, as all of Ash's past accomplishments and Pokemon still exist; the first episode of Best Wishes shows off a lot of his trophies and awards in his room and around his house. Also about Team Rocket; all evidence is to show that Giovanni is using the trio specifically because Ash always beats them, and hopes they'll lure out Team Plasma who will get beat by Ash, so Giovanni can swoop in and invade later.
 * Moved it to the Anime page. You're welcome. Also, the Trio was recommended by Giovanni's secretary. While the claim was that it was due to the events in Sinnoh, this claim is not proven. (Meaning the secretary could be a Time Traveler. I mean, there's a WMG in the Johto games section that the Time Machine might have created Missingno and a sundering was necessary...)

The next time the gang run into Team Rocket, Pikachu will become intent on having Revenge on Meowth.
I think its safe to say that after Meowth's, Pikachu now hates him more then ever. A good way for this kind of thing is if the two Pokemon have a one-on-one fight and Meowth actually puts up a good fight, despite the type disadvantage. Eventually, Pikachu manages to turn the tables and gives Meowth the beat down of a live time. Then, after Meowth is left bruised and defeated, Pikachu walks away, deciding that he's Not Worth Killing.
 * Or, Pikachu nearly does kill Meowth, but is stopped by Ash or Team Rocket.

Ash became the chosen one because of the events of the first movie
By getting between Mew and Mewtwo he proved himself to whoever was doing the chosing (probably Lugia).

Misty's parentes are neglectful
They're never in flashbacks, it's just Misty and her sisters. And those flashbacks go back to when Misty was pretty young. Also, in early episodes the other characters sometimes teased her for being scrawny. Maby she really was scrawny e.g. slightly underfed and we don't see if because of Generic Cuteness.

The anime is in Anachronic Order.
Hence why pikachu's power levels keep changing and why the movies that supposedly took place before Best Wishes are still set in places based off places outside of Japan. And nobody ages to hide this.

The Ash seen in the Best Wishes series is a different person from the Ash seen in prior series.
The real Ash went off on another journey to refine his skill after the Diamond and Pearl series and hasn't been seen since. Best Wishes Ash (let's call him Ash-2) is a kid from Pallet Town (also named Ash) who's admired the real Ash since around the time of the Lily of the Valley Conference. Ash-2 admires the real Ash so much that he catches himself a Pikachu, teaches his Pikachu all of the moves Ash's Pikachu used at the Lily of the Valley Conference, decorates his room with replicas of the trophies the real Ash has won, does up his hair to look like the real Ash's, and even insists that his surname is Ketchum (this makes more sense in the JP version where they merely share the name Satoshi). Strangest of all is that he sees his mother as Delia Ketchum. Though Ash-2 is good friends with Professor Oak and has even caught a few Pokemon before heading to Unova, he is still a novice trainer who knows very little about Pokemon battling. Before the Best Wishes series begins, Ash-2 has some minor scrapes with Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket while they are in the midst of intense training for their new positions in the organization. They mistake Ash-2 for the real Ash and, thus, believe his Pikachu to be worth stealing.

Meanwhile, the real Ash (who has steadily grown as a trainer from the incompetent buffoon he was starting out to a more tactically-minded veteran who can defeat two legendary Pokemon in the same battle and would certainly never lose to a rookie trainer or make a Pokemon storage exchange in the middle of a gym battle) is catching and training Pokemon somewhere else, blissfully unaware that he has a sycophantic fan or that Team Rocket is wreaking havoc in the Unova region.

One of Ash's Unova starters will evolve before he challenges the Driftveil Gym.
Look at the trend set by the last three regions. In Johto, Chikorita evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms. In Hoenn, Treecko evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms. And in Sinnoh, Turtwig evolved between the fourth and fifth gyms.
 * Note that these above were all Grass-Types.
 * Jossed, although his Roggenrola evolved during the gym battle.

It's Butch and Cassidy's fault that James's first Victreebel always attacked him.
They were the ones who were "taking care" of it when it evolved. A few possibilities: Or maybe something else. The point is, it evolved under their "care" and since they don't like Jessie and James, it's likely that they might easily take the chance to turn one of J&J's Pokemon against them. Remember, Butch and Cassidy actually DID turn Meowth and the others against Jessie and James in that story where they were using a Drowzee to make Pokemon attack their trainers, so Victreebel may have been an earlier experiment along those lines.
 * It really wanted to evolve but they wouldn't give it the Leaf Stone unless it promised to attack James at least periodically or to not be as loyal to him.
 * It's more attached to them because they helped it get stronger and all James did was lose when he had it.

Grass-types love the way James tastes.
This is why it's his grass-type Pokemon that always attack him. Maybe they think he's made of nectar or something.

Iris was assigned to follow Ash
In Castellia, in both versions, Iris refers to herself as Bianca's "bodyguard". Now, say what you will about that job, it could very well be that someone caught wind of a "Chosen One" inbound and sent Iris to the area, knowing that they'd meet and join up. Has interesting ramifications when combined with a Black & White WMG re: the Shadow Triad's identities.

Ash and co. will kill Team Rocket.
For the lulz.

The show will never, ever, end EVER!!!
So long as someone can keep creating ridiculous names for the Pokémon, The Show Must Go On.

Ash and Pikachu are Highlanders.
Similar to an above WMG, remember that immortals in Highlander stop aging when they die and that way back in season one, Ash and Pikachu were killed by a falling chandelier and later came back to life. They haven't aged since. Do the math.
 * There can Pi only one!

Meowth's ability is Technician.
Notice that he was able to stomp all comers with his "Fury Swipes of Love". Also, all his moves are 60-or-less power, exactly as you'd want with a Pokemon that has Technician. It just happens to be a Psychoactive Power, which is why it's not always on.
 * Even without the above explanation, this is almost certainly true. The only other ability a Meowth can have is Pickup, and, well... he isn't exactly raking in random items for Team Rocket, is he? If he was, maybe they could afford to, you know, feed themselves.

J isn't dead

 * Her shades floated up from her ship, or if she most likely had any water-type Pokemon, she might've gotten out. And she might return in Best Wishes if she escaped certain death.

The End Of Generation Five
There will be an arc involving a Munna, and Team Plasma,. Team Plasma will return around Brycen's gym and will dismiss Bianca as a non threat...after which she finally gets a passion for battling and later defeats Ash.

Iris left a Fraxure that refuses to evolve in Drayden's care. Her Axew wants to evolve but for some reason is unable to. After An Aesop about the two Dragon's differing opinions Axew will warp into a Haxorus when Ash has Iris in a pinch...but still lose so Ash can go on to the league. N won't show up, so the final gym will be a shout out to him. Ash will become a champion.

Ash's Tepig will not evolve.
Instead, he trades it for Bianca's Pignite.

Meowth is an avatar of Nyarlathotep
These are really idiotic reasons, but...
 * It explains why he can talk.
 * It would make him the real Big Bad.
 * I read on Bulbapedia that Meowth's Japanese name is Nyarth.
 * (Feel free to add more reasons if you want!)

The Reverse World in the 11th movie is actually the afterlife in the Pokemon world.
Think about the fact that in the game the only way to get into the Distortion World post game is through Sendoff Springs which said to be where the deceased to go journey to the other side. It should also be noted that there are several building in the Reverse World, but not once are any of these buildings entered even though it would seem that they could be. This is because they are actually inhabited by the souls of the deceased and one of the reasons Giratina is there is to keep them in line. This may also be one of the reasons why Giratina isn't so fond of living people being in the Reverse World.
 * Also the only way for Giratina to travel between the Reverse World and the Real World is through mirrors and other reflective surfaces. Mirrors are commonly portrayed as portals to the afterlife.

Ash receiving Pikachu is part of a Xanatos Gambit by Giovanni.
It's part of a plan to have Ash succeed him as the boss of Team Rocket and Viridian City Gym Leader. The trainers who travel with Ash were ordered by Giovanni to travel with him to keep him from going astray while Jessie and James were ordered to follow him and report on his progress periodically so Giovanni can know when it's finally time to reveal his plan. All of the trainers who have defeated Ash in the various Pokemon Leagues were hired by Giovanni to defeat Ash in order to prolong his journey until Giovanni's plan can be put into action, which will not occur until Ash wins a Pokemon League. It's not just a coincidence that Ash has lost in the league to a trainer who uses the same Pokemon as him, a trainer who uses a Pokemon (Meowth) associated with Team Rocket, and a trainer with at least two legendaries. They were all hired (along with the trainer who defeated him in the Johto League) to defeat Ash. The reason Giovanni doesn't want Ash winning a Pokemon league right away is because he's not yet mature enough to take over as the boss of Team Rocket and the Viridian City Gym leader. As soon as Ash has won a league, Giovanni will reveal his plan and ask Ash to take over Team Rocket and the Viridian City Gym.

Animating Charmander's flame is expensive
And that's why it is shown in the anime the least-that was enforced! Plus there are Ponyta, the Chimchar line etc that cause Charmander to be censored out of the show more.

The Yamask that would eventually be caught by James was supposed to make it's debut in the canceled Plasma arc.
Considering that they are supposed to be found in ruins and the arc was supposed to take place in those ruins, James's Yamask was originally supposed to have been found there.

Hilbert will be introduced as the Unova version of Ritchie
As a counterpart to Ash, he'll have Eelektrik as his main walking Pokemon, Oshawott/Tepig as his token starter and Volcarona as a his bug. With all of them having nicknames.

Ash will FINALLY, 15 years latter, win a major league
Then Black and White 2 will have a new protagonist.

Ash doesn't age because he's not alive.
Specifically, he's a ghost. Remember the episode where we were introduced to Haunter? Contrary to popular belief, Ash and Pikachu didn't come back to life. Haunter simply made it seem like he was, removing their bodies. Ash and Pikachu are completely unaware that they're still dead, as they believe they are alive. The reason why Pikachu isn't a ghost type? The same as why Ghost Marowak is only Ground. Ash and Pikachu never age in personality or body because they still think they're alive, meaning they can never pass the 10-year mark. This may also explain his continued disintrest in women: ghosts aren't affected by hormones. Should Ash and Pikachu ever realise this, everyone will notice them as ghosts, and they could be under threat by trying to drag them to the afterlife. They may even know it subconsciously: being "turned to stone" in the movie is a disguise.

There will be a showdown between Shizui and Cress
Both use water types.

Cilan's pansage is bred from a Cinccino.
Think about it. In the games, Pansage is only able to learn bullet seed as an egg move with a Cinccino as a father. Cilan's pansage knows bullet seed in the anime. That brings some questions to where his pansage actually came from....

Team Plasma won't ever appear in the anime.
Why? Because they'll base the arc plot on Pokemon Black And White 2 - considering Homika is slated to appear, this seems likely.
 * Team Plasma are in the Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 games. (As shown in the promotion anime). So if they don't show up, it wont be because the show is following the game story arc.

Team Plasma's story will have its own season ala the Battle Frontier arc
So that it will make up for the missing episodes.

Iris or Cilan will catch a non-Unova Pokémon, to promote Black and White 2
Similar to Dawn and her Cyndaquil, they could recieve an egg or simply catch a wild Pokémon.

There will be a japanese Pokerap for the Gen 3 Pokemon
It is to promote the Ruby and Sapphire remakes.

Palpitoad wasn't intended to originally be captured - Sunglasses Krokorok was meant to be caught in the post-poned "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma two-parted
Might be stretching things a bit, but it would make some sense - Palpitoad has only appeared in battles so far and received the least character development of all the Unova mons. His role could easily be substituted by Krokorok, particularly the part in the Elesa battle. My theory is that as we KNOW Krokorok was to appear in the two-parter, it's possible he meant was to be captured by Ash towards the end of the episode(s), after which he'd take on Palpitoad's role and more. Then the Earthquake & Tsunami happened, and since the episodes are probably going to be shifted, the writers took a look and decided that Palpitoad could have its capture squeezed in as a placeholder until they plotted the manner in which Krokorok was caught in BW067 as a substitute (despite the fact that episodes are plotted months in advance, they probably had enough time to make animation edits and the like to make this work). That is of course IF my theory is correct, but we may never know.

There will be a Best Wishes Season 3 to match a possible Pokemon Black 3 and White 3 game
No one saw the announcement of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 coming, along with an officially titled Best Wishes Season 2 of the anime to go along with it. My guess? Gen V is going to end up actually being a Trilogy of games/story, and the anime will follow suit in that trilogy format with a "Season 3," to go along with a possible "part three" of the games.