Gary Oak

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This article is about Gary Oak, a character in the Pokémon anime. For Quercus garryana, see Garry Oak.

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Gary Oak
Gary Oak with his Eevee.
Japanese name	Shigeru Ōkido
Voice actor(s) (English)	Billy Beach
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Yuko Kobayashi
First appearances
Game	Pokémon Puzzle League
Anime episode	Ep. 1, “Pokémon - I Choose You!”
In-Universe Information
Occupation	Roving Pokémon trainer and rival to Ash Ketchum; later Pokémon researcher

Gary Oak, known in Japan as Shigeru (シゲル, Shigeru^?), is a fictional character in the Pokémon franchise. He is Professor Oak’s grandson and Ash Ketchum’s archrival in the Pokémon anime.

He is usually seen in the anime with messy brown hair, wearing a purple sweater and a yin-yang pendant. In the video games, he is seen in both the outfit mentioned above, and a clothing style that features cargo pants and a black t-shirt. After becoming a Pokémon researcher, Gary adds a white lab coat to this outfit. Gary is voiced by Yuko Kobayashi in the Japanese version. In the English version, Gary is voiced by Jimmy Zoppi.

1 Background and Story
2 Character Origin
3 Pokémon
- 3.1 On Hand
- 3.2 Others

[edit] Background and Story

Gary is a character who is the same age as Ash; they were playmates and next-door neighbors when they were younger, but drifted apart when they both discovered their love of Pokémon. Gary believes he knows everything about Pokémon because he’s Professor Oak’s grandson. He loves to show his knowledge off to anyone who will listen (and they usually have to because he won’t let them interrupt him) and to humiliate Ash, who knows relatively little in comparison, in every way he can, not just by proving he knows more than Ash (for example, he wrote “Gary was here, Ash is a loser” on the road sign to Cerulean City). When the two meet outside the Viridian City Gym, Gary shows off his ten badges (two more than needed to enter the Indigo League competition), compared to Ash’s seven. It is worth noting, however, that the Saffron City Gym’s Marsh Badge is not among the ones Gary won, indicating that he declined to challenge or lost to Sabrina, the most dangerous of the Kanto Gym Leaders. He also has the Pewter City Gym's Boulder Badge, indicating that he was victorious against Brock or Brock's father. Even though he’s already won more badges than he needs, Gary enters the Viridian Gym to challenge Giovanni. Gary quickly defeats Giovanni’s Golem and Kingler, but Giovanni then decides to test the strength of his most powerful Pokémon, the mighty Mewtwo, who effortlessly defeats two of Gary’s Pokémon at once, before proceeding to knock out Gary himself, along with his cheerleaders. This is the first known defeat in Gary’s career as a Pokémon trainer.

Gary usually comes off as a jerk - at best - in the beginning. However, he seems to grow nicer and more humble later on in both the animé and the video games. Especially humbling is his crushing defeat at the Indigo Plateau Pokémon League; his attitude towards Ash, who finished in the top 16 far ahead of his rival, changes significantly after this turning point. At the beginning, Gary went everywhere in a luxurious red car with a big group of fans sitting in the back. However, his rivalry with Ash ended when they traveled to Johto; no longer competing for the same goal, they still remain friends. It is worth noting that once Ash went back to Pallet Town from competing and winning in the Orange League, Gary had become much more humble and didn’t insult Ash. Their previous relationship involved Gary continually belittling Ash while the latter said very little in response. When they meet in Pallet, Ash is the one who initiates the rivalry and challenges Gary to a Pokémon battle. Even after winning, Gary does not gloat like he used to, though Ash is more angered than he usually was in the past vowing to one day beat Gary. After this meeting, however, they both act civil to one another and even entered a friendly racing competition.

In the anime, while Ash traveled to Hoenn, Gary decided to give up being a trainer and instead dedicate himself to the “science” of studying Pokémon like his grandfather, Professor Oak. He was last seen researching prehistoric Pokémon in an episode of Pokémon Chronicles, when he and his fellow researchers at the Saida Island lab successfully cloned an “extinct” Aerodactyl (apparently unaware that a very small number of Aerodactyls had actually survived to the modern day). Gary protected the Aerodactyl from Team Rocket agents Butch and Cassidy, and managed to befriend it. The Aerodactyl now roams freely on Saida Island, and Gary now intends to follow up on his success by cloning other prehistoric Pokémon, such as Omanyte and Kabuto.

Gary makes his return appearance in the final episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, "Home Is Where the Start Is". Having come all the way back to Kanto from the Sinnoh region with his newly evolved Pokémon Electivire, Gary meets Ash, who is on his way home after completing the Battle Frontier challenge. Gary pitted his Electivire against Ash's Pikachu in a quick battle and easily emerged victorious. Not very pleased with Ash's Pokémon training progress, Gary returned to the Sinnoh region. Ash's loss to Gary is what urges him to start yet another new journey by traveling to the Sinnoh region. Gary is bound to make more appearances during the Diamond and Pearl Saga, since he seems to have decided to be both a Pokémon trainer and a Pokémon researcher.

[edit] Character Origin

Main article: Blue (Pokémon)

Gary is based on Blue (or "Green" in Japan), a character in the Pokémon video games. In Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed and LeafGreen, Blue (Green) is the rival of the player (who Ash Ketchum is based on), while he becomes the Viridian City Gym Leader in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal. He also has an older sister, Daisy, who lives in the same house as Blue (Green) and continues to do so even after his departure.

His Japanese name originated after the famed video-game designer and the creator of the Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, to whom Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, looked up to as a mentor. Naming Ash after Satoshi and Gary after Shigeru in the original Japanese version of the anime was meant to be an inside jab indicating that Pokémon rivaled Mario as the top video game series from Nintendo similar to how Ash rivaled Gary.^[1]

[edit] Pokémon

As a trainer, Gary is said to have caught at least 200 Pokémon, although some of them belong to the same species. While a Pokémon trainer is allowed to carry six Pokémon in his active roster, Gary is no longer active as a trainer and, apparently, only carries five. The fate of his other Pokémon remains unknown.

[edit] On Hand

Squirtle → Wartortle → Blastoise

Squirtle was the first Pokémon that Gary received, and has evolved into a Wartortle and then into Blastoise. It has never been removed from Gary’s active lineup and is his most powerful Pokémon, having defeated Ash’s Heracross and Bayleef. However, Blastoise was defeated by Ash’s Charizard despite having a clear Type advantage because Ash’s Charizard was more experienced. For much of the early series, it was never revealed which starter Gary chose, leaving it a heavily-debated mystery among fans. When Gary left on his new journey after the Johto League, he only took Blastoise with him, a gesture Ash would follow when leaving for Hoenn, only taking Pikachu and leaving the rest with Professor Oak. His Squirtle was seen only in a flashback in the episode "Challenge of the Samurai" while the Wartortle was never seen.

Doduo → Dodrio

Dodrio evolved from a Doduo that Gary had previously caught, and is one of the few Pokémon that he continued to carry with him after retiring from competition to become a Pokémon researcher.

Eevee → Umbreon

Umbreon evolved from Gary’s Eevee. Umbreon’s main assets are its Agility and It also seems to be Gary’s favorite Pokémon. In Episode 118, "The Rivalry Revival", Ash's longtime rival Gary Oak uses his Eevee in a battle against Ash's Pikachu. Tracy remarks that the Eevee has bright eyes and a shiny coat of fur, revealing its high level of experience. Eevee ultimately defeated Pikachu, using a Take Down to knockout its opponent. Tracy also noted that Gary's Eevee was ready to evolve into a Stage-1 Pokémon, which happened before the events in Episode 173, "Power Play", in which Ash and his companions discover that the Eevee had evolved into an Umbreon.