Gary Oak
- If you were looking for the the Generation I rival who is sometimes referred to as "Gary", see Blue (game).
| Gary Oak オーキド・シゲル Shigeru Ōkido | |
| [[File:File:GaryOak.png|{{{size}}}]] Gary Oak | |
| Age | 10 (as of debut) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Hometown | Pallet Town |
| Region | Kanto |
| Relatives | Professor Oak (grandfather), May Oak (sister, manga only) |
| Trainer class | Trainer, Researcher |
| Game counterpart | Blue |
| Anime debut | Pokémon - I Choose You! |
| English voice actor | Jimmy Zoppi |
| Japanese voice actor | Yūko Kobayashi |
Gary Oak (Japanese: オーキド・シゲル Shigeru Ōkido) is the primary rival of Ash Ketchum and grandson of Professor Oak. His Japanese name is derived from Shigeru Miyamoto.
In the anime
Gary has been a neighbor of Ash Ketchum since they were both young. At one time they seemed to be friends and went to see movies together as seen in Lights, Camerupt, Action! Before either of their journeys began, both Gary and Ash found an old Poké Ball while fishing. The two boys began fighting over who would get to keep the Poké Ball but ended up breaking it in half. Since then, they decided to keep the two separate pieces for themselves. It was revealed in The Ties That Bind that they still carried the pieces with them.
In the original series
The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant trainer, much like his game counterpart, Blue. His chosen starter Pokémon was Squirtle, which was actually the same Pokémon that Ash originally wanted to start with. He even had a group of cheerleaders who cheered him on in all his battles and would go so far as crying whenever he lost. And he didn't walk on his journeys like most trainers did. Instead he had his own sporty red convertible with his own chauffeur. Gary loved when he got a chance to make fun of Ash by bragging about how far behind Ash was compared to him. He also gave Ash the pet-name of "Ashy-boy" (Japanese: "Satoshi-kun"), which occasionally seems to annoy him. His style of training at this point was to capture many Pokémon and to use the strongest, as a stark contrast to Ash who focused on developing a bond with his Pokémon.
Soon he would eat his words when he would challenge the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni to a Pokémon battle for his final, but not necessary, badge in The Battle of the Badge. At first he seemed to be winning against Giovanni, knocking out most of his Pokémon. But then Giovanni sent out Mewtwo against the trainer and even let Gary use both his Arcanine and Nidoking against it. Mewtwo made quick work of the two Pokémon and Gary experienced his first (known) loss. However this still didn't change his arrogance. It would take a loss at the Pokémon League way later on to finally realize that he needed to change himself.
Gary eventually returned in A Tent Situation. Much unlike his former self, he congratulated Ash on his victory in the Orange League. Soon Ash challenged him to a battle with his Pikachu as his choice. Gary in turn used his Eevee. Gary managed to defeat Ash and then left on his journey through Johto.
In his few appearances during the Johto season, he seemed to have become the complete opposite of who he was. He became polite, intelligent, and respectful to others, including Ash. In Can't Beat the Heat! he battled Ash at the Silver Conference. Ash ended up winning the battle when his Charizard defeated Gary's Blastoise.
In Gotta Catch Ya Later!, Gary decided that he didn't want to be a Pokémon Trainer anymore, but instead wanted to be a Pokémon researcher like his grandfather.
In the Advanced Generation series
In Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl, Gary works on Sayda Island with Crystal. There, he revived an Aerodactyl from an Old Amber. At first the Aerodactyl was afraid of him and every other person on the island, but Gary soon gained its trust after he fed it some fruit that Aerodactyl used to eat.
Eventually, he moves to the Sinnoh region where he is currently conducting his research.
In Home Is Where The Start Is, Gary reunited with Ash and battled him with his new Electivire and defeated Ash's Pikachu once more.
In the Diamond & Pearl series
In Ill-Will Hunting! he was taking care of a group of Shieldon and protected them from the evil Pokémon Hunter J and her minions. He appeared again in Fighting Fear With Fear! where he helped Ash and Gligar by giving a Razor Fang to Ash which caused Gligar to evolve later. He was in the area after hearing rumors of Azelf. Upon meeting him, Dawn thought that he was a poet like his grandfather.
Gary later appeared in DP151 and DP152, working alongside Professor Rowan at Valor Lakefront where he attempted to protect Azelf from Pokémon Hunter J and Team Galactic, however he was unable to defeat Saturn in battle. He later monitored the changes around Mt. Coronet caused by Cyrus' attempts to summon Dialga and Palkia.
Pokémon
Since the very start of his own journey, Gary has shown exceptional skill as a Pokémon Trainer, catching and training an astonishing number and variety of strong Pokémon in a short period of time. However, since retiring as a Pokémon Trainer to become a researcher, it isn't known if he continues to catch new Pokémon.
This listing is for Gary's Pokémon as of DP152.
On hand
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In storage
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As of Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, Gary has more than 200 Pokémon in his collection including more than one of the same species.
Temporary
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Badges obtained
During his journey, Gary collected badges to compete in the Indigo Plateau Conference and Silver Conference. He won ten badges in Kanto, of which he already had five by the twenty-fifth episode, and showed off the whole set in The Battle of the Badge (though he failed to gain an eleventh badge in that episode when faced against Mewtwo). Of the eight badges that Ash won, Gary only has three: A Boulder Badge, a Cascade Badge, and a Rainbow Badge. The other seven are unknown, but aside from the Earth Badge, he didn't get a Thunder Badge, Marsh Badge, Soul Badge, or Volcano Badge.
Gary's achievements in Johto were not stated, other than that he had the minimum of eight badges to compete in the tournament.
Voice actors
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In the manga
Gary is one recurring characters in Electric Tale of Pikachu manga. In the manga, Gary is childhood friend and rival of Ash and frequently appears when Ash does something wrong. At the Pokémon League he is defeated by Ritchie, but confronts Ash at the end of the series. His sister, May, who is not present in the anime, also appears.
Pokémon
 Arcanine |
 Rhydon |
 Gyarados |
 Venusaur |
Traded away
 Slowpoke (giant) |
- Giant Slowpoke: Given by Ash.
Trivia
- His English name could have been derived from his Japanese name. It may also be referencing the Garry oak, a type of oak tree.
- Gary is one of the few characters to have his English dub voice remain unchanged throughout the series. From Pokémon - I Choose You! to this day, he has been voiced by Jimmy Zoppi. Zoppi is currently credited as Billy Beach under his Pokémon USA work.
- The only known losses Gary has had during the entire series were against Mewtwo (while under Giovanni's control), against Melissa at Indigo Plateau, and against Ash during the Silver Conference. In the manga, he is defeated by Ritchie at the Indigo League instead of Melissa.
- In the original series, Gary's attire is similar to Blue's during Generation I. In his Advanced Generation and Diamond & Pearl appearances, Gary wears Blue's outfit from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, making him the only non-main character to undergo a permanent change of clothing.
- Gary owns the final evolutionary forms of Pokémon owned by Ash and each of his friends, excluding Dawn (and Max, of course). These are: Blastoise (Squirtle and Wartortle), Kingdra (Horsea), Golem (Geodude) and Scizor (Scyther). Both Ash and Gary have also caught a Krabby, but only Ash's is known to have evolved.
- Gary has been shown to have Pokémon from all generations except Generation III.
- Gary is so far the only one of Ash's rivals to appear in a Pokémon movie, appearing very briefly in Mewtwo Strikes Back.
- Gary owns the final evolutionary forms of each of the special Pokémon that can appear on Route 201 via the dongle method, swarming, or the Poké Radar (Arcanine, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Dodrio).
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | オーキド・シゲル Ookido Shigeru | Derived from Shigeru Miyamoto. |
| English | Gary Oak | Possibly taken from Garry Oak, a type of oak tree. Also possibly derived from Shigeru. |
| French | Régis Chen | |
| German | Gary Eich | Direct Translation. Eiche means Oak. |
| Brazilian-Portuguese | Gary Carvalho | Carvalho means Oak; Carvalho is also an actual surname. |
| Korean | 오바람 O Baram | 오 O is from the first syllable in "Ōkido", while his first name, Baram is Native Korean for wind. |
| Chinese | 小茂 Xiǎo Mao | 茂 is from 茂る shigeru. |
External links
- Victorious, the fanlisting for Gary
- Shigeru's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
- Shigeru's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime. |