Ash Ketchum's True Identity

In the Japanese version of the Pokemon TV series, Ash Ketchum is called Satoshi. This could mean that Ash was named after Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri. Ash Ketchum's original nemesis, Gary Oak was called Shigeru. A fair amount of sources confirmed that Ash's original nemesis Gary was named after Shigeru Miyamoto, the producer of several Nintendo titles such as Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda. If you want to know why Gary bullies Ash, this toxic rivalry is believed to be due to Satoshi Tajiri being considered an outsider by Nintendo, just like Waluigi's designer Fumihide Aoki, in contrast to Shigeru Miyamoto and even Wario's designer Hiroji Kiyotake, both of whom are Nintendo employees. This was also the possible reason for Ash's 22-year losing streak in the Pokemon Leagues featured in the mainline Pokemon games. Nintendo, Game Freak and the writers of the Pokemon TV series all feared that Satoshi Tajiri will one day surpass Shigeru Miyamoto, which could ultimately cause Mario to drop dead in despair just like in Dharkon's version of the bad ending in the World of Light campaign. What's more, Satoshi Tajiri's vision for the Pokemon series is the reason the Pokemon series is a very dangerous series. For all we know, the Pokemon War that Lt Surge spoke about, does not have a positive ending unlike Skyward Sword's Ancient Battle or the backstory on how Kirby and Meta Knight were the only surviving Star Warriors in Kirby Right Back at Ya, but rather, somebody more evil and more sinister than Team Rocket or any of the other criminal syndicates in the Pokemon World won the Pokemon War. Who knows, Fei Wong Reed could possibly have gone beyond the borders of CLAMP's manga and placed a death seal inside Ash Ketchum, which will only devour Ash if he ever became a Pokemon Master...

Happy 25th Anniversary, Pokemon! Nintendo would not have survived the rise of Sony's PlayStation without you!

Update: The Ash Ketchum Arc has officially ended, and it ended with "Next Time, A New Beginning". At least Ash did not die from a death seal, but we never got to find out who his father is. Who knows if Ash will even appear in Liko's story arc in Pokemon Horizons...