Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum is one of the most iconic animated characters of all time, up there with Goku and Mickey Mouse in terms of recognizability. But one of Ash’s most stand-out elements of his outfit was almost totally different, and went through many revisions before landing on the final design. That element, of course, was his trademark hat.
Ash’s character design remained the same for the first several seasons ofPokémon; it wasn’t untilRuby and Sapphirethat Ash saw a change in design, which came with an updated outfit and became a tradition with each new region. However, when most people think of Ash to this day, the version they’re picturing is the original design, which was everywhere during the Pokémania of the late 90s and early 2000s. That includes his blue jeans, blue vest, green fingerless gloves, and, of course, Ash’s iconic hat, red and white with a green symbol on the front.
Ash’s Hat Was Almost Completely Different
Ash’s Hat Went Through a Lot of Redesigns
It’s no secret to most fans thatAsh Ketchum is directly based on Red, the player character fromPokémon RedandBlue. It’s probably not too surprising, then, that the first versions of Ash actually looked quite a lot like Red, down to the hat. Red’s hat was red and white, and featured what appears to be a gym badge pinned to the front, rather than having a symbol like Ash’s. However, this wasn’t the only hat design that was tried out for Ash before the one they ultimately landed on.
Another variant of Ash’s hat looks much more similar to the final version. This one highlighted Ash’s bond with Pikachu by putting a lightning bolt symbol on the hat, front and center. The lightning bolt itself went through many design decisions before it was ultimately tossed out. Some designs with triangles were also tried out, before ultimately settling on the final design, or something close to it. The mark on the final design appears to be similar to the katakana character for “mu”, although if this is deliberate, it was never stated in the anime.
Ash’s Hat Bears Significance in the Anime
Ash Cares Deeply About His Original Hat
Ash’s hat was surprisingly significant to him. In the episode “Primeape Goes Bananas,” a Mankey steals Ash’s hat, causing him to grow irate and demand it back. Ash explains in the episode that the hat is an original Pokémon League hat, and he won it in a contest after mailing in thousands of entries. Misty states that she remembers the contest, although she only entered it one time. Thus, Ash’s hat was actually a fairly rare piece in-universe, explaining why Ash was so attached to it.
In the finale to theI Choose You!alternate continuity, a special episode known as “The Distant Blue Sky,” that version of Ash is given a new hat at the end of the episode, which wasdelivered by his father to his mother for Ash.The new hat given to him by his father happens to be identical to Ash’s original hat, perhaps explaining why the hat is so significant to him. It remains one of the only mentions of Ash’s father in the anime, and Ash holds the hat very close to his heart as a result.
While Ash would eventually swap his hat out numerous times over the years, no other hat of his has ever been as iconic and memorable as the first, which is still sold as merchandise even now, after Ash has retired from the anime. Ash may well have decided to switch hats because he wanted to keep the original Pokémon League hat safe, especially when it had been stolen by numerous Pokémon along his journey. It’s hard to imagine Ash without his iconic hat these days, butPokémonfans almost missed out on it altogether.
