A Somewhat Gender Neutral Protagonist

A SOMEWHAT GENDER NEUTRAL PROTAGONIST

Quietly masculine

When Pokémon became a popular sensation, everyone became familiar with Ash Ketchum, to the point that the name Ash has become inextricably linked to the character. But, as a localization choice for the United States in the late 1990s, that was a very unusual choice of name.

Although the name Ash has a long history as a masculine name, in the United States at the time, it was strongly considered a nickname for girls named Ashley, which had a peak of popularity as a baby name in the mid-1980s. When the anime came out in the United States, there happened to be many, many ten-year-old girls going by the nickname Ash.

Trend of name popularity for Ashley in the United States, with a peak as a female name in 1987. — From United States census data for Ashley and Ash.

I remember a lot of parents being confused by the idea of a male character being referred to as Ash.

As an aside, it seems that the character has turned the tables on the idea of Ash being strictly a girl's name. Ever since around 1998, after the localized anime came out, Ash has gained traction as a name for boys in the United States.

Trend of name popularity for Ash in the United States, with positive trend as a male name since 1998. — From United States census data for Ashley and Ash.

This choice of a name is so strange, I wonder if it was on purpose, for the very reason of giving the protagonist a gender-neutral name.

Even though there was no option to play the Generation 1 games as a female protagonist, and even though video game marketing in the United States at the time wanted to specifically target boys, it seems some effort was made by the localization team to de-emphasize the player character's gender. Beyond this default name option being considered valid for both boys and girls, we can see from leaked backups of the Red & Blue localization text that there were changes made to specifically adjust language referring to the protagonist, such as the masculine boy, sonny, guy, or dude to more gender-neutral language like kid or brat instead.

Dialogue updated from using the word boy to using the word kid. — These types of changes happened even in cases where there would be no difference or even an *increase* in the number of letters used, so the goal was not simply to crunch down the localized text. (From The Cutting Room Floor)

Dialogue updated from the phrase hello son to the phrase hello there. — These types of changes happened even in cases where there would be no difference or even an *increase* in the number of letters used, so the goal was not simply to crunch down the localized text. (From The Cutting Room Floor)

I wonder if this was an intentional goal of the localization effort to make the protagonist a bit more gender-neutral where and when possible, rather than choosing to assert specifically his maleness. The localization team could not do something like add a whole new character to the game, but they did have power over the word choices favored by the translation. I am also not sure if this would have been the corporate direction of Nintendo of America, or if it was a personal goal of the contracted translator Nobuyuki "Nob" Ogasawara, who has at other times said that he would have wanted to make the translation of the Pokémon games as inclusive as possible. ✽︎

Before deciding on the name Ash, the protagonist of the anime was referred to with the beta name of Casey, and this name also has a bi-gender quality.

Trend of name popularity for Casey in the United States. — From United States census data for Casey.

In the United States, Casey is not very common as a first name, but it had a small burst in popularity during the late 1970s, through the 80s, and into the 90s when the Pokémon franchise was being localized. Also, at the time, Casey was considered equally valid as a masculine or as a feminine name.

Remember that the suggested name of the rival in one game is the suggested name for the protagonist in the other game. So, having a bi-gender name might have also been a consideration for the rival's beta name Bailey.

Trend of name popularity for Bailey in the United States. — From United States census data for Bailey

Similarly to Casey, the name Bailey had a small burst of popularity in the United States right at the time when Pokémon was being localized, and it was also considered valid as either a masculine or feminine name.

Ultimately, the same did not hold true for the finalized name Gary.

Trend of name popularity for Gary in the United States. — From United States census data for Gary

The name Gary was well past its peak of popularity (which was in 1952), of dwindling relevance, and strongly associated masculine — while some female babies born in the United States have been named Gary, it is a relatively tiny portion, and that part of the chart had completely fallen to zero by 1998.

I wonder if this means that other considerations ended up being deemed more important for the rival's name. It seems that there was an effort to preserve the link these names had in Japanese to Satoshi Tajiri and Shigeru Miyamoto, and going with the name Gary is a really clever way to retain that connection, even if it isn't a gender-neutral name. And, although the rival in one game is the protagonist of the other, the anime shows Ash as the hero, and Gary is solidly his rival and an antagonist. The rival in the anime doesn't need to have the most universally relatable name — in fact, it is better if it's a name that is a bit less relatable. The rival in the anime isn't meant to be you, he's an annoying guy you know. 💡︎

If I am right that the name and presentation of the protagonist in the localized games was meant to be a little bit gender-neutral, perhaps the idea was a tiny bit like the gender-ambiguous approach to the character of Link from The Legend of Zelda, especially as it was in Ocarina of Time (1998).

Back during the Ocarina of Time days, I wanted Link to be gender neutral. I wanted the player to think Maybe Link is a boy or a girl. If you saw Link as a guy, he’d have more of a feminine touch. Or vice versa, if you related to Link as a girl, it was with more of a masculine aspect. I really wanted the designer to encompass more of a gender-neutral figure. So I’ve always thought that for either female or male players, I wanted them to be able to relate to Link. [...] As far as gender goes, Link is definitely a male, but I wanted to create a character where anybody would be able to relate to the character. So that's why I think the rumor went around that Link could be a female. Because maybe the users were able to relate in that way.

Eiji Aonuma (Next Link May Not Be a Girl, But He’s Androgynous by Design)

Both Link and the main character of Pokémon Red & Blue are silent protagonists that the player is invited to consider as an extension of themselves while they are on their own adventure. Even though both Link and the main character of Pokémon Red & Blue are canonically male, these gender-neutral localization choices reduce the chance of unnecessarily breaking the immersion for players who do not identify as male.

I know, I for one, appreciated these considerations — I remember back when I was a kid playing Pokémon that I could sometimes forget that the main character is intended specifically as a boy. I could sometimes think, just like Satoshi Tajiri, He's me. ✽︎

The Unforgotten

A SOMEWHAT GENDER NEUTRAL PROTAGONIST

Notes