Watch Ash Ketchum’s Japanese voice actor nail the original Pokémon theme song

James Whitbrook

Published 1 hour ago: March 20, 2023 at 8:00 am

Pokemon says goodbye to a legend next week. In Japan, the last episode of the two and a half decade old is running Pokemon Star Ash Ketchum (or Satoshi as he’s called over there) anime is airing, paving the way for a new series. But the voice behind the forever young Pokémon trainer sends him out in style.

While a couple of English speaking voice actors present Ash’s legacy in the dub of the Pokemon Anime, Rica Matsumoto has voiced the character in Japan since the beginning — and she also sang the show’s very first opening song there, “Mezase Pokémon Master” or “Aim to Be a Pokémon Master.” As iconic as our own original theme was culturally, “Mezase Pokémon Master” returned numerous times in the original anime – and a new version recorded by Matsumoto became the theme song for the final episodes of the current epilogue series, saying goodbye to Ash. self titled Pokémon: The goal is to be a Pokémon master.

And now you can hear Matsumoto in the video above for popular Japanese music YouTube channel The First Take, inviting stars to perform their iconic tracks live in a single take. She’s of course accompanied by a small chorus of plush Pokémon when she sings, including some notable ones specific to Ash’s journey like Greninja, Ho-oh, current teammates (like Dragonite, Lucario, and Gengar) and, of course, Pikachu.

It’s just a very cute way to mark a time as that Pokemon Fandom prepares to say goodbye to its hero.