Ash Ketchum (Pokémon the Series: Black & White)

Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime and has traveled to every region so far, with his loyal companion Pikachu by his side.

While Ash Ketchum himself is a great and well-written character, his character became poorly-written in the Black & White seasons. He is voiced by Rica Matsumoto in the Japanese dub and Sarah Natochenny in the English dub.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) To write down the first problem, he has been flanderized beyond recognition in this era, going from a strong and caring trainer who gradually matures and learns from his mistakes over time into a poorly-written, stuck-up, whiny brat who comes off as stupid and immature.
 * 2) * He just acted like he'd just started his Pokémon journey in Kanto, completely ignoring all his character growth from his previous Pokémon journeys in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh.
 * 3) He is a very bad trainer, unlike in the series that came before and after Black & White.
 * 4) He constantly makes rookie-level mistakes in said seasons to the point that it gets incredibly frustrating to watch over time. The most notorious example being when he and Pikachu lost to Trip and his level 5 Snivy in a humiliating fashion. It doesn't help that this came after Ash's battle with Tobias in the Sinnoh League, where Pikachu managed to tie with Latios.
 * 5) *Even though Zekrom had shut down Pikachu's electric attacks prior to his battle against Trip's Snivy, he still had Iron Tail and Quick Attack, which Ash should've used first.
 * 6) * He also only brought one Pokémon to his gym battle with Elesa, confident that he was going to win, unaware that he really should have six Pokémon on him at all times. He even left the battle after Palpitoad fainted to get more Pokemon, which should've been an automatic disqualification.
 * 7) He can also be rude towards his traveling companions at times, though this could be excused by the fact that Iris treats him poorly and constantly calls him a "stupid kid".
 * 8) The problem with Ash's team in Black & White is that he caught way too many Pokémon, and not many of them evolved fully, not even any of his starters. Some of them are infamous for losing almost every battle they took part in, such as Unfezant and Palpitoad, the former of whom lost to a Riolu.
 * 9) Sarah Natochenny does a rather lackluster job voicing him in the English dub, lacking the genuine charm that Veronica Taylor brings to the character.

Good Qualities

 * 1) He was a much better character prior to Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and reverted back to his original personality starting from the X&Y seasons.
 * 2) *Speaking of which, he slightly improved in Season 16 (Adventures in Unova and Beyond).
 * 3) He still cares deeply about his Pokémon.
 * 4) He still thinks out of the box sometimes. For example, he finally beats Trip and his Serperior by having Pikachu do an Electro Ball/Iron Tail combo.
 * 5) Some of the Pokemon he owned during then were actually great, such as Leavanny, Scraggy, Snivy, Oshawott (depending on your view), Boldore (his first rock type) and especially Krookodile.
 * 6) He still has his funny moments, such as this scene when he says "Nothing ticks off more than stealing my food!".
 * 7) He still has his recognizable appearance and his outfit is nice to look at.