Details About Pikachu Only True Fans Noticed

Pikachu is easily one of the world's most recognized, and beloved, characters of all time. In just 20 years this little yellow guy has become an unparalleled superstar. Seriously, who hasn't heard of them? There are plushies, T-shirts, socks, shoes, make-up, and even Pikachu-themed weddings. Pikachu is the face of the whole of the Pokemon series, which is the world's highest grossing media franchise. That's right: Pokemon far surpasses even Disney's grand empire. It's only a matter of time until there's a Pokemon theme park, after all. 

Pikachu is an electric-type Pokemon modeled after a mouse with a lightning bolt shaped tail. They can electrocute their enemies while still looking cute, which makes us pretty forgiving about all the scorch marks. Even with such an adorable, recognizable face there's a surprising amount of mystery to Pikachu. We're talking about both the species and Ash's best buddy from the anime as we take a deep dive into all things yellow, zappy, and red-cheeked.

Ash's Pikachu is an extraordinary example of the species. He refuses to inhabit a PokeBall, instead opting to ride around on his trainer's shoulder. He is considerably powerful for a Pikachu, able to take on Pokemon the likes of Mega Gyrados. And he loves ketchup. Yes, you read that right. For whatever reason, the anime went out of its way to demonstrate the fact that Pikachu has an infatuation with ketchup. 

This legendary love affair started in episode 42 of the anime entitled "Showdown at Dark City." At a restaurant, Pikachu can be seen dumping a concerning amount of ketchup on Ash's omurice, and later the bottle that Pikachu hangs onto so ardently comes in handy. When a Scyther attacks Pikachu, it hits the bottle and is blinded by ketchup, causing it to attack its own trainer instead. Team Rocket also gets deluged in ketchup in this tomato-y episode. Pikachu is reunited with the bottle of his dreams much, much later in the anime, his penchant for the condiment never forgotten.

Pikachu was designed with cuteness in mind: from the big red cheeks to its big, sparkling eyes, there is no denying that Pikachu is seriously adorable. Character designer Atsuko Nishida was tasked by Game Freak co-founder Ken Sugimori to make a Pokemon more cute than the tough monsters that had come about so far. Nishida's original Pikachu design was resembled a daifuku mochi, a round Japanese dessert, with ears sticking out. Game designer Koji Nishino said to make it even cuter, and thus Pikachu was born. 

The Pikachu we know and love now is different from the original sprite that graced the original Pokemon games. Over time, especially due to influence from the anime, Pikachu has slimmed down. No longer is Pikachu the ball of electricity it once was: Pikachu has a much more athletic look. Maybe it's because the Pokemon does a lot more than just throw around thunderbolts in the anime. The Pikachu of today runs, jumps, and even dances. That doesn't mean we're not allowed to be nostalgic for the days when Pikachu was a little bit more chubby.

Game designer Koji Nishido loved Pikachu so much that he made it one of the rarer Pokemon to find in the original games. These days, Pikachu aren't all that rare, with a 32.5% catch rate; wander into any patch of tall grass in the forest and you're likely to find a Pikachu or two. A tell-tale sign is patches of singed grass; find scorch marks and the smell of ozone, and there's probably a Pikachu nearby. Be cautious, however, dear trainer, because finding a whole group of Pikachu is apparently something of an ill omen. 

According to the PokeDex, when Pikachu gather together they can cause lightning storms due to their built up electricity. Forests where Pikachu live are often struck by lightning due to their electrifying inhabitants. When near civilization, Pikachu can cause problems by chewing on telephone poles and destroying electronic equipment. Pikachu's very first appearance in the Pokemon manga showed off the Pokemon's apparent destructive nature: Pikachu was stealing crops and shocking anyone who dared to try to stop him.

"Pika-pi! Pika-pika-chu!" What does that mean in Pikachurian? Only voice actress Ikue Otani knows. She has been voicing Pikachu in the anime from the very start, giving everyone's favorite electric mouse its signature squeak. Her audition for Pikachu was actually an accident: she said in an interview with Manga University that she had no idea what a big hit the games were. Once she was cast, however, she came to realize what a big deal Pikachu was, and that it wasn't going to be an average role. 

Pikachu's lines are never repeated. For each episode, Otani does each individual line, always keeping in mind what he might be thinking or feeling. "Because Pikachu can't say anything other than its name, the audience has to think about what the 'Pikachu' noises mean and learn to understand the character," she said. "So for example, if Pikachu wants to say something like 'Yatte yaroze' ('Let's do it!'), I would say 'Pika-pika-chu!'" At the start, Otani was told that Pikachu would gradually learn how to speak, but that idea was scrapped just a few months later. She instead adjusted for a long career of saying variations of "Pikachu!"

In recent years, one of Pokemon's best kept secrets was unveiled, much to the delight of fans. Pikachu is so popular that sometimes people forget about poor Raichu, its evolved form. Long, long forgotten, however, is the fact that at one point, Pikachu was going to have a third evolution: the monsterous, horned Gorochu. 

According to a leak of unused generation one Pokemon designs taken from assets from an early build of Pokemon Red and Green obtained by a collector, Raichu would evolve into Gorochu, which had horns and fangs, and was designed by Pikachu's original creator Atsuko Nishida. However, Gorochu was ultimately removed due to issues of "balance," according to game designer Ken Sugimori. This, and the fact that the unused sprite is blurry at best, hasn't stopped Pokemon fans from imagining what Gorochu would look like, should it have survived to see the light of day. Mostly, the popular idea seems to be that Gorochu would be a big, red version of Raichu with horns, floppy ears, and some not-so-threatening fangs. Anything that comes from Pikachu has to be cute, after all.

Pokemon names are often puns. There are obvious ones, like Meowth and Magikarp. There are others that take a little more digging like Trevenant (tree and revenant) or Moltres (molten and tres, because it is the third legendary bird). And then there are still others that won't really make any sense at all unless you're familiar with the Japanese language. Unlike many Pokemon, Pikachu's name didn't change when it was localized for an English-speaking audience. Neither was Raichu, and we'll guess that Gorochu wouldn't have either, had Pikachu's third evolution been published. This is because the puns behind their names are just too fitting to improve upon. 

Pikachu's name comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia word "pika-pika," which is used to describe glitter. "Chu" is the word used to describe the sound that mice make, the same way English-speakers say that dogs go "woof." So Pikachu's name roughly translates into glitter (like the sparkle of lightning) plus mouse sounds. Rai means thunder in Japanese, so Raichu is thunder plus mouse sounds. Finally, Gorochu goes the onomatopoeia route and combines "goro," the sound of rumbling thunder, with mouse sounds. Again, so fitting that the localization team didn't dare deviate from the original.

Ash's Pikachu from the anime gets special treatment when it comes to Pokemon. He's obviously his trainer's favorite, even if Ash claims that he doesn't play favorites. Pikachu is part of the gang, always out of his PokeBall and making his opinion known. But why is Pikachu so stubborn when it comes to getting in his PokeBall? Did he have a bad experience? Is his PokeBall broken somehow? What is inside a PokeBall, anyway? 

The one thing we for sure know about the inner workings of PokeBalls is that they serve to protect Pokemon from further damage. Trainers aren't forced to lug around their injured Pokemon, they can just return them to their PokeBall and then heal them at a Pokemon Center. Except in the case of Pikachu. The movie Pokémon: I Choose You! retells Ash and Pikachu's story with one extra addition: the reason why, even when facing death, Pikachu won't return to his PokeBall. The movie was panned because of the jarring moment that Pikachu suddenly starts speaking full-fledged English and tells Ash, "It's because I always want to be with you."

Uh. Okay.