Max (anime)

Max
Max (Japanese: マサト Masato) is a young boy from theanime and a former traveling companion of Ash. He is not a Pokémon Trainer and he did not own any Pokémonduring the entire Advanced Generation series. He is the younger brother of May and the son of Norman—the Petalburg Gym Leader—and Caroline.

History
Max first appeared in There's no Place Like Hoenn. He was inside the Petalburg Gym when May returned home with Ash. When he saw Ash, he claimed that he was theGym Leader and questioned Ash about the Silver Conference, saying that he had watched the tournament live when Ash was a participant and was not impressed with his performance. As the two began to bicker over how Ash could have won his battle against Harrison, May arrived with her parents and revealed that Norman was the actual Gym Leader instead of Max. Max watched the match between Norman and Ash until it was interrupted by Team Rocket. He went after Team Rocket and fell for their pit traps when he found Torchic. Later, he decided to join Ash and May when they were setting off to Petalburg Woods.

In In the Knicker of Time!, Max went off to find Nicholai when he insulted Norman after defeating May. He brought along a pile of Berries which attracted the Zigzagoon's attention. They got angry when Max ran out of Berries and Ash, May, Brock, and Nicholai arrived to save Max. When Nicholai led the Zigzagoon away from the group, Max apologized for his actions earlier.

Max took a liking to Katrina's Poochyena inA Bite to Remember. Seeing that Katrina owned three Mightyena, Max attempted to get Poochyena to evolve. He trained it with May's Torchic but was unsuccessful due to Torchic attacking both Max and Poochyena. Max then ran off with Poochyena after Ash told him that some Pokémon are happy the way they are. When Poochyena was caught by Team Rocket, Max encouraged it to bite through the net to free itself and the other Pokémon as well. Afterwards, Poochyena was able to evolve into Mightyena.

In Gonna Rule the School!, Max spent a day at Roxanne's Trainer's School where he battled against Tommy's Magby using a Poliwag. He used the strategy in increasing Poliwag's defense as much as possible with Defense Curl, but this backfired when Magby's repeated attacks began to wear Poliwag down.

In Candid Camerupt, Max borrowed Ash's Corphish during the battle with Vivi, who had a crush on him. Since Corphish was Ash's Pokémon, Corphish recklessly attacked Marilleven though Max wanted Corphish to go easy on Marill. This victory caused Vivi to no longer be interested in him.

Max met a look-alike of his who has thesame name as him in Maxxed Out!. Both of them were fighting when the brown-haired one criticized the green-haired Max about how only skilled Trainers can handle Skittyas he thought that the Skitty was his. Max met up with the brown-haired Max by the lake when a Surskit was dancing around there. May suggested to both Maxes that they should be friends but it resulted in them fighting. When Team Rocket arrived with their goal in catching Surskit for theirboss, the green-haired Max and the brown-haired one went off and found Surskit as it ran away. They found it in a new water spring located in the forest. When Team Rocket returned to capture the Surskit, both Maxes worked together to take on the trio and Surskit finished them off. After Team Rocket's defeat, both Maxes became friends and the brown-haired Max promised the green-haired one that he will become a Trainer someday.

In Take This House and Shuppet, Max and the gang went to a mansion. He separated from the group after he got into a sibling rivalry with May when they both accused each other of ending up in the mansion. When Max was still upset about May, a Shuppetcovered him with red aura and Max noticed it. They played with each other and Shuppet showed Max a secret room containing a playground. Still mad about May, Max had Shuppet play a prank on Ash, May, and Brock by lifting up items in the kitchen when the three were headed there. When Team Rocket was about to get May's Torchic, Max blocked their way until May arrived. Max stood back as May took things from there with her Torchic and was about to get crushed by a falling shelf until Shuppet saved them by lifting the shelf.

Max found an injured Ralts in Do I Hear a Ralts?. He took it back to the campsite whereSnorunt successfully cheered it up using Ash's hat and Max's glasses. Max took Ralts to a Pokémon Center after Brock pointed out that Ralts was running a fever. While Ash, May, and Brock were battling Team Rocket while they were attempting to steal Ralts for their boss, Max made a run for the Pokémon Center with Snorunt tagging along. Along the way, Max dealt with Team Rocket again but they were stopped by Ralts's friends, aKirlia and a Gardevoir. Max explained to them about Ralts's condition but Kirlia was about to attack him until Ralts protected him with Safeguard despite being in worse condition. Seeing that Ralts was willing to trust Max, Kirlia and Gardevoir teleportedaway. Max finally arrived in a Pokémon Center and reunited with Ash, May, and Brock. Max was happy to see that Ralts was healed up. However, he was sad to say goodbye to it after it left with Kirlia and Gardevoir.

In ''Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys' Crisis! Parts 1and 2'', Max went with the group and Solanato a cave where they found out about a meteorite relating to Deoxys. Max was willing to communicate with it and Deoxys took him and Meowth to another dimension. Deoxys possessed Meowth as it explained to Max that it was scared during the space flight. Deoxys then explained to Max about the meteor landing and outer space, and that it was alone without a friend to hangout with. When Ash and his friends arrived in the cave again, Ash's Swellow and Sceptile, May's Combusken, and Brock's Marshtompsignaled their arrival and Max was happy to see them again. When Deoxys battled the group outside the cave, it caused some friction inside the alternate dimension that made Max and Meowth bounce around. However, they were able to get out with the help of May and Jessie. After the battle, Deoxys possessed Meowth again where it thanked Max for everything and fled off, wanting to explore the planet even more.

At the end of the Advanced Generation series, May announced that she wished to travel to the Johto region alone. This initially upset Max but Ash cheered him up with the promise of a battle between the two when Max becomes a Pokémon Trainer. He arrived home in Petalburg City where he took lessons from his father and helped to look after the Gym Pokémon.

Max received two cameo appearances in the Diamond & Pearl series, triggered by May's brief return for the Wallace Cup arc. He also appeared in the Best Wishes series, in a flashback in The Dream Continues!.

Character
In his debut episode, Max was presented somewhat of a know-it-all who was proud of his book smarts. For example, in In the Knicker of Time!, Max did not approve of how Ash had used Pikachu in battle and spent a portion of the episode lecturing him on what he thought was a better way to command the Pokémon. But despite this attitude, Max was not a close-minded person and was always eager to learn about Pokémon first-hand. He would become particularly excited when he could experience a Pokémon's move or Ability, such as Jigglypuff's Sing or Sharpedo's Rough Skin. Max went under Brock's tutelage for real-world knowledge of Pokémon and how to care for them. He developed a friendly relationship with Brock, though he did adopt Misty's habit for yanking Brock by the ear whenever Brock saw a pretty woman.

Despite getting off to a rocky start with Ash, Max truly admires him and has proven it on numerous occasions. Over time, Max saw how Ash's unorthodox battle strategies could be beneficial, and by the end of the Advanced Generation series, Max was no longer criticizing Ash's battling style.

He shares a deep bond with his older sister May, and their bond only grew stronger while they traveled together through Hoenn with Ash and Brock. However, the siblings were occasionally aggressive towards each other, like when Max told Harleyembarrassing stories about May. Another example occurred in the movie Jirachi: Wish Maker, when May asked Jirachi to "get rid of the problem," referring to the large pile of candy in the room. Jirachi, who was reading Max's thoughts, teleported May away, which suggests that Max had been thinking that May was the real problem. Despite their arguments, the two siblings care for each other very much.

The question of Max's starter Pokémon was raised a number of times while he was traveling in Hoenn. Between the Hoenn starters, he said that he would have chosen aTreecko. However, in Having a Wailord of a Time, he commented that he could really receive anything. Not knowing who his starter would be led to some of the conflict with his doppelgänger, whose name was also Max, in Maxxed Out!. At the end of that episode, he stated that Max is lucky that he already knows the Pokémon he will start histraining with. Max finally did meet his future partner in Do I Hear a Ralts? when he befriended a weakened Ralts. Wanting to demonstrate that he could be responsible for a Pokémon, he took care of it and brought it to a Pokémon Center with a little help fromSnorunt. When Max and Ralts parted ways at the end of the episode, they promised to meet up again when Max was eligible to be a Trainer.

Pokémon
Due to not being a Trainer, he is unable to train his own Pokémon. Nevertheless, he has befriended a variety of Pokémon during his travels. Max has also occasionally borrowed May's Munchlax, such as in Off the Unbeaten Path! when he needed a Pokémon to take part in an orienteering contest.

Despite this, Max has been in a couple of Pokémon battles, such as the ones withTommy and Vivi Winstrate. When he battles, he focuses on defensive moves such asProtect or Defense Curl instead of offensive moves.

Trivia

 * His appearance is based upon the School Kid Trainer class.
 * The School Kid Trainer class in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire closely resembles Max.
 * Although Max took Misty's role of pinching Brock's ear when he sees a pretty girl, he didn't start doing that until he saw Misty do it in The Princess and The Togepi!. However, he did drag Brock by the pants once in A Different Kind of Misty!.
 * Max was the first main character besides Ash to have a lead role in a Pokémon movie, as all movies before Jirachi: Wish Maker had either Ash or a character of the day with the lead role.
 * In the Ruby and Sapphire versions, an overworld character walking aroundBrendan/May's house looks much like Max. In Emerald, he was changed to a generic kid sprite.
 * Max befriending a Ralts mirrors Wally's first Pokémon. Max also finds it sick, which is the reverse of the sickly Wally capturing Ralts.
 * This may also be due to two School Kids using a Ralts in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
 * Max is the youngest male protagonist.
 * He is Ash's first companion who is too young to be a Trainer. The second would beBonnie.
 * Max is so far one of only two former traveling companions who hasn't appeared in at least one Pokémon Sunday/Hoso-related spinoff episode after leaving the series, the only other being his sister May (Misty and Tracey had appeared in some Pokémon Chronicles episodes, Dawn appeared in SS024, Brock, aside from appearing in the Chronicles episode A Family that Battles Together Stays Together, also appeared in SS025 and SS027, Cilan appeared in SS027 with Brock and met him, and Iris appeared in SS028).