Max
| Max マサト Masato | |
 Max | |
| Age | 7 (as of debut) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Hair color | Teal |
| Hometown | Petalburg City |
| Region | Hoenn |
| Relatives | May (sister), Norman(father), Caroline(mother) |
| Trainer class | N/A |
| Anime debut | There's no Place Like Hoenn |
| Englishvoice actor | Amy Birnbaum(4Kids) Kayzie Rogers(TPCi) |
| Japanese voice actor | Fushigi Yamada |
Max (Japanese: マサト Masato) is a young boy from the anime, and one of the traveling companions of Ash. He is the only main character thus far who was not a Pokémon Trainer and he did not own any Pokémon during the entire Advanced Generation series. He is the younger brother of May, and the son of Norman, thePetalburg Gym Leader, and Caroline.
Character
Max is somewhat of a know-it-all, relying mostly on book smarts than actual experience. He seems to have come under Brock's tutelage for real-world knowledge. A running gag in the series is that Max is often excited or happy to experience firsthand an attack or ability that a Pokémon is well known for, such asSharpedo's Rough Skin, or Jigglypuff's Sing. Max also took Misty's bit for yanking Brock by the ear whenever Brock sees a pretty woman. Max also frequently shows tension between him and his older sister May, such as telling embarrassing stories about her to others or arguing with her about the way she does certain things. For example, in the movie Jirachi: Wish Maker, May asked Jirachi to "get rid of the problem," and Jirachi, supposedly reading Max's thoughts, teleported her to the top of the candy mountain upside down.
Max is unique of the main characters in that he actually knew of Ash before he met up with him. Max watched the Silver Conference live and then continually watched the videos he made of it. When he stopped to find out who was making noise in the gym, he was surprised to see one of the competitors standing in the Gym. However, the two did not get off to a good start as Max continued to put Ash down, assuming that he could have defeated Harrison. After seeing Ash battle Norman, however, Max became impressed with Ash and soon decided to travel with him and May. Max's admiration of Ash has been seen on numerous occasions since then, though he admires his father even more.
The question of Max's starter Pokémon was raised a number of times while he was traveling in Hoenn. Between the Hoenn starters, it appears that he would have chosen Treecko as that is what he told May she should have chosen. However, inHaving a Wailord of a Time he speculates that he could receive anything. Not knowing who it will be leads to some of the conflict and resolution with his doppelganger in Maxxed Out. At the end of that episode he stated that Max is lucky as he already knows who the Pokémon he will start his training with will be. Max finally did meet his future partner in Do I Hear a Ralts? when he befriended a weakened Ralts. Wanting to show his responsibility he took care of it and brought it to a Pokémon Center with a little help from Snorunt. When the two parted ways at the end of the episode, they promised to meet up again when Max was eligible to be a Trainer.
However, while Max does not own any Pokémon he has befriended a variety of different species during his travels: Poochyena, Jirachi, Deoxys, and a Shuppet in the episode Take This House and Shuppet. He simply played with the Shuppet, after fleeing from the team when he became angered with May. 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. In Gonna Rule the School, Max spent a day at Roxanne's Trainer's School where he battled with a Poliwag against a Magby. He used 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 the episode Candid Camerupt!, Max borrowed Ash's Corphish for a battle against Vivi Winstrate. At the end of Advanced Generation, May announced that she wished to travel to Johto alone. This initially upset Max but Ash cheered him up with the promise of a battle between the two when Max becomes a Trainer. He is currently staying at home in Petalburg City where he is taking lessons from his father and is helping to look after the Gym Pokémon. Max has received just two cameos since his departure, triggered by May's brief return for the Wallace Cup arc.
Pokémon
Due to not being a Trainer, he is unable to train his own Pokémon. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped him from befriending or borrowing Pokémon, either wild or belonging to someone else. When Max battles with others' Pokémon, he tends to rely on defensive techniques such as Protect rather than battling offensively.
Befriended
 Shroomish |  → Poochyena → Mightyena |  Shuppet | |
 Ralts |  Cleffa |  Deoxys |  Jirachi |
- Shroomish: Taming of the Shroomish
- Poochyena/Mightyena: Max met Poochyena and helped it evolve into Mightyena A Bite to Remember
- Shuppet: Max befriended Shuppet after an argument with his sister Take This House and Shuppet
- Ralts: Max took it upon himself to help Ralts by escorting it to the nearest Pokémon Center in Do I Hear a Ralts? He intends to start his Pokémon journey with it.
- Cleffa: Max befriended a Cleffa that was separated from Clefairy and Clefable in A Real Cleffa-Hanger
- Deoxys: Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys Crisis!
- Jirachi: Jirachi: Wish Maker
Borrowed
These are Pokémon Max has borrowed either for a battle or an event.
 Poliwag |  Corphish |  Munchlax |
- Poliwag: Gonna Rule the School!
- Corphish: Candid Camerupt!
- Munchlax: Off the Unbeaten Path
Achievements
- Pokémon Orienteering - Runner-up (participated with May's Munchlax)
Voice actors
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Trivia
- His appearance is based upon the School Kid Trainer class.
- 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!.
- His Japanese name, Masato can be taken to be 正人, which literally meanscorrect/elegant man, possibly referring to the fact that he is usually always right.
- Max was the first main character 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 a lot like Max. In Emerald, he was changed to a generic kid sprite.
- In Emerald, Brendan/May is given a little brother, but there is little other resemblance to Max.
- Max is one of Ash's only two friends to never have met Gary Oak. The other is May, Max's sister.
- Max choosing to start out his journey with a Ralts mirrors Wally's first Pokémon.
Related articles
External links
- Faunlet, the fanlisting for Max
- Masato's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
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