Ash S Dad Will Be Mentioned In Pok Mon The Movie Secrets Of The Jungle

Tetsuo Yajima, the director of Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, spoke to Japanese outlet Oricon about the film’s themes. The spotlight Pokémon, Zarude, acts as a father to the young boy Koko, and ideas about parenthood and how to raise children are present throughout the film.

Yajima told the outlet that after becoming a recent father, his “outlook on life that [he] had until now changed” and this new film reflects that. In the film, Zarude is a strict keeper of the “laws of the jungle,” but meeting Koko changes the Pokémon’s way of thinking.

The interview then touches on how, in the new movie, Ash mentions his father, who has been absent from the Pokémon anime since the series’ debut in 1997. Meeting Koko and Zarude makes Ash think of his own relationship with his father, and viewers will learn that he gained a lot of his personality from his dad.

Ash’s dad has never been seen in the Pokémon anime or movies. It’s mentioned briefly in the first season of the series that he was training to be a Pokémon Master, just like many other people in the Pokémon world.

Not much else regarding Ash’s father is talked about in the interview, so Pokémon fans will have to wait until the film comes out to learn more.

Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle was announced at the end of 2019 and scheduled for a summer 2020 release, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pushed the film back in Japan.

No hard release date has been set for the Pokémon film in the West, but it’s expected to release some time in 2021.

Here’s the synopsis for Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle:

A special tie-in distribution is currently underway in Pokémon Sword and Shield, which gifts trainers Zarude, the Mythical Pokémon. However, some trainers who signed up for the Pokémon Trainers Newsletter—which is the only way to obtain the Mystery Gift code to redeem Zarude—say they didn’t receive the email.

The Pokémon Company International is aware of the issue and urges trainers to reach out to its support team if they’ve had any difficulty receiving the code for Zarude.