Gary Oak
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- See also Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana, also sometimes known as Garry Oak)
In the television series Pokémon, the trainer Gary Oak (Known as Shigeru in Japan) is Professor Oak's grandson and Ash Ketchum's rival.
He is called "Blue" (Or "Green" in the original Japanese) in most of the Pokémon games, in which he ends up being the Viridian City Gym Leader after Team Rocket leaves it.
In the cartoon, however, when Ash travels to Hoenn, Gary decides to give up being a trainer and instead dedicates himself to the "science" of studying pokémon like his grandfather, Professor Oak.
His Japanese name originates after the famed video-game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, to whom Satoshi Tajiri, Pokémon's creator, looked up to as a mentor.
Anime info
Gary is a character who believes he knows everything about Pokémon because he's Professor Oak's grandson. He loves to show his knowledge off to anyone who will listen (and they usually have to because he won't let them interrupt him) and to humiliate Ash, who knows relatively little in comparison, in every way he can, not just by proving he knows more than Ash. (for example, he wrote "Gary was here, Ash is a loser" on the road sign to Cerulean City).
Gary, as well as the Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal rival and Gary's video game persona, usually comes off as a jerk - at best - in the beginning. However, he seems to grow nicer and more humble later on in both the anime and the video games. Especially humbling is his crushing defeat at the Indigo Plateau Pokemon League; his attitude towards Ash, who finished in the top 16 far ahead of his rival, changes significantly after this turning point.
At the beginning, Gary went everywhere in a luxurious red car with a big group of fans sitting in the back.
However, his rivalry with Ash ended when they traveled to Hoenn no longer competing for the same goal. Gary now researches Pokémon much like his grandfather, Professor Oak. He was last seen researching pre-historic Pokémon in an episode of Pokémon Chronicles.
Manga info
In one of the translated manga series, Pokémon: The Electrical Adventures of Pikachu, Gary has a sister named May Oak (who is unrelated to May (Haruka) of the Pokemon anime). He is annoyed by the fact that Ash has a crush on her. May is a teenager, thus she is older than Gary.
External links
- Additional Images of Gary Oak (http://www.geocities.com/pokemontours2/indexes/people/Kanto/gary.htm)es:Gary Oak