Max

Max

Max(マサト Masato)

Character information

Gender:

Male

Region:

Hoenn

Debut:

There's No Place Like Hoenn

Hometown:

Petalburg City

Family:

May (older sister), Norman (dad), Caroline (mom)

Friends:

Ash, Brock, Misty, Drew, Solidad, Tracey Sketchit

Occupation:

Student

Voice actor:

Fushigi Yamada (Japanese)

Amy Birnbaum (4Kids; English)

Kayzie Rogers (PUSA/TAJ; English)

Max is May's younger brother and is one of Ash's traveling companions throughout his journey in the Hoenn Region. Since he is underaged to be a Pokémon trainer, he frequently just befriends Pokémon without actually owning any of them.

Appearance
Max is a small young boy. He has short, black hair and brown eyes, much like his father. He wears a money-green-colored T-shirt with a white collar and button, charcoal-colored shorts and green, black and white slip-on shoes without socks. He also wears black, framed half-moon glasses.

Personality
Max may not be old enough to be a Trainer, but that hasn't stopped him from learning all he can about Pokémon before he starts his journey. As a result, he knows much more compared to May, who didn't even know the names of her starter Pokémon's moves. Despite acting mature, Max is prone to being childish should it benefit him.

Relationships
Caroline and Norman

They are his and May's parents. He cares for them a lot especially his dad who he looks up to also he wants to be like him someday. Max was the most upset when his dad lost to Ash in there gym but was calmed down by his friends, May, mother and his father.

May

He does care for May, even though they fight a lot and he would do anything to try to make his sister happy, even though he never misses a chance to tease her.

Ash

Max sees Ash as a big brother figure due to having a fondness for Pokémon and they are seen doing the most together when May and Brock are shopping in some towns.

Brock

Max does get annoyed when he falls in love with girls, but he does respect his knowledge for Pokémon and because of that he sees him as a mentor to help become a really great trainer someday.

Misty

Max grew a little close to Misty, also he admires the way she pulls Brock away from girls during which he admired so much he did it himself after she went back to Kanto. Max and Misty share of being the youngest sibling, but promised to look out for them no matter what, shown when they got separated from everyone.

Tracey Sketchit

Max may not by close to Tracey but was impress by the way he sketches Pokémon and his passion for them too. Max was very happy when Tracey upgraded his PokéNav of the Battle Frontier facility in the Kanto Region.

Drew

Max doesn't like Drew's attitude and the way he teases his sister, even though he does it to, although he does respect his skills as a coordinator.

Solidad

Max seems to like Solidad due to being a nicer rival to May and even sees her as a close friend to be around and even was with him to comfort May, after Drew lashed out at her.

Skills
Max has some top notch theoretical knowledge about Pokémon, despite his age, and is very good at navigating through his Poké Nav, even though they sometimes get lost or if the Poké Nav is unable to help them out.

Biography
Anime

Max is a genius in the theory of Pokémon training, despite being too young to receive a Pokémon when he first appeared. Both May and Max are the children of Norman, the Gym Leader of Petalburg City and his wife Caroline. Just like any other siblings, May and Max do argue a lot and get on each other's nerves, but nevertheless, they're very close and genuinely love and care about each other, and May's been shown to be very protective of Max. May sometimes gets mad about the fact that Max knows a lot more about Pokémon and training than she does despite not being old enough to be an official trainer. He decided to travel with his older sister and Ash to see even more Pokémon

When Ash arrived at the gym without May in Petalburg City, he was met by little Max, who was surprised to meet a trainer who he had watched on television only weeks ago, through participation in the Johto League Silver Conference. But he also mocked him for losing in the quarter finals of the tournament. He also criticized May for choosing a Torchic as her starter, saying that if he were old enough to be an official trainer, he would've chosen a Treecko.

During his travels with his sister and his friends, Max was in charge of May's PokéNav, acting as a guide. Later on in the series, Max makes a habit of pulling Brock's ear when he sees and talks to a pretty girl, halting his romantic advances as Misty did in Kanto and Johto and the way Croagunk would Poison Jab Brock in Sinnoh for similar effect, dragging him off once incapacitated by the poison.

In the movie Jirachi: Wish Maker, Jirachi partnered with Max, becoming his first Pokémon. In Do I Hear a Ralts?, Max rescued a Ralts that was hurt and took the job of returning it back to its family, Gardevoir and Kirlia.

In Battle Dimension, Max made a brief cameo appearance with his parents watching May compete in the Wallace Cup, and also appears in a photo Brock had in the second Diamond and Pearl Special Episode.

Pokémon
Befriended

Max befriended a Shroomish in "Taming of the Shroomish".

Shroomish

Max befriended a Poochyena and, although his three brothers who were born at the same time, Poochyena was unable to evolve like them. The only move it knew was tackle so Max attempted to teach it Bite. After a battle with Team Rocket, after using Bite, it evolved.

Poochyena → Mightyena

Max befriended Jirachi in the movie MS006: Pokémon - Jirachi: Wish Maker

Jirachi

Max befriended a Shuppet in "Take This House and Shuppet".

Shuppet

Max befriended a Munchlax in Movie 007, which evolved into a Snorlax.

Munchlax → Snorlax

In the episode "Do I Hear a Ralts", the group encountered a Ralts that was really sick. Max took him to a Pokémon Center. Ralts went back to the woods and saw its family members, Kirlia and Gardevoir, and Max promised Ralts that he'll come back when he would become a Pokémon Trainer.

Ralts

Max befriended a Deoxys.

Deoxys

Borrowed

While Max was walking around in a building with Ash, May and Brock, he accidentally stepped on Poliwag's tail and it immediately came out. After Max apologized to the Tadpole Pokémon, it was revealed that it belonged to the Pokémon Trainer's School in Hoenn. Later on, Max was given Poliwag as he was choosing a Poké Ball for the training arena. It was narrowly defeated by Tommy's Magby as Team Rocket interrupted the match as they were stealing Poké Balls from the Deposit Room. While Poliwag distracted Team Rocket, Magby's Flamethrower burned the Wurmple mecca Team Rocket was on and they were blasted off.

Poliwag

Ash let Max borrow Corphish since Max did not own any Pokémon of his own. It was up against Vivi Winstrate's Marill. Corphish was able to defeat Marill after disobeying Max's commands.

Corphish

May lent Munchlax to Max to help him in a treasure search where stamps are the objective. But in the end he did not win.

Munchlax

Voice Actresses
English:

Amy Birnbaum (Seasons 6 - 8, Movies 6 - 8) (4kids)

Kayzie Rogers (Season 9, Movie 9, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon) (PUSA/TAJ)

Japanese: Fushigi Yamada

Dutch: Lot Lohr

Italian: Federica Valenti

Greek: Loucas Fragoulis

Hindi:

Tirthankar Mitra (first)

Prachi Save Sathi (onwards, Cartoon Network dub)

Amit Diondyi (Hungama dub)

Trivia
Max is the first character that is not a trainer that has joined Ash on his journey, the second being Bonnie.

Max has also been seen in the anime using May's Munchlax to be his orienteering partner in the Battle Frontier episodes.

Max is always seen holding a Pokéblock case in his bag or pocket, but May was seen several times getting it out from her bag.

It has been said that Max is too young to get his first Pokémon, but numerous trainers in the show are shown to have Pokémon while they look younger than 10 years old. It's possible that the age limit to be 10 is mostly just for competitions like Gym Battles, Leagues, Contests and Grand Festivals.

Like Misty, Max drags Brock away whenever he falls in love. Max had done this after seeing Misty doing it to Brock.

Max looks somewhat a lot similar to Conway. They wear glasses, wear a green shirt, and have the same hairstyle (although Max's hair is a little shorter).

Max is one of only two of Ash's companions who are not characters seen in the main games, the other one being Tracey Sketchit.