Oh cool, were over analyzing things! In that case...

In actuality Ash from the Pokemon TV show entered a coma after the bike accident from the first episode. Days later, he was found and hurried to the hospital and treated with heavy medications. This is why Team Rocket became less menacing. The medication took effect and stabilized his coma dreams so that, instead of being terrifying, they became idyllic. They allowed him to live out his Pokémon Master fantasies.

After the beginning episodes, the series is the result of Ash’s subconscious mind fulfilling his desires as well as attempting to escape reality. Should Ash realize he’s in a coma, he would wake up and suffer brain damage, so he must take down all of his mental barriers one by one.

If he can do that, he can come to grips with who he is and escape his coma. Further evidence comes from the realization that even though his journeys take him vast distances, he never usually travels by bike due to having developed a phobia of them.

The coma and fantasy explains why he never changes much, physically. It explains the worldwide socialism, as he thought up a safe system of government that would run smoothly and keep the world going, allowing his adventures to work like they do.

It also explains how a child can go off on his own into a world full of dangerous and untamed animals. In addition, it explains why every town has the same police officer and every Pokémon Centre has the same nurse.

Joy and Jenny he knew from his hometown and they act as a safety net or anchor, allowing him to feel safe no matter where he goes. They represent stability. The professors represent Ash’s ideals, which is why Gary became a professor.

The fantasy also explains why every time he enters a new region that virtually no one has heard of him, despite his conquests. How else could Paul, the rival of the Sinnoh area, not know of someone who placed in at least the top sixteen of all three leagues and destroyed the Orange League and Battle Frontier?

Moving on to the characters closer to him…Ash’s traveling partners are aspects of himself he can enjoy but cannot associate with himself.

Brock is Ash’s repressed sexuality. Ash fell into the coma a virgin and, as such, needed an outlet for his growing sexual frustrations. However, since he can never experience sex, Brock must never succeed. Brock’s stay with Professor Ivy was an attempt by Ash’s mind to suppress his sexuality.

Brock isn’t just a projection of Ash’s sexuality, but also a projection of Ash’s fatherly instincts. He leaves his siblings to journey with Ash because he can’t cope with having that much responsibility.

You may notice that James got much more dialogue in this part of the series, as well as getting more touchy-feely with his Pokémon and exposing much of his backstory. Ash didn’t enjoy this much, which is why Brock returns, horrified, and refuses to speak about it.

Ash’s subconscious was repressing him at the time so, other than a general feeling of dread, he has no idea what happened. Further evidence of Brock being Ash’s sexuality is that he keeps returning the series after Ash meets a new female aspect of himself.

Misty is the first such aspect we encounter. Because she is the first and is merely an aspect of Ash are explanations as to why Misty plays such a prominent role in the show but is ultimately unattainable (since he never really knew her before the coma).

Since Misty is his initial love interest (if only subconsciously), he needed her to reach a certain level of womanhood. He felt that people could only have relationships after they’ve matured.

In practice, however, he finds he can’t cope with it, as he lacks real-world experience. He wants the normal, pushy, arrogant Misty he knew…thus, not letting her keep Togepi. We can see this arc in the constant berating of his sexuality, but her eventual mellowing until she had faded into the background.