Ash Ketchum
Taylor said that Ash and the other characters "loosened up" after the first ten episodes of the anime; she believed the writers were more relaxed and felt the pressure of making sure everything was done correctly. Taylor commented: "I enjoy playing [Ash] now much more than I did in the very beginning because I can have fun with him more, and we kind of know him and can work out how he really would react. We have the classic Ash responses and things like that." Sarah Natochenny replaced Taylor in season nine when Pokémon International took over the dubbing rights (replacing and re-recording voices). In Japan, Rica Matsumoto is the voice of Ash.