Why didn't Ash release Charizard?

Question

Why doesn't Ash release Charizard even though it is his worst pokemon? You might ask for instances which I prove as follows:

1. Because of Charizard, Ash lost the Indigo League.
2. Charizard was not able to defeat Dragonite when a small Pokémon like Pikachu did in Indigo League.
3. Charizard was not able to defeat Tad's Poliwrath.
4. Because of Charizard again, Ash lost against Harrison in the final round.
5. In the banned episode The Mandarin Island Miss Match, because of Charizard releasing flame all around Ash, his reputation in front of Prima decreased.
6. Ash's Charizard wasn't even able to defeat Chikorita even though Chikorita was tired in The Chikorita Rescue.
7. Charizard, despite being so huge, was not even able to lift Ash.

I think these points are enough to conclude that Charizard is one of Ash's worst Pokémon, if not the words. I know Ash is also a bad trainer, but shouldn't Charizard perform well because it is very strong and Ash saved its life as a Charmander?

Why doesn't Ash release Charizard if it is so bad? Why did he leave him for training instead? Shouldn't he have completely eliminated it from his team?

Answer 1

The premise of your question is flawed. Ash does not release Pokémon due to their weakness. In fact, in Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, we can clearly see that Ash is opposed to this practice. His rival in that series, Paul, does follow this practice of releasing Pokémon he deems weak, and Ash vehemently disagrees with him about it. Ash believes in bringing out the strength in his Pokémon. To make a point of this, Ash even takes one of the Pokémon Paul releases, Chimchar, and uses it to help him defeat Paul in the Sinnoh League.

When Ash releases Pokémon, he always has the well-being of his Pokémon in mind, not his own. For instance, he releases Butterfree so that it can find a mate and migrate. He also considers where they are needed: for instance, Squirtle joins a fire-fighting squad and Bulbasaur looks after the Pokémon at Professor Oak's place.

Ash considers his Pokémon his friends, and he won't release them just because they're weak. He will, however, send them to train with Liza in Charicific Valley for an indefinite period of time.

Though I have to say, your premise about Charizard being incredibly weak is also incorrect. A few embarrassing losses do not make a Pokémon incredibly weak in the Pokémon anime. Ash's Pikachu has lost to a starter Pokémon (Snivy) in Black and White. And Charizard has some impressive wins, including against Gary's Blastoise and against an Articuno in the Battle Factory. The anime's battle system is more chaotic and contradictory than the games, so we can't just take one battle and use that exclusively. And Charizard is considered by many to be one of Ash's strongest Pokémon.

I used Bulbapedia on some points, but I do remember some of this stuff: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash%27s_Charizard

Answer 2

I really don't get 2 things from what you have said:

1. Why do those points make you believe that Ash's Charizard is his worst Pokemon? Ash had lots of downhills and uphills with his Pokemon. Charizard is one of them. In fact, you forget that Charizard is the one beating Gary at the Johto League, his Blastoise which has a big advantage on Charizard. The fact that he lost against Harrison, is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon. Some of your points are not even well explained, some make sense, so it makes me hard to understand your conclusion. (especially the last point, we saw Charizard lifting Ash already couple of times along the series).

2. Ok, let's say that you right, did you ever saw Ash along the series releasing his Pokemon because they are weak? Let's not say that he should be. The fact is, he doesn't. Hence, he releases his strong Pokemon than his weak Pokemon. To add to the this point, Ash not only won't release Charizard ever but rather than release, he left him in Charicific Valley to train, while 'till this point Ash usually released his Pokemon, he actually wanted Charizard only to train and get him back when needed later on.

At any rate, I will answer the question with kinda the obvious reason - Charizard considered in the Pokemon Brand as main mascot figure (yeah even than Blastoise and Vynasaur), even 'till these days he's still considered, this fact led the anime production even returning him in the BW series - one of the reason to give Ash Charizard is because of the fact that Charizard is Mascot and the fact that his character based originally on Red in the first game, which we know by 2nd games generation as he had Charizard. But even if it's not for this reason, fact is that as long Charizard will be recognise as Pokemon Brand mascot, we will see more of him in the anime, and there's no reason for the production to make as release him or what so ever, since we know Charizard and Ash connection, and Ash won't release him because he is weak (as you may claim).

Wikipedia - Charizard Reception

Answer 3

Investment for in the future when Charizard would eventually listen to Ash.

Not really a Pokemon answer, but if you've invested in a stock that happens to be declining in price recently, then do you necessarily sell? Or might you want until the stock goes back up in price? Depends on the stock right?

Ash's decision here is to continue to invest in Charizard. (And well, the investment did pay off. By ep118, look at how much Charizard listens to Ash.)