The road to becoming a Pokémon manager is long and sometimes endless. Ash Ketchum knows this well, the anime's historical protagonist, who always seems to be 10 years old, regardless of the many locations visited and creatures captured. His stalled growth on the series is one of many fan talking points, but it's not the only one.
There has been a lot of talk about Ash Ketchum's father over time, a character never seen in the Pokémon anime and we may never see that given the direction the series is taking. Recently, fans have found out that Ash was abandoned by his father, who took the path of becoming a Pokémon trainer, but he wasn't the only one.
This was revealed in a 1997 Takeshi Shudo manga that was never released outside of Japan Ash's mother was also abandoned by her father. The man was a coachman who temporarily stopped to raise a family and then set off again, leaving his wife and daughter behind. So not only did Ash never meet his father, but he never met his grandfather either.
This information, while it might be considered non-canon, however, it would highlight an important aspect of Pokémon trainers, always ready to leave their families. Who knows if we'll ever see Ash's father in the anime.
