Professor Birch/Anime/Series/AG



Professor Birch has a keen interest in field research, in which he studies Pokémon habitats and behaviors. Birch's assistant Joshua is often left running the lab and giving new s their starter Pokémon while Birch continues his expeditions. He is good friends with Petalburg Gym's Norman, and was also familiar with Norman's daughter as mentioned in Get The Show On The Road.

In Get The Show On The Road, Professor Birch rushed over to the Littleroot Town ports in his SUV to pick up Ash and. He soon diagnosed Pikachu with an electrical overcharge and treated him at his lab. However, Pikachu's electricity overloaded the electrical absorption machine and he ran off into the wilderness. Ash and Birch chased after him with the three Hoenn starter Pokémon in hand as Ash had no other Pokémon on him. During the search effort, Birch slipped down a cliff and disturbed a sleeping in the process. soon stumbled on the scene, but Professor Birch was forced to take over and had settle the situation. After incidentally helped Pikachu in his recovery, Birch took everyone back to his lab. Later he had May select her starter Pokémon and she picked out a.

Professor Birch appeared in flashbacks in There's no Place Like Hoenn!, You Said a Mouthful! and A Mudkip Mission.

Birch was revealed to have traveled to Dewford Island to conduct field research during the nesting season, in A Three Team Scheme!. While examining a Wingull nest, he slipped from the sea cliff and consequently landed onto a. Ash and come across the Professor and later joined his expedition. The group noticed a cave and soon found a Secret Base belonging to Keanu, but they quickly left after being shouted at. Team Rocket go on to occupy the Base and steal Keanu's from him. Birch and the others attempted to confront the trio, but they found that the Base has been tunneled through. They followed the tunnel through to an ancient ruin site, and watched Team Aqua and Team Magma confront each other. Birch and the others remain undetected, and later Ash helps Keanu regain his Nincada and defeat Team Rocket.

In the following episode, Professor Birch spotted several  walking around aimlessly because of a recent landslide that left them without a home. He goes on to play with the Seedot, and Team Rocket notice another opportunity to steal some Pokémon. Jessie calls on her "", but Birch stated that Jessie actually has a. May's Silcoon evolved during the confrontation, and Birch later handed May a frisbee to help her new strengthen its  attack. Later, Professor Birch and the others found the Seedot an ideal location for them to drink, though Team Rocket appear again. This time Jessie's Cascoon evolved into a, confirming the Professor's earlier statement. With Team Rocket blasted off and the Seedot now happily relocated, the Professor headed back to Littleroot Town.

The group headed towards Professor Birch's laboratory in A Six Pack Attack. However, the Professor came across them as he rushed off to pick up, who he was eager to meet for the first time, from Littleroot Town's ports. Ash and went with Birch to collect Professor Oak from the seaport, though Oak decided to hitchhike and had already reached the laboratory. After Team Rocket stole the Kanto starters that Oak had brought with him, and Birch's trio of Hoenn starters, Professor Oak, and Max gave chase. Birch received word and zipped over to Team Rocket's cave hideout with the help of his friend, Poochyena. Oak and the others managed to free themselves, and Ash's group then sent Team Rocket blasting off. Ash and his friends later boarded a ship towards Fortree City and they waved goodbye to the two Professors and Joshua.

Ash and his friends were surprised to see Birch relaxing on Island A of the tropical A-B-C Islands in The Evolutionary War!. He was already aware that a Deep Sea Tooth caused to evolve into a, and that a Deep Sea Scale was needed to obtain a , though he was interested in the mystery around these two evolution methods. Ash's group joined Birch on his island expedition, and local students Nancy and accompanied them to Island B and Island C respectively. Birch took water samples at the respective islands, he later concluded that Island B's water was infused with Deep Sea Scale and Island C contained Deep Sea Tooth fragments. Birch decided to remain on Island A to continue his research after witnessing Keith and Nancy's Clamperl both evolve after they had held a Deep Sea Tooth and Scale respectively, and Ash's group left for Mossdeep City.

As Ash arrived home to Pallet Town, Professor Birch and Max had driven over to make the homecoming in The Scheme Team. In the following episode, Birch visited Professor Oak's Laboratory, where Ash's Muk had taken a particular liking to him. Later, Birch tried to confront Team Rocket, but told him to leave it to the children who went on to defeat the evil trio. With Ash and his friends setting off for the Kanto Contests and, the two Professors gifted Ash and May an updated Pokédex each.

He was also seen in another flashback in Reversing the Charges. Birch made a short cameo in The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, after Dr. Yung stole his data to help construct his Mirage Pokémon System.