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Villain Overview

Surrender now, or prepare to fight!
~ James' famous quote.
Jessie, Meowth, do you ever think, just, maybe...our fruitless never ending quest to capture this specific Pikachu, even though there are plenty of other powerful Pokémon...is only a metaphor for some larger search for meaning in the universe?
~ James breaking the fourth wall.

James (in Japanese: コジロウ, Kojirō) of Team Rocket is one of the main antagonists of the Pokémon anime series.

He is one of the members of Team Rocket and one of Ash Ketchum's two on-and-off archenemies.

He is in a trio with Jessie and Meowth, who all attempt to steal Pikachu from Ash Ketchum. He is the softie of Team Rocket, and is more or less a kindhearted and thoughtful person. He came from a very rich family and has many vacation homes and extra houses dotted around the Pokémon World. He is also Ash Ketchum's second archenemy next to Jessie.

He is voiced by Shin'ichirō Miki (who also voiced Mizuki in Naruto) in Japanese and Ted Lewis, Eric Stuart, James Carter Cathcart (who also voiced Meowth and Gary Oak) until his retirement in 2023 due to throat cancer, and Edward Bosco (who also voiced Alastor, Striker, Klug, Zarude and Charizard) in the final eleven episodes of the series in English.

Biography[]

Anime[]

James grew up in a very wealthy manor, living with his family and all the luxury given to him. He was also given days off of school and cold desserts for dinner very often. However, his life was not all picture perfect, as his parents had complete control over his life and what he was to do with it, giving him tasks he had strong distastes for. As a result, he was very sheltered and could not explore like people his age. Despite this miserable lifestyle, James had (and still has) a loyal Growlithe known as Growlie and spent his spare time collecting bottle caps (still collecting them to this day). One day, he would meet a girl named Jessebelle who, at first, he had a crush on, and would have an arranged marriage with her. Unfortunately, her demands to make him very posh and mannered just like her and his own family, plus her hatred towards Growlie, pushed James to the edge and caused him to run away from his own home, leaving Growlie behind.

In Sinnoh, he found a trapped Carnivine and pulled it out of the mud. After saving it, Carnivine shows affection to James by biting his head. He placed Carnivine in its Pokeball in his box of bottle caps collection.

Years later, he would join a school known as Pokémon Tech, where he would later meet Jessie, a girl with a lot of similarities to Jessebelle. But, this time, they would remain friends forever. They would then get kicked out together for having the lowest grades ever there. They also joined a biker gang at one point, but then left for vague reasons. They would later meet their Meowth and join Team Rocket.

His first debut in the anime, along with Jessie's and Meowth's, was in Season 1's episode "Pokémon Emergency," where his friends and he would steal all the occupied Poké Balls in the Pokémon Center Ash and his Pikachu were in. Though they didn't first intend to steal Pikachu, the latter's electric abilities were so powerful that it sent Team Rocket out of the building and into the atmosphere. The team then vowed to steal Ash's Pikachu and hand it in to Giovanni due to its abnormal enhanced powers.

Movies[]

In Pokémon the Movie 3: The Spell of the Unown, James, Jessie and Meowth prevent Ash from falling to his demise (while looking for his mother Delia). In Pokémon 2000, Team Rocket help free Moltres and Zapdos, pick up Ash and get him to ice island and later heroically sacrifice themselves to save the world. At one time in Pokémon: Jirachi—Wish Maker, when Butler unleashes Groudon, set out to destroy the Pokémon world (unless Ash Ketchum, Max and Pikachu stop it with help from Jirachi), swallowing him as well as Jessie and Meowth (not to mention Brock, May and Diane).

Also in Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, when Giovanni threatens to build a new Team Rocket lab (while capturing and destroying Mewtwo), Ash and Brock escape from their prison (with the assistance from a few bug Pokémon especially Beedrill), free Mewtwo from his prison and throw him into the natural spring water, with Giovanni saying something at the end of the Special unless Mewtwo shows up, refreshed from the natural spring water, wiping out Team Rocket's minds, excluding Jessie, James, and Meowth.

Games[]

Pokémon Yellow[]

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Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!/Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee![]

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Pokémon Masters[]

James appears in Pokémon Masters as one of the game's various sync pairs, and also is one tied with two events (Double Trouble and Blasting Off Again), with him obtainable for free in the former. As a sync pair, James is a three-star Poison type Sync Pair, using his Weezing.

In Double Trouble, he, alongside Jessie and Meowth, are warped in Pasio by a shiny Celebi, and desiring it for their own ends, head after it. Despite this, he and his team must team up with the player to defeat Team Break, and although they beat them, Celebi flees. In Blasting Off Again, the trio catch wind of a fireworks festival going on in Pasio, and thus head off to it in hopes of stealing Pokémon, they manipulate the player to help their schemes, using them to help ward off Team Break and even betraying them by stealing their Pikachu. Despite this, the protagonist eventually finds their true goals and defeats them in battle, sending them flying off as usual. The two groups eventually regroup, and although still swearing to beat one another next time, together look up at the firework show and says they might be able to lend their aid someday. James becomes usable to the player after this.

Personality[]

As a member of Team Rocket, James is uncaring towards people as he, Jessie and Meowth attempted to steal Pokémon and Ash's Pikachu, though he is often the most sensitive and good natured of the trio as he values his family, especially his grandparents, more than stealing Pokémon, gives up/releases his own Pokémon when he realizes they're better off without him (Cacnea and, to an extent, Weezing), and allows Jessie to leave Team Rocket when she finds a happier life, just to name a few. His hobby is collecting bottle caps including his academic cap when he first met Jessie and Meowth. His fear of his controlling fiancee Jessiebelle led him to fearing marriage as a whole and even hearing the word "fiancee". He got annoyed when Victreebel, Cacnea, Carnivine, and Mareanie showing their affection for him—since they often hurt him in the process. James has a rivalry between him and Butch as he and his partner Jessie were considered to be losers by Butch and Cassidy due to their low rank and failures of capturing Pokémon and for James calls Butch "Biff" which offended him. Instead of using Pokédex, James is paranoid when using Pokémon cards.

Pokémon[]

These are the Pokémon James owned or used to own.

On Hand[]

  • Carnivine: James got the Pokémon from his Pokéball in his bottle-cap collection which was in his old playhouse in Sinnoh. Carnivine likes to bite James in the head as a sign of affection just like Victreebel. He is revealed to have gotten it in the Great Marsh.
  • Mime Jr.: James got the Pokémon at his Nanny and Pop-Pop's house as a replacement for his Chimecho. Mime Jr., like Jessie's Wobbuffet, likes to pop out of its Pokéball.
  • Yamask: James catches the Pokémon at an abandoned warehouse in Unova. He knows Shadow Ball, Night Shade, Haze, and Will-O Wisp.
  • Amoonguss: James caught Amoonguss while going back to Kanto from Unova. It knows Stun Spore, Hidden Power and Body Slam.
  • Inkay: James caught the Pokémon while it was eating the trio's sandwiches. James uses this opportunity to catch Inkay with a Pokéball, much to Jessie and Meowth's dismay. It knows Tackle, Psybeam, and Foul Play.
  • Morpeko: Initally Morpeko was rather troublesome for stealing their food even once try to get them to join Ash or Goh. After that incident, James and Morpeko grow fond of each other and James catches it.

Released[]

  • Koffing/Weezing: James got Koffing as a Christmas present, and has used it to battle Ash and his friends, until his Koffing evolved into a Weezing in "Dig Those Diglett", and has used it for quick getaways or battles. He released his Weezing in "A Poached Ego" in order to protect a group of scared Koffing.
  • Weepinbell/Victreebel; James got Victreebel as a Weepinbell when he used Weezing to catch one. It evolved into Victreebel in "The Breeding Center Secret" when it touched a Leaf Stone in its cage. Since then, Victreebel has been James's primary battling Pokemon, until it got released and fell in love with James's 2nd female Victreebel. Both of them fell in love and skipped off into the forest.
  • Mareanie: James caught Mareanie after it got attracted to him after it poisoned his face, which made him resemble a Mareanie. Because of this resemblance, Mareanie instantly decided to join Team Rocket's group of Pokemon. Each time James sends out Mareanie, Mareanie shows its affection toward James just like Victreebel, Cacnea and Carnivine. James released his Pokémon knowing that she won’t be happy at the Rockets’ headquarter, but promise to see each other again. It knows Spike Cannon, Sludge Bomb and Knock Off.

At Home[]

  • Growlie: James keeps a pet Growlithe named Growlie at his family's mansion. He told it to stay behind to keep his family safe.
  • Chimecho: James found a real Chimecho while searching around the marketplace and decided to catch it. In "Sweet Baby James", James's Chimecho falls ill and James decides to let Chimecho stay with his nanny and pop-pop in order to let it feel better, which is where Mime Jr. comes in and jumps into one of James's unused Pokéballs, letting it catch itself for James.

In Training[]

  • Cacnea: James caught a Cacnea in "Tree's a Crowd" when it liked the food that James offered it that it wanted to join his team, which James accepted. It is currently with Sinnoh gym leader Gardenia for training on how to improve its Drain Punch attack.

Temporary[]

  • Magikarp/Gyarados: James temporarily had a Magikarp when it was sold to him by the Magikarp salesman in the episode "Battle Aboard the S.T. Anne". The salesman tricked James by saying the Magikarp would give him gold. In the episode "Pokémon Shipwreck", James no longer wanted to be Magikarp's master and kicked Magikarp into the water, causing it to flail around and evolve into Gyarados. It gets angry at James and summons other Gyarados to create a Twister in order to send Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie, James, and their Pokémon flying away into an island.
  • Hoppip: James was tricked into buying a Hoppip disguised as a Chimecho by the Magikarp salesman but before James could do anything about it, the Hoppip flew away.
  • Aggron: The Team Rocket scout's Delibird gave Jessie and James a Charizard and an Aggron in the episode "Grating Spaces", until it revealed to them that the Pokémon were meant for Butch and Cassidy and flew off with the two Poke-Balls containing Charizard and Aggron.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • James along with Jessie went to Pokémon Technical Institute but both got kicked out due to having the lowest grade in history.
  • Like Ash, James retired as one of the main antagonists following the conclusion of Pokémon Journey.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           PokemonLogo Villains

Team Rocket
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Archie | Matt | Shelly

Team Magma
Maxie | Tabitha | Courtney

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Scientists: Aliana | Bryony | Celosia | Mable | Xerosic (Anime)
Others: Malva

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Guzma | Plumeria | Gladion | Team Skull Grunt A & Grunt B

Aether Foundation
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See Also
Pokémon Anime Villains | Pokémon Adventures Villains | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Villains

           Pokémon the Series Horizontal Villains

Team Rocket
Giovanni | Jessie | James | Meowth | Jessie's Wobbuffet | Matori | Dr. Zager | Butch | Cassidy | Dr. Namba | Madame Boss | Domino | Tyson | Iron-Masked Marauder | Attila | Hun | Dr. Sebastian | Pierce | Miyamoto

Team Aqua
Archie | Shelly

Team Magma
Maxie | Tabitha | Brodie

Team Galactic
Cyrus | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Charon

Team Plasma
N | Colress | Ghetsis (Generations)

Team Flare
Lysandre | Malva | Xerosic | Alain

Team Skull
Guzma | Plumeria

Team Yell
Piers

Macro Cosmos
Chairman Rose | Oleana

Explorers
Gibeon | Hamber | Amethio | Spinel | Sidian | Chalce | Coral | Zirc | Onia

Other People
Sabrina | Lawrence III | Molly Hale | Annie | Oakley | Magikarp Salesman | Phantom the Pirate | Dr. Yung | Colonel Hansen | King of Pokélantis | Hunter J | Baron Alberto | Zero | Marcus | Grings Kodai | Goone | Damon | Damian | Dario | Dolan | Mayor of Trovitopolis | Invincible Pokémon Brothers | Nobunaga | Ninja Riot | Marilyn Flame | Argus Steel | Alva | Leon | Levi | Cherie | Miyamoto | Cross | Viren | Revengers | Team Break | Alternate World Team Rocket | Dr. Zed | Shamus | James' Parents | Jessebelle | The Bridge Bike Gang | Ghost Girl

Pokémon
Mewtwo (Anime) | Mimikyu | Deoxys | Yveltal | Entei | Unown | Darkrai | Dialga | Palkia | Giratina | Arceus | Chandelure | Cofagrigus | Haxorus & Hydreigon | Zekrom | Reshiram | Kyurem | Red Genesect | Genesect Army | Munna | Malamar | Spiritomb | False Groudon | Giant Tentacruel | Mirage Mewtwo | Evil Togepi | Team Meanies | Hoopa Unbound | Hatterene | Rayquaza
Ultra Beast
Nihilego | Guzzlord | Necrozma

See Also
Pokémon Villains | Pokémon Adventure Villains | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Villains

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