The Team Rocket trio
From left, Kojirō, Musashi and Nyarth (James, Jessie and Meowth) are the major antagonists for Team Rocket in the Pokémon anime series, as seen in their Best Wishes outfits.
In the anime and various manga adaptations, Jessie (ムサシ Musashi?), James (コジロウ Kojirō?), and Meowth (ニャース Nyāsu?, Nyarth) are the main characters of Team Rocket. While they set out to steal Ash Ketchum's Pikachu and various other Pokémon in almost every episode, they always fail in the end. In more recent episodes, however, they still follow Ash, yet their focus has drifted towards other objectives such as Jessie's Pokémon Contest streak. They use various disguises, traps, and schemes to trick Ash's group into a false sense of security, and after being revealed, they give a poetic speech, known as their motto, that often changes slightly throughout each season. Jessie tends to don the more masculine clothing in terms of costumes or disguises, while James often cross-dresses in extremely feminine outfits. After failing, they are often sent "blasting off" by an explosion or a Pokémon's attack (usually one of Pikachu's, though sometimes by other attacks). They are constantly out to appease their boss, Giovanni, though he finds the group to be incompetent. The trio also breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis. In the Best Wishes series, Team Rocket are promoted by Giovanni after aiding in the collapse of Team Galactic, gaining new uniforms and a new balloon, also becoming more serious in tone and have since failed to be "blasted off", using improved technology to evade defeat.
Jessie and James's English names are taken from Jesse James, an American outlaw. James's Japanese name, Kojiro, is taken from Sasaki Kojirō (佐々木小次郎?), a prominent Japanese swordsman most famous for being killed by his rival, Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵?), the namesake of Jessie.
Jessie is the most impulsive and aggressive of the three. She grew up in a poor foster family in the snowy mountains (see Tohoku), while her mother focused on Team Rocket. Before she joined Team Rocket, she aspired to be a nurse; however, the school that she wanted to attend wouldn't accept her application. Undeterred, she attempted to attend a nursing school for Pokémon. There, she befriended a Chansey who seemed to be the only Pokémon in the school willing to be her friend. Jessie ended up failing to become a Pokémon nurse. From there, she moved on to Pokémon Tech, a private school. She flunked out of school before joining a biking gang, then Team Rocket. She is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara (replaced on an interim basis by Akiko Hiramatsu when Hayashibara was on maternity leave) in the Japanese version, Rachael Lillis during the first eight seasons of the English anime and Michele Knotz from the ninth season onwards. Jessie is also seen to have been a good singer in the past as well.
James is portrayed as whiny, submissive and effeminate. He finds it very difficult to leave a Pokémon behind or to trade one. He grew up in a rich family, but ran away from home when his parents arranged for him to marry Jessiebelle, a girl that looks just like Jessie, but is considerably more aggressive and obsessed with etiquette. He has a Growlithe nicknamed Growlie which Jessiebelle hates. James is usually portrayed holding a rose, which he seems able to pull from anywhere. He owned a Victreebel which always bites his head when he sends it out, in an attempt to eat him, and on the occasions when Jessie uses it, her head normally gets bitten too. It is also shown in this episode that it prefers to try to eat him rather than eat Pokémon Food. However, in an episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, James trades the Victreebel for a Weepinbell by the same Magikarp scammer he encountered several times. Ironically, it evolves into a Victreebel, which attempts to eat Jessie. She kicks it away, where it bumps into James's old Victreebel and they run off together into the forest, deeply in love. James is voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki in the Japanese version, Ted Lewis for the first thirteen episodes of the English anime, Eric Stuart until the end of the eighth season, and Jimmy Zoppi (credited under the pseudonym "Billy Beach" and more recently "Carter Cathcart") from the ninth season onwards.
Meowth originally lived in the city, and tried to impress a female Meowth named Meowzie by learning to walk on two legs and speak human language. Instead of being impressed, she regarded him as a freak, so Meowth joined Team Rocket.[2] Meowth usually concocts the overlarge machines and spends their non-existent money on these schemes, all to end up on the boss' lap. Meowth is voiced by Inuko Inuyama in the Japanese version, Nathan Price for the first thirty episodes of the English anime, Maddie Blaustein until the end of the eighth season, and Jimmy Zoppi from the ninth season onwards.
