James || TR

James 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.

Jimmy (sometimes by Meowth) Jimbo (sometimes by Meowth) Little Jim (by Chopper) Loser (by Cassidy, Butch and Paul) John (deliberately once by Butch) Lames Buster Incompetent blue hair big mouth Butch Mister bluesy locks (radio talk show name; by himself)

ORIGIN Pokémon: Indigo League OCCUPATION B-Rank Agent of Team Rocket POWERS / SKILLS Pokémon training Technological expertise Superhuman durability

HOBBY Collecting and making bottle caps. GOALS Beat Ash Ketchum. Capture Pikachu (both failed). Serve Giovanni (partially succeeded). Achieve global domination (failed). Further the goals of Team Rocket (succeeded).

CRIMES Mass theft Fraud Animal cruelty Blackmail Poaching Espionage Incrimination Terrorism Kidnapping Conspiracy Identity fraud Stalking Assault Vandalism

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.

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.

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.