Team Rocket is the villainous team seeking to exploitPokemonfor their own gain, and these antagonists permeate the series through the anime, movies, and games. The Team Rocket grunts, including the bumbling Jessie and James, often don’t present too dire of a threat toPokemontrainers like Ash Ketchum. But behind the grunts at the heart of Team Rocket’s organization is the sinister leader Giovanni, who is a terrifying force in comparison to his less-than-competent henchmen.
Like other characters throughout the iterations of thePokemonanime, Giovanni has been portrayed with a variety of different character art, teammates, and Pokemon, but his core values remain the same.Giovanni is calculated, evil, and willing to hurt any person or Pokemon to get what he wants.
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Giovanni’s Backstory
A crucial and consistent part ofGiovanni’s characteris how mysterious he is. In his first few anime appearances in the originalPokemonseries, Giovanni only appears as a shrouded figure, communicating with Jessie, James, and Meowth through a television. Only his mouth is visible and his voice is augmented with a vocoder, keeping early Pokemon fans in the dark about his true identity. Very little is confirmed about Giovanni or his past, but there are a few details that are canonical within the anime.
First, Giovanni wasthe Viridian gym leader, a fact that is not outright confirmed in the games but is revealed in the episodeThe Battle of the Badgewhen Giovanni defeats Gary Oak in a gym battle. After this episode, the boss gives up his post as Viridian gym leader for unexplained reasons, and he never reassumes his former post in any subsequent anime series. His resignation is confirmed to be permanent in the episodeThe Scheme Teamwhen Ash discovers that Agatha of the Elite Four has taken over the Viridian Gym.
Beyond his past as a gym leader, only a few things are known about Giovanni’s life before his reign as Team Rocket Leader. In the movieThe Birth of Mewtwo, he reveals that his mother lead Team Rocket before he took over, but no other details are provided. This fact is only considered canon within the anime timeline. Additionally, inPokemon the Series: Sun and Moon,there are references to some personal history between Giovanni and the Alolan police officer Nanu, but nothing is known about their relationship beyond that.
Giovanni’s Biggest Roles
While Giovanni appears at least once in every iteration ofthePokemonanime series, his roles vary from a major antagonist to barely more than a cameo. He only appears in a single episode of certain anime series, but in others, he features as the main villain in all his evil glory.
In the originalPokemon the Series, Giovanni appears fairly frequently, but his role isn’t exactly significant. The main antagonists in this anime are Jessie, James, and Meowth, but it’s very clear that they answer to Giovanni. However, his appearances in episodes mainly show him expressing frustration at or scolding his generally-incompetent employees for their regular failures. Giovanni’s most notable addition to the original series is inMewtwo Strikes Back(which canonically takes place during the first season) as he is the one whocommissions the creation of Mewtwoand is directly involved in the confrontation that causes Mewtwo to destroy the lab and escape. InMewtwo ReturnsGiovanni is the main antagonist, attempting to recapture Mewtwo from his now-peaceful life and driving most of the conflict within the movie until his defeat at the hands of Mewtwo.
InPokemon the Series: Black & White, Giovanni appears in what is arguably his largest role in a Pokemon anime series. He appears much more frequently than in other series, often directly giving missions to Jessie and James and being in contact with them after they complete (or miserably fail to complete) their missions.He also directly battles Ashfor the first time in the entire series in the episodeMeloetta and the Undersea Temple!when he defeats Pikachu with his Persian. In the Meloetta plot arc, Giovanni summons the Forces of Nature with the Reveal Glass, but his plan backfires when he becomes possessed after looking directly into the Reveal Glass. Jessie, James, and Meowth rescue him and Team Rocket disappears in an airplane, returning to Kanto.
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Giovanni’s Other Appearances
Beyond his larger roles as a movie and series villain, Giovanni still makes appearances throughout the entire series. His role is lessened in bothPokemon the Series: XYandPokemon the Series: Sun and Moonand he appears somewhat frequently, but only as a benefactor to the main Team Rocket trio. Through these two animes, he generally only appears on a screen when Jessie, James, and Meowth want to provide a progress report or ask a question. He occasionally provides the trio with helpful information, missions, and orders, but never appears in person. Up to this point, Giovanni has only appeared in one episode ofPokemon Journeys: The Seriesin a similar role, quizzing Team Rocket and sending them out on a mission.
In two anime series, Giovanni’s main appearances only come in the form ofMeowth’s fantasiesabout the boss, and Giovanni is often depicted in a chibi art style in these fantasies. BothPokemon the Series: Ruby and SapphireandPokemon the Series: Diamond and Pearlfeature a lot of these Meowth fantasies. He only appears a small handful of times otherwise and plays a very minor role within the plot.
While Giovanni’s influence in the anime has ranged from microscopic to world-shattering, his position as the leader of Team Rocket has remained, and it doesn’t seem to be changing soon. As new iterations of thePokemonanime come and go, fans will have to continue watching his character to see any major changes that he may go through.
