Team Rocket

Team Rocket (ロケット団) is a fictional crime syndicate in the Pokémon franchise. Team Rocket is a primary antagonist in the original Pokémon video games Red, Green, and Blue, as well as in the long-running Pokémon anime TV-series. In the latter, Team Rocket is primarily represented through the trio of characters Jessie, James, and Meowth, who are major secondary characters throughout the Pokémon TV-series.

Team Rocket is portrayed as a serious crime syndicate in the video games series, stealing and killing Pokémon. In the TV-series, Team Rocket has a largely comedic role, as the trio of grunts repeatedly fail to steal Pokémon while operating increasingly flashy mecha. The Team Rocket trio in the anime is beloved by Pokémon fans who relate to their roles as young adults.

In video games
Team Rocket first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue, where they are portrayed as a serious and affluent crime syndicate aiming to capture and steal Pokémon for profit. The games present Team Rocket breaking and entering, murdering a mother Marowak, and chopping off the tails of Slowpoke to sell on the black market. In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, it is revealed that Team Rocket's leader Giovanni had disappeared after being defeated in the original games, and the syndicate is disbanded. Giovanni himself reappears in the 2009 remakes Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Each subsequent set of Pokémon video games has its own villainous teams, such as Team Aqua and Team Magma in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and Team Galactic in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Team Rocket and Giovanni returned as a major antagonist team in the 2017 video games Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, as "Team Rainbow Rocket."

Team Rocket was introduced to Pokémon Go under the name of "Team GO Rocket" in 2019, allowing players to encounter and battle Team Rocket grunts. Team Rocket grunts also appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as DLC costumes for Mii Fighters.

In the anime
In the long-running Pokémon anime series, a trio of Team Rocket grunts Jessie (ムサシ), James (コジロウ), and Meowth (ニャース) are major secondary characters. The three were the primary antagonists of early seasons of the series, where each episode they attempt to kidnap the protagonist's Pikachu. In the earliest produced episodes of the anime, the trio was halfway intelligent and at times were very formidable foes; while they have assumed a more sinister role in various parts of the series, most notably in the Black and White anime, the three mainly act as comic relief. The characters are presented as simple-minded, bringing slapstick antics to the series. Team Rocket's Meowth- a common species of Pokémon- is unusual within the Pokémon canon, as he is the only Pokémon creature able to speak the human language, whereas all other Pokémon in the series only utter syllables of their own names.

Jessie and James originally had an Arbok and a Weezing as their signature Pokémon, respectively, and the trio were later joined by a Wobbuffet as one of their only major recurring Pokémon as the series progressed. As the Pokémon series evolved, the Team Rocket trio uses an increasingly large number of vehicles and mecha. Most notably, they travel in a Meowth-shaped hot air balloon throughout the show, and use a Gyarados-shaped submarine in its early seasons. Later on, Team Rocket became known for their large number of mecha and gadgets. The Team Rocket characters have sympathetic backstories and share a strong camaraderie. They are not ideologically aligned with Giovanni and therefore frequently find themselves siding with the series' protagonists. Due to how frequently Jessie and James are shown to crossdress across the series, they are commonly read as queercoded.

In 2011, the Pokémon series was building up to an arc in which Giovanni faces off against rival organization Team Plasma, but the episodes were cancelled following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Team Rocket departed the series at the end of the Pokémon Journeys anime. The team also appears in Pokémon Origins and Pokemon Generations, in portrayals more closely aligned with their in-game counterparts.

Development
The names Jessie and James reference famous American outlaw Jesse James; their Japanese names Musashi and Kojirō refer to the samurai Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro.

In the English dubbed anime, Jessie was initially voiced by Rachael Lillis, until the dub switched production from 4Kids Entertainment to The Pokémon Company International in 2006, when she was replaced by Michele Knotz. During her audition, Lillis was instructed to make Jessie "sultry" while also keeping her "tough." Lillis did not expect Jessie to be a recurring character in the series. James was originally voiced by Eric Stuart. The two actors quickly started to play around with their voices, giving the characters a "prissy" attitude that contrasted with their inability to succeed.

Meowth was voiced by Maddie Blaustein for the first eight seasons of the series. James Carter Cathcart took over the roles of James and Meowth in 2006, and continued to voice the characters until 2023, when he retired from Pokémon due to oral cancer.

Other media
Team Rocket appear as the main antagonists in several arcs of the Pokémon Adventures manga, including the Red, Green, and Blue, Yellow, and Gold and Silver arcs. The Team Rocket trio from the anime appear in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga adaptation, where Jessie and James are shown at the end to be married and expecting a child.

Team Rocket is the central antagonist in the 2000 stageplay Pokémon Live!, in which Jessie, James, and Meowth successfully steal Ash Ketchum's Pikachu and use it to train Giovanni's Mewtwo. Team Rocket characters additionally frequently appear on cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, most notably in the Team Rocket expansion released in 2000.

Reception and legacy
As comic relief characters, Jessie, James, and Meowth are very popular among Pokémon viewers. Yahoo!-writer Jay Castello notes that as Pokémon fans grew up, the struggle of "twenty-somethings who couldn't quite find their place in the world or succeed at their ambitions" became increasingly relatable, and a sub-fandom dedicated to the trio sprang up. The LGBT community largely embraced Team Rocket's queercoding, interpreting them as bisexual drag artists. Blaustein was inspired by Meowth-focused episode "Go West, Young Meowth" to come out and transition as a transgender woman, a friend of her later metaphorically describing the character as "a human trapped in a Pokémon's body."

In both their games and anime portrayals, Team Rocket have been cited as some of the best villains in the Pokémon franchise. Chris Carter of Destructoid called the English voice team for Jessie, James, and Meowth (Lillis, Stuart, and Blaustein) "some of the show's finest work." The relationship between Team Rocket and show's central cast has been noted as a core part of the show by children, as was their moral ambiguity, due to their positive actions contrasting with their antagonistic role. Their complex relationship with the main cast was highlighted as an element that was a core part of the television series, acting as a contrast to Ash while viewers are also made to sympathize with them. Their role in Pokémon The Series: Black and White was cited by Polygon to be one of the biggest missed opportunities with their characters, due to the sudden cancellation of several episodes leading to Team Rocket's character changes in the series being for "nothing." American rapper Lil Uzi Vert named the eighth song on their mixtape, Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World, "Team Rocket", along with other Pokémon references on earlier songs.

The book Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces reviews Team Rocket as the antagonists in the anime who actually provide comedic relief through the characters Jessie and James, with Meowth portrayed as a "clever cat" who stands out among other Meowth. The book also mentions Jessie, who possesses a charming allure, as the leader above James. Although the Team Rocket trio is positioned as antagonists, they are not hesitant to help Ash Ketchum and his friends on several occasions, especially when they find themselves in difficult and dangerous situations, as often depicted in the movies. The book Japanese Influence on American's Children's Television: Transforming Saturday Morning describes them similarly, citing them as comic relief or as a tension breaker despite being the series' core antagonists. It describes Jessie as being a strong female character, acting as James's superior, as well as how she did not fall into a stereotypical female role. Meowth's role on the team has been met with a positive response, being considered an integral and iconic part of the team. He has been highlighted as a key part of why his species was so well-known. The Fandom Post said Jessie and James were the "Best Villain Couple" due to their continuous hard work as well as interactions over several episodes.