"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all
that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about." -Einstein
James, the partner of Jessie. In the Japanese version he's called Kojiro. (Surname unknown.) He's something of a... er, dolt. Well, all of Team Rocket is, but he's the worst.
He is the 'feminine' character of the team. Seriously, he's less dominant and usually lets Jessie push him around. And he is kind of narcissistic. Oh yeah, and he sometimes dresses up in women's clothes to 'disguise himself'. One time he kissed Ash on the cheek when he was a woman. ^_^;; He made a prettier woman than Jessie did (she was in disguise too) but his voice was pretty weird!
Despite James' high opinion of himself and of his fashion sense, he's not a very good dresser at all. 95% of the time he's wearing that stupid Team Rocket outfit with a big R on the front, which isn't my idea of good fashion, and when in disguise, the outfits are even worse. The kimono he occasionally wears when striking poses are the only decent outfit. ^_^.
Let me see if I can count the number of times James is a girl.
1. To trick Ash-tachi into going on a cruise. Clueless ditz. He said nothing but "Coooool!" all the time while Jessie did the talking. Afterwards, he said "Didn't I make such a coooool girl?" ^_^. This was the first time he was a girl.
2. To trick Ash into stealing his Pikachu at the gates of Saffron City. He sorta looks like the stereotype of a Hawaiian girl... the fairly revealing outfit he wears makes me wonder how he can pass as a girl so well. O.o
3. For no apparent reason whatsoever he dressed up as a girl with a long blonde wig in the name of 'fashion'. ^_^;;
4. He dressed up as a female egg seller... I think he was meant to be Dutch or something, he affected a weird accent. (All his accents are weird when he's in diguise, but this one took the cake.) This outfit was fairly modest though, even covering most of his face.
5. To fool some police-trained Growlithe, he disguised himself as Officer Jenny. Yup, short skirt and all. This was really, really scary. He had a... er, full figure, shall we say... and his legs looked just like Jessie's. Scary, to say the least.
6. He entered a girl's swimsuit competition and wore an inflateable body suit with a bikini. And got lots of applause from the male audience. SCARY.
7. Dresses up as a ballerina. (SCARY!) To catch Pokemon at Cerulean Gym.
8. After a Pokemon Centre is rendered unavailable, James goes as a nurse to trick Ash-tachi into letting him 'look after' their Pokemon and get Pikachu. (Getting a bit worried about this.)
9. Err... I'm not sure exactly what he's trying to be. Looks almost like a sailor. Of course, Jessie wears pants while he wears a long skirt. This is for their singing debut. ^_^. (In place of their motto.)
10. Only for a few seconds, and by accident, James puts on Jessie's outfit/disguise of an old lady. ^_^;;
James came from a rich family and he was the only child. As a kid, he was engaged to a girl named... well, I don't know how to spell it... Jessiebell? who looks quite similar to Jessie! After their engagement was announced, Jessiebell started following James around everywhere, trying to change him, trying to get him to act properly, more refined.
James hated it. He wanted to do things his own way and couldn't stand Jessiebell trying to change him all the time. He hated how rich society had rules for absolutely everything. So he ran away.
He used to have a pet Pokemon, a Growlithe called Growly. The two were inseperable, but James left Growly to look after his parents while he was gone.
James' parents, I must say, are total jerks. They don't care at all about their son, just about making him into someone he's not. They faked their own deaths so that he'd come to see them and marry his fiancee to get his inheritance. But they weren't actually dead. They wanted him to continue the family line but he resented being manipulated and didn't stick around for long.
Jessiebell's not a picnic either. I have to say that if someone starts attacking you with a whip and sends out a Vileplume to use stun spore to 'keep you from escaping', they may not exactly be your soulmate. ^_^;; She has a Southern twang and says stupid things like "I haven't finished showing you the correct way of eating spaghetti yet!" and "You're not running properly, let me show you the right way!"
After running away from home, James flunked out of a Pokemon tech. school and then joined a bicycle gang. He was known as 'Little Jim' 'cos he was the only member of the gang who wore training wheels on his bike. ^_^;; Apparently he made a good reputation for himself, 'cos when he returned to where the bike gang was, the leader of the gang got stars in his eyes and wanted him and Jessie to teach them how to really ride. ^_^.
James' special Pokemon is called Koffing, he got it for Christmas. It later evolves into Weezing. James didn't think it could evolve 'cos it didn't have enough experience points (Team Rocket loses all the time) but it evolved for James when it realised James really cared about it. Aww. ^_^.
The voice actor of James, Eric Stuart, is pretty cool. (Ted Lewis played James for the first couple of episodes, then Stuart took over. You can hear the difference.) James has a really dopey voice, but it's so funny, I laugh every time I hear him talk! Team Rocket is really good for comic relief. His voice can be smooth and evil, (rare) but it can also be whiny and pathetic (quite common).
James is a bit of a wimp and tends to complain/give up before the others do. He and Jessie are probably a couple, it's not really shown, but I think they are. They're very cute together. Jessie really does care about him even though she doesn't show it very often. ^_^.
For all his complaining and whimpering, I think James is a fairly cheerful person, and he likes the simple things in life. After Jigglypuff's song gave him a good rest, he was all happy and saying "Maybe we lost, but the sky is blue and the air is fresh!" ^_^. And come on, all it takes is a good meal to put James in a good mood, and the thing he cherishes most is his freedom... he grew up in a rich, stuffy, formal environment, his dislike of which perhaps gave him a better perspective of what's important?
In addition, James is not dumb. Yeah, he's a dolt and he often acts pretty dopey. (But come on, do you know any males that don't? Ack, don't kill me guys! ^_^.) Yeah, he flunked out of Pokemon tech school. Yeah, he ("is there supposed to be a 'but' somewhere in here?") BUT he's not as dumb as he looks...
In some ways, James/Jessie are shown to know more about Pokemon than Ash. (For example, they knew that a Jigglypuff's song puts people to sleep.) James comes up with a lot of - although often strange - quite brilliant schemes. Like the one where Team Rocket are going to capture some police trained Growlithe, that was all HIS plan. ^_^.
It's clear he's quick thinking - think of all those terrible puns he comes up with off the top of his head. ^_^.
Team Rocket use some great gadgets, and somebody has to make them... I'm sure James would help. (If he didn't help, Jessie would probably kill him. ^_^.) Come on, anyone who can make a megaphone that can turn your voice into that of any person you choose, or who can devise a giant mechanical Kangaskhan, can't be too moronic. ^_^.
Also, James has an impressive vocabulary and uses lots of big words. ^_^. His way of speaking is kind of formal, prissy even, you can tell about his formal upbringing.
(If you are wondering what the Growlithe scheme involved - Team Rocket used two types of gas to both change people's voices and to numb the sense of smell. Officer Jenny's voice went all high and unrecognisable, and since the Growlithe couldn't recognise her smell either, they wouldn't obey her. Then Team Rocket pulled out these funky megaphones which could disguise their voices as Officer Jenny, and the Growlithe obeyed them! That was really cool!)
James' goal? I think he would like to be a Pokemon trainer and get Pokemon badges some day. It's shown once or twice that he'd like to do this. I think that perhaps he's a little envious of Ash who knows what his dream is and is able to follow it. (Although that statement is pure speculation on my part.) He also dreams of being rich, but not off his parents' money.
James likes Pokemon and usually is nicer to them than to people; once, when Team Rocket was shooting at a Dragonite, he felt bad about it, and he also never hurts a Pokemon (to my knowledge). However, he doesn't seem to like people very much, and is fairly reckless.
Of the five main human characters on the show (Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie and James), James is the tallest, yet he's the most timid of them all. That strikes me as funny. ^_^.
James has a Victreebell (formerly Weepinbell) but I don't know when he acquires it. I think he actually stole it from the breeding center? He has a Gyarados also but he... er, left it behind, shall we say. (It sent him flying.) At any rate, he couldn't control it. It evolved from a Magikarp that he was conned into buying.
James has totally lost faith in Team Rocket's own ability to do anything right. *grins* Often he doesn't even bother trying. Poor James.
Strong points: shooting (he's a really good shot!), missing the plot, has good reflexes (always puts his arms over his head a split second before Jessie decks him), playing the drums, coming up with all the cool plans, singing (he's not so bad, surprisingly!), cooking, etc.
Likes: his freedom, spying, his Pokemon, nice clothes, food (especially soft boiled eggs, chocolate cake and sirloin steaks), money, Pikachu
Dislikes: stuffiness, Magikarp, a rich lifestyle, his parents, his fiancee, heights, rules, losing all the time, the police, tinned food (Team Rocket's main diet)
Self-proclaimed role in Team Rocket: "I am the handsome one"
James' Pokemon are:
Weezing (evolved from Koffing)
Gyarados (evolved from Magikarp)
Growlithe
Victreebell (evolved from Weepinbell)
But he doesn't carry Gyarados or Growlithe with him.
James' voice sample - click here to hear what he sounds like. "I'm 100% with Jessie on this one! I want to get Pikachu just as much as you do, but this is humiliating!"
James's family voice sample - click here to here what they sound like.
Dad: She's as delicate as a flower!
Mum: She's much too good for our delinquent son!
My thoughts on James: I originally wrote a longer profile for him because he was my favourite character. I don't like him so much any more, he fails to interest me. I think Ash or Gary has taken his place as my fave.
