James

James is a member of Team Rocket, an evil team which tries to capture rare Pokémon. His trio has a keen eye set on Ash's Pikachu.

Appearance
James has shoulder length periwinkle hair with a single fringe sprouting from the center and green eyes and he is usually seen in a Team Rocket uniform, which consists of a white long sleeve shirt with a large red R on it and a black short sleeve undershirt, with white pants with a purple belt on his waist and black boots and matching gloves.

In the episode, Holy Matrinomy!, James is dressed in a dark blue formal suit jacket with a white long sleeve button shirt with a black tie at the center, dark blue formal pants and black shoes. He later wears a cowboy hat along with a brown long poncho cloak to conceal his outfit while trying to say goodbye to his beloved Growlie.

As a child, he retains in his adult appearance and he wears a blue suit like his adult self and he wears black shorts instead of pants and has a light green tie with a red jewel in the center, white socks and black shoes.

At the start of Johto Journeys opening until the XY series the color of his hair changed from periwinkle to lavender.

When he competes in a PokéRinger in That's Just Swellow, James wears a pale yellow air military jumpsuit with a brown sailor fuku and the black round shape with an "R" symbol in each sides of his shoulders, underneath is an off-white long sleeve button shirt, brown gloves and black military shoes. This outfit is concealed from his Team Rocket uniform before he removes it to reveal the outfit.

When they briefly had a day off, James wears two swimsuits in every season.

In A Way Off Day Off! and Lapras of Luxury, James is seen in a blue swim shorts. But in two episodes in Sinnoh, James wears a dark blue swimming trunks with and a red "R" sign at the center of his trunks.

In their mission in Unova with Jessie and Meowth in Pokémon: Black & White, James' Team Rocket uniform is now charcoal gray signifying that he is promoted as Advanced Agent until it reverted back to their original white in Battling For The Love of Bug-Types! and onwards. Not to reveal themselves as Team Rocket, James wears a navy blue trenchcoat, a matching black glasses and a gray fedora hat with black linings to conceal himself.

In the XY series, James' initial disguise where he spies on Ash and the group, he wears an olive green formal vest with a pale yellow long sleeve button shirt with the sleeves are folded into a cuffs and a red tie on the collar, beige pants and brown shoes. He also wears a green fedora hat with red linings and his hair is tied in a low ponytail and wears cosmetic blue sunglasses.

He also wears this in Mending on a Broken Spirit! where he briefly helps Serena takes her to Woodward under the alias Jeeves before he becomes reluctant to join with Jessie and Meowth.

In Pokemon: Sun and Moon, the color of James' hair reverts back into periwinkle and his shoulder length hair becomes in a wavy style.

Personality
In his debut anime appearance and onwards, James is initially seen as a calm and serious person who tends to recite the team rocket motto with more elegance and flair than his cohorts. As the series continued, however, much of the trio's original seriousness melted away, most noticeably in the revelation of James' true personality.

In Holy Matrimony!, James shows his very sensitive side and intense fear when it comes to his wealthy family, particularly due to his heavily enforced, sheltered upbringing and the constant harassment he had endured from his childhood fiancée Jessebelle. His parents were an especially negative influence on his childhood memories, as shown when he finally grows up and shows clear disdain and fear concerning their wishes to marry him off to Jessebelle. He sensitively questions whether he has a "duty to be manipulated", and he calls out his parents as being "lousy" due to their failure to realize the detrimental effects that Jessebelle's attitude had on his upbringing. He openly despises upper-crust society, lamenting about how it seems to him that they have strict rules for just about everything; feelings which were most likely triggered by Jessebelle's constant critisizm. In The Treasure is All Mine!, however, it is shown that before these rebellious attitudes arose in him, James cared deeply for his parents. He also clearly cares for his grandparents, Nanny and Pop-Pop as seen in Sweet Baby James!.

Despite his reputation as a "bad guy", James temporarily sides with Ash and his friends on various occassions, and occasionally calls on their help as well. James usually honors such truces towards Ash and his friends as a method of shielding his criminal history from people such as his grandparents. This is shown on one occasion in Sweet Baby James! In this episode, James shows an obvious adoration towards his Nanny and Pop-Pop, even scolding Jessie and Meowth for carrying out their usual antics while in their care. At the end of the episode, James tells his grandparents the truth about his loyalties, and they remark that he still has the same sweet personality he'd had as a child.

He is shown to be the most emotional of the Team Rocket trio and apparently has the most moral conscience among the three. Despite this, he is not all pure and is therefore prone to backstabbing anyone who is kind to him. James lacks some of the constant optimism and motivation his teammates have and is shown to become depressed when he fails at something. Despite these brief depressive periods, James is actually arguably the most lighthearted and least serious of the trio. Part of James' eccentricity is shown through his affinity for collecting rare bottle caps, a hobby which he traces far back into his childhood. However, his childlike mindset often gets him into trouble, too, such as being repeatedly scammed by the same Magikarp salesman in various different episodes, much to the disapproval of Jessie and Meowth.

James, although light-hearted, is actually fairly intelligent and often loses his patience with his teammates. In both All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go! and The Eletrike Company, James displays his anger towards his teammates when Jessie and Meowth prohibit him and his Mime Jr. to perform in the Dress up contest after attempting to steal the prized Pokemon Egg. James and meowth both later show an effort to effectively thwart Jessie's plans when she'd set her heart on stealing an electric type Pokémon.

James has a big heart when it comes to his Pokémon. this is demonstrated when he recounts his love for his first Pokemon, Growlie, who is extremely loyal to him. James considers Growlie to be a friend rather than a Pokemon, and other Pokemon such as Chimecho, Mime Jr. and Inkay are shown to have similar loving and loyal relationships with James. whenever James is forced to release a Pokémon, he shows great emotion and sediment for his parting friends, such as his tearful goodbye to his beloved Chimecho, who is currently in the care of his grandparents. He seems to be partial to dangerous Grass Pokemon such as Victreebel, Cacnea and Carnivine, who have such profound affection for him that it often causes him to scold them in annoyance when it interferes with a battle. In the Sun & Moon series, he also cares for his Water Pokemon, Mareanie, despite how dangerous she is when she poisons him in affection.

In some episodes throughout the series, James has a tendency to cross-dress, which was shown frequently in the original anime and has since died down or disappeared completely.

In the events of Pokémon: Black & White during their mission in Unova, James maintains his calm and serious personality we saw in his debut appearance, but due to his promotion as an Advanced Agent, he no longer cares for his beloved family or anyone else. He simply shows his antagonistic side, remaining stoic and sociopathic whenever he was engaged in a serious mission, especially those involving trying to capture Ash's Pikachu. However, after the failure of Operation Tempest, James' antagonistic behavior finally subsides and he returns to his usual personality from before.

An interesting note is that during his motto with Jessie and Meowth, James is usually seen handling a red rose to show his calm and elegant demeanor. However, in their missions in Unova whenever they capture any Pokémon, especially Ash's Pikachu, James is usually seen handling a black rose due to Jessie handling a red rose during their motto. This implies his personality change which becomes apparant when they improve their old motto.

In the XY series during the episode, Heroes, Friends and Faux Alike!, James, along with Jessie and Meowth, are able to disguise themselves as Ash, Serena and Bonnie in order to place blame on the real ones for their actions of hurting/stealing Pokemon.

Anime
In the anime, James is a common member of Team Rocket and in many ways, is the anime representation of the Male Agent. During his adventures in trying to capture Pikachu, James is part of a unit made up of himself, Jessie, and Meowth. He is close friends with the two of them, and is known to make personal sacrifices in order to keep them safe, as seen when he sacrificed his bottle cap collection to help Meowth in the episode Meowth Rules!. Although born into a rich family with loving parents, he runs away from home to avoid Jessebelle to whom he was supposed to marry later on. With a very caring and thoughtful personality, James can sometimes have a hard time dealing with the "rotten things" he and his team mates do from various times to get what they want, but in the end he fulfill his obligations with less-admirable results. He also gives out information on Pokémon whenever Meowth cannot do it himself via Index cards.

In the episode Holy Matrinomy!, it reveals that a young boy in the poster was revealed to be James who runs away from his home to avoid Jessebelle as mentioned by his family butler, Hopkins. James soon noticed of his return where he visited his dead parents turns out to be hoax as his parents are alive which he ends up luring into their trap. Upon meeting Jessebelle, both Jessie and Meowth are surprised to see her who looked like Jessie. Although, she manages to trap them in the dungeon to reveal themselves. James was left behind when Jessie and Meowth escape by smoke bomb. He was soon chased by Jessebelle to avoid her whiplashes only to be paralyzed by Jessebelle's Vileplume's Stun Spore when she releases Vileplume to stop him from escaping even Ash and the group also got hit by it. When Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie and Meowth opens the doghouse, Growlie quickly runs to save its master. Luckily, James was saved by Growlie as they take refuge on its doghouse. James finally reveals to them that Jessebelle is the main reason that he runs away from home. Since their engagement has announced, Jessebelle tries to follow him anywhere to change him but he never refined it for her. Since he was a kid, he hated upper class society who have rules of absolutely everything and marrying Jessebelle was the worst thing of his life and Growlie was his only friend in the estate. When Jessebelle and her Vileplume confronts them one final time after she manages to send both Jessie and Meowth flying, she attempts to paralyze them with Vileplume's Stun Spore as both Growlie and Pikachu manage to defeat it with both a Flamethrower and a Thunder Shock combination causing a burning Vileplume to chase Jessebelle away and also knocks his parents in the pond fill of Magikarp. James and Growlie are seen hiding in the bushes and he tells it to take care of his parents while he's gone as he leaves the estate as Growlie starts to growl. James later reunites with Jessie and Meowth while riding at the Meowth Balloon.

Out of the Team Rocket Trio, James is the most emotional and most caring towards others, as well as his Pokémon. In A Hole Lotta Trouble, he told Ash that he just wanted to have a fair battle with him rather than resort to their dirty tricks suggested by Jessie and Meowth. In Training Daze, he takes it upon himself to help Meowth whenever he gets stuck in the Obstacle Courses. In episodes like Sweet Baby James and Once There Were Greenfields, it also clearly shows his emotions and feelings towards his Pokémon when they are departing each other. It also shows his love and good cooperation with his Pokémon as seen in Off The Unbeaten Path and Holy Matrimony!, with his Growlie and Mime Jr. He is especially careful and cautious with his Chimecho, treating with additional care and not letting it suffer in battles, just like how Misty treats her Togepi. Due to his great care of his Pokémon, most of his Pokémon like to have physical contacts with him when they came out of their Poké Ball. He also tend to be good to people who treat him well, like his grandparents, as seen in the episode Sweet Baby James. He was also seen comforting May when her Munchlax got sick along with his Chimecho in the same episode.

In Sweet Baby James!, James takes the sick Chimecho to his grandparents, Nanny and Pop-Pop on one of his summer cottages who also tends the sick May's Munchlax in the beginning of the episode. Jessie was surprised to see James was rich when they see one of his summer cottages. By the time he meets up with Ash and his group, they got mad to see them as James tells them to make a truce thinking he was working from a business company due to him working with Team Rocket as both May and Max noticed James for being a rich man. When Jessie and Meowth have plans to steal such food or a simple Oddish in his grandparents' care, James eventually scolds them not to do something bad when his grandparents are there. James and May are also guarding the sick Munchlax and Chimecho as he comforts May about their caring for their Pokemon. When everyone are asleep, Jessie and Meowth manage to steal his grandparents Pokemon including Mime Jr. as well as both his Chimecho and Munchlax. Both of their motives are soon found by James when both are confronting Ash and the group during their mottos. Jessie becomes angered to see them she releases Seviper to deal with them which forces Ash to release his Phanpy. James then releases Cacnea to stop both Jessie and Meowth from attacking Ash and the group which James corrects his Cacnea not to confront Ash but Jessie's Seviper. Jessie was angrily mad at James for being a traitor or a turncoat which James replies that he did that for the sake of his beloved grandparents. Cacnea manages to knock Seviper with a single Needle Arm and eventually blasted both Jessie and Meowth by Ash's Phanpy's Hidden Power and James' Cacnea's Pin Missile combination as they landed behind Nanny and Pop-Pop when they asked him about waking up in late night.

After Ash and the group leave after Munchlax's recovery, James notices Chimecho is not getting well as Nanny noticed it's condition which forces him to cried emotionally not wanting his Pokemon to be left behind and he finally decides to let his grandparents took care of it as Mime Jr. accidentally captures on his Poké Ball as Pop-Pop tells him that Mime Jr. decides to be his companion if he becomes very emotional. After that, James leaves with Jessie and Meowth after he tells his grandparents privately that he was indeed working for Team Rocket and he waves goodbye in tears to them while flying in the Meowth Balloon.

In The Treasure is All Mine!, it also reveals that James has a treasure box given to his father and inside it was a letter of engagement to Jessebelle when he was a child and was hidden in a dighole made by Growlie which has been found by Ash, Dawn and Brock during a sparring practice in the beginning of the episode. After being blasted off by Pikachu, James recalls about the treasure box as he wants to reclaims it from Ash and the group. Despite its failure attempts, the group are blasted off for the second time and the treasure box are given to Sebastian which is James' butler from one of his summer estates. Therefore, their disguise was later blew off by his pet Growlie to reveal themselves. James manages to use Mime Jr. to keep Sebastian and his Pokémon to keep them out of bay.

James finally tells them about his first meeting with Jessebelle in his childhood during his parents ballroom party and Jessebelle was his first true love. He also writes a letter of engagement to Jessebelle as his father gives him the treasure box. But upon meeting Jessebelle, she actually knows his parents arrangement and his engagement to her and she wants to relinquish his pet Growlie as James refuses and this is how she controls him before he runs away. With that James let Growlie dug the ground to put the treasure box hidden. After telling them about the situation, James noticed flying blimps are heading in the estate and knowingly that Sebastian had called Jessebelle because of his presence. With this, James escapes with Ash, Dawn, Brock, Jessie and Meowth in the secret passage. When Ash and Brock holds up the door, James eventually fights off the robotic treasure chest which he is unable to open it by passwords using Growlie in tow. He manages to stop it as the treasure box turns into a rocket to escape. He was later confronted by Jessebelle one last time as James convinces Ash to be blasted off by Pikachu's Thunderbolt as he successfully do it but to his mistake, Jessebelle is with him and Meowth while being blasted off and Jessie was left behind as the bodyguards mistakes of her as Jessebelle. James is last seen with Meowth being chased by Jessebelle in the sunset beach.

As of his, Jessie's and Meowth's promotion and transfer to Unova, James has become a highly skilled stealth artist, an excellent hacker, and is often successful in many missions with his team mates, to the point of the trio becoming a serious enemy for Ash and co. The trio were key in Team Rocket's Meteonite plan, taking order directly from Giovanni himself as well as his secretary. James and his team-mates worked together with Pierce and met Doctor Zager. Once the plan culminated, James and his team-mates were asked to be as they please in Unova, so they continued working hard to do Team Rocket good and now work closely with Zager. Ash has also become less important to them but they will still antagonize him if he interferes in their plans.

In The Scare of Litwick Mansion, he, Jessie and Meowth got their life energy drained at the hands of four Litwick after they are informed by Doctor Zager about its origins. The trio are forced to aid Ash and his friends to battle against the four Litwick including its leader Lampent as they called it a brief truce after being rescued by them. James releases Yamask to unleash its Shadow Ball to make the first hit only to be block by the group's Protect allowing Cilan's Dwebble to attack them all at once with its X-Scissor to split them together. Lampent tries to hit them with Inferno only to be deflected by Ash's Oshawott's Water Gun allowing Jessie's Woobat to knock it away with Air Slash and finally the group are blasted away in the Ghost World by Pikachu's Electro Ball.

After the incident and their life energy finally restored, James informs Ash and the group that they will get Pikachu the next time they meet after Jessie tells them they will meet them as enemies before the trio flies away with their jetpacks.

Their word in the last episode proves to be true when they manage to capture Iris' Axew, Emmy's Druddigon and Ash's Pikachu in the episode, The Dragon Master's Path! after using his Yamask and Jessie's Woobat to ambush them while riding in the air rocket but Druddigon manage to free Pikachu with its Dragon Claw before being caught by them. Their rocket is soon crashed thanks to Axew's nearly mastered Dragon Rage which allows it and Druddigon to escape briefly in the mountains but they are soon attacked by both Yamask and Woobat. When Ash and the group arrive to retrieve both, James let Yamask unleash its Shadow Ball but it fails when Pikachu hits it and Woobat with his Thunderbolt. Therefore, his Yamask unleashes Night Shade on Emmy but was defended by her Druddigon. Team Rocket's stealing attempts are soon futile when they are attacked by Druddigon's newly learned Draco Meteor and Yamask fainted due to its attack and finally they were soon hit by Axew's mastered Dragon Rage forcing them to flee in jetpacks as James coldly remarks that Ash and his group are always getting in their way.

Their actions are getting too far in the episode, Gotta Catch a Roggenrola!, where they used a machine created by Doctor Zager by capturing several Roggenrola and using the machine to create a deadly Flash Cannon. One of the Roggenrola manage to warn Ash and the group about the incident in the cave which they found they are the ones behind it. Although Ash rescues it from Tepig's Ember before they flee and take refuge at the abandoned warehouse where they are testing the machine until they are found by Ash and the group thanks to Iris' Excadrill and Cilan's Pansage who dug the hole to catch them. Jessie releases her Woobat to stop them only to be hit from Tepig's Ember.

Therefore, Ash's Roggenrola risks its life to save its friends by convincing not to do it. It does a Flash Cannon to deflect it. When they did another powerful Flash Cannon while Ash tries to defend it, the machine is soon malfunctioned due to all of the Roggenrola are able to control their energy while reversing control. James is forced to fight Ash and the group releasing his Yamask while teaming up with Jessie's Woobat. Despite their efforts, both of their Pokemon are defeated by Ash's Tepig. They are soon forced to flee using jetpacks when Ash's Pikachu along with all of the Roggenrola destroy the machine with Electro Ball and Flash Cannon combination. James became disappointed after seeing them getting failed in their mission while Jessie still states that they will take over Unova for their boss, Giovanni as they continue to fly away with their jetpacks.

By the time Meowth was fired in Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!, James and Jessie coldly abandoned it because of his mission backfired. That truce where Meowth was fired is actually an undercover where he joins with Ash and the group on their journey until in the episode Crisis from an Underground Up! where Meowth reveals his actions to Ash and his friends by tricking them while they stole most of the Poké Balls including all of Ash and his friends' Pokémon in the Pokémon Center down the Nimbasa Subway. Their nefarious act continues in Battle for the Underground which they are aided by Doctor Zager to capture the train. After all of Ash and his friends' Pokemon broke free, James, Jessie and Meowth rely on Doctor Zager's efforts until it foils by Ash's Snivy and Pikachu's Leaf Storm and Electro Ball combination to destroy the capture device. After failing to capture all of their Pokémon, James presses the detonator to escape in Doctor Zager's helicopter with Jessie and Meowth knowing they are not giving up to capture them all.

In some episodes, James manages to release all three legendary Pokemon such as Thundrus, Tornadrus and Landarous by removing the stone key from the pillars one by one in Milos Island even after they contact Doctor Zager to capture it despite their best efforts to capture it went failed thanks to Ash and the group. When a mythical wild Pokemon, Meloetta aids Ash and the group, they continue to observe its movement and finally found the undersea temple ruins beneath it.

The trio later participates in their boss Giovanni's Operation: Tempest in both Meloetta and the Undersea Temple! and Unova's Survival Crisis! James and Jessie fought both Cilan and Iris using Yamask and Woobat against Pansage and Axew. However, they are amused to see their boss, Giovanni defeated Ash and his Pikachu using Persian as his battling Pokemon as well as to capture Meloetta in the air craft as both taunts them that they are delayed.

Despite their success and their efforts for Giovanni to paid off, he becomes consumed with his own ambitions and being possessed by the Reveal Glass to summon the three legendary Pokemon in the sky and turning them into their Therian forms so that Giovanni can control them. The trio guards Giovanni while confronting Ash, Pikachu and his Unfezant while Giovanni orders the Kami trio to intensify their strength.

Therefore when Pikachu destroys the platform Giovanni was standing with his amplified Electro Ball, he was consumed by his own evil ambitions and wants to destroyed the Unova region rather than conquering it while being possessed by the Reveal Glass. James, Jessie and Meowth eventually tackles their boss just to save his life from being insane instead of getting killed in the fatal explosion and Giovanni regains control of himself. After Giovanni agreed to retreat immediately, James and Jessie assisted him to safety while he releases Yamask to use Haze on Ash and the group to cover their escape. Both James and Jessie admitted that Pikachu is special to them while they are escaping in the helicopter until Giovanni's orders a total retreat back in Kanto.

After the failure of Operation Tempest and N was introduced, James, Jessie and Meowth return to their old ways of capturing Pikachu and other Pokémonand instead of being the serious enemy to Ash and the group and escaping with their jetpacks when they are defeated, they return to their old antics and dirty tricks from before and always blasted off when they are defeated. They soon return in Unova in New Places...Familiar Faces!, after their boss Giovanni make a total retreat in Kanto when Operation Tempest is thwarted. They manage to capture Nanette's Tepig rather than Ash's Pikachu for making their boss pleased but is soon thwarted by Pikachu's Electro Ball to destroy the improvised Meowth balloon as the trio finally blasts them off downward.

As they continue to to observe Ash and the group just to capture Pikachu to pleased Giovanni, they also ran into Team Plasma led by Colress in Team Plasma's Pokémon Manipulation! as they tried their best to hack their machines but failed when they are confronted by which forces them to fight other Team Plasma Grunts.

When N and his foster siblings escape from the fog, The trio eventually found three Team Plasma grunts who are searching for N as their mission. Inside the tower, James and Jessie manage to ambush Colress and other Team Plasma grunts in the episode, Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry!. Both of them serve as a decoy to get attack from the Grunts while defending themselves while Meowth confronts Colress after knowing of its strategy. When Meowth makes a deal with Colress as a test subject to control Pokémon with the machine, James and Jessie manage to trap all four of the Team Plasma grunts with an Energy Field making both to return to find Meowth at the tower before they get free from destroying the Field using wild Pokémon confused from Magnezone's Supersonic. James and Jessie was impressed to see Colress controls the machine when he uses Meowth as his test subject until it collapses. Colress revealing his true colors to them that Meowth is in their team much to both James and Jessie's horrible shock and they are soon attacked by the branwashed Meowth with Fury Swipes while they dodge his attacks. They are forced to use both Frillish and Amoonguss to fight it but it successfully takes Meowth down with Amoonguss' Stun Spore allowing Frillish to use Psychic on Meowth to them. Both James and Jessie did their best to wake Meowth from being brainwash which they succeeded. Jessie eventually let her Frillish use Mist to escape with James and Meowth with their jetpacks. James was glad to see Meowth hearing their voices after being brainwashed which he was sadly to pulled out from their machines. Jessie tells him that they still have a quest for success as they continue to fly with their jetpacks.

When Reshiram is finally released by Ghetsis the leader of Team Plasma, they are soon requested by Looker to stop Team Plasma which they succeed as Ash's Pikachu manages to destroy the machine that controls Pokémon with Electro Ball while trying to resist the control.

After Team Plasma is defeated and disbanded, James, Jessie and Meowth informs Giovanni about Team Plasma's defeat which he was very pleased and he tells them to keep on the good work before hanging up. The trio continues their plot in capture Pikachu but time and again they are always blasted off a various times.

In The Dream Continues!, after they are blasted off by all of Ash's Pokémon at his hometown in Pallet Town due to their intent to capture his Pikachu and other Pokémon. They are soon return to Team Rocket HQ to meet up with their boss, Giovanni. He was impressed to see the trio defeat Team Plasma and wants to know of the results. Since Giovanni is unaware of their brief alignment with the international detective Looker to stop Team Plasma, they make a truce as Meowth tells him that the evidence they have found are the unique Pokémon in the Unova region. With that, both James and Jessie give two of their Unova Pokémon such as Yamask, Amoonguss, Woobat and Frillish and Giovanni accepts it for its safekeeping.

Jessie was saddened to lose their Unova Pokémon in Giovanni's hands as James continues to be ready to capture Pikachu but Jessie tells him that they are always creamed by Ash's Pokémon much to his dismay and Meowth tells them about their next plan to capture Ash's Pikachu which both of them are excitedly agrees until Jessie's Wobbuffet comes out behind them which it decides again to join with them. That night after Ash reveals he's going to travel to the Kalos region by spying on the roof, they decide to go there as well as they flew the Meowth Balloon in the night of the full moon.

In the XY series, they return for their old antics as Jessie's Wobbuffet rejoins the team finally demonstrating his defense abilities to counter Pikachu's Electro Ball with Mirror Coat. Their success is short lived however when Froakie blasts them off with Water Pulse before it fainted due to the damage he took to save Pikachu.

Throughout the series, they are always blasted off by Ash and the group because of their motives of stealing Pokemon and this also includes Diantha's Gardevoir owned by the Kalos champion and actress, Diantha who can Mega Evolves temporarily. But they also fight against the evil Malamar who brainwashed them but in the end, they are scared towards James' Inkay due to its pre-evolved form much to James' horror.

In Heroes, Friends, and Faux Alike!, After being blasted off by Ash and the group, thanks to Clemont's crafty inventions before it exploded at the latter, the trio poses as Ash and the group except Clemont to attack other trainers' Pokemon using his Inkay as a disguised Ash's Pikachu and James does its best to pose Ash and his voice despite being in a deeper pitch. They are also causing trouble to eat and drink without paying to the restaurant or a snack stand to make into a dinner dashing. Their plan is actually to separate Clemont from Ash and the group when they are posing as them and later taking Clemont to the abandoned warehouse where they pose as the professional scientists from a technical institute. By the time, Clemont is fixing the robot and inventions, they are briefly rendezvous with their boss, Giovanni just to show both of their Pokémon, Inkay and Pumpkaboo much to his amusement. However the next day, they are confronted by Ash and the group while posing as them and they reveal themselves to be responsible. James reveals that they pose as them to separate Ash, Serena and Bonnie while trying to trick Clemont on making the Helioptile robot and the transporter to put Pikachu due to his naiveness. They are blasted off soon by the robot who got exploded. Later, they finally get the captured Pikachu from a transporter, only to be confronted by Ash and the group thanks to the trail made by Clemont's Bunnelby. It manages to take down both Inkay and Pumpkaboo with its attacks then to release Pikachu from capture. They are soon blasted off by Pikachu's Electro Ball while they are attempting to escape from their improved Meowth Balloon.

In some episodes, they continued their plans on capturing Pikachu, getting items which are secretly kept hidden, and some Trainers owned their Pokemon who can Mega Evolve but their plans always backfired and being blasted off by Pikachu or some other Pokémon.

In A Stealthy Challenge!, they manage to interrupt the battle between Ash's Froakie and Pikachu, Sanpei's Greninja and Saizo's Barbaracle which their plans is to steal Pikachu. However, because of their interference, the masked Saizo and his Barbaracle attack both Meowth and Wobbuffet with his Barbaracle's Razor Shell allowing both Ash's Froakie and Sanpei's Greninja to blast them off with a Water Pulse and Water Shuriken combination.

In Facing The Grand Design!, James notices his Inkay loves crossiants much like his Mime Jr. who loves chocolates and they are seen observing Ash and the group where they attempt to steal Pikachu. Inkay angrily senses the truck which is driven by an evil Malamar who speeds straight ahead, it angrily follows it causing James to chase it while being followed by Jessie, Meowth and Wobbuffet. To their discovery, the three trucks are parked at the foot of Grace Tower and the drivers of the truck are none other than the three evil Malamars much to their horror. Jessie tells James that Inkay's evolved form is Malamar and knowing his Inkay would ended up like those three which James replies that Inkay will never become like those three until they are found by the three evil Malamar causing them to make a getaway.

After hearing from Officer Jenny about the weapons seen in the radio observatory and three evil Malamar's grand plan, an explosion can be heard due to the power of the ball of light. They are confronted by two evil Malamar as Inkay becomes enraged from their actions due to their grudge while James does its best to stop Inkay's rage. Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Bonnie, Jessie, Officer Jenny and Wobbuffet are soon capture from the two evil Malamar's Psychic as his Inkay manages to blind one of them with its ink while attempting to capture James, Clemont and Meowth as a distraction allowing Clemont to release Bunnelby to use Dig making their escape as James carries an enraged Inkay to escape from them.

James was told by his Pokémon Inkay who is angered and rage while he notices that his Inkay is no longer acting as his old self as Meowth translates his word that he wanted to take revenge against the evil Malamar for brainwashing Team Rocket especially James himself and wants to take them down. James eventually agrees as Meowth became sorry for not hearing his word. As Inkay goes off through the forest home of both wild Inkay and the good Malamar lived, James leads Clemont and Meowth to followed it. When all of the wild Pokemon including Inkay and Malamar after witnessing the evil plot of three evil Malamar had already set in motion. James, Clemont and Meowth has his Inkay to convince the wild Inkay and Malamar about the evil Malamar grand schemes until they are caught by one of the three evil Malamar using Psychic only to be rescued by both Malamar and Inkay when they attacked altogether with their powerful abilities to attack the evil Malamar who is forced to escape. James convinces all the wild Malamar and Inkay to join forces against the three evil Malamar and destroying their grand evil scheme which they are happily agreed.

Back at the tower, they are reunited with Ash and the group thanks for both the wild Inkay and Malamar attack the three evil Malamar altogether to remove the Psychic bound. James became mortified when his Inkay got caught by one of the evil Malamar and to be brainwashed by it using Hypnosis. James does its best to convince Inkay to return to his normal self by showing its crossiant his favorite food making the latter tackle him while eating the crossiant trying to remember their friendship and finally breaks free from brainwashing. James let Inkay to tackle the evil Malamar down as pay back and allowing all of the wild Inkay and Malamar including Ash's Pikachu to attack the three evil Malamar down while Officer Jenny to release her Manetric to destroy the one of the top structure using Thunder at the last minute finally destroyed their grand scheme once and for all.

After the evil three Malamar escape and removing their evidence for their actions, James allows his Inkay to live with the wild Inkay and Malamar at the forest near Grace Tower. But Inkay decides to come with him despite his doubts. James emotionally cries of joy and finally hugs Inkay and became sorry for doubting him as Inkay angrily tells him that he will go with him because he would be so happy when he was there in their team. James promises to Inkay about capturing Pikachu the next time they encounter Ash and the group and he was finally happy and excited with Inkay to their group.

In ''A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways!'', James and Meowth are searching for Jessie and Wobbuffet who are later saved by Dr. White from getting drown in the river. They later overhears Jessie's word as Jessilia that she decided to quit Team Rocket for the love of Dr. White making them run away as James emotionally cries stating that he will let Jessie go for the sake of her happiness and remembering the times together as the team and being blasted off. Therefore, they sensed the Pokémon Hunter's trap which Clemont's Dedenne got trapped and electrocuted they are confronted by the Pokemon hunter himself using his Rhyperior to beat them. Since Meowth and Inkay are captured and stolen by the Pokémon hunter from being overpowered, James escapes in his injured state. He meets Ash, Serena and Bonnie to warn them about the Pokemon hunter which he makes a truce to help him stop the hunter. When both Ash and Serena fought the Pokémon hunter and his Rhyperior, James manages to release Meowth on time but they were caught soon by the latter until Jessie's arrival. As Pokemon hunter's Rhyperior tries to hit everyone with its Rock Wrecker, Wobbuffet appears to save the day by using its Counter even deflecting its Horn Drill with Mirror Coat. Altogether, all of their Pokémon use their powerful abilities to defeat Rhyperior and was bumped into his Trainer. After defeating the Pokémon hunter, James is with Meowth, Wobbuffet and Jessie who is heartbroken flies away with their Meowth Balloon.

In some episodes involving Pokemon Showcase, James and Meowth are cheering for Jessie as Jessilie. But she always lose the contest until she reaches in Pokemon Master Class after obtaining three Princess keys.

In Mending a Broken Spirit!, James briefly assists Serena to find Woodward after her Braixen breaks her twig when Pancham accidentally hit her with Dark Pulse from behind during practice. He takes his alias under the name Jeeves from his initial disguise until Jessie and Meowth calls him which he was reluctant to join them to reveal himself to Ash and the group. They were eventually blasted off by Pikachu after getting hit by Braixen's newly learned Fire Blast while connecting her broken branch in whole but it was shattered into more pieces making Pancham gives her a new branch.

Achievements

 * Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest: Unknown (with Jessie)
 * P1 Grand Prix: Runner-up (with Jessie)
 * Grass Tournament: Unknown (as "Semaj")
 * Hoenn PokéRinger: Runner-up
 * Pokémon Orienteering: Winner
 * Pastoria Croagunk Festival: Unknown (with Jessie)
 * Sinnoh PokéRinger: Round 1 (as "Jamus")
 * Lilypad Town Pokémon Contest: Winner; gave Ribbon to Jessie
 * Scalchop King Competition - Disqualified (with Jessie as "Jacen" and "Jesty")
 * Poké Puff Contest: Preliminary round (with Jessie)
 * Pokémon Sky Relay: Disqualified (with Jessie as "Team R")
 * Pokémon Pancake Race: Disqualified (with Jessie)

Voice actors

 * English: Ed Paul (Season 1; IL002-IL008) (temp.)
 * Eric Stuart (Seasons 1 - 8, Movies 1 - 8, Pokémon Chronicles, Mewtwo Returns) (4Kids)
 * Jimmy Zoppi (Season 9 - present, Movie 9 - present, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon) (PUSA/DuArt)
 * Japanese: Shin-ichiro Miki
 * Italian: Simone D'Andrea
 * Greek: Fotis Petridis
 * Dutch: Bram Bart (ep1-ep368), Paul Disbergen (ep368-present)
 * Spanish: José Antonio "El guajolote" Macías

Trivia

 * James' most recurring Pokémon are -Type. It is also interesting to point out that said Pokémon are the ones who show the most affection towards him via physical contact, even if James is annoyed with it. His friendly relationship with Gardenia also seem to emphasize that, as she claims that "those who own Grass Pokémon cannot be so evil", which is also true to some point if one considers he is the "least" evil member of the trio.
 * A running gag of the series is that James is almost always the female when he and Jessie disguise themselves as a couple. (One has to wonder if they have feelings for each other.)
 * Jessie and James are more successful in the Unova region.
 * James has stated that his hair color is lavender, not blue, in Numero Uno Articuno. But in his debut appearance until the events of the Silver Conference of the Johto league, his hair is periwinkle before changing to lavender.
 * In Diamond and Pearl series, James is able to crossdress other characters such as Juan, Nurse Joy, Jessie's alias as Jessilina and Professor Oak. But in both first and second season of the anime, he always crossdresses as a woman
 * Jessie's and James' English names are derived from the notable outlaw Jesse James.
 * In one episode of the Anime (which is banned in the US) James is shown swearing at Kaiser.
 * In Pokémon XD: Gale Of Darkness, there is a trainer in Mt. Battle in zone 35 that has a Cacnea and Chimecho, who asks if you've seen anyone with the same Pokémon. This is an obvious nod to James, when he had those Pokémon in the Hoenn region.
 * Sometimes, Meowth calls him "Jimmy", a sort of nickname for people named James. He normally calls him that when he is confused about something that James knows or has said.
 * James has twice been the reason that a Magikarp has evolved into a Gyarados, once aboard the St. Anne, and another time during the Orange Islands series.
 * Both times, the Magikarp has evolved out of rage.
 * James cares about his Pokémon like Jessie does.
 * James' Japanese name (Kojiro) comes from the name of a famous Japanese samurai, Kojiro Sasaki.
 * In the Spanish dub, James's voice actor occasionally makes Mexican jokes or word games. The most famous one so far is, "El guajolote, as dubbed by fans.Macías¨