Giovanni's Persian

Giovanni's Persian サカキのペルシアン Sakaki's Persian

Giovanni's Persian

Debuts in Battle Aboard the St. Anne Caught at Unknown Gender Unknown Ability Unknown Current location With Giovanni

This Pokémon is fully evolved.

Voice actor Japanese English As Persian Rica Matsumoto

Giovanni's Persian (Japanese: サカキのペルシアン Sakaki's Persian) is a Pokémon pet owned by Giovanni.

In the anime

History

Giovanni's Persian was first seen in Battle Aboard the St. Anne when Jessie, James and Meowth report to Giovanni. Since then, it has always been seen either at Giovanni's side or in his lap.

Meowth views this Persian as a rival. Persian is the beloved pet of the boss of Team Rocket, and Meowth wants to kick Persian out and take its place as Giovanni's beloved pet, or the "Top Cat", as he calls it. Meowth's hatred of his evolved form was not started by this Persian, but his anger manifests against it more often than against any other Persian.

Persian made a cameo appearance in In the Shadow of Zekrom!, being petted by Giovanni. It later appeared at the end of Unrest at the Nursery! with its Trainer and Matori. In the next episode, Persian was sent into battle against Ash's Pikachu and proved itself to be extremely powerful, taking an Iron Tail, then swiftly knocking Pikachu out with Power Gem.

Moves used

Using Power Gem	Move First Used In Shadow Claw Meloetta and the Undersea Temple! Power Gem Meloetta and the Undersea Temple!
A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

In the games

Giovanni also owns a Persian in one of the Pokémon games, Pokémon Yellow, which is highly based on the anime. He uses it mainly for battle, having been seen in all battles that the player has been challenged to. A Persian also appears in both rounds of Pokémon Stadium.

Pokémon Yellow

First battle (Rocket Hideout)

	Type: Normal Unknown
Persian Lv.29
Scratch Normal   --       Growl Normal   --       Bite Normal   --       Pay Day Normal   --

Second battle (Silph Co.)

	Type: Normal Unknown
Persian Lv.35
Scratch Normal   --       Growl Normal   --       Bite Normal   --       Pay Day Normal   --

Gym battle (Viridian Gym)

	Type: Normal Unknown
Persian Lv.53
Screech Normal   --       Slash Normal   --       Fury Swipes Normal   --       Double Team Normal   --

Pokémon Stadium

Round 1

	Type: Normal Unknown
Persian Lv.50-100
Toxic Poison   --       Slash Normal   --       Thunderbolt Electric   --       BubbleBeam Water   --

Round 2

	Type: Normal Unknown
Persian Lv.50-100
Screech Normal   --       Slash Normal   --       Thunderbolt Electric   --       BubbleBeam Water   --

In the manga

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

Persian in The Electric Tale of Pikachu

Persian was seen watching its owner in The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga's chapter Ash vs. Gary as his anger fades away from remembering the giant Slowpoke that Team Rocket scientists created.

File:Giovanni HIBAPC.png

Persian in How I Became a Pokémon Card

In the How I Became a Pokémon Card manga

The backstory of how Giovanni met Persian is revealed in the How I Became a Pokémon Card manga. He rescued it when he was a child.

In the TCG

This listing is of cards featuring Giovanni's Persian in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Giovanni's Persian Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Giovanni's Persian		Gym Challenge		8/132	Challenge from the Darkness

Trivia

• Giovanni's Persian seems intended to parallel other series in which the main villain owns a cat as a pet. For example, in Inspector Gadget, the villain Dr. Claw owns a cat named Mad Cat (it was named Sniffy in the 1999 movie). This trend seems to have started in the James Bond movies, where Ernst Stavro Blofeld is often shown to have a white Persian cat that he strokes in a similar fashion to Giovanni. His face also remains hidden during the first few movies, which Giovanni also parallels in the Indigo League saga until his battle with Gary.
• Persian is the first pre-Generation V Pokémon not part of the main cast to appear in the Best Wishes series in the flesh, having a cameo in In The Shadow of Zekrom.
• Despite having appeared every once in a while since Battle Aboard the St. Anne, Persian wasn't shown using any moves until Meloetta and the Undersea Temple!, 738 episodes later.
  • This was also the first time when Persian's Poké Ball was ever shown in the anime.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Persian.

Giovanni's Pokémon
On hand:	Persian
Status unknown:	Golem	Kingler	Kingler	Machamp	Rhydon	Cloyster
Escaped:	Mewtwo
Given away:	Koffing	Woobat	Yamask	Frillish	Amoonguss
Controlled:	Meloetta	Landorus	Tornadus	Thundurus
Origins only:	Charmander
Pocket Monsters only:	Hitmonlee	Hitmonchan
For Pokémon owned by the version of Giovanni that appears in Pokémon Adventures, see here; for a full list of Pokémon owned by the version of Giovanni that appears in the Pokémon Pocket Monsters series, see here