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Giovanni (Japanese: サカキ Sakaki) is the boss of Team Rocket in Pokémon Pocket Monsters. Unlike other media, he was shown to have a twin brother.
History
Giovanni first appeared in Pikachu Was Kidnapped!! and his twin brother debuted in Finish Off Team Rocket!!. In Giovanni's first appearance, he is running the Rocket Game Corner where Red, Clefairy and Pikachu go to. Green and his Charmander go there as well. A Hitmonlee comes by and takes Pikachu. The Hitmonlee is revealed to belong to Giovanni and Team Rocket. Giovanni had Hitmonlee kidnap Pikachu in order to lure Red into his trap. Two chapters later, Giovanni, along with his twin brother, are at Silph Co. and holds Erika's father hostage. He even takes the Porygon that belonged her father and uses them against Red and the others. Giovanni takes advantage of them by cloning them with a machine controlled by a device his twin brother was holding. Pikachu destroys the device with Thunderbolt which renders the clones useless.
Giovanni reappears in Which One is the Real Clefairy!? where he and his twin brother take revenge on Red for defeating them at Silph Co. They do so by having Ditto disguise itself as Clefairy. They meet Red, Clefairy and Pikachu at a graveyard and have a Clefairy fight which results in Red's Clefairy winning after Ditto was too stuffed with food and could not handle it, something that Red's can handle. In Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!, Giovanni creates the ultimate Pokémon that no one can defeat, Mewtwo. In the middle of the creation, Mewtwo's DNA gets mixed with Clefairy's making it act all goofy and obnoxious. The creation does not do to well and ends up releasing Mewtwo.
Giovanni hosts a contest in a dome on TV in Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!! in an attempt to make money if he gets high TV ratings. However, since other people were at the contest, he tries a way so that he will be the one to win the contest. In the end, Clefairy ends up destroying the dome that Giovanni builds due to an accident that happened in the contest. Since the dome was destroyed, Giovanni was not able to win the money. In The Thrill of a Perfect Score, Big Rampage at the Amusement Park!, he builds an Amusement Park that Red, Clefairy and Pikachu enter. Giovanni was not happy about this so he tries to gets rid of them. However, the Amusement Park ends up getting destroyed as well. Giovanni is the Gym Leader in Get The Last Badge!! where he takes on Red in a Gym battle. Red was able to defeat him, earning himself the Earth Badge.
Giovanni devises a plan to take over Pallet Town in Stop the Missile!! by using a missile. It was stopped by Clefairy after he got in the way of the missile. Clefairy was able to survive the impact.
Giovanni reappears in Messing up the Farm!! of the Johto saga where he steals some Miltank to get the Moomoo Milk that they make. This plan ends up getting foiled by Professor Oak in which he takes custody of the Miltank himself.
In Escape from Magma?!, he sends out Slugma to become Red's and the gang's worse nightmare.
Giovanni opens up his own haircut place in Pokémon Hair Salon Opens!! in order to scam people with their money.
In Find Slowpoke!!, he steals Kurt's Slowpoke along with the other Slowpoke of the Slowpoke Well to sell their tails as their tails are very expensive and selling them would make Giovanni very rich. The Slowpoke end up getting rescued before Giovanni ran off with its tail.
Giovanni takes over the radio tower in Showdown at the Radio Tower!!. In the process, he holds DJ Mary hostage along with the other people working there, only to be stopped by Red, Pikachu, Clefairy and Togepi.
His recent appearance was in Stop the Strange Sonic Sound!! where he and Team Rocket send out strange signal waves all the way from their hideout in Mahogany Town to lure the Red Gyarados out of hiding.
Personality and characteristics
As the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni has brought up plans in order to get rich. However, most of these plans fail due to Red's Clefairy getting in the way. As a result, he ends up attempting to get revenge on Red and his Pokémon, but fails most of the time.
Pokémon
Currently owned
Here is a listing of Giovanni's and his twin brother's Pokémon:
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Hitmonlee ♂
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| Hitmonlee is the first revealed Pokémon of Giovanni's. He is also under the ownership of Team Rocket as well. Hitmonlee first appeared disguised as a thug and ran off with Pikachu while Red and Clefairy were busy eating. He did so in order to lure Red and Clefairy to a wrestling arena in order for Clefairy to have a boxing match. Hitmonlee was able to have the upper hand during the first few rounds. At the end, Clefairy was able to win the boxing match, with Red retrieving his Pikachu in the process. Hitmonlee returned in Clefairy's Christmas Present?! when the town was celebrating Christmas. Hitmonlee along with Hitmonchan were told by Giovanni to chase away Clefairy as he knew that Clefairy would try to disrupt their holiday. Hitmonlee reappeared in Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!! and in Get The Last Badge!! as a cameo.
None of Hitmonlee's known moves are known.
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| Debut
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Pikachu Was Kidnapped!!
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Hitmonchan ♂
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| While taking Erika's father hostage, Giovanni called out Hitmonchan to deal with Clefairy. This was a similar challenge to Clefairy as he dealt with a Hitmonlee back in the wrestling arena. However, Hitmonchan relies on punching while Hitmonlee relies on kicking. Clefairy defeats Hitmonchan by strapping him to a buffet. His Hitmonchan returned in Clefairy's Christmas Present?! when the town was celebrating Christmas. Hitmonchan along with Hitmonlee were told by Giovanni to chase away Clefairy as he knew that Clefairy would try to disrupt their holiday. Hitmonchan reappeared in Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!! and in Get The Last Badge!! as a cameo.
None of Hitmonchan's known moves are known.
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| Debut
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Finish Off Team Rocket!!
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Porygon (multiple)
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| These Porygon were originally created by Erika's father. However, Giovanni and his twin brother take control of them during Team Rocket's takeover of Silph Co.. The bosses used the Porygon for their evil deeds during the takeover. One of the Porygon was sent out after Hitmonchan's defeat. More of them were revealed as they were cloned on a machine, leaving Clefairy outnumbered. However, the clones were revealed to be from the device that Giovanni's twin brother was using to control them. The clones were rendered useless after Pikachu's Thunderbolt destroyed the device that Giovanni's twin brother was holding.
Porygon's known moves are Tackle and Psybeam.
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| Debut
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Finish Off Team Rocket!!
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Ditto
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| Giovanni has Ditto transform into a Clefairy in order to get revenge on Red as he defeated them back in Silph Co. Ditto, disguised as Clefairy, go to the Pokémon Sea House in order to get their revenge on Red. They meet at a graveyard where it challenges Clefairy to various contests. During the eating contest, the impostor Clefairy gets exposed as a Ditto when it gets filled up with food.
Ditto's only move is Transform.
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| Debut
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Which One is the Real Clefairy?!
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Meowth
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| Meowth was sent out by Giovanni to prevent Red from interfering with his plans on creating Mewtwo. It was able to stall Clefairy long enough for the creation to happen. Meowth reappeared in Clefairy's Christmas Present?! when the town was celebrating Christmas. Meowth tried to make everything right by making a cake for the poor. It was then seen with Giovanni and his twin brother in Get The Last Badge!!.
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| Debut
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Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!
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Exeggutor
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| Giovanni sends out Exeggutor to prevent Red from interfering with his plans on creating Mewtwo. Exeggutor ending up failing along with the other Pokémon after getting its DNA altered by Clefairy's DNA switching machine.
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| Debut
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Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!
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Voltorb (multiple)
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| Giovanni sent out Voltorb to stop Red's interference with the creation of Mewtwo. However, this did not go to well as Voltorb got its DNA altered by Clefairy's DNA switching machine. In Seize the Dream of One Million Yen, he sent out many of them to prevent anyone in the contest to beat him. The Voltorb shocked the Clefairy when he fell down from rope climbing when he tried to get to the other side but was thrown off by Lickitung. One of the Voltorb reappeared in Squirtle, the Crybaby Pokémon where they served as obstacles to Red and his Pokémon so that they wouldn't interfere with Giovanni's plans.
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| Debut
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Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!
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Muk
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| Giovanni sent out Muk to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV. During the first portion of the race, they were the first obstacles the participants had to deal with. Both Green and Blue managed to bypass them using their Charmander and Blastoise, respectively by going up a steep ramp. When Clefairy tried doing so, he got caught by them and was temporarily stuck.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Scyther (×3)
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| Giovanni is seen with three Scyther. Each of them were sent out to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV, as their sharp blades were proven useful. They were used in the second portion of the race. Red's Pikachu and Green's Charmander managed to get past them as it was faster than Scyther's slamming of the blades. Blue covered himself with Blastoise and Blastoise's high defense nullified the hit of Scyther's attack. Clefairy tried doing so but slipped when he landed and got caught by a Pinsir.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Pinsir
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| Giovanni sent out Pinsir to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV. When Clefairy slipped on the ground after getting past the Scyther, Pinsir came out of the ground and caught Clefairy using the pinsirs.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Lickitung
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| Giovanni sent out Lickitung to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV. Lickitung was set as a trap for Clefairy during the rope climbing portion of the race. As soon as Clefairy got across, the Normal-type used its long tongue to nullify Clefairy from holding on any longer.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Snorlax
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| Giovanni sent out Snorlax to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV. During the race cart derby, Clefairy bumps into Snorlax and sends him flying, as well as bumping into Giovanni. Snorlax later reappears in Get The Last Badge!! before Giovanni's battle against Red. Snorlax was proven to be a tough opponent for his Clefairy as Clefairy easily bounced off. Snorlax is shadowed in Good-Bye, Pikachu?! during Giovanni's plans of dealing with Pallet Town.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Diglett (×7)
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| Giovanni was shown to have seven Diglett. He sent them out to prevent anyone from winning the contest he hosted on TV by having them hide in the ground during the race cart derby. The Diglett were only set for Clefairy as they resurfaced from the ground when Clefairy fell into their trap. The cart flew in the air and crashed into an Onix.
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| Debut
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Seize the Dream of One Million Yen!!
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Rhydon
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| Giovanni's Rhydon was used in the Gym battle against Red where it battled Clefairy. Clefiary did everything silly to defeat it but only a few of them worked as he got punched away for the unsuccessful ones. Rhydon gave chase to Clefairy with Clefairy narrowly dodging it. It was then defeated after Clefairy tried making it angry and was thrown into the roof.
Rhydon's only known move is Horn Drill.
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| Debut
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Get The Last Badge!!
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Nidoking ♂
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| Giovanni's Nidoking was used in the Gym battle against Red. He was sent out after Rhydon was beaten. Nidoking managed to easily incapitate Clefairy and surpassed most of Pikachu's attacks. When Clefairy was back in the battle, Nidoking fell for Clefairy's disguise as a Nidoqueen and a chase went on. He reappeared in Good-Bye Pikachu?! during Giovanni's plans of dealing with Pallet Town.
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| Debut
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Get The Last Badge!!
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Squirtle
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| Squirtle was sent out as part of Giovanni's three grand schemes he comes up with to achieve his goals. However, it appears to have the opposite personality than Giovanni's due to it crying.
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| Debut
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Squirtle, the Crybaby Pokémon
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Arbok
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| Arbok was seen along with the group of Pokémon during Giovanni's plans of dealing with Pallet Town.
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| Debut
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Good-Bye, Pikachu?!
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Graveler
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| Giovanni sent out Graveler along with the other group of Pokémon during his plans of dealing with Pallet Town.
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| Debut
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Good-Bye, Pikachu?!
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Koffing
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| Giovanni sent out Koffing along with the other group of Pokémon while Giovanni was discussing his plans.
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| Debut
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Good-Bye, Pikachu?!
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Released
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Mew
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| Giovanni catches Mew as part of the supplies used for the creation of Mewtwo. It was released along with Mewtwo after the creation was unsuccessful.
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| Debut
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Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!
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Mewtwo
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- Main article: Blue's Mewtwo
Mewtwo is Giovanni's ultimate creation. He created part of it and forced Bill to finish the rest. Mewtwo became a powerful Pokémon at first, much to Giovanni's amusement, until it received Clefairy's DNA. The DNA it received from the Normal-type made it a gag Pokémon. As the original powers Mewtwo had were gone, it was easily defeated by Clefairy. Giovanni releases it as he deemed the creation to be unsuccessful.
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| Debut
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Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon!!
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Miltank (×5) ♀
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| Giovanni stole these five Miltank during Messing up the Farm!!. He did so to get their milk to make the item, Moomoo Milk, and sell them to make money. Professor Oak was able to rescue the Miltank from Giovanni before he gets the milk. Oak then decides to take them under his control.
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| Debut
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Messing up the Farm!!
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Slowpoke
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| Giovanni robbed Slowpoke from Kurt prior to Find Slowpoke!! in order to profit their tails as they cost tons of money. Kurt was able to retrieve the Slowpoke from Giovanni before Giovanni was able to leave with its tail.
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| Debut
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Find Slowpoke!!
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