Joe (Japanese: ジュン Jun) is a young man who once attended a school located somewhere between Cerulean City and Vermilion City in Kanto.

In the anime

Joe is a character of the day in The School of Hard Knocks. His Japanese voice actress is Rikako Aikawa and his English voice actress is Kayzie Rogers.

Ash, Misty, and Brock were lost on a forest when they happened upon Joe, who was being quizzed on facts about Pidgey while being forced to run on a treadmill. Ash thought he was being bullied, so he chased the older children away. Joe explained that he goes to Pokémon Tech, a school that teaches students how to train Pokémon. Joe is on the bottom of the beginner class and the other kids were tutoring him before Ash showed up. Apparently, Joe actually knew everything about Pidgey and its evolutions, but was pretending to be ignorant so he wouldn't have to work harder. Ash demanded to know who was responsible for the "tutoring" program, and Joe showed him a picture of a pretty young girl named Giselle. It seemed that Joe had a crush on Giselle, despite her harsh treatment.

Joe took Ash on his friends to the campus and showed them around. Joe explained that graduates of the school are allowed to compete in the Pokémon League without having to challenge Gym Leaders or collect badges. As a beginner, Joe had the skills of someone with about two badges. Joe felt obligated to remain at Pokémon Tech because his parents paid so much to get him in. Joe then demonstrated some of the tools the school offered, such as Pokémon battle simulator that appeared to resemble the Pokémon video games. Misty was annoyed by this, thinking that simulation can't make up for the real thing, and proved this by defeating Joe in a Pokémon battle, despite a type disadvantage on her part.

Giselle arrived with some other upperclassmen and started to berate and insult Joe and Ash. Misty, by now clearly angry with this girl, has Pokémon battle with Giselle - which she lost. An angry Ash proceeded to defeat Giselle using a bizarre strategy. Her ego deflated, she admitted that a school couldn't teach everything there is to know about Pokémon training. After all this, Joe was finally convinced that he should leave Pokémon Tech, deciding to try to collect badges instead. He said his goodbyes to Giselle as friends.

Pokémon

This listing is of Joe's Pokémon in the Pokémon anime.

• Weepinbell

In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

He made one cameo appearance with Giselle. He's presumably travelling over Kanto with her.

This article is part of Project COD, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each one-time character of the Pokémon anime.