Meowth (Team Rocket): Difference between revisions

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This article is about a Pokémon in the anime. For the TCG card from the Team Rocket set, see Meowth (Team Rocket 62). For the Promo TCG card, see Team Rocket's Meowth (Wizards Promo 18).

Meowth (Japanese: ニャース Nyarth) is a member of Team Rocket in a trio with Jessie and James. He is voiced by 犬山イヌコ Inuko Inuyama in Japanese, Nathan Price (Template:4Kids dub, EP002-EP017, EP019-EP031), Maddie Blaustein (Template:4Kids dub, EP018, EP032-AG145), Billy Beach (TPCi dub, AG146-present) in English, Armando Tiraboschi and Marcelo Pissardini in Brazilian Portuguese, Gerardo Vásquez in Latin American Spanish, and Rui Luís Brás (Kanto, Movies 1,2,3 and 4) and Luís Barros (Battle Frontier) in European Portuguese.

In the anime

Character

When he was younger, Meowth lived on the streets in Hollywood after he came there in search of fame and fortune. He was a member of a gang of street Meowth that was led by a Persian; this gang annoyed the humans in town, stealing food and causing trouble in general. One day, Meowth came across a female Meowth named Meowzie. Since she rejected him and preferred the company of her rich human mistress, Meowth attempted to make himself stand out from other Meowth and become more human-like to make himself "worthy" of her. Thus, he painstakingly taught himself to speak human language and walk upright like a human. When he approached her after this transformation, she once again rejected him, calling him a freak. Heartbroken, Meowth remembered the first human word he learned to speak - "rocket" - and was inspired to join Team Rocket. In Japanese, he often puts the word "Nya" into his sentences, the equivalent of a meow in Japanese. This was abandoned in the English dub shortly into the beginning of the series.

In Go West, Young Meowth, Meowth, Jessie, and James returned to Hollywood while following Ash, and Meowth was reunited with Meowzie, who had since been abandoned by her mistress and was forced to join the gang of street Meowth. Meowth fought his former Persian leader to win Meowzie's love, and won, but Meowzie demonstrated that her loyalty was with Persian since he took care of her when she needed it, and Meowth was once again heartbroken.

Because of the effort Meowth exerted while learning to speak and walk like a human, he has not learned the signature move of his species, Pay Day. In Meowth Rules, Meowth was worshiped by an island of people who believed that he could bring them riches with Pay Day. When he was caught in a battle meant to induce Pay Day, Jessie and James had to secretly bail him out by throwing the last of their spare change and some of James's prized bottlecaps in order to appease the islanders.

There has been some debate as to whether or not Meowth was ever Giovanni's "Top Cat" (personal pet). He has stated himself as such in front of Giovanni with no objection (only to say that Persian was now in that position). Yet in Training Daze, he was shown to have been present at Team Rocket Headquarters for a short time, during which we see that Persian is already there. During this time, Meowth became a servant to Giovanni, bringing him food and drinks; however, he was unsuccessful at this task and was assigned to the team of Jessie and James. In light of this, it should be noted that Training Daze potentially contradicted other stated facts from previous episodes regarding Team Rocket's back story.

Meowth has an ambitious, conniving, and idealistic personality. He has made it his life goal to please Giovanni (or "Boss," as he and his teammates call Giovanni), and will stop at nothing to capture or steal useful or rare Pokémon, especially Ash's Pikachu, which he has been pursuing since he encountered it in Pokémon Emergency. Several times, Meowth and Pikachu have had to team up, such as in the episodes Bound for Trouble and Hoenn Alone when both were separated from their respective parties. His relationship with Jessie and James varies in quality; for example, in Go West, Young Meowth they stated that they regarded Meowth as a friend, but in Bound for Trouble, having discovered Meowth and Pikachu after the two had been stuck together, they both stated that they had really been looking for Pikachu and Meowth was just 'part of the package'. Meowth seems to have aspects of each of his teammates in him; in arguments, he can often be seen siding with either Jessie (usually denouncing James's incompetence) or James (usually complaining about Jessie's overdramatic and rash behavior). Despite these fights, the three remain very close and loyal friends.

Despite his seemingly outgoing nature, Meowth also has a contemplative inner side not seen as often. In one of his image songs, Meowth's Song, and in Mewtwo Strikes Back, he is shown to be a bit of a philosopher. In Mewtwo Strikes Back, he and his clone (in addition to Pikachu) were the only Pokémon not to participate in the giant battle, Meowth remarking (in the dub) that the originals and the clones shared the same air, moon, and planet, giving them common ground. Meowth comforted Ash's Chimchar in Tears For Fears! and actually expressed some admiration for Ash and his friends, commenting, "You [Chimchar] have buddies who'd give you the shirt of their backs if you needed one." On a few occasions, Meowth has become stranded with Pikachu and during these times, the two work together fairly well. Pikachu distrusts Meowth for obvious reasons but Meowth is more willing to let go of the past and work together. Usually, by the end of these episodes, Meowth will betray Pikachu once they find Jessie and James. Another trait Meowth shares with Ash's Pikachu is that they have a huge rivalry with their evolved forms, Persian and Raichu, respectively.

Meowth is an amorous cat, developing crushes on occasion (obviously not as much as Brock, but still a fair amount). Objects of his affections include Cassandra the (human) herbalist, the aforementioned Meowzie, Skitty, and another Skitty in Big Meowth, Little Dreams. He also has demonstrated aspirations of being a parentlike caretaker, coddling Togepi's egg before fighting for custody of it only to finally lose it to Misty. To regain custody of Togepi, he even defeated Brock's Onix by throwing a bucket of water in its face and finishing it with a Fury Swipes attack to the head.

He has also, since late Johto, had frequent fantasies about presenting Giovanni with various Pokémon. These fantasies often involve whatever creature it happens to be assisting Giovanni in his daily routine.

Much like Ash's Pikachu, Meowth does not stay inside a Poké Ball, and it is never mentioned if he was ever captured by either member of Team Rocket he travels with. Strangely, though he first appeared in the second episode, in an era where Ash scanned nearly every Pokémon he came into contact with with his Pokédex, it took until Do I Hear a Ralts for Ash to do this to Meowth. However, this was a mere accident: Meowth was dressed up like a Kirlia, and Ash had never seen one before. In Two Degrees of Separation, Dawn, unlike Ash, scanned him right away. She also made the same mistake as Ash when she scanned Meowth as a Shiftry in Leave it to Brocko!. Also in The Lost Lapras Tracey, despite not having a Pokédex, started examining Meowth but only because he was interested in the fact that he could talk.

Moves used

• Scratch
• Fury Swipes
• Bite

In the manga

In the Electric Tale of Pikachu

Related articles

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

• Episodes focusing on Team Rocket
  • Episodes focusing on Meowth

External links

• Nyarth's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)

Team Rocket's Pokémon
Travel with:	Meowth	Rotom Phone
	Jessie			James
On hand:	Wobbuffet	Seviper	Yanmega	Mime Jr.	Carnivine	Yamask
	Woobat	Frillish	Gourgeist	Amoonguss	Inkay	Morpeko
In training:				Cacnea
At home:				Growlie	Chimecho
Released:	Arbok	Dustox	Mimikyu	Weezing	Gyarados	Mareanie
Traded away:	Lickitung			Victreebel
Lived with (all three):	Bewear	Stufful
Worked with (all three):	Delibird	Pelipper
Temporarily owned:	Porygon Zero	Shellder	Magikarp	Hoppip	Second Victreebel
	Mawile
Befriended:	Blissey
Status unknown:	Starmie			Pidgey	Numel
For a list of other Pokémon Team Rocket has commanded, see here and here