Giovanni (anime)

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Giovanni
サカキ Sakaki
Giovanni BW.png
Art from the Best Wishes series
Age Unknown
Gender Male
Eye color Black
Hair color Brown
Hometown Viridian City
Region Kanto
Relatives Madame Boss (mother)
Trainer class Gym Leader
Game counterpart Giovanni
Leader of Viridian Gym
Badge Earth Badge
Specializes in Template:Type2s
Member of Team Rocket
Rank Boss
Anime debut Battle Aboard the St. Anne
English voice actor Ted Lewis
(EP015-AG132, DP080-present)
Craig Blair
(DP002-DP043)
Japanese voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki
(EP015-AG132)
Kenta Miyake
(DP002-present)

Giovanni (Japanese: サカキ Sakaki) is the head of Team Rocket, and formerly served as the Gym Leader of Viridian City's Gym, known officially as the Viridian Gym.

History

While Giovanni very rarely takes the role of antagonist, his agents often have him in mind during missions due to the chance of power, be it through promotion or other means. This gave him a unique series of appearances, mainly during the Hoenn saga, where Meowth often saw how the Pokémon in each episode could be used to help Giovanni and win the trio promotions. These boss fantasies never show his actual personality and occasionally even show Giovanni in chibi form.

File:Giovanni.png
Giovanni in the original series

His first appearance was in the episode Battle Aboard the St. Anne, choosing a Persian as his "top cat" over Meowth, and talking to Jessie, James, and Meowth through a TV screen. His face always remained hidden in the shadows, usually with only his mouth visible. In Island of the Giant Pokémon, it is revealed that he owns the theme park, Pokémon Land, and the giant mechanical Pokémon in it, and was not happy to hear that it had been destroyed.

Up until his appearance in the episode The Battle of the Badge, his voice was altered with a vocoder effect, masking his identity. It can be inferred that they were trying to imitate the games, as in Generation I it is not outright revealed that Giovanni, the Team Rocket boss, is the Viridian Gym Leader. As this episode corresponds to the point at which players of the games would discover that the two were the same, Giovanni finally steps out of the shadows, revealing his face in a battle against Gary Oak, and defeating him utterly using his Mewtwo.

Unrevealed events in the episode (other than the events in question necessitated the use of Mewtwo) caused Giovanni to abdicate his position as the Viridian Gym Leader, handing the Earth Badge to the Team Rocket trio that constantly follows Ash (although his orders implied that he wanted the trio to defend the Gym from a possible attack). Through a combination of their own incompetence and Ash's willpower to win the Earth Badge, the Viridian Gym was destroyed at the end of the episode. Due to this, and perhaps other circumstances, Giovanni permanently resigned as Viridian's Gym Leader, as Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four has taken over the Gym temporarily when Ash next returns to Viridian City after his journey in Hoenn.

Giovanni appears not to care for his Pokémon aside from Persian, as they are all locked away in cages when not used for a Gym battle.

Giovanni, Domino, and the Rocket grunts

In the episode Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, Giovanni's building was blown up by Mewtwo. He and his Persian survived the explosion and angrily told Jessie, James, and Meowth to do their job (ironically they were about to quit).

Giovanni also appeared near the beginning of the movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, as he was the one who had Dr. Fuji clone Mewtwo for him. After Mewtwo destroyed the lab, Giovanni told Mewtwo that he saw him as a valuable partner, putting armor on Mewtwo and using him to defeat Trainers in gym battles (including Gary's Nidoking and Arcanine, as seen in the anime) and help Team Rocket in their attempts to steal Pokémon. Eventually Mewtwo confronts Giovanni about his treatment and Giovanni admits that he doesn't consider Mewtwo a partner but a servant. This enrages Mewtwo and it is this incident which drives it to destroy Giovanni's base allowing it to escape.

Giovanni is the main antagonist in the movie Mewtwo Returns, seeking out Mewtwo, who by this time is living in peace with the cloned Pokémon at Mt. Quena. Once Giovanni discovered it, he tried to recapture it by threatening to use the captured cloned Pokémon in their experiments, experiments that he also claimed would certainly result in their death. He used two machines to try to make Mewtwo submit to his will, but though Mewtwo stepped into the orb, it was still unwilling to serve Giovanni, threatening to destroy his body first. Ash and the others were able to stop the machines, and it was around this time that they faced off against Giovanni and several Team Rocket soldiers. Their Pokémon fought as a distraction so Ash could get Mewtwo into the spring. Once Mewtwo was healed from its injuries, it moved the spring under the mountain to protect it, and then erased the memories of Giovanni and the other Team Rocket soldiers (excluding Jessie, James, and Meowth) of it, making him forget entirely about Mewtwo. Standing next to Domino and Persian wondering what they were doing, he gets the strange feeling as though he has been utterly defeated.

Giovanni in the Best Wishes series

With the beginning of the Best Wishes series Giovanni has taken on a far more significant and antagonistic role than before. He is now in regular contact with Jessie, James and Meowth and assigns them on various missions throughout the Unova region. He is now often seen with a secretary, that helps him giving orders to Jessie, James and Meowth. Giovanni is also set to make an appearance in Unova in BW023 and BW024 after he arrived there in BW022.

The only time Giovanni has been seen in battle was in The Battle of the Badge. He used powerful Pokémon against Gary but later left the Gym to deal with an unexplained emergency, leaving Ash to battle Jessie. By the time Ash returned from Hoenn, Agatha was in charge of the Gym until a new leader could be found. Giovanni's reasons for leaving it have not been explained.

Very little is known about his past in any timeline; he is generally shrouded in mystery. His mother was the head of Team Rocket before him. However, this is presumed to be canon in the anime timeline only, as the games have no precedent for this.

Pokémon

This listing is of Giovanni's known Pokémon in the Pokémon anime.

Persian
Giovanni's Persian
Debut Battle Aboard the St. Anne
Voice actors
Japanese Rica Matsumoto
English Rica Matsumoto
Main article: Giovanni's Persian

Persian is Giovanni's pet, as a reference to most villains owning a cat as a pet, such as James Bond supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Meowth has a never-ending rivalry with it as "top cat."

Golem
Giovanni's Golem
Debut The Battle of the Badge
Voice actors
Japanese
English Eric Stuart

Golem was the first Pokémon that Giovanni used in his Gym battle with Gary, sending it against Gary's Nidoking. The Megaton Pokémon was easily defeated.

Golem's only known move is Tackle.

Kingler (×2)
Kingler (×2)
Debut The Battle of the Badge
Voice actors
Japanese Rikako Aikawa
English Rikako Aikawa

Giovanni used his Kingler in his Gym battle with Gary, sending it to battle against Gary's Nidoking. Gary, however, quickly withdraws his Pokémon and calls out Arcanine. Despite having a type advantage, Kingler proved to be no match for the Pokémon, and was finally taken out by Arcanine's Fire Blast.

Kingler was also later loaned to Jessie for Ash's Gym battle. She used it to battle against Ash's Bulbasaur, but lost.

Giovanni also has a second Kingler, which was in its cage when Giovanni went to see Mewtwo.

The known moves of the Kingler Jessie used are Crabhammer, Harden, and Bubble. The second Kingler's moves are unknown.

Machamp
Giovanni's Machamp
Debut The Battle of the Badge
Voice actors
Japanese
English Eric Stuart

Giovanni loaned his Machamp to Jessie for her Gym battle against Ash. It battled against Ash's Squirtle, but lost.

Machamp's only known move is Karate Chop.

Rhydon
Giovanni's Rhydon
Debut The Battle of the Badge
Voice actors
Japanese Katsuyuki Konishi
English Katsuyuki Konishi

Giovanni loaned his Rhydon to Jessie for Ash's Gym battle. It was defeated by Ash's Pidgeotto's Double-Edge.

None of Rhydon's moves are known.

Cloyster

There's nothing to be known about Giovanni's Cloyster, as it has only been briefly seen in a water tank in Viridian Gym's basement.

Escaped

Mewtwo
Giovanni's Mewtwo
Debut The Battle of the Badge
Voice actors
Japanese Masachika Ichimura
English Phillip Bartlett
Main article: Mewtwo (anime)

Giovanni held control of this Mewtwo created by his scientists for some time, until it learned that Giovanni had meant its purpose to be fighting for him, and escaped.

While controlling Mewtwo, Giovanni used its overwhelming Psychic powers to capture new Pokémon for Team Rocket and in his Gym battles, where it defeated all of his challengers effortlessly.

In the manga

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

Giovanni in the Electric Tale of Pikachu

Giovanni makes a cameo appearance in Ash vs. Gary where it is revealed that the giant Slowpoke that Ash and Gary attempted to catch was in fact created by Team Rocket. He reveals that he intended to use its calming abilities to take over the world by having it make his enemies lose their will to fight. The plan instead backfired on him, the scientists who created the giant Slowpoke soon found themselves losing their will to dominate anything. As he bangs his head in anger over the fact that he defeated himself, he finds that recollecting about the giant Slowpoke caused his own anger to fade away.

Pokémon

Persian
Giovanni's Persian
Debut Ash vs. Gary
Main article: Giovanni's Persian

Persian was seen watching its owner as his anger fades away from remembering the giant Slowpoke that Team Rocket's scientists created.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor
Japanese 鈴置洋孝 Hirotaka Suzuoki (EP015-AG132)
三宅健太 Kenta Miyake (DP002-present)
English Ted Lewis (4Kids dub, EP015-AG132; TPCi dub, DP080-present)
Craig Blair (TPCi dub, DP002-DP043)
Czech Pavel Soukup (EP015-EP157)
Jiří Plachý (M01)
Zdeněk Hruška (season 10)
Marek Libert (season 11)
Dutch Just Meijer (Season 1, 6-7)
Stan Limburg (Season 2)
Fred Meijer (Season 3-6)
Sander de Heer (Mewtwo Returns)
Bas Keijzer (Season 8-present)
French Canada Daniel Picard
Europe Patrick Deschamps
Polish Adam Bauman (M01, Mewtwo Returns)
Cezary Kwieciński (DP002-present)
Russian Анатолий Зиновенко Anatolii Zinovenko (EP001-EP105)
Spanish Latin America Alejandro Villeli (EP015-DP043)
Humberto Solórzano (DP080)
Spain Ruperto Ares (EP015-EP157)
Rafael Azcárraga (Mewtwo Returns)
José Escobosa (EP231-present)
Roberto Encinas (AG002)


Trivia

  • In Pokémon Live! it is stated that he dated Delia Ketchum, though this is both unmentioned and unconfirmed in the anime.
  • In the English dub, Giovanni is the first character to regain his original voice actor following the voice actor switch.
  • Both Pokémon that Giovanni has rejected in the anime have both evolved once after being reunited with their owners.

Names

Language Name Origin
Japanese サカキ Sakaki Sakaki (榊) is a sacred tree in Shinto which resembles the Earth Badge. Also from 坂/阪 saka, slope.
English, French, German,
Italian, Spanish
Giovanni From Italian Giovanni, equivalent to John, gift from God; gio rhymes with geo, from Greek γῆ , earth.
May also be a play on his resemblance to a Mafia boss in control of his mob.
Korean 비주기 Bijugi
Chinese (Mandarin) 坂木 Bǎnmù*
阪木 Bǎnmù*
From 坂木/阪木 Sakaki, an alternative way of writing the name. 坂/阪 (slope) is also a homophone to 板 of 老板 lǎo​bǎn (boss). Also, 坂 contains the radical (earth).
Chinese (Cantonese) 沙加 Sāgā Transliteration of the Saka of Sakaki.


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