Meowth (Team Rocket)
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, and (previous voice actor) (EP002-EP0??) and Maddie Blaustein (EP0??-Present) in English.
When he was younger, Meowth lived on the streets in Hollywood. 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 humanlike 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 EP072, 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 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, 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 EP098, Meowth was worshipped 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 H012, 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 The Origin of Love and Youth potentially contradicted other stated facts from previous episodes regarding Team Rocket's backstory.
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 EP002. Several times, Meowth and Pikachu have had to team up, such as in EP106 and EP276 when both were separated from their respective parties. His relationship with Jessie and James varies in quality. 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 of 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 that the originals and the clones shared the same air, moon, and planet, giving them common ground.
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 H009. 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.
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. Some of these fantasies include:
- Donphan for bowling
- Bagon for coconut cracking
- Skitty for making Giovanni happy when he is "oily in the morning"
- Elekid for powering a hair dryer
