ThePokémonanime had no shortage of potential villains to choose from, but it dropped the ball when it came to one of the franchise’s most famous villains: Giovanni. Team Rocket’s leader appeared somewhat frequently, but rarely did anything significant.
Giovanni is well known as the leader of Team Rocket, and thus appeared in the anime on a regular basis as the boss to Jessie and James, and would continue to do so almost throughout its run. Despite this fact, however,Ash only comes face-to-face with Giovanni himselfone time, in theBlack and Whiteera, over 750 episodes deep into the series. Giovanni was mainly seen commanding things from behind the scenes, and only took to the field of battle very rarely, with the only other instance beingMewtwo Returns. Unfortunately, this led to the character being completely wasted.
Giovanni Would’ve Made An Excellent Final Boss for Ash
Giovanni Could Have Been Used Far Better
Team Rocket’s frequent menacing of Ash and Pikachu certainly meant Ash was well aware of the organization. While later evil teams were adapted into the anime and featured in storylines where they were eventually defeated, Giovanni’s video game storyline went unadapted. Team Rocket was just as active in the first episode of the anime as they were in the final episode, making them the only evil team who wasn’t utterly defeated by Ash (or at least in Ash’s presence). It’s a shame, as there were some great opportunities to make use of Giovanni in a more hands-on way.
One excellent storyline from the games is Team Rainbow Rocket, which sees an alternate version of Giovanni assembling a crew of previous evil team leaders. This occurs inUltra SunandUltra Moon, which is set in the Alola region, where Team Rocket was barely active besides Jessie and James. It would’ve made for a fantastic story arc for the anime, which had already dealt with alternate dimensions for the Ultra Beasts, and given Ash the opportunity to finally face down Giovanni in battle. It would’ve been a great victory, and set him up for his success in the Alola League.
Pokémon Journeys Needed to End Team Rocket
The Anime Should’ve Made Defeating Team Rocket a Priority
Alternatively,Pokémon Journeysshould’ve provided an ending for Team Rocket, either before or after the Masters' Eight,where Giovanni could launch a new plan, only to be foiled by Ash, prompting him to disband Team Rocket as he does in the games. This wouldn’t necessarily affect Jessie and James, as they could remain loyal to Giovanni and Team Rocket regardless and continue operating as they did before, assuming the writers wanted to keep them around.
Regardless of how it happened, Giovanni and Team Rocket should’ve been taken down by the end of the series, and that simply wasn’t the case. As an evil team, they were severely underused, instead being relegated to Jessie and James' antics, with only the occasional appearance by other Team Rocket members.Pokémonmissed a big opportunity by wasting Giovanni, and it’s unfortunate that his comeuppance may never come in the anime now.
