James (Pokémon, The Animated Series)

"We have a proud tradition of failure to uphold!" (Pokémon, "Who Gets to Keep Togepi?")

Making his debut in the second episode of the Pokémon series, "Pokémon Emergency," James is one of the main characters of the Pokémon Animated Series. As the series is so long-running, his role throughout the story has varied from main antagonist, comic relief, deuteragonist, and even protagonist. He is part of the Team Rocket trio, made up of himself, his partner Jessie, and their talking mascot of sorts, Meowth. They feature in almost every episode, but are generally incompetent and pose no serious threat, having only achieved their goal a handful of times. This does not deter them from being a constant presence throughout the series, however. Despite the fact that Team Rocket in the main series of Pokémon video games never journeys outside a small jurisdiction containing Kanto and Johto, Jessie, James, and Meowth follow protagonist Ash Ketchum across oceans and continents.

Team Rocket as a whole are an interesting trio throughout the entire long-running series of Pokémon. Each member of Team Rocket undergo more development and backstory than Ash or any of his companions. While both have interesting backstories, wherein James escapes a doting, pressuring family, while Jessie comes from absolute poverty, what makes James somewhat more compelling than his more serious counterpart, Jessie, is that James is regularly shown to be a good person. Even without regarding the events in the Pokémon movies, in which Team Rocket will regularly help the protagonists in times of true peril, James is shown throughout the regular series to have a pure heart and true love for his team. In the sixth episode of the Advanced Generation series, "A Poached Ego," Ash and his friends take a back seat to Team Rocket, who attempt to stop a poacher from stealing Pokémon en masse. The episode ends with Jessie and James tearfully releasing their Arbok and Weezing, Pokémon that had been their companions since the beginning, in order to save the Pokémon that were being poached. At the end of the episode, James comes across a Cacnea who he had been saved by earlier in the episode. James offered him some food and then asked if Cacnea would like to join his team. Cacnea gleefully accepts, hugging James, covering him in cactus pins. This is a perfect example of both James' concern for the happiness and compatibility of his teammates, and his willingness to undergo physical abuse for their happiness (the most famous example being Victreebel's constant attempts to devour James). In a show intended for children, it would be so easy to create a one dimensional team of villains who seek to destroy or control as much as they can. James is testament to the fact that a villain can have depth and sympathy without having a tragic past or hidden motivation. James is a villain, there is no questioning that. He works for a criminal organization and constantly tries to steal other trainers' Pokémon. However, he is also relatable and genuine person, showing that a sympathetic villain can simply be a villain with their own morals and a true love for their team.