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. Because Meowth can speak human but is a Pokémon, he is useful as a Pokémon translator.
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. Upon learning of its species's love for gathering coins and shiny objects from Ash's Pokédex later in Do I Hear a Ralts?, Jessie criticized him for not doing so.
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 off 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 (though Pikachu is actually willing to work with Raichu, just isn't willing to evolve into one).
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 episode The Lost Lapras the character Tracey started examining Meowth (despite not having a Pokédex), but only because he was interested in the fact that he could talk.
Meowth normally does not battle unless there are extreme circumstances; his explanation is that his ability to talk and walk upright came at the expense of battling ability. However, when forced to fight, Meowth is fairly resourceful, such as dumping a bucket of water on an Onix to weaken it. In Jumping Rocket Ship , however, Meowth fought extremely well, even knocking out Barry's Empoleon with Fury Swipes, which normally wouldn't do much damage. Yet just two episodes later, in Get Your Rotom Running!, Meowth was unable to break a display case using Scratch. Meowth's Fury Swipes attack was shown to slice dough in order to make ramen in the episode, Noodles! Roamin' Off!. The owner of the ramen shop saw Meowth do this and asked him to work for him. After some thought, Meowth accepted. He eventually rejoined the group.
Meowth has used his claws to pick locks on several occasions, such as when Jessie, James, and he wanted to get into the Old Chateau in Canalave City.
Contests
Jessie also used him during the Princess Festival in the episode Princess vs. Princess, Jessie's contest in Mean With Envy and the Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!.
In the Appeals Round in the contest, he created an ice sculpture of Giovanni, his Persian and himself.
In "the Jester"'s battle with Erica, he used "Transform". He did this by using the pouch attached to his belly. He transformed into a Sunflora first, using Razor Leaf against Jynx. Later, he transformed into a Kirlia and again into a Wailord. It popped the inflatable Wailord with its claws and "the Jester" was eventually disqualified.
In the Ping Pong tournament, Jessie and Meowth were disqualified since Meowth sliced the ball with his claws, instead of hitting it. In Dressed for Jess Success!, James disguised as Jessalina due to Jessie being sick. Meowth, following his promise in Old Rivals, New Tricks!, is used for the appeal, where it used its talent for slicing ramen. The two then gave the judges the ramen to taste. Upon seeing the appeal on TV, Christopher became very proud.
Moves used
Voice actors
| Language
|
Voice actor
|
| Japanese
|
犬山イヌコ Inuko Inuyama
|
| English
|
Nathan Price (4Kids dub, EP002-EP017, EP019-EP032)
Maddie Blaustein (4Kids dub, EP018, EP032-AG145)
Jimmy Zoppi (a/k/a Billy Beach; TPCi dub, AG146-present)
|
| Arabic
|
عادل أبو حسون Adel Abu Hassoun
|
| Catalan
|
César Lechiguero
|
| Croatian
|
Pero Jurčić
Sven Šestak
|
| Czech
|
Zbyšek Pantůček (EP002-EP209, Movies 1, 2 and 3)
Marek Libert (DP001-present)
|
| Danish
|
Peter Zelder Due
|
| Dutch
|
Jan Nonhof (season 1-7, movies 1-3)
Bas Keijzer (season 8-present, movies 8-present)
Unknown Voice Actor (movies 4-7)
|
| Filipino
|
Julius Figueroa
|
| Finnish
|
Pauli Virta
Arto Nieminen
|
| French
|
Canada
|
François Sasseville
|
| Europe
|
Nessym Guetat (EP002-AG145)
Philippe Tasquin (AG146-Present)
|
| German
|
Gerhard Acktun
|
| Hebrew
|
יוסי צברי Yossi Tzabari
ירון מלאכי Yaron Malachi
עידו מוסרי Ido Mosseri
יואב נאמן Yoav Ne'eman
דור סרוגו Dor Srogo
|
| Hungarian
|
Minárovics Péter
Szokol Péter
|
| Italian
|
Giuseppe Calvetti (first 6 seasons)
Pietro Ubaldi (from Advanced Challenge on)
|
| Korean
|
최원형 Choi Weon-Hyeong (original series, all movies)
박지훈 Park Ji-Hun (Advanced Generation series)
오인성 O In-Seong (Diamond & Pearl series)
|
| Norwegian
|
Tommy Karlsen
|
| Polish
|
Mirosław Wieprzewski (EP002-AG040, DP053-present, all dubbed movies)
Łukasz Lewandowski (DP001-DP052)
|
| Portuguese
|
Brazil
|
Armando Tiraboschi (EP001-EP051, EP103-present)
Marcelo Pissardini (EP052-EP102)
|
| Portugal
|
Rui Luís Brás (EP002-EP093, Movies 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Pedro Carneiro (EP094-AG092, DP001-present)
Luís Barros (PK03, PK08, H003, H006, H007, H009, H010, H012, AG093-AG192)
|
| Spanish
|
Latin America
|
Gerardo Vázquez
Gabriel Cobayassi (movies 4 and 5)
|
| Spain
|
José Escobosa
Mario Arenas (movie 3 and Mewtwo Returns)
|
| Swedish
|
Linus Wahlgren
|
| Turkish
|
Murat Keskinoğlu
|
|
|
|
. The following is a list of cards featuring Meowth.
