Pokemon: The Series Reveals Team Rocket’s Best Intro Yet

Pokemon’s newest anime series has been a blast from the past for longtime fans of the franchise, and this includes Ash stepping back to Pallet Town and exploring a bit of the Kanto region before moving onto the next phase of this journey. Not only has this resulted in cameos from familiar Pokemon who haven’t been a part of the anime for quite a while, but this means that Jessie and James of Team Rocket have gotten a soft reboot as well. Now that they’re back in their original region too, it’s time to show off as only as this duo can.

The latest episode of the anime featured Team Rocket’s grand return, and they kicked things off with a bang with one of the most elaborate introductory sequences that they have in a while. With the duo taking more of a backseat from their work in Sun and Moon, it seems now that they will be up to no good all over again.

The third episode of the new series sees Jesse, James, and Meowth tasked by Giovanni to steal as many Pokemon as they can. This time they’re given a little bit of help, however, as their boss has given them a special gacha machine filled with powerful Pokemon specially picked by the boss that the duo can use in any situation they want. They get to use a Gyarados and Tyranitar for this first outing, for example.

But when stealing a group of Bulbasaur and Ivysaur goes awry thanks to Ash, the three of them once again are inspired to steal Ash’s powerful Pikachu. Like in their very first battle with Ash, the three of them realize that his Pikachu is far stronger than many of the rare Pokemon that they would try and steal under normal circumstances.

Pokemon: The Series, is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately is still not officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing. Staff confirmed for the new series include Daiki Tomiyasu serving as chief director for OLM, Maki Odaira as series director, Kunihiko Yuyama as creative supervisor, Shoji Yonemura overseeing series construction, Shuhei Yasuda serving as character designer, Masafumi Mima as sound director, Yuki Hayashi as series composer. Voice cast members include Daiki Yamashita as Go, Yuichi Nakamura as Professor Sakuragi, Kana Hanazawa as Koharu, Megumi Hayashibara as Jessie, Shinichiro Miki as James, and Inuko Inuyama as Meowth.