Viral Pokemon Cosplay Duo Bring Team Rocket to Life

Pokemon‘s newest anime and video game releases might be introducing fans to a whole new world full of new Pokemon, allies, and enemies, but there’s no topping Team Rocket for many fans of the franchise. The anime’s version of the group with Jesse, James, and Meowth constantly causing trouble for Ash and Pikachu has been one of the long standing gags of the franchise, and it’s why they have been a part of every iteration since. They’re the duo that many fans first think of when looking back fondly on Pokemon, and that’s part of the reason why they’re such a popular pick for cosplay.

One cosplay duo has gone viral for their take on Pokemon’s Jesse and James, and @ydecosplay (who you can find on Instagram here) and their cosplay partner prove that there are still plenty of ways to bring fun to the Team Rocket duo despite the fact we’ve seen them for many years. Check it out below:

Jessie and James were such a huge part of the original Pokemon anime series, and despite them originally starting out as the villains they became a lot more sympathetic over the years. Reveals showing that they weren’t as overtly evil as their fellow Team Rocket members, seeing that they are constantly degraded by their boss and co-workers, and seeing that they found comfort in one another from their isolated upbringings, made Team Rocket more of a chaotic good than outright evil.

Their single desire for Pikachu seems ridiculous, but it’s not in the grand scheme of what they’ve seen over the course of the franchise. Pikachu’s fought and defeated a few Legendary Pokemon, Ash is a bonafide champion now, so maybe Jesse and James had the right idea after all. At the very least, their looks are just a fun and fashionable choice for cosplay like this!

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.