As Takeshi Shudo himself had mentioned, James was calm and reserved in his childhood. I think he still carries that shy boy within him, but his role in Team Rocket (and Jessie's coaching) has enabled him to break out of his shell. ✨💕
I’ve seen these before but only as stills, not gifs.
There’s only two people in the whole world who ever really cared about me. We messed up a lot, and we used to fight with each other a lot too, but…no matter how bad things got, we always had each other.
James' childhood is truly one of the worst backstory of the Pokemon franchise:
- He was canonically abused and most likely sexually assaulted.
- Returning to his mansion he completely has a PTSD with memory loss and dissociative flashback.
- His parents have engaged him to a domineering girl and want to force him into an arranged marriage.
- James was brought up in Victorian discipline and his parents set up a dungeon filled with sado-masochistic material in the basement of the mansion for him to receive his discipline.
- In the original Japanese version Jessiebelle does not tell James that she will "teach him the correct way to eat spaghetti" but "There's no need to be embarrassed" and he cries: “NO! Someone! Help me!”
Misty is friggin strong for a ten year old. She holds her bike over her shoulder like this, manages to fling Ash a significant distance with her fishing pole, leaps over several rows of seats at the Cerulean Gym…
Taken from Pokemon Episode 2: Pokemon Emergency
First aired in the United States on September 9th, 1998
~ James joined Team Rocket to rebel against the harsh rules and the strict Victorian discipline he experienced during his childhood. He perceives his role in the Team Rocket as an opportunity for enjoyment and liberation. ~
Maybe older James is concerned about how he looks in pictures because he knows that he used to look adorable and sweet and wholesome as a kid and he would rather look more like a thief?
{Since he was a child, he was often called quiet and overshadowed, so it's ironic that as a thief, he is overly concerned about how he look in photographs} - Takeshi Shudo about James in his « Pokemon Novels »