Matori: Giovanni's secretary who looks down on the Team Rocket trio

Between Giovanni and the Team Rocket trio, there's a switchboard — and it's her. Matori is the personal secretary of Team Rocket's boss and an elite member of the organization: the voice that relays the orders, the summonses and the reprimands. The anime turned her into much more than an assistant, since she ends up commanding her own helicopter unit sent after Legendary Pokémon.

Contents

• The voice that answers in the Boss's place
• Contempt as a command style
• An Alolan Meowth that recruited itself
• The Matori Matrix, an elite helicopter unit
• Journeys: manipulation by the book
• Matori at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The voice that answers in the Boss's place

She makes her debut in the Diamond and Pearl series, and not in person: a Delibird heads off to Sinnoh to tell Jessie, James and Meowth that they're urgently wanted back at headquarters. When the trio calls back, she's the one who picks up, instead of the boss they were hoping to hear, and she summons them to receive a mission order face to face.

Her job comes down to two titles: personal secretary to Team Rocket's boss, and elite member of the organization. The first describes what she does on screen — passing the trio's files on to Giovanni, screening calls, summoning, reprimanding. The second is a reminder that she's no mere switchboard operator in the organization's hierarchy. Her family, on the other hand, is never documented.

The Black & White arc spells out the job. She's the one who warns Giovanni that an unknown organization is active in Unova, and she's also the one who explains to the trio that their usual Pokémon would get them spotted there: they'll have to catch others, native to the region. When she voices doubts about their chances, the boss brushes the objection aside — as far as he's concerned, these three are perfectly capable of drawing the enemy out into the open.

Contempt as a command style

The Sun & Moon series cements the antagonism for good. Matori criticizes the trio for reporting nothing about their progress in Alola, questions their effectiveness and watches them with open disdain. Jessie hates her from that day on and nicknames her "Four-Eyes"; James, for his part, says he's impressed.

The balance of power is locked in. She summons them, they don't show up; she reprimands Jessie for the no-show; she calls back later to point out their incompetence. The squabbling only stops when Giovanni appears on screen — the only authority that can silence her. At another point, she's the one who tells them the boss has no more missions for them and that they'll have to fend for themselves.

Even her advice comes with a jab. When the trio wants to update the boss about the Blinding One, she suggests they report something Giovanni doesn't already know instead. When Jessie announces she wants to use Z-Moves, she points out that you first need a Z-Ring, obtained from a Kahuna; the trio comes back with the ring and a Mimikium Z, and she congratulates them before demanding new reports.

🚀 The organization has its own section: see the Team Rocket products.

An Alolan Meowth that recruited itself

Her only known Pokémon reaches her in a roundabout way. With Giovanni, she learns that the trio has run into a Meowth from Alola, and immediately orders them to investigate and report back with data on this Pokémon. The Rockets comply, then find the Pokémon in question sitting beside her on the next call.

She tells them this Alolan Meowth has become her Pokémon and her assistant, thanks them and asks them to keep shipping in captures. She has no idea it made its way from Alola to Kanto on its own initiative: it's the only reinforcement of her career that she didn't order.

It's with this Meowth that she'll come down in person to collect the Bewear the trio refuses to send to headquarters. The diversions fail, so she settles for Stufful — but James swaps the little one for the trio's own Meowth in disguise, and she only notices the switch once she's on her way back to Kanto. Bewear's arrival to rescue Meowth settles the matter: on the next call, the secretary is injured and visibly frightened.

The Matori Matrix, an elite helicopter unit

Alola sends her into the field. She's deployed there with her own team, the Matori Matrix, aboard a state-of-the-art helicopter equipped with a cloaking system. Giovanni makes it clear he expects results; she confirms to him from the air that an Ultra Wormhole has just opened, meaning the target may show itself. Gozu, her right-hand man, confirms the approach.

That target is Necrozma, and the hunt goes wrong. Like all the adults in the region, the team sinks into lethargy, its Ultra Aura drained by the Pokémon. The electric net thrown over the Dawn Wings form gives way within seconds; the unit then falls back on Lunala and Solgaleo, netted in the skies over Melemele Island, before a Silvally and Ash's Pikachu free them and damage the aircraft.

Once out of her stupor, Matori digs in her heels: her team tracks the Ultra Guardians to the Ultra Wormhole, splits up long enough to repair the helicopter, then goes back on the attack. Tapu Koko drives her back and finishes off the machine, forcing her to order a retreat and abandon the mission. Shortly afterward, she and Giovanni recall the trio to Kanto, since it has achieved nothing in Alola.

Journeys: manipulation by the book

In Journeys, she tells the trio, holed up in their base in Vermilion City, that Giovanni is rewarding their devotion with a vacation — while heavily stressing the word "mission." The vacation is a smoke screen: at the same moment, she's running a massive theft operation at Sinnoh's Resort Area, targeting tourists' rare and powerful Pokémon.

The operation succeeds and she's pleased with herself: sending the "incompetents" on leave was, in her view, the right call. A miscalculation, because the trio had picked exactly the same destination — listening to her, they realize they were deliberately sidelined, then secretly help Ash and his friends find the secret camp. The stolen Pokémon turn on the Rockets, the police arrive, a retreat is ordered, and Giovanni reprimands her in turn.

Her last big outing targets Cresselia, chased over Fullmoon Island with electrified weapons. She spurs the trio on by promising them a promotion and the boss's favor, while setting them up in advance as scapegoats if anything goes wrong. When Darkrai appears to protect Cresselia, she thinks she has two catches in the bag: Lunar Dance heals the Mythical Pokémon, which destroys the plane and then unleashes Dark Void. Matori collapses along with her men, trapped in a nightmare-filled sleep.

Matori at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Matori in the Pokémon anime?
  Giovanni's personal secretary and an elite member of Team Rocket. She relays the boss's orders, summons Jessie, James and Meowth and judges their results, starting with the Diamond and Pearl series.
• Which Pokémon does Matori have?
  An Alolan Meowth. She first has the trio study it, then tells them this Pokémon has become her assistant, without knowing it came to Kanto from Alola on its own.
• What is the Matori Matrix?
  The elite team she commands, deployed in a state-of-the-art helicopter with a cloaking system, with Gozu as her right-hand man. It is sent after Necrozma in Alola, then after Cresselia and Darkrai in Sinnoh.
• Why does Jessie hate Matori?
  Because of their confrontation in Alola: Matori questions the trio's effectiveness and looks them over with a critical, haughty air. Since then, Jessie has called her "Four-Eyes," while James says he's impressed.
• Does Matori succeed in her missions?
  Rarely in the field. Necrozma breaks free of her net, Tapu Koko destroys her helicopter and Darkrai wrecks her plane before putting her to sleep. Her Pokémon theft at the Resort Area also earns her a reprimand from Giovanni.

In short

Matori has no Gym, no Badge and no big showdown to her name: her power lies in the phone she picks up. She decides what Giovanni hears, what orders the trio receives and who takes the fall when things go wrong. Yet her two big field operations end with a helicopter in pieces and a plane pulverized. The contempt she shows for the "incompetents" always ends up blowing up in her face.