Janine

"The Poisonous Ninja Master"
Janine
Species	Human
Hair color	Purple
Eye color	Purple
Base	Fuchsia City Gym
Relatives	Koga (father)
Voiced by	Janice Roman Roku (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Gold/Silver Versions

Janine is a ninja and Pokémon trainer introduced in Pokémon: Gold and Silver Versions, the second generation games of the Pokémon series, as a new Kanto gym leader.

Background

Janine was the daughter of Koga, the ninja Pokémon trainer. To follow in her father's footsteps, Janine studied ninjutsu and began training poison-type Pokémon. Her training eventually paid off, as when Koga was promoted to the Elite Four, Janine became the new gym leader of the Fuchsia City gym. To confuse incoming trainers, the other trainers in Janine's gym used illusions to look like Janine.

Eventually in Gold, Silver and Crystal (as well as the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes), she was challenged and defeated by Ethan/Lyra. She then gave them the Soulbadge as well as TM06: Toxic (or TM 84: Toxic Jab in HeartGold and SoulSilver). She vowed to improve her skills to become better than both the challenger and Koga. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, she would later appear at the Pokémon League Reception Gate every day from 4 to 6, bringing lunch to the busy Koga, and Ethan/Lyra could exchange Pokégear numbers with her as well as take photographs with her there from 6 to 10. When Ethan/Lyra calls her on Mondays (between the hours of 10AM and 8PM), she will travel to Saffron's Fighting Dojo for a rematch. Additionally, she is seen at Saffron's department store on Mondays during the day, arguing with Falkner about which of their fathers was a better trainer.

Janine returned in Black and White 2 as a competitor in the Pokémon World Tournament, taking part in the Kanto Leaders, World Leaders and Type Experts challenge. She continued to seek to improve herself so that she could surpass her father and her other challengers, and to consider herself to be a full-fledged trainer.

Pokémon Roster

Janine has the following Pokémon in Gold, Silver and Crystal (as well as the first battle in HeartGold/SoulSilver):

• Crobat
• Weezing (2 in Gold/Silver/Crystal, 1 in HeartGold/SoulSilver)
• Ariados (2 in HeartGold/SoulSilver)
• Venomoth

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, she uses the following Pokémon roster for rematches:

• Crobat
• Weezing
• Toxicroak
• Ariados
• Venomoth
• Drapion

In Black 2/White 2, Janine's roster can include Venomoth, Weezing, Crobat and Tentracruel, as well as Ariados and Arbok (in the Gym Leaders Tournament) or Roserade and Nidoqueen (in the World Leaders and Type Experts Tournament).

In Other Pokémon Games

Janine appeared in Pokémon Stadium 2 as the fifth opponent in the Kanto Gym Leader Castle. She uses Tentacruel, Weezing, Ariados, Crobat, Gligar and Stantler in the R1 match, and then Muk, Vaporeon, Meganium, Crobat, Girafarig and Forretress in the R2 battle.

In Pokémon Masters, Janine and her Ariados appeared as a potentially playable sync pair that could be unlocked at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature. She was also featured as an opponent in Chapter 16 of the Main Story, in which she and Koga formed a team together for the Pokémon Masters League tournament. After they were defeated by Scottie/Bettie's team, she tried to take the blame for the loss, because she felt that she held her father back. Koga clarified that he considered them to be equals, but this prompted her to set off on her own personal journey, so that she could train until she truly felt strong enough to be her father's equal. After she made a ninja-style disappearance, this left Koga to join the player's team. Janine also made an appearance during the Johto chapter of the Villain Arc, where she and her father showed up to hold off Petrel and his Team Rocket minions for Silver. She has also made small appearances in some of the game's Story Events.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Janine appears in the Pokémon Adventures manga, where she succeeds her father as gym leader after his disappearance in the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc. However, she is shown to be uncertain of her purpose due to lacking a master and sought her father for guidance. She was first seen in a chapter battling Suicune and relating to it about needing a master. During the competition between the gym leaders of Kanto and Johto, she battled Falkner, who similarly had issues with a missing father, but she forfeited the match when she abandoned the arena after seeing what she thought was Koga in the audience, but he was gone by the she reached them.

Trivia

• Her English name, Janine, is made from switching the syllables of the word 'ninja'. Her Japanese name is Anzu, which is Japanese for 'apricot'.
• She also makes a cameo appearance in FireRed and LeafGreen Versions, taking place when Koga was still leader of the gym. She is found behind the Chansey pen in Fuchsia City. The Let's Go! remakes lack any cameo of her, but Koga does mention having a daughter during rematches.
• In the English localization of FireRed and LeafGreen, she was erroneously referred to as Charine.
• She is the only gym leader to have not made an anime appearance, although it is believed that the character may be based off of Aya, Koga's younger sister and student in the anime continuity. Oddly enough, Aya reappears in one of the Johto episodes, where Janine could easily have been used instead.