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Jessie and James age

Foxing Buizel

*Turns head* *Bui!"
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I think they both are teenagers. In season one, the episode "The Ultimate Test", Ash looks as Jessie and she says her age is 17. So I guess in Japan kids can buy rocket launchers? xD

But you're now in the spotlight, how old are Jessie and James?
 
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Whoa, I've always seen them as real adults compared to Ash and his friends. They are both much taller than the kids, they dress up as ladies and businessmen and whatnot, they have a job at a criminal syndicate and drive cars and lots of other things that kids usually don't do. I consider officer Jenny and nurse Joy adults as well and put Jessie and James somewhere there too. Maybe around 30, or at least between 20 and 30. Still trying to make a great career and aren't ready to settle down and live a quiet life. Yeah, between 20 and 30 somewhere is my guess :)
 
682
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I would probably say around 20ish as well. They're definitely older than Ash, and they must be older than eighteen as they have jobs as criminals for a very big group. They are quite immature, and, if you follow the rule of 'the older you are, the more mature you are', I'd say they'd be around 20ish. 18 at the youngest, definitely.
 

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡
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iirc they're both seventeen. That might be dub/fan-made though. There was that mention in The Ultimate Test, and at one point James says he should get his license (implying that he's old enough to legally do so). That's still all dub though. But I mean, in a world where you're a legal adult at age 10, that seems reasonable. And they're tall as adults, sure, but so are a lot of teenagers. And 10 year olds can be damn short like my friends' sisters are 10 and they're at least under 4'9" because they're still in car seats (legal requirement here).
 

Mentalii

Back
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Wow no they can't be only 17 :O
I'd say they're at least 25. Their age is between 25 and 30. They're childish but look way more mature than only 17 years old.
 

Aquacorde

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Honestly if we're going by maturity I would definitely say 17-21. They're nowhere near 30; if that were the case they would be closer to Delia's age than Ash's. I mean, Brock is said to be fifteen at the beginning of Pokémon and they probably are fairly close to that. They're a bit taller than him usually (animator dependant), but they're taller than a lot of actual adults as well. But their personalities scream college-age.
 

InMooseWeTrust

Jack of All Trades
803
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I also say 20. They're obvious adults and James is even ready to be married. There were flashback episodes of them being around Ash's age, and they went through years of school, job training, and preparation before they became criminals in Team Rocket. They also drive cars and have full-time adult jobs, and seem to be doing very well in other adult activities.
 

RoreyG

Lizardon Man
428
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In the movie "Revelation Lugia" (Japanese version of Pokemon 2000: The Power of One), James said that they were 5 years older than Ash. Also, since no one ever ages in the anime, I would say that Jessie and James are 15 years old.
 

Elaitenstile

I am legend
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I don't see how they could be less than 19 or 20 because they have licenses to certain privileges and in the rare situations they aren't treated as minors. And we know that Jessie and James once went to the same school so that means they're both around the same age. James has a fiance to run away from so that screams adult since marriage. Although hints at their age below that might have been unforeseen mistakes from the canon side of things. They obviously wanted to stress that Jessie and James were much older than Ash rather than hinting at their real age.
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
8,144
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Imo, anywhere in between 17 and 20. Since they are not ten. There's no way that's possible. xD T b h, ten year olds don't wear makeup and we've seen them as young children. They must be immature young adults. Jessie is 17, and maybe James is 16 or 18, perhaps a tiny bit younger than Jessie or a tiny bit older than Jessie. So as others stated...around 17-21.
 
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  • Seen Dec 16, 2013
I'm pretty sure they both said they were 25 at some point because that is the age they have listed on the Bulbapedia. I also know Jessie said she was 17 (but that was in the 90s I think.)
There's age inconsistency in the Pokemon anime. On one hand, they want the characters to be relevant to the target audience, so Ash will always stay around 10-13. The rest of the Pokemon world has aged, in a short before one of the full-length movies they were celebrating the one year anniversary of Ash and Pikachu's first meeting, yet Ash is still considered around 10 all these years later. At the same time, technology has progressed, characters have mentioned multiple times that "it's been awhile" when remeeting Ash&co after a couple dozen episodes (or they've at least implied that it's been awhile.)

So, anyway, my guess is that in the beginning of the series they were supposed to be around 17 to make them more relevant to the audience, even mentioning that Jessie was 17 once. But after awhile they probably decided to age them or add enough character background and development to imply that they are much older than 17, at least 25.

Referring to Ash&Co as "twerps" and "brats" and "kids" when Cilan/Brock are at least 15 also seems to hint that they are significantly older.

In the movie "Revelation Lugia" (Japanese version of Pokemon 2000: The Power of One), James said that they were 5 years older than Ash. Also, since no one ever ages in the anime, I would say that Jessie and James are 15 years old.
So according to Bulbapedia, they have been 25 as of M02 (Pokemon 2000.) So perhaps they said 15 not 5, or maybe you were watching a bad sub? Or maybe they changed it to 15 in the English version, I have no idea.
 
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RoreyG

Lizardon Man
428
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So according to Bulbapedia, they have been 25 as of M02 (Pokemon 2000.) So perhaps they said 15 not 5, or maybe you were watching a bad sub? Or maybe they changed it to 15 in the English version, I have no idea.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8eRl-FFJH4

Check the 16:50 minute mark. Either one of them can be wrong but I would go with 15 since Jessie and James act like immature teenagers most of the time (except for that period in BW).



James has a fiance to run away from so that screams adult since marriage.

Not necessarily. Ever heard of arranged marriages. That's what that was. James' parents arranged a future spouse for their son (Jezebel). He didn't like the arrangement so he ran away. Besides, in the original anime, its shown that he runs away as a kid.
 
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Aquacorde

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Like I said before, it's been established that in the Pokémon world, 10 is the age where you are legal to do thing. You can get married, go on an adventure, move out, get a job, whatever. So getting married at 15-17? Nbd.

re RoreyG- I don't speak Japanese so I don't even know if it's wrongly translated lmao. But I mean, fifteen works. Considering that's Brock's age and a lot of people... de-age? their peers. Like how I'll call my friends "boys" even though they're adult men or whatever. In Jess&James' case, it's more to assert their age/dominance over the kids. While Ash & Main Girl are always significantly younger, Brock and Cilan are in their age group according to this. Lumping them in with the younger kids makes Jess and James seem older. Idrk how to explain this.
 
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AngelicPikachu

"We're Ready"
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I remeber episode Jessie...made a statement episode "Plan it Now Diglett Later!" where TR and Ash Co was helping a village old folks and stuff, anyway one of the elders had mentioned she was like 120 and Jessie was like no..that's 10 times my age

So if I had my guess they're around estimate around 20ish

but by now during B/W 21 or 22. since they was a bit more mature in B/W
 
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They Most likely in their 20's and most likely they didn't want any kids.
 
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