Giovanni Suzuoki

Sakaki Giovanni Suzuoki is from Viridian City in the Kanto region. Formerly, he was the leader of Team Rocket and is now a member of the Tekiyoku, where he is a former leader. He's a Rock Manipulator.

Background
Before the Tekiyoku, Giovanni was the leader of an evil organization in Kanto called Team Rocket.

About 7 years before the start of Tears of the Fallen, Giovanni reached out to Lysandre. Giovanni was impressed upon hearing of Lysandre's work with Team Flare in Kalos. He wanted to work together with Lysandre. The two ended up forming an evil organization exclusively for Team Rocket and Team Flare. This organization was named the "Tekiyoku". The purpose was for the two teams to work together to achieve their goals. Giovanni was the leader of the Tekiyoku at that time.

About a year later, Giovanni heard about how Lysandre and Team Flare captured Arceus after the meteor shower that almost hit Anistar City in Kalos. Lysandre had been planning this capture secretly after he heard of the incoming meteor shower, since Arceus was powerless after stopping the first meteor shower in history when it lost its Plates. Giovanni was impressed with Lysandre, who convinced Giovanni to give leadership of the Tekiyoku to Lysandre.

From here, Lysandre expanded the Tekiyoku to include every other villainous team from the other regions and all general evil people. They kept Arceus imprisoned at their headquarters, which was in Celestic Town, Sinnoh.

Present
Giovanni doesn't have a large role with the Tekiyoku at the moment. He was first seen in the first episode briefly discussing general Tekiyoku plans. He's normally with Lysandre and other members discussing what will come next for the group. Giovanni sometimes visits Arceus, who never has a nice word for Giovanni, or any member, for that matter.

In Episode 10, Arceus asked Giovanni how he feels about what happened on that day from "6 years ago"... Giovanni scoffs and leaves.

In Episode 31, Giovanni checks in with Lysandre at the Tekiyoku Headquarters, asking if they should rearrange their troops and change plans. Lysandre said to keep everything the way it was originally planned.

Personality
Giovanni is quiet and calculating. He's a smooth talker and is confident in the Tekiyoku's ability to succeed. From being a successful leader of Team Rocket, he's one of the most experienced in the Tekiyoku, so he's very depended on.

Naming

 * His first name, Sakaki, is his Japanese name in the Pokémon games and anime. However, in Japan, this might be a common surname, so this may be his surname in Japan, leaving his first name unknown. The sakaki is a sacred tree in Shinto and it resembles the Earth Badge, the badge he gave out in the Viridian gym. It's also from 坂 / 阪 saka, which means "slope".
 * His middle name, Giovanni, is his name in the English dub of the anime. It's the Italian equivalent of the name John, which means "gift from God". Italian may be used for this name origin because of his resemblance to an Italian Mafia boss. Gio is also a homophone of geo, Greek for "earth".
 * His last name, Suzuoki, is the surname of his first Japanese voice actor, the late Hirotaka Suzuoki, who died from lung cancer in 2006 at age 56.

General

 * Switching things up from the usual birthday-deciding methods, Giovanni's birthday, March 6th, is the actual birth date of the late Hirotaka Suzuoki, who first voiced Giovanni before dying of lung cancer.