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There are over 400 episodes of the Pokémon anime. However, for various reasons, some have been banned, or taken out of the rotation of episodes in reruns in some countries by some TV stations.

Beauty and the Beach

"Beauty and the Beach" premiered in America on June 24, 2000, but was banned shortly after.

In this episode, the female characters all enter a beauty contest. Team Rocket also enters, with James donning an inflatable suit with huge, exaggerated breasts. As one scene of the episode was about James showing off his artificial cleavage for humorous effect, this scene had to be deleted for English-language release. Even given the edits, the episode was only shown once more after its premiere before being taken out of the normal rotation.

Oddly enough, a shot of the offending scene could be seen on the Pokémon Live! stage show's monitors, at the time the song "The Best At Being the Worst" was being sung.

Tentacool and Tentacruel

"Tentacool and Tentacruel" premiered in America on October 1, 1998, and ran normally for three years. However, following the September 11 attacks, it was taken out of the rotation because a key scene involves a giant Tentacruel demolishing towers with its tentacles, a scene which is also shown as a clip in first season opening title sequence. Another possible reason for its banning was because of Nastina's use of large guns. Even though it was banned on Kids WB, it continued to air on Cartoon Network. It ended its Cartoon Network run after Hurricane Katrina because the episode featured a city flooded underwater. It still airs occasionally in Australia on a normal TV network, but they shuffle the different shows and season around so often that most people don't even know what order the episodes are in. This episode can be found on VHS. More recently it has begun airing again, but very, very rarely.

The Tower of Terror

"The Tower of Terror" premiered in America on October 7, 1998, and ran normally for three years. Following the September 11th attacks, however, it was briefly taken out of rotation because of the episode's title rather than its content. More recently it has begun airing again, but very, very rarely. This episode was named after a Disney ride of the same name. It is located at Disney MGM Studios on Sunset Boulevard.

The Legend of Dratini

"The Legend of Dratini" was the first to be banned after going through the dubbing process. At several points in this episode, guns are pointed at people threateningly, and warning shots are fired. And when Team Rocket was holding the Safari Zone guy hostage he wasn't cooperating and James said that he was pissing him off. Also, Meowth shows up in a scene dressed with a Hitler-like mustache. Due to the sensitivity of the American public to guns in children's shows (particularly the image of a child being threatened with a gun), this episode was never aired for American circulation. Also at one point, Jessie flips up her skirt to interrogate the Safari Warden.

The removal of this episode leads to continuity problems, as Ash captured 30 Tauros in this episode. The Tauros appear in later episodes, only one of which very briefly mentions where they came from.

Electric Soldier Porygon

"Electric Soldier Porygon" (電脳戦士ポリゴン, Dennō Senshi Porigon) was aired in Japan on December 16 1997, around 18:30 Japanese time, and became infamous for causing a number of epileptic seizures in young viewers.

About 20 minutes into the episode "Dennō Senshi Porygon", occasionally translated as "Electric Soldier Porygon", there was a scene in which Pikachu stops some rockets with his lightning attack, resulting in a huge explosion that flashed red and blue lights. Although there were similar parts in the episode with red and blue flashes, this scene was extremely intense, with blinks at a rate of about 12 Hz for approximately 4 seconds in almost full screen, and then for 2 seconds outright fullscreen. At this point, viewers started to complain of blurred vision, headaches, dizziness and nausea, actual cases of the motif of harmful sensation. A few people even had seizures, blindness, convulsions and lost consciousness. Japan's Fire Defense Agency reported that a total of 685 children (310 boys, 375 girls) were taken to hospitals by ambulances. Although many children recovered during the ambulance trip, more than 150 of them were admitted to hospitals. Only two people stayed in the hospital for over 2 weeks.

Scientists believe that the flashing lights triggered "photosensitive seizures" in which visual stimuli such as flashing lights can cause altered consciousness. Although scientists know that approximately 1 in 4000 people (0.5 - 0.8% of children between 4-14 years old) are susceptible to these types of seizures, the number of people affected by this Pokémon episode was unprecedented.

A Pokémon website, Pokémon Press Battle, made the following observation: "(...) photo induced epileptic attacks can be caused by exhaustion, stress, and sitting too close to the television. All of the above are facts in most Japanese schoolchildren's lives, who live under constant academic and social pressure in small homes. Experts have speculated that the children were intensely focused and involved with the show, figuratively 'glued to the set' when the scene went off like a bomb in their faces." After the airing of "Electric Soldier Porygon", Pokémon went into a four month hiatus. TV Tokyo discontinued some program specials that were supposed to air around the end of December:

• 64マリオスタジアム スペシャル, 64 Mario Stadium Special, December 30 1997
• 大みそか ポケットモンスター！ アンコール, New Year's Eve Pocket Monsters! Encore, December 31 1997
• ミニ番組枠ポケモンクイズ１, Mini Program Pokemon Quiz 1, January 1 1998
• ポケットモンスター・冬のスペシャル Pocket Monsters Winter Special, January 6 1998

Before the series reaired again they aired a special on April 11 1998 titled 「検証番組 アニメ　ポケットモンスター問題検証報告」 Inspection Program: Anime: Pocket Monster Problem Inspection Report.

After episode 38, the opening theme was also redone, with black screens showing various Pokémon in spotlights were broken up into four images per screen. However, before the "seizure incident" of EP037, the opening was originally one Pokémon image per screen. Many Japanese television broadcasters and medical officials got together to find ways to make sure this never happened again. They established the following guidelines for future animated programs:

• Flashing images, especially those with red, should not flicker faster than three times per second. If the image does not have red, it still should not flicker faster than five times per second.
• Flashing images should not be displayed for a total duration of more than two seconds.
• Stripes, whirls and concentric circles should not take up a large part of a TV screen.

Japanese broadcasters also began broadcasting an on-screen advisory at the beginning of animated programs. Some example warnings:

• 「テレビを見る時は部屋を明るくして離れて見て下さい」

"When watching TV, please brighten the room and sit at a distance from the TV."

(as seen on TV Asahi broadcasts of Ichigo 100% and Steel Angel Kurumi.)

• 「テレビアニメをみるときは、部屋をあかるくして近づきすぎないようにしてみてくださいね。」

"When you're watching cartoons on the TV, please brighten the room and don't sit too close."

(as seen on TV Tokyo broadcasts of Naruto)

• 「犬夜叉からのお願い・・・テレビアニメを見るときは部屋を明るくして画面からはなれてくださいね」

"A request from Inu Yasha... When you're watching cartoons on the TV, please brighten the room and sit away from the screen."

(as seen on Nippon Television broadcasts of InuYasha)

This advisory notice was parodied in the first ending of Sonic X where Sonic is reprimanded for watching TV in the dark and standing fairly close to the TV.

The episode is no longer broadcast anywhere in the world. Porygon, along with its evolutionary form Porygon2, have never been seen in an actual episode of the anime since, possibly also as a result of this incident. Porygon, however, has appeared in a "Who's That Pokémon?" segment in the West's dubbed version of the show and appeared not only during a "wipe" between scenes in Pikachu's Summer Vacation, the short cartoon before Pokémon: The First Movie but also in a recap by Brock, explaining the scenario of the cartoon to new viewers (and possibly with children), which appears on some of the Pokémon movie DVDs.

Holiday Hi-Jynx

"Holiday Hi-Jynx" aired on North American television several times. There is controversy because of Jynx's original appearance. Her dark skin, exaggerated lips, and light hair, supposedly inspired by Yama-uba, are strikingly similar to performers in blackface, and the racially-charged image drew a great deal of criticism. The episode was pulled from rotation after Carole Boston Weatherford published an article in Black World Today about Jynx's appearance.

Jynx was later redesigned and now has purple skin, but Jynx's cameo appearances are still often edited out of episodes, and occasionally episodes featuring Jynx aren't aired at all.

It is not, however, banned in the UK. The episode often airs on Toonami UK.

At one time, this episode could be found on video cassette in the US. Because VHS has fallen out of favor in America, however, it is highly unlikely to find a cassette around.

It was shown once on American television.

The Ice Cave

While most of the banned episodes were part of the original Pokémon series set in Kanto, "The Ice Cave" is unusual in that it was the first banned episode in four seasons, the episode taking place in late Johto. For a while, many fans wondered why this episode was banned. Some thought it could be that the main plot of the show, Brock catching a cold, could have been a reference to the SARS epidemic and may have been the reason why this episode was skipped. This is not the case, however, for there have been a few other episodes when characters got sick (such as the episode which Tracy, Ash and Jessie get sick from inhaling Vileplume's fumes) that have been airing regularly and the plot can easily be changed. Like Holiday Hi-Jynx (see above), the real reason why this episode was banned was due to the controversial appearance of Jynx. Since she plays a major role in this episode, 4Kids had decided to skip it.

Shaking Island Battle! Barboach vs. Whiscash

In "Shaking Island Battle! Barboach vs. Whiscash!!" (ゆれる島の戦い!ドジョッチＶＳナマズン!!, Yureru Shima no Tatakai! Dojotchi vs Namazun!!) this episode Ash and friends are caught in an earthquake caused by a Whiscash.

The episode was originally set to air in Japan on November 4, 2004, but was skipped due to the episode's similarities to the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake on October 23, 2004. The episode was later postponed, and then discontinued. While most of the other episodes were either not dubbed for English-language release or taken out of English-language syndication rotations, this episode of Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation was the first episode to be banned inside Japan prior to its first scheduled airing.

Similar fates have befallen episodes of other anime series in Japan during that season, such as a cancelled episode of the 2004/2005 remake of Black Jack and Gundam Seed Destiny following the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake.
In Black Jack's case, the episode was made a DVD exclusive episode whist Gundam Seed Destiny's postponed episode was brought foreword to the following week and aired with the episode that was supposed to air that week as part of a double bill.

The episode was supposed to be aired between AG100, "Solid as a Solrock", and AG101, "Vanity Affairs".

The episode was never dubbed, most likely because 4Kids did not receive it. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, however, may have also affected the decision not to air it.

Trivia

• Beauty and the Beach was the first "lost episode" when it first aired.
• 4Kids Entertainment has dubbed "Legend of Dratini" and "Electric Soldier Porygon", though it has yet to air.
• When "Holiday Hi-Jynx" aired on Kids WB it was usually around Christmas time along with "Snow Way Out".
• Jynx's thirteen second appearance in "All Things Bright and Beautifly" was also removed in English.
• The Jynx Erika owns in "Mean With Envy" and "Pacifidlog Jam" marks the first appearance of Jynx in purple.
• Jynx's first appearance in purple in the American version of the anime was in the episode "Hi Ho Silver Wind" and "Attack of the pie".

External links

• CNN archive news article about Seizure episode
• CNN archive news article (2) about Seizure episode
• Virtualpet news article about Seizure episode
• Neuroscience for Kids (About "Electric Soldier Porygon")
• The mass hysteria surrounding "Electric Soldier Porygon"
• An article about Pokémon controversy, (includes the seizure scene)
• Japanese article about the seizure episode
• Flash animation scrolling through "Electric Soldier Porygon" frames
• Psypoke :: The Pokemon Anime - Censorship A site that tells about certain things that were edited or banned outright

• Censorship
• Controversial entertainment media
• Motif of harmful sensation
• Pokémon anime
• Pokémon episodes