10 Banned Pokemon Episodes From Around The World (And Why)

Pokémon: Indigo League - Season 1, Episode 38

Plot:

In one of Pokémon's more trippy episodes, Ash, Misty, and Brock visit Matcha City's Pokémon Centre only to find something seriously wrong with the Pokéball transmission device. The gang take it upon themselves to solve how Dr. Akihabara's expertly built machine has been compromised. Team Rocket follow into the cyberspace.

Call For Censorship:

Cyber Soldier Porygon is perhaps the most infamous banned episode, with it even being referenced in The Simpsons (Thirty Minutes over Tokyo - Season 10, Episode 23). The entry was censored after its initial Japanese airing, when a sequence involving Pikachu using Thunderbolt to stop missiles caused seizures in viewers. This resulted in the hospitalisation of 685 people, and was known in the Japanese press as "Pokemon Shokku."

Despite the widespread panic caused by the incident, of the 685 affected, only 150 were kept in hospital for overnight observation, and just two people remained in hospital for longer than two weeks. Yet, the episode was banned world-wide. Furthermore, TV Tokyo's Thursday evening anime series is preceded by warnings for viewers not to sit too close to their screen and to view the programming in a brightly lit room.