Thread: Is the Anime too Sensitive?

@Musashi I`m sorry Mu, I`ll stop now. I got ahead of myself >.> I really should stop participating in convos about episode bans.

To get back on topic though, I don't mind the anime being sensitive so long as it doesn't hurt the plot. It IS a kids show after all. We don't need to point guns at the characters or anything, that kinda breaks what the entire anime is about.

Yep the Japanese do treat things diff than we do. And I respect their choice in banning episodes. If they don't wanna air a episode after a earthquake, I can understand since some viewers prob had friends and siblings that died in the disaster.

And As for the Jinx episodes, was'nt that Nintendo's choice to change her purple after the controversy (which I very much now understand.) and the Johto Jinx episode still airs in japan along with the gun episode. Correct me if I'm wrong.

...then what they should've done was simple.

Japan is known for the frequent earthquakes - they should've known better what to include in the anime and what not to include, rather making a whole episode dedicated to something and then banning it. Wishcash didn't directly have to feature earthquakes. I don't know about Team Plasma, though... was all the building destruction necessary in the plot? They could've made a suspense/thriller episode without much damage to anything.

As for the Porygon episode... kids became sick because of it. That was unexpected, but traumatic nonetheless

Btw, the Dratini episode aired in my country just fine. I don't know why it didn't air in other countries.

The gun episode being banned really did mess up the plot... I remember watching the show and suddenly, Ash has like 20 or 30 Tauroses supposedly from the "Safari Zone"... a place that I didn't even know he ever visited. So confusing. And what makes guns worse than grenade launchers / bombs / other dangerous weapons that have appeared in other episodes? Is it because the guns were directly pointed at people? Or is it because kids are more likely to have access to a gun than a grenade launcher (possibly resulting in an accident)?

As for Porygon and his evolutions never making an appearance after the seizure episode... if the seizure episode is the reason for that, that's an incredibly stupid reason. I don't think anyone affected by that episode really cares whether or not Porygon shows up again in a completely unrelated episode. Even stranger is the fact that the seizures weren't even caused by Porygon...

While the Pokemon Anime IS the most...let's say "timid", show in the anime industry, it's not so much that it's sensitive as the Japanese like to sweep bad events under the rug instead of, ya know, actually dealing with them.

As for Jynx, it's a nonissue to me. Black skin or purple, it's the same to me. Heck, I can't even see much of a problem IMHO.

The Dragonite ep? Doesn't really matter since you can count the times Ash has used his Tauros on one hand. Though I wish they'd use guns occasionally (maybe once or twice a series for special occasions and dire moments)

The TP Debut is in a most uncomfortable gray area. The banning of these episodes seems to have made BW to turn into a Nickleodeon cartoon (read: it's plotless, mindless drivel) when things were going fairly well. But the earthquake struck less than a week before Part 1 was to air and NO ONE wanted to see a major city trashed by seismic waves after such a tragedy caused by some a few days before.

Thing is, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. 23,000 people dead, 10,000 more displaced, whole towns left in ruin & some litterally wiped off the map and a damaged nuclear plant that became crisis unto itself (one that's barely under control, let alone resolved) are WAAAAAAYYYYYY more important that a cartoon based on a kids' video game taking a turn for the worse. How many little Pokefans do you think got all excited to see the preview for Part 1 only to die about 12 hours later? Kinda makes complaining about no Team Plasma rather petty & downright insenstive, don't it?

The Guest Villains may be the best part of the show, but there are far bigger things that need to be dealt with...


There, I said my peice

See, it seems weird, but in Japan, people react this way to things all the time. I'm not going to get into a bunch of detail, but TV Tokyo and OLM themselves aren't necessarily being out of the ordinary.

And with the Porygon episode itself, the media banned the episode because children were involved, and that naturally makes people react in more serious ways. It's just the way we are. And SammyW27, about what you said not feeling sorry for the kids, it's not just how close they were to the television, but how fast the lights were flashing, how long they were on the screen, and how big the televisions were, because they were big back then, and they probably had the lights turned off (some of them at least) because they were excited to see an interesting, new episode of Pocket Monsters.

Originally Posted by pocketmonstersredandgreen

And SammyW27, about what you said not feeling sorry for the kids, it's not just how close they were to the television, but how fast the lights were flashing, how long they were on the screen, and how big the televisions were, because they were big back then, and they probably had the lights turned off (some of them at least) because they were excited to see an interesting, new episode of Pocket Monsters.

OH! O_O

Well dang. My mistake (a really big one too). I never really thought of it that way and had no idea there was so much to it. I'm very sorry

To an extent, I do believe that the anime staff has become much more responsive to sensitive and controversial issues than it had been in the past. As it had been mentioned in the OP, certain Ground-type attacks such as Magnitude, Earthquake, and Fissure that have been featured in the original series and in the earlier parts of AG are no longer used in the anime. Earth Power, a Ground-type attack similar in nature to the aforementioned moves, had been used only twice in the anime (both in DP). Perhaps for these same reasons, Bulldoze has never been used in the anime.

This attack censorship has even be extended to certain Water-type attacks related to tsunamis, floods, and mud slides. Surf and Waterfall have no longer been featured in the anime since the Wallace Cup. Muddy Water was only featured twice, with the attack range not even close to that of Surf, as the attack is in the games.

There is also the controversy from 1997 which resulted in the members of the Porygon family not being featured in the anime, and resulted in no anime or movie appearances for either of Porygon's evolutions.

To a smaller extent, Liepard (the pokemon that Team Plasma had been seen using during the unaired TR vs TP episodes) had been omitted for the anime for quite some time. Liepard still does not have a true anime appearance with the omission of these episodes. Liepard was only featured in two cameo appearances; one at the start of the Victini films alongside several other pokemon species, although the movies were already in production prior to March 2011, and in a scrap book in BW054, again with other pokemon. Of course, the writers may not have planned to give Liepard a true anime appearance up until BW048, but they have been delaying the pokemon's "true" anime debut for as long as possible after those episodes aired. Even though it is more likely than not Liepard will appear in a future episode at some point, the footage of Team Plasma's pokemon launching a Hyper Beam towards skyscrapers certainly hasn't helped the species that much.

To summarize, the anime staff has been responding to the destruction and casualties that resulted from these disasters by intentionally censoring out certain attacks and pokemon species that are relevant to these tragedies. In my personal opinion, I do believe the anime is too sensitive when it is faced with controversy and backlash. At some point, more attacks or pokemon species from the games might not even get featured in the anime.

Originally Posted by Xenidal

Even stranger is the fact that the seizures weren't even caused by Porygon...

Pikachu may have been the real offender there, not Porygon, but in the end it's a simple matter of association. Porygon's name was in the title, it was his starring episode, and the producers want to downplay all memory of the incident because they were so shocked and embarrassed by what happened (and as I've said, I don't blame them). Porygon and his evolutions aren't banned from the anime because the producers want to "punish" them, or because of any concerns that viewers might be made sick again if they appear - they just don't want to remind people of the connection between an episode of their show and hundreds of children being hospitalised back in the late 90s. Particularly since they have a reputation to maintain for providing family-friendly entertainment.

I should add that the Porygon evolutionary line is one of my favourites, so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed that they've effectively been banished from the anime as a result. But there are greater injustices in this world.

Originally Posted by Mand"alor te Siit

Originally Posted by djulienr

Japan is just too sensitive, if you ask me.

Even if they are, the US is worse. Jynx, for example: Bulbapedia lists six likely origins that wouldn't be a problem. But no one bothers to do any research before complaining. EP023: Is it really that hard to make a new title card? EP035: A main character catching 30 Pokemon is too major to skip. In Japan, five episodes were banned, and two of them are supposed to air later. In the US, six additional episodes were banned, with another two that aired later. Even with Porygon, Kadabra, and earthquake-related moves not appearing, the US is more sensitive. Where it gets really ridiculous, though:
Banned episodes - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia
Two and a half gym battles? Really?

EDIT: I actually did link to a specific section of the article, even though the link doesn't show it.

Google did'nt exist at the time that miss weatherford wrote the article. (Although I had disagreed with her years ago. I now understand and kinda agree with her)

And besides that the episode miss weatherford references still is on DVD and they did'nt take it out of rotation from there.

Gangaro was the thing that that Jessie and James had in the st.anne episode and the banned episode so I don't think that's it.
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Thing is, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. 23,000 people dead, 10,000 more displaced, whole towns left in ruin & some litterally wiped off the map and a damaged nuclear plant that became crisis unto itself (one that's barely under control, let alone resolved) are WAAAAAAYYYYYY more important that a cartoon based on a kids' video game taking a turn for the worse. How many little Pokefans do you think got all excited to see the preview for Part 1 only to die about 12 hours later? Kinda makes complaining about no Team Plasma rather petty & downright insenstive, don't it?

I agree with this so much. I mean compared to 2 missing episodes, If I was the Japanese kid that went through the Disaster and prob lost a few friends or family members, the last thing on my mind is 2 episodes of a anime.

Originally Posted by Destiny Queen

...then what they should've done was simple.

Japan is known for the frequent earthquakes - they should've known better what to include in the anime and what not to include, rather making a whole episode dedicated to something and then banning it. Wishcash didn't directly have to feature earthquakes. I don't know about Team Plasma, though... was all the building destruction necessary in the plot? They could've made a suspense/thriller episode without much damage to anything.

Thats what they should have done and re aired it at a later date.



Yes and no. For example i feel that pokemons "family frendly" enviroment has deteriorated a bit. a most notable example is elesa in Dawns flashback. Even though it hasnt been aired in my country yet, i would not consideer elesas attire to be very age approprieate for kids in the lower age group.

No i dont think that the dratini episode should have been banned because in america we have seen as little kids many other characters with guns such as Elmer fudd shooting and blasting other characters.

Even if it does bother me, I actually understand how they feel about removing things like this especially if it's a kid's show. If Pokemon was for teenagers and had a lot of action and actual drama that could sweep us off our feet, then yes I don't think the producers need to make it "sensitive". :)

Originally Posted by djulienr

And honestly the Porygon episode should've been dubbed and aired more. I know they have an edited version.

They dubbed it but they couldn't air it because of a worldwide ban by the Japan Gov.

Originally Posted by Destiny Queen

I don't know about Team Plasma, though... was all the building destruction necessary in the plot? They could've made a suspense/thriller episode without much damage to anything.

I think the original problem was that they didn't want a major episode like that to air when so many people couldn't watch it, more than the content itself. I don't know why it hasn't aired since, maybe they just forgot. Again... EP040, AG101...

Originally Posted by garrison-san

Originally Posted by Xenidal

Even stranger is the fact that the seizures weren't even caused by Porygon...

Pikachu may have been the real offender there, not Porygon, but in the end it's a simple matter of association. Porygon's name was in the title, it was his starring episode, and the producers want to downplay all memory of the incident because they were so shocked and embarrassed by what happened (and as I've said, I don't blame them). Porygon and his evolutions aren't banned from the anime because the producers want to "punish" them, or because of any concerns that viewers might be made sick again if they appear - they just don't want to remind people of the connection between an episode of their show and hundreds of children being hospitalised back in the late 90s. Particularly since they have a reputation to maintain for providing family-friendly entertainment.

I don't really think that the general public even knows (or remembers) which episode caused the seizures though. Most non-fans just associate the seizures with "the Pokémon anime", not with Porygon or any other detail about the specific episode. So if the TV station did not want to risk reminding anyone of what happened, they should have stopped showing all episodes of Pokémon.
And in general, I don't think the public will even care if Porygon makes an appearance in a new episode. I mean, the people making the show and the TV companies airing the show have every right to decide, but I highly doubt that the public would be outraged and start a boycott over such a thing. It won't hurt their reputation in any significant way. It's not even news-worthy (unless they began re-airing the seizure episode)... the only people who will even know that Porygon is now appearing are people who actually watch the show.

Originally Posted by ♥Lady Marie♥

Google did'nt exist at the time that miss weatherford wrote the article. (Although I had disagreed with her years ago. I now understand and kinda agree with her)

Google did exist then, but that's beside the point. Even if it didn't, there were tons of other search engines to use to research things. The problem is that the origins of Jynx aren't something that can be "researched". All six of those reasons are speculation and unless you're familiar with those cultures, it's highly unlikely that you'd ever draw the connection. But most adults in America are familiar with blackface, and Jynx does look kinda like that so I can see why someone would draw such a connection even though that's not at all what Jynx was supposed to be.

Also, was Kadabra banned? I know about the Uri Gellar lawsuit, but I always assumed he never made another appearance because he wasn't a very notable character outside of Generation I.