Banned Episodes

BANNED IN THE USA
Leave it to Team Rocket to get one of the episodes
of Pokemon banned from American televison!

EPISODE 18: Holiday at Aopuroco

In this episode, Misty competes against Team Rocket in a swimsuit contest.
James wears an inflatable suit. This episode has been edited and aired in the United States in June 2000. The episode was several minutes shorter than other episodes due to the gender bending images being left out. The edited sceen is right after Misty comes out on stage. Here are some of the pictures from the parts Americans missed.

misty and the team

Ahhh... the more we look at them, the bigger they seem to get! First the Japaneese bring us Godzilla, and now these monsters!!!!

Episode 38: Electric Solier Porygon: The now-famous Seizure episode. Over 600 Japanese children were hospitalized with seizures because of flashing during one of the scenes. This one has been redone, but 4Kids(the company that owns the American rights) decided it was better to not risk it, and are not showing it.

dr. no banned on target the reason for the ban

Episode 35: The Legend of Dratini: In this episode, Ash & the group try to stop Team Rocket from stealing Dratini from the Warden of the Safari Zone. This one got banned because the Warden was trigger-happy, pointing his gun at pretty much everything that moved.

Episode 52: Battle in the Festival: This one wasn't banned, it just had SOOO much Japanese text in the backgrounds that it would take too long to redo it into English, and so it was skipped to stay on schedule.

Episode 53: Children's Day: This one was thought to have been banned due to cultural differences. (Don't want our kids thinking they get a whole day to goof off other than their birthday!) This episode was filled with so much Japanese that it was skipped as well. However, this one has since been redone and shown.

For those Team Rocket fans that are not from the United States, you may question the reasoning in banning some of these episodes. In the United States, animation is mainly considered a medium for children. Pokemon is targeted for children ages 4-10. Political leaders and censors feel they have a duty to protect children from content that may harm them. Cartoons can be banned for too much violence, sexual content, even too much foreign cultural difference. Right or wrong, these episodes will not be seen on American television any time soon.