Banned Pokemon Episode Caused Seizures: How Bad Was It?

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The 38th episode of the original Pokémon series, known variously as “Cyber Soldier Porygon,” “Computer Warrior Porygon,” or “Electric Soldier Porygon,” is infamous for being the most controversial of the banned episodes. This isn’t due to any morally debatable content (although it may contain themes that are considered contentious), but rather because the animation itself posed a real danger. The flashing lights were known to trigger seizures in numerous viewers, and there were also many other physical, commercial, and societal effects resulting from the animation.

The event was quite notorious, in fact it’s been mentioned in other productions. For instance, “The Simpsons” made a fun take on it in their episode titled “Thirty Minutes over Tokyo,” where the entire family has seizures after watching a local show called “Battling Seizure Robots.” Similarly, in an episode of “South Park” entitled “Chinpokomon,” Kenny McCormick passes away following a seizure triggered by playing a game mimicking the incident. Although some parodies portray it as amusing, the actual event was far from it.

What’s in the Actual Episode?

In this thrilling adventure, I find myself relaxing with my friends Misty, Ash, Brock, Pikachu, and our other Pokémon comrades, taking a well-deserved breather during our journey. My buddy Brock whips up some of his mouthwatering “jelly donuts,” and we all indulge. However, poor Pikachu is feeling fatigued, so we decide to take a short rest at the nearby Matcha City’s Pokémon Center. Unfortunately, Nurse Joy and Professor Akihabara – named after the renowned Tokyo electronics district – are preoccupied with the Pokémon Transfer Machine acting up. This is somewhat ironic since Ash jokingly refers to the clinic computer as being unwell. Being curious creatures, we follow Professor Akihabara to his residence, where the primary Transfer System resides.

In that location, the children encounter a Computer-Generated Pokémon named Porygon. The professor then warns them that running an anti-virus program could potentially endanger the humans trapped within the digital realm. With the help of Professor’s Porygon Unit 01, Ash, Brock, Misty, and Pikachu utilize a Transference Machine to enter the digital world themselves, aiming to thwart Team Rocket who had taken the professor’s Porygon Unit 00 and ventured into cyberspace in an attempt to capture other Pokémon. It does seem unusual that these anime characters do not ponder using children for the sake of scientific advancement.

In the digital realm, Porygon guides the team, encountering Team Rocket attempting to snatch moving Pokéballs and causing havoc. Meanwhile, Porygon Unit 01 and Team Rocket’s own stolen Porygon Unit 00 engage in a battle. The children work on resolving the issue of blocked transfers for the Pokéballs, which, surprisingly, turned out to be quite an obstacle despite appearing insignificant. Simultaneously, the professor receives news from Nurse Joy that an IT expert has arrived at the Pokémon Center to tackle this problem. He installs antivirus software into the system to address it.

The antivirus software, unbeknownst to the user, transforms into ambulances and planes armed with massive syringe-like missiles. These missiles are chasing after Team Rocket members and kids, who have been mistakenly identified as viruses. During this pursuit, some of the missiles detonate, causing flashing red and blue lights that can induce seizures. Pikachu also emits flashes during a fight with these missiles using Thunderbolt. The IT technician, unaware he’s attacking children instead of a virus, launches an extremely bright flash of light as a command, which blinds the characters and causes some damage to both the system and the story itself.

Following a series of intermittent bright displays, my heart pounding, the kids and Team Rocket somehow slipped away. A few anti-virus missiles went astray with them, leaving the professor’s mansion, along with his cherished Pokémon Transfer System, in ruins. Yet, miraculously, the Transfer Device at the Matcha City Pokémon Center was mysteriously repaired, oblivious Nurse Joy attending to Pikachu for rejuvenation moments later, after she had just aided in an attempt to harm those innocent children.

Just How Bad Were the Effects?

6:51 PM on December 16th, 1997, during an episode of Pikachu’s debut, a Thunderbolt attack caused a strobe effect explosion that triggered seizures, nausea, eye irritation, and other symptoms in numerous Japanese viewers. Over 700 people were hospitalized due to this, sparking mass hysteria affecting more than 12,000 individuals. The episode was withdrawn from broadcast, becoming the only one ever banned internationally. TV Tokyo had to issue a public apology, causing Nintendo’s stock to drop by 12,200 yen and leading to a four-month hiatus of the anime series. This unfortunate incident became known as the “Pokémon Shock” episode, earning Pokémon the unwanted title in the Guinness Book of World Records for causing the most photosensitive epileptic seizures due to a television show.

Following this event and for many years after, Japanese TV shows began airing disclaimers advising viewers to maintain a safe distance from the television screen and to watch in well-lit environments. To separate the series from the unfortunate incident, Pokémon has since avoided giving Porygon any substantial roles, although it was actually Pikachu’s actions that triggered the event, not Porygon. Fortunately, OLM eliminated the seizure-inducing strobe effects from Pikachu’s electric attacks. The official Pokémon X (Twitter) account made a post on September 19th, 2020, which has since been removed, stating “Porygon did nothing wrong,” spawning the popular “Porygon did nothing wrong” meme. Despite this, some continue to accuse poor Porygon. After all, Nintendo wouldn’t want their iconic mascot (or in this case, yellow mouse) character to meet harm.

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2025-05-06 04:12