Is the Anime too Sensitive?

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Benster404

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I'm sure we're all aware of the Porygon incident. Because of this episode Porygon and it's evolutions have not appeared in the anime (although Porygon has made other cameo appearances). But why should this incident prevent the others from being included in the anime, fair enough not including Porygon anymore but the others are completely unrelated to the incident.

It's not just this incident i bring to your attention. AG101 remains unaired because an earthquake happened in Japan, the same time as this episode (which contains the move Earthquake), was originally scheduled. Fair enough you may think, but the moves Earthquake, Fissure and Magnitude have now been removed from the anime, which i think is just frustrating.

There are many other cases too. So am i the only one who thinks the anime is a bit too sensitive to such events, or am i being completely unreasonable?
 
I wouldn't call it being to sensitive, I think it's mostly them not wanting to potentially offend anyone. I mean if it happened once, it could happen again.
 
Japan in general tends to be very cautious about past traumatic events like that. Being a kid/family show, Pokemon shows that very well.
 
I think its ridiculous. I mean maybe for like a month or so after but after a while they should allow earthquake stuff and air the episodes. As for Porygon, it wasn't even the reason for the seizures, it was Pikachu. So neither it or the evolutions should be punished. And honestly I don't see why people who be "offended" if they showed up or if an earthquake move was used. It's a show. And honestly the Porygon episode should've been dubbed and aired more. I know they have an edited version. Japan is just too sensitive, if you ask me.
 
djulienr said:
And honestly the Porygon episode should've been dubbed and aired more. I know they have an edited version. Japan is just too sensitive, if you ask me.
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"Electric Soldier Porygon" caused hundreds of children to be hospitalised when it aired in Japan. I don't blame them for being mortified by that outcome.
 
djulienr said:
Japan is just too sensitive, if you ask me.
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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.
 
djulienr said:
And honestly the Porygon episode should've been dubbed and aired more. I know they have an edited version. Japan is just too sensitive, if you ask me.
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You do know that Pokémon Shock was reported in the US right? Are you really gonna let your kid watch 20 minutes of something that you heard gave over 600 kids seizures when aired before?
 
Mand"alor te Siit said:
Jynx, for example: Bulbapedia lists six likely origins that wouldn't be a problem. But no one bothers to do any research before complaining.
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In the end, it's not really a matter of what Jynx is intended to be. The fact is, it does bear a pretty damned unfortunate resemblence to a blackface entertainer. When Pokemon caught on in the West, it was a controversy waiting to happen.
 
I don't think that the examples mentioned are examples of the anime being too sensitive. Hundreds of children had seizures after watching that Porygon episode. That's not something that they can just shake off and reair the episode after some time has passed. It's too bad that Porygon and its evolution don't appear in the anime because of that episode, but I think that it's completely reasonable considering how it sent so many children to the hospital. I also think that it makes sense that the episode was never dubbed. After that event, I don't think that the people from Japan would want anyone to ever touch that episode again.

Earthquakes are nothing to shake off either, especially the ones that have happened in Japan in recent years with destroying homes and killing many people. Having an episode that deals with an earthquake shortly after a natural disaster isn't really being too sensitive. It makes sense that they wouldn't want to make people uncomfortable with watching the show if it was around the same time of recovering from a huge earthquake. As for Jynx, I didn't quite understand the problem until I saw a documentary on the history behind the stereotype images in the media around African Americans. Afterwards, I did see the unfortunate similarity between Jynx and a black entertainer and even though I don't think that the design was based off of those kind of images, the fact that it just look similar to one was definitely an understandable problem that people had with Jynx once the show got popular in the West. I don't think it was that bad since it just ended up leading Jynx to be colored purple instead of black to make everyone happy. Changes like these usually have an understandable reason behind it, so I don't think that the anime is being too sensitive in these cases.
 
garrison-san said:
Mand"alor te Siit said:
Jynx, for example: Bulbapedia lists six likely origins that wouldn't be a problem. But no one bothers to do any research before complaining.
Click to expand...

In the end, it's not really a matter of what Jynx is intended to be. The fact is, it does bear a pretty damned unfortunate resemblence to a blackface entertainer. When Pokemon caught on in the West, it was a controversy waiting to happen.
Click to expand...

I know the Jotho Jynx episode was nothing to look forward to anyway, but this event is the prime example why I was never happy that the US-version of Pokémon was the source for almost every other dub of Pokémon. Many countries aren't aware that the blackface-stereotype even exists and I am sure those Jynx episodes would have aired, for example, in Germany without any consequences ( in fact, besides the Johto one, they did and still do). Some things are only delicate in some countries, after all.

But I agree that earthquake-themed episodes in an anime for little children is pretty risky in a country that suffers from extreme earthquakes time and time again.
 
And so it begins. I hope the fur doesn't fly too much like it did when I brought this up guys.

I myself find this to be an issue though. I can understand wanting to be sensitive to the public and whatnot, but you just can't cut out certain things. The Porygon Episode being banned is one thing. While I agree with the banning, it's no excuse to ostracize Porygon and it's family for something a glorified yellow rat did. I bet you anything parents were more nervous about seeing Pikachu use Thundershock on a daily basis than about encountering Porygon again.

And then there is the Dratini episode. Major plothole, but it could have been rectified by a replacement episode. I see no issues with 4Kids writing and animating an entire 20-minute show about Tauros. Maybe they were lazy though, and we didn't see the Tauros very much.

The Earthquake episode featuring Whiscash, it was a filler anyway, and the move Earthquake isn't as badass in the anime as it is in the games. Why complain about it? Don't we dislike endless and pointless fillers anyway?

And now I come to these episodes. The Team Plasma episodes. I`m sorry but banning these is inex-pucking-scusable. Should they have aired them as scheduled? From a considerate human standpoint, no, that would have been tasteless, insensitive, and I and millions of other people probably would have boycotted the anime if they had. HOWEVER from a story-telling standpoint, you HAVE to tell the important part of the story sooner or later. The lack of Team Plasma is DESTROYING the anime right now, along with the new characterizations and Iris. If BW has ANY hope of surviving the venom-drenched hatred of the fanbase, we NEED to have a real plot. The Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma episodes were going to introduce the plot, but then the earthquake happened.

What I am about to say will probably sound incredibly heartless, but it needs to be said. Yes, the earthquake was a terrible tragedy that should never have happened, and if there was anything that could have been done to stop it, it should have been done. But you know what? So is losing your grandparents. When you first say goodbye to your grandma or grandpa, you want some time to recover from the trauma, and so people will avoid talking about them as much as possible. At some point though, you HAVE to get over it! If you live your life in constant grief, you will never be happy, and neither will your current living loved ones. The anime is the same principle.

We are now almost TWO YEARS into Best Wishes and on the way to the pokemon league. All we have seen in those two years is an unfunny Team Rocket, a lobotomized Ash Ketchum, the most annoying Mary Sue of a female companion that has ever stalked the earth, a sexy Jack-of-all-trades who will NEVER be Brock, and the worst facility battles ever seen since Ash stalked Pyramid King Brandon. Face it, Team Plasma is the anime's only hope of making it out alive, and it's kinda too late now. At this point, if they want to salvage Best Wishes, they need to get the League done and over with and dedicate an entire season solely to stopping Team Plasma, with the banned episodes being their introduction.

Flames toward my arguments will be used to roast weenies and marshmallows.
 
Catilena1890 said:
What the? I didn't even CLICK the post button twice! What the heck man? Sorry everyone T-T
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Edit -> Delete.

And the writers can't make up a series plot that doesn't involve Team Plasma? I personally think that's an unfair/silly assumption. Even then what does it have to do with censorship? It's fair enough to say you feel the TP eps shouldn't have been covered up, but your issues with Best Wishes really aren't on topic. There's no evidence TP would make everything else about Best Wishes better, so I'm stopping that discussion right now.

Oh, and moving on from your grandparent's death is not the same as your entire livelyhood being destroyed by an earthquake, in a country which is prone to more earthquakes. That sort of insensitive ridiculousless will be getting Flaming and Baiting here on out.
 
Iteru said:
Catilena1890 said:
What the? I didn't even CLICK the post button twice! What the heck man? Sorry everyone T-T
Click to expand...

Edit -> Delete.

And the writers can't make up a series plot that doesn't involve Team Plasma? I personally think that's an unfair/silly assumption. Even then what does it have to do with censorship? It's fair enough to say you feel the TP eps shouldn't have been covered up, but your issues with Best Wishes really aren't on topic. There's no evidence TP would make everything else about Best Wishes better, so I'm stopping that discussion right now.

Oh, and moving on from your grandparent's death is not the same as your entire livelyhood being destroyed by an earthquake, in a country which is prone to more earthquakes. That sort of insensitive ridiculousless will be getting Flaming and Baiting here on out.
Click to expand...

Thank you, deleted.

I never said they couldn't. I said that if they want to have a shot at saving BW, they SHOULD make an arc dedicated to TP. WILL TP save it? I don't know. We haven't seen them, so we can't really judge on something that hasn't happened.

As for your second argument. You read too much into what I was saying. Yes, someone dying because they were old/sick is immensely different from thousands of lives being destroyed, and even more lives being ruined. The grief is the same though. What you are saying is that it's impossible for anyone who underwent a national tragedy to move on from it. What I am saying is that it is not. That's a trait ALL humans share, when something tries to destroy us and everything we work our entire lives for, we pick ourselves back up, mourn that which was destroyed, and rebuild. THAT is the point I`m trying to make. I don't want people to FORGET about the Earthquakes, the Tsunamis, and all of the other great tragedies they underwent. What I`m saying is that it is time to stop looking back and look towards the future. The best tool to help people look towards the future is the media. If those who tell us stories everyday take the first step to healing, then the rest will follow. Ignoring the problem does not solve it. Hiding something that happens to be about a recent disaster won't erase the disaster itself, but there comes a time when grief turns into fear and fear turns into paranoia.

And how did I know that someone was gonna take my words the wrong way? At least I have hot weenies and marshmallows now.
 
The Japanese treat things differently than Westerners do. They prefer to burry things like they never happened.

It's just the way things are. Nothing to do with Pokemon at all.
 
@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
 
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