On December 16, 1997, an episode of the Pokemon anime premiered on Japanese television. Titled Computer Warrior Porygon, it would quickly become one of the most controversial anime episodes of all time. During its only Japanese broadcast, Ash and his friends enter cyberspace using Porygon to stop Team Rocket from stealing Pokeballs. An antivirus attacks the gang after they stop Team Rocket’s scheme. And this is where the incident happened. Right as everyone is leaving on the back of a Porygon, Pikachu hits the missiles with a Thunderbolt, causing them to explode in rapid blue and red lights. Hundreds suffered headaches. Over 600 people suffered photosensitive epileptic seizures, with most of the victims being children. They even needed to go to the hospital for treatment! Thankfully no one died from the incident, but some victims stayed in the hospital for up to two weeks. This incident was known as the Pokemon Shock incident, and its effects are still felt in anime today.
The Immediate Aftermath
In the immediate aftermath, The Pokemon Comapny pulled the episode from rerun rotation. It hasn’t aired since in any capacity in any country. TV Tokyo, the producers of the anime, formally apologized to the Japanese public, suspended the program from airing, and said they’d investigate the cause of the seizures. Retailers across Japan pulled the anime from their rental shelves. No way retailers wanted to associate themselves with an actual health hazard. The anime’s following episode Holiday Hi-Jynx was pulled from broadcast and wouldn’t be shown until October 5, 1998, ten months after it was supposed to air. Just imagine being a Japanese kid and seeing Ash’s Charizard turn back into a Charmander for one week before turning back to normal.
Japan’s National Police Agency even questioned the anime’s producers regarding the show’s content and production process. There is a world in which Japanese police could have banned the anime from Japanese TV. Luckily, that didn’t happen. The anime returned on April 16, 1998, switching from a Tuesday broadcast date to a Thursday date, and the anime is still airing to this day. But during this four month break, the anime went through some serious changes and challenges.
The Lasting Aftermath
During the break, Japanese TV broadcasters and medical professionals came together to set guidelines for future anime in regards to flashing effects. Some of these guidelines include having flashing images with red lights flicker no more than three times a second. For flashing images with no red lights, they can only flicker up to five times a second. Flashing images in general can only last up to two seconds, and effects like stripes and whirls can’t take up a large part of the TV screen. Broadcasters also added warnings at shows targeted for younger audiences to sit further away from the TV screen. This included popular Shonen anime Fairy Tail, main character Natsu gave the warning. For some reason this warning also made its way into the dub. While the sit further away warnings have disappeared, the guidelines on flashing images are still in place. You can see them in anime like My Hero Academia, where opening 5 where the screen dimmed because of all the lights.
Porygon and its evolutions Porygon2 and Porygon-Z haven’t made an anime appearance outside of brief cameos to this very day, almost thirty years after the episode originally aired. And the kicker is that Pikachu was the one who caused the initial shock. Porygon was an innocent victim in all of this. Thankfully, only the anime has excluded Porygon. The Pokemon Company still includes it in all other Pokemon merchandise and media. This includes the video games, the trading card game, and the official manga.
Why Anime Needed This Change
While the incident causing changes on strobe lights was unfortunate, it was also necessary. A good amount of anime in the 80s and 90s contained intense strobe effects. This includes Giant Robo The Animation and King of Braves Gaogaigar. These anime were filled with bright flashing white lights that are like those needed to trigger epileptic seizures. Imagine of an epileptic incident happened with that My Hero Academia opening. Thousands watched the episode where it first premiered all across the globe. People from Japan to America to the Philippines could’ve suffered seizures. You shouldn’t suffer seizures when watching a movie or TV show, and Japan learned this lesson the hard way.
