Remember when you were a child watching
Pokemon, and no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't figure out where and when Ash Ketchum happened to catch himself 30 Tauros? Well, that's because for the most part, if an episode of the beloved Anime didn't make it to the states, chances are people didn't really notice beause the episodes had no lasting effects on the plot anyways. Except for the episode where Ash caught those Tauros, of course, because in time, when the Tauros became the focus of an episode, it became cause for confusion amongst fans.
The episodes banned in the United States weren't a ton, but there were enough to be notable.
Beauty and the Beach was banned in U.S. for James' useage of fake breasts,
Tentacool & Tentacruel and
The Tower of Terror were removed and banned due to 9/11 attacks,
Cyber Soldier Porygon was banned globally for the massive amount of seizures it caused,
The Legend of Dratini never received an English Dub due to it's extreme gun violence against kids, and there were also four Jynx episodes which didn't make it to the states due to their racism. Those would be
Holiday Hi-Jynx, The Ice Cave! Stage Fight!, and The Mandarin Island Miss Match.
Since then there have only been two unaired episodes, both globally, and that was because they both had to do with earthquakes during a time in which Japan was suffering and it would have been devastating to air them. Those were titled
Battle of the Shaking Island! Barboach vs. Whiscash! and
Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma Parts 1 & 2 each respectively.
While fans may have felt like they had seen the last of the racism bans back when Jynx was popular, no one had anticipated there to be more blackface stereotype.
Yes, really. The episode in question,
Ash and Passimian! Friendly Touchdown, was initially set to air an English Dub here in the states at the end of July or early August having originally aired in Japan in March. It's airing saw Ash use dark face paint in what looks like the blackface stereotype to imitate a -you guessed it- monkey.
Now, sure, Ash is a kid and he doesn't know any better, but some would argue the writers do. Luckily, this didn't air. It's the 1,003rd episode in the series, or the 64th episode of
Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon - Ultra Adventures, and with the popularity of the
Pokemon game franchise, we can probably expect to keep getting more adventures with Ash for the forseeable future, but only time will tell how many of those will make it to the states.
What do you think? Is racism worth banning Anime from the U.S.? Check out the trailer for
Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon - Ultra Adventures below!
Class is back in session for Ash and his friends at the Pokemon School in Alola - but this time, there's a mysterious new addition to their group! What secrets does this mischevous Pokemon hold? And is the Aether Foundation as harmless as it seems? Find out in Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon - Ultra Adventures!