Pokemon has had a few bumps on its path to success. Decades ago, the franchise made its debut, and it took over both gaming and TV with ease. Thanks to the anime, audiences from all over were able to learn about Pokemon, but it seems some of the show was curtailed for U.S. viewers. After all, kid-friendly censors are hard to trick, so there is no way Misty was going to get one of her more infamous scenes approved.
For those who don’t know, Pokemon was edited a fair bit for overseas fans. Localization is to thank for some of those changes, but censorship cropped up more than you may think. Case in point, the episode “The Kangaskhan Kid” had to cut a certain scene out that involved Misty and… breast milk??
Videos by ComicBook.com
Yes, that is right. Back in the day, the episode came from Japan and saw Ash’s gang meet a boy who was raised in the wild. The young kid grew up amongst Kangaskhan in a right Tarzan scenario. When he met Ash and the gang, the boy was rather shocked, but he didn’t have Disney friendly manners. Instead, the kid took a raunchy turn and asked whether he can drink Misty’s breast milk.
Of course, the scene was made even worse when a shot panned directly at the heroine’s chest. Misty promptly scolded the boy for asking, but the choice to censor the scene was made long before her outburst. The idea of discussing breast feeding in a show marketed to kids was too much for censors, and the whole bit was taken out immediately. Instead of asking about breast milk, the kid asks Misty whether she’s a human or not, and the trainer is none too happy about that. She rages against the poor boy for a minute, leaving no one the wiser about what they were missing out on.
Are you glad this Pokemon scene got cut in the end…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Pokemon: The Series, is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately is still not officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing. Staff confirmed for the new series include Daiki Tomiyasu serving as chief director for OLM, Maki Odaira as series director, and Kunihiko Yuyama as creative supervisor.
