While Pokémon is widely beloved as a wholesome, family-friendly franchise with a few banned episodes under its belt, even this popular anime series hasn’t managed to evade stirring international controversy. From minor offenses such as simply showcasing Japanese culture to overt displays of questionable visuals intended for comedic effect, quite a few episodes have been subject to a range of consequences, from postponed airing to an outright international ban. But what has this otherwise treasured monster-tamer anime done to deserve such debate?
Videos by ComicBook.com
One such ban was largely due to the pervasive use of firearms. Although such bits were intended for comic effect, the use in one episode specifically was deemed too dark for children by 4Kids Entertainment, even though that standard wasn’t entirely consistent within the series. Here, we’ll take a look at an episode that had been banned for that reason in almost all countries outside of Japan after airing in 1997: Episode 35, “The Legend of Dratini”.
Just How Ridiculous Is “The Legend of Dratini”?
With how ridiculously overt the use of guns is in this episode, let’s keep a tally (#) of how many times a gun is used to threaten somebody, let alone a child:
The episode opens with Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock entering the Safari Zone, Ash singing a song about how excited he is to catch some Pokémon. They’re “greeted” by Kaiser, the warden, promptly telling them to shut up and not hesitating to point a gun at the kids (1), asking if they’d like to be shot. Showing the kids the special Safari Balls and fishing rods to use in this area, Kaiser again points his gun at Ash (2) when he reaches for the items, warning the group that if they break the rules, he’ll shoot them, lifting to point the barrel directly in Ash’s face (3).
Misty gets excited over a picture on display that shows Kaiser with a Dratini, but Kaiser takes the picture away, insisting there aren’t any Dratini in the Safari Zone. When Ash insists that Kaiser himself had blatantly displayed proof of the legendary Pokémon’s existence despite apparently wanting to keep it a secret, he retracts his assertion when the warden again reaches for his gun (4). Although Kaiser comes off as a trigger-happy tough guy, he ultimately just wants to protect Dratini. Since he’d first had the picture taken thirty years ago, the rumor of the legendary Pokémon spread to the point trainers flocked to the Safari Zone, capturing an obscene number of Pokémon and trashing the place, leading to the rule of a 30-ball cap being strictly enforced.
Ever since, Dratini remained unfound besides the evidence in the one picture. While Ash is excited about the possibility of seeing Dratini, Team Rocket listens in and decides to capture all the Pokémon the Safari Zone has to offer for themselves, including Dratini. When Jessie and James foolishly reveal themselves as the group enters the grounds, Kaiser begins shooting at them (5). Team Rocket proposes a challenge of who can capture the most Pokémon. Ash confidently accepts the challenge right in front of his best Pocket Monster pal, even with the stipulation that if they lose, all their Pokémon will be taken away, including Pikachu.
While Ash, Brock, and Misty are distracted with the challenge, Team Rocket is instead determined to get Dratini’s location out of Kaiser. With James pointing Kaiser’s own gun at his head (6), Jessie questions him, pointing yet another gun in his face (7). Following Kaiser’s endurance of Team Rocket’s various tactics to extract Dratini’s location from him, he manages to find Ash and the group and warns them that Team Rocket is going after Dratini in the Valley of Dragons. They track down Team Rocket, save the day with the assistance of the now-evolved Dragonaire, and say their farewells to the Safari Zone.
Tidbits of Trivia of This Banned Episode
The aversion to showing firearms wasn’t exactly a perfectly consistent standard throughout the series. After all, Episode 12, “Here Comes the Squirtle Squad,” also featured guns, several even being pointed directly at Ash, but ironically, it wasn’t banned. Even so, it seemed even more overt with the use of guns to threaten someone, being used a total of seven times in this single episode. Albeit a bit ironic, the episode wasn’t aired in countries like the US since the characters are especially trigger-happy. It’s not hard to see why 4Kids pulled the episode internationally to try to deter such themes.
Nonetheless, this led to some major plot holes and contradictions in non-Japanese versions of the show. As this is the only internationally banned episode in which a main character catches Pokémon, one such confusion was the origin of Ash’s thirty Tauros. This is the largest number of Pokémon caught by a main character in a single episode, albeit offscreen. It’s also a first for a main character to catch more than one Pokémon of the same species, as this has not occurred again until 1,057 episodes later when Goh in Pokémon Journeys catches multiple Taillow.
Some other details unique to this particular episode include the introduction of any non-standard Poké Ball, even though the Safari Balls pictured in this episode are depicted differently from later in-game sprites. Also, even with the ban on the episode itself, the Pokérap uses scenes from this episode of Dratini, Dragonair, Rhyhorn, and the heroes pulling up a Gyarados on a fishing line.
The episode also includes some references to pop culture. Kaiser himself is in reference to the Man with No Name from the Dollars spaghetti western trilogy and the name of his gun, “Thunderbolt”, referencing the crime-comedy film also starring Clint Eastwood, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Another interesting note is how Jessie, in her attempt to extract info, depicts herself as a younger gyaru in her persuasion for Kaiser to go out with her, with him refusing on the basis of being turned off by kogals, a type of fashionable high schooler.
Do you think this episode deserved to be banned or to have multi-lingual versions? Let us know in the comments your thoughts on this controversial episode!
