Pokemon Clip Resurfaces Thanks to Its Hilarious Censorship Swap

Anime fans are familiar with censorship as some of their favorite series have faced such a jury before. From Sailor Moon to Dragon Ball and beyond, no anime is above the censors. It might surprise some that Pokemon also dealt with censors a fair few times, and one clip has surfaced showing off one of Team Rocket’s best bleeped moments.

The Pokemon clip seems innocent enough as it follows Jesse and James during a robbery. The pair is trying to abscond with some medical equipment, but they are caught redhanded. Of course, this leads the two Team Rocket goons to go on a spiel, but their rhyming speech is interrupted by a bit of censorship.

“We have no appointment, but we’ve been having some trouble,” Jesse says to which James responds: “So subscribe us some ointment on the double.”

The jingle carries on with Jesse finishing her bit, saying, “To protect us from all that chafing and itching.”

And finally, James comes in with a zinger that seems to be missing a word. “It might finally stop all of Jessie’s complaining.”

As fans know, the Team Rocket duo love to rhyme, and Pokemon was never shy about letting them. They follow this pattern in the first two lines, but things change at the end. After all, when it comes to complaining, there is one synonym that rhymes with itching… but it is not a kid-friendly word. In order to get this dialogue past the censors, Pokemon had to cut out b-tching for complaining… and this clip manages to sell the switch to young kids while leaving adults unsure of whether the curse will be bleeped out.

Do you remember any other memorable censored moments from Pokemon? Or does this one take the cake? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!