Pokemon: Japan vs Western Audiences Part 2

Moving away from the theme of death there are many ways in which Pokemon has been altered from its original or censored for various audiences of different ages and opposing cultures around the globe. One interesting case study for how cultural differences have restricted original content access across the globe in Pokemon can be found in the American dubbed series of the anime ‘Tentacool & Tentacruel’ (1998) although originally aired in the United States of America it was later taken out of rotation due to the aftermath of the twin tower terrorist attacks on September 11^th 2001. Scenes in which sky scrapers where destroyed by a giant Pokemon were deemed too insensitive for a nation in mourning and the episode has never been aired in the USA since. This demonstrates how global and political opinion can be enforced into a seemingly free and parallel universe pre empting and audiences feelings towards controversial themes and opinions. 

Similarly banned after its first airing ‘Holiday Hi-Jynz’ (1999) received complaints of how Pokemon Jynx was portrayed as a racist stereotype of black and African people with similar connotations to dated ideas similar to those in The Story Of The Little Black Sambo (1899). These kind of themes of racism would be uncommon in Japan however in the western world we can see how audience opinion and participation can lead to the transformation of original texts during the Pokemon universe.