The Pokémon series is no stranger to censorship
and localization changes over in the West,
and even episodes being completely pulled
from English TV over fear of causing offense.
You may recall how various episodes involving
the Pokémon Jynx, for instance, are not available
in English due to controversy over their appearance
resembling racist iconography.
Now it's just been revealed that an episode
of the latest Pokémon series, Sun & Moon,
will be skipping an episode over in the West
for similar reasons.
Episode 64 of Pokémon Sun & Moon, which originally
aired in Japan March 1st 2018, will not be
broadcast in English and the schedule will
instead jump straight to the next episode.
The decision has been made due to a large
part of the episode revolving around Ash wearing
dark face paint to disguise himself as a Passimian.
Like Jynx, it appears that there was some
concern that this could invoke racist imagery
and so English fans will no longer be able
to see this episode.
This marks the first time for an episode to
not be dubbed in English in nearly 9 years,
with all other Japanese dubbed main episodes
making their way Westward.
But, this isn't the first time for changes
to be made to the English show due to Western
sensibilities and, with that in mind, today
we'll be taking a look at some of the other
ways Pokémon Sun & Moon has been altered
in the West.
Currently there have been 60 episodes of the
show broadcast in English and so far a big
source for 1) being put in some really unlucky
situations and 2) having to have some elements
changed in the West, is Team Rocket's Meowth.
Meowth actually nearly died as early as the
3rd episode, with him getting into a rough
encounter with Mimikyu that knocks him unconscious
and promptly sends him to a heaven-like realm.
Jessie and James manage to bring him back
by throwing water on him, but similar events
will happen again in later episodes - except
this time, they would be toned down in the
West to reduce the resemblance to death.
In episode 12, Meowth sees that Mimikyu has
gone missing and then notices him in the water
without its clothes.
Over in Japan the next shot then shows him
nearly drowning...
The English version, on the other hand, removes
the shot showing Meowth face down in the water
and also him on land when his soul returns
to his body...
Meowth yet again nearly dies as a result of
Mimikyu in episode 38 and is seen walking
along a dark tunnel towards a bright light,
and then reappearing in a flowery meadow full
of sunshine.
The English version on the right however,
then cuts out a shot showing Meowth's lifeless
body fading into view.
A little later and another scene showing Meowth's
soul returning to his body is changed too...
In the English release, you can no longer
see his soul returning to his body, but if
you listen closely, you'll notice that they
didn't remove the soul's sound effect to go
along with it...
The appearance of souls have also been removed
in other parts of the show.
Episode 52 shows Bewear carrying Team Rocket
and their Wobbuffet away, gripping them tighter
and tighter.
As you can see, in the Japanese version on
the left, the pain causes Wobbuffet's soul
to be seen coming out of its mouth.
In the English version on the right though,
the soul was removed.
Another source for changes so far in the show
is the appearance of drinks that could resemble
alcohol.
This can be seen in episode 42, where in Japan
everybody can be seen drinking a dark orange
substance.
The English version interestingly only changed
the drinks for the characters on the right
side of the screen, by turning the liquid
green.
This is likely due to the difference in mugs
that the characters are holding and the characters
on the right's more closely resembling beer
mugs.
Episode 55, which aired in the US only a month
and a half ago, also removed alcohol similarities
- this time to the glasses that that Professor
Kukui and Professor Burnet are drinking from.
Due to resembling wine glasses, the Western
version changed them to regular glasses and
also made the liquid inside look more like
orange juice.
And finally, for another change that's been
made so far to the show, episode 6 had a rather
strange change to a scene showing Ash and
Pikachu eating a meal that Ash had prepared,
despite not knowing how to cook, which makes
him sick...
The English version for some reason removed
being able to see the glittery vomit shooting
from Ash's mouth...
It's not known why this change was made, and
whether it was for any supposed moral reasons
or perhaps something else, but it was felt
as important to mention due to the general
lack of visual changes that the show normally
receives, which makes the removal of this
little bit of slight crude humour stand out
even more.
However, as mentioned, so far only 60 episodes
have been broadcast in the West and there
will be many more on the way coming soon.
If any future changes are made then you'll
be able to find it reported on the channel,
so please consider subscribing if you're interesting
in staying up-to-date on the changes made
to the Pokémon anime in the West, as well
as other shows and video games.
Until next time, thank you for watching.
