The Pokémon anime is no stranger to receiving episode bans, but only one Pokémon move caused so many problems that the series ended up banning the attack altogether.
The reasons for Pokémon episode bans have varied greatly; in the early days of the anime, the first episode featuring Porygon caused a massive incident in Japan where hundreds of children experienced seizures, resulting in that episode being pulled and never translated. Other episodes were banned abroad for the inclusion of Jynx, a Pokémon that was considered unintentionally racist due to its original black skin coloring (as opposed to the modern purple). By far the most prominent reason for episodes to be banned or postponed in Japan, however, was the inclusion of a Ground-type move such as Earthquake.
Earthquake first appears in the anime in a prominent role when Pokémon episode to be banned globally, following Porygon's, due to a real earthquake occurring in Japan on October 23.
The Banning of Earthquake
As a result of the earthquake, the episode was pulled prior to airing and has never been seen by anyone outside the Pokémon Company. To avoid having to pull episodes like this in the future, a ban was placed on using the move Earthquake in the anime, as well as similar attacks like Magnitude and Fissure, which involve earthquake-related . Appropriately, the Ground-type legendary Groudon was the last Pokémon to use one of these moves (Fissure) in the anime. Earthquake and its associated moves have persisted in the games, available in recent entries like Pokémon Sword and Shield. The event may have actually pushed Game Freak to develop new Ground-type attacks for the then- Diamond and Pearl games, such as Earth Power and Mud Bomb, but it's hard to say that for sure. These later moves have had no issues appearing in the anime, so it's not as if Ground-type attacks are banned entirely. Despite the ban, "Shaking Island Battle" wasn't the last episode to be banned for earthquake-related reasons, as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake resulted in two episodes of Black and White never being aired.
It's perfectly understandable why the Pokémon Company wouldn't want to be associated with earthquakes in quake-prone Japan. Being cautious with including the attacks in the future was the logical conclusion, but it is unfortunate that entire, fully animated and recorded episodes were never able to air as a result.
