At over 1200+ episodes, the Pokémon anime has unsurprisingly had a few episodes that were considered unfit for audiences. Some of these episodes were pulled from rotation after a single airing, while others never even made it to the airwaves or streaming.
While Pokémon might seem like a relatively innocuous series compared to other anime, the series is no stranger to controversy. Undoubtedly some of that controversy was unearned, as the series' popularity made it a target for religious groups looking for a boogieman. However, that doesn't mean the series hasn't created more than a few controversial episodes which do deserve more scrutiny, leading to some episodes being banned. Even in the days of streaming, a few episodes still aren't available to the public.
Electric Soldier Porygon
The first episode of Pokémon to be banned, this story holds a legendary place in the franchise. The episode sees Ash meet a scientist working with a Porygon that can enter cyberspace who is investigating a disruption in the Poké Ball transport network. Ash and friends use the Porygon and its evolutions never appeared in the Pokémon anime again, even though Porygon had nothing to do with the seizure-inducing lights.
The Legend of Dratini
This episode is particularly infamous among the Pokémon fandom due to the continuity errors its absence created. The episode involves Ash heading into Tauros offscreen between Pokémon episodes, leaving many a child scratching their head.
Holiday Hi-Jynx
Another infamous early episode, Holiday Hi-Jynx sees Ash and Co. meet a Orange Islands Pokémon episodes, Stage Fight and The Mandarin Island Miss Match, are also missing from streaming services due to Jynx, although these episodes were all originally aired in the US.
The Ice Cave!
This episode also involved Jynx, but was much later in the anime. For some reason, the episode did not use the purple Jynx design, and as a result, was banned from the US and never dubbed. The episode revolves around the eponymous location, which in the games is the only place to catch Jynx in Johto. It's a fairly typical episode--Ash and friends are traveling, come across Team Rocket's plan, and put a stop to it. Fortunately, no events occur that are relevant going forward, so the episode's absence left little trace and many may not even be aware of its existence.
Dawn: Off on a New Journey! and Pewter Gym's Greatest Crisis
These two episodes were specials, aired together in Japan, which show what happens to Dawn and Brock after they part ways with Ash at the end of the a Pokémon XYZ special focusing on Clemont and Cilan.
A Touchdown for the Team!
This episode from the Pokémon's Sun and Moon era features Ash interacting with a troupe of wild imian, even decorating himself to look like one of them. That involves Ash painting his skin a solid black color--a fact that ultimately got the episode banned due to its similarity to blackface makeup. This was the most recent episode to have been banned in the US, and is really only notable for that fact. The episode does feature some unique imians with red and green markings, as opposed to the standard orange, but that's about the extent of it.
Shaking Island Battle! Barboach vs. Whiscash
This episode from the Ruby and Sapphire era would've featured Barboach's first appearance in the anime, but the episode was pulled before it could air. As the title suggests, Barboach and Whiscash are competing with Ground-type moves such as Earthquake. A week before the episode was set to air in Japan, a major Earthquake struck, and the episode was pulled for fear of being insensitive. Since it never aired in Japan it was never translated or aired elsewhere either, making it Pokémon's lost episode with only a brief teaser shown. The episode also led to Earthquake and related moves being banned from the anime altogether to avoid any future incidents.
Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma
This two-part episode was hyped up as a major plot and would've featured the two evil teams fighting for power in the Unova region. Similar to the last entry, the episodes were preempted by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake; although the episode didn't involve Ground-type moves in particular, the amount of devastation that occurs to the highly populated Castelia City was deemed insensitive, and thus the episodes were never aired. The entire plot was retconned out of the series, and the Pokémon anime wound up doing a completely different Team Plasma arc later in Pokémon, based on their appearance in Black 2 and White 2.
Although some countries have their own (much larger) banned episode lists, the episodes on this list are the most widely banned, due to their exclusion in Japan or the US. Some banned episodes of Pokémon can easily be found in other languages, while others are effectively lost media. From accusations of racism to accidental seizures to fears of insensitivity toward victims of natural disaster, the reasons can be quite varied, but for a series with well over a thousand episodes, having this few pulled after 25 years is a real achievement. It's been years since the last episode was skipped, so hopefully, fans of Pokémon won't have to be adding to this list again any time soon.
