Pokémon's Anime is Actually Much More Mature in the Original Japanese

Oct 29, 2023

Many people think of the Pokémon anime as being especially childish, but most of that is due to the original dub downplaying its more mature elements.

More so than most other anime, the Pokémon anime has maintained a reputation as being for young kids, reluctant to push boundaries and instead playing it safe. That wasn't always the case, though--the Pokémon anime, especially in its earlier seasons, actually featured some surprisingly adult themes in the original Japanese.

When Pokémon was brought to the US, the anime was localized by 4Kids Entertainment, a company known for censoring and altering content out of Japan. Since Pokémon was being aimed heavily at younger kids, things that were considered okay to include in Japan were suddenly no longer okay with American parents. To make the show more on the level of Western cartoons, certain elements were cut out--but what may surprise is just how much content was cut or skipped, and how long this went on for.

Content could be censored from the Pokémon anime for a variety of reasons--violence, weapon use (especially guns), alcohol references, and sexual content. The very first episode of Pokémon featured a scene of Misty slapping Ash, which was cut out of the dubbed version. The most famous example of guns being censored in the anime is the Safari Zone episode, which featured extensive use of realistic guns by Team Rocket and the Safari Zone warden; the episode being cut entirely left an enormous plot hole, as Ash catches his 30 Tauros in this episode. James' bottle cap collection, seen in many episodes, was originally referred to as explicitly beer bottle caps, suggesting Jessie and James drink beer when offscreen. Even as late as Sun & Moon, Professor Burnett's champagne glass at her wedding was edited so that she was drinking orange juice in the dub, even changing the shape of the glass.

The most heavily edited episode of Pokémon that wasn't skipped entirely is "Beauty and the Beach," the 18th episode of the series. The episode was initially skipped but eventually made a return, advertised as "the lost episode" 2 years later. The "lost episode" version had several minutes of content cut out, which involved Team Rocket's James cross-dressing in a bikini with large fake breasts in order to win the beauty contest. The episode also featured some uncomfortable comments towards Misty, with an old man saying he "looks forward to seeing her in eight years," which was cut from the dub.

Related: Pokémon: Jessie and James’ Tragic Backstories Explained

While Pokémon toned itself down over time, the early seasons of the Pokémon anime feature a lot more questionable content than most fans would've guessed from only watching the dub.