The Other Banned Pokémon Episodes.

Before I get into a "deep dive" with my copy of Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu on Nintendo Switch, I thought I would do this post to address the other banned episodes of Pokémon that I haven't been able to yet. Ultimately, I decided against doing individual posts for them because of how some of them never aired even in Japan; and one had material to recap, but I decided not to for reasons I shall explain below. So let's get this started.

Advanced Generation, "The Shaking Island! Barboach VS Whiscash!" -Never aired due to earthquake and tsunami prior to first airing in Japan

Whiscash and a trainer during feeding time.

This episode of the Advanced Generation, which would have taken place chronologically between "Solid as a Solrock" (the gym battle with Tate and Liza) and "Vanity Affair" (which saw the debut of Elite Four member Drake); ended up getting pulled due to the Chuetsu earthquake of 2004. The only evidence of this episode's existence as of this writing are a handful of still shots and an episode preview in Japanese; and this episode also resulted in the anime retiring the moves Earthquake, Fissure and Magnitude. While this may not be the biggest example of the removal of an episode due to natural disasters, the next examples are ones I have been wanting to address for years.

Best Wishes/Black and White, "Team Rocket VS Team Plasma, Parts 1 and 2"-Initially delayed, later indefinitely postponed due to 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami

Two operatives from Team Plasma in disguise.

Team Plasma grunts awaiting orders at Desert Resort.

When these episodes were first previewed in early 2011, I was among many who were excited to see how this would turn out; especially as someone who was and is still a big fan of Generation V. I had just gotten the games, and I definitely enjoyed how the anime was approaching its concepts. This two-parter was touting quite a bit in its preview, and it was definitely looking to be an event not to be missed. Then, on March 11, 2011, six days before they were scheduled to air; the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck. The disaster left thousands dead, injured and missing; and resulted in billions of dollars in damage.

What I remember most about the time right afterwards was how quiet it was. Even if I wasn't coming home from my freshman term of college the following week, I was worried about how people were over there. I had friends online over there, and people both in and out of the series I admired. So, my concern was less about how this would turn out and more about if they were all right. When communications were restored, I was thankful to know they were okay. Among other series, this was one of many that was fundamentally changed by the disaster. While the producers initially intended to merely delay the episodes due to the tragedy (even re-editing others to reflect this), they were ultimately indefinitely postponed; and Team Plasma's story had to be extensively rewritten later on. Still, for what it's worth; I totally understand why they had to, and I definitely enjoyed what I got with Episode N nonetheless.

Sun and Moon, "Ash and Passimian! Touchdown of Friendship!"-Skipped in the English dub because of unfortunate makeup choices

Ash disguised as a Passimian.

Even though I have enjoyed the Sun and Moon series so far for its unique take on the world of Pokémon, that's not to say that it's been without its hiccups even after the initial furor over the changes in story structure and art design have died down. Case in point: this episode, which revolves around Ash trying to resolve a conflict between two factions of Passimian. While I do think the episode was pretty fun overall, the major reason why it has been skipped in the English dub is due to some rather unfortunate makeup Ash dons in the second half in order to help quell the fighting between the Passimian. While this isn't the first time this has happened (many episodes involving Jynx, including some I've looked at here are currently considered apocryphal as far as TPCI is concerned), it definitely doesn't help given the connotations the disguise has; and that Passimian are derivative of monkeys; often an antiquated slur for minorities, so... yeah. My stance can best be summed up by some tweets around the time the news first broke, which had words to the effect of, "this episode is being skipped in the dub, and uh, I can see why."

As for Disney, when someone asks me why they weren't willing to take the risk in airing the episode; my reply usually begins like this: "do the words "Song of the South" mean anything to you?" Obviously, they wouldn't want to turn one of the assets they have in their wheelhouse into a liability. It's the same reason why Tiana had to be reanimated for Ralph Breaks the Internet. For that matter, while some have posited that the episode has merely been delayed, so some of the more troubling scenes can be reanimated and re-edited for foreign markets; I have yet to find anything to confirm or deny this. Furthermore, the placeholder title of "Turning Heads and Training Hard" was instead used for the following episode; which introduced the character of Ilima. So, unless the Passimian show up again (so far, they've only appeared on one of Mina's paintings since this episode), I don't think this one being skipped will affect the narrative overall the way Ash's 30 Tauros have.

Now, I shall get back to work on more of my remaining material; and potentially enjoying Let's Go Pikachu on my new Switch soon. That will be all for now. Later.