List of banned and skipped episodes

A Banned Episode is an episode of the Pokémon anime that was removed from the original lineup of episodes. Several episodes of the anime have been banned for different reasons.

Worldwide

Episode	Information	Air Date
File:200px-EP038.png Electric Soldier Porygon	This episode is infamous for causing many seizures when first aired. In the episode, Pikachu, in order to stop some missiles, uses a Thunderbolt attack. This leads to a very large and quick sequence where lights flash very quickly and vividly on screen. Some of these lights were strobe lights being flashed at very high speeds. Many viewers reported dizziness and nausea as a result of this. 685 children were taken to be hospitalized, although only 150 were kept overnight for observation. Despite rumors, there is no evidence to suggest that any of the viewers suffered lasting injury. The episode has never been shown again and has set guidelines for flashing lights in anime. To remove the episode from the public mind, the character Porygon and its evolutions have never actively appeared again over the course of the series, though they have made a number of cameo appearances.	December 16, 1997
File:AG101-unaired.png Battle of the Shaking Island! Barboach vs. Whiscash!!!	This episode revolves around a bunch of Whiscash causing an earthquake. It was removed and never aired anywhere, including Japan, due to similarities to the Chuetsu earthquakes of October 23, 2004.	Unaired
File:BW023(2).png Team Rocket vs Team Plasma Parts 1 and 2	This episode was set to air in Japan but was delayed in because of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which also caused a tsunami and, worst of all, a great nuclear plant meltdown. It may have also been delayed due to Castelia City being destroyed. By the time Team Plasma finally appeared almost two years later, the episodes had been retconned out of continuity. Despite this, the Pokémon Company of Japan and TV Tokyo still maintain that they will air when an airdate becomes available, but it is highly unlikely that they'll ever air in any other country now that the international dub has progressed beyond their series.	Unaired

Removed by 4Kids

Episode	Information	Air Date	Notes:
File:IL018.jpg Beauty and the Beach	This episode revolves around all the female characters entering a swimsuit competition, including James, who, in order to enter, buys a pair of inflatable breasts. The episode is notable for one scene where James is waving his fake breasts in other's faces for comedic effect. The image has become a quite popular on the internet. The scene that got it banned was later removed from the English dub, but it was badly cut.	July 29, 1997	This episode aired only twice in America. You can get this episode in the Pokémon: Orange Islands DVD pack.
File:IL035.png The Legend of Dratini	This episode is banned due to Kaiser pointing a gun in Ash's face and threatening to shoot him and because of Jessie, James, and Meowth firing several missed shots at Kaiser to catch the Dratini.	November 25, 1997
File:JE134.jpg The Ice Cave	The first banned episode in 4 years. This episode is banned because of Jynx's racial stereotype appearance which appears to offend many people in the United States on whom are African-Americans. Because of this, the episode wasn't aired by 4Kids Entertainment.	May 30, 2002