Dennō Senshi Porygon

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Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu riding Porygon

"Dennō Senshi Porygon" (でんのうせんしポリゴン, Dennō Senshi Porigon^?, lit. "Digital Soldier Porygon", although most commonly translated as "Electric Soldier Porygon") is the thirty-eighth and a banned episode of the original Pokémon anime and was aired on Japanese television in December 16, 1997. It is infamous for using visual effects that caused seizures in a number of Japanese viewers.

[edit] Synopsis

Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu discover that the system used to transfer Pokemon from one Pokemon Center to the other is malfunctioning. On Nurse Joy's request, they go to Professor Akihabara, the one who created the Pokeball transfer system. He tells them that Team Rocket stole his prototype Porygon, a CG Pokemon who can exist in cyberspace, and is using it to steal trainers' Pokémon from inside the computer system. He then sends them into the computer system to stop Team Rocket with his second Porygon. Porygon is able to defeat Team Rocket's Pokémon, but Nurse Joy, monitoring the situation, has sent a vaccine into the system to combat what she thinks is a virus. Pikachu uses a Thunderbolt attack on the vaccine , and the group and Team Rocket are able to escape the computer.

[edit] Controversy

Pikachu sends out its Thunderbolt attack.

A still of the infamous scene

About 20 minutes into the episode, there was a scene in which Pikachu stops some rockets with his lightning attack, resulting in a huge explosion that flashed red and blue lights. Although there were similar parts in the episode with red and blue flashes, this scene was extremely intense, for these flashes were extremely bright strobe lights, with blinks at a rate of about 12 Hz for approximately 4 seconds in almost full screen, and then for 2 seconds outright fullscreen. At this point, viewers started to complain of blurred vision, headaches, dizziness and nausea; in a sense, this might be considered a striking occurrence in actual reality of the literary trope known as the motif of harmful sensation. A few people even had seizures, blindness, convulsions and lost consciousness. Japan's Fire Defense Agency reported that a total of 685 children (310 boys, 375 girls) were taken to hospitals by ambulances. Although many children recovered during the ambulance trip, more than 150 of them were admitted to hospitals. Two people stayed in the hospital for over 3 weeks.

Scientists believe that the flashing lights triggered photosensitive seizures in which visual stimuli such as flashing lights can cause altered consciousness. Although scientists know that approximately 1 in 4,000 people (0.5–0.8% of children between 5–13 years old) are susceptible to these types of seizures, the number of people affected by this Pokémon episode was unprecedented.

A Pokémon website, Pokémon Press Battle, made the following observation:

(...) photo induced epileptic attacks can be caused by exhaustion, stress, and sitting too close to the television. All of the above are facts in most Japanese school children's lives, who live under constant academic and social pressure in small homes. Experts have speculated that the children were intensely focused and involved with the show, figuratively 'glued to the set' when the scene went off like a bomb in their faces.

This event was briefly mentioned in the first book of Ripley's Believe it or Not!.

[edit] After Effects

The opening screen of "Anime: Pocket Monster Problem Inspection Report".

After the airing of "Dennō Senshi Porygon", Pokémon went into a four month hiatus. TV Tokyo discontinued some program specials that were supposed to air around the end of December. After the hiatus, the timeslot changed from Tuesday to Thursday. The opening theme was also redone, and black screens showing various Pokémon in spotlights were broken up into four images per screen. Before the seizure incident, the opening was originally one Pokémon image per screen.

Before the beginning of the reairing, "Anime: Pocket Monster Problem Inspection Report" (アニメ ポケットモンスター問題検証報告, Anime Poketto Monsutā Mondai Kenshō Hōkoku^?) was shown. Broadcast in Japan on April 11, 1998 and April 16, 1998, a woman named Yadama Miyuki went over the circumstances of the program format and the on-screen advisories at the beginning of animated programs.

[edit] The before/after schedules for Electric Soldier Porygon

After the Four month hiatus, the timeslot was changed from Tuesday to Thursday. The original schedule before the seizure episode was as follows:

• Note: Pikachu's Good-bye was not planned in the original schedule. The episode was made after the incident.

[edit] Guidelines

Many Japanese television broadcasters and medical officials got together to find ways to make sure this never happened again. They established the following guidelines for future animated programs:

• Flashing images, especially those with red, should not flicker faster than three times per second. If the image does not have red, it still should not flicker faster than five times per second.
• Flashing images should not be displayed for a total duration of more than two seconds.
• Stripes, whirls and concentric circles should not take up a large part of a TV screen.

.....a full list is at [1]

Japanese broadcasters also began broadcasting an on-screen advisory at the beginning of animated programs. Some example warnings:

「テレビを見る時は部屋を明るくして離れて見て下さい」

"When watching TV, please brighten the room and sit at a distance from the TV."

(as seen on TV Asahi broadcasts of Ichigo 100% and Steel Angel Kurumi.)

「テレビアニメをみるときは、部屋をあかるくして近づきすぎないようにしてみてくださいね。」

"When you're watching anime on the TV, please brighten the room and don't sit too close."

(as seen on TV Tokyo broadcasts of Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Medabots,Mythical Detective Loki and Bleach)

「犬夜叉からのお願い…テレビアニメを見るときは部屋を明るくして画面からはなれてくださいね」

"A request from Inuyasha... When you're watching anime on the TV, please brighten the room and sit away from the screen."

(as seen on Nippon Television broadcasts of InuYasha)

This advisory notice was parodied in the first ending sequence of Sonic X where Sonic is reprimanded for watching TV in the dark and sitting fairly close to the TV.

The Simpsons watch Battling Seizure Robots.

There was also a reference to this in an episode of The Simpsons, entitled "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo." Bart is seen watching TV and asks, "Isn't this that show that causes seizures?" and is seen having a seizure about 3 seconds later. Soon everyone in the room is having a seizure, and the show is revealed to be "Battle Seizure Robots."

In South Park, episode 42, Kenny suffers from a seizure playing a Chinpokomon video game.

[edit] Porygon in the anime after Dennō Senshi Porygon

The episode has only been aired once. Afterwards, Porygon appeared not only during a "wipe" between scenes in "Pikachu's Summer Vacation", the short cartoon before Pokémon: The First Movie but also in a recap by Brock, explaining the scenario of the cartoon to new viewers, which appears on some of the Pokémon film DVDs. In 2006, the Nintendo DS game Pokémon Diamond & Pearl was released, and a new evolved form called PorygonZ appeared. Like Porygon2, PorygonZ might not appear in the anime due to the incident.

[edit] Trivia

A similar scene to the Pokemon Incident

In March, 1997 a 25th episode of an anime called "Yat Anshin Uchuu Ryokou" had a similar incident when a reported 4 children were taken to hospitals by ambulances when a scene with Red and White colors flashed. After the "Pokemon Shock" it was discoved that the YAT Anshin! Uchuu Ryokou Incident are similar. [2]

It was also discovered in the later research that similar symptoms had occurred, although smaller in scale, during the airing of "YAT Anshin! Space Travel" story #25 on Saturday, March 29, 1997.

[edit] External links

• CNN archive news article about Seizure episode
• CNN archive news article (2) about Seizure episode
• Neuroscience for kids - Pokémon on the brain
• Japanics
• Forbidden Pokémon - Pikachu Attack Induces Seizures
• A Japanese page showing the seizure-inducing images
• episode screenshots
• Audio-Visual Sensory Perception