22 Deleted Pokemon Scenes That Never Made It To America
These 22 scenes from the original Pokémon cartoon were changed when they came to the United States. The multi-media franchise has become one of the biggest of the last two decades. Pokémon just recently received its first live-action movie with Detective Pikachu, but fans of the property have been able to watch adventures set within this world since 1997. This was the year that the anime series made its debut in Japan, but it wasn't until a bit later that it was made available in the USA.
Pokémon the Series, as it was advertised stateside, debuted the pilot episode in September 1998, over a full year after it debuted in Japan. It didn't take long for interest in the series to grow, and the Pokémon franchise has continued to air their latest cartoon shows in the US ever since. While many fans may believe that they see the same product that airs in Japan, however, there have been some changes made to individual episodes of the years.
In the newest Screen Rant video, we take a look at 22 different scenes that aired in the Pokémon anime overseas, but changed for Pokémon the Series. These moments include scenes that were completely deleted from the American version of the show. While these changes are significant, there are also smaller examples of costumes and characters being changed for American audiences. Check out the video at the top of this post for a complete rundown of these changes.
Since the anime is targeted at younger audiences, many of the changes that were made came to make the content more appropriate for them. The episode "The Legend of Dratini" originally had multiple guns pointed at children, but that was changed to make it less scary for younger audiences. A similar instance with "Critical Situation! Bakuong Vs Juptile" saw a wine glass changed so children wouldn't be encouraged to drink. However, the changing of a match to a birthday candle is one of the stranger choices made in the converting process.
Even though these changes were made, the series is mostly the same across these different versions. Stateside fans still got to experience the same basic show as those who saw the original Japanese version, so these minor changes don't alter the show too much. In some cases, it was probably for the best that the series was changed. And for any fans who now feel like they've missed out on the original vision for specific Pokémon stories, it's time to seek out the original material to fix this.