advanced generation anime, or tokyo contemplates the cosmos, part ii

The Pokémon franchise has sparked some controversy and criticism.


Racism
This original design of the Pokémon Jynx (seen to the above) bore a striking, but perhaps coincidental, resemblance to entertainers in blackface. A strong case can be made for Jynx being a parody of or homage to the Japanese Ganguro and Yamanba fashion trends, which were extremely popular when Pokémon was first released, but it can't be denied that blackface-influenced characters have appeared elsewhere in anime and manga - examples can be found near the beginning of Osamu Tezuka's early graphic novel, Metropolis and also can be found with Dragon Ball's Assistant Black, Mr. Popo, and certain support characters of One Piece.

As Pokémon became more popular in the US, this perceived similarity to a racist image from America's past offended some. In particular, it had offended children's book author Carole Boston Weatherford, who accused Jynx of being a racist stereotype in an article titled Politically Incorrect Pokémon in the magazine Black World Today, shortly after the anime episode Holiday Hi-Jynx aired. Episodes later on including Jynx are also either banned or cut in USA.

In response to this controversy, in 2000 Nintendo changed Jynx's face from black to purple and its hands from blue to purple in localized versions, a change which would be reflected several years later in the Japanese versions of the games and the Advanced Generation anime.


Christianity
Some Christian groups in the United States believe Pokémon to be Satanic in origin although the topic of religion was never mentioned or referenced in any episode of the anime. After the US release of Pokémon Yellow, there was a sudden widespread criticism of it passed through Christian congregations primarily by word-of-mouth. The claimed parallels between Pokémon and Satanism include:

* Pokémon parallel demons. They are captured and must be invoked to perform tasks.
* Magical 'talismans' (gym badges) are necessary to control many of them.
* 'Magical' stones are used to evolve certain Pokémon.
* Pokémon 'evolve'. Evolution precludes literal creationism, therefore Pokémon denies some forms of Biblical interpretation. However, it is possible the word was meant to mean in the pre-Darwinian manner; that is, to literally change over time. Pokémon evolution is an instantaneous change of a single creature from one form into another, and it was confirmed in later-released games that these changes are not passed on to the Pokémon's offspring (if two evolved Pokémon produce an egg, the hatchling will not be evolved). In addition, several Pokémon "evolutions" are in fact mere parallels to the natural life cycles of insects (Butterfree and Beedrill are two such examples that have existed since Pokémon's first release).
* Many Pokémon have paranormal or psychic powers. These powers are not stated to be derived from God and therefore, according to certain Christian doctrine, must stem from Satan (although this is not stated either).
* Many Pokémon embody or practice Asian spiritual and mystical concepts. For example, some practice martial arts, which some Christian groups denounce as a gateway to pagan religions. The game world also incorporates Asian traditions about elemental forces.
* Some Pokémon (such as Houndoom and Murkrow) resemble witches or demons.
* When the PokéRap is sung in English, the lyrics “gotta catch ’em all” are alleged to say “I love Satan” when played backwards [1]. This has left some Christians and Christian organizations believing that Pokémon subliminally encourages Satanism. However, backmasking in general is highly controversial and debatable, leaving room for much skepticism.

Still, most people (including many Asian Christian congregations)[citation needed] dismiss these claims to be nonsense, and attribute many of the alleged protests to urban legend. The surprisingly small number of original protests (as opposed to reports of protests) seems to reinforce this belief. It would be incorrect to state that the Christian religious community is monolithic in this matter, since most mainstream sects of Christianity are utterly indifferent to Pokémon. Catholics do not actually lax of the situation compared to Protestants.

The alleged outcry was enough to move the Holy See to comment, in an official statement on April 21, 2000:

The Vatican has announced that the trading-card and computer-game versions of Pokémon are “full of inventive imagination,” have no “harmful moral side effects” and celebrate “ties of intense friendship.” Whether that extends to the TV show, His Holiness didn’t say. The New York Post, quoting a Thursday story in The Times of London, says The Vatican made its announcement on its satellite TV station, Sat2000, run by the Italian Bishops’ Conference.-from the New York Times

There are also allegations against “Pokémon” citing liberal views on morality, particularly among Christians. These include the immodest dress of some of the female characters in the show, the use of the phrase “kick your ass” (in actuality, “kick your Grass”, referring to a type of Pokémon) in the lyrics of a song (What Kind of Pokémon Are You?) in the show, though the phrase was later removed and replaced with different lyrics, and a certain character (James), wearing women’s clothes in several episodes of the show, giving some the impression that he is a transvestite. Normally, when James dresses up as a woman for these ploys, his female partner Jessie also dresses up as a man, to further confuse their identities. (Ash generally fails to see through their disguises anyway, but the cross-dressing makes it that much more difficult). Such cross-dressing for both characters can also be seen in Pokémon Puzzle League, in the Spa Service mode.

Judaism and Buddhism
The Pokémon trading card game has been criticized by members of the Jewish community for its use of the swastika the most widely known symbol of Nazism in the West, which they hold is inappropriate for children’s toys. Nintendo says that this is a matter of cultural misunderstanding, as the swastika and a similar symbol, the manji, have been used in East Asian cultures as a symbol for “good fortune” by the Hindu religion for thousands of years. Even today in Japan, the swastika is not necessarily associated with Nazism, and most maps not only in Japan but also in Korea and Taiwan use a small clockwise upright swastikas, manji, to indicate the location of Buddhist temples. Moreover, Buddhist and folklore artifacts frequently bear swastika ornaments; a tiling of interwoven tilted swastikas is commonly seen in the Seoul subway system.

The manji was shown only on a Japanese version card and was excluded from the North American release. However, these Jewish groups attacked the Japanese version distributed in the U.S. by unauthorized import. As a result of this controversy Nintendo stopped using this symbol even in the Japanese version.[3] This raised a public backlash in Japan for being intolerant towards the symbols of the Buddhist religion for the sake of avoiding controversy.


Health
On December 16, 1997, 685 Japanese children were admitted to hospital with convulsive seizures. It was determined that the seizures were caused by watching an episode of Pokémon, "Dennō Senshi Porygon", or "Computer Soldier Porygon" (commonly translated as "Electric Soldier Porygon"). In this particular episode, there were bright explosions with rapidly-alternating blue and red color patterns. It was determined in subsequent research that these strobing light effects cause some individuals to have epileptic seizures, even if they haven’t had any previous history of epilepsy. As a consequence, many video game makers (including Nintendo) added warning labels to their video game products (or made pre-existing labels more prominent), warning that exposure to video games may trigger seizures in individuals vulnerable to photosensitive epilepsy.


Animal Cruelty
Some have compared the primary mechanism of Pokémon to the generally-outlawed practice of cockfighting. Seen from this point of view, the game consists primarily of Pokémon trainers capturing and bartering wild animals, forcing them to fight one another. Various performance-enhancing drugs may be used to give them an edge in the fight, although these are simply supplements of dietary minerals such as calcium and iron. Some people believe that this may encourage children towards acts of animal cruelty and illegal gambling.

However, most fans view Pokémon battling as a friendly competition between two teams of Pokémon and their trainers. Seen in this light, Pokémon are not being coerced to battle by their trainers. There are references to some Pokémon being territorial (e.g. Pidgeotto),[6] but it is vastly different to the aggressively territorial nature of roosters, who will attempt to maim the other rooster until one of the combatants dies. In contrast, Pokémon do not actually die from battle; they "faint" or are otherwise made unable to battle. Furthermore, trainers do not relish the idea of allowing two animals (or in this case, Pokémon) to fight to the death, while they merely view from the edge of the "ring"; rather, Pokémon trainers are usually depicted as fighting alongside their Pokémon and providing moral support, not simply issuing commands for them to follow.

In both the games and the anime, the player/viewer is taught that fighting is not necessarily a means to an end, and those who would rather fight than compromise are often portrayed in a negative light. Furthermore, the use of Pokémon for selfish or "evil" purposes is frowned upon, and organizations such as Team Rocket, which is often depicted using Pokémon solely for personal (and usually monetary) gain, are generally considered villains.


Originality
While claiming to be the first pocket monster anime, the idea of pocket monsters battling in a pocket tournament was actually taken from the 1983 Plawres Sanshiro anime. Pokemon’s lead character Ash Ketchum wearing the red cap heavily resembles the lead character Sanshiro. Even Sanshiro’s style of casting his pocket robot is similarly mirrored to Ash’s casting of his pocket monster. Both shows share the same concept of pocket tournaments.

postcard from china!

People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles. This is the first thing I hear when I come back to the city. Blair picks me up from LAX and mutters this under her breath as her car drives up the onramp. She says, "People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles." Though that sentence shouldn't bother me, it stays in my mind for an uncomfortably long time. Nothing else seems to matter. Not the fact that I'm eighteen and it's December and the ride on the plane had been rough and the couple from Santa Barbara, who were sitting across from me in first class, had gotten pretty drunk. Not the mud that had splattered the 1egs of my jeans, which felt kind of cold and loose, earlier that day at an airport in New Hampshire. Not the stain on the arm of the wrinkled, damp shirt I wear, a shirt which had looked fresh and clean this morning. Not the tear on the neck of my gray argyle vest, which seems vaguely more eastern than before, especially next to Blair's clean tight jeans and her pale-blue T-shirt. All of this seems irrelevant next to that one sentence. It seems easier to hear that people are afraid to merge rather than "I'm pretty sure Muriel is anorexic" or the singer on the radio crying out about magnetic waves. Nothing else seems to matter to me but those ten words. Not the warm winds, which seem to propel the car down the empty asphalt freeway, or the faded smell of marijuana which still faintly permeates Blair's car. All it comes down to is that I'm a boy coming home for a month and meeting someone whom I haven't seen for four months and people are afraid to merge.


Blair drives off the freeway and comes to a red light. A heavy gust of wind rocks the car for a moment and Blair smiles and says something about maybe putting the top up and turns to a different radio station. Coming to my house, Blair has to stop the car since there are these five workmen lifting the remains of palm trees that have fallen during the winds and placing the leaves and pieces of dead bark in a big red truck, and Blair smiles again. She stops at my house and the gate's open and I get out of the car, surprised to feel how dry and hot it is. I stand there for a pretty long time and Blair, after helping me lift the suitcases out of the trunk, grins at me and asks, "What's wrong?" and I say, "Nothing," and Blair says, "You look pale," and I shrug and we say goodbye and she gets into her car and drives away.


Nobody's home. The air conditioner is on and the house smells like pine. There's a note on the kitchen table that tells me that my mother and sisters are out, Christmas shopping. From where I'm standing I can see the dog lying by the pool, breathing heavily, asleep, its fur ruffled by the wind. I walk upstairs, past the new maid, who smiles at me and seems to understand who I am, and past my sisters' rooms, which still both look the same, only with different GQ cutouts pasted on the wall, and enter my room and see that it hasn't changed. The walls are still white; the records are still in place; the television hasn't been moved; the venetian blinds are still open, just as I had left them. It looks like my mother and the new maid, or maybe the old maid, cleaned out my closet while I was gone. There's a pile of comic books on my desk with a note on top of them that reads, "Do you still want these?"; also a message that Julian called and a card that says "Fuck Christmas" on it. I open it and it says "Let's Fuck Christmas Together" on the inside, an invitation to Blair's Christmas party. I put the card down and notice that it's beginning to get really cold in my room.


I take my shoes off and lie on the bed and feel my brow to see if I have a fever. I think I do. And with my hand on my forehead I look up with caution at the poster encased in glass that hangs on the wall above my bed, but it hasn't changed either. It's the promotional poster for an old Elvis Costello record. Elvis looks past me, with this wry, ironic smile on his lips, staring out the window. The word "Trust" hovering over his head, and his sunglasses, one lens red, the other blue, pushed down past the ridge of his nose so that you can see his eyes, which are slightly off center. The eyes don't look at me, though. They only look at whoever's standing by the window, but I'm too tired to get up and stand by the window.


I pick up the phone and call Julian, amazed that I actually can remember his number, but there's no answer. I sit up, and through the venetian blinds I can see the palm trees shaking wildly, actually bending, in the hot winds, and then I stare back at the poster and then turn away and then look back again at the smile and the mocking eyes, the red and blue glasses, and I can still hear people are afraid to merge and I try to get over the sentence, blank it out. I turn on MTV and tell myself I could get over it and go to sleep if I had some Valium and then I think about Muriel and feel a little sick as the videos begin to flash by.