By KC and Jowy
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the notorious Pokémon seizures incident in Japan.
On December 16th, 1997, approximately 685 Japanese people (mostly children) were rushed to the hospital after reporting symptoms such as convulsions, vomiting and eye irritation while watching the Pokémon anime on TV. This was caused by strobing red and blue lights that induced seizures even in people with no history of epilepsy. Many victims were hospitalized for more than a day and ranged in age from 3 to 58.
Kids having seizures is not funny. However, it is hysterical that the news was stupid enough to show the scene again that night, setting off another wave of seizures.
In the aftermath of these events, Pokémon went into a four month hiatus. When it finally came back on the air, TV Tokyo, the network that airs Pokémon in Japan, started to include health warnings telling viewers that watching the cartoon could cause fainting and nausea. Video game companies soon followed suit and added similar warnings to games.
Since then, the epileptic episode, Denno Senshi Porygon (Electric Soldier Porygon) has not been shown on TV. It has, however, been referenced countless times in popular culture—most notably on a Simpsons episode called, “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo.”
Here at The Pokémon Times, we are still not totally convinced whether the kids were having a medical affliction or simply overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of Porygon.
Kids having seizures is not funny. However, it is hysterical that the news was stupid enough to show the scene again that night, setting off another wave of seizures.
yeah that is funny, which episode was that, I was edides after that though before EU/US publication