Pokémonhas had a surprising number of banned episodes over the years, and many of them resulted in changes as to how the creators operated. One of the biggest changes, however, resulted in an entire category of moves being banned, all due to a coincidental tragedy that occurred in real life.
Many ofPokémon’s banned episodes at least aired in Japan before they were banned, but that wasn’t the case for every single episode. There are also a handful of banned episodes which have never been aired anywhere in the world, and there’s a recurring culprit responsible for these episodes being withheld: earthquakes. Earthquakes are a fairly unpredictable form of natural disaster, and one that Japan is particularly prone to experiencing.
How Earthquakes Changed Pokémon Forever
An Untimely Disaster Resulted in Several Episodes Being Banned
Of all the Pokémon types that exist, Ground-type Pokémon are often seen in battle the least. They aren’t completely absent from the anime, however; many Ground-type Pokémon and their accompanying attacks have appeared in the anime, such as Ash’s Phanpy, which became the first Pokémon to use the move known as Earthquake in the anime. While the move Earthquake was rarely used even in the anime’s early days, the series experienced an unfortunate coincidence in one of the few episodes where it did appear.
The episode “Whiscash and Ash” focuses on Ash trying to help a fisherman who vows to capture a giant Whiscash that lives in a nearby lake. It’slargely known among Western fans for a gag where Whiscash eats a Master Ball, but the episode also has a special distinction: it was the last episode in which the move Earthquake was ever used.The next episode which was intended to feature the move, known only by its Japanese title “Shaking Island Battle! Barboach vs. Whiscash,” ended up being pulled from the schedule before it aired, due to a real earthquake occurring.
The episode was scheduled to air on June 16, 2025, but an earthquake occurred on June 23, 2025, which was the deadliest earthquake to hit Japan until the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. The creators of the anime felt it might be insensitive to so casually use the term “earthquake,” and thus had the episode pulled. As a result, this episode has never been seen by the public, and is widely considered to be lost media. It also led to a major change for the anime’s writers: the moves Earthquake, Magnitude, Fissure, and certain other Ground-type attacks were banned from use.
Earthquakes Have Caused the Anime Headaches Since
The Anime Would Have More Unaired Episodes Due to Earthquakes
It is worth noting that not all Ground-type moves were banned; relatively harmless ones, like Mud Shot, have been seen since, and even more destructive moves like Earth Power. However, this occurrence did keep the anime from using earthquake-related moves from that point forward. Unfortunately, though, this wasn’t enough to prevent future episodes from going unaired.In 2011, thePokémonanime was preparing for an epic two-part battle, known to fans as “Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma,” which was scheduled to air on March 17. Unfortunately, the Tohoku earthquake occurred on March 11.
It’s said that the two-part episode was pulled because the amount of devastation caused by Team Rocket and Team Plasma’s conflict was too reminiscent of the earthquake’s destruction. This caused a massive continuity problem for theBlack and Whiteanime, forcing them to do substantial rewrites to the following episodes and ultimately leading to the original Team Plasma storyline being canned entirely. While these episodes have never been seen either,the scripts for the Rocket vs. Plasma two-parter did eventually leakonline and get translated, so fans at least know how it would’ve gone.
These three episodes are the only episodes ofPokémonthat have ever been banned before airing, and both times it was due to an earthquake. It’s also interesting to note that there are plenty of other moves named after natural disasters, such as Hurricane, Twister, and Blizzard, and yet these moves have never been banned from the anime the way Earthquake has. Hurricane was even used as recently asPokémon Horizons, where Larry’s Staraptor uses the technique in his battle with Dot.
Will Pokémon’s Strongest Ground-Type Moves Ever Return?
Earthquake And Its Related Moves Are Unlikely to Ever Appear Again
Removing such powerful Ground-type attacks from the series largely went unnoticed by fans, so the decision didn’t stir up much controversy. As a result, it’s unlikely that the moves in question will ever be unbanned, although they continue to appear in the games, such asPokémon Scarlet and Violet. It does seem like the incident affected the game developers somewhat as well, as there haven’t been any more Earthquake-related moves introduced since (in Japanese, at least). Many Ground-type attacks added since then have used other earth-related terms, like mud and sand, instead.
The banning of Earthquake and its related moves was a huge change for the writers of the anime, who previously didn’t seem to have any sort of restrictions on what kind of moves could be used. It’s entirely possible that the existence of moves like Earth Power is specifically due to this ban, as the game developers do consider the anime at times during the development process. It’s even more unfortunate that the ban on these earthquake moves didn’t completely save them from having to scrap completed episodes again, either.
Of course, the real life toll of these earthquakes was far more important than any Pokémon move could be, so the desire to ensure that already traumatized children didn’t have to be hurt any further is a perfectly understandable one. LostPokémonepisodes are a small price compared to the destruction that these earthquakes caused, and if it helps people to feel safe, then it’s worth it. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that thePokémonanime was forever altered as a result of these tragedies, and the changes to the series can still be felt to this very day.
