Pokémon’s Controversial Past With Nazi Imagery, Explained
Not only have the Pokémon card and video games been accused of harboring Nazi symbols, but the anime even had Team Rocket seemingly hailing Hitler.
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The Pokémon franchise has had a litany of controversies and scandals over the years, both involving its video games and its almost as long-running anime series. Perhaps one of its most unknown controversies stems from the franchise’s unusual relationship with swastikas and Nazi imagery.
Not only have the Pokémon card and video games been accused of harboring Nazi symbols, but the anime even had Team Rocket seemingly hailing Hitler. Compared to all the other stories involving blackface and epilepsy, this one has gone relatively unremembered. Here’s the history of the Nintendo franchise and its random callbacks to the Third Reich.
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Nazi Imagery In the Pokémon Games
The first example of supposed Nazi imagery in the series was in the trading card game, where the card “Koga’s Ninja Trick” featured a swastika. This symbol was of course the classic swastika of Eastern religions, which has nothing to do with Nazis or antisemitism. Its generic use in Japanese media represents Buddhism and mysticism, hence it also being on a card involving ninja trickery. Despite this, Westerners found the original imagery potentially offensive, which led to the image being changed to a more generic symbol on the international card print.
In the video games Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Registeel has a stance in battle that has it raising its arm as if in a salute. This sprite was in the Japanese, Korean and even English versions of the game, but it was changed for the European release. This was due to its resemblance to a Nazi salute, which saw the European release getting a new sprite where both of Registeel’s arms are down by its sides. This sprite was later used in all releases of Platinum.
Nazi Imagery In the Anime
The episode “All Things Bright & Beautifly” from Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire isn’t a particularly well-remembered one, but it does contain the anime’s entry into the franchise’s Nazi legacy. The episode includes a segment in which Team Rocket flunkies Jessie, James and Meowth fantasize that they’ve won a Pokemon Contest, which was a concept introduced in that generation of the games.
The issue with this segment is that they’re shown surrounded by other members of Team Rocket as they all raise their hands in a cultish, Nazi-esque salute. This was changed in the English dub of the episode, with the Team Rocket mooks no longer raising their hands. Meowth, Jessie and James still are, however, making the censorship somewhat questionable.
Nonetheless, this episode isn’t nearly as notorious as “Denno Senshi Porygon,” which caused several children to have epileptic seizures. The situation surrounding Jynx and its somewhat racist original design is better known. In fact, Jynx was even removed from this episode in the English version due to a scene utilizing its original, darker design. The more lax and forgettable nature of this edit may have stemmed from the fact that, while still incredibly popular, the initial mania behind the Pokémon franchise had definitely died down somewhat; the episode took place during the third generation of the series, which is where many of its first fans who loved the original generation had begun to grow out of it, especially in the West. Thus, the legacy of offensive content had a lot fewer eyes on it to notice.
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