I am a longtime viewer and fan of the
Pokemon Anime (which was the starting point of Pokemon for me). The series is
often marketed for kids though every now and then, some of the episodes can get
dark and disturbing. Here are some of the episodes or moments that fit the
bills. Note that I may count an arc as a whole, count two epsiodes as one if they linked together and discounting movies and side series (though
some can get dark too). And be warned that there will be spoilers.
12) Pokemon I choose you/Pallet Party Panic
Even
the very first episode has its moments with the Ash and Pikachu being chased by
a huge flock of Spearows after mistakenly throwing a rock at it (due to Ash
trying to catch a Pidgey and Pikachu refused to cooperate). It shows how vicious
the relentless flock can get with them chasing Ash and Pikachu. It gets worst
in the later episode Pallet Party Panic when the Fearow that evolved from the
same Spearow Ash have hit have turned up and remembered Ash, coming back for
revenge. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s a larger one and has bullied some
Pidgey and Pidgeottos. This shows that
being face to face with a large predatory bird with a grudge against you is terrifying.
11) Abra and the Psychic Showdown/Haunter versus Kadabra
I feel that a lot of Gym Leaders have more character
and bigger screen time than their gaming counterparts (especially those that
are his travelling companions). Sabrina stands out for having a rather darker
backstory and character. She started off as a young, lonely girl who became obsessed
using her Psychic powers, becoming destructive using them. This have caused her
to have a split personality with Sabrina’s mind focus on her cool, callous,
power hungry half and her childlike half manifested into her doll. But the
disturbing part is when she transported Ash and his friends into a doll house
after losing to her Gym battle, trying to crush them with her giant ball. Worst
still, she have the ability to turn people into dolls including her Mother
(implied that she stuck as one for years) along with Brock and Misty when Ash’s
Haunter didn’t turn up to battle. If Haunter didn’t help Sabrina’s
personalities to merge, then they would have remained as dolls for a very long
time.
10) Do I hear a Ralts?
Whilst not the darkest episode itself, the episode
is definitely mature and serious. It’s
about Max finding a sick Ralts and have to rush to the Pokemon centre, bumping into
many obstacles along the way including Team Rocket who were trying to capture
it (they may or may not have been aware of Ralts having pneumonia but it was
rather petty of them regardless). There was even one time when Max emotionally breaks
down when he tried to get Ralts to eat but it was too weak as if it’s given up.
Thank goodness that Max has made it to
the Pokemon Centre in time. Have he been too late, then the series would have
taken to a darker turn. Having said that, I find this one of the best, if not
the best episode of the Hoenn saga.
9) Paul and Chimchar
A lot of darker episodes are from the
Diamond and Pearl series. During Ash’s journey in Sinnoh, he meets a cruel
trainer named Paul who is well known for mistreating his Chimchar every time it
loses. It gets rather dark as it shows psychological abuse which could be
relatable in real life for those have gone through abusive relationships and
the effects it have. The two episodes ‘Glory Blaze!’ and ‘Tears for Fears’
shows the effects of PTSD with Chimchar’s reactions fighting Zangoose. Thank
goodness Ash offered Chimchar to join his team, giving the love it needs and
making Paul’s defeat in the Sinnoh League as its fully evolved form Infernape
rewarding. It also makes one of the well written character developments by the
standards of the show.
8) Ghoul Daze!
Here’s an episode that features ghosts.
During Ash’s time in Pokemon Summer Academy, there was a sinister Ghost Girl
who who tries to lure people coming into the Spirit World including Conway (who
almost lures him off a cliff), Meowth, Ash, Pikachu, Angie and Shinx. She would
have succeeded if it weren’t for Professor Rowan and Dusknoir rescuing them. The
way she gets disintegrated into the portal is also chilling. Conway’s reaction
when he finds out that his partner was a ghost summaries this episode.
7) Scare
at the Litwick Mansion!
The Litwick evolution line are always known
to have one of the most disturbing Pokedex entries and this episode shows this
as the Litwick uses their ability to drain their life energy. Team Rocket were
the victims. You can tell that they became lethargic as their life force
becomes drained as they stayed in the mansion. This has lead the Litwicks to
open the portal to the Ghost world and tried to suck them in. Jessie and Cilan
have nearly suffered this fate but luckily, they were rescued by Ash and James
respectively. This make this episode quite a scare.
6) The Battle Finale of Legend
Cyrus from Team Galatic is more ruthless and
less redeeming than his gaming counterpart, harming anyone who gets in the way
of creating a new world as shown in earlier episodes when he orders Commander
Mars to blow up Iron Island with Ash and the others in it. But what makes this episode
on the list is how frighteningly close he is to succeeding his goals as he uses
the Red Chain to control Dialga and Palkia, torturing them which nearly cause
the entire Sinnoh region to be destroyed by a black hole. Even though his plans
have failed, Cyrus enters into the portal himself which disappears, much to
Mars’ dismay. Whilst Ash and the others have saved the world, one would wonder
what happened to Cyrus’ fate.
5) Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu
Hunter J is one of the few Pokemon villains
who is a Complete Monster. All of her appearances turns the episode to a more serious and darker toning. She is a ruthless mercencry who petrifies Pokemon to
capture and sell them for the black market and have little concern for her own
men working for her. Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu shows the full extennt of her
pure evilness as she tries to murder Ash for getting in her way by using her
Salamence to set the forest on fire with Ash and his friends in it, orders her
Drapion to crush Ash and ejected him from her ship to his doom. If it wasn’t
for Ash’s ability to read Riolu’s aura, then she would have got away with kidnapping
Riolu. All of this have lead to Hunter J’s demise who’s ship got struck down
into the lake by the Lake Trio.
Her other appearance Pillar of Friendship also gets a mention which shows her wanting to capture Regigigias without caring for the consequences and petrifies the Regis and The Pyramid Kind Brandon as they sacrifice themselves.
4) One Journey Ends, Another
Begins/Memories in the Mist!
The Sun and Moon series have two episodes that
covers death without saying the word death but the implication are definitely
there.
The first one ‘One Journey Ends, Another
Begins’ features Litten’s mentor Scoutland whose condition is deteriorated due
to old age as explained by Nurse Joy when Ash takes it to the Pokemon Centre.
Even though we don’t get to hear what Nurse Joy is saying, its obvious that
Scoutland is at the end of its life but nevertheless, heartbreaking as we watch
the characters grieve. This can hit hard for anyone, especially if they have
gone through a loss of a pet themselves. Even the staff were affected as
explained by Ash’s voice actress Sarah Natochenny whose cat have passed away
before recording the episode.
The other episode that covers death is ‘Memories
in the Mist!’, focusing on Mallow’s Mother have died of illness when Mallow was
young. Mallow’s last words were her outburst of her anger and frustration, saying
that she hated her for always apologising for being sick and not being there
for her. We can tell in the present that Mallow has regretted saying those
words since then. Luckily, it gets better when Mallow gets to meet her Mother’s
spirit in Tapu Fini’s Mist, allowing her to spill out her bottled feelings to
make amends and focus on being thankful for being there in her life which make
it just as emotional to watch.
It’s great that we have the Pokemon Anime
to break out their shell as they cover death in a kid orientated show, showing
that going through the loss of a loved one is ok as it’s a part of life that
everyone experiences, making those two episodes well received.
3) Team Flare Arc (Pokemon XYZ)
The later arc of X and Y were praised for
pushing the series into a darker and edger territory. It all got started during
the last act of the Mega Evolution special when Alain pushed his travelling companion
Mairin away, leading her Chespin named Chespie to be exposed to high levels of
energy from the Zygarde 10% forms, falling it into a coma, much to Mairin’s
distress and Alain’s anguish and regret which was hard to watch. Fast forward
to Lumoise Conference, the leader of Team Flare Lysandre have successfully controlled
Zygarde, leading it to its destruction throughout Kalos in order to create a
new world with Alain being his unwitting pawn as he collected Mega Evolution
energy to not revive Chespie but to contribute to Lysandre’s goals. Alain may
have won his biggest battle against Ash but he suffered from the greatest lost
upon finding out that he was being used. A whole lot have happened throughout
Team Flare’s destruction including Ash being captured by Team Flare, Squishy
being under control of Team Flare with Bonnie desperately trying to free it,
the tragic sacrifice of Clembot and everyone stopping the Giant Rock that have
Chespie in it from reaching the Anistar City’s Sundial. All of this makes it an
enjoyable arc to watch throughout (although 'The Right Hero for the Right Job!' had me dangerously close to tears) with it’s again, darker and edger toning
which makes it one of the best, if not the best arc.
2) Lillie &Nihilego arc
The Sun and Moon season have a light
hearted and wackier tone. That if you don’t count the two aforementioned episodes
that covers death or anything that focus on Lillie and Nihilego. Since the
start of the series, Lillie is shown to be afraid of touching Pokemon. We learned
that it was due to a traumatic incident when she was attacked by a Nihilego. It
gets worse in Faba’s Revenge (and the episode before that when Faba tried to
erase her memory of the incident) when he kidnapped Nebby in order to open a wormhole
for Nihilego to enter the real world. The episode ends when Lusamine allowed herself
for Nihilego to abduct her to save her kids, leaving Lillie crying out for her.
Even though they all went to rescue her in later episodes, it doesn’t change
the fact that the episodes ends in one of the most disturbing cliffhanger. It
doesn’t get any better when they do try to rescue her as unlike in the games
when Lusamine willingly takes control of Nihilego, it’s Nihilego who takes
control of her as shown when she acts like a child throwing a tantrum for ‘taking
away her precious Nihilego’. It takes Ash and Pikachu using their Z Move and
Lillie’s courage to free her. I like on how this arc differs from the games,
giving a darker and edger aspect for this season.
Honourable Mentions:
Tentacool and Tentacruel have its moments with a Dynamax er I mean giant Tentacruel destroying the city out of revenge for its home being destroyed by people.
Jessie’s Mimikyu is a disturbing character
with its grudge on Pikachu though its moments are usually played for laughs.
That said, it does have its moments as shown on its debut episode ‘The Guardian’s
Challenge!’ when Meowth looks underneath its costume which have almost caused
his death. When he got round, he implies that he have been sent to Hell and
refused to translate what Mimikyu have said because it was so disturbing. That
is certainly an impression for Mimikyu’s debut.
At this time of writing, I have yet to
watch ‘A Scare to Remember’ but the plot about Pikachu having Amnesia with
Meowth convincing him that he’s a member of Team Rocket and turning against Ash
sounds quite dark.
There are some episodes involving Pokemon
being mind controlled ‘Pikachu Re-Volts’ and the Team Plasma arc also earns a
mention as they turn against their trainers. Ash had it bad with Pikachu in ‘Ash
and N: A Clash of Ideas!’ when he couldn’t snap out Pikachu being controlled by
Team Plasma, forcing N to give them the Light Stone. Then there was a time when
Ash became processed by an ancient evil king in ‘Battling the Enemy Within’.
There was one time in the Alola League when
Guzma orders his Golisopod to take down Lana’s Primarina in a rather brutal way
including choking her with Throat Chop to stop her using Sparking Aria and
taking her down with Poison Jab. And this was apparently legal in the League!
It’s a good thing that Guzma lost to Ash in the following episodes.
In the same season, there was a two part episode
when Ash was sent to a parallel world where a Guzzlord have showed up and
devoured everything in Alola, staying true on what Guzzlord can do.
1 ) Evolution by fire
During Tepig’s first appearance in the
Unova series, we see the affects of it being abused and abandoned as it was shown
its mouth being tied up, causing it to stave which is something that is unfortunately
happens in real life caused by animal abusers. Since it joined Ash’s team, it
was known to become sad every time it loses. But it wasn’t until we were shown
why in Evolution by fire. It meets up with its sociopathic trainer Shamus,
thinking that he has the best intentions for it, only for Shamus to reject him
again as he grabs it and tosses him. Worst still, it revealed that he pretended
to be sad when he abandons his Pokemon to stop them from following him, implying
that he have done this before to several other Pokemon just because he finds
them weak. This have psychology break Tepig during their battle. No wonder Iris
was so angry with Shamus and Ash takes it personal to beat him. This makes him
one of the cruelest trainers, worst than Paul. Even Shamus himself looks shady
and unnerving when he does various expressions. It all makes it satisfying when
Tepig evolves into Pignite, not only defeating Shamus but uses Flamethrower
right into his face.
So there you have it, whilst the Pokemon
Anime have its lighthearted, humorous, idealistic and emotional moments, it does
have its darker moments too which makes these episodes stand out and think
twice if the Anime is really for kids. Reguardless, I’ll keep on watching the
series as they are a part of my childhood that again gets me into Pokemon.
