*** WARNING - PSEUDO SAYS THIS EPISODE CAN CAUSE SEIZURES - WARNING *** 

Episode 0038 has been known to cause seizures. If you are prone to seizures or sensible to strobing lights I recommend you avoid this episode all together. Otherwise, just make sure you are in a well lit room and check out the English fan dub and/or the original Japanese release in the extras folder.

*** WARNING - PSEUDO SAYS THIS EPISODE CAN CAUSE SEIZURES - WARNING *** 


(Japanese: でんのうせんしポリゴン Computer Warrior Porygon, commonly Electric Soldier Porygon) is the 38th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 16, 1997. The episode is infamous for resulting in over seven hundred Japanese people (ranging from 3-58 years old[1]) suffering adverse health effects, including epileptic seizures, vomiting, irritated eyes and other related symptoms, due to use of a flashing strobe effect upon its first and only airing. Because of that, this episode was never commercially released or re-broadcast anywhere in the world, and the show went on hiatus for four months.

The frames which caused the seizures are a four-second section in which Pikachu uses an Electric attack on a group of vaccine missiles. The explosion—which occupies a significant portion of the frame—flashes brightly and alternates rapidly between red and blue. The seizures caused by this episode resulted in OLM dropping strobe effects from Pikachu's electric attacks. For years following the incident, a disclaimer was broadcast at the beginning of all Japanese television shows, cautioning viewers not to sit too close to the television screen and to watch only in a brightly-lit room. (「テレビアニメを見るときには、部屋をあかるくして近づきすぎないようにしてみてくださいね。」)

*From https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP038