The broadcast of Pokemon episode caused 685 children to have epilepsy in Japan

On December 16, 1997, the 38th episode of the Pokemon anime series called Denno Senshi Porigon (or Electronic Warrior Porigon) first premiered in Japan. This episode was only aired once on television and then “faded” right away because of an extremely strange phenomenon that happened.

The content of this episode is absolutely no problem. However, the strange thing is in a scene where Pikachu stops a rocket with his Thunderbolt, creating a huge explosion with lots of blue and red flashes.
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Although this lighting effect appeared in a similar part of the episode, in this scene an anime technique called “paka paka” made the scene extremely intense, with extremely bright, 12 Hz flashes occur for about four seconds at nearly full screen size and then two seconds in full screen.
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At this moment, the audience watching the radio began to feel blurred, headache, dizzy and nausea. Some have had seizures, gone blind, epileptic and lose consciousness. A total of 685 spectators, including 310 men and 375 women, were taken to the hospital by ambulance, according to a report by the Japan Fire Protection Agency.

This incident was called by the Japanese media Pokemon Shock. Scientists believe that it is the flashes of light that cause the photo-epileptic seizures, in which similar visual stimuli can alter consciousness.

News of the accident quickly spread throughout Japan. In the days that followed, TV Tokyo, the broadcaster of the episode, apologized to the Japanese people, suspended the show, and promised to open an investigation into the cause of the seizure.

In order not to repeat any similar incidents, the Japanese government has decided to permanently remove the ability to replay this episode in the future. The episode itself has never been replayed in any country other than Japan.

Warning: Replaying this footage can completely expose you to situations dizziness, dizziness, headache (the weak writer himself also feels a little headache and nausea). Therefore, you should consider it in advance.
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The Pokémon Shock phenomenon then spawned US weapons developers for a new nonlethal weapon that could control crowds by using the effect to induce mass seizures. However, the Pentagon later announced that the idea would not be further developed as planned.​