A Deep Dive into Weird Pokémon Lore

Pokémon was an essential part of almost everyone's childhood - chances are you rushed home from school to watch Ash, Misty, and Brock adventure through the world with their companion collected Pokémon cards and tried to catch them all in the games. Hey, I bet you probably still own some pocket monster merch. While the franchise brought most of us fond memories and now turned into major nostalgia, Pokémon - like many other childhood favorites - has some dark secrets, twisted plots, and extremely questionable depictions. So hug your Eevee, get your tasty kelp donuts ready, and let's dive into the strange world of banned Pokémon episodes, disturbing endings, and a terrifying Manga!

★ Timestamps
0:00 Intro
03:37 Banned Episodes
09:21 Questionable Movies
14:45 Dark Endings & Why It's Disturbing
18:25 Weird & Creepy Episodes
32:10 Disturbing Manga
53:20 Conclusion

★ Music
Pokémon (all main games including Mystery Dungeon)
Fire Emblem
Deltarune & Undertale OST
Mario64 OST
Zelda OST 

★ Editing Credit
I had some help editing the anime/movie/banned episodes portions of this video from Bubby!

★ Art Credit
halloween in lavender town by Sunny-Bear (reddit)
mimikyu usa leaf danboru 

★ Disclaimer
This video is not meant to send any hate or harassment toward featured individuals, fandoms, companies, or any discussed content. The sole intention of this video is to talk about topics that I am genuinely interested in, share my interests with people, and document some weird parts of internet history. Please refrain from harassing or contacting groups or people featured in this video. Although I research my videos to the best of my abilities, I do not claim that the stated facts are accurate at the time of publishing. Please correct me whenever I make a mistake. B-roll footage, as well as sound/music credits, go to the original creators. 

Hey, looks like you read the whole description! Very cool. Have a cookie ★

[TrentonWasHere]

I still remember my mom telling me when I was little that pokemon was satanic/witchcraft. And now we both play Pokemon Go religiously (pun intended) ten years later. No one is safe from pikachu, no one

[AHylianWarrior]

Quick comment on Lucario: mega evolution is canonically a forced evolution and often drives the pokemon into madness either through constant pain, power surges affecting the brain or just straight up madness through power. With Lucario, it's madness came from the power surge affecting its brain

[speedboiiii]

Oh boy. The Mew movie with Ash turning to stone and the pokemon crying will still make me cry today as a adult... The movie overall gives me a strange vibe as the backstory is so mature compared to what pokemons target audience it should be. Probably the reason why it already left a stark impression on me even as a child. I feel like a lot of children anime movies around the year 2000 are strangely mature

[wafuudoudou]

hearing about how bizarre the manga sounds is honestly really making me want to check it out... I don't know why I never did tbh but it sounds like such a wild ride

[benamisai-kham]

I really appreciate pokemon for the darker stories honestly, I think it helps children understand the world a bit better than a story with all fluff cause children understand this stuff a lot earlier than adults realize, I think something safe like pokemon with slightly darker stories is a great stepping stone, stuff like goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark really helped a lot of my early fears and getting over them.
I probably watched my vhs tape collections of episodes 15-24 (I think) a billion times I loved tower of terror and ghost of maidens peak sooo much

[TheSlipperyNUwUdle]

I can’t speak to if this is true, but Brock’s English voice actor (Eric Stuart) said that the reason they changed “riceball” to “jelly donut” is because the Japanese studio specifically requested that the English dub, as well as the dubs of other languages, change it to whatever is more culturally relevant. To make Pokémon as widespread as possible and so that kids could relate no matter where they’re from.

I’m not here to defend every choice 4kids made, god knows they’ve had some questionable decisions made, but that at least I must speak up for.

[randomtinypotatocried]

Man watching this makes me want to binge watching all the series now

[LilyLewis]

I really wish Junji Ito Pokémon had become a thing!! He’s one of my favorite artists, it would have been so cool to see a full manga.

[magolor-]

I'm surprise you didn't mention guzma being abused by his parents in the games and manga

[societycrumbles]

I remember having the first issue of the manga as a kid! It was so different to the light and colorful anime I was used to.

[YouWt]

Catfishing Latias is the backwards equivalent of dating someone who turns out is a massive closet furry.

[Lucky-Seven_]

I got chills at the idea of a Movie where Team Rocket is fighting to survive against a world wide pokemon uprising. - Probably the coolest "new" idea for the series I have ever thought about. - Sad that we will never get something like it.

[SNER]

Thank you so much for actually covering the Adventures manga!
I feel like other YouTube videos that address it only get to the point where Koga's Arbok gets sliced, react, and stop.
Thank you for reminding me the Ruby Sapphire arc was not a fever dream and actually happened! (until Celebii reset everything, of course)

[musicinmymind]

Hi I’m sorry I always comment critiques-I do like your videos!! I just wanted to point out at 4:21 you should have another flash warning or give a verbal flash warning for the entire segment with a time stamp to skip if you plan on showing scenes like that multiple times!
Also at 7:10, the anti-Japan movement in South Korea (as you probably know) was due to Japan’s war crimes against South Korea during WWII that have continuously been denied by officials and either dismissed or glorified. I just wanted to say the context is definitely important, that’s all!

I’m super excited to watch the rest of the deep dive!❤️

[madnessarcade]

This video proves that Pokémon did grow up with its fans that’s the point of all this dark stuff in the franchise


It didn’t disappoint me I’m a true fan ride or die forever

[AlexDayz]

Someone who actually gives the Manga a decent job covering the Manga rather than just pointing at the same three example (Arbok cut in half, crucified gym leaders, and Zinnia being stabbed) to show it’s dark? IMPOSSIBLE! In all seriousness though glad that section was decent sized and details as I feel so many just overlock it or, as stated above, always use the same example. The first few arcs are still definitely some of my favorites since it’s the only time (as far as I’m aware) that major character like Gym Leaders are members of team rocket and the Elite Four is a genuine threat. I always knew Agatha was secretly evil!

[zeke]

I seriously cannot fathom why you only have 17k subs, this is some seriously quality stuff!

[Andy-ceij]

Props to bringing up the XY arc, barely anyone does that when it comes to this topic. Though for context on Y's head getting crushed by a Pinsir, that was actually Essentia who took Y's form as she has ditto-like transformation powers. She impersonated Y and tried to trick X, but X wasn't fooled and ordered his Pinsir to attack Essentia, and of course she survives because of her suit. Funnily enough the one thing that made X realize that he wasn't talking to Y was the fact that the fake Y called him "dear".

[hanakowolf]

I love your videos, but you got some minor details wrong. Ash and Latias DON'T have a baby. Latias just gives Ash a kiss. That's all. In the end credits, it's a whole other family of a father Latios and his twin Latios and Latias enter the city to protect it if the Latias we've followed for the whole movie can't protect it. The Mastermind Mirage "movie" was really a 10th anniversary special released as a made-for-TV movie. Other than that, great job.

[laslosermcuseless]

As a kid I was scared of hunter J's smash bros trophy thing. I remember seeing pokemon being turned to stone and the look of fear on their faces. Them they get kidnapped and you see the trainers get their friend taken away from them. It was horrible