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| Features | Pokémon Shock
How was the
Pokémon Shock incident being covered on Japanese news as all
this was unfolding? I think the
best way to find out is to actually sit down and watch the various news
reports that've been uploaded to sites like YouTube but the problem is
that those TV news reports are, of course, completely in Japanese.
So what can you do? It's not like anyone's gonna come around and fansub the news, right?
Well guess what, that's exactly what I did! I took all the news reports I was able to find on sites like YouTube, translated them, and then uploaded newly fansubbed versions to my own YouTube channel! These news reports offer a fascinating time capsule of that initial week so you'll definitely want to take the time to check these out!
You can also find all these videos on my Pokémon Shock YouTube playlist.
This first video I was able to find, chronologically, appears to be a combination of two different newscasts: The first half seems to be from Fuji TV's News Japan (ニュースジャパン) broadcast the night of the incident while the second half seems to come from an unknown local news report in Aichi prefecture the day after.
The first half of the video is interesting because, as you can see, it's clear nobody had a solid understanding of what exactly was going on or the full scope of the incident.
This next report I was able to find was from a December 17th episode of TV-Asahi's Super J Channel (スーパーJチャンネル).
Later that night, another one of TV-Asahi's news shows, News Station (ニュースステーション), aired their report. According to the book Pokémon Story, News Station was the first TV news show to break the story of the Pokémon Shock incident. While I haven't been able to find that initial December 16th broadcast I was able to find this (very low quality version of) their December 17th broadcast:
That morning's episode of the kids' infotainment show Oha Suta (おはスタ) starts off all high energy and whatnot until the show's host, Kou'ichi Yamadera, gets all serious for a moment to tell us not to watch any video taped copies of the episode they may have made. The tonal whiplash in this clip sure is something to behold!
This next one's a doozy; the December 18th episode of one of Fuji TV's morning news shows, Good Morning! Nice Day (おはよ！グッドモーニング), dedicated over 40 minutes of its 90 minute morning show to the Pokémon Shock incident. The show interviews actual victims, discusses how various governmental offices are reacting, asks for expert opinions from their studio guests, makes one of its reporters get his brain waves measured while watching the episode, talks about all the different effects the incident is having on anything unlucky enough to have the Pokémon name attached to it, and more!
Another long one, this time from the Sunday Morning (サンデーモーニング) broadcast from TBS.
Based on the comment about "tomorrow's" episode of Pokémon it seems as though this FNN News (FNN ニュース) broadcast from Fuji TV is from December 22nd, about a week after the incident.
On April 11th, 1998 -- about a week before Pocket Monsters was set to return to the air -- TV-Tokyo aired an hour-long report wrapping up the incident. That report, "The "Pocket Monsters' Animated Series Special Investigation," can be found here:
This news special, as we learned from the book Pokémon Story, was first teased on March 30th, 1998 and then eventually aired on Saturday, April 11th, 1998 from 1:00 PM to 1:55 PM. The special is, for all intents and purposes, TV-Tokyo's final report on the incident. The other videos on this page were from just a few days after the incident; this report is from a whole four months later. It is, therefore, the most comprehensive of the bunch.
And that's it! If you come across any other news reports from the first week of the Pokémon Shock incident then please be sure to let me know and I'll see about adding it to this page.
Well guess what, that's exactly what I did! I took all the news reports I was able to find on sites like YouTube, translated them, and then uploaded newly fansubbed versions to my own YouTube channel! These news reports offer a fascinating time capsule of that initial week so you'll definitely want to take the time to check these out!
You can also find all these videos on my Pokémon Shock YouTube playlist.
| Tuesday, December 16th, 1997 |
This first video I was able to find, chronologically, appears to be a combination of two different newscasts: The first half seems to be from Fuji TV's News Japan (ニュースジャパン) broadcast the night of the incident while the second half seems to come from an unknown local news report in Aichi prefecture the day after.
The first half of the video is interesting because, as you can see, it's clear nobody had a solid understanding of what exactly was going on or the full scope of the incident.
| Wednesday, December 17th, 1997 |
This next report I was able to find was from a December 17th episode of TV-Asahi's Super J Channel (スーパーJチャンネル).
Later that night, another one of TV-Asahi's news shows, News Station (ニュースステーション), aired their report. According to the book Pokémon Story, News Station was the first TV news show to break the story of the Pokémon Shock incident. While I haven't been able to find that initial December 16th broadcast I was able to find this (very low quality version of) their December 17th broadcast:
| Thursday, December 18th, 1997 |
That morning's episode of the kids' infotainment show Oha Suta (おはスタ) starts off all high energy and whatnot until the show's host, Kou'ichi Yamadera, gets all serious for a moment to tell us not to watch any video taped copies of the episode they may have made. The tonal whiplash in this clip sure is something to behold!
This next one's a doozy; the December 18th episode of one of Fuji TV's morning news shows, Good Morning! Nice Day (おはよ！グッドモーニング), dedicated over 40 minutes of its 90 minute morning show to the Pokémon Shock incident. The show interviews actual victims, discusses how various governmental offices are reacting, asks for expert opinions from their studio guests, makes one of its reporters get his brain waves measured while watching the episode, talks about all the different effects the incident is having on anything unlucky enough to have the Pokémon name attached to it, and more!
| Sunday, December 21st, 1997 |
Another long one, this time from the Sunday Morning (サンデーモーニング) broadcast from TBS.
| Monday, December 22nd, 1997 |
Based on the comment about "tomorrow's" episode of Pokémon it seems as though this FNN News (FNN ニュース) broadcast from Fuji TV is from December 22nd, about a week after the incident.
| Saturday, April 11th, 1998 |
On April 11th, 1998 -- about a week before Pocket Monsters was set to return to the air -- TV-Tokyo aired an hour-long report wrapping up the incident. That report, "The "Pocket Monsters' Animated Series Special Investigation," can be found here:
This news special, as we learned from the book Pokémon Story, was first teased on March 30th, 1998 and then eventually aired on Saturday, April 11th, 1998 from 1:00 PM to 1:55 PM. The special is, for all intents and purposes, TV-Tokyo's final report on the incident. The other videos on this page were from just a few days after the incident; this report is from a whole four months later. It is, therefore, the most comprehensive of the bunch.
And that's it! If you come across any other news reports from the first week of the Pokémon Shock incident then please be sure to let me know and I'll see about adding it to this page.
Found an error? Spot an omission? Please help me keep this page current and error-free by e-mailing me with a description of the error or omission.
