The cute but aggravated little fellow at the top of this page is named "Pikachu." He's a star in "Pocket Monsters," one of Japan's most popular amusements. Pokemon (as it's known in Japan), has a tremendous following and has engendered a wide range of products, from card games and manga, to video games and an animated television series. So with all this success, why are little pikachu's eyes flashing red and blue with exasperation?
Pikachu is upset because there was a rupture in "business as usual" in the entertainment industry and he and his anime pals were scapegoated for it. The bizarre story that follows reads like a daydream from a science fiction writer.
Tuesday, December 17th, 1997... millions of viewers turned on Tokyo T.V. at 6:30 to watch the 38th episode of Pokemon (the nation's most highly rated television show in that time slot). The evening's episode, "Computer Warrior Porigon" culminated in a skirmish between characters taking place inside of a computer!
In the animated fray a "vaccine bomb" is detonated to eliminate a computer virus and during the encounter, pikachu's eye's are flashing red and blue. As one can imagine, this scene was illustrated with all the artistry and flair that Japanese animation is known for.
Viewer reaction to the scene was immediate and startling.... people began to experience epileptic seizures and lose consciousness! There were widespread reports of convulsions, vomiting and eye irritation with over 700 people ultimately rushed to the hospital for treatment. Most of those were school children but one 58 year old man also required medical attention.
With all it's pulsating colored light flashes, this brief animated pitched battle precipitated adverse physical reactions in some susceptible viewers. Before the advent of television the phenomenon was known as "photosensitive epilepsy," or seizures induced by flashing light. In our modern world with electronic gadgetry all around us such incidents of epilepsy have grown, but the Pocket Monsters debacle is the first such instance of "television epilepsy" triggered on a massive scale.
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