How Pokemon became a global phenomenon
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On the evening of December 16th, 1997, children all over Japan sat down to watch an episode of an anime that was starting to absolutely explode in popularity, Pokemon. In this particular episode, Ash, Brock and Misty headed into cyberspace to try to stop a virus that was put there by Team Rocket. While doing so, Pikachu let loose a thunderbolt that struck some digital missiles, causing a spectacular explosion.

However, this moment soon became an infamous event, as red and blue lights flashed at nearly 12 hertz for roughly six seconds, leading to blindness, convulsions, seizures, and loss of consciousness in hundreds of kids all over the country. Around 685 were transported to local hospitals, leading to over 150 becoming hospitalized, including two who wound up spending multiple weeks under medical supervision.

As to be expected, Government and Industry officials took swift and decisive action, which had sweeping effects on Japanese animation moving forward, and saw that specific episode of the show getting pulled from broadcast, forever.

However, even this horrific event couldn’t kill the behemoth that is Pokemon, the highest grossing media franchise of all-time, worth over 100 billion dollars. But how did this series about a kid and his electric mouse grow to such a colossal size? Well, it all started, with a boy and his bugs.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:12 Satoshi’s Story
2:16 Game Freak
4:46 Red & Green
6:36 Gen 2
7:35 Pokémania
9:32 Anime and Movies
13:47 Moving Forward

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Written by: John Aljets @BenderWaffles
Narrated by: Michael Keene
Edited by: Ben Bromley

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