Darkest moments in the anime

[P0KEM0N]

What episodes or scene do you consider to be the darkest/mature moment of the show?

 

[SammyW27]

Any episode featuring Hunter J comes to mind

When Giovanni makes an ACTUAL appearance. (None of that Boss Fantasy BS or showing up for the sake of a joke (the one thing I hated about DP))

The Japanese version of "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad" (which had a death threat)

"Tentacool & Tentacruel", which featured Godzilla-style levels of destruction (wasn't it even banned in America post 9-11 )

Episode N has some pretty dramatic moments for THIS show...

 

[Neo Blaze]

Dark moments are rare in a show that is primarily aimed at children. But Episode N had some moments. It didn't become that dark, but one thing I remember is Looker threatening Aldith/Angie with a pipe to stop her. That was certainly something I didn't expect for a show like this, I didn't mind that though.

Also the Original series had some controversial things that could be considered ''dark'', such as guns, there haven't been guns or anything alike in the anime ever after the OS, haven't there?

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

Much as I don't like the saga, DP had some of the darkest and most dramatic moments in the anime.

The Original Series and Episode N had quite a few as well: for this show, anyway.

 

[Master Cyrus]

Episode N was about as dark as a Pikachu short after we saw how the mind control could be broken by friendship. The fact that we knew from previous experience that pokemon moves can't even damage clothing made the N fainting part incredibly stupid IMO.

Anyways as far as I can remember

kanto: When ash almost froze to death, Charizard disobeying, any scene with a gun.
Johto: The Lugia thing was pretty intense.
Hoenn: this was back when we didn't know better so the groudon and kyogre rampages counted.
Sinnoh: anything with J, iron island.
Unova: Maybe the litwick thing might have been scary if nit for the fact that the amount of truly dangerous non legendary pokemon in the pokeverse can be counted on 1 hand if that.

 

[FANG-TAN]

I thought Takeshi's backstory was a pretty mature topic to explore before they flanderized it.

Here are some posts I made on SPPf, specifically regarding death:

Has the topic of death ever been brought up in the anime before? Yes it has.

Allusions to Death
- Hitokage was in danger of dying in its debut episode. Daisuke left it to die because "it was a useless Pokemon".
- When the St. Anne sank, Satoshi-tachi and Rocket Gang were presumed dead.
- In "Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice!?", the Pokemon at the Gunjon City Pokemon Center were explicitly stated to have been in danger of dying if the power wasn't brought back.
- Mi's Entei nearly killed Lizardon. The subject matter of the film in general was interesting, emotional, and less childish than people give Pokemon credit for.
- Sakaki commands his Rocket Gang minions to "Kill them all!" in the Mewtwo episodes.
- Celebi nearly dies in the fourth movie, but gets revived. Before the revival, we even see Satoshi himself breaking down at the thought of his friend having been killed.

Actual Death
- "The Ghost Pokémon and the Summer Festival" featured the ghost of a dead woman.
- Ai, a character from the original Mewtwo saga, died in a car crash.
- Aitwo, Fushigidanetwo, Hitokagetwo, and Zenigametwo (plus other clones) die in the first movie prologue and the CD Drama.
- Dr. Fuji and his team of scientists are also killed by Mewtwo.
- Latios dies in the 5th movie because Lions and Zanner were a couple of...ugh.
- Lucario dies in the 8th movie.

Of course, for some reason, people totally ignore these events.

A clone of a little girl who died in a car crash, dying before she could even set foot into the outside world is pretty sad. It's even sadder in the CD Drama where she describes her feelings about never getting to eat the foods she wanted from birth because she was inside that test tube. We also see Mewtwo being visibly traumatized by her death. It's heartbreaking and didn't need to be graphic. Her father and his team of scientists also incurred the wrath of the newly-awakened adult Mewtwo and were killed on-screen. It wasn't a graphic death, but it's still pretty clear to the children that they died. It wasn't something that was glossed over either, because even the music being played in the background was eerie. I'd say the circumstances of Ai's death was more detailed and meaningful than if they had her skewered with knives or something. The execution is what counts the most, otherwise the death is pointlessly graphic and adds nothing to plot.

With Latios, he could have continued having a happy life with his sister if it weren't for the villains being greedy/power-hunger jerks and stealing the city's Soul Dew. The protagonists saved a city from total monstrosities - at a price. Lucario's death was also a pretty big highlight of the eighth movie, though that was more of a bittersweet "he'll be reunited with his master" death than a depressing one.

They died on-screen. It's as detailed as it can get in Pokemon. Pokemon doesn't need anything gruesome either way. The subject matter is what matters, and I think Pokemon did it in more mature manner than most "gruesome" deaths shown in more young adult television. Of course, I highly doubt the anime would delve into these topics ever again the way it's headed.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

The ones that come to my mind are:

- Mewtwo's Origin story
- Larvitar's backstory seen though its psyche in "Address Unown"
- The death of Pokémon Hunter J

 

[PockyAddict]

Definitely the death of Hunter J, and some of DP. The darkest movies moments were the first mewtwo movie.

 

[PoisonTouch]

I haven't watched a lot of episodes, but the episode with Cyrus and the Spear Pillar during the Diamond and Pearl saga creeped me out entirely. Mostly because Cyrus is horribly insane and was heck-bent on destroying the whole world, and not caring that everyone would die. Freaky. Freeeeaaakyyy.

(The part where Garchomp protectively holds Cynthia near the end of the episode when the mountain almost collapsed was really adorable though.)

 

[Galar Adventurer]

My dark moments are:
- Hunter J intentionally starting a forest fire just so she could force Ash and Riolu out of hiding.

- Movie 9:
Ash being at risk of drowning.

- Episode N:
N's back story.

 

[Life]

It might be sadder than dark, but at the end of M13 when Zoroak was dying and her child was there who kept nudging her. If She hadn't been revived, it certainly would be the darkest moment in my book.

 

[Yari]

Uxie and Mesprit's Future Sight attacks causing the death of Hunter J (and all her comrades + Pokémon). As a human, it was a bit painful to watch, but I felt she kind of deserved it. It was like a message telling her, "Don't f*ck with us legendaries!"

 

[Aamir]

Diamond and Pearl. Paul abusing Chimchar.
Advanced Generation: Mew getting very sick along with the tree.

 

[L-05308]

The Mismagius, Spiritonb and Dusknoir debut episode had pretty dark moments.

The science where Paul is having all his Pokémon attach chimchar.

That Litwick episode.

When Giovanni crucified Meloetta and later went completely insane.

The first AG episode where there was danger of Pikachu literally exploding.

The sixth movie's pure evil Groudon.

That poor child traumatic experiance with the Sealeo in movie 7.

Ash almost freezing in space with Victini.

These along with most of what's already been said stands out to me.

 

[Dr. Buni]

The original series movies had quite a dark "feeling", specially the third and fourth ones. The Litwick episode was surprisingly disturbing as well.

 

[Palamon]

Well. There aren't many since the anime isn't dark at all, but the whole entire Mismagius episode was pretty dark. That's the only thing that comes to mind since the anime is pretty light hearted tbh.

 

[Swadloon]

That Litwick episode was dark in a way I didn't think they would still want to do in the series.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

A Dark Moment is when a Person is going to Fall to their Doom or Attacked By A Pokemon but something Saves them in the Neck Of Time.

 

[Almonds]

Episode N where N recalls his past when he had to run away from Team Plasma.

Actually, there were a lot of stuff in Episode N that could be called 'dark'.

 

[SaftOchBulle]

The Sabrina arc, anyone?? It's probably the only time in the anime i've been genuinly scared! Still creeps me out!