Is Pokemon Child Appropriate?

A couple of days ago i decided to watch television with my younger brother and sister. As i flipped through the channels an old anime show that I used to watch popped up called Pokemon. Pokemon are basically animals of the "real" world but instead they come in a variety of colors and they have powers.The show is about this young boy named Ash Ketchum who travels around his world to become the best of the best, a Pokemon Master.As he travels he meets new people and capture these creatures and learns lessons. When it first aired it targeted kids around the age of 4-11, now its trying to target people as high as 60. I have recently stopped watching this show because it has the same story line every season. On the other hands the kids were enjoying every minute of it. I was going to change the channel until I saw this.

For a minute I thought I was watching pornography. Those slippery slime slops always find a way to insert some sort of porn in their cartoons. Not only was that episode sexual for like 10 seconds it was also extremely violent. The girl got humped was Ash's rival Jessi from a group called Team Rocket that steals pokemon from other people and use them for their pleasure. After that incident the pokemon started to battle. This show promotes violence more than any other show I have watched when younger. While Ash tell the monkey to beat up the rivals pokemon my siblings yell and shout "yay!!!!" as if it is good to get blown up.

Are the Producers supporting violence. A case study by Jennifer L. Crow has shown that "Pokemania sometimes leads to tragic endings. In the United States, cards and paraphernalia sometimes spark outbreaks of crime and violence. Some people have become violent int their attempt to get a hold of Pokemon trading cards. Many children across the country (primarily between the ages of 9-15) have been beaten up on the playground for their cards or have been caught in toy stores trying to shop lift them. Even the adults have gotten ugly, over the urge to collect Pokemon; "a North Carolina man was charged with assault for punching a Burger King cashier after he did not get a Pokemon toy with his meal." Opponents to Pokemon cards say that not only promotes violence but is also a form of gambling (i.e. the cards are traded) and should be banned.Since the eruption of these incidents, schools across the country have banned Pokemon games and trading cards."

There are even reports of young kids and adult having seizures by watching this television series. I loved pokemon until i saw this very episode and relied that these are portrays of animals. They are promoting violence on animals and on humans. Is that why dog fighting have boomed in children over the past few years. Is the thought of the dog being a pokemon meaning that you can be the best pokemon/dog master of the neighborhood? Is it OK to get beaten my a pokemon doll just because i think Jessi is cute? This series is one of the top longest ran shows on television so don't expect any decreases in child violence. Parents its your choice to see this through. Watch an episode with you kid and decide if they are young enough to handle it.

Team rocket pic http://www.tfn.net/~cbass89/tr87.jpg

Case study http://www1.american.edu/TED/pokemon.htm