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Noriko Sakai Drug Scandel

Fow do you feel about the Noriko Sakai Drug Scandel?

  • It's all been blown way out of proportion

    Votes: 9 75.0%

  • KidsStation was right to drop the movie

    Votes: 3 25.0%
  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .
S

SoulSilverMstr411

Hikikomori
I found out the other day that Noriko Sakai was arrested in 2009 for drug possession. As a result, Pichu and Pikachu, the short that Sakai narrated has become sort of a banned episode in Japan. It hasn't aired in Japan or gotten a DVD release since. Do you think this is fair? Does the fact that she commited a crime really diminish her contribution - however small it may be - to the franchise?
 
L

Lord of Fire

The Great Conqueror
No duh it isn't. Pokemon narratives and drug scandals have absolutely nothing in common, so it's not fair they target a Pokemon narrative
 
E

Earthia100

Well-Known Member
They wouldn't air Electric Solider Porygon again even if they did fix the flashes, now would they? That would tarnish the reputation.

But this is much less serious. They could at least re-do the voice narration.

I mean, if Ken Sugimori got a speeding ticket, they wouldn't fire him, right?
 
Crimson Penguin

Crimson Penguin

Marchin' on
The Japanese are known for completely distancing themselves from anything that is remotely related to scandal or disaster in their country. My stepbrother, who has lived in Japan for close to 20 years, once told me that traumatic historical events such as the Hiroshima bombings are either glossed over or simply not discussed at all, even in schools. Keep in mind that the animation studio that produces Pokemon (I'm not sure what it's called) never let Porygon or its evolutions see the light of day again in the anime because of what happened after that one episode that was aired over 15 years ago, and that the Team Plasma vs. Team Rocket episodes were canceled completely because of the earthquake and tsunami last year. Japanese people take great pride in their country, at least in my experience, and anything that diminishes that pride is just not brought up after the fact. So this short not being aired after the narrator's firing doesn't surprise me.
 
S

SoulSilverMstr411

Hikikomori
Imagine if Neil Armstrong was caught taking crack and NASA banned the use of stock-footage of the moon landing. One of the most important moments of human history would be glossed over because the man who essentialy got the starring role had a moment of weakness. Burrying you head in the sand isn't the way to go.

Kudos to Sakai for admiting she messed up and turning her life around. Things could have gotten ugly for her son, who is the real victim in all this.
 
T

TheEliteEmpoleon

Well-Known Member
I think it's stupid and if the whole country avoids all their troubles, they'll be the first to go if a world crisis happens.
 
Kutie Pie

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
It's ridiculous, but I can understand if reputation was involved--if only slightly. It's like if Chris Brown's music got banned nationwide after he beat up Rihanna, and the ban remains even after it all blew over. Japan is odd that way like what Crimson Penguin pointed out, but whatever, they're that kind of people.

Still, the short has been around for a little over ten years now, so it really shouldn't matter by this point. She made a mistake and fessed up to it, let it go. The Sakai now is different from the Sakai in 2009, who is different from the Sakai in 2000/2001. I can understand if it was a bigger crime, but she took drugs, she didn't commit murder. And it's not like the little kids are going to realize this every time they watch the short unless they were told about it that very day... which sounds plausible the more I think about it.
 
C

ChaosMage

Izit cuz I is black?
Not only is Japan a country with a deep-rooted distaste toward any sort of scandal and a country which avoids dwelling on past tragedies, but Pokemon is a VERY self-conscious brand with a history of going the extra mile to atone for any perceived failings. It's sort of like how Disney dismiss Song of the South; it's excessive and brings more attention to the problem but you can sort of understand why they do it. It seems like just a part of Japanese culture that they don't forgive and forget something like this, especially when children are the target audience of the affected work. It won't be the creative staff making these calls either, it'll be the men in suits who deal with the network and the distributors making this sort of decision and they have very stern standards. All that said, I don't necessarily think it's for the worse. There are more than a few examples of people in Western pop culture who've got off easy for criminal activity, and I'm sure that to the Japanese we as a society would be in the wrong for encouraging such people to prosper.
 
A

An00bis

Wicked Witch
Hah. I was about to mention Song of the South but someone beat me to it. I guess if you want a more recent example from the US we can use Charlie Sheen and Two and a Half Men. Not long after his scandal broke he was fired and his character was killed off ... despite being one of the three titular characters on the show.

... but yeah. Companies like to keep something dead and buried when it causes a scandal even outside of Japan. Here in the US when a celebrity causes a big stir they're usually fired. The only difference is that Americans seem to be a lot more tolerant of what can be deemed as 'acceptable' behavior before turning their backs on a celebrity.
 
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