Let's face it, there's a reason the Pokémon anime became as popular as it is today, and one of them is how good the early episodes were. Pokémon Season 1 wasn't afraid to explore uncharted territories and make good use of some of the Pokédex's more concerning entries. One such entry is Hypno's. Already in Pokémon Yellow, the Pokédex warns that humans should avoid eye contact with Hypno, or they risk falling asleep. Later entries take it a step further, however, and claim that Hypno will hypnotize humans into falling asleep so that it may feast on their dreams.

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In Season 1, Episode 27 of the anime, a bunch of children start disappearing in a town visited by Ash and friends. Not only that, but the Pokémon at the Pokémon center have all fallen asleep, as if in a trance. Pikachu soon follows suit and falls asleep as well. Ash, at first mistaken for a woman's disappeared son, decides to help the distraught mother, Officer Jenny and the townspeople solve the mystery behind the disappearing children. Their investigation soon leads them to the Pokémon Lovers' Club. The club members in the anime are introduced as being a bunch of rich people who collectively regroup to talk about their common love of Pokémon, and who use Hypno's powers to help them better sleep at night. Although insomnia seems like a pretty good reason to make use of a Hypno's powers, it is a bit weird that a group of people introduced as the Pokémon Lovers Club would mostly meet up purely to get a decent night's sleep.

Pokemon Hypno

Hypno ends up hypnotizing Misty. The poor girl, now believing herself to be a seal, starts clapping her hands and shouting the Pokémon's name, before eventually making a run for it. Ash, Brock, Jenny and the leader of the Pokémon Lovers Club follow her, only to find that Misty has led them to a park filled with... the other disappearing children. All the kids are now convinced that they are Pokémon, and keep repeating their names, just like Misty. Jenny tries to shake them awake, but it's no use. They all deduce that Hypno modifying its wavelengths to affect humans has caused it to inadvertently make all the Pokémon in the Pokémon Center fall asleep as well. It's also affected the town's children, for some unknown reason. The club leader then suggests using Drowzee to wake the children and Misty. This plan ends up being successful and Misty and the children snap out of it. None of them remember anything about their time as wannabee Pokémon.

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Of course, the episode ends well, despite Team Rocket trying to capture Hypno to hypnotize their boss into giving them some vacation time (poor Team Rocket, they really could use the break). Ash and friends defeat Team Rocket -- as they always do -- and all the children get to return safely to their parents. But why was Officer Jenny not even remotely bothered by the creepy Pokémon cult using a Hypno for trivial things when sleeping pills (or Berries) must be available? And how did the cult leader know that using Drowzee would wake everybody up? Had this kind of thing happened before and he just hadn't said anything? No matter how you look at it, the excuse to use a Hypno to fall asleep was a rather weak one, not to mention gross negligence.

If Pokémon weren't such a lighthearted kids' show, Hypno's powers would be downright terrifying in the wrong hands. This episode also gives some credibility to the idea that the humans in the Pokémon universe were once also Pokémon -- after all, isn't hypnosis supposed to bring out repressed memories? Maybe Misty and the kids were remembering their past lives. The world may never know.

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