A standout among the unsettling stories of recent months is the account from Japan of children suffering seizures as a result of watching a TV cartoon show. Sensational coverage of the incident here offered a distorted picture of Japanese animation, writes PNS commentator Patrick Macias, a fan of the genre, and while most responses reflect genuine concern, some have been thoroughly self-serving. Patrick Macias is on the staff of YO (Youth Outlook), a publication by and about Bay Area youth produced by Pacific News Service.

The world's deadliest cartoon is coming to America -- if we are to believe sensational news stories.

"Pocket Monsters" is an animated program based on a video game of the same name, one of the new breed of computer based products -- ranging from key rings to feature films -- involving "virtual pets."

The video program induced seizures and fits in hundreds of young viewers when it was shown in Japan in December. An 8-second sequence involving strobe-like flashing effects was blamed.

This segment will be removed from the US version, but there has already been an outbreak of fits -- not in viewers, but in the media, among parents, and in the US animation industry.

As a long-time enthusiast of Japanese "anime" (pronounced "Annie-may," the Japanese term for film or television cartoon features), I find these attacks more than a little troubling. Anime is a highly imaginative art form, and its side effects for me have been beneficial - - an interest in Japanese culture, and even a chance to learn some of the language.

But what attracts me most is the mature approach to fantasy and storytelling. Dead serious sci-fi efforts like the feature "Akira" and the series "Evangelion" are artistically light years ahead of American animated offerings -- dominated by just-for-kids fare and sitcoms like The Simpsons or King of the Hill. In Japan, there's no rule that cartoons must be childish or comical -- they're simply another avenue of expression, one that typically offers an un-cynical sense of wonder.

Unfortunately, Pocket Monsters is hardly an example of high-quality Japanese animation. It's really nothing more than a long commercial. You couldn't argue with Peggy Charren, the founder of Action for Children's Television, who called the show "animated junk" -- except to say our own animation is, for the most part, just as worthless.

Yet rather than criticize Pocket Monsters, Mike Lazzo, vice president of programming for the cable TV Cartoon Network, chose to throw out the entire barrel on the basis of a few bad apples. "Japan animation is so different from what airs here. It's far edgier, adult and violent. Anime isn't very story-based and is driven by intense moments. The story is hard to follow."

Lazzo is quoted in a USA Today article headed "U.S. kids safe from cartoon seizures," which assures US parents that the illness could not happen here because "anime" is not shown on American television. Yet the Cartoon Network airs two made-in-Japan programs, Speed Racer and Voltron, which are considered anime milestones.

The reality of Pocket Monsters' inoffensive content has been replaced by a self-serving stereotype of anime as little more than overheated sex and violence.

But the Japanese product is no more dangerous on a moral level than the US alternative -- anyone who wants to avoid entertainment that "isn't very story-based and is driven by intense moments," should certainly stay away from the Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck Show (another Cartoon Network program).

A territorial attack on foreign animation is somewhat understandable. Anime, which comes to America mostly on videotape, has become big business in the last couple of years. Home video can make any kid his own cartoon executive. And once viewers get a taste of an international alternative to Walt Disney and Saturday morning cartoons, there's little reason to keep watching the same old channels.

Pocket Monsters still has a lot to answer for. No TV show should make its viewers physically ill. Evidently, the cause of the difficulty was "photo-induced seizure," a condition brought on by bright, rhythmic flashes of light. Everything from video games to driving at fixed speed past an evenly spaced row of trees can trigger an attack, even in those who have no history of epileptic episodes.

Anime may be about to join the long list of youthful pursuits that draw fire from the adult world because of an unfortunate incident and sensational news reporting. Far from just being entertainment, anime could become the place to animate one's own agenda.