This week I have too much weirdness to be contained in a single video, and it all happens to be from Japan.
First off, we have a combination aerobics/what-to-say-if-you-get-
mugged-in-America class.
Watching the leotard ladies cheerfully pleading for their lives is... incongruous, to say the least. Courtesy of the shadowy and mysterious Codename V.
Next, we have a potty-training video/commercial.
There is just so much wrong here that I don't even know where to begin. There's the anthropomorphic excrement (and toilet), who all seem to really enjoy being flushed. There's the, er, anatomical correctness of the wee pantsless kitty. There's the dad wiping the butt of the wee pantsless kitty while they celebrate his potty success. And then there's the real boy straining on the real toilet at the end. Again, I blame V. And The Soup.
Am I even capable of finding my own bizarre Japanese videos, you ask? Why yes. Yes, I am.
It's actually... kinda catchy. And I love the guy in the Godzilla costume.
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5 comments:
As long as we're on the subject of Japanese weirdness, why not make a call on the Mini Moni Telephone?
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Hey, don't knock the potty-training video! It's actually part of a series of videos made for 2-year olds, and believe it or not, the kids really love them. Sure, it may seem a bit strange by North American standards, but I think it's a good example of a healthy approach to the body and bodily functions. Why, after all, should a small child feel embarassed about going to the toilet? Why not celebrate the first time a child poops in a toilet (like an adult)? These small steps are (I believe) important milestones in a child's mind and should be encouraged and celebrated.
why not make a call on the Mini Moni Telephone?
Oh dear. I know I had a fourth video in mind, but I couldn't keep it in my brain. That wasn't it, tho.
Point taken, Kyklops. I *still* find it bizarre, but I'm happy to hear that it has a positive influence beyond just selling potty-training appliances, which was what I had assumed its primary purpose was.
Actually, Eli, I'm somewhat of an 'expert' on these videos (I have a 3-year old daughter here). The main character (the 'child' tiger) is Shimajiro. He's like a Disney-type character here in Japan, with cartoons, product tie-ins, etc. The videos are not, in and of themselves, really trying to sell anything, and they're popular as well as educational (each monthly video comes with an assortment of books and toys--mostly interesting and educational). Of course, the kids will pester mom and dad for the wide variety of dolls, toys, snacks, etc. with Shimajiro's face they see at the malls, etc., so in that sense they are a promotional tool. I suspect that that particular clip might not seem so strange if there were a translation. Now that I've told you more than you could ever want to know about this, let me move on to Ultraman...
Childrens educational videos, helpful and popular as they may be, are almost always really f*ing bizarre. Barney is bizarre. The Teletubbies are bizarre. The Boobahs are a whole new frontier of bizarre. This is no exception.
Just because kids like it doesn't mean we snarky adults can't mock it. Quite the opposite, really. I don't really NEED a translation for happy "whee! flush me now!" poop. It speaks volumes for itself.
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