Tuesday, July 9, 2013

It Came From Japan...

This, quite simply put, is the greatest thing I've seen today, this week, this month, and is in strong contention for the best thing I've seen all year.

It is crazy.  It defies any and all expectations.  Somehow, it manages to achieve an existential balance between three conflicting forces.  It's purely Japanese, not just from the language and the people starring in it, but in simple basic cultural notes placed throughout.  However, anything that western culture might deem offensive or too foreign gets tempered by the fact that the entire thing is so outlandish and bizarre you find yourself quick to forgive and forget as quickly as you can, because your mind needs to make room for the next bit of information being presented.  And yet, even in its utter outlandishness and peculiarity, it manages to be charming and educational, teaching you about the product it wants to sell and, in at least one instance (me) it convinces the viewer to want to purchase something completely impractical that (in my case) probably wouldn't fit for someone my size to begin with.

It is something everybody needs to see, as you will find yourself struggling to define something utterly indefinable, something your brain will have no context to put in, and will make your mind simply be blown away.





Let's discuss some of the things that make this so wonderful.

First there's the fact that, somewhere in the world, someone might actually have the name "Scarface Santaro." This makes me about as happy as I can get, because I think that's as close as we're going to get to having a real, honest to God comic book character in real life.  The fact that he apparently either works for or owns a company that designs robot suits is just the icing on the cake.

Second, can we discuss the school girl?  The fact they're having a child in control of the suit for most of the footage with Scarface Santaro does two things: it gives us the impression that it's extremely simple to use, and it connects to those of us who watched a lot of cartoons from Japan and know that in their world, only children can ever save the world from anything because all adults are incompetent at their jobs.

I mean, seriously.  Why would you want heavily seasoned, trained soldiers when there's a high school full of kids who have never even been in a fight before who could pilot giant walking death machines into battle against other giant walking death machines?

Third, I love the reactions of the people in the background when the suit is walking around.  Besides the excited children, most of the adults just don't seem to care.  Let's face it, this is Japan, crazy stuff like this must happen every day.  When he's in the park in a robot suit while dancing the robot, there are people who just flat-out walk by without batting an eye.  They just stone cold don't care.

I love this country so much, even if it does get rather weird sometimes.


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