I'm not sure what this is all about, but it's been a while since I've posted a Fit's ad, so let's have a look-see.
Maybe this will clear up my confusion.
Nope, I'm even more befuddled. Let's see what the cast has to say about it.
Hmmm. Still bewildered. Perhaps these "Making of" videos.
More perplexed than ever.
This has a writeup about the commercial. Can anyone tell me what the heck that Blue creature is? It looks as though Wolverine and Totoro had a kid together!
I give up. Let's look at an older ad. At least it makes sense.
We're all aware of Santa Claus' tendency to act as both judge and jury when it comes to doling out the Christmas presents. Just how good do you have to be to get on the NICE list? Frankly, NAUGHTY is just more fun.
So you may end up with a lump of coal instead of a toy, big deal. Over here in Japan, there's an 鬼 (oni or Demon) called 生剥 (なまはげNamahage) that scares the crap out of little kids by forcing them to obey their parents. Now that's a Big Brother worth worrying about!
From the Namahage Wiki page, here are some details. Dozens of young single men from various regions in Akita Prefecture, Japan dress like the Namahage demon. Each portrayer adorns an eerie demon mask (various colors depending on region), a straw raincoat and waistband and carries a scary tool made of wood depicting a knife/ stick/ weapon and a pail. They re-enact the folklore dressed as these demons and march around the village in hopes of scaring kids into total parental submission. Going door-to-door, they sweep the village threatening to drag away any spoiled disobedient children. As the story goes, a child's lazy spirit that is disobedient is dragged into the snow covered mountains away from their parents. Knowing the story very well, upon barging into each home, the young children are immediately frightened by loud roars as they are chased, kids typically scream with agony and fear. This prompts parents to sooth their kids worries of being taken away by the Namahage, letting them know that they’ve been behaving.
Nuthin' I love better than scaring the crap out of kids! Check these out:
Everybody Dance Now:
There's a Namahage Restaurant specializing in Akita dining. I haven't been there yet, though I'd like to check it out but only if the servers are Oni!
If the kids aren't frightened away by the Oni, these are even scarier!
This is the end of my Creepmas entries for this year and once again, I have disappointed myself. Today's post was about the Creepiest I could muster but Japan is just too darned cute around this time of year. It's tough to find the eerie.
ps. I realize that the Namahage festival occurs on December 31st, I just couldn't wait that long and I wanted to end Creepmas with a bang!
Every now and then I sit back and watch a dozen Fit's commercials and/or the Lotte-fans who emulate them. If you check out this link you can see a few including where it all began. For those of you too lazy to link it, here is the Origin of the Species:
One more time with subtitles!
This one is unembeddable and this one includes the Nishirokugo chorus:
Now, here are some Fit's with a Halloween flair!
Not exactly scary, but I appreciate the effort.
How Michael Myers and Zombies keep Fit's!
Not scary, but it is unusual.
Ahhh! The Alien Cosplayers have landed!
It must be a full moon!
Those Oni in the background look pretty spooky but is that a tampon dancing in the first one?
Maid to order...
Why let the lady Cosplayers have all the fun?
I'll end with this one, Ichabod Crane would be proud!
Because I made you sit through all of those, here's a real treat. It's an actual Ken, the Wolf-boy episode!
Okay, I know that the first Canadian Thanksgiving was originated by Martin Frobisher in 1578, Sports Day has been in honour of the Tokyo '64 Olympics since October 10, 1966, but why does the Capital of Ohio get a special day? It's a mystery to me.
Anyway, Sports Day & Thanksgiving are good times for kids, so let's take a look at some Yōkai that like to menace children!
Here we see an 大かむろ/(Ookamuro), a giant ghostly face which appears at the front door, freaking out a young lad.
Near as I can figure out, しばがき (Shibagaki) is living firewood(?) that likes to throw stones at passersby. They seem to have pretty good aim!
オバリヨン (Obariyon) is a spook which rides piggyback on a human victim and becomes unbearably heavy.
ベトベトさん (Betobeto-san) is an invisible spirit which follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps. Good news though, it's said that if you stand to the side of the road and say, "Betobeto-san, please go on ahead," that the footsteps will stop and you can continue walking in peace.
What follows is a 10 minute interview with Gegege creator Shigeru Mizuki including some examples of him drawing illustrations and several examples (including Betobeto-san) from the very book I'm scamming these scans.
Speaking of kids though, I'll be doing my patented Halloween lesson for my Junior High Schools all month and last week I got to mark a few of the "Draw an image of Halloween" prints back. These are my favourites. Which ones are your faves? If you choose your favourite, I'll give the artist in question a prize!
Special bonus! This is the most Halloweenish Fits I've seen to date!
Every time these strange and alluring commercials come on the tube, I am mesmerized and have to watch. They're ads for Lotte's gum, FIT'S and they travel around Japan doing a crazy dance and humming this catchy tune. Here are a few examples...
A couple of Kappa from Miyagi strut their stuff:
What I like is that the company encourages amateur involvement for even the Maids are getting into the act!
Now I shall present the origin of the tune, it's from an old anime that I'd seen only once in the Mangattan Museum's archives. It's an old African jungle anime featuring a Mowgli-type kid and his adventures...very cool!
It's called 狼少年ケン
(おおかみしょうねんケン or Wolf-Shonen-Boy or Ken, the Wolf-Boy) and it was one of the several Shonen manga devoted to young boys' adventures. I need to track this down, it looks cool! Suddenly I have a craving for some gum too...
