It's Ribbitting!

Okay, still playing catch-up, this is yesterday's post. 

There is a Giant Toad Yokai called an Oogama which is just an ordinary Japanese toad (Bufo Japonicus) that has lived for over 1000 years and thus gains its Yokai status. They can grow incredibly large and they become more dangerous the larger they get. Their long tongues are agile and sticky, and they can catch and drag just about anything into their mouths to eat. Their breath appears rainbow colored when they exhale. They sometimes carry spears which they use to assault humans. Like many animal yōkai, ōgama have the ability to change their forms and disguise themselves as humans.

When they rest, they might resemble a large stone and foolish people may sit upon them. If you do, they may garnish spears and the 3-meter large ones may even eat you.

The following is the legend of an Oogama that lives in Miyagi:

Legends: Long ago in Miyagi Prefecture, a famous marksman heard about an old, dilapidated house by a bridge where every night a strange old woman appeared and spun thread. Her neighbors feared her and thought she was a demon of some kind. The marksman went to investigate the old woman. Her smile and cackle were so disturbing to him that he immediately aimed his gun at her heart and fired. As he did, the light from her lantern went out and the night became pitch black. The marksman stumbled home in the dark. The following morning the woman was gone, and there was no sign of any injury. He must have missed somehow. A few nights later the old woman appeared again. The marksman went to see, and this time he aimed his gun not at the woman, but at her lantern. He fired, and once again everything went black. This time he heard a terrible shriek and a clattering sound. At first light he returned to the house, and lying where the woman had been was the corpse of an enormous, ugly toad.

  

It should come as no surprise, that I have a few frogs in my possession. Here are a few. 

I'm very fond of this amphibian!

I really wanted that squeaky toy toad but these were expensive so I didn't want to risk getting duplicates.

Several weeks ago during a trip to Morioka, these two creatures were gobbling up tiny photophilic flies and moths that were attracted to the Pizza Hut sign. (Don't tell the guy in photo below but while I was trying to take a cool pic of the above, I accidentally stepped on his friend.)

My favourite Kaiju-Toad is the character of Jiraiya when he turns into his Toad-form in The Magic Serpent.

A few years ago, I picked up this Wacky Walky because it looked so freaky. (Sure, it isn't a toad, but it is green.) His nickname is Chicken George.

 

When discussing Junji Ito with a friend, she pointed out that one of her favourite stories is "14" by manga-writer/artist Kazuo Umezu. This guy wrote the manga/anime upon which The Drifting Classroom was based. (Click the author for a link to my previous blog entry on the guy. Click The Drifting Classroom to watch the movie!) Fourteen is a spiritual sequel to The Drifting Classroom.

IF you check out this article you'll see some examples of Kazuo's work. Such as:

 

Further scroll down that article, and there will be a link to another article about Junji Ito. He idolized Kazuo Umezu and as you can see, homaged his style as well.

Apart from the Spider-Man friend/foe, Frog Man and the villainous Evil Mutant, Toad, I can't think of any amphibious comic characters. I have Swamp Thing. Is that close enough?

 

I haven't visited The Man Cave, check him out for some spooky comics and movies.

I'm pooped. This entry took way longer than I thought it would. Toadally!

Awakening the Force.

When I went on my whirlwind tour of Natori the other day, my plan was to check out the new Star Warsian items made available for purchase that spoil the new movie. There were several items WAY out of my price range and all I ended up buying at Toys 'Am Us was a shopping bag. Yet it is of classic SW so I snapped it up.

What I didn't buy but surreptitiously photographed (not taking the time to focus--sorry) were the following items in no discernible order:

I saw these at a Toy Store out in the sticks (near Kurihara City)  last weekend. I rather like that Yoda Car but at 8 bucks a pop.

At that same store, the Halloween goodies have started coming out though mostly costumes for the kiddies.

And of course the pumpkinny goods are cropping up in the UFO Catcher bins. I'm going to try and be more choosy in what I try to win this year (ie. not this item.)

And I'm happy to see that Peko-chan is all dolled up again this year.

Toys 'Am Us had just started putting out their Halloween goods so I only managed to snap a pic of two of the more popular costumes. I wish they came in Adult sizes.

These two Youkai Watch items will be a common thread throughout October's Countdown to Halloween 2015. I'm not entirely certain what I'll be doing for the annual Countdown though I think I'll try and add a daily Youkai Watch goodie to my gift bag. (You too can join the countdown by clicking that there link.)

I'm going to leave you with a picture of ねじり ほんにょ, a mascot from Kurihara City.

  My guess is that he's just a clump of dried rice sheaves but is cute in a Swamp Thing kind of way.

Oops, I almost forgot, I also found a BB8 sticker and some clear files at the Aeon Cinema in Natori. Nice swag and not so expensive.

A Few Fungi...

...and a couple of fungals. I just watched the DeAgostino DVD of マタンゴ (Matango) and found myself really lichen it. There's no room for mush here for this is a movie that breaks the mold for all others.

It was based on a short story by relatively obscure SF/Horror writer, ウィリアム・H・ホジスン or William Hope Hodgson who wrote The Voice in the Night (click that to read it!) and it was earlier adapted for a Hitchcock Hour called, Suspicion.





When I was a kid, I saw this and had nightmares for weeks. I'll let you know if the same thing happens tonight when I head to dreamland. Read all about the spoilered-movie here and you can even get a couple of soundbites such as the theme song.




The (badly dubbed) American version was called Attack of the Mushroom People. Following is a trailer and this link will take you to a subtitled version of it! I just sat through the whole thing in Japanese, perhaps I'll watch it tomorrow and see if there are any differences!



The cast is great: if it wasn't an inspiration for Gilligan's Island, it should have been. We have (Sing along:) Gilligan, the Skipper too, a Millionaire (alas no wife), a Movie Star, the Professor and his MaryAnne...here on Fungus-Isle! I was really impressed with slutty Kumi Mizuno who is still acting in at least 8 kaiju pictures as recently as Godzilla: Final Wars!
Here are several pictures from the booklet that comes with the DVD, including stills, cast, interviews and foreign posters:
















Back here, I mentioned acquiring a few Matango figures. Here they are in Full Colour and Transparent versions!






That was odd, but even odder is that our fungus-friend shows up in Swamp Thing, to whit:

Matango, the first dinosaur Earth Elemental is created by the Parliament of Trees. He witnesses incoming meteorites from space and investigates. He discovers the first of Earth's fungal spore lifeforms, which were of extraterrestrial origin. He unites himself with the alien mass mind and corrupts them with his selfish desires, bringing about the creation of fungal infections, disease, and mortal decay in all higher lifeforms. In his effort to infect and conquer the Parliament of Trees, Matango creates "the Grey" as a malignant cancer in the Green. Matango rules the Grey from his Chamber of Dreams, from where he abducts and often transforms hapless Swamp Things into his fungus-based minions. Notes:Matango's first appearance was Swamp Thing Annual #4. The Kryptonian "Scarlet Jungle" fungus (grown from a meteorite which infected Superman) was first shown in DC Comics Presents #85.