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!

Set Adrift.

I discovered this pamphlet about a very odd movie called The Drifting Classroom. It looks fairly cool, check it out...

It looks a lot cooler than it actually is. I watched some scenes from it and it is pretty B-A-D.
The first 3 1/2 minutes are full of horrid dialogue and clichés and then it picks up a notch and goes incredibly surreal. The dialogue remains banal but the visuals are kooky.

If you have the gumption to track down the entire movie, you're braver than I.

Instead, you might want to check out the original manga it was based upon. It looks even weirder but in a good way.

Unrelated but interesting is this Clear File featuring the Sanrio gang.

 

When picking up dinner today, I noticed that "Trick or Jim Beam" is the worst version of "Trick or Treat" I've ever heard.

Today's Kemono Friend is a stormy cryptid called ライジュウ or Raiju.

Some cool trivia about the actual Raiju from Wikipedia is as follows.

• Raijū 雷獣 in japanese mean "thunder animal" or "thunder beast".

• In old Japan it was said that trees scored by lightning had been the work of Raijū claws, and that scorched tree trunks were the result of their wrath.

• Another of Raiju's peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts the Raijin to shoot lightning arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather, but other legends say that Raiju will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.

There are more details about the Raiju here, courtesy of Yokai.com.

Completely unrelated to the above is my take on Norman's mom from Psycho (thanks to a wig worn in my Grade 4 class today.)