March 19, 2006

Warped Japanese TV, Vol. XXI: Gimme Gimme Octopus

It's like HR Puffinstuff-san. Or Wonder Showzen but actually for kids. In the early 1970's, there was a children's TV series in Japan called Kure Kure Takora [koo-reh, koo-reh, tah-koh-rah, for those trying to talk the talk], which translates to Gimme Gimme, Octopus.

The main characters, an octopus and a peanut, were constantly fighting for the love of a walrus, and antics ensued. The 260 or so episodes are each only about three minutes long. One episode being hosted on YouTube right now is a precursor of Eric Carle's high-maintenance behavior-inducing Papa, get me the moon; Walrus exclaims, "Get me the sun!" and Octopus tries increasingly violent means to bring it down.


takora.jpg

Another episode, one of two hosted at WFMU radio's blog [think about pledging to the station before downloading; they posted this in the middle of a fundraising drive] is called Baby Octopus, and it involves a stroller, chasing, and a lot of Octopus tossing. But while the narrator mentions it right from the start, Octopus--and the bloggers discussing it--never realize that it's just a doll, not a "real" baby. Still, antics ensue.

The costumes make Barney look like freakin' Revenge of The Sith. The lessons taught are dubious at best. But hey, if--you know, let's face it: this is just a warped oddity that probably provides no benefit for your child besides the possibility of a momentary distraction.

A region 2 4-DVD box set of all Kure Kure Takora is now a rarity; a couple of copies are on Amazon JP for upwards of $300. Fortunately, a DVD-R set is available for about $15 a piece from Brutallo.com.

There's more links and info at WFMU's original post, and at BoingBoing's followup. [wfmu.org, boingboing.net]

1 Comment

Proving once again my theory that most children's videos (incl. Baby Einstein) are being created by people living under the combined influence of mushrooms and mescalin.

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