You're-a Peein', European: An Analysis of "Iyami's Gibberish Japan-zansu!"

This movie was made by...
WHITE PEOPLE!!!

It's not like me to have this much Self-Indulgent Filler Content in-between something larger, but expect a more interesting piece (which will relate to my area of study; it's the Apple Paperback article mentioned in "Am I Disabled?", it'll be a treat for anyone who likes and/or grew up with goofy 90s kids movies or goofy 90s kids paperback books).

For now, I wanted to talk about an episode of the 1988 Osomatsu-kun series that I was thinking about a while ago, more specifically, the themes and satirical content that aren't too common in Osomatsu compared to other Akatsuka works (Gag Guerrilla and late-stage Tensai Bakabon come to mind as more well-known satire, though personally I've always liked Neko no Me News for much more anecdotal and observational satire that still rings true today). Especially at the point of the mid-70s to late-80s, Akatsuka's series took an observational and frequently irreverent approach to their comedy, with Caster likely being the climax of such an era for the King of Gags.

In the typical realm of Osomatsuism, Iyami, as a character, has always been this amoral yet lovable antihero that you want to see succeed as much as you want him to fail. He lives a perpetually Sisyphean life, with every success ringing true his downfall. For him to play an emperor or billionaire must come with the role of a bum or conman. In his lower forms, however, he's much more likable than if he were at his strongest. Is it because he's of a lesser class than the common man? Maybe. He's still pretty subject to comeuppance besides that. Part of the charm, I suppose.

However, this particular episode of Osomatsu is interesting because it breaks a few "established" rules of Iyami (that have been broken a few times before but not as frequently in contemporary): Iyami is a Japanese man blindly obsessed with the French culture to the point of outright LARPing as a Frenchman, and that Iyami is never entirely well-to-do, if so, receiving comeuppance due to his status. Iyami in this episode is portrayed as a full-blooded French "new wave-type" documentary filmmaker who is commissioned by a television network to create a documentary about modern Japanese society. Iyami, having only known orientalist cliches throughout his life, whether in school or in the media, is confused when he arrives; disappointed that it wasn't like what he was taught.

In a lot of ways, you could see this as the perfect inversion to "real" Iyami: his idealistic self having been born into a society that he'd wanted to be involved in nearly since his inception, but instead having the same lack of knowledge of the favored location as "real" Iyami does with France. It's a good bit of satire too, but I'll elaborate on that later.

Chibita, his cinematographer, helps him scout out some "red-blooded" Japanese people, taking up the Matsunos as the stars. Iyami's "vision" of Japan is tainted, expecting these archaic stereotypes to be on full display only to discover that they're all just normal people minding their business, watching TV and drinking tea, hot from the pot like any normal person. It's not much different from France, to Iyami's detriment. And so, from a deliberate Ozu homage crashes Iyami, needing a big view of Fuji-san, the sextuplets' father in drag, and their "Oriental Witch" mother playing volleyball to create the "real Japan".

As on-the-nose as you can get for this one.

This Kool-Aid ad feels similar to the view that most of the western world had on Japan post-war, exaggerated in Iyami's casual racism. It's this one-sided not-quite-Meiji-not-quite-Taisho exotic world where a character not unlike Mickey Rooney's Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's (Mel Blanc in one of his most unfortunate gigs) ensures the two little white Kool-Aid boys that they are A-OK here in the East with some American imports. If the Meiji Restoration was the beginning of a westernized Japan, then any sort of depiction like this feels deliberately misleading. Listening to Iyami's boyhood teacher describe the Japanese lifestyle in his lecture and film narration seems to come from a real place in the world, partly from orientalist, imperialist, and white western perspectives. "All Japanese people use rickshaws and kill themselves when sad, women are called 'geisha girls' and only wear dresses."

But, as this episode aired, Japan entered the Heisei era, killing the Showa era bubble economy that was so prevalent at the time. For Iyami's supposed beliefs to come from a pre-Showa place (as the emperor relegated his duties to being a ceremonial figure rather than a political one, much like what was occurring in Great Britain around 240 years prior), it disregards much of the industrialization and development that came from western integration. The Japan from the Edo period is not the Japan of 1962, with salarymen and television and metallic foil-wrapped crackers.

Example of Ozu's trademark "voyeuristic camera", as seen in Tokyo Monogatari.

The Ozu homage in particular stuns me, due to him as a director having most of his well-known works discuss the rapid onset of a generational culture gap. His cinematography, cultivated over years of documentary work, is easily described as "voyeuristic", as if we, the audience, are in the same space as the characters in the film, though at a less intimate distance. Still and unmoving, sitting across the room, watching the everyday lives of everyday people unfold across time and space. Life, death, love, and the pursuit of happiness, all over tea with senbei crackers on a ceramic plate. The quaintness of Ozu is easily seen as simple and not much to think about, but the fact that so much could be done with a distinct style says more to his direction than any sort of criticism regarding it.

In Osomatsu's case, the juxtaposition of the calm and focused style of Ozu in comparison to the bombastic high-tension stylings of these famous comedic characters creates perhaps one of the best allegories of Orientalism in anime: the forced nature of what is presumed to be and always has been Japan is being interpreted via Japanese art in the way of one of the country's most popular directors, in a confused and chaotic mess that completely destroys any semblance of the original concept in the beginning. Perhaps this could be said of any racism, that stereotypes and preconceptions tend to define the culture shock experienced by foreigners or tourists coming to another country. By assuming that certain things are expected of certain people by others who have no knowledge or experience of their culture, a separate gossamer layer of poison floats above human interaction at all times of the day. Don't touch it at all.

Ozu a la Osomatsu.

Though, despite Iyami's lack of actual research or knowledge on the country he's documenting, the town jumps to the cause of perhaps getting recognition overseas. The idea of the blind ambition of fame; the fact that no matter the audience member who sees you will surely see you as you are, has been dead for decades prior to this episode. Perhaps with the rise of the genre film or the extravagance of the mondo flick (which Iyami's documentary ends up becoming after all of this) that rectifies many xenophobic and racist worldviews through the lens of a bizarre showcase of the world's most uncharted regions, one must always take the grain of salt with any sort of actual narrative, that, if you are to be documented via the internet, the media, a biographer, a historian...chances are there will be things that cannot be accurately translated into a visual or written sense, nor an auditory or physical one. The sacrifice of self in front of cameras is brilliantly depicted here, with the sextuplets' parents falling into the trap of overreaching for success, much like any an open call extra for a non-union film. Calling Mom to tell her you're gonna be an actor, that you're gonna be famous, that you're moving to LA...

And not to say that money is a hell of a drug, but the promise of fame usually involves the promise of money. Throughout much of the franchise, there's mention that the Matsunos aren't entirely well-to-do in their financial situation. With six kids, they had to take a lot of shortcuts, such as buying clothes in bulk, limiting allowances, only having enough food for three square meals a day, and generally letting the boys make their own fun among others. In some chapters or episodes where something financially surprising happens, such as a vacation or a grand purchase for the family, there's an underlying problem of the family's lack of money for a handful of other things to do that might be necessary as opposed to escapist. Starring in a film about themselves would be very opportunistic if the audience is European, but a domestic film would be much more appealing if the payout is local and there wouldn't be a sacrifice to be made in terms of cultural identity and the dignity associated with that.

Later on in the show, there's a small shift towards fame-oriented plots for our characters, namely "Life is Tough for Prince Chibita!" and "Using Magic to Become Younger-zansu!" which both focus on an almost Prince and Pauper-type tale of the sin of fame, the first adapting a chapter around the visiting Prince Chibiru (played by Chibita, of course) who shaves his head and goes missing simply because he wants to see what life is like as a middle-class boy. The latter is an original story about the parents magically de-aging to teenagers and discovering the trouble of late-Showa society in a soon-to-pop economic bubble, with Matsuyo becoming a rival idol to Totoko and Matsuzou having to take the mantle of an extended cousin staying at the house while the kids' dad is "away". No real sort of status quo is shaken up, but the parents end up meeting at an old playground they had memories of when they first fell in love, yet remain unaware of their respective de-aged secrets. It's a really cute way to do character building but without having anything be too permanent.

She doesn't KNOW!!! 😏

And now, a contextual side-piece we call...

A lovely anecdote about what Akatsuka was doing at this time

Akatsuka at a certain point had become a bit jaded from his household-nameitude and success with wacky goofy shit, so reading the revived Osomatsu manga that ran concurrent with the show is a ginormous experience to have, with a deliberately flippant tone contrast to Sugino's wistful and nostalgic take on the series. Of course, in the anime you'll have modern implementations like idol singers and the Famicom, but Akatsuka was doing shit to do shit, having tales about the sextuplets fusing into a giant boy and causing havoc like a tokusatsu monster, or a thinly-veiled Doraemon parody dropping bombs on the city and later saving the town from fairy tale delirium, or the old classic, aliens invading and dropping super-power granting poo on the streets to which Iyami shits all over just to start trouble and trick people into eating his?? Okay???

I'd be pretty bored too if I didn't decide to give my 10-year-old protagonist a gun at some point

Likely my favorite of this era is the tale of the sextuplets going on a nature hike to which Osomatsu deliberately sabotages the route in the hopes that his brothers get trapped in a cave and die?? Also involving one of them getting photographed woodspooping and another constantly fucking yelling for no reason. Osomatsu gets the tables turned on him and is presumed dead for 40 years and returns described as a Robinson Crusoe-type aided by His Boy Chibita. The family is destitute, with a handful of their boys in bad health and Choromatsu in a sort of unaging state of guilt and insanity, imagining himself some sort of stereotypical child trying to atone for the presumed death of his brother.

It's just completely deranged in the Akatsuka fashion to have these beloved characters be torn apart and reconstructed in a grossly exaggerated way, but I see the reasons of a creator who ultimately doesn't want to be as associated with his first big nationwide hit almost 30 years after its debut still making things about it. He'd kill off the characters in a Sunday anniversary piece (which you can read a writeup about at the link, in Japanese) as a sort of "what if" thing, with the punchline being that a fictionalized Akatsuka resorted to alcohol abuse and took his own life sometime after all his other characters died. While Akatsuka did have his history with alcohol addiction into his later years (mostly in part to the death of his mother and his divorce), the fact that he ends this story on a joke about killing himself seems like a frustrated attempt to shake his fame of being "the guy who did Osomatsu".

Additionally, a Bakabon chapter would come out prior to this imagining a "final episode" to the series, with Bakabon killing Hajime, Mama and Papa splitting, and the now-lonely patriarch being killed via Suicide-By-Cop in an awful shootout. Would you believe the week this happened was the week that the main focus of this article aired for the first time? It's a very very interesting look at these two opposing viewpoints that I think should be considered in retrospect to the series.

The end of the article

This image will show up again later this year as thumbnail for another piece. Go to bed.

I really like so much of this episode. You hardly get any of this sociopolitical satire in Osomatsu and it's such a treat to see. It's speculated that an uncredited or otherwise anonymous Masaaki Yuasa did some stuff for this one, though it's not confirmed by him or any staff. Unwise to bug him about it because he's a busy man and we don't want another "Feat of Clay Pt. 2" situation to happen again in terms of animator IDs, but there's a lot of stylistic similarities to what he's later show off on KureShin or Maruko (which are both notable for having influences in Akatsuka works). It's a very fun time, so check this one out if you can. Report back to me about what you think about Iyami's teacher's design. Whitest Man Ever.

My Friend Passed Away So I'm Talking About Mort the Dead Teenager and Passion

In many aspects, this article was a long time coming. I didn't know exactly when to start my Mort piece but considering that a friend of mine whom I hadn't known for even a year but felt like several was fatally injured in a vehicular accident, it feels almost impossible to not talk about Mort. My friend (who I want to keep anonymous for her family and friends' sake) was a ginormous inspiration for my work in my classes. She was enthused to hear me talk about whatever I loved so much to her, and at one point we were considering a podcast of some kind (nothing really panned out).

I met her the day after I moved into my living quarters at my school. She sat at the table in the lobby, drawing. We talked for a little bit, and eventually it turned into a long night playing pinball and airing our grievances about our lives growing up. What she had dealt with as a kid and into adulthood was a very distinct experience of pain and misery, one that I don't believe I'll ever be able to comprehend. Her experience of genuineness, both due to her transition in adulthood to her struggles as a boy not sure he's in the right skin were unique and all the while daunting. She was strong as hell, and did what she could for others around her.

I owed her a tremendous debt due to her history, and she did just the same.

I've eaten out with her, gone to bars, even shared my 21st birthday with her. She is someone who has meant so much to me in such a short amount of time since when I met her that I can't even imagine what life would be like without her. In many ways, what happened over these last few days reminds me a lot of Mort, just in terms of plot coincidences and things that lined up really strangely. I think I'll get shit for "Boss Babying" a real and tragic situation, but, my friend, if she knew about what was to happen and the similarities, she'd have thought it was incredibly funny in a supremely fucked and esoteric way. I don't exactly remember if she had read the comic in its entirety, but she would have totally loved it.

This sorta behavior don't come from nothin'! The boy ain't right!

Regardless, Mort the Dead Teenager as a comic has gotten me through some tough times. I read it for the first time during Covid in eleventh grade, and maybe because I was delirious from the unreal state of the world or maybe because I was 15 years old, the comic latched onto me like a tick and has been draining my blood for almost five whole years. It's become an inside joke with my in-person friends, to the point where I met a few of my longtime buddies talking about this thing. I've consistently wanted to do a project with it, but that's where the film degree has to save my ass. Please do not assume that me getting my degree is just a long, expensive, and convoluted way for me to work on a Mort thing, but I'm accepting of the interpretation. I think being made out to be psychotically insane about this comic is a funnier outcome than not, honestly.

Covid and its impact certainly changed the trajectory of me and millions of other people around the world who wanted to do one thing and now didn't have the time to. School was online for half the year, mask mandates were around after that, and then by high school graduation, I had fallen into depression because of my anxiety and the general atmosphere that was cultivated in the heat of disease. I sorta made it my mission to see out to something, whether making new friends to share what I liked with them or getting them involved in fun things to do regardless of our own lives. We're all from different creeds and worlds, so why not smash the bridges together from the river to the forest and let the sun shine as the trees clear out. Mort was kind of a conversation piece in the coffee table of life and still tends to be.

So, knowing I met my friend as she was drawing at a table, I showed her my work, mostly Mort art and other assorted pieces I'd done over the last year. Not to say it was a backbone or anything, but there was a passion for something that was hard to explain. Maybe the passion for life.

And passion drives: I've got all the issues of Mort framed and another set bagged up as reading copies. I've interviewed Hallgren alongside having an illustration of Mort from him. I've got an underproduced preview copy for buyers that's quite literally the scans of the manuscripts. I've hosted a convention panel about it. I've even cosplayed the poor bastard. I've poured time, money, and energy into this stupid comic. Scenarios float about in my head like bacteria in a green lake. I'm even considering talking to Hama over the summer as a small project for myself. It's a never-ending passion that started during a bad patch of life and rolled around like a hoopsnake towards an unknown destination. What's my endgame here? No idea. I just like the dead kid comic.

"Grandma never liked those Precious Moments figures...always said they were too saccharine."

Mort, as a character, is undefined in the best possible sense. He's an underachiever and a dreamer who just wants what's best for everyone, and inadvertently fucks it up for himself and what could have been for his relations. He's none too bright but in search of sanctuary, and you can still love to see him wailed on, but he's emblematic of a larger problem in the universe: the Untimely Demise. He certainly didn't deserve it, but if his name and "dead" are in the title, his fate is sealed, and there's no way out.

He's trapped inside himself and his life that is beyond saving. To watch your family and friends suffer instead of accept your fate...I can't describe the existential pain and sadness to endure it. He's a character that's profoundly sad but also incredibly funny because he's as clueless as we are. And, if anything, maybe the most interesting thing about him other than this horrific struggle is the pressure felt on him past the point where he'd need it. He's a high-schooler who can't move past high school rather than an adult who can't move past it.

I can't help but feel bad for the guy and others like him, alive and not, who are stuck in this nowhere land of their own hellish creation. Covid was a huge proponent for these periods of time without job or enthusiasm, and for young people like me, we entered a state of inertness that was put upon by those who made the world we live in. We're going to go through it again sometime soon, but I'd rather focus on the world I want to make rather than something pre-defined by festering corpses of what could hardly be considered human.

Press F to do whatever it is you do when you press it idk

As I face another tragedy in my life in uncertain circumstances, I've found it necessary to return to comfort. Even if it means facing grief in a strange and unexpected way, I know what I can do to help others and myself in particular...Mort as a comic parodies much of the concepts of a typical "teen" comic, whether from the scenario to the art style, it wants to be an anti-Archie in a way that's distinctly 1993. The only things Archie has to worry about are his grades and deciding between Betty and Veronica. Mort has his family, friends, and everlasting soul at stake, but he and us will never know what comes of it. Maybe I'll touch on the Fall of 1993 one of these days as a season that was strangely focused on "weird little dead guy" media to the point where I would suspect industrial espionage. Of course, it's a funny idea, but then specifically? What was the drive for it?

Osomatsu has been something I've wanted to come back to for a while, so expect something about that soon. This article was very spurred on by something that was out of my control, and I apologize if it read strange or out of place. My friend would have wanted me to write about my passions to get me out of a rut, even if it meant her not being able to see it. And I think that's a good mentality to have, to live as is and act on passion. We need more of that.