New anime - "Kyoro-chan"
Boris Ivanov
* Forwarded by Boris Ivanov (2:5020/1779)
* Area : REC.ARTS.ANIME.MISC
* From : Anthony D. Baranyi, abar...@home.com (Friday July 23 1999 01:39)
* To : All
* Subj : New anime - "Kyoro-chan"
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Sometimes something quite interesting can come from the oddest place. Last
night I had an opportunity to watch the second episode of the new TV Tokyo
early evening anime called "Kyoro-chan". From the broadcast time, the
advertisements and the general story line, Kyoro-chan appears to be just
another kids anime, but it is something different in several ways.
First of all, Kyoro-chan is based upon the little chocolate bird mascot of
the "Chocoball" candy advertisements. In the recent ads, Chocoball birds
come dancing into a Japanese Customs office and the Customs officers start
to sing and dance with them. The advertisement Chocoball birds look like
elongated chocolate eggs, with bird feet, a big toucan-like beak ( but
bright red ) and two beady bird eyes on one side of the big beak. In the
ads, the birds are done by CG. Kyoro-chan in the anime looks similar, but he
is not so obviously CG and is a bit more anthropomorphic, but still a bird,
albeit a very strange one. <g>
The next interesting thing about the show is that there are lots of
relatively "adult" nuances and jokes in the show, particularly in the second
episode. Kyoro-chan is portrayed as an "innocent at large" in a world that
satirizes current Japanese society.
The story started with a professor going through some "Indiana Jones"-type
ruins ( but without the threats ) and finding a little egg, out of which
Kyoro-chan hatches. The story then shows and tells us how the two become
friends and travel the world together. ( BTW - Kyoro-chan talks, but in an
odd way. ) Then one day, while Kyoro-chan and the Professor were sailing in
a small boat a big storm blew up, sank the boat and separated Kyoro-chan
from the Professor. Kyoro-chan ends up on a small deserted island, across
from a larger island. He decides that he will search for the Professor, and
so starts the adventures.
So far, so good, and nothing out of the ordinary, other than some of the
funny asides and observations from Kyoro-chan ( his inner self keeps on
telling him to "use his head", which is used in several different and subtle
ways <g> ). Kyoro-chan carves a dugout canoe out of the palm tree on his
first island and just barely makes it to the larger island ( being chased by
a shark for the last part of the trip ). On the big island, Kyoro-chan meets
a boy bird who befriends him ( after some adventures ) and they set out for
the bird boy's town.
Episode 2 starts with the Kyoro-chan and his new friend walking down the
road when a car with a platform on its roof drives up. The two climb up the
back of the car and get inside the open box on top of the platform. We then
notice that all the residents of the island are anthropomorphic,
particularly the females ( birds with mammary glands. <g> ). Suddenly, the
girl bird in the car starts to make loud announcements via a loudspeaker on
the roof of the car. It turns out that this car is carrying a candidate for
a local election and the girl is shouting out political platitudes.
The car drives slowly through the town. As the car passes some "punk" kids
who are spray painting graffiti on a fence, a couple of the kids run along
side the car and spray paint the katakana characters "A" and "Ho" on it. <L>
The car finally stops at a park where it meets up with another car doing the
same thing. It is the opposing candidate. Kyoro-chan watches the strange
goings on without understanding anything.
The two political candidates yell at each other from within their cars for a
bit, then they get out. One candidate is an old codger who is wearing an
ancient and faded military uniform, complete with hero's medals. The other
candidate is somewhat younger, wearing a "used car salesman's" sport coat
and has a slicked back crest. The two start to blurt out slogans at each
other, but they quickly resort to saying the identical thing at the same
time. So because of this their only recourse is to try to shout the slogans
louder.
Kyoro-chan gets interested in playing with his new friend and some other
kids, when the candidates suddenly notice Kyoro-chan and realize that he is
new and different. Therefore, the two candidates both struggle to get
Kyoro-chan to support them. Kyoro-chan can't see any difference between the
two and keeps on saying that he chooses both. This frustrates the candidates
who start to compete to convince Kyoro-chan to support them. This goes on in
many and strange ways and ends up with the two candidates doing what amounts
to a "talent show" on the beach as the sun sets, still trying to capture
Kyoro-chan's "vote".
Beyond the neat social satire and funny puns and jokes, Kyoro-chan has nice
bright animation, a catchy and perky theme and a certain style to it that
makes it seem that the creative team behind this show is having fun while
they make it. The opening animation is also interesting - it is sort of a
cross between late 50's "Modern" style and current "Post Modernism". The
ending animation is "claymation" and done very well.
So Kyoro-chan has overcome its "commercial origins" and looks like it will
establish an "existence of its own" if the creators of this show keep up the
approach used in the first couple of episodes. If you get a chance to see
"Kyoro-chan", try it, you might be pleasantly surprised like I was.
Dave Baranyi
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Ohayou gozaimasu, All!
bi[shounen]