Japan
From Homestar Runner Wiki
References to the culture, history, and geography of the country of Japan have been made throughout Homestar Runner.
The surreal or otherwise odd style of early Homestar Runner works were partially inspired by how westerners could be confused or intrigued by Japanese works[1] — as the Brothers Chaps put it, "We sort of wanted it to be like when you see a Japanese storybook for the first time, but there's this history behind them that you're supposed to understand."[2] This can be seen in Super NES (which utilized Mario Paint's text stamp tool to apply nonsensical Japanese characters), or the songs "Everybody Everybody" and "Homestar Runner Theme Song" (where the brothers' voices were sped up to sound like the Japanese children's choir of "Gamera March").[3] A trend of deliberately poor English, recalling lower-quality English localizations of older Japanese video games, occurs throughout games produced by fictive company Videlectrix.
In addition to appearances noted here, many references are made specifically to Japan's animation industry: anime.
[edit] Appearances
- Museum — The description for illustrations of ice cream treats fashioned after Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, and Strong Bad says they were "HUGE in Japan the summer of '87!".
- Super Brave!! — A group of Japanese schoolchildren from an English school in Osaka share their drawings of Homestar Runner.
- Email pom pom — Strong Bad's blindfold features the pre-1945 "Rising Sun" design of the flag of Japan.
- modeling (DVD commentary) — Matt Chapman refers to Bushido, a tabletop role-playing game set in feudal Japan.
- Email technology — Strong Bad refers to robots as primarily used for "destroying Japan", in reference to mecha "super robots". Such robots are commonly featured in Japanese science fiction, including effects-heavy tokusatsu (and its subgenre giant monster kaiju) movies and TV series.
- Email unnatural — King Bubsgonzola Supreme is portrayed in the manner of a stereotypical kaiju, like Godzilla.
- King Bubsgonzola Supreme's theme uses a traditional Japanese string instrument.
- The Japanese text on the poster roughly translates to "Concession Man", albeit using the wrong definition of "concession": "the act of conceding" rather than "an item sold from a concessions stand".
- Strong Badia the Free — The flag of Pompomerania is based on the design of the flag of Japan, with the red circle being replaced by Pom Pom's body, sans head and limbs. Pom Pom holds the title of shogun, as was used by the military leaders of Japan in the past.
- Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective — Dangeresque goes to Tokyo to look for Perducci. Throughout the movie, the stone bridge is minimally redecorated to depict various countries; for Japan, a cardboard cutout of Mount Fuji is applied.
- 4 Gregs — Japanese Culture Greg, one of the Gregs, is introduced and becomes a recurring character; as his name suggests, he is a stereotypical otaku obsessed with Japanese pop culture. His shout of "Akihabara!" refers to a Tokyo shopping district draws otaku from the world over for its offerings of video games, anime, manga, and more.
- Record Store Day — A promotion for the DVD release of sloshy's All Tomorrow's Euro-Restrooms has Japanese text listing its August 5 release date.
- @StrongBadActual tweet (13 Aug 2020) — Strong Bad reacts to a comparison between the Drive-Thru Whale and Kujiran, the whale mascot of the Japanese city of Muroran. As Kujiran's mascot costume includes human legs, Strong Bad jokes that "He needs to sever those legs!"
- Disk 4 of 12 - FriendlyWare — FriendlyWare minigame "Match" requires players to match prize names. One of the prizes is a trip to Japan, which Homestar uncovers but does not correctly match to its partner.
- Disk 4 of 12 - World Games — One event in World Games is sumo, from Japan. In addition to mentioning the wrestler seen on the game's cover, Strong Bad plays the sumo wrestling minigame.
[edit] References
- ^ Allin, Jack. "Strong Bad's the Brothers Chaps". Adventure Gamers. 12 Dec 2008.
- ^ Hirsch, Deborah. "Tooned In". The Orlando Sentinel. 22 July 2003.
- ^ Berry, Robert. "An Interview With Homestar Runner Creators, The Chapman Brothers". retro CRUSH. Early 2001.
