There are some videos that I never get sick of watching; among them is 森の安藤, or “Mr. Ando of the Woods,” a bizarre animated short about a penguin who saves a community of forest animals from the evils of human development.
I watch Mr. Ando of the Woods all the way through every time I come across it, and Koichi’s even included it in some TextFugu lessons.
It’s a project of Japanese animator Takashi Taniguchi, an animator who’s done more than his fair share of weird animation.
His work is filled with flat voice acting and sound effects done entirely by him, characters who go into long asides filled with non sequiturs, and strange premises.
Needless to say, I’m a huge fan.
Some of Taniguchi’s strangest work has made it up online, subtitled for foreign audiences.
Shigeo is Handsome
Good-looking people seem to get everything in life; they get the most attractive dates, the best jobs, and their handsomeness can deflect bullets.
Salaryman Man
There are many salarymen in Japan, but only one Salaryman Man, the savior of white collar workers across the country. He’ll drink you under the table during nomikai, then use his business cards to fly away and fight evil. My hero!
The Tears of Junichi the Rough
Some people chain themselves to trees to protest the harm that humans do to the environment. Other people, like Junichi the Rough, grab people with their loin cloth and swing them around menacingly. I’ll let you decide which is more effective.
There are a ton more bizarre animations from Takashi Taniguchi, but these are some of the few that have been subtitled.
For more oddball animation, check out Takashi Taniguchi’s homepage and Twitter, or take a look on YouTube.