The show? 欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞, also known as Masquerade in English.

The show’s premise is familiar: teams of people compete to wow judges and audiences alike with their talent. What makes Masquerade different from America’s Got Talent (other than Nick Cannon and a Snapple™ sponsorship) is its focus on incredibly creative sketches full of clever visual tricks.

These sketches take place anywhere from under the sea to a skydiving plane flying high above the ground. Not to be clichéd, but the only limit to these sketches seems to be the contestants’ imagination.

Fortunately for those of us who can’t catch Masquerade on Japanese TV, the show has an official YouTube channel full of some of its coolest, most imaginative sketches. You might even recognize some of them!

Many of the sketches are done with stagehands that blend into the background, very much in the Japanese tradition of kuroko (黒子), the stagehands dressed in all-black in traditional Japanese theater.

While many of the sketches are incredibly impressive, some of them can just be plain bizarre:

From the imaginative sketches to towering meter that fills up after every performance, Masquerade has a plethora of endearing qualities that make it clear why the show has spent decades on the air.

For more, check out Masquerade’s official YouTube channel!

Wallpapers

Want the excitement of Masquerade as your desktop background? Our incredible illustrator Aya has you covered!

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I got a bunch of great entries, but had to sadly whittle it down to ten. Here are the winners:

I didn’t have a clear definition of “ugly” in mind when I started this, but this drawing gave it to me in spades. No other submission was as hard to look at as this crazy-eyed, snot-nosed fugu on a bright red background.

Not only was the fugu itself really ugly, but this person went above and beyond the call of duty to explain their artistry. Very dark and post-modern.

The illustrator of this fine fugu said that they took inspiration from the ugly, all-too-real closeups in the 90^s cartoon Ren and Stimpy. The inspiration is clear, and ugly enough to earn this person a free copy of Japanese.

This fugu isn’t just ugly, it peers into your very soul when it looks at you with that piercing, disturbing glare. Little does it know that I sold out my soul long ago. Joke’s on you!

This ugly, ugly collection of fugu with passionate pleas written all around it (“u ken lern japenese furm me dun eet mee”) was not only hideous, but heartwarming as well.

This dark, brick-like fugu seems like something you’d see popping out of the wall in a horror movie or while playing Amnesia. Look at those mouth, those eyes—not something I’d like to run into.

Vomiting fugu. Enough said.

I didn’t even think that this fine piece of artwork was particularly ugly, but I was too by our lil Tofugu fugu in red high heels not to pick it.

While I suspect that this was all done digitally, this submission has a lot of real-life textures (like brush strokes and glitter) that made the ugliness of the “Toefugu” really stand out.

Honorable Mentions

There were a few submissions that either weren’t eligible to win or didn’t want to win, but I liked nonetheless and wanted to include here.

Our own John submitted his this repulsive piece of art, complete with ugly brick texture and saved in the wonderful BMP format. Most of you sent your pieces in a lossless form, which almost defeats the purpose. Haven’t you people heard of compression artifacts?!

Sadly for John, he couldn’t win since he, y’know, works here. Sorry bud!

This person actually said in their email that they couldn’t use the prize even if they won it, and just wanted to enter for fun. I respect that, and thus they earn a spot on our honorable mentions.

I love this upset fugu, but it’s not ugly, just sad. What’s the matter, little guy? Found out that you’re doomed to be sashimi?

I received this submission with the message “My most sexual greetings from Israel.” I’m not sure what that means, or what it has to do with the drawing itself, but this ugly minimalist masterpiece found a place in my heart.

This person actually turned down the prize, apparently just wanting to submit their creation for the love of art. That’s a-okay with me.

Thanks so much to everybody who participated! This was a lot of fun and I loved checking my inbox every day and seeing your hideous creations.

How It’s Made

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXaT_j75D58']

Making these abominations is actually quite simple. The model sits themselves down in a chair, has some coordinates projected onto their head, and then pictures are taken. These pictures are then processed by a computer and the model’s lovely mug is printed out in doll sized plaster by a 3D printer. From there, they airbrush on any fine details as needed.

I’m not sure how long the total process is, but the final result is pretty astounding. Now everyone can have their own little miniature version of themselves. For a price of course, but more on that later.

When ordering your doll, you get a choice of body. Some choices are creepier than others. The more out of proportion everything is, the weirder the doll ends up looking I think. I’ve heard of companies that make plushies in your likeness, but this is definitely next level right here.

Wait, They Cost How Much??

Yeah, these things aren’t cheap. They’re about $1,300. Now, why would someone want to spend so much money on a doll? Well, some people just have too much money. Other than that, these dolls have become popular with women who want to have creepy custom mementos of special events in their lives, such as a wedding.

Women can have their face, just as it looked on their wedding day with makeup and everything, plastered on a doll with their wedding hairstyle and their wedding dress and all. It’s almost like having a 3D picture to remember the event by. To some people, the $1,300 is worth it.

I don’t think I’d be willing to spend more than $100 for something like this, but then again I can’t really think of any reason other than novelty for wanting one myself.

Perhaps if there’s a strong demand for these sort of things, and 3D printing continues to become cheaper, these goofy dolls will fall in price as well. For now though, I think I’ll stick with regular action figures.

Oh yeah, they’ll also clone your pets too.

So tell me, how much would you spend for one of these custom dolls? Would you even want one? Do you think they’re as creepy as the rest of the internet does? Let us know in the comments!

We’ve written about Maru before in our roundup of Japanese cat videos and in our list of awesome Japanese YouTubers, but we thought that we’d write about Maru again for one reason: Maru’s 6^th birthday just recently passed (May 24^th).

In celebration of Maru’s 6^th birthday, his anonymous owner created a video montage of some of his best moments from 2012:

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With 259 videos with over 200 million views, you could probably call in sick to work and spend at least a week watching nothin’ but Maru videos; and I gotta say, I wouldn’t blame you.

Maru’s biggest claim to fame is his love of cardboard boxes—jumping into them, sliding into them, and just generally trying to stuff his chubby little frame into any kind of container that he possibly can.

But there are plenty of other great Maru videos that will make you neglect your own cat to watch a Japanese cat on the internet (because that’s where we are as the human race now).

For more of Maru, check out his YouTube channel or official blog.

Wallpapers and GIFs!

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One type of candy in particular that seems to always grab people’s attention is the do-it-yourself candy kits. With little more than the included ingredients, water, and a little patience, these candy kits transform from packets of powder and bags of putty into miniaturized versions of gourmet dishes.

The YouTube channel RRcherrypie has created an incredible number of videos showing viewers how to assemble these strange and interesting candy kits.

The appeal of RRcherrypie is not only does the channel introduce me to these novelty, do-it-yourself candy kits that aren’t really known in the West, but it’s also clear that the people behind RRcherrypie take a lot of care in what they do.

The attention given and the precision that these people take to assemble these candy kits is astounding. While most people would write off these candy kits as playthings for children, RRcherrypie treats these kits as if they were a craft. Many people find the deliberation found in RRcherrypie videos soothing and relaxing.

The identity of the people behind RRcherrypie is surprisingly mysterious. RRcherrypie’s official website states, in somewhat broken English, that RRcherrypie is a group of 3 or more people. We don’t tell you each individual person’s profile, because the imposter tries to pretend to be us. And the members would change often because we have a job.

The idea that a group of people got together to form an anonymous, candy-making collective is a little silly, but it’s endearing to me.

For more, check out RRcherrypie’s YouTube channel and official website.

The typical Automatic Mario music video has Mario being ferried across the level by moving platforms, bouncing off enemies and custom blocks that send him flying. Most videos are uploaded to the Japanese video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga.

Melt

Theme song to Doraemon

This next one gets a bit Mario-ception, being a Super Mario World rendition of a vocal version of a song from Super Mario World. Sometimes blocks and other background objects are used to create graphics related to the song. Can you spot the KY in this video?

Western Show on Super Mario World

Even Luigi gets his own 自動ルイージ – Automatic Luigi:

Danjo

Cirno’s Perfect Math Class

Not to be outdone, some videos feature four separate levels playing out at the same time, to cover even more parts of the song.

Little Busters!

There’s even a four screen version of Queen, one for each member of the band.

Don’t Stop Me Now

Interest in Automatic Mario peaked around mid-2008, but there are still a few new videos being submitted to Nico Nico Douga every so often. In closing, I’ll leave you with an eleven minute medley of songs.

Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga Grand Finale