At CJAS we get to see some of the tamer, more mainstream, less out-there anime. A lot of anime in Japan is actually VERY weird. It is sort of equivalent to the difference between the top money-making movies to hit theatres and all of the amateur, semi-amateur, and just plain odd ones out there in the movie world in the U.S. I thought I'd write this article to give you a brief look at some of the weirder anime I have come across.

Hoshii no wa Hitotsu Dake (All I Want is This One Thing):
Now this Marmalade Boy-esque anime is truly weird. It has the simplest plot imaginable -- two sisters in love with the same guy. The guy isn't any better -- he likes both sisters. He pretends to be totally serious and in love with the elder sister, he but sneaks around her back to date the younger one at every opportunity he can get, even at the elder sister's birthday. Doesn't sound really weird till you realize that this anime has apparently been running for some volumes and all it does is dramatize the moral dilemma of the younger sister betraying her elder sister's trust by dating this guy Yano.

Zenmai Jikake no Tina (Tina of the Wellspring of Incomplete Devices):
Tina is a very cute young girl with a little fluff-ball of a pet called FuwaFuwa (literally "fluff") that can't seem to make sounds other than "fuwa fuwa". Now Tina is very unusual in that she runs on clockwork and needs to have her key turned every day, a task that Fuwa Fuwa does for her. Now, the story is unusual because it turns out that Tina isn't all that unusual after all. She lives on a clockwork island floating in the middle of nowhere, eats clockwork fish, wears clockwork slippers, has clockwork friends (one of them called Princess Frog/Toad), and goes to school where she has a crazy clockwork teacher. In fact, part of her everyday routine is to jump out of bed, assuming she is well-wound, and wind the keys on every little last thing in her house. A common greeting for her on the way to school is "Tina! Good morning! Will you wind my key for me today?"

The story takes off when Tina's crazy clockwork teacher goes out without breakfast and is feeling so hungry after a few hours that he invents a huge flying (of course, clockwork) vacuum cleaner and flies it over the village to suck all the food up to eat. Tina and her friends unfortunately get sucked into it along with the clockwork bananas and fish, and are deposited in some unknown place where Tina finds herself separated from everyone else. She sees a glowing pillar of light with an unconscious boy floating in it. When she gets close, he falls out and she takes him home to look after him. While he is asleep, she realizes something terrible -- he doesn't have a clockwork key! Oh Horrors! How can something be alive if it doesn't have a wind-me-up engine?! While wondering this, she falls asleep, and she awakes the next morning to the sound of a flute. She steps outside to see that the mystery boy has awakened. After some pointless fluffy dialogue, he swirls his cloak, adjusts his hat (complete with long feather) and says, "I am the Wanderer" before disappearing over the hill. End of part 1. Weird, ain't it?

Kinniku Man (Muscle Man):
Now this anime may be known to some of you, as it is quite old and was rather popular in Japan for some time. It is about wrestling and is about as weird as it gets. I have yet to see an anime that has as many odd aliens, mutated humans, genetic creations, and just plain old weird beings as you will find in Kinniku Man. It has numerous odd characters with equally odd names like Oil Man, Unagi Man (Eel Man), Curry Cook (an Indian, apparently), Mongol Man, King the 100 Ton (an American), Canada Man (gee, I wonder where he's from), Golem Man (an animated pile of rock), Sazae King, Screw Kid, Channel Man, Prince CameHame, Puri Puri Man, and Hulk Dogan. The list is endless, and there are actual web sites in Japanese dedicated to just cataloging the numerous characters and their strengths. Of course, the main characters of the anime are the Kinniku family which include the Kinniku King, Kinniku Mama, Kinniku the Great, and so on. The focus of the anime is wrestling, and there are an untold number of death matches, championships, etc., with the fate of some world or the other always hanging on the outcome. A truly weird and endlessly amusing anime, I wouldn't even know where to begin to describe it. It is funny, sad, weird, cheesy, amusing, gory, childish, stupid, intelligent, and entertaining all at once. Hope you have the dubious honor of seeing it some day. [Think small pink misshapen toys. -Ed.]

Anyway, these are but a teeny tiny sample of the endless number of truly odd anime out there. For a full sampling, occasionally try going to Anime Turnpike (www.anipike.com) and read about an anime you haven't heard of before. It leads to endless hours of mindless entertainment. Perfect for a study break.