TV in Japan

Sasuke: Matsumoto Hitoshi’s Ninja Short Film for Americans

This is fascinating. And, as far as I can tell, quite the find. No real Google info on it whatsoever. Special thanks to YouTube user enmyou for the upload.

Matsumoto Hitoshi, he of Down Town and the ‘no laugh or you get beat’ gang, is a gianormous star in Japan. In my (very limited) understanding of him, I imagine his popularity over there to be somewhere between Jim Carrey’s and Robin Williams’ popularity here. In other words, he is an icon of Japanese comedy.

But, of course, most people here in America have little to no idea who he is. Therefore, I imagine his initial idea for this film was to get some exposure across the pond, the show us that his brand of comedy could transcend borders.

I think for the most part he’s right. There’s some really funny stuff here and it’s great to see it. He also seemed to mock the ‘Beethoven/Liar, Liar’ school of film production exceedingly well.

At the same time, there’s also some stuff that just doesn’t translate that well when put into this very sanitary environment.

Let me know what you think of it. Also, if you have more info drop it in the comments.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Submit Article :- BlinkList + Blogmarks + Digg + Del.icio.us + Ekstreme Socializer + Feedmarker + Furl + Google Bookmarks + ma.gnolia + Netvouz + RawSugar + Reddit + Scuttle + Shadows + Simpy + Spurl + Technorati + Unalog + Wink

Posted in: Action Packed!, Celebrity, Comedy, Down Town, Fish Out Of Water, Ninja, Translation, Truly Awesome, Weird

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Action Packed!, Celebrity, Comedy, Down Town, Fish Out Of Water, Ninja, Translation, Truly Awesome, Weird. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Sasuke: Matsumoto Hitoshi’s Ninja Short Film for Americans”

remister July 31st, 2006 at 11:19 pm

O man, that was funny. I wish I had a better quaility version of this movie. But I think he wont be as big in the States, than in Japan… That’s all I got to say ;)

Ｎｏｂｉ August 1st, 2006 at 3:27 am

This is originally from an October 2001 episode of Denpa Shounen. The title’s pretty accurate, in that the short film was produced to make Americans laugh. They screened the film to an audience of 200 people in New York, which is where the laugh-track is presumably recorded. Matsumoto was pleased at the reaction.

From the episode’s website http://www.ntv.co.jp/denpa/matsumoto/top.html (Japanese), his hypothesis while developing the film were:

1. If you’re going to make it funny for Americans, the comedy needs to be simple
2. If it’s funny, Americans will appreciate it
3. Americans will laugh at tempura jokes

His thick accent was distracting for me, but he did a good job with the simple comedy, it seems.

Jocke August 1st, 2006 at 8:19 am

Nah, I did not like it. Maybe because im not an American. The jokes where far to simple and obvious ( I just knew the throwing-star was coming up the toilet). And the kid was just annoying. Though I loved his “don’t laugh or get whacked”-shows, this is a waste of talent!

Woah, that was harsh… It, acually, was quite funny when he was thinking of killing himself if the kid sayed mad.

Emily August 1st, 2006 at 12:57 pm

Not my kind of thing at all. If this is the kind of humor Americans are supposed to like, I’m embarrassed. Although, most of the popular American humor isn’t really my thing, so maybe it IS funny. *shrug*

Also: pretty horrible dialogue acted (with the exception of resident ninja) pretty horribly. Who is that kid? I kinda hope he feels stupid later for this. sa-SOO-kay ;p What the hell…

Sorry, I’m probably being a little cruel, but…bleh. Waste of time.

muki August 3rd, 2006 at 12:16 am

embarrasing :o

Why would one of the greatest comedy geniussss throw away everything he knows? He needs to give Americans more credit. Jesus, even his acting and timing were awful. A real fish out of water. Wont stop me loving him though, I’ll just have to pretend this never happened….

~ A European

Welcome to falconsox.com » Blog Archive » You best step correct! August 5th, 2006 at 12:19 pm

[...] Yeah, that’s how we roll in my hood, dawg. I’m no man to settle for a TKO though, So here’s Sasuke the ninja babysitter (direct youtube links for part 1, part 2, and part 3). ! EWYAH [...]

Best of the Week - August 4th Edition! at TV in Japan August 5th, 2006 at 9:23 pm

[...] Recent Comments Welcome to falconsox.com » Blog Archive » You best step correct! on Sasuke: Matsumoto Hitoshi’s Ninja Short Film for AmericansMister Joshua on Breaking News: Lingerie Thief On the Loose in Japan!nikkie on Down Town Punishes Themselves Yet Again: Crotch WhacksAnonymous on Funny Mash-Up of Prank Clips from Genki Ga Deru TVJakanden on Funny Mash-Up of Prank Clips from Genki Ga Deru TV [...]

deadboy August 7th, 2006 at 7:52 am

sorry didn’t do it for me.
All to clean and sugar sweet, and i agree in the timing being horrible

Eric August 9th, 2006 at 1:03 pm

ehhh, not that great, I’d like to find more of his Japanese stuff (I’m pretty new to Japanese cinema, especially comedy). This was kinda dry for my taste. The Tempura dog was funny so Matsumoto was right about that! ha

CrazyJap182 August 11th, 2006 at 9:32 am

wow! i don’t know guys i didn’t mind it too much.the only part i really didn’t care for was the giant robot geisha at the end, that ws kind of weak.but all in all i thought it was cool.and this is coming out of a half japanese half white kid.

Stan September 29th, 2006 at 6:38 am

felt like I was watching “Home Alone”