Jungle De Ikou

A Review by Christopher Kinsey

Let’s talk for a second about comedy. There are several definitions of the word, but the simplest is as follows:

Comedy: A humorous occurrence.

But then we have to define humor, and while it has a definition, we all find that humor is relative to what we each think is funny. And, while several things are universally funny, most cultures tend to have a different style of humor from one another.

Which is why comedy anime is so hard to get into. Now I’m not talking about any old anime that’s using humor in it’s stories for more entertainment, like Ranma ½. No, I’m talking about a series that has decided from the get go that the entire thing is going to be a farce. Joke after joke will be hurled at you and many parts of the media will be mocked throughout. Much like the classic Airplane! or The Naked Gun, these anime try to keep us rolling in the aisles with every one liner after every funny ’take’ after every parody scene.

Sadly this doesn’t turn out well very often. Excel Saga is a hilarious anime. But in order for it to BE hilarious you have to know a lot about anime beforehand to get every little joke. Shin Chan is one of the longest running humor anime of all time, but the jokes are so very… well… Japanese. They had to translate a good portion of it differently just so there would be something to laugh at.

Especially when you have a culture that thinks puns are one of the heights of hilarity. But that wouldn’t ever work in translation since those words probably aren’t puns to us.

So we’re stuck with their second favorite form of comedy, pervert jokes. Thanks to the general sexual repression of Japanese society, we’re treated to all forms of panty flashes, nosebleeds and embarrassing moments when breasts escape blouses.

This does not make comedy, but it certainly gives far too many people reasons to watch.

This =/= Comedy

Case in point: Jungle De Ikou

This anime, which was released in 2001, was nothing but a vehicle about boob jokes and panty shots.

Seriously. The plot of this sweater-meat showcase is pretty standard for a shonen style anime. Natsumi Rokudo is a ten year old girl who is given an ancient sculpture by her globe trotting archeologist father. When she uses parts of the sculpture for earrings, she finds she is given the power of Mii, a goddess of flowers, fertility and reproduction. She can change into Mii by dancing a strange dance that always seems to end with Natsumi having an orgasm of some sort. With these powers she has to keep Ongo, the god of destruction, from basically destroying the world.

"My Tumor makes me so happy!"

Well, Ongo isn’t exactly a world destroyer at all. He’s a little mischievous pigmy who materializes once she’s reveled to have the powers of the goddess. Oh, but sometimes he can turn into the world destroyer, so Natsumi has to become Mii in order to defeat him and restore balance to the world.

Well, that’s not very funny at all, is it? Well, in order to make it funny they decided make the characters funny and put them in funny situations. Such as making Ongo summon an ocean in town and having to do a perverted sexy dance to turn Natsumi (still 10 years old, people) into Mii. There’s also Ahem, the spirit of earth… who could be very well the worst rendering of a New Guinean witch doctor ever. I’m not even sure if the tribes of New Guinea even use the horrible wang-cone out there.

For more hilarity, they give Natsumi some friends who have the primary job of freaking out when this oddball nature crap starts happening all over the town. Hilarious. They also introduce a rival in the second chapter, a water spirit known as Rongo. Once again, after a fight we learn she turns into a small, childlike version of herself.

Our first time is always a little awkward,
with the red light filling the world and everything.

You can’t have it both ways, loli-freaks! Either voluptuous or under aged. Pick a side! We’re at war!

God, there’s so much wrong with this. Besides the fact that every joke is about breast size, every other joke is about other aspects of a maturing lady’s body. The second episode begins with not one, but three jokes about menstruation. TEN YEARS OLD. If your ten year old is bleeding out of the vagina, something is probably seriously wrong. Being this is Japan, I would have the basement fumigated for tentacle monsters.

Also not comedy.

And let me give you no reason to ever seek this thing out -- I’ll spoil the entire thing for you. In the end, when Ongo turns into the huge destroyer of everything, only one thing stops his wave of destruction. Natsumi must become a giant Mii by dancing another magic dance with a bunch of nude babies and old men and rub her boobs in Ongo’s face. The end. Oh, my aching sides! That was so worth it. Or, wait… is this supposed to make me horny instead? Japan, you’re confusing.

But for this dark cloud there is a silver lining. This series is not only short, but it’s one of those Media Blaster "one hit wonder" releases which you’ll never be able to find casually. So you’ll never have to be forced to watch ten year olds dance to an orgasmic transformation ever.

Unless you’re in Thailand and have a couple bucks on you. Not that I would know anything about that.

This rant is dedicated to all of those who bought an anime just because they were young and wanted to see boobies.