GIMME GIMME GIMME!

January 5, 2009 11:35 PM

Kure Kure Takora was a Toho produced, short form children's television show from the Japan in the early 1970's. Meet the Cast: Kure Kure Takora, aka Gimme Gimme Octopus; his closest friend, the coin vomiting squash Chonbo; jellyfish bully Tororo; Monro, the sexy walrus who gets around; Debura,the grizzled and world-weary badger; Biragon, lazy trust-fund iguana; and last but not least, the picked on, Sea Cucumber Gang. An exhaustive listing of videos for all 220 episodes, most with plot breakdowns.

The lyrics and translation of the title song so you can sing along -

KURE KURE KURE
KUREPPE
KURYARUKA
KURYARINKO
Nandemo hoshigaru KUREKURE TAKORA

Gimme Gimme Gimme
Scheming win or lose
Scheming little thief (child pickpocket)
You’ll do anything to get what you want, Gimmie Gimmie Octopus

posted by Lord_Pall (18 comments total)

I love this show so so so much and so does my friends' 4-year-old son for whom I copied my DVDs. Works great for entertaining drunks at the bar, too!
posted by jtron at 11:51 PM on January 5

Could have sworn this had shown up on MeFi, but maybe not. It at least made some rounds a while back when it got a few mentions on WFMU's blog. They even posted the snazzy theme song. Good stuff!
posted by p3t3 at 11:56 PM on January 5

This is so many kinds of awesome.

When I grow up, I want to be in this show.
posted by po at 12:06 AM on January 6

I have a set of 257 episodes in fairly high quality that I got via bittorrent years ago — I've watched probably a quarter of them, mostly by playing the whole directory on shuffle. It's loud, bright, colorful, and disassociative.

This rip on The Pirate Bay appears to be the one I've got
posted by blasdelf at 1:22 AM on January 6

Ah! The show with the baby dumped into the river!
posted by JHarris at 1:44 AM on January 6

wow. so. totally. awesome.
you know of kikaida, yes?
posted by lapolla at 2:28 AM on January 6

Kikaida rocks! There's a proper US DVD distribution of the original 70's Kikaida epsiodes with English subs. It used to air on Hawaiian TV (and possibly other locations?).

Personally growing up in the midwest, I remember Ultraman would show up on the tube once in a while, and later Tranzor Z (Mazinger Z), Voltron, etc.. But I think Kure Kure Takora was either too early or too wacked out to import.
posted by p3t3 at 2:54 AM on January 6

Gimme gimme octopus? We've already had one example of octopus erotica deleted recently and a show with a title like this has got to be more of the same. Let's investigate further...

From the bittorrent .nfo blasdelf refers to above:

While the episodes only run 2 and a half minutes each, you'll be treated to acts of:
(snip)
* Love triangles that cross not only species but also plant/animal classifications

Why oh why are so many Mefites so determined to foist their seafood/human sexual relationship agenda on the world? Next thing you know, they'll be demanding Octopus/Human marriage and *then* where will we be?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:11 AM on January 6

Works great for entertaining drunks at the bar, too!

The first time I saw Kure Kure Takora was in 1998, on a degreaded 3/4 inch beta tape at the club where I was a VJ. Every time I played it it would always get caught in the ancient deck, and I would have to reach in and extract it from the bowels of that infernal machine. I played that tape until it disintegrated. Not so much because I cared for the drunks, but because it entertained ME. It was like The Banana Splits on mushrooms. I was in LOVE. And that was before I heard the soundtrack. Sure, it's all in Japanese, but I doubt being able to understand what the characters are saying would shed much light on the plots or anything.


Next thing you know, they'll be demanding Octopus/Human marriage and *then* where will we be?

One plot synopsis I read starts out "An octopus and a peanut are in love with the same walrus..."

They're waaaayyyyy ahead of you.
posted by louche mustachio at 4:51 AM on January 6

(The peanut is actually a squash.)
posted by louche mustachio at 4:55 AM on January 6

racist?

it's interesting to know that the Octopus's MO is lying cheating and stealing... he has a striking simple sambo appearence which I had thought was accidental. now i'm not so sure.
posted by geos at 5:51 AM on January 6

I saw this in the basement of Two Boots Pizza on Avenue A in NYC about ten years ago and the whole room was sooooooo high.
posted by The Straightener at 6:01 AM on January 6

Kure Kure Takora's greatest fear is being doused with vinegar and being served as Sudako.
Pretty much sums up modern life, I'd say.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:44 AM on January 6

Fantastic!

Without knowing much of the series, it makes me think of Kogepan (ten 4-minute anime episodes about a little burnt bread person and its friends) and Yo Gabba Gabba! (wacky little kids show, made by MC Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs) from The Aquabats), though neither are as violent and weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:48 AM on January 6

Coin Vomiting Squash is the name of my new band.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:26 AM on January 6

I put this on our tv one day, while my 8-year-old nephew and some of his friends were over. There were no subtitles. They loudly protested how dumb it was, but stood, gaping and arrested, through the entire DVD.
posted by everichon at 9:36 AM on January 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

So that's what the side characters are? One very special acid trip in a Minnesota winter involved guessing which combination best described those characters (eg walrus-unicorn-carebear for Monro...), and generally trying not to lose our minds while watching the craziness. At some point we began discussing each character in terms of emotional archetypes, at which point it was agreed we should turn it off. The song, however, was a bit trickier to escape.. from loudly repeating inside our minds.
posted by sarcasman at 10:13 AM on January 6

Here's a thought for you guys. Maybe this show isn't all that weird, really. Instead, maybe American kids programming is so tame and withered from decades of psychologist overthinking, regulation and parent pressure that when we see a wonderful kids show that isn't so encumbered by those things, we snap awake and think how odd it is. Also, that a kids show not burdened by these thing can also be somehow appealing to adults.

It's the same reason John K. finds it hard to find work doing kids cartoons even though he created Ren and Stimpy, and it's why classic Sesame Street is still so appealing yet "not recommended for children," while the current Street is about as interesting as plain oatmeal.
posted by JHarris at 12:23 PM on January 6 [1 favorite has favorites]