The box cover explained the show like this: "Get ready America! Japanese filmmakers have captured the American family on video and the picture isn't pretty. Meet the Fuccons, a typical 2 ½ person family inexplicably transported to the land of the rising sun. Okay, maybe they're not perfect: Dad is a bit stiff and wooden, Mom is plastic and empty headed and Mikey's… well, Mike's just a little dummy. But when it comes to standing firm in the face of this new and alien environment, the family that's made together stays together, and it certainly doesn't hurt that the Fuccons are as thick skinned, rigid and inflexible as they come. Go Fuccon crazy as the International Smash Hit that's taken the world by storm is finally reverse imported to America in The Fuccons!"

Essentially, the show is about a family of mannequins that move to Japan. They are what appears to be a stereotypical family from about the early years of the Leave It To Beaver show. The clothing styles, mom wearing pearl necklaces, and all the assorted trimmings were in place as the "family" were placed in positions where they'd react like dopey tourists as much as anything else. The family is made up of Mom, Dad, and Mikey, their son with most of the emphasis on Mikey in this initial release. The original show was called Oh Mikey! so I expect that he'll be the focal point of the majority of episodes throughout the run of the series, with friends and family making the bulk of secondary characters too like girlfriend Emily and cousin Laura playing important roles here.

I'll be the first to admit that something must've been lost in the translation or the humor stemmed out of something as yet unseen by me when I first watched it last week. On a whim, I took it to a New Years Eve "party" in hopes of brighter friends being able to figure it all out (I actually had hoped someone from ADV Films would be there to explain it to me but they must've been whooping it up elsewhere). Given that the material on the DVD consisted of 8 episodes all a couple of minutes long, I was doubtful that anyone would even try to understand it, casting me out for being a wet blanket. I figured that maybe the show would be like a modern day retelling of the fable The Emperor's New Clothes where we'd all laugh at how stupid the majority of critics were for sucking up to ADV Films so blatantly.

I popped the DVD inside the player and everyone in the room stopped talking loudly, probably figuring I had put in a porno or something else that was socially taboo in a mixed crowd such as this (the anticipation wasn't hurt by the way I tried to quietly get it working without much fanfare-much like anyone acting too suspiciously, they "knew" I must be up to no good). I cranked up the sound and skipped the stupid commercials hit play and off it went, me laughing inside at how everyone else would be put through the show as I had been. Whatever else I say about the show, it seemed to hit some untapped reserve in the drunken crowd as it caused more than a few nervous laughs to break into some creepy cackles by my mood altered friends. I asked them what they were laughing at and not one could tell me anything coherent; leading me to initial believe that they were laughing at me rather than the show. Such was not the case though as a few of them asked about getting a copy, especially when I told them how cheap the DVD was (around $5 online).

One of my pals tried to intellectualize it by saving how it skewered American imperialism and social mores from the days of the Cold War while another suggested it was a light hearted look at Americana by the usually xenophobic Japanese. In either case, I wasn't picking up on the same vibe that they were (and the laughter was far from universal) and assumed that this was another reason to avoid mind altering substances like alcohol but I guess that they were happy with it for whatever limitations the show possessed. So, whatever analysis I give this one or whatever thought I put into it doesn't change the equation that I'm on Chris' side about the DVD but figure it got enough laughs to merit a rating of Rent It to see for yourself. If you don't laugh at first, get drunk and try watching it again; maybe that'll help.

Picture: The Fuccons: Meet The Fuccons! was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as shown on Japanese broadcast television as a segment on the Japanese variety show Vermillion Pleasure Night before being spun off into a separate series. The colors were accurate; the clarity of the mostly static scenes just fine, and the DVD master added no problems to the show at all.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual two choices, the original 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo track with English subtitles or the newly made English language dub also handled in 2.0 Dolby Digital offering. The subtitles stayed very close to the dub so I can't say for sure how accurate they were but I always wondered if perhaps some valuable subtext was edited out to clue me in on the show. This was definitely a case where the process employed in Ghost Stories might've worked better (where the dub cast adlibs comedic material rather than stick to a scripted translation of the show).

Extras: Although the running time of the show was about 25 minutes, the show was dirt cheap so it wasn't that risky in terms of buying it. There were some interesting extras though with the screensavers, trailers for Yumeria, Super Gals, Godannar, Excel Saga, Ghost Stories, and the aforementioned Vermillion Pleasure Night, along with the two versions of the show (American and Japanese), and icon sets under the DVD-ROM portion of the disc.

Final Thoughts: The Fuccons: Meet The Fuccons! was a wacky, weird ride that managed to come across as better in a group setting than as an individual experience so perhaps that was the missing dynamic for Chris and I when we first looked at the show on our own. For me, I think having a single episode wedged in behind some of the other sexual innuendos from the original Vermillion Pleasure Night series might've enhanced it. As with many other humorous shows, a little goes a long way for me but don't let my criticisms of it prevent you from at least checking it out for yourselves. That said, I'm going to give it a rating of Rent It but don't say you weren't warned ahead of time that not everyone thinks this is funny or creative.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.