Japan's latest loincloth-clad superhero: 'Go on, eat me!'

[radio667]

from mainichi-msn.co.jp .............. Giving a literally new meaning to the term hard-boiled crime fighter, Japan has developed an almost insatiable taste for a new stewy superhero who saves people by letting them eat him, according to Josei Seven (1/18-25).

Oden-kun, the loincloth-clad, sushi headband-wearing superhero based on mochi kinchaku, -- one of the ingredients of oden, a Japanese-style stew -- is fast attracting fans.

Illustrator Lily Franky created Oden-kun five years ago for a picture book, but since national broadcaster NHK came out with its animated version of the boiled root in April 2005, Oden-kun's simmering popularity has now boiled.

Oden-kun claims a fan base the women's weekly says runs from young children through to adults. Sales of Oden-kun picture books have topped 300,000, while there are over 30 manufacturers producing 180 types of spin-off merchandise.

"He's a defender of justice, but not perfect, which is what makes Oden-kun so good," a 40-something housewife tells Josei Seven. "There's never been a therapeutic type of superhero like him before."

Oden-kun' stories are set in Oden-mura, a little village located in a streetside vendor's stall that people can't see. Oden-kun and his buddies -- all other types of oden ingredients ranging from boiled radish to hard-boiled eggs -- are eaten by the stall's customers, in whose bodies they then tackle baddies like cancer and other forms of internal illness.

"Lily Franky says he created Oden-kun from mochi kinchaku because he was the one he felt was trying the hardest of all the ingredients in oden," a spokesman for the picture books' publisher tells Josei Seven. "Lily Franky said he didn't create (Oden-kun) to be the kind of 'absolutely anything's possible' superhero. Instead, he was looking to make a warm fuzzy hero that might not succeed in the end but would do anything possible to make sure he did the right thing."

[TexasGtar]

uh...okay.



you know..sometimes ,and i know i shouldn't, but i worry about the japanese. Internal super heros....????...uh...there is something not right about that...can't quite put my finger on it though.

[DeadMeatGF]

It's like "Fantastic Voyage" ... but with food!

[TexasGtar]

Originally Posted by DeadMeatGF

It's like "Fantastic Voyage" ... but with food!

yeah yaeh..I want to go rent that movie. It's been ages since i saw that.



Just think...one day when internal super heros are running rampant...some one could sneeze and there'd be little superheros everywhere.

[radio667]

Originally Posted by TexasGtar

Just think...one day when internal super heros are running rampant...some one could sneeze and there'd be little superheros everywhere.

LMAOOoo Best Line Ever !!!!!