It’s been awhile since we’ve checked in with Kasou Taishou, the awesome twice-annual Japanese game show/competition where people complete against each other by staging skits with outrageous props, costumes and puppets. I’m really late posting about this – Kasou Taishou 86 was broadcast back in May and the next one is coming up soon in the New Year – but here’s a quick overview of all the skits that were featured in the most recent editions.

You can see complete versions of some of the best skits after the jump…

An invisible man weightlifting:

Although this it isn’t necessarily the best example of puppetry, this photography skit is just conceptually fantastic:

Finally, one of my favourites, a really nicely done black light skit about underwater life:

You can see even more of these by doing a quick search on YouTube for “Kasou Taishou 86″ or checking out previous posts about Kasou Taishou here on PuppetVision for some great skits from previous editions.

I love simple, beautiful, life-like puppetry. Kawasemiza – a Japanese puppetry company that tours internationally – seems to do a lot of that. Watch the video above and check out their YouTube Channel for more great work.

The latest edition of Kasou Taishou (see previous posts) recently aired in Japan and as usual, there were a lot of interesting and innovative skits to be seen. I thought that the Home Appliance Circus was ridiculously awesome (and much better than the grand prize winners).

Here are some more highlights from the show:

This one is very short, but very cool.

These black and white animals are pretty good too.

Although this Rooster sketch could have been executed much better technically, conceptually I liked it a lot.

You can watch almost all of the other skits by searching for Kasou Taishou 85 on YouTube. The next edition of Kasou Taishou is scheduled to be broadcast in Japan in May.

Who doesn’t love Batman? Yet another example of fantastic work from Kasou Taishou (see previous post).

God I love Japanese puppetry.

I recently picked up a copy of The Art of Osamu Tezuka, who’s frequently called the “God of Manga” and the “Japanese Walt Disney”. Tezuka famously created Astro Boy, the first Japanese animated series to embrace the style of art found in Japanese comics (Manga) and gave birth to Anime. Less well known is his work in live action, specifically the 1960s Japanese puppet sci-fi series Galaxy Boy Troop.

Galaxy Boy Troop was sort of Japan’s answer to Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. The show’s puppetry was created by an innovative Japanese puppeteer named Kinosuke Takeda and his Takeda Puppet Troupe. A total of 97 episodes of Galaxy Boy were produced and the sci-fi puppet genre proved to be very popular proved to be very popular in Japan in the 1960s.

Takeda worked on two other popular sci-fi puppet shows during the `60s, Spaceship Silica (1960-62) and Aerial City 008 (1969-71). These shows had a huge impact on the young Japanese who grew up watching them, who would in turn grow up to produce similar shows like X-Bomber and the entire Tokusatsu genre.

I love this “Hand Ninja” video. Clever, simple, effective. Most importantly, the girls in this video are obviously having fun. More puppetry should be like this.

The latest Kasou Taishou special aired in Japan tonight which, in Japan, is already yesterday (it’s like they live permanently in the future!). Here are some of the best entries:

This was the winning entry, a cartoony Manzai comedy routine.

I like this one too. Apparently, it’s the boy’s father playing soccer ball (this is also the only entry my limited Japanese allows me to actually understand).

How to get a doughnut without waiting in line.

Little kids recreate a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

Via Japan Probe.

Badly performed puppets starring in a commercial for zero calorie gelatin in Japan (I have no idea).

Via Japan Probe.

When trying to invent ways to sell bug killer I’m not sure that Bunraku puppets would be the first thing to jump in to my head. Then again, I don’t live in Japan.

I seem to be discovering a lot of Japanese stuff lately for no reason other than Japan is a really, really creative place. The latest is this video for a Japanese band called Sour. The music doesn’t do much for me, but it’s a very creative use of hand shadows.

Link via Engrish Brog.