World Fool News

World Fool News (ワールド フール ニュース) is a 12 episode slice of slice comedy series based on a web series of the same name from 2013.  It originally aired in Japan in the spring of 2014, apparently only in Gunma Prefecture.

    Takahashi Ichitarou has been promoted to a co-anchor position for Central TV’s news program, World Fool News.  He dreads the promotion as the program has the worst ratings of the station and is rumored to be full of weirdo’s.  He learns quickly that the rumors are true as he tries to deal with the odd personalities of his co-workers.  From his co-anchor who is detached from reality, the sexist/fat shaming producer, the overweight engineer and his crazed assistant and the drunken cameraman.  Everyone offers a different blend of psychosis and he has to figure out how to deal with his new role.

    This odd and comical series was a breath of fresh air from the norm of anime.  There are none of your typical anime trappings in this show, it’s just some cartoon for all intents and purposes.  The animation is pretty low quality and even appears to be done with motion capture.  But that adds to the odd charm of this short series.  Each episode is about 9 minutes long, the original web episodes were around 5 minutes.  This series is no frills and plays directly off of Japanese comedic sensibilities.  My favorite bit is them interviewing a baby who acts and talks like an adult.  This show isn’t for everyone, I get that.  I enjoyed it and looked forward to each week’s episode.  This show wasn’t made to sell figurines or boost tankobon sales.  If you like weird Japanese humor, especially dry humor, check it out though.

    The only reason I knew this show existed was due to Crunchyroll simulcasting it, odd.  I highly doubt it will ever get beyond that.  The original 6 episode ONA series was available for a time on YouTube, but before I could watch the 6^th episode the people who uploaded it restricted country access to it.  The ONA’s are essentially some of the same as the first few episodes of the TV anime, but with different dialogue and altered interactions.  Between the ONA and the TV the baby was interviewed twice.