JAPANARAMA!
Psycho TV From Japan (Volume 3)
2001 - USA 

Distributor: Too Far East
Documentary (sort of)

- Reviewed by Linda

Japanarama!What is it about the misery of others that proves so raucously entertaining for the consuming public? For proof, you have to look no further these days than the ridiculously popular reality TV shows across America and Europe. But just when you thought we invented torturous game shows, you only have to look East... Too Far East, actually, to see how it's really done. Let me introduce Volume 3, the latest installment in the fantastic and jaw-droppingly entertaining Japanarama! Psycho TV From Japan! series of compilation videos.

This 2-hour, densely-packed video compiles bits and pieces of raucous, obnoxious, humiliating, and often violent game shows from Japan. To make it even more entertaining and baffling, the folks at Too Far East even sometimes include the commercial breaks that will leave non-Japanese viewers scratching their heads in wonderment in confusion (especially when we see superstar Western celebrities, who wouldn't be caught dead in an American advertising, plugging products like beer and cars!).

In this volume of Japanarama! you'll see snippets of such TV shows as:

  • An astonishingly cruel game show called Pokerface, where contestants have to guess which of a panel of sharply-dressed men casually drinking cocktails is being physically abused from the waist down discreetly behind a curtain. The poor victim tries his best not to flinch and give himself away while, behind the curtain, a dominatrix whips his bare butt and sticks an anal vibrator up his ass! All the while, the contestants are rubbing their chins thoughtfully, saying, "You know, this is a really hard one... I really can't tell...." Shocking and disturbing. And funny as hell in a very wrong way.

  • Two guys playing "sleeping possums" play dead while their teams try to torture them into stirring to life. This is done by dropping basketballs on their stomachs, putting toads down their shirts, and strapping their lifeless bodies into a vomit-inducing amusement park ride. Good, clean fun.

  • A farting contest. Really. On TV.

  • A sort of trivia contest where one fellow is held spread-eagled in his underwear (think of the pose of a woman in stirrups at the gynecologist) on a contraption you have to see to believe. As the other contestant answers questions incorrectly, underwear boy moves closer and closer to the contestant's face. Crotch first. Did I mention the thrusting motions?

Volume 3, with the inclusion of Pokerface, brings the cruelty in the Japanarama! series to a whole new level. This makes a worthy companion piece to the previous (and equally enjoyable) Volume 1 and Volume 2. Pop them into your VCR next time you have a party!

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