And They Say Cults Have No Sense of Humor (Oh, the Bouncing!)

Recently Maia and I have been passing Haruki Murakami's non-fictional Underground back and forth like a before-bed bong, breathing in accounts from victims of the infamous Aum Shinrikyo 1995 Tokyo Subway sarin nerve gas attack. I highly recommend this book on a number of levels as it's a fascinating window into a mixed-up time in Japan that was and, in some cases, still is. The victim accounts are well worth the modest price of this text, however it's towards the rear of the book, where Murakami tracks down existing and former members of the cult, when things go from fascinating to I-can't-stop-turning-the-pages-if-I-tried status.

In one of the interviews with a former Aum member the subject states to Murakami that he took part in the production of an anime that was to be shown to prospective initiates illustrating the supernatural powers of Shoko Asahara, founder and absolute leader of Aum, plus mastermind behind the gas attack. I wondered (and the subject does too) why Asahara didn't just demonstrate his amazing powers to the congregation or be filmed using them to show to everyone instead of making an anime, but of course we all know the reason for that. By the subject's own admission the final product was pure rubbish.

Well, if there's even a slight possibility of a piece of campy, throw-away footage of anything existing out there then Maia just has to look for it...and usually find it. This is yet another example of how many luxuries the internet affords we humble meat popsicles these days. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Aum promotional anime. How these goofballs ever amassed enough know how to create sarin is beyond me.

The bouncing at 0:36 is...amazing.

--Matt