Review: Pom Poko (anime)

My cousin CK and her husband are big anime fans, and they recommended Pom Poko to me. So I had some friends over to watch it.

It starts out as a charmingly cute story about these raccoon-like animals that are wild animals by day. And when humans aren't around they talk and party and dance around. Very cute.

The movie also has a moral environmental theme. The humans are polluting the earth, and the animals are starting to suffer.

About halfway through the movie, things start to get really interesting. Turns out that these little stripey Disney animals have superpowers! Which they access by growing their testicles! To the size of a house!

The first time the testicle-growing happened definitely caught us off-guard. Jaws dropped. Popcorn fell to the floor. "Huh? Is that...? Nooooo....Yes!"

I recommend Pom Poko for the environmental lesson...and for a good laugh.

CK's husband, who is Japanese, told me that it is actually a common folk tale in Japan that these little fur balls have testicular superpowers.

I love Japan.