During the 2016 Rio Olympics’ closing ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister cosplayed as Mario. Well, sorta. You probably thought it was cool. Beat Takeshi did not.
[Gif: Deadspin}
On a recent episode of his current events show Takeshi’s TV Tackle (via Daily), the famed actor, director and comedian said the Prime Minister’s appearance “wasn’t good”.
“Although Mr Abe showed up as Super Mario, whichever way you think about it, unless he came out as Ultraman, Pikachu or Godzilla, it was no good. There really isn’t that much of an impact.”
Mario is neat and all, but Ultraman costumes are fantastic. For example, imagine him in this.
未来は変えられる #ulden #ウルトラマンオーブ pic.twitter.com/BaDzYNjbSU
— 草々太郎 (@coretechhakai) August 20, 2016
Takeshi isn’t criticising Mario per se, but rather, the Prime Minister’s showmanship.
Continuing, he explains, “It’s no good wearing a business suit. It’s no good unless you wear an Ultraman costume. You gotta have that connected to wires.” Takeshi added that the politician could then fly in.
Like this, I guess?
スペシウムゼペリオンに変身中でもカラータイマーが点滅している細かさ。#ウルトラマンオーブ pic.twitter.com/Q4dM9eztvR
— おこめ@ガンバライダーガンテツ (@okome9497) August 20, 2016
Yes, like this.
Ultraman might not have the same international recognition as Mario, and I personally love how the Tokyo Olympics is turning out to be the geekiest yet, but, safety and security concerns aside, he might be right about the wire-flying bit.
Comments
16 responses to “Beat Takeshi Not Impressed With Japanese Prime Minister’s Mario Cosplay”
In my heart of hearts, I just hope something is featured for Astroboy. That’s a cultural milestone in anybody’s book, surely.
This is relevant. Oh so relevant, thank you Takeshi!
Thats amazing, i watched that video in stitches
HA, love it.
I thought he was against what happened overall, then he started with suggestions.
“So, what do you think?”
“It’s crap, you should’ve been high in the sky, battling the other world leaders Dragonball Z style. Or at least came down in a Gundam”
There’s your exact reason Mario WAS used. He connects the world to Japan through popular media. Multiple generations recognise Mario and quite frankly, asides a very niche group of people, who outside of Japan honestly recognises Ultraman? Come off the grass.
Besides, you wanna save your BEST stuff for the opening ceremony 😉
A tentacle penis monster costume would be just as effective.
Maaaaaaaaaate just wait til synchronised swimming… that’s gonna be the bomb when the tentacle monster rises outta the pool.
Could have had the same impact with Godzirra, but Mario is that icon everyone will recognise, and you dont need much to pull it off. A silly hat, a fake mustache, and maybe a red shirt and overalls.. So far easier to cosplay than Godzirra.
Maybe Link would have been close as well.
Link potentially too, but Mario has that ‘further reach’ with people who don’t even play games due to pop culture etc, but Links getting damn close yeah.
Wouldnt have lost anything if they did Link, but Mario is far easier to pull off. Its STILL a Prime Minister doing this, and while its cool he went to the effort its silly to expect too much.
I’m with you, Mario was THE best choice to send the message they wanted. Was just tossing out what other Japanese icons could have had enough recognition to work.
Of course they could’ve gone the other route and gone with Wario trashing Rio… but then Rio was trashed enough as is…
Yeah, well, Takeshi’s Challenge wasn’t very good, was it Mr Takeshi?
It was challenging, though.
Can’t wait for Akira to happen in 2020
I thought Mario was a wierd choice to represent Japan we choose an Italian stereotye characterture who takes all sorts of performance enhancements to win.
It’s okay, he knows what he’s doing. He’s a doctor.