# Bizarre entities in anime **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166 "2006-02-12T22:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166/1 "2006-02-12T22:03:51Z")
Happened to catch a glimpse of Bo-Bobo Bo\ and was curious about something. Many anime feature not just human(oid) characters or animals but various creatures that defy ready description. It’s sort of like all the anthropomorphized inanimate objects you see in advertising coming to life and living in the everyday world, like if you saw the Scrubbing Bubbles bubble waiting at the bus stop, or something like that. Apparently the people in the anime simply take these things’ existance for granted and treat them like pets or mascots. Is there an explanation for this anime convention, or is it something peculiar to Japanese humor/ culture that doesn’t translate readily? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166/2 "2006-02-13T05:45:29Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Happened to catch a glimpse of Bo-Bobo Bo\ and was curious about something. Many anime feature not just human(oid) characters or animals but various creatures that defy ready description. It’s sort of like all the anthropomorphized inanimate objects you see in advertising coming to life and living in the everyday world, like if you saw the Scrubbing Bubbles bubble waiting at the bus stop, or something like that. Apparently the people in the anime simply take these things’ existance for granted and treat them like pets or mascots. Is there an explanation for this anime convention, or is it something peculiar to Japanese humor/ culture that doesn’t translate readily? It’s that Shinto influence… a lot of those creatures are just modern incarnations of typical japanese folklore creatures like tanuki… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166/3 "2006-02-13T08:38:36Z")
A tanuki is a real animal… Can the OP give an example? Nothing in particular is coming to mind that isn’t explained in the story (though I might just be spacing.) Ryo-ohki is an alien being, etc. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166/4 "2006-02-13T10:47:53Z")
You mean like [url=http://www.gameflaws.com/cavestory/siteimages/friends2.jpg]Balrog. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-entities-in-anime/344166/5 "2006-02-13T10:49:47Z")
Sighsigh. That was meant to be a question too. [![](http://static.hugedomains.com/images/logo_huge_domains.gif) ](http://static.hugedomains.com/images/logo_huge_domains.gif)