Up All Night With Vermillion Pleasure Night
It is nothing new to state that Japanese entertainment TV is one of the most controversial in the world. Shows for adults, and sometimes for kids, offer the most bizarre plots, ranging from borderline inhumane reality TV to hilarious gameshows. Within this stands Vermillion Pleasure Night.
Starting off as a late-night show in 2000, Vermillion Pleasure Night is an adult comedy series, tiptoeing to inappropriate humor, and going in as explicitly as Japanese TV allows it. It was directed by Yoshimasa Ishibashiw who also took care of some screenplay and editing. Released on TV Tokyo, it had 25 episodes of 25 minutes each. Today, you can watch it by purchasing its DVD or by digging out some clips online, but its inaccessibility proves how niche it was, although there is still an active foreign fan community for this show.
Camp would be a suitable word to portray Vermillion Pleasure Night. Eccentric and offbeat, it featured reoccurring clips of themed skits. The most popular ones were “Cathy’s House”, which stars 4 actresses that hang out in a doll-house setting, acting like immoral and senseless Barbies. “The Fucoon Family” is a skit played by painted mannequins forming a traditional American family, and they got so popular that an American show titled “Oh! Mikey” was produced. Another one would be “One Point English Lesson” where a scandalous traditional Japanese courtesan teaches suggestive English.
Regardless of the content, the show is very fashion-forward and eye-catching. Despite being low-budget, its artistic touch, colourful sets, and Y2K outfits, prove it to be an ingenious and original show. Mixing traditional Japanese culture with outer-space, Vermillion Pleasure Night are like avant-garde parodies.
Obviously, the gags keep the audience hooked, but the visuals are nonetheless admirable, as well as the hilariously performed musical sequences in each episode.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
