Domo (NHK)

Stuffed toy version of Domo-kun

Domo-kun (どーもくん, Dōmo-kun) is the mascot of Japan's NHK television station, appearing in several 30 second stop-motion sketches shown as station identification during shows. Domo-kun, a strange monster-like creature born from an egg, is short, fuzzy and brown with beady black eyes and an open mouth revealing pointed teeth.

Background

Domo lives in an underground cave with Mr. Usaji [1], known in Japanese-language versions as Usajii (うさじい, a portmanteau of the words usagi (ウサギ), (rabbit), and jii-chan (じいちゃん) (grandpa). Mr. Usaji is a wise old rabbit who loves to watch TV and drink astringent tea. Also in the cave live two bats, a mother named Patience [2] (Shinobu (しのぶ) in the Japanese version) and her child Mario (Morio (もりお) in the Japanese version). Patience has a drinking problem [3].

The other main character in the shorts is a weasel girl named Tashanna [4] [5] (Tā-chan (たーちゃん) in the Japanese version). Tashanna, 17 years old, is a weasel who wants to be a model in Tokyo and is always using technology (televisions, cellphones, cameras, etc). Televisions play a major part in all of the shorts.

The name "Domo" was acquired during the second episode of his show in which a TV announcer said, どうも、こんにちは (dōmo konnichiwa), which is a formal greeting meaning something along the lines of, "Well, hello there!", or "Hello, Domo!", and thus is a convenient dajare. The kun suffix on "Domo-kun" is a friendly title often used with young males. Domo-kun's favorite food is beef with potatoes in soup and he has a strong dislike for apples, due to an unexplained mystery in his DNA. Domo-kun is known to pass gas repeatedly when nervous or in a bad mood. ^[1]

Domo-kun cannot close his mouth, enjoys playing chopsticks and is fond of the band Guitar Wolf. He dreams of flying.

Popularization on Fark

The popularization of Domo-Kun as an internet icon and/or cliche in the Western world is often attributed to a Fark thread from July 28th, 2001. ^[2]. The thread became popular on the then-young site, prompted in part by its serendipitous ID number of 31337. From there, Fark users began using the image and likeness of the character in various image contests and as additional, humorous banter in threads.

Appearances in other media

A joint game called Domo-kun's Angry Smashfest was made by I-Mockery and Newgrounds, in which The Powerpuff Girls, enemies from Golden Axe, and Sparkster make an appearance. The Powerpuffs are in fact the villains of the game, while Sparkster, who is killed early in the game by the PPGs, is an ally, and Death Adder, the main antagonist of Golden Axe, is the final boss. Domo-kun was also featured in several of I-Mockery's mini-mocks including Cooking with Popinski! as a taste-tester and Pillow & Sheet Fort Wars where he presided over the peace meeting in the game.
Domo-kun appears as one of the monsters in Go, Go, Parody Rangers!, a parody of Power Rangers, which is featured on Newgrounds.
Nickelodeon is developing 26 2-minute shorts of Domo-kun for broadcast in America [6].
In the Melvins album A Live History of Gluttony and Lust one of the pages of the booklet has Domo-kun's face on it.
In the online forum Gaia Online a common emoticon used in forums is a Domo-kun.
Domo-kun appears in several satiric spoofs of the original "Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten."
A running joke on Uncyclopedia concerns Domo-kun being used to represent a grue.
Domo-kun appears as the Default skin for the Mattress prop in Garry's Mod Version 9. It could be Disabled by deactivating the plugin on the main menu.

References

^ "Domomode". Retrieved 2007-07-23.
^ "Fark thread 31337".

External links

[1] "Domomode". Retrieved 2007-07-23.

[2] "Fark thread 31337".

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