Super Mario's Fire Brigade
(translation of Super Mario no Shōbōtai) was a short fire-safety PSA based off of Super Mario Bros.. It was animated by Toei Animation and given to Japanese schools to show their students.
The short starts with a girl named Kaoru playing Super Mario Bros. 3 in contemporary Japan while her younger brother Tatsuya watches. Kaoru's mother asks her to get some groceries. While making the list with her mom, Kaoru notices firework sparklers in a drawer and takes them. The siblings decide to play with the sparklers in a car yard. Mario and Luigi see the siblings and save them when a fire breaks out after they unsafely discard the fireworks. The brothers scold Kaoru and Tatsuya. Later that night, Kaoru is still unnerved by the fire but can't tell her parents that she met video game characters. A small earthquake happens but luckily the kids remembered to turn off their gas stove, preventing a fire. Later they prevent another fire when their dad's cigarette falls on the carpet. However, a fire has broken out in a nearby apartment. Two firefights, Mario and Luigi, arrive and save a mother and her baby from the fire.
This PSA was never dubbed outside of Japan and never received a commercial release. Toei also made another similar PSA called Super Mario Traffic Safety (Super Mario no Koutsuu Anzen) about bike and traffic safety.
Super Mario's Fire Brigade contains examples of:
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Kaoru finds Tatsuya annoying for giving her tips on how to beat Super Mario Bros 3.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Tatsuya is missing several of his teeth.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Mario and Luigi are apparently firemen on top of being plumbers.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Mario and Luigi's cartoony designs clash with everyone else's relatively realistic designs. They're also unusually small, as Luigi is barely taller than Kaoru.
- Salaryman: The kids father, complete with coming home from work drunk.
- Scare 'Em Straight: In-universe. Mario and Luigi's lesson on fire safety scares Kaoru.
- Very Special Episode: It is a fire safety PSA.
