Series / The Fuccons

Mikey: Gee, Mom, we've come to live in Japan, haven't we?
Barbara: That's right, Mikey. We're going to be starting our new life in Japan.
James: That's right, son. From now on, we're going to live as Japanese.
Everyone: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Fuccons (known as Oh! Mikey in Japan) is a Japanese series of comedy shorts created by Yoshimasa Ishibashi. The series is centered on Mikey Fuccon, an 8-year-old boy who has relocated from the United States to Japan with his parents, James and Barbara. All characters are played by mannequins filmed in real-life locations, with tons of Black Comedy and Surreal Humor.

The series originated from Ishibashi's surreal late-night comedy sketch show, Vermilion Pleasure Night, where it aired in three parts: The Fuccon Family, The Fuccon Family Part 2, and New Fuccon Family. The series became so popular it was screened in several film festivals and later received its own Spin-Off title. On TV Tokyo, The Fuccons aired for 8 seasons from 2002 to 2005, with four Direct-to-DVD releases (including the 2007 film Oh! Mikey Fever). While the series has not received new episodes since 2010, it still continues to air in Japan as late-night bumpers to fill up time. The characters have also appeared in many product commercials, including Sapporo Beer and Mouse Computer.

ADV Films licensed seasons 1-4 in 2004 (including the sketches from Vermilion Pleasure Night) and broadcast it on Anime Network. It also aired on G4 as part of the G4's Late Night Peep Show.

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The Fuccons provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Depending on the episode, James and Barbara can be straight-up abusive towards Mikey, even though it's Played for Laughs.
  • The Kawakitas aren't any better than the Fuccons, especially since they are more nihilistic than the latter due to their Perpetual Poverty. In one episode, Mamoru lets his 8-year-old son Satoru take a swig of alcohol.
• All Just a Dream: In the final episode of New Fuccon Family, James and Barbara are shot dead by Mikey's Yakuza henchmen after they abandon him in childhood. A pregnant Barbara suddenly wakes up, revealing it to be a dream, and makes James promise to love their son when she finally gives birth.
• Bad Future: In Extra, Mikey is visited by an angel who reveals that he has four possible futures: one where he is in a loveless marriage with Emily, where he is saddled with all the housework and she treats him terribly; one where he is in a loveless marriage with Laura, where he treats her terribly; one where he is married to Saori and is trapped forever in her van; and one where he has lost his job and being in debt, leading him to be Driven to Suicide.
• Betty and Veronica: Emily is the Betty and Laura is the Veronica to Mikey's Archie. Both of them are Love Interests who make consistent appearances, and Emily is the "nice girl" while Laura is older, harsh, and cynical.
• Big Brother Worship: Emily notes that Brown is the only person she can rely on, especially after he picks off a caterpillar from her hand when Mikey is unable to. The official website also goes on to say that Emily and Brown share a strong bond.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Charles tends to rephrase everything Tony says, and at every point in their conversation, he ends up either contradicting him or saying something way out-of-line. This causes Tony to call him out on it, and they end up arguing.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Laura is 12 years old, and James and Barbara note that she is starting to go through her rebellious period. The Fuccons find her annoying because she complains a lot. When her mother, Mary, comes to take her back to the United States, Laura also throws a huge tantrum.
• Breakout Character: The original sketches were titled The Fuccon Family, and when the series received a Spin-Off, the title changed to Oh! Mikey and was centered more on Mikey's daily life rather than the Fuccons as a whole. This is averted in the English version, which was renamed The Fuccons.
• Calling Your Attacks: Laura yells, "Laura kick!" when she kicks a soccer ball into someone. This has been adapted by the other characters, who do the same when kicking a soccer ball to attack or just kicking in general. Other people besides Laura who have used a kicking attack are Romeo, Barbara, and Mikey.
• Catchphrase: "I'm Laura, and I'm always going to be Laura!"
• Character Blog: Mikey has an official Twitter account at @OHMikey1203. Tony and Charles also have a Twitter account at @OM_twins.
• Creepy Twins: Tony and Charles are twin brothers, and while they're not intended to be creepy, the nature of this series, as well as Charles rephrasing whatever Tony says, makes them look like this. They also seem sinister at times since their earlier appearances mostly had them Trolling Mikey.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The episodes starring the Kawakitas usually involve only just them. Even when the Fuccons appear, they never directly interact with them.
  • The "Teahouse Papillon" episodes in Hard Core star a never-before-seen character named Chigusa, the owner of Teahouse Papillon, who projects her own insecurities onto her customers and provides bad service to them.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: When Mikey tells James and Barbara that his teacher will be visiting their house, James and Barbara immediately assume Mikey did something wrong at school. Mikey has to convince them that no, he did not do anything wrong and that it's customary for teachers in Japan to pay home visits to their students for a parent-teacher conference.
• Denser and Wackier: The original Vermilion Pleasure Night sketches were deadpan, morbid, and unsettling, while the TV series has a much more expressive, cartoony delivery with a focus on absurd humor.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Depending on the episode, James and Barbara are either Abusive Parents or Good Parents towards Mikey. Their abusiveness is mostly exhibited in the Vermilion Pleasure Night sketches, where they do things like abandon Mikey, force him to go to school despite him collapsing, and refuse to take his kidnapping seriously. Other times, they try to protect him from "Lily" (Laura disguised as a ghost) or concoct schemes to help him win Emily's love back.
  • Emily is established as a Nice Girl, but in some episodes she can be a Manipulative Bitch towards Mikey. Sometimes it's caused by Laura manipulating her, but there are some cases where she has done it on her own will, such as teaming up with Brown to trick Mikey into taking her out to better date spots. The show also flip-flops on whether Emily returns Mikey's feelings; several episodes have her agree that she is his "girlfriend", but Mikey's Bad Future reveals that she doesn't love him when they get married.
• Depraved Homosexual: Emily and Brown's little brother, Romeo, is extremely affectionate towards men and rude towards women. He is in love with Mikey as much as his presence actually creeps him out. In his debut episode, "A Younger Boy", Romeo tries to pounce on Mikey and he ends up accidentally pulling his pants down, to which he puts his head against Mikey's bare butt and coos, "What a beautiful butt!" This causes Mikey to run away and beg his mom to intervene to keep him away.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The original sketches from Vermilion Pleasure Night were Darker and Edgier, and the deadpan voice acting made it a bit morbid. The television series, however, is much more comical.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Every episode ends with all the characters laughing.
• Evil Brit: Tony and Charles are from England, and in their earlier appearances, they are the closest thing to a villain in the series due to them pranking Mikey all the time.
• Foil: The Kawakitas are the opposite of the Fuccons, in that they are more cynical, brash, and talk in Brutal Honesty to each other. Unlike the Fuccons, they are also poor.
• Generation Xerox: Tony and Charles' mother, Elena, also has a twin sister named Helena. Both of them dress similarly to Tony and Charles while having the same mannerisms, such as the second twin rephrasing what the first twin said and then arguing over their inconsistencies.
• Gold Digger: When Mikey becomes engaged to Princess Isabella, he admits he would rather get married to her than Emily or Laura simply because Isabella is wealthy.
• Good Is Dumb: Mikey is kind to everyone, but he is also incredibly naive and quick to fall for pranks that Laura or the twins pull on him. In "Mikey Turns the Other Cheek", Laura convinces Emily to treat Mikey like trash by setting him up, pushing him, and yelling at him. Mikey never gets angry and forgives Emily, causing her to think him as an angel. However, Laura helps Emily realize that Mikey isn't forgiving because he's kind — he's forgiving because he's too gullible.
• I Never Said It Was Poison:
  • Tony and Charles trick Barbara into being hospitable towards them after they arrive at the Fuccons' house telling her that they were Mikey's friends... only it turns out that Mikey never invited them to his house and they were just there For the Evulz.
  • Tony and Charles once again trick Mikey and Emily into coming to a birthday party, which their mother and aunt (also twin sisters) attend... except Tony and Charles never once said that it was specifically their birthday party.
• Identical Stranger: James and Barbara attempt to replace Mikey with Mac, who looks exactly like him. This is not a coincidence, because Mac is actually James' illegitimate son.
• The Immodest Orgasm: In "The Lady Tutor", Tracy's debut episode, she moans very loudly without warning to add to her overflowing sex appeal.
• Kissing Cousins: Laura is Mikey's cousin from his father's side, and by the end of the first season, she realizes she has a crush on him. This crush is one-sided, since Mikey vastly prefers Emily over her, but Laura is set up as one of Mikey's Love Interests and Extra has an episode showing that one of Mikey's possible futures where he is married to her.
• Lighter and Softer: The television series focuses more on Surreal Humor and has a much lighter tone than the sketches that originally aired on Vermilion Pleasure Night. The fact that the voice acting is more emotional than the deadpan delivery in Vermilion Pleasure Night also makes the show more comical than its original predecessor.
• Love Triangle: The main love triangle in the series is Laura, Mikey, and Emily. Laura has a secret crush on Mikey despite often bullying him, while Mikey prefers the kinder and sweeter Emily.
• Manipulative Bitch:
  • Laura often pulls pranks on Mikey to benefit herself, such as making him pay 1000 yen for a wish-granting stone she lied about.
  • Emily is also guilty of being manipulative herself, as she often goes along with Laura's plans to bully him and has also guilt-tripped him on her own several times. In Extra, there are two instances where she tells Mikey she prefers his dad as a prank and when she and Brown manipulate Mikey into taking her out to better locations for their dates. The official websites have stated it's because she wants to test Mikey to see if he really likes her.
• May–December Romance:
  • In one episode, Brown falls in love with Barbara, and Barbara doesn't exactly turn down his advances.
  • In Extra, Mikey hitches a ride from a grown adult named Saori, who gets side-tracked over her lingering feelings for her ex-boyfriend Mitsuo that she never stops her van. Eventually, it gets to the point where she starts mistaking Mikey for him and years later, they are married with a child.
• Ms. Fanservice: Tracy is Mikey's tutor who talks very seductively, makes innuendos, and wears revealing clothing.
• New Transfer Student: Tony, Charles, Time Boy, Why, Spinner, and Clare have all been introduced as transfer students during their first appearances.
• The One That Got Away: James is still in love with his childhood sweetheart Christina, who is Emily's mother. She also reciprocates this feeling. Unfortunately, both of them do not recognize each other as adults and project their feelings onto Mikey and Emily because they look like each other when they were children.
• Only Six Faces: Yoshimasa Ishibashi sourced his mannequins from a Japanese company called Yoshichu Mannequins, and as a result, some of the characters have the same face molds:
  • Emily and Laura both have the same face.
  • Mikey, Romeo, and Mac have the same face.
  • Tony, Charles, Brown, Time Boy, and Clare have the same face.
• Potty Emergency: In season 7, there's an episode where Mikey eats a cream puff from the ground, which leads to him blowing off all his friends just to go to the bathroom.
• The Psycho Rangers: Season 7 introduces Nick, who competes against Mikey at everything. By Extra, his parents are also introduced, and they share the same competitive behavior with James and Barbara. Even their dialogue shows it by repeating after the Fuccons but with adding comparisons about how much better they are.
• Punny Name:
  • Nande ("Why" in the English translation) is a transfer student in Mikey's class who usually asks, "Why?" ("Nande?") to everything.
  • Mawari ("Spinner" in the English translation) is a transfer student in Mikey's class who cannot stop spinning.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Emily wears mainly red while Laura wears blue. However, unlike the trope, Emily is more mild-mannered, while Laura is temperamental.
• Retcon: The show has very little continuity, and whatever happens in one episode won't always be referenced in the next. For example, one episode from Vermilion Pleasure Night has Mikey married to a woman named Jennifer, and another from Extra has him trapped in Saori's van forever, even to the point of him growing up and marrying her.
• Reveal Shot: In "Dad's Affair", James repeatedly attempts to break up with his mistress, but they keep agreeing on staying in a physical relationship, even after Barbara mentions she'd kill him if she found out he was cheating on her. In the "Everybody Laughs" Ending, James and his mistress still agree on their physical relationship and laugh, until the camera pans to the right revealing that Barbara had discovered their relationship.
• Self-Made Orphan: In "Goodbye, Fuccon Family", James and Barbara decide to get a divorce, but neither will take custody of Mikey and leave him in their old house. When they return years later, Mikey has become a wealthy man and has his Yakuza henchmen shoot James and Barbara dead when they trespass into his house. This scene was also used as the ending of the episode "Moving Away" in Color of Life (Vermilion Pleasure Night's compilation film).
• Shrinking Violet: Teacher Bob is so shy that he whispers in his mother's ear and has her interpret for him.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: James and Barbara often argue and reconcile by having aggressive make-up sex later on.
• Stalker with a Crush: In season 7, there's an episode where Clare stalks Mikey for a day.
• Stuffed into the Fridge: In "Mikey Gets Kidnapped", James and Barbara refuse to take Mikey's kidnapping seriously, and this ends up with Mikey's dismembered body being mailed back to his family's house.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Brown falls in love with "Mayumi", who is really Mikey who was Dragged into Drag.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Tracy is hired as Mikey's tutor and she's practically bursting with sex appeal that James and Barbara fear that she may be making moves on him. This never happens, but Tracy does continue to flirt with everyone she sees.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Teacher Bob loves Chinese noodles and even breaks off a blind date because his partner did not like Chinese noodles.
  • A press release reveals Mikey's favorite foods to be salmon roe sushi and cream puffs. An episode in Extra involves Mikey going to a sushi bar just to eat salmon roe sushi, and an episode in the 7th season has Mikey eat a random cream puff on the ground, which leads to a Potty Emergency.
• True Blue Femininity: Laura wears a pair of blue bows in her hair and a blue dress, and all her other outfits are blue.
• Tsundere: Laura is rather harsh and cold to everyone aside from Emily, especially towards Mikey, who she has a crush on. However, she also has her more tender moments, where she thanks Tony and Charles for consoling her.
• Woman Scorned: Despite cheating him herself, Barbara has made it clear that she will kill James if she catches him cheating on her. And she has attempted to do so on two occasions.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: When Mikey rejects Laura's invitation to hang out in favor of spending time with Emily, Laura lies that Mikey stole money from her, gaining sympathy from Emily. This causes Emily to leave him and spend time with Laura.
• Yandere: Clare, a New Transfer Student in Mikey's class, is sweet and gentle. She falls in love with Mikey, but she turns out to be quite the creepy Clingy Jealous Girl and her voice drops multiple octaves when she becomes desperate to keep Mikey around her.

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