Cartoon Sushi was a half-hour animated anthology that aired on MTV from 1997 to 1998. It was a spiritual successor to Liquid Television. Most of the shorts were domestically-produced in the U.S., though a few were imported from other countries like Sweden ("Robin") or the U.K. ("Pariah the Red Man"). Anime from Japan was also prominently featured in the series, albeit in Gag Dub form.
Tropes featured in the various shorts:
- Accidental Pervert / Not What It Looks Like: In the "Robin" short "Uncle Harry", Harry was cleaning his glasses underneath his barber apron, but the barber thought he was masturbating.
- All-CGI Cartoon: One "Nanna and Lil' Puss Puss" short, "Gabola the Great", "Walking Around".
- Animation Bump: "The Champ: Snapper Bob", animated by Natterjack Animation in Canada, was basically Walt Disney Television Australia quality.
- Also "Casting Call", animated by Dominic M. Carola, a Disney animator.
- Animesque: The Speed Racer parody "Fast Driver".
- Art Evolution: "Nanna and Lil' Puss Puss", which was presented in both 2D animation and, later, CGI.
- Art Shift: Unavoidable, due to being an anthology show.
- Big "NO!": "The Mayfly Has a Lifespan of 2 Hours" ends with the Mayfly yelling "No" after he suffers premature ejaculation during his attempt to get laid and only has seconds left before he dies.
- Butt Biter: In "Love's Rich Bounty", a dog bites a woman's butt.
- Born Lucky: Heinz is "Killing Heinz" somehow manages to avoid all sorts of deadly calamities throughout the whole short, at least until the ending.
- Credits Gag: The animators for "Fast Driver" (a Speed Racer parody) were mostly puns.
- Deranged Animation: In many of the shorts.
- Domestic-Only Cartoon: Pretty much all of the shorts were produced entirely in their country of origin.
- Downer Ending:
- "Death Wears a Plush Jacket". The bear is impaled by a giant needle.
- "Killing Heinz" ends with Heinz being shot through the head.
- The 1992 The Sandman short that was featured in the Halloween episode ends with the boy having his eyes stolen by the Sandman.
- Pariah the Red Man, since the unnamed man must apparently drag a chattering boulder on a mobius strp for all eternity.
- "The Mayfly Has a Lifespan of 2 Hours" ends with the Mayfly blowing his one chance at a night of making sweet love before living out the remainder of his short lifespan.
- Filming for Easy Dub: Parodied in a "Ultracity 6060" short when, due to a limited budget, the characters deliberately didn't face the camera so they didn't have to deal with synchronizing mouth flaps to the dialog.
- Gag Dub: "Ultracity 6060", which lampooned such anime as Genocyber and IRIA: Zeiram the Animation.
- Insane Proprietor: Seen in "Billy Ray Shyster's House of Discount Special Effects".
- Instrumental Theme Tune: A fast-paced jazz piece.
- Interspecies Romance: Implied between the woman and the dog in the short "Love's Rich Bounty".
- Jingle: "Voice B Gone" has one.
- Jizzed in My Pants: "The Mayfly Has a Lifespan of 2 Hours" has the Mayfly try to get laid before he dies. After some delays, he succeeds in finding a girl at a bar and taking her home, but his commitment towards ensuring his big moment goes well (which includes putting on a thong) results in him suffering premature ejaculation right when he only has a few seconds left to live.
- Limited Animation: Certain shorts, such as "Fast Driver" (though it was done intentionally there, being a parody of old anime).
- Medium Blending: "Billy Ray Shyster's House of Discount Special Effects", "Dream Date" (a live action short with animated fantasy sequences).
- Mood Whiplash: Most of the shorts are humorous, with the horror short The Sandman one of the most notorious exceptions.
- Mooning: The Running Gag of "The Dirdy Birdy".
- Narrator: Used in "Robin".
- Negative Continuity: "The Many Deaths of Norman Spittal", which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Pilot: "The Untalkative Bunny" became a full-fledged series later.
- As did Celebrity Deathmatch.
- Puppet Shows: "Chunks of Life".
- Sadist Show: Some of the shorts certainly fell into this.
- Signature Style: The intro sequence is animated by Danny Antonucci and definitely carries his style, which would later be used in Ed, Edd n Eddy.
- Skewed Priorities: One Bill Plympton short was about this: A man and woman are having sex, but the man feels something stuck in his teeth so he stops to floss.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Used extensively in the "Ultracity 6060" short "Bleep".
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "Death Wears a Plush Jacket", which has fairly upbeat music, despite the main character being impaled by a giant needle.
- Stick Figure Animation: "Genre", "Call Me Fishmael", and "Stick Figure Theater".
- Stop Motion: The animated portions of "Dream Date"; "Rip-n-Glide", "The Sandman".
- Tar and Feathers: Done to three characters in the "Robin" short "The Film Buff".
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Seen in "Science Facts!: Broccoli Has an I.Q. of 10" when the broccoli goes berserk.
