Is “Pucca” Pro-Trump Propaganda Now?
Did Pucca just become pro-Trump propaganda? That’s the question that I’m posing in this post which I did not expect that I’d be doing today. I thought I was going to relax and do nothing except watch YouTube videos all day, and maybe play my Switch later or start watching Terminator Zero so that I finally review it. I also didn’t expect that this would end up being my first post about Pucca, but here we are.
Now, for those of you unaware, Pucca is a South Korean animated series 🇰🇷 that managed to gain a massive fanbase here in the West due to it being aired on Jetix, a programming block on the Toon Disney channel (what eventually became Disney XD) that mainly aired anime and action cartoons. It was initially meant to compete with Cartoon Network’s own anime and action cartoon block, Toonami, which was really popular at the time and is still popular to this day, having a massive cult following. Though nowadays, Toonami was moved to Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s late night block for adult oriented programming (mostly adult oriented cartoons), allowing Toonami to air more adult oriented anime and action cartoons as well as uncensored versions of anime that they had aired previously when the block was still on Cartoon Network.
Like, Outlaw Star for instance, they had to air a heavily censored and compromised version of that series when it was on Cartoon Network, not even being allowed to show the hot springs episode ♨️ which was just too spicy 🌶️ (if you know what I mean 😉) even for Toonami. But, once Toonami was on Adult Swim, they could finally show the uncensored and uncompromised version of Outlaw Star, including the previously unaired hot springs episode ♨️, which was a very comedic filler episode, except it wasn’t really a filler episode since some important stuff does happen in that episode, some important information is conveyed and does tie back into the main story of the series involving the Galactic Leyline and all that. I mean, not a whole lot of plot relevant stuff, this episode was really just an excuse to show all the major female characters ♀︎ naked, but it was it was something. So, Toonami now is a programming block within a programming block.
But, despite Jetix ultimately losing out to Toonami in the anime and action cartoon block wars, it still gained a following and became an institution in and of itself. There are people today who are still nostalgic for Jetix, especially the animated bumpers which featured the block’s X shaped one-eyed mascot who could shapeshift into various different things including planes, cars, robots, and a T. rex. Plus, when Jetix stuck around for a while in other countries for a few years even as Toon Disney was transformed into Disney XD and Jetix was phased out in the US 🇺🇸. Anyway, back to Pucca.
It started out as a series of shorts before being adapted into a full series of 21 minute episodes (two 7 minute long segments as well as 1 minute or 2 minute short segments in-between). It’s basically about this girl ♀︎ named Pucca who is in love 🥰 with this ninja 🥷 named Garu who doesn’t really love her back, and is in fact kind of annoyed by her 😒. It’s primarily a comedy, but it does have some action in it, which is probably why it was on Jetix to begin with, that and the fact that it was Asian in origin. I never really watched the show growing up, so I don’t have a ton of nostalgia, but I do remember seeing some parts of it on TV when I was tuned into Toon Disney and happened to be on the Jetix block. So, I am aware of it and I know what it is.
The reason why I’m writing this is that I saw a video put out by the official Pucca YouTube channel, saying that Pucca was back. I don’t know what that means, does that mean it’s going to come back as a full series like the one in the 2000s or is it just going to come as a series of shorts uploaded straight to YouTube or something? I don’t know, but regardless, after I saw that video, I saw a video, a YouTube Short that they put out that seemed rather odd and out of place to me. It was called [Series - Let’s go] Trump!, it was a Trump video (it’s in the Pucca art style) and it was a recreation of his assassination attempt back in July of last year.
Except here, Trump dodges the bullets like Neo from The Matrix, only for him to fall down on the floor of the podium and a bald eagle 🦅 to poop on his face, and for him to get angry 😡 and then put his fist ✊🏻 up in the air and that’s how we get that now famous photo of him putting his fist in the air ✊🏻, a photo that will forever live in American history 🇺🇸. Except here, instead of there being blood 🩸 on his face, he has bird poop on his face. Then the short ends with that photo being posted on the website formally known as Twitter 🐦 by Trump himself with a message that says “I never die!” and then below that is a comment from Jesus Christ himself (or some pretending to be Jesus) says “neither do I” or something like that. And then text appears on the screen saying “Let’s Go Trump!” just like the title of the video says.
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This video and its existence on the official Pucca channel confused me and kind of disturbed me because Pucca is not particularly known for being too edgy or being too political. Pucca never really came across to me as a series or a franchise that dabbled in edgy humor or political satire like that. Unless I’m missing something and it was always like this in South Korea 🇰🇷 and the version we got here in the States 🇺🇸 is a more sanitized version. That’s always possible. I’m also confused on what the message of this video is even supposed to be, like what is the takeaway supposed to be? Is it pro-Trump or anti-Trump?
I would’ve probably said that it was anti-Trump because it shows his assassination attempt (one of his lowest moments), and it shows him in a degrading manner. It literally has him getting pooped on by an eagle 🦅 and then shows him acting like a big angry baby 😡, and has him tweeting that he never dies while getting a response from Jesus. It seemed like it was making fun of Trump for the most part and trying to make it seem like he’s an idiot not worthy of our respect.
That is, if it weren’t for that Pucca herself as well as another character (I think it was Abyo, the character that looks like Bruce Lee) are actually sitting in the crowd behind Trump, attending the rally, which sort of implies Pucca and that other character are Trump supporters, that they’re MAGA 🇺🇸. The only people who attended those rallies were hardcore MAGA faithful 🇺🇸, people who love Trump 🤩 and see him as a god-king or as a messenger or emissary for God. They think he’s God’s champion and is here to do God’s work.
That, or people like Luke Beasley who only went to interview MAGA supporters 🇺🇸 and ask them why they support Trump and why they don’t support Biden. Biden was still the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party when the attempt on Trump’s life took place, that was before Biden finally made the decision to drop out of the race and let Kamala Harris take his place. But even then, they don’t sit in the crowd and watch Trump give a speech (a rambling incoherent speech) like the true believers of the MAGA movement 🇺🇸. So, Pucca and Abyo (if it was Abyo) are implied to be Trump supporters, they’re implied to be MAGA 🇺🇸 simply by them being there. I mean, if it were just Pucca there, it would’ve maybe been a bit more understandable, because she’s a bit naïve and it seems in character for her to join a Trump rally because she sees everyone else doing it. But Abyo too? Come on 😒. At least they weren’t wearing MAGA hats 🇺🇸, that would’ve been really cringe.
Then there’s the text at the end, “Let’s go Trump!” is that supposed to exude genuine support for Trump or is it supposed to be ironic? I can’t really tell. And the fact that I can’t tell if this whole video propaganda or parody is kind of troubling. It kind of makes this video a bit dangerous in my opinion because I feel like people may take the wrong message from it and assume that it is a video in support of Trump, even it’s supposed to be a parody that makes fun of Trump. The fact that this video is even here on this channel is very troubling. If this video is supposed to a genuine endorsement of Trump, then I will not be watching the official Pucca channel anymore, and I will not tune into whatever the return of Pucca will actually be. I like cartoons and anime that don’t support wannabe dictators.
And yes, Trump is a wannabe dictator, he’s said multiple times that he wants to be a dictator which is truly disturbing for a now sitting US president 🇺🇸 to openly fantasize about, and he’s already introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish term limits and allow him to stay in office for a third term. There hasn’t been a president in US history 🇺🇸 who has served more than two terms since FDR. FDR was the last, or was supposed to be the last, and there was a good reason for that. To prevent people like Trump from abusing power and staying in office for life, and basically becoming a dictator.
If it is a pro-Trump video, then it’d be ironic for the people behind Pucca to be making and posting a video like this on their YouTube channel considering the political crisis that’s currently plaguing South Korea 🇰🇷. Didn’t they just impeach their president because he tried to declare martial law and become dictator? So, you’re against one wannabe dictator but not the other? The irony doesn’t stop there since protesters 🪧 who were against Yoon were holding up “Stop the Steal” signs at his residence to pressure him into surrendering to the police so that he can be arrested and stand trial for his crimes, when “Stop the Steal” was a slogan used by election deniers here in the US 🇺🇸 who still deny to this day that Joe Biden won the 2020 election 🗳️ and still insist that Donald Trump won even though he clearly didn’t.
It was also used as the slogan and rallying cry used by the January 6 insurrectionists (almost all of whom were recently pardoned by Trump himself 🤦♂️) who stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn the election 🗳️, block the certification of the results, and block the peaceful transfer of power so that Trump can stay in office even though he lost the election. Trump basically tried to self-coup, just like Bolsonaro did in Brazil 🇧🇷, just like Lukashenko did in Belarus 🇧🇾, just like Maduro did in Venezuela 🇻🇪, and just like Yoon did most recently in South Korea 🇰🇷. And yet, you have South Korean protesters 🇰🇷🪧 holding up signs that have a slogan on them that were previously used by people who literally tried to do the same thing that the guy ♂︎ that they’re protesting did. You can’t make this stuff 🙄, this world is truly a joke 🤡.
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