Tokio Jokio (1943) User Reviews

You CAN'T ban everything just because someone might become offended

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 11 October 2006]

This cartoon was shelved a long time ago by Warner Brothers because the cartoon is indeed awfully racist and shows the Japanese to be incredibly stupid and practically sub-human. HOWEVER, as a history teacher, I really wish this toon were more available because it was an important product of the times. Many nations around the world were at war with Japan and this movie was a form of propaganda meant to inspire the folks at home. Political Correctness was NOT a consideration, as the war was a war of survival for many--the fact that it surely would offend the Japanese certainly wasn't a concern! So, today, many would like to take these inflammatory cartoons and bury them--but this is a big mistake, as history (with all its blemishes) is not something that you can "cut and paste" to satisfy sensibilities--if this WERE the case, we might as well just burn offensive books and never teach history. My feeling is that cartoons like these are wonderful when shown and explained in their context. As a teaching tool, they are great and help us to understand the era and the mood of the people at home.

This cartoon, the best I can tell, is not available on DVD or video anywhere. I was only able to see it on youtube.com when I typed in "banned cartoons" and after registering and then seeing a warning that indicated it was a racially offensive cartoon. Gee,...it's easier to view porn online than this cartoon!! The overall quality of the art is just fine but it's in black and white. The jokes, though, are awfully lame AND offensive but the cartoon WAS a very effective tool. See it and learn.

Difficult to rate and review

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 29 May 2018]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate t even more through adult eyes, thanks to having a broader knowledge of all the difficult animation styles and individual studios and directors.

Norm McCabe was overshadowed by very stiff competition when he was active, ones with more distinctive and imaginative styles, but he was a very capable director who never made it bigger (some of his work even relatively obscure), due to mainly never making colour cartoons and being responsible for some with racial stereotyping. While they weren't classics, some of his cartoons were actually pretty decent and more, they are a long way from terrible or must misses.

'Tokio Jokio' is one of his lesser cartoons and is a cartoon that will polarise, and has polarised, viewers, something that is apparent here. It is still interesting and watchable, but it is something that is very difficult to rate and review.

When it comes to the animation, 'Tokio Jokio' is very good. Much of it is fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Mel Blanc as always provides terrific voice acting in multiple roles. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor.

A few amusing moments, while far from subtle and may offend some the Hitler and Mussolini gags were two of the cartoon's funnier ones and pretty ballsy for a cartoon back then during that particular period. And it is interesting from a historical perspective, it is not too hard to judge it as a product of its time.

Even when not trying to judge 'Tokio Jokio' by today's standards, the cartoon is mostly not very funny and lacks wit and freshness. Some of the content may go over the heads of younger adults and those unfamiliar with the subjects (was unfamiliar myself with some). And a good deal of it (even from someone who actually is not easily offended) is not particularly tasteful, the stereotypes and caricatures, while not far off from the truth, are not for the faint hearted and would have been deemed offensive by some back then probably.

Pacing could have been livelier, some of it is limp, and too many of the characters/reels/gags are too come and go brief to properly connect.

That the story was going to be non-existent was expected by me, was hoping though that there would be more to it than an episodic stringing along of gags and such and in a way that's not always cohesive.

Overall, watchable but a difficult one to rate and review. Not many cartoons divide me this much, this is one of the strongest examples. 5/10 Bethany Cox

as racist AND as much worth seeing as can be

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 27 June 2007]

OK, so "Tokio Jokio" is probably one of the most racist cartoons of all time, portraying the Japanese as incompetent buffoons with giant teeth. Personally, I believe that Warner Bros. needs to release this cartoon on DVD; heck they should release all their WWII-era racist cartoons on DVD, just to show the zeitgeist from that time. As it is, I notice that there's been a lot of hypocrisy about racist entertainment. While cartoons such as this one are practically unavailable - I watched it on YouTube - there remain in circulation movies such as Disney's "Three Caballeros", which consisted of some of the most stereotypical images of Latin America that I've ever seen. Not to mention all the old westerns portraying Indians as bloodthirsty savages. Are we to believe that it's OK to be racist towards some people but not others? So I definitely recommend this cartoon, just as long as you understand the context.

Look at those dumb .......

[theowinthrop · 3 February 2007]

Like the cartoon ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW (1941) which I just reviewed, after viewing on You Tube, this one can't be given any rating. If this was 1944 I'd probably be fairly anti - Japanese, and then I would have given it a high rating for it's comic effect on the audience. But in 2007 (with Japan a close partner and ally these days), I find it hard to accept the image of those anti-Japanese stereotypes very easily. Especially (ironically enough) Admiral Yamamoto.

Yamamoto planned Pearl Harbor, and he was responsible for the planning (but not the carrying out) of Midway. He was a brilliant strategist, and his death (ironically in the year of this cartoon 1943 during the battles at Guadacanal) took out a lot of spirit from the Japanese people. To Americans his planning Pearl Harbor made him a sneaky arch-enemy. The Admiral was hardly that. Actually Yamamoto's plan was based on reality: the U.S. had more immediate resources to use against Japan, and he had to knock us out quickly if the Japanese were to have any chance to win. Previously in Japanese history, sneak attacks had been used (against China in 1894 and Russia in 1904) and were not considered ignominious. Furthermore, the British hand done a sneak attack on the French fleet in 1940 (while still allied to France) to keep it's fleet from being turned over to the Nazis. It was just that the the Pearl Harbor attack was done under peculiar circumstances when the Japanese sent diplomats to Washington to discuss avoiding war - the attack was to be like one hour or so after a final demand had been made and rejected, and a delay made it look worse than it was.

Finally Admiral Yamamoto himself had been very opposed to war with the U.S. (he had been stationed in Washington as a naval attaché for a couple of years, and knew what the U.S. was like - unlike such militarists as Tojo). He did plan Pearl Harbor to do as much damage as he could to a foe, but he hoped it would not be necessary. Unfortunately he was in no position to explain himself to the Americans - and was painted as a villain in our films during the war (in James Cagney's BLOOD ON THE SUN he is shown as the naval associate of Tojo, and he boasts there that he will have the surrender signed in the White House - he actually never said that). The joke regarding him in the film - showing him as a monster on stilts and also showing the special room for Yamamoto in the White House as one with an electric chair in it is really extreme in it's viciousness (even if the wartime anger is understood).

Most of the spirit of this cartoon follows that idea. The Japanese are all bucktoothed and skinny, usually bald, and wear glasses. They are falsely polite all the time. But what is particularly curious about it is the idea of the cheapness of Japanese industrial output. Every ship or military machine that is shown is actually quite shabby - "Potemkin village" style gadgets (including a submarine under construction under water). One midget submarine meant for suicide missions has a sailor who is panicking to get out. I am surprised that their ingenuity (which was always high) is dismissed so cavalierly. The people who produced the Zero fighter plane were not pushovers.

There were also jabs at the Nazis and Fascist Italians, with Hitler getting a postcard from Rudolf Hess "wishing you were here" (inside a prison camp (oddly enough called a concentration camp) although Hess was in British custody). Mussolini is shown as having a discount sale on all the "glories" of his mock Roman Empire. And the British traitor William Joyce is shown as "Lord Hee Haw" - a donkey with a monocle and English accent, speaking on the radio.

As a historical curiosity it is still quite interesting. It is also simply not the type of cartoon that is acceptable anymore.

Interesting as a piece of history rather than for pure entertainment

[Tweekums · 4/10 · 16 August 2012]

There is no getting away from the fact that this 1943 propaganda short is incredibly racist by today's standards, leaving it of historical interest but not much else. The short takes the form of an alleged Japanese propaganda film that has fallen into Allied hands. There is no over all story just a series of sight gags; some of which may elicit a chuckle, such as the aircraft spotter who is literally painting spots on a plane and the sailor in the 'human torpedo' mini-sub who screams 'get me out of here' when asked how he feels; for the most part though the gags were fairly cringe-worthy as just about every Japanese character is depicted as having thick glasses and buckteeth; a caricature that is seems very dated now. There is also the expected mocking of Japanese pronunciation of English... which is still so prevalent that I've even heard it in anime!

I don't think this short is available on DVD and I'm certain that it would never get broadcast on television unless it was part of a documentary about propaganda; it is however easy to find on YouTube should you be interesting in seeing it. I can't really recommend watching it as entertainment but as a piece of history it was interesting to see.

Like a banzai charge: this cartoon attacks the enemy fiercely, but also a bit recklessly.

[ironhorse_iv · 5/10 · 10 March 2017]

As with a lot of war propaganda cartoons from World War II, this Looney Tunes animation short directed by Norm McCabe hasn't aired on any network, syndicated, or cable channel due to its offensive content in years. It's only now, shown on the internet, and yet to be feature in, much or any DVDs. Produced by Warner Bros in 1943, the cartoon original intended was, to mock the Japanese war effect, by making fun of the Imperial Fascist Government, through a series of parodies sequence in the style of American new reels, so that the American public would be, more willing to fight them. For the most part, I was fine with that, since somebody had to stop the military and its leaders like General Masaharu Homma, Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo & Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, even if by the time, the film was released, Yamamoto had been killed when the plane carrying him was shot down over the Solomon Islands by an American fighter squadron. I know, some critics hate this movie for what the film portrays, the Japanese military are, but it's hard to feel bad for the Empire of Japan, after hearing stories of the war crimes, they committed, before the attack on Pearl Harbor like the 'Rape of Nanking', 'Three All Policy' and others. Don't get me wrong, the United States Government did some awful things in the name of war, such as the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki & the internment camps of Japanese Americans, but unlike the American, Japanese military were truly evil, in the way, they instituted such harsh measures in occupied areas like the 'Bataan Death March', 'Sook Ching Massacre', 'Burma: Death Roads' and other, in its cruel search of raw goods. For most countries, living under the United States Military, life was a lot easier. Most historians and scholars agreed with that and they also that the oil embargo cannot be used as justification for using military force against a foreign nation. So in the end, the Japanese Military had it coming. I don't weep, a tear if they got their feelings, hurt. As much, some critics defend the Japanese military about how advice the Japanese industrial wartime output, were at the time, some of it, was indeed cheaply made and below standards by 1943. The Battle of Midway of 1942, pretty much destroy, most of the navy, that they could no longer put together a large number of fleet carriers with well-trained aircrews or defend their ground troops on the Islands. For the rest of the war, the Japanese Armed Forces had to make do with obsolete aircraft, badly damage smaller ships and inexperienced soldiers in the fight against superior, and better-trained US Armed Forces. The truth is, as scary as the kamikaze style attacks and banzai charge were, in 1944, they were highly ineffectively. So, there was some truth to what was being said, about how shabby the Japanese Armed Forces, were, in this film. However, the short film did go overboard, a bit, by targeting also the Japanese citizen, by making the race, look like racist stereotype Yellow Peril caricatures, with buck teeth, big glasses, and chonmage style haircut. Furthermore, the Japanese are represented as being incompetent, weak, cowardly, and primitive, often grinning and rubbing their hands in a very sinister way, despite their stereotypical politeness. Because of that, I can't really give the high praise, it could had gotten like something similar like 1943's 'Der Fuehrer's Face' or 1943's 'Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi'. Some of 'Tokio Jokio' is quite wrong, even if some parts are quite funny. Deep inside of me, I know, this short film, probably add to the already intense boiler pot of anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States that pretty much led to internment camps of Japanese Americans, during that era. It's hard to laugh at something that probably cause a lot of pain, for many Japanese, even, if most of jokes are generally aimed at Japan military and its leaders. Despite that, I do have to say, I like how the cartoon also pokes fun at other Axis Powers like Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini's Italian Fascism. I also found the black and white animation to be top notch. Just wish, it was in color. It would add to the artistic merits, big time. The voice-acting was alright, as Mel Blanc did what he could do, with the material, he was given, even if he sounds, over the top. As with most of the Looney Tunes shorts produced during World War II, the film consists of a series of rapid-fire, short gag vignettes. Its humor, had more hits than misses, even if it's a bit cringe-worthy. Overall: I think, for most people that look, back at this, the important thing to remember is that we were at war with Japan when this short was made so obviously being politically correct wasn't a priority. However, it simple not the type of cartoon that is acceptable anymore. Even today's cartoons with racist stereotypes, are not as risky as it was, back then. With that said, I really don't think, it being over racist is a good reason to ignore this taboo short or pretend that it was never made. As a historical curiosity it is still quite interesting. Worth the watch, even if it's a bit offensive.

Very Bad Propaganda Short Cartoon

[nickmovie-1 · 2/10 · 15 July 2010]

The level of virulence more than usual, even for the propaganda shorts that were released by the studio certainly is linked with the fact that this one was directed by an army official. Any signal of effective humour or irony characteristic of the cartoonists of this long-life series that was Merry Melodies flops before the grotesque way Japaneses were portrayed. This caricature is present not only about the Army and their leaders, but in the civilian life dimension. Sometimes has indirect comments about historical events linked with the Japanese nation as the moment when the chassis down as a Chinese boy in traditional clothes cycling in an allusion to Manchurian War. Another moment the caricature going for the Axis forces at all, showing Rome as a ruins catalog and Germany through Hitler receiving a message by Rudolph Hess from a concentration camp. It has no virtues even in stylistic or narrative terms. Produced in b&w and like a profusion of gags not linked at all, it was certainly more oriented for adults than for kids. For comparison with an equally anti-Japanese war propaganda made with characteristics associated easier with warner bros. cartoon values just see Bugs Bunny Nips to Nips.

This (and many other works) needs to be understood in historic context.

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 28 October 2002]

It is important and only fair to remember that, at the time this short was produced, a state of war existed between the United States and the Empire of Japan. Add to that the enormous ill-will that the beginning of the war created, as well as the Bataan Death March and other incidents and the only thing surprising about this short and others is that there weren't more of them. One other thing: my only problem with this short is that it seems to try to be funny, but it isn't. I'm not sure that anyone connected with it really tried to make the jokes work, or even cared. It would have been far better if they had done what Disney did with Education For Death and been totally serious. But this short gets a bad rap and shouldn't be judged out of context. The times were different then and that is an important consideration. Anyone expending energy trying to save the world from a sixty-year old cartoon needs to take a step back. As do I, expending energy defending that same cartoon. This should be available to interested parties, even if not in wide circulation. Not a nice cartoon, but sometimes life isn't nice. Recommended

Shocking in a good way

[haildevilman · 10/10 · 15 May 2006]

There was a video out in America called 'Cartoon Scandals' that featured about an hours worth of banned cartoons.

Most of them were WWII era. That's where I first saw (and heard of) this one.

The rooster during the opening news broadcast turns into a vulture with an Asian face saying 'cock-a-doodle-doo please.' After that it's eight minutes of propaganda played out like a newsreel.

Viscously racist, but when you look at it as the piece of history it is, it can (and should) be forgiven.

Slicing ration cards to make sandwiches.

Showing the ruins of Rome while calling Moussolini 'Ruin #1.'

A minesweeper using a broom.

A manned bomb with the pilot saying 'RET ME OUT OF HERE.'

And of course the stereotyping. Every Japanese was drawn with big teeth, constantly bowing, and saying 'please' at the end of every broken sentence.

The funniest bit? The air raid siren that was two bowing men stabbing each other in the tush with pins. "oooo-OOOOOO"

Hey AOL. Let this one out. It deserves notice. My wife laughed at this. And she's 100% Japanese.

One of the many Looney Tunes that's banned from Public

[emasterslake · 7/10 · 8 October 2005]

This and many other WW2 Looney Tunes like Private Snafu or any with Nazis in it are banned from TV airing.

This is their #1 banned cartoon. Which has a large amount of funny looking Japanese characters.(They all have big ears, big teeth, wear glasses sometimes, and act gullible, mischievous, and act a little stupid).

Back then a lot of cartoon studio made fun of the Japanese since they were the enemy back then, so they did these shorts where they make them look like Cartoon characters.

It has a lot of jokes about Early WW2 events, and they just try to make the Japanese look as stupid as they can be in this short film. Through out the this 7 minute short you see them get slapped, poked, and ever clubbed themselves to make you think their idiots.

Please know this cartoon is banned due to it being very racist. It's very hard to find because AOL Warner Time refused to air it or release it on Home Video or DVD, internet search is one option.

If you're Japanese, don't bother looking for this short, cause it may offend you in a way. But you shouldn't blame Warner Bros. for doing this short cause back then Americans didn't get along with the Japanese.

Course today we know better and would consider it wrong to make fun of Japan.

This is only recommended to those who are interested in seeing an example on how people think of Japan during WW2.

A rant and a critic.

[youroldpaljim · 16 February 2003]

Its a shame that in these politically correct times that many of these war time cartoons are difficult to locate due to censorship and those that are available are mostly poorly transferred video tapes from often less than pristine prints. Its great to see the Loonie Tunes gang (or Merrie Melodies as they were first called) enlisted to help the war effort. While these cartoons maybe considered "insulting", they were made when America was at war with Japan, Italy and Germany for @#&*%$ sake! Now if something like this was made today, yes it would be insulting, but when cartoons like this were made, those countries were out to wipe out the free world. Some people have called these depictions cruel. So what! To those people I must ask; cruel? Gas chambers, The Bataan Death March, The Nanking Massacre, throwing Ethiopians out of airplanes, not thats cruel! If you want to see cruel depictions, see some of the films produced in the Axis countries and how they depicted Jews, Poles, Slavs, Koreans and Chinese. What irks me today is that the elitist bunch in Hollywood is so reluctant to make films depicting the very group that is out to destroy us today. We have films and TV shows about terrorists today and who are the terrorists? Serbians, Nazi's (yes bringing back villains from over half a century ago!), pro-lifers, and just about everybody else Hollywood likes to bash or feels safe to bash except Islamist-fascists.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest lets discuss the film in question here. TOKIO JOKIO pokes fun at Japan and its allies in the form of what is suppose to be a news real from Tokyo. Unlike some of the other World War Two era propaganda cartoons from Warner Brothers, TOKIO JOKIO is not really all that funny. Most of the jokes seem forced; even at times just plain stupid. However, its an interesting history lesson with its depictions of Rudolph Hess, Lord Haw Haw, Tojo and Yamamoto.

Not enough attention is being paid here to Warner Bros.' prophetic warning . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 23 March 2017]

. . . about the fate of one of America's most revered Sports Heroes, "Gentleman George" Sisler, and the scandalous lack of a great big cheater's asterisk when his unbreakable mark was assaulted by one of the Japanese miscreants pictured in TOKIO JOKIO. Specifically, from three minutes, 24 seconds into TOKIO JOKIO through the 3:38 mark of this animated short, Warner's always psychic prognosticators render an eerily accurate visual of Japan's lone sports achiever of note from the past 100 years, Ichiro Suzuki. Unlike a legitimate Sports Hero such as America's "Sultan of Swat" (home run king Babe Ruth), the Japanese batsman depicted by the Looney Tuners can only hit harmless flies (which is what Suzuki would do decades later, when he wasn't delaying games with his plethora of boring singles). The Fake News sportswriters of the mendacious U.S. False Facts Media breathlessly tried to outdo each other in the distribution of "politically correct" rotten reporting involving Ishiro and Sisler. "Gentleman George" has been a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1939. In 1912, as one of coach Branch Rickey's PITCHERS for the University of Michigan, Sisler struck out 20 batters in a seven inning game! (That's more guys than Ichiro has whiffed in his ENTIRE CAREER.) At the Major League level, George had a 41-game hitting streak in 1922 (again, more than Ichiro ever THOUGHT of doing), during a season generally regarded as the BEST any player EVER turned in for ANY team in the long annals of MLB. He was voted the FIRST American League MVP that year. After sinusitis, coupled with a shortage of antibiotics, cut his career short, Sisler enabled Rickey to sign #42, Jackie Robinson, as America's FIRST Black player in any major team sport. On top of all this, Sisler worked to achieve a mechanical engineering degree from the U of M (who knows if Ichiro even finished high school).

In the fall of 2004, Suzuki had only 251 hits through 154 games (and Game 154 of an MLB season will always denote the REAL "final call" for single season records!), a half dozen FEWER than George racked up in the same number of 1920 contests. However, crazed sportswriters and Suzuki's Seattle team of perennial losers (they haven't even won the World Series EVER, which makes them worse than the pre-2016 Chicago Cubs!) kept counting Ichiro's "hits" during eight bogus & meaningless "add-on" games. Eventually, Suzuki was "credited" with 262 base "knocks," as opposing pitchers grooved him their offerings at batting practice speeds to get their own names in the paper for giving up "historic" Suzuki hits! Tellingly, Suzuki batted only .372 in 2004; Sisler posted a .407 mark in 1920!

Yeah, It's Not PC, But It's Meant to Be Viewed as It Was Intended

[jeremycrimsonfox · 8/10 · 30 September 2022]

Tokio Jokio is a cartoon that has never been released after its airing, and it is understandable, as it was a product of a time when animation companies were making such cartoons as propoganda since America entered World War II, and especially after Japan (who was our enemy at the time) attacked Pearl Harbor.

Taking the guise of a captured newsreel, it's easy to see why it would never fly in today's easily offended culture. The Asian characters are negative stereotypes, with the big teeth, closed eyes, and the broken English, as it shows a comedic attempt at how Japan is prepared in comedic ways (possibly to serve as a way to help soldiers back in the day with the stress of war). While it is politically incorrect, it should not be viewed by today's standards (or anyone who is below high school). While the characters are harmful stereotypes of Asians (especially now that WWII is long over, and Japan has long since become one of our country's allies), it is another piece of history and cannot and should not be ignored. It should be used as a talking point as to why this was allowed, and why it needs to be shown, no matter how many get offended, as those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

They Just Don't Make 'em Like This Anymore!

[Angel-Marie · 23 September 2001]

I first heard of this WW-II era cartoon when I found a website about WW-II cartoons that hardly (if ever) show on television, and Tokio Jokio is no exception. From the title itself to the ending where a minesweeper gets blown up and a sign reading, "Regrettable Incident, Please" makes this cartoon Public Enemy Number One for today's cartoon censors. One has to wonder if the director (Norm MacCabe) would predict that anyone would be watching this between your average everyday Bugs Bunny fare and your run-of-the-mill Tweety cartoons (not that these are bad, mind you. I like 'em just the same). There have been cartoons that have shocked and offended me, yet still made me laugh out loud (Pepe Le Pew cartoons, for example), and Tokio Jokio is in at number one!

WWII Cartoons Don't Get Any More Insulting Than This (Spoilers Somewhere Here)

[Angel-Marie · 2 May 2002]

In these PC times, this cartoon (along with other WW-II cartoons) is more than likely locked up forever in a vault and/or passed around on the public domain video circuit and on the Web. I've seen this cartoon on several websites about rare and un-PC cartoons and it's not as bad as people say it is. This (and the WW-II allegory "The Ducktators") is/was a nice way for Norm McCabe (a very underrated animator at Warner Bros) to end his career.

Sure, it may be "different" from any other WW-II cartoon and, yes, it is insulting to anyone of Japanese descent (and German because of one gag involving Hitler and Italian because of a Mussolini gag), but people should look at it from a historical POV and learn from it.

An excellent view of history

[breezybrisbane · 24 December 2005]

I'm not going to give this a rating, because someone is bound to take offense. This film, as stated by other users, needs to be understood in an historical context. History classes today teach only about the racism of war propaganda, internment camps and other mediums that seem to take advantage of a certain group of people. This film printed today would be unacceptable by my standards and the world's, but back then making fun of the country you were at war with was a fact of life. In my history class, we were shown this film in an, I believe, anti racist way. What a horrible example to use. What was shown before you was not racism. It was an attempt to lift the spirits of a nation that just happened to be attacked by Japan. Please take this short with the times and with a grain of salt!

Rather Unfunny Political Short

[Michael_Elliott · 19 August 2016]

Tokio Jokio (1943)

** (out of 4)

This animated short from Warner has pretty much been abandoned by the studio so there hasn't been an official release and after watching it it's easy to see why. This is basically a propaganda short trying to make the Japanese people looking like complete idiots.

Now, the important thing to remember is that we were at war with Japan when this short was made so obviously being politically correct wasn't a priority. This short I'm sure served its purpose back in 1943 and I'm sure it made many people laugh. With that said, when viewing it today of course it comes off as completely racist but at the same time I really don't think that's a reason to ignore this short or pretend that it was never made.

With that said, this is a pretty weak film from the studio. I love politically incorrect humor but the problem here is that none of it is very funny. None of the action is any good and even the animation isn't near the level that you'd expect. If anything, this movie should be avoided due to how unfunny it is rather than its subject matter.