Hissu Amoto San / Airmoto

About

Hissu Amoto San (Japanese: 必須アモト酸) is a popular tag associated with MAD parodies based on My Beautiful Life (すばらしき わが人生)^[1], a promotional interview with Japanese comedian, actress, singer and tarento Masami Hisamoto^[2] released by the Japanese evangelist Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai International^[3] (“Value Creation Society” in English). Somewhat similar to Western parodies of Scientology & Tom Cruise, most of these MAD videos are aimed at mocking the well-connected religious sect and the celebrity actress Masami Hisamoto, who has made several media appearances in advocacy of the Sōka Gakkai movement in Japan.

Origin

Accoding to Nico Nico Pedia^[4], an internet encyclopedia for the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND), the first instance of the meme was posted on NND in November 30th, 2007, featuring Miss Hisamoto in an interview clip with the music set to Kirby's Gourmet Race soundtrack. This MAD video was titled as "久本雅美の頭がカービィのBGMに合わせて爆発したようです。".^[5] This is also the trigger video of the MAD series for Kirby's Gourmet Race Remixes on NND. The original was removed, but the info (including upload date and scrolling text) was left. The video was later re-uploaded with the same title on July 5, 2008^[6] and again on May 10, 2009^[7]. More info about the removal in the "Spread" section.

In the original interview, Miss Hisamoto gives an emotional account of how happy she felt when Daisaku Ikeda (the current leader of SGI) praised the actress for her TV performances. Out of sheer joy, she then exclaimed “PAN!” (or "PARN!" as seen in many related MADs) with hands over her face, rendering herself quite exploitable for remix artists on NND.

Spread

A Shift_JIS artwork^[8] found on the Japanese Internet forum 2Channel

Although this meme wasn't mentioned in it, this video below explains the reason why several people in Japan started and expanded this meme. Part 2 can be found in the "Suggestions" section on the right side of the page.

Ms. Hisamoto's literally "explosive" hand gesture and Kirby soundtrack obviously set the tone of many MAD movies and artworks that followed. At the onset of its popularity, most parodies were tagged "hisamoto-san" (久本さん, Ms. Hisamoto) on NND. However, after initial success and mainstream exposure, the religious group eventually discovered the mockeries and requested all of them to be taken down on the grounds of copyright infringement. In response to this action, NND users began adopting alternative tags like "Hissu Amoto San" to circumvent the take-downs.

Today, there are actually over 5000 videos tagged with "Hissu Amoto San" on NND^[9], with the most famous one scoring over 600,000 views. On YouTube, only a portion of the parodies^[10][11] (appx. 500 instances) can be found due to copyright infringement claimed by Shiano Art, a subsidiary institution of SGI.

Hissu Amoto San has its own wiki^[12], and Uncyclopedia also has an entry for this online phenomena^[13].

Development of Alternative Tags

• Ms. Airmoto (エア本さん, Airmoto-san)^[14]: It was the first tag used to relate to Hisamoto. At that time, NND users uploaded videos without Hisamoto herself, with only Kirby's Gourmet Race music, combining it with many Shift JIS art like these, which represent Hisamoto dreaming of becoming a bird : ┗(＾o＾ )┓三

It's a contraction of "Air" and "Hisamoto-san". The term "Air" refers to the Air guitar, as it looked like Air-Guitar.

• Essential Amoto Acid (必須アモト酸, Hissu amoto san)^[15]: It's a pun of "hisamoto-san" and "Essential Amino Acid" ("His-amoto-san" becomes "Hissu Amino san" which means "Essential Amino Acid", and finally "Hissu Amoto san"). As "Airmoto-san" is itself in "Hissu Amoto san" (pronounciation-wise), most of videos are now uploaded in this tag.

Related Videos and SGI Characters

• Daisaku Ikeda (池田大作 いけだ だいさく, Ikeda Daisaku)^[16]

He's the current aged leader of the SGI. In the videos used, he's shown sitting at a conference held in Los Angeles in 1995.^[17] Most MADs replay some misheard lines as well as clips where he does strange moves or hit the table:

- "You are great" is heard "Yoga Flame" (5:08 in the video).
- "Big Apple" (5:38), "Mahora" or (6:39) and "Maharo" and "Mahalo" (6:46) "Bakayaro Da ! (馬鹿野郎だ!, lit. "Idiot!")" (6:53) are also often heard
- He also talks about bows and arrows, than he shows "how to use it" and make weird noises like "boom" or "pow" that represent noises being heard while using a bow and an arrow.

• Ishikawa, the unnamed character behind him (usually referred to as "Backman") and Kurachi

They are actors from a short clip wherein Ishikawa comes to Kurachi to introduce him to Sōka Gakkai, in a video clip from a show produced by future2 (not displayed in the main TV program).^[18] Kurachi closes the door in front of Ishikawa, but he comes back later an greets him by saying "KON BAN WA!" (lit. "Good evening!", which is often heard "HON DA WA") out loud and ask for him again.

Ishikawa is often portrayed knocking the door and saying "KON BAN WA!" in MAD movies, whereas the unnamed character behind him (or "Backman"), who disappears mysteriously in the second scene is partially hidden and his appearances are followed by some music played with the same xylophone sounds used for the ambient music of this scene. Kurachi is mostly portrayed closing the door.

There are 239 videos under the tag "男子部の石川"^[19] ("Ishikawa from men's section") on NND as of March 2010.

• Masayuki Oshima (alias Egghead or Boiled Egg (ゆでたまご（創価学会）)

He is one of the audiences during the Future2 episode. Becoming a popular source for MAD videos under the "Hissu Amoto san" tag has been started since January 2009, when a NND user スマン。 took the episode and slowed down the parts, where Masayuki appears. What is mostly favoured by him is the hand gesture, the V sign, which can be proved as an ASCII-art "vO" posted by NND users in comments. The slowed video became a source for MAD videos since then and there are more than 600 videos of him. He's also sometimes featured in "Hissu Amoto san" videos.

• Rie Shibata or "Obasan"

Like Hisamoto, she is an actress and she belongs to same agency. She came to believe in the SGI by Hisamoto’s invitation.

In the related MAD videos, she is seen as the woman wearing eyeglasses. She is also famous for SGI’s propaganda activities but as she doesn't appears much in MAD movies, as her characters doesn't say things really mockable. In one of these, another actor calls her "Obasan" which means literally "old lady".

• Fusako

Fusako Saito (斉藤ふさ子) is an old woman with a short haircut. She is not an professional actress, but a believer of the SGI.

In the original video, Rie Shibata tells Fusako that she had a too few orders and was being disappointed. Fusako replied to her “oh, in that case, you can do our religious activity!" (じゃあ 学会活動できるじゃなーい!, Jā, Gakkai Katudō Dekiru Janāi!) " and cheered her up. Of course, it's assumed a bad idea to do a religious activity without working by common sense, but it seems natural for Fusako, which made that comment looked silly. Her comment is used in many MAD movies, but a shorter version can also be heard : "you can do that!" (できるじゃない!, Dekiru Janai!). Dekiru janai! is often herd "Dead kill the Night!".

In addition, her nonsensical shouting "Kuntsuo!" (クンツォ!) in the original video is also reused in many MAD videos as well.

Those MAD videos featuring Fusako are tagged under The potential of Fusako" (ふさ子のポテンシャル) on NND.^[20]

• Masaharu Mori a.k.a Saika Yo

Masaharu Mori is another actor from the same agency of Hisamoto. He isn't a believer of the SGI but as he's featured in the promoting videos, he's a "victim" of this meme's success.

He is much more famous as the man of "Saika Yo" than his real name. "Saika Yo" is a misheard phrase and doesn't mean anything : it's uncertain what he said correctly. People enjoy it by doing various interpretations.

• Yasu Genki

Like Masami Hisamoto, Yasu Genki is another actor from the same agency, and like Masaharu Mori, isn’t a believer of the SGI and is featured in those videos while not supporting the SGI at all.

In the original video, Rie Shibata, before joining the SGI, blamed him as he was late, and he tells the spectators that she said him "Your intelligence is inferior to that of dogs!" (あんたの脳は犬以下だ!, Anta no nou wa inu ika da!). This episode is inserted to show how fierce she was before she belonged to the SGI, so the sentence itself has made her way in MAD movies. He's also heard saying "Chikoku", which means "come late".

Notable Examples

Since the first MAD video, several spin-offs were made. Some spin-offs of the first Hissu Amoto San video focused on the lyrics of it. The most notable example was ファルコン☆パーン（イ゛ェアアアアアMIX）^[21], literally meaning "Falcon☆Parn (IeAAAAA MIX)". It was first uploaded on NND on January 25, 2008, and later the same day on YouTube. It is often referred to as Kirby: Falcon Punch Remix. Due to Shiano Art sending the Hissu Amoto San meme into obscurity in the Western web by removing its MADs, many native English users mistakenly believe it to be only part of the Kirby's Gourmet Race meme and the English meme Falcon Punch, but the word "Punch" was added to match with the quote "Parn". Other quotes from Super Smash Bros. were added to closely match the lyrics.

The Hissu Amoto San meme also collided with other memes, making fans of one meme encounter Hissu Amoto San, and can become curious about it and support it. Besides Kirby's Gourmet Race Remixes, the Hissu Amoto San meme was also the trigger of three more memes: RED_ZONE , Bloomin' X and Nuclear Fusion .

NOTE: SOME OF THESE VIDEOS ARE TITLED DIFFERENTLY TO HIDE FROM SHIANO ART.

• HON_ZONE^[22]

• BACK_ZONE^[23] (mainly about Backman, the unnamed character behind Ishikawa)

• bloomin' culting

• Parning Head^[24] (See also : Touhou Project and Nuclear Fusion)

• Baban's＆Rojins^[25] (Baccano!^[26] opening parody featuring MIYOCO, Miyuki Hatoyama, Nerunerunerune, Kazuko Hosoki, Akiko Wada and High Performance Granny)

• NSFW!! Billy Herrington VS Masami Hisamoto VS Ronald McDonald (Seymour Battle)^[27] (See also : Billy Herrington and Ran Ran Ru)

• M.U.G.E.N

Hisamoto-san and Fusako from My Beautiful Life are imported to free 2D fighting game engine M.U.G.E.N by NND user Jinsei Saikou (人生最高).^[28] Other characters were also being worked on, but never completed and released.

Other sub-genres

• Ocho (オチョ本さん, Ochomoto-san, derived from Hisamoto)^[29]

Ochomoto is a "sub-meme" that emerged from "Hissu amoto san". It displays the same characters but with mouths and eyes misplaced rotated by 90° in a scary manner. It's the combination of Hisamoto with an old horror story of a boy whose eyes and mouth are as well rotated. According to Nico Nico Pedia, this a failed clone of the SGI supporters and is used to mock them as this is how they look after the SGI had their "revolution". There are approximately over 100 videos on NND.^[30]

Accordingly, the Shift-JIS art of this version of Hisamoto is as well distorted : ┗ ((i) φ (i)) ┓

• NSFW!! Machamī (マチャニー)^[31]

"Machamī" is a creepy video fad masturbating while viewing Hisamoto-san. "Machami" is a compound word of "Machami", a nickname of Masami Hisamoto derived from her first name "Masami", and “Onanī," which means "masturbation". More than 100 videos like this video below have been uploaded to NND.^[32]

• NSFW!! hrhr (ハラハラ)

"hrhr" or "Lunamoto" (ルナ本さん) is another fad derived from "Hissu Amoto San". The video features a moon with the same face from the photo also used in "Machani" and dancing characters inspired from "Ochomoto". The background song is called "Carol of the Old Ones" written by Andrew Leman, sound taken from the song "Carol of the Bells and soprano lead vocals. The moon is sometimes featured in Hissu Amoto San MADs.

Search Interest

External References

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