Tokyo Plastic
by Chad Van Wagner
A Flash site dedicated to selling stuff. Yahoo. OK, slow down here… While the introductory page isn’t exactly inspiring, digging around a bit after you hit the “enter” button on the top of the page is a pretty rewarding experience. There are some downright surreal animations, all involving these little Japanese doll things that look to be made of rubber and Jell-O. Everything is bouncing, bending, arcing and wobbling, which (I’m speaking from experience here) is a BITCH to do in Flash animation. It also looks amazingly cool, and has a kind of silent comic timing that inspired a couple of chuckles.
Yes, these animations exist to sell toy versions of the characters, but the sales pitch is more implied than in your face, so you can browse the site without fear of annoyance. It also creates kind of its own little world, one where it makes perfect sense for the Japanese flag to eat some funky dog creature while it sits in a chair with a built-in subwoofer.
The text is in English, with Japanese thrown in at odd intervals. Navigation isn’t exactly intuitive, but I think that’s intentional. You get around by exploring, not by following. When in doubt, click whatever’s moving or, failing that, anything in Japanese. No telling where the hell it’ll take you.
(www.tokyoplastic.com)