*The following story has been changed to protect the not so innocent. Locations, names and time periods have been rearranged to cause confusion. So what I’m try to say is…go with it.
I want to talk about tentacles.
First, let’s start with a little story.
It was the mid to late 90’s. The internet was just rolling along and to spend time with your friends, you had to actually show up places and engage in conversation. It was a time where anything was possible and a certain excitement took holding knowing you were going to meet people, drink and laugh the night away.
I was a young doe-eyed sprite, breaking into my own skin. Dressed to the nines and walking the streets of a large, dark city, I made my way to a favorite alternative bar to meet friends and down long island iced teas. (As was the custom of the time.)
I walked into my favorite bar and sat down. Televisions were playing a movie and excited chatter filled the smoky bar. Friends trickled in. People embraced and we gathered around to talk about everything from a TV show and who was going to the next Marilyn Manson concert. The first Long Island Iced Tea worked its magic and my anxiety faded to the background, lost in a growing sea of bliss. I glanced at the TVs over the bar and that is when it struck me like a an arrow through the heart.
It was the exact moment I was introduced to tentacle porn.
Now, you may be thinking, “Tentacle porn? That is so 1999!” and you would be right…I think.
Urotsukidōji was playing or as it was called here in the states, Legend of the Overfiend.
Eyes growing wider, I turned to watch as some poor girl was being invaded by tentacles and demons. An iced tea replaced my empty glass, I drank it without looking away. I was horrified and strangely aroused by such a brutish anime movie. Friends talked and watched with me but I was entranced, barely blinking. As the movie played on, my mind couldn’t comprehend who would write, direct, film and give to the public…on purpose. It just didn’t make sense and then my dark sense of humor kicked in.
I turned to one of my gothy geeky friends and asked about the movie. Do you know that sickly creepy smile a geek friend gives when your interested in something they know a lot about? Well yea, I saw that same grin. He went on and on about anime (Which I had seen very little…if you count early Sailor Moon, Robotech and G Force) and proceeded to tell me it was all the rage and he had quite a collection.
I think in my drunken haze I said I wanted to know more.
Fast forward to next Thursday when He and a few friends decided to have a movie night at my tiny apartment. Drinks flowed but it was a scientific journey into an unknown jungle…sea..ocean bottom….something like that. Anyway, we laughed, drank, watched quietly and sometimes gasped. (I think I gasped the most. That part is true.)
We watched a few movies before the the drinks really kicked in and spent the night discussing it like a round table topic. It was a Thursday so of course I called out on Friday because my mind was full of left over alcohol and tentacles.
It took a long time afterwards to to truly appreciate the artistic impression it left on me. Censorship was so bad in Japan against penetration being depicted in anime that the artist found a way around it. A man’s throbbing staff couldn’t be shown entering a lady’s private parts but there was no rule against a tentacle (Or multiple as I witnessed). It set a revolution for one of the strangest ways to fight against the censorship man!
Legend of the Overfiend is a crazy, sex and demon obsessed movie I had ever seen but it still holds a weird place in my heart. (So many weird things fill my heart that I myself may be a bit weird.)
If by chance you want to travel down this strange road, I linked the movie below so you can share in the horror that is Legend of the Overfiend.
The lesson in all this?
Try new things. They may surprise you. 🙂
~Eden
PS- Share links to your favorite tentacle movies in the comments below. 🙂
Eden Redd 