奇譚クラブ | カプセルトイの歴史 | 2022
It's All Lies / Kitan Club "The History of Capsule Toys"
A caption reading "Provided by the National Broadcasting Network" opens the video. Ancient times when capsule toys were sacred rituals, modern times when they were weapons, and a future where they rule humanity with a will of their own. A three-part series running over 15 minutes, and every bit of it is a lie.
The problem
This was a project for Kitan Club's 15th anniversary. Rather than a normal anniversary video looking back at the company's history, they wanted to do something "completely unrelated." It started with a tweet from Shigesato Itoi, which led to a request going out to Ryo Fujii, who happened to be saying at the time that he wanted to make a "fake history exhibition."
The insight
Anniversary videos usually just line up a company's achievements and call it a day. But who actually wants to watch that? What Kitan Club chose instead was to hide the fact it was their 15th anniversary and go all in on a "fake history of capsule toys." Apparently Fujii's proposal pretty much ignored everything that had been discussed beforehand, but it got the green light right away anyway.
The idea
It's a fake documentary presented as the work of a fictional state broadcaster called "Channel 8." With total seriousness, it covers the Pon Ruins, the ancestor of Cup no Fuchiko, capsule toys as weapons, the explosive birth of "Gacha Fighter Mawaru," and even a future ruled by capsule toys with minds of their own. They went so far as to invent an entire fictional language for it.
What happened
After it came out in September 2021, it became a hot topic on social media, and in 2022 it was turned into a real exhibition called "Museum of Big Lies" at Shibuya PARCO, which also traveled to Osaka. It won the Grand Prix at the ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS 2022.
Afterthought
I'm floored both by the nerve it takes to make an entire anniversary video out of lies, and by the client's generosity in letting it happen. It has nothing to do with the 15th anniversary at all, yet somehow it's pure, unmistakable Kitan Club. It's the kind of video that leaves you laughing "I got fooled!" and makes you want to go spin a gacha machine right after.
