An Actual Cult Made These Anime | Happy Science Vol. 1

[@coyotewood]

With new-age cults, it's always 3 things: 1. Aliens 2. Reptilians 3. fucking atlantis

[@matiasfpm]

Heheeee boi

[@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis]

And also, their god is almost always every god of every religion all at once. Plus Budda, Muhammad, and every other major religious figure.

[@spacetacos7574]

Cant forget dinosaurs

[@thanatos7007]

There's also a 95% chance of using one or more of those things to justify anti-semitism for some reason.

[@crazzluz1702]

It worked for Scientology, those folks are rich AF. They're just copying them.

[@Nuvizzle]

"So anyway guys I'm god" "Which one?" "Yes" Not gonna lie that's a pretty bold basis for a cult

[@gabetalks9275]

Matthew 24 ☕

[@sarahtaylor4264]

Don't forget claiming to be the reincarnation of currently living people. At least with gods you can laugh it off as standard crazy cult shenanigans.

[@cattibingo]

"Oh you don't believe in god? I'm best buds with all the famous people too"

[@johnjonjhonjonathanjohnson3559]

oh yeah well im john

[@alw2839]

UBER GOD!

[@Derthertnerdergler]

I didn't realize that the happy smile cult in Mob Psycho 100 was based on a real Japanese cult. That just makes it even funnier.

[@astrothewolfman]

Cool beans. I was thinking the same thing.

[@itachi2011100]

Now I need to watch Mob Psycho 100

[@star_spring]

I always wonder how many references I miss in anime because im just not familiar enough with Japan

[@Tenko72]

Me too.

[@AnIllinoisan]

Wow I didn’t realize that either!

[@SilverDragonJay]

since this is about a cult, I want to point out that the idea "you need to always be happy and if you aren't then that's bad and you'll be attacked by monsters" isn't just a another weird idea from a cult. Its actually a thing that cults specifically do. There's a model of cult behavior called the BITE model which is used to help determine if a group exhibits cult-like behavior or not. The E stands for emotional control, and telling your people that you _must_ always be happy is a form of it. The other letters stand for Behavioral control, information control, and thought control btw.

[@CobaltContrast]

Devil is in the details. Nice share.

[@neoqwerty]

@@CobaltContrast Or in this case, in the "bad thoughts" (badum-tish)

[@Moocow2003]

Seems like a great way to keep people in your cult too. Get them in with the promise of constant happiness, then keep them because they can't admit to themselves whenever they may not be happy with whatever the cult is doing

[@shinkamui]

@@Moocow2003 even better convince them that if they aren't happy it's their own fault, and they're failing the cult. Thus prompting them to double down as the only way to achieve said impossible happiness

[@Payton16-x9x]

The bite model isn’t a useful way to determine objectively what a cult is, and shouldn’t be used. Under the BITE model, UPS is a cult.

[@FOWLKON1339]

"Because... Religious propaganda or not, anime's gonna anime." Too true.

[@reguluscorneas5908]

True

[@caraid3957]

just heard him say that and then immediately checked the comments to see if anyone quoted that. noice

[@expensivenes2645]

Anime is not anime without anime

[@morganqorishchi8181]

My mom is a psychologist who used to work with cult survivors. I'm a nerd. Rarely do our interests cross on a Venn diagram, but this is definitely something I can share with her. So, uh, thanks, Geoff?

[@evecampbell3069]

Let us know what she thinks of it if she watches it or you guys watch it together!

[@Inucroft]

let us know her thoughts of this

[@marocat4749]

Hannah reloaded is pretty interesting on cults, and the likes, fun and aking ifun when its aproviate becaus ecults arre weird, but also respectful. on twitch and youtube, i just mention because its really chill but interesting. And layman psychology why people go there. Your mom did an important job that cant be easy . And even more everyone can fall into that traps. Including musk .and he likes which i dont know if they legally are, but its culty. There is even a cult ember nor going deep the q hole even ore deep thats actually very innocent and nice but also, a child a big child and more worrysome irresponsible father. It interesting. But sad. That cult membrs either grew up in one or were taken adventage up in a low point in their life. As said your mom did a likely hard job.

[@mitkitty]

Does your mom have papers or literature to read? I kinda have a fascination with Cults and helping cult survivors and I'd love to learn

[@marcobistagnino8713]

Hardcore nerds are not that far from being cultists

[@renatocorvaro6924]

You know you're on the wrong side when you make Prometheus, a mythological figure known for loving humanity so much that he accepted eternal torture in exchange for helping us, as the bad guy.

[@BlazeStorm]

I'm sure they just picked the name from a hat

[@twinkiesmaster69]

Also the guy couldn't make fire? He had to get it from the gods and shiz, which is the whole "big thing" he gets remembered for; Taking fire from the gods and gifting it to humanity , then getting stuck to a rock with vultures eating him

[@juliaboon9741]

The leader just went "whose the fire guy" and picked the first one he saw.

[@noop9k]

No, this is deliberate. Because he defied gods and atheist technology is bad.

[@expensivenes2645]

OMG i didn't think about that! So true

[@puckchang8691]

You know? The mermaids are right. People don’t think about how pretty the ocean is enough

[@livetolearn9339]

*Armin has entered the chat*

[@lrobin-is8dg]

the only good thing in these wacky movies

[@Anthony-dq4dl]

It's pretty. Pretty dangerous.

[@neoqwerty]

@@Anthony-dq4dl Welcome to the archaic use of "aweful", where it was directed to things beautiful and destructive.

[@guggelguggel7491]

​@@neoqwertytbf, the old version is still used in some form, like "awe", "awesome" and "awe inspiring"

[@kingsleycy3450]

Cults in a nutshell: Our God is epic, virile and goes to all the cool parties. And if hypothetically a KZbinr were to clown him on the Internet, you should absolutely avert your ears, for they are obviously demonic servants of my ex wife's divorce lawyer.

[@angelswarz8995]

Thats religion 101 in general tbh.

[@DolusVulpes]

@@angelswarz8995 if you think about it, religions are just cults that outlive their cult leaders.

[@marmato9332]

@@DolusVulpes That's... certainly a way to look at it.

[@DolusVulpes]

@@marmato9332 like I said, you have to think about it.

[@marmato9332]

@@DolusVulpes yeah sure

[@airshow406]

“The Devil Is An Alien Catboy” actually sounds like an extremely plausible anime title.

[@catalogiccat4206]

I guess only the worship towards cat goddess Bastet in Bubastis, Egypt got the shit against this devil. Also, furries again.

[@anarchomando7707]

@@catalogiccat4206 of course it's always closeted furries

[@spaz9797]

I mean if he can be a part timer I guess anything’s possible lmao

[@animowany111]

I would totally watch that if it existed.

[@RukoHanaji]

The isekai I never wanted. ❤

[@starduststriker8792]

"Hmm, yes, I will lock up this child for being a bull man because he is too disgusting and horrible to be in my line of sight. Also, my entire aesthetic identity and that of my entire kingdom will now be exclusively bull-themed."

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

If I was that king, I’d keep my son around and raise him to have impeccable self-confidence so I’d have a sick badass Minotaur son to fit with my aesthetic.

[@starduststriker8792]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 now you get it

[@JamesTheCelestial]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 aw man that'd be so badass Minos is such a bitch

[@Belgand]

He never said he was against banging cows, just not so into the half-human, half-cow progeny.

[@BasicXrazor]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 I mean, would you really want to admit that to the world? If your half human half bull son was the result of your wife being cursed by a sea god to want to fuck a bull?

[@mikethegrunty5968]

The leader of happy science has passed away. The battle against cat boy satan continues in another dimension

[@neoqwerty]

I'm waiting for the isekai claims to be the next El Cantare with bated breath.

[@sarahcole9661]

Oh no! Anyway…

[@mikethegrunty5968]

@@sarahcole9661 😂😂😂

[@cinnaqua]

I like how this religion is basically a crossover fanfic of every other religion

[@johnlynch1353]

And sir Isaac Newton.

[@ssnsfronunder8234]

smash bros ultimate of religion

[@ToxicSunrise132]

I personally feel like this dude just put up a dartboard when he was coming up with it, and then just rolled with whatever random mashup he picked off the wall.

[@-41337]

that's every major religion since judaism.

[@Dhejin]

@@-41337 nope

[@The_Horizon]

I thought this video was gonna talk about how cultish-anime fans shape the way anime is viewed today but I am not dissapointed

[@spoony8485]

I wish he would though, because it is pretty bad how over-obsessive they are, and how much they try and normalize it.

[@BrotherMag]

@@spoony8485 exactly!

[@johnsonkhalil29]

Hell anime, Star Wars, comics all fandoms have cultish subgroups and it’s really creepy

[@GoneFishingAmalgam]

Can you REALLY call yourself a fan if you’re not cultishly devoted to a show?

[@Nadia1989]

SarahZ did a video about the bad side of shipping culture in Western media, which is also cultish

[@qb8030]

So THIS is where all of these "happiness/smiling cult" archetypes come from in JRPGs and anime....I'm counting this towards my daily nugget of knowledge

[@logitimate]

I don't think it's just them; IIRC, there are at least a couple other Japanese new religious movements they have some similar elements in that regard to

[@stuartdunlop8834]

@@logitimate There's also the Aum Shinrikyo, aka the Evil Blue Man Group, who committed the Tokyo sarin gas attacks in 1995. They were the inspiration for the Happy Happyists in the video game Earthbound/Mother 2.

[@GG256_]

@@stuartdunlop8834 Evangelion satirized them, and though it may be seen as insensitive to their victims, screw evil cultists.

[@snurgumwurgum8238]

There was another one before this called om-shin-rikio. They also produced insane anime and unlike this current cult, ACTUALLY committed sarin gas attacks on japans subways back in the day. The 80's i Think?

[@insertcheesypunhere]

others have mentioned aum shinrikyo being an influence, but i will add that most cults tend towards happy smiles in general? in america, former members of jehovah's witnesses and former mormons report similar teachings and behavior. it's very much an aspect of control that many, if not most, cults use. on the one hand, it disguises their intent/actual feelings to outsiders and potential recruits. it also forces current members into a "fake it til you make it" ideal that discourages doubt (because doubt doesn't make you happy) and encourages repression. it's also draining for a lot of people, and tired people are easier to manipulate.

[@katepeterson5478]

"Eros... which is NOT what Hermes and Aphrodite's child was called, but I guess a right wing cult didn't want to have to deal with the implications of Hermaphroditus" 💀

[@andrejg4136]

Like when I heard the name/word I immediately thought about how we use it in the modern parlance, but it's literally a portmanteau name, like naming the child of a Sarah and Richard "Ricksara"

[@Wince_Media]

Weirdly enough, I just read this comment right after mother's basement said that

[@xXDESTINYMBXx]

Why is this a "right wing" cult?

[@the_last_ballad]

@@xXDESTINYMBXx because it's a cult that is about being happy about your place in the world and you are cannot feel bad about what happens to you or it's straight to hell? Because the underlying through line is about keeping the status quo and giving them all your money, while they make anime appealing to the alt-right rhetoric of Japan, Aryan-izeing famous figures(like making Edison blond and blue eyed when he definitely was not in reality), and holds the third highest rank in heaven for billionaires? Because suicide, not believing in religion, and teaching students about their country's failings are all demonized? Because "right wing" isn't a static position, but a relative one indicating it falls on the conservative side of Overton window that the object finds itself in(in this case Japan)? Because literally nothing about this cult is progressive or even centrist, so that leaves one option? I mean did you even listen to their political platform? Take your pick. Granted, most of these examples are from the second video on this cult's anime and belief system, although their political platform was outlined in this one, but both videos have been out for a while now and your comment is 9 days old.

[@thomasshirley318]

​@@xXDESTINYMBXx because how many Left Wing religious cults do you know of?

[@DINGOlord]

What if Fate/ lore was dumber

[@mothersbasement]

quality comment

[@borrisderwutende7850]

But only by a bit, like have you seen what Fate has done to Attila the Hun?

[@Nadia1989]

"Don't worry about it"

[@Kuudere-Kun]

This is like more analogous to the Tsukihime lore.

[@xXAkirhaXx]

Stole the words out of my mouth. Basically Fate stole the idea and was like "less preaching, more tiddies"

[@CyberSpider35]

You know - the real life story about Cult Leader's son rebeled against his father sounds much more interesting than anything their mythology provided.

[@Vesperitis]

The child of the leader of an evil organization rebelling against their parent is a pretty standard backstory for a shonen/YA/comic book hero.

[@sweatyslapfight7900]

@@Vesperitis the son does gives some very minor YA protag vibes with his appearance. Like a tertiary love interest maybe

[@SuckUNan]

Comment

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@SuckUNan So many covered crazy cults: why stop here?!

[@levi0394]

@@Vesperitis YA?

[@Otakumanu]

The Sphinx nose thing doesn't even make sense. The nose was broken long after the end of ancient egyptian civilization, way into the common era. Had it been broken in the time of Rammesses II, at the apex of Ancient Egypt, it would have been repaired.

[@APioneerInTheSeaOfStars]

Apparently the head is not the original design on the Sphinx, according to some experts... Also apparently the walls surrounding the foundation of the Sphinx have aged flood erosion patterns which might date back more than 8000 years ago.

[@FigureOnAStick]

I mean, considering this guy has been using the universal timeline as a dartboard to pick his story beats so far, I think we can excuse a couple thousand years' discretion

[@dark_blade2071]

Were u there or sum 🤨

[@Otakumanu]

@@dark_blade2071 Of course not. What I do have is historical records and archaeological evidence.

[@dark_blade2071]

@@Otakumanu I was obviously joking but either way there's no way to tell if that's true or not since documents can easily be edited. Only way to say for sure what happened is if u were there; and if u weren't how can u say someone is wrong about it if u dont 100% know 🤨

[@kevinstephenson3531]

Don’t you love how the cult leader made himself the reincarnation of the god of thieves. That probably isn’t intentional but like why not Apollo the god of the sun.

[@GriffinPilgrim]

Probably he liked the connection to Hermetic magic. Plus the Greeks already syncretized Hermes with Thoth so that spared him some work. And Apollo does have a long mythological tradition of being unlucky in love and this guy really needs you to know he's getting some.

[@NapaCat]

Apollo was a light god, Helios was the sun.

[@GriffinPilgrim]

@@NapaCat Apollo is a sun god as well. At different points in history and different places you'll find different takes on Helios, Apollo and their connections to the Sun. Same with Artemis, Selene and the Moon.

[@BackSet]

Well, Hermes was also the God of travelers and quite a few other things (some of which he stole from Apollo in a quite literal sense) but yeah I'll agree that Apollo or Helios make way more sense for a sun-based cult than Frikken Hermes.

[@romankotas448]

And prophecy and his son is the god of healing, that would have worked so much better!

[@fhey7903]

Honestly, I feel so cheated that in 12 years of Sunday School, they never taught me about catboy alien Satan. Would have made church so much more interesting.

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

I don't care what religion you have or believe, it has nothing on alien cat boy satan

[@radhapatel217]

Ma Kali is just a bit of an overprotective mother. Are you saying you WOULDN'T decapitate all those who threaten your children!?!!?

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

@Aaviskar Parasor good point

[@SoopermooseGaming]

So true, Alien catboy Satan is way cooler then what i was taught, and i also had no idea that Sir Issac Newton is actually a god, that lived billions of years before he was born.

[@angela_merkeI]

True. Traditional goat boy satan just isn't as good.

[@Bonsaipop]

Start a religion you say… 🧐

[@supersaiyanyamcha2665]

Put Figurama Collecters Statues as a tax break for shrines

[@qqccrryy]

Long Live the Anime Pope

[@papersonic9941]

"We could make a religion out of this"

[@felonyx5123]

no dont.

[@xyz1415]

Please don’t

[@TravenTalks]

The fact that this 40+ minute video is titled "Part 1" does not bode well for how deep of a rabbit hole this whole thing is . . .

[@SnuSnuDungeon]

We demand MORE!

[@princessthyemis]

Yeah! I didn't even realize that at first 🤣

[@bobpope3656]

Man you must not be part of political KZbin. 40 minutes is short.

[@MrTigracho]

Jeff is going to drive into this wild ride into the rabbit hole, and we are his passangers.

[@jy3n2]

According to RationalWiki, they have QAnon connections.

[@MiTaReX]

That time-traveling girl Alisa in "The Golden Laws" was probably stolen from a popular Russian children sci-fi book series running since 1965, where Alisa Selezneva is the main character. She and her friends get into all sorts of sci-fi adventures and shenanigans, including some time travel. PS. Even her hairdo is the same as in Alisa's most well-known movie adaptation, holy cow.

[@slevinchannel7589]

MB-Fans? Why stop here? Even IF we dont count Pick-up-Artistry as a Cult, Cult-Coverage is just everywhere and it can be very entertaining. Emma Thorne and Telltale Atheist makes many videos about them and i recommend his video about Kat Kerr as an Entry-Point-to-his-channel.

[@cancername]

omg holy shit yes

[@chrismaystar3014]

Suddenly, I'm starting to understand why Greek Mythology is almost never in Anime. The Happy Cult kinda ruined it for Japan.

[@alw2839]

Danmachi.

[@chrismaystar3014]

@@alw2839 Almost never.

[@gearsfan6669]

@@chrismaystar3014 may be a shitty CGI one but there is also that Cestvs one about the roman boxer

[@govnorelven4036]

@@gearsfan6669 names?

[@gearsfan6669]

@@govnorelven4036 I was just commenting on the lack of good roman set anime in general

[@nubreed13]

There was a panel at sakuracon years ago called "anime cult classics" where they demoed a bunch of anime various cults used to brainwash people. It was an interesting panel since the host would regularly pause the video to show the terminology they regularly used.

[@lisbonmapping8425]

Clever name.

[@Jesus_Offical]

@@lisbonmapping8425 indeed Very Clever

[@EurydiceProject]

I've always wanted to go to Sakuracon

[@cosmic-creep1384]

666 likes lol damn

[@dinosaur___7209]

Examples?? I need to know pls I’m so curious

[@ShroomRPG]

This entire cult is just the most elaborate self insert fanfiction of all time

[@bthsr7113]

It follows in the... "proud"? tradition of the Divine Comedy.

[@azoth6641]

All those audience-insert harem and/or isekai manga and anime ain't got shit on this.

[@docbaker3333]

IN hindsight all Cults are the most riduclous and shitty self insert Fanfics devised by man.

[@Champiness]

@@azoth6641 That Time I Got Reincarnated As The God Of Every World Religion

[@hithedragon7842]

That's just what I was thinking

[@spereira3879]

RO: "What if we held reincarnated hands across Time, the river of God's love?" His first wife: Begone Thoth

[@bekmogamingchannel]

10/10 on that pun

[@elib6465]

This sounds like some Christian dungeon master trying to make a homebrew world but doesn't want to get sacrilegious so the madlibs write a setting. This is hilarious btw

[@Ramsey276one]

Fully agree

[@edwardmajewski434]

Actually this feels more like if L Ron Hubbard was a DM doing a home brew world. A Christian DM would of done such a better job. JR Tolkien was a Christian, after all.

[@Emilamlom]

@@edwardmajewski434 Pretty much every christian movie, song, and video game disagrees with you there. Being christian doesn't mean a person isn't creative, but the christians that make christian media largely do an awful job.

[@Corthate]

I WOULD PAY MONEY TO GET INTO THAT GAME! Imagine the exploits you could pull to undermine it…

[@ShuraEssays]

@@Corthate "Can I play a Warlock in this campaign?" "Celestial Warlock?" "Eh, we have 3 clerics already since it's the only spellcasting class you've allowed, so - Wait, wait, why are you getting out that gun-"

[@Silverstonegamergirl]

I watched this over writing D&d backstory. Needless to say my confidence in my writing has improved.

[@Ramsey276one]

Good luck!

[@FFKonoko]

If you find yourself taking notes, get someone to proof read to make sure you didn't start writing a gospel

[@Ramsey276one]

@@FFKonoko I have to agree XD

[@AnimeIsLayfu]

@@FFKonoko lolwtf

[@devlinburgess2463]

This cult is like a combination of Scientology, the "Friends" from 20th Century Boys, and weird Warhammer 40k fanfiction.

[@DVAcme]

OH GOD, DID YOU JUST IMPLY RYUHO OKAWA IS THE EMPEROR???

[@docbaker3333]

That and myths Smashed together from a bunch of Religious study text books along with what looks like a Failed Star Wars Clone trying to be cool and high concept.

[@jakey14344]

@@DVAcme BLAS-!!!!! I'm sorry, i mean HERESY!!!!!!

[@DVAcme]

@@jakey14344 Actually, the correct term is H_E_R_E_S_Y!!!!!!

[@adan3956]

@@DVAcme if you pay money to him, he would hold a seance to talk to Sigmar himself

[@shahsadsaadu5817]

Okay so I have actually read the authentic works of jataka tales(tales of Buddha's previous births) and a fuckload of works on Buddha as part of my Indian philosophy semester, and I must say that part of devadatta where he acts like a looney toons villain is the most accurate part of this entire garbage. If you look up the word "dedicated hater" on the dictionary, devadatta would be up there next to reverse flash.

[@heyfell4301]

I guess religions just like to make their opposers look dumb

[@ananyanyan]

Right? I'm Indian and grew up with Jataka folktales and the Devadatta bit was the only believable part of that crackfest of an anime

[@Sam_Jayd2]

I must say as a Theravada Buddhist, your analogy of Devadatta's character is very amusing. He indeed was a "dedicated hater" to the highest degree. 🤭

[@felldoh9271]

"because religious propaganda or not, anime is gonna anime" I love Mother’s Basement.

[@Ramsey276one]

7:45 XD

[@Ramsey276one]

41:07 Oh GAWD

[@everforward5561]

This is like watching someone improv a creation story. "And THEN..." "And THEN..." "And THEEEEEENNN..."

[@FriendB]

It's basically letting a toddler ad lib a bedtime story

[@weirdofromhalo]

I'm betting all creation stories started out this insane, then were only slightly toned down.

[@ShermTank7272]

I'll give them that - they at least seem to have mastered the "yes and" part of improv.

[@yakkay5898]

I had a class where we had to make up a creation story and someone forgot the assignment and it ended up pretty similar to that description

[@jumex1786]

NO BUT FACTS THO

[@h2ojr1]

"Because something-something POWER OF DARKNESS! So they have to fight, RIGHT NOW!" Basically sums up the Kingdom Hearts franchise

[@ltntwafflz9043]

As a Kingdom Hearts fan I couldn't agree more 😆

[@ShootingStarNeo]

It’s been a year or so and the vid chapter subtitle “Wings of Divorce” is still too fucking funny to have never actually been spoken aloud in the video.

[@ezrasilver9819]

The Happy Science lore in total sounds like the set up to one of the sickest Shin Megami Tensei games ever imagined.

[@larrychilders6599]

Soon

[@ah.neat.408]

Shin Megami Tensei 6: Bliss

[@flamaniax5728]

Now if only Dante could return to the games... NO, Vergil! Vergil's gotta be the super boss of the next SMT game!

[@davidbrickey8733]

It wasn't until you got to the second of three movies that I realized you weren't doing a bit and this was a real cult.

[@stargazer3424]

I had to pause for a second after the “cat people aliens led by Confucius Moses and Jesus wiped out the dinosaurs” bit. I like Pop Team epic and even this takes a moment to process

[@librarianseth5572]

I mean, I'm just stuck wondering why the dinosaurs had to die. When you're adding billions of souls to a single planet, people still gotta eat, and if the mormons can have North American war elephants in their book, dinosaur-farming cat people from space sounds fair

[@nahmepin]

Exactly

[@Mrhellslayerz]

Given my liking for pop team epic, I always have to do a double take every time I notice it mentioned. I agree though, this takes way more time and effort to process.

[@xxgirl101xx]

MB: so in their cosmology a core belief is the divine reincarnation love between the leader and his wife Me, eating chips: sure would be funny if they got divorced MB: imagine if they got divorced Me: if only MB: which they did! And also his son disowned him Me: *riotous laughter*

[@lemeres2478]

28:45 For those unfamiliar with the Japanese actions in WWII- A Japanese guy like this writing a book about Nanking is like a German guy writing a novel called "The Truth of Auschwitz and Oven Issues". I am sure you can imagine how a guy with a "only think about happy things" doctrine might botch that kind of sensitive discussion of an event where the the war crimes START with a "who can chop off the most prisoners' heads" competition.

[@noukan42]

Funniest thing, despite this guy being a fucking Nanking apologist, another one of the "movies" has *Godwin's Law Violation* as a some sort of demon lord togheter whit Nietzsche(up to that point the movie was mostly boring, but holy hell if it delivered after they arrived), and i was like "who the hell does fucking Nanking Apology whitout also synpathizing whit the Nazi?"

[@watchm4ker]

@@noukan42 A Japanese Nationalist. Imperial Japan was allied with the Nazis because they were the only ones returning their mail, more or less. They were planning on picking a fight with most of Europe over their Pacific holdings, and the only ones who *didn't* have anything to take was Germany. Certainly, both sides made a show of how chummy and allied they were, but Japan didn't give one whit about the Nazi ideology. They were closing territory for themselves, first and foremost. Hell, if anything, they were pissed they were using the Manji like it was their symbol, or something. And then Europeans get all pissy when they see markings for temples on public maps.

[@jimmytandberg2859]

Or an American writing the book: "Plague Blankets: Bolstering Your Immunity the Indigenous Way!"

[@gerhardtfunk4463]

​@@jimmytandberg2859 I think its more like an American writing the book "The War of Northern Aggression: completely about states rights and not at all about slavery".......wait a second

[@shiawasekappukekiful]

@@jimmytandberg2859 don't forget to mention the good ol trail, Conpletely for physical health of course

[@AmySay]

As a Kamen Rider fan, the actress of one of my favorite side characters was born into the cult. Just a few years ago, she quit 'normal' acting to do films exclusively for Happy Science. It hurts to re-watch Fourze now :(

[@ssbranny]

It's the biggest bummer. I know the inevitable cameos or reunion of some of the KRC is gonna feel sour with the mention of 'oh, Yuki's in space!' 😔

[@jakey14344]

Not only Fumika Shimizu quits acting, but also Kengo's acting career was stopped because of health reasons, unfortunately.

[@clementj]

What?!!... No... Not Jujima Yuki... I've never heard of this.

[@jakey14344]

@@clementj well, if you didn't see her Wikipedia page. She had already joined that POS cult just when she gets bigger roles like Touka from Tokyo Ghoul live-action and Aiko Himeno from Hentai Kamen.

[@azoth6641]

@@jakey14344 IIRC, Justin Tomimori (Shun) has also retired. So far, the relatively greater notables are Sota Fukushi (Gentaro/KR Fourze) and Ryo Yoshizawa (Ryusei/KR Meteor), albeit if only because they've starred in the live-action Bleach movie as, respectively, Ichigo and Uryu.

[@RealXgor]

Ah yes my favorite religion "Gravity". Praise be Sir Isaac Newton

[@Darasilverdragon]

Newton didn't invent gravity He invented calculus

[@bardogenix8875]

"Do you believe in gravity?"

[@EnigmazGuide]

there also an atheist religion

[@EnigmazGuide]

@@ejedwards1678 try google your just ignorant. 😂😂😂😂 No need to thank me

[@azoth6641]

Fun fact: Newton was also interested in theology, the occult, and alchemy--in fact, he wrote more about those subjects than he did on physics. His estate simply chose to keep his papers on those subjects until the mid-20th century, over 200 years after his death.

[@PlebNC]

I like how convoluted and detail this is but didn't give enough of a damn to name the space police as anything other than "Space Police."

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

Hey, it gets the point across, doesn't it :D

[@PlebNC]

@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 But an actual police force would give it a more bureaucratic name like The Interuniversal Authority of Known Space.

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

@@PlebNC No, I’m pretty sure an actual space police would call itself the GPD or something

[@neoqwerty]

@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 I think they'd call themselves the Galaxy Rangers because space rangers are cooler than just space cops.

[@CrazyPangolinLady]

The “blew them up with volcanos, and sent their ghosts to earth” is very Scientology.

[@librarianseth5572]

Gotta store your soul collection somewhere

[@F1areon]

Not just "very", it literally IS Scientology :P

[@mutantmaster1]

The plot for all these movies sound like a college student got: REALLY high, passed out, then woke up at 3am, vaguely remembered that their religious theology paper is due at noon, and sleepily "finished" it off over the next 9 hours.

[@Kalani_Saiko]

THIS

[@mitzirocker7026]

When Geoff said the movie was about the ~eternal love between the cult leader and his wife, I immediately knew what was going to happen and I grinned like the Grinch.

[@SirAsdf]

I feel like a "This is what Happy Science Followers actually believe" should be at the top of the screen at all times for these videos.

[@TheAsvarduilProject]

Moooooom! Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet!

[@oneinathousand2156]

Dang, I unironically like the character designs for these movies, even the digitally painted one still has very expressive faces.

[@mothersbasement]

Yeah, they did get a lot of really talented animators to work on them. And the visual quality only makes the insanity of the scripts funnier

[@junichiroyamashita]

Honestly,if i didn't know that these are cult propaganda,i would have loved them,for the strange and bizarre syncretism giving it a very unique charm,and i would see myself feel swayed by it,like only a good anime can make me do. Honestly,this weird multi-religion cinematic universe tied by a single religion,in a very long Bible-like story,like the old time Bible movies,would be something that i would really love to see. This one is so bad ,so good, that i would love to see something in this style.

[@Shoyren]

omg the Hermes anime hurts me so badly because it's actually really nice looking and I dig the Greco-Roman aesthetic. Now I want the Illiad or Odyssey adapted as a (good) anime, which is unlikely to happen. :(

[@AlexaRobin21]

I think there's a Korean animated show about Classical Mythology.

[@jorisheppard8996]

Never, because Greek crap is for Europeans. Japan has much more important historical events to learn about like Nobunaga again. But this time with robots.

[@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis]

@@jorisheppard8996 how about nobunaga again, but this time everyone's a woman. And make tokugawa a loli too while you're at it.

[@jakey14344]

@@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis how about a Nobunaga who is a literal demon lord. Or combining it with Norio Wakamoto/John Swasey's extra hammy acting, Sawano drops and Double-Barreled Shotgun. Or a walking Rie Kugimiya meme (loli, shota, and mommy Nobu).

[@AresSG]

@@jorisheppard8996 They already did that, it's called Nobunaga The Fool.

[@northernzeus768]

And my friends mocked me when I insisted one night that if you combined all the great men and prophets in history into one man… He would look just like a mousy, frail, used car salesmen.

[@MintyCoolness]

oh shit u rite, lol

[@PinkGrapefruit22]

There was a Happy Science school near where I used to live in Japan. Their students kept winning the gosh darn English speech contest because they were all secretly native speakers sfjdlskfd.

[@tvftw1]

"Satan is an alien catboy" ...Okay, hold on, let's just hear them out

[@dovahkiin_brasil]

Rule 34 artists: how we did not thought this before!?

[@crewinXeagles]

@@dovahkiin_brasil >Implying they haven't

[@haze6647]

I am listening.

[@dootdoot5891]

hmmm going to hell doesnt seem too bad now

[@alsinakiria]

I shared this to my friend that is a huge Greek and Egyptian history buff. Thought she was going to have a stroke

[@fearanger1]

Oh good, I wasn't the only one.

[@vassily-labroslabrakos2263]

Me too and I am Greek. Srsly this has so many inaccuracies it hurts.

[@aylendexskelington96]

It’s always fascinated me just how many cult mythologies are “we’re every religion including the one you like, random god’s chosen child” but nothing hammers in how clumsily grafted together they are than the kind of Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic a kid from an evangelical Christian family writes when he’s twelve to convince his parents that anime isn’t a tool of Satan

[@RayPoreon]

That's always been a common tactic to draw in followers. Earlier in the life of christianity, christians would argue that pagan gods were not really gods but were in fact powerful angels and saints that are subserviant to God.

[@philiphart4146]

@@RayPoreon The Romans would just declare the gods of the various peoples they encountered to be Roman gods by different names. You can see this in Hellenic art of figures like Hermanubis (Anubis is a psychopomp deity in the Egyptian pantheon, so Romans just equated him with Hermes, their own psychopomp) and accounts written by contemporary writers of the people of other countries (Tacitus, the Roman general, describes the Germanic Suebi people as worshiping "Mercury", "Mars", and "Hercules", who are pretty clearly Odin, Tyr, and Thor).

[@kirayoshikage4057]

@@philiphart4146 Jesus is a blatant copy of Horus aswell.

[@philiphart4146]

@@kirayoshikage4057 No, he isn't. The sum total of the alleged "evidence" are a series of claims that contradict every historically-recorded narrative about Horus (Horus was not born of a virgin, did not have 12 disciples, only has a dying-and-rising myth when he's syncretized with Osiris or Ra, and both of those are very different from the dying-and-rising myth associated with Jesus, he didn't deliver a sermon on the mount, etc.) and the single true claim that some Greek-speaking early Egyptian Christians syncretized a single title of Horus's with Jesus. Calling him a copy at all shows a grave misunderstanding of how religions develop, but calling him a BLATANT copy is an outright lie.

[@kirayoshikage4057]

@@philiphart4146 Jesus never existed. Horus never existed. Everything about Jesus is a lie, everything about Horus is a lie. Seems like they're one and the same thing to me, could you please elaborate?

[@vsGoliath96]

If I have to give them credit for anything, it looks like a surprising amount of effort went into some of the Greek environments. They actually got Minoan architecture and the Palace of Knossos essentially correct, and those large, cowhide shields are the real deal.

[@neoqwerty]

@karaqakkzl Let's be honest, the only thing most people know about the Balkans without being from the Balkans is "isn't that where Ska came from?"

[@GuyParson]

@@neoqwerty and the warcrimes

[@aaronschmit]

It's so crazy how there is ironically so much thought and effort put into making these expansive and incredible worlds and lore, full of gods, alternate history takes, epic journeys and apotheotic trials. And some people choose to use that creativity to evade taxes, manipulate peoples into believing these worlds are 100% factually accurate, and exploit these very same vulnerable people for a quick buck. Such a shameful and monstrous waste of time and money.

[@souptouchesme]

I think you're judging this anime kinda hard. Add some robots and every body's full glass of tang from mom and this could another Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[@gusty7153]

L ron hubbard in particular did both but as he said “You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” but funny enough, despite begin infamous as the founder of scientology, hubbard still gets acclaim as a scifi author and there's even a literary award named after him for science fiction writers. and for artists in general, it's said that very few ever become famous within their own lifetime

[@SenileOtaku]

@@gusty7153 Sure, there's a SF award named after L Ron Hubbard, but you have to remember who is *backing* that award. And also who is backing Hubbard's "Writers of the Future" contest/seminar.

[@gusty7153]

​@@SenileOtaku the point i was making was trying to explain to OP on how it makes a lot of sense for someone talented enough in science fiction to found a religion instead, and my example used was the one guy who was most famous at doing both and with emphasis on how he's well known for both and not just one or the other. anyways i really don't know who is backing the award and don't care. considering it's l ron hubbard i'm talking about here, my assumption would have to be NO FUCKING SHIT OF COURSE IT'S THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY WHAT EVEN IS YOUR POINT?

[@Never_heart]

Except this religion isn't creative or well thought out. It's really basic standard cult fluff, only standing out because of these animes and that while most cults prey on the emotionally vulnerable by promising purpose and joy this one just outright brands itself as a happiness cult

[@liamannegarner8083]

33:45 What's especially hilarious is that the Poisoned Nails bit was made up by the Osamu Tezuka "Buddha" manga out of whole cloth. (It's way more plausible in that one, he wants to pretend a wild animal clawed him and infection set in, and instead he falls down a cliff face and breaks one of the nails and it enters his bloodstream.) So yeah - it's not just Anime Rewriting History, this is Guy Rewriting History Who Already Only Knows History From Anime. This is the equivalent of your Salem Witch Trials report citing Harry Potter as a source.

[@geoffreyprecht2410]

For the record, I immensely appreciate you explaining this. I love the fact that the anime is based on a version of "history" which is technically based on a manga. Simply poetic.

[@benthomason3307]

Really? Because I was sitting here thinking that that was the exact sort of stupid death that only occurs in real life.

[@liamannegarner8083]

@@benthomason3307 Nah. The children's story is that the Buddha's cousin Devadatta, after a childhood of Goofus and Gallant anecdotes, tried to drop a rock on him off a cliff and was dragged to hell (fun fact, since hell is a place you get reincarnated into and out of, he's the only one stuck there forever). The adult version is that he became sick and went to the Buddha to feign that he saw the light and fake-apologize, but the earth itself swallowed him before that could happen. But there were some assassination attempts involved, including the elephant.

[@someonesaltacct8572]

oh my god i know im late but i remember being part of this cult when i was a kid... but they had the kids sit out of prayer on sunday to play and watch movies and though i didnt pay attention, im realizing they might have shown us some of their earlier movies... i still have the books they gave everyone for when i need a reminder that things could be worse. I could be a part of a cult now lol

[@zap4th368]

How’d you get out/realize it was BS?

[@someonesaltacct8572]

@@zap4th368 honestly since i didn't read the books until AFTER i got out so I didn't know a whole lot. First was iirc watching the first movie as a kid and getting so confused i mentally noped out of the movie and cemented for me that i didn't want to be in the prayers when i was older bc it was so confusing lol. I noped out so hard the only way I KNOW I watched these movies were particular scenes that I recall. The kids turning into fairies and the ladies in the strange headgear and I didn't even realize they were supposed to be flowers! ( 14:50 ) As for the ACTUAL reason... is a lot funnier than you'd think and happened awhile later. On top of some folks thinking i should see what actual prayer was like because i mentioned the movie REALLY confused me (i would have done that the next week) I got this toy car the day before from my dad and brought it to play. Some kid who had A LOT of toy cars decided my first and only toy car was his. Got so upset by it because everyone who I didn't show off my new car to thought it was his. The person who introduced me to this place knew it was mine when I told her what happened in the car heading back home, told her not to worry about it because I believed it was a lost cause and I needed to grin and bear it. And yeah, never went back. Since a lot of the culture behind happy science was more subliminal than anything because it was hard for me to pay attention purposefully, it's taken me a lot of years to shake off a lot of the bigger philosophies I was taught. It also got me easier into spiritualism, but I have no clue where my thoughts begin and the Happy Science Lore end. It's hard to weed out but I'm still trying my best.

[@noahbossier1131]

Oh crap

[@PickledThyme1]

@@someonesaltacct8572 Wow good on you for leaving! It's so scary how that cult conditions people to put up with mistreatment by telling them they must be happy all the time.

[@admin-yo1ee]

"Japan is where the eastern and Western civilizations met" Turkey is seething rn

[@catbatrat1760]

I assumed they meant, like, because so many Westerners are obsessed with Japanese anime.

[@VictorbrineSC]

This guy was targeted by another cult, Aum Shimrikyo, in 1995 with a nerve agent attack. Aum Shimrikyo was most famous for the Sarin attacks in the Tokyo metro. So yes, Jaoan has at least two crazy cults (Aum Shimrikyo no longer exists but it has successors such as Aleph which peetty much works like them)

[@Ramsey276one]

“Aleph” Shin Megami Tensei Date-A-Live Have fun tanking THOSE XD

[@azoth6641]

IIRC, apparently Aum Shinrikyo also had an anime made before the 1995 attacks.

[@mightyfilm]

Oh God. They showed that ironically at an "Anime Hell" once. The "Go for a Punch" hoax couldn't have been more disturbing than that.

[@docbaker3333]

Guess Shoko Asahara couldn't tolerate another Megalomaniac cult leader butting in his turf which is probably one of the few good things Aum Shinrikyo as done and I cannot believe I said those words WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME!?!?!

[@mr.9rinc3]

@@azoth6641 yeah he did have an anime too

[@statboosts279]

Okay honestly gonna be real a time travel story where halfway through the characters learn that they're going to cause an incident that immediately results in time travel being illegal sounds like a comedic goldmine

[@sponge1234ify]

Steins;Gate

[@yourcollegedebt8384]

@@sponge1234ify I summarize Steins;Gate as "A bunch of idiots accidentally invent time travel and suffer the consequences." So yeh, it can work here.

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@yourcollegedebt8384 Cant promise it’s as funny as this video here (glad it’s back, btw) but fun-fact: Many covered cookey cults and discussed funny and/or damaging religions. Just wanna say: If you enjoyed this, maybe give other KZbinrs and especially Atheist-KZbinrs a look?

[@slevinchannel7589]

Bad Shows deserve Criticism. And the Best Criticism is such that you dont even have to know the Franchise criticized for Hours on End. No kidding, Jay Exci did FIVE Hours with Doctor Who, and Madvocate and Hbomberguy each did other Fracnhises for Hours: And countless say 'I dont even know this Franchise but i enjoyed this so much'. I can only warmly recommend watching Good-Faith-Criticism, especially from the just-mentioned KZbinrs.

[@Legoguy9875]

I like how in the second film, the Venus god is like "fuck this, you guys are too nice" and just blows everyone up as a result. Perhaps that's why we earthians were given Twitter as a means of balancing that out.

[@SilvarusLupus]

Step 1 of making a cult, don't claim to be immortal

[@Soooooooooooonicable]

Don’t gotta worry about being revealed to be a fraud when you’re already dead.

[@devRat]

"Don't fuck with me! I've got the power of god and anime on my side! HAAAAAA!" -This guy probably.

[@thepurplebox380]

Part 1: RIP Greek Mythology Part 2: RIP History Part 3: RIP my brain... Can't wait to watch part 2 immediately after this!

[@azoth6641]

Part 4: RIP Science Part 5: RIP Japanese Buddhism Part 6: RIP Diplomacy

[@nancyjay790]

And it also has angry cat face covering swatikas. Geoff's cat was a glorious cat (seems that kitty has gone on to set up own related form of Heaven, sadly).

[@falloutghoul1]

@ꨆꨟꨮꩆ ꨣꨰꨕ Ahh, yes. RIP Shinzo Arby's.

[@ClaireElizabethvlogs]

Being a classics student is honestly a curse right now

[@jenniferjoseph4401]

It's torture isn't it? Constant mental whiplash.

[@Animefreakess]

Being a European who grew up on the stuff is honestly the same... But it feels far more like satire so I can't be mad...

[@owlgirl1998]

🤝

[@marianapiedade7276]

When I was a college student, I had to do this huge research on HS. My group took part in many meetings and sermons to learn about the religion. I swear, the level of crazy trying-too-hard to make up nice stories about El Cantare is beyond belief. Also, the whole part of "be happy all the time" is real and creepy as hell

[@TryinaD]

Do you live in Japan or?

[@marianapiedade7276]

@@slevinchannel7589 I'm so sorry, did not see your comment! Let me know if can still help you!

[@marianapiedade7276]

@@TryinaD Nop, Brazil. These guys are everywhere

[@cerocero2817]

I called they were getting divorced as soon as it was stated his wife was supposed to be a godess, cult leaders gonna cult leader. Of all the crappy mythology this scam has, making Prometheus a heel is probably the shittiest take.

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Its the oldest take. He was a heel in Theogony.

[@GippyHappy]

They made Prometheus a bad guy because he gave humans knowledge and the cult wants people to stay dumb

[@ktnt100]

Not gonna lie though, this pantheon would make a kick ass J-RPG. Imagine reaching the final battle, El Cantare revealing its final form as the sound track changes to latin/greek chants.

[@eMorphized]

Add in some Hindu theology that allows deities to merge and split, and you got something great.

[@AmySay]

What’s better than beating god at the end of the game? Beating ALL THE GODS

[@WTFisTingispingis]

@@AmySay DOesn't Shin Megami Tensei just let you do this? ALL THE TIME?

[@alchemicmercury]

I want to be a cleric of Sir Isaac Newton.

[@therighttrousers343]

@@alchemicmercury I want someone to make Benjamin Franklin's Key into a legendary weapon, and the apple of Newton a mighty relic, in an RPG or an anime or something-something like any object of fate-altering significance gains power over something contextually related to it, maybe.

[@Divock]

It kinda feels like he took a fat hit from the bong of inspiration and wrote a long outline that was transcribed in the course of a single night, then realized in the morning when he was sober that he couldn't back down from it and had to somehow connect every nonsensical thing he made up in that timespan

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

Worked for Joseph Smith!

[@dogguy8603]

I mean, at least L. Ron Hubbard had the creativity to make his own lore for his cult

[@epii3691]

So i actually lived in japan for several, and only about a five minute walk away from my apartment was a happy science branch building. Another time, while sightseeing in a nearby prefecture, friends and i accidentally wandered into a different cult’s main building (we thought it was a regular temple lol). It’s genuinely so gobsmacking to realize how many cults thrive inside japan

[@passingrando6457]

So what you're saying is that if I'm having trouble getting my cult off the ground, I should move to Japan and set up shop there. Got it.

[@passingrando6457]

@@Salomonkey_ Are Taiwanese women as freaky in the sack as Japanese or Chinese women? This is important information to know when building a cult.

[@chromatic_fate7114]

I am 12 minutes into this 42 minutes video, and I have already taken so much physical damage just from the inaccuracy of Greek mythology. I know this is made by a cult, but it still physically hurts

[@owlgirl1998]

🤝🤝🤝

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@owlgirl1998 Bad Shows deserve Criticism. And the Best Criticism is such that you dont even have to know the Franchise criticized for Hours on End. No kidding, Jay Exci did FIVE Hours with Doctor Who, and Madvocate and Hbomberguy each did other Fracnhises for Hours: And countless say 'I dont even know this Franchise but i enjoyed this so much'. I can only warmly recommend watching Good-Faith-Criticism, especially from the just-mentioned KZbinrs.

[@owlgirl1998]

@@slevinchannel7589 thanks for the recommendation! Ill be sure to check them out :) (Ps I wasn't complaining about the criticism, this is one of my favorite videos, I was just agreeing the cult's butchering of Greek mythology physically hurt me as a classics minor)

[@kamishin7135]

I mean, Hermes and Aphrodite are canonical exes, so real life has something in common

[@jackofdiamonds7303]

So great to see these videos back. I swear I’ve watched this and the second video at least 2 dozen times.

[@samaustin339]

As someone who is fascinated with mythology. The second film hurt me in a way you can’t comprehend.

[@matheuskawano8375]

Same, my brain just had a BSOD.

[@photofreak56]

I showed this to my friend who is in grad school studying greek mythology... he has yet to forgive me...

[@otakumangastudios3617]

It's too bad that the animation is beautiful

[@thehermit8618]

I simultaneously love and hate that it isnt even consistent in its own inconsistency. At some parts it matches almost 1:1 with the stablished greek mythological lore and at others it goes completely tits up into whatthefuckland

[@chargemankent]

It makes me forgot what the first Anime is

[@muhammadyusrils.1585]

El Miore, God King of Ancient Venus sounds like a Yu-Gi-Oh! Card.

[@christopherb501]

Any given Yugioh mythos - even that of Arc-V(a) - is better than THIS crap.

[@demilung]

...in attack mode!

[@blueshinobi8665]

Sounds like a stand user

[@jarmandog413]

Sounds like it would be a gimmicky level 10 0 ATK/ 0 DEF Light Fairy with “You must special summon this card by banishing 3 Light attribute monsters from your GY. This card cannot be special summoned by any other ways. During your battle phase, this card gains 10,000 ATK. You can banish the top card from your deck to negate an attack or card effect that targets this card.”

[@Asehpe]

My God, you're right!

[@AlmyTheAlien]

I won't lie, on a cosmological worldbuilding level, the idea of temptation being lost souls attempting to enter your body and vicariously gratify vices they can no longer access is a pretty intriguing one. It's easy to make it sound stupid with satirical phrasing, but taken straight, the concept's honestly pretty damn creepy.

[@kugelblitzingularity304]

But that would imply living people dont have any temptations on their own. But then world building assumes 'lost souls' ie dead people have vices ie temptations. So does that mean people only have temptations when they are dead and lost? Weird lore.

[@benjiusofficial]

@@kugelblitzingularity304 Huh? I don't see how that is implied. Each boy has a soul, you do vices, you die, you can't do those vices so you possess someone else to do the things you can no longer do. OP's logic tracks.

[@LunDruid]

Cults do often have some pretty creative ideas, cosmologically speaking. It's a pity that creativity is wasted on scamming people.

[@kymo6343]

Listen bub I smoke weed if I wanna smoke weed, not bc the alien ghosts in my body wanna smoke weed. But they are the ones that made me eat too much pizza and candy, that was totally on them... XD XP

[@F1areon]

That's basically the backstory behind Scientology's "Thetans"; they're the ghosts of dead aliens who possess people and cause all kinds of bad juju.

[@WynnofThule]

5:21 the story does make more sense in the context of Japanese culture. There's alot of pressure to not be a burden to those around you, and with the work culture and mental health stigma in Japan. This is more or less just a perpetuation of these factors.

[@Amy-yq4lk]

...oh, when you say Happy Science, you don't mean that as a sarcastic nickname for the cult, it's just...literally named Happy Science. Man, imagine creating your own personal cult where you're the reincarnation of several gods', and then calling it something befitting an educational TV series for toddlers that airs after Barney.

[@verbaldysjunction5587]

I appreciate your hard work with these terrible, terrible anime. I don't even feel bad about hating this one. Usually there's a creator somewhere in the process with bad shows that had an amazing vision destroyed by corporate greed. This? Started off with greed and the studios went "Eh, I'm getting paid it doesn't need to be good"

[@kingace6186]

If they're getting paid, why complain? But their work does hurt their reputation tho.

[@cameronb7161]

This takes the "I have god and anime on my side" meme to hilariously literal sense.

[@luckycleric9549]

Thank catboy Satan, my mood lifter is back!

[@ananyanyan]

NOT CATBOY SATAN 😭

[@teddyrasputin3850]

After watching this, I'm wondering if the LOL cult from Mob Psycho 100 that forced everyone to smile was a smirking jab at this real world cult. As much as I love that show, at the time I thought the cult's smiley premise was laughably stupid. Holy F*%!k was I wrong. The older I get the more I see and the less I can believe.

[@Gloomdrake]

Nice pun

[@jonathan0berg]

I had about the same reaction to the video. Truth is stranger than fiction I suppose.

[@donbeedrill]

Art imitates life

[@dr.pokemon1463]

According to Tvtropes, "Dimple's LOL Cult promising happiness may be a reference to the Happy-Happy cult from Earthbound. The Smile Masks even look a little like the masks worn by the Insane Cultists who attack Ness" So no, but it's completely possible that the cult from Earthbound is a parody of similar cults (since cults have been a huge thing in Japan since WW2, and this kind of 'happiness solves everything' shtick is actually pretty common).

[@papersonic9941]

@@dr.pokemon1463 I mean, TV Tropes isn't really a source, lul. I think it's more so that they're both a reference to weird cults rather than Mob specifically deciding to reference that one weird Nintendo RPG.

[@dr.pokemon1463]

37:40 you know the funny thing about this? They can say that the alien guy starting his own cult is BAD, but they can't say WHY it's bad, because they are a cult and don't want the viewers to become self-aware XD

[@logitimate]

So, the traditional answer here is "because it isn't true." (Neither is Half Science, of course, but their followers don't realize that . . .)

[@winterwombat]

From what I understand (not an expert, just an enthusiast) the major point of media like this isn't to convince people to adopt the cult's beliefs, but to surround members in those beliefs 24/7. The cult wants their teachings to be so ubiquitous in members' day-to-day lives as to seem beneath notice, something that doesn't need to be question because of how totally normal it is. The more thoroughly the cult can meet its members' cultural and social needs internally, the less chance those members have of coming in contact with outside influences and realizing that the stuff they take for granted is actually kinda nuts.

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

Check out Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It's first part is exactly like you describe.

[@Elonyx.studios]

Is that why Pureflix and Christian rock bands keep getting money?

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

@@Elonyx.studios I don't mind Christian rock bands. I'm an atheist, but some of their music sounds good, even if the lyrics are "wrong" to me. I kind of admire people who genuinly believes in something enough to sing rock about it, but that may be because I'm extremely sceptic as well.

[@TheCanadianGuy56]

@@Elonyx.studios all depends on why they do it. Skillet has been massive for years now, yet a good probably 40-60% of their fans have 0 idea they're a Christian rock/metal band. They just wanna make music about what they love, doesn't matter how we feel on the topic. We're their for the music

[@remedy00]

Yes. This is brainwashing for members already in it, like most cult propaganda. Not really for outsiders.

[@Kalebfenoir]

... I'm really glad my aunt doesn't watch anime, because she would ABSOLUTELY work "A History of Time" into her already patchwork conspiracy beliefs. Half the elements are already there; aliens, fleets, gods, angels, hidden aliens, reptilians, alien wars... all that's missing is a Hollow Earth thing, and she'd be a card-carrying member. Oh, and a bit about Bigfoot being an alien from another dimension. It makes my head hurt....

[@onenerd9573]

Your aunt sounds like an interesting person. My aunt is just a dime-a-dozen Trumpist, which at this point is a bit boring, to be honest. XD

[@SkySong6161]

After hearing the sacrilegious mis-mash of all these different religions, my inner mythology/religion nerd tried to write an essay on how you can't just mash different religions together because not only do they have vastly different ideas on how the universe functions, they all have different *end goals* based on that. But the short version is, "that's not how any of that works."

[@Champiness]

Pretty retrograde and dare-I-say gatekeepy of you to imply that all religion isn’t just Christianity and/or Greek mythology with the names swapped out 🙃

[@theeccentrictripper3863]

@@Champiness I dunno if I buy that, religions get pretty weird and unless we're going back to the Bronze Age they don't have immediate common origins. Having said that though I agree it's gatekeepy as hell to just say "that's not how any of that works", clearly not to any one of those religions but clearly it does in this religion lol. It's about as goofy a leap as the Hellenization of Christianity was; you take a Jewish apocalyptic cult, furnish it with a bunch of out-of-context bits of Hellenic mythology and philosophy then voila you have trinitarian Christianity as we know it today. 100% not in line with the Jewish understanding of the Messiah nor the late pagan concept of triune deities but the fan fiction was compelling enough to kick off a new mythology in its own paradigm that is still with us now. I can only hope Happy Science is around in 2000 years lol, anime this crazy has to be preserved

[@Champiness]

@@theeccentrictripper3863With each new day I find more reasons to believe that “aura of intense sincerity” is like my passive ability. Guess I should be flattered about it.

[@theeccentrictripper3863]

@@Champiness Or just written language failing to contain the same context clues speaking has, tomato - tomato.

[@nebufabu]

It's really remarkable in its unremarkableness, tbh. That's literally what every "all religions are true but mine is more true than all of them, so, please, convert, it's not that different anyway" cult founders had been coming up with since 18th century and really is a mirror image of "all religions are the same and false, Jesus is just an imaginary harvest deity" ultra-rationalist stuff.

[@Avatarbee]

I love how Buddha just casually blew up the "perfect" venus civilisation because he got bored. They became everything he wanted them to be and he blew them up for it. Amazing.

[@Ramsey276one]

THAT WAS NOT THE “New Game” BUTTON, BUDDHA! XD

[@sennaka]

Thank you. I was listening to this while dungeoning as a white mage in FFXIV. ....thank you for making my brain explode with "catboy alien Satan" and thus sentencing my whole team to death.

[@marcelgardner8497]

so this guy quit his job, started a cult, and did this so could have his own anime production compan. I almost respect the grind of this man.

[@Noname--]

I know right it's an amazing hustle

[@neoqwerty]

@@Noname-- Kinda makes me want to start my own cult, NGL, but I'd specialize in videogames and make ripoffs of Shin MegaTen If... by way of Devilman.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Mother's Basement never misses with these perfectly written essays

[@maxgoldstein6309]

Facts, literally not once

[@starlaser100]

Oh hey I know you

[@malakai_adam]

And you never miss...anything apparently.

[@Anonymous14217]

How are you on every video I watch

[@alenasenie6928]

It's not just the writing, he also nails the delivery, some people have good writing but have not the charisma to make people feel his passion for the topic, that part is even harder than good writing.

[@alexmoorehead9636]

when i lived in tokyo there was a "church" of the happy science cult pretty close to my house (also, close to the horse racing track). i used to walk by it to get to the hardware store (home center) and see the folks coming out. my late wife and i bumped into one of my bosses and none of us knew what to say so we just ignored eachother. there was also some weird buddhist cult builidng in the neighborhood. man, my wife thought life in ohio was cultish...

[@MiloKuroshiro]

Japan, China and Taiwan had a giant boom in New age cults during the 80s that still persist

[@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfo]

Oh wait till you hear this: when I was in chicago for school, there was a Church of Scientology being built literally next door to, I kid you not, my Dorm building downtown. I hope it isnt finished if I go down there

[@mariannorvicepaulagallo7278]

You forgot Korea too. Remember the protest earlier this year on cults hating the prime minister that has something to do with Covid restrictions.

[@otakumangastudios3617]

There's been a few times I've been in New York City and pass by Scientology churches

[@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfo]

@@otakumangastudios3617 Jesus, guess I am not the only one!

[@TrueGinjaNinjaGamer]

I feel like a part two would be pretty cool. What's interesting about these is that they are both blasphemous to the religious and insane to the non-religious. I mean also insane to the religious, but dang. How do they manage to defame every religion all at once? Side note, is Dimple's cult from Mob Psycho 100 based on these guys? It seems like it.

[@Borderose]

It is.

[@worldweaver2691]

I've only finished the first movie and a bit of the second but thats not how anything WWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[@TrueGinjaNinjaGamer]

@@worldweaver2691 it's one thing to make religious media. This is a totally other thing.

[@Mrinsecure]

Con artists don't have credibility, so they construct credibility by name-checking historical/mythological figures the same way a rich kid would mention a celebrity they *totally* know to try to trick their way into a club. Hermes, in particular, is an interesting name to bring up, because he's less likely to be referencing Hermes the Roman God, and instead Hermes Trismegistus, who is kind of Hermes but also the Egyptian god Thoth, but also someone entirely different from both of those guys. Not exactly a famous figure unless you're a fan of medieval mystical traditions, but almost certainly someone a wannabe cult leader would be familiar with.

[@Haskellerz]

Mob Psycho should be reclassified as a documentary

[@zee-we5bx]

Im sorry but the way you said "god king of ancient venus" in the begining broke me on a level I didn't know was possible 😂

[@gavinmagness9009]

Imagine being in a headspace so far removed from reality that, while reading up on your faith's scripture, you encounter the term "Space Police" and think to yourself "Yeah that checks."

[@saintsomnia8030]

Cults gonna cult, obviously, but the first two examples are making me miss the old anime styles of the 80's and 90's.

[@FlyToTheRain]

that third one was like discount magic tree house's greatest hits meets generic brand children's bible stories as an anime adaptation

[@PhoLai350]

He passed away two days ago and I’m watching his eldest son’s KZbin. He said he’s having so many interviews since his fathers death and his trial among dad ended.