The story (roughly translated from http://bgame.web.fc2.com/pulirula/pulirula.html):

This is the mysterious country of Radish Land. In each village, guards watch over the Screws of Time, which keep time flowing smoothly. However, one day an evil person appeared who sought to capture time by stealing the Screws of Time. One by one he attacked the villages and stole the screws, stopping time in the villages he took them from. If unstopped, time will stop completely across the land! But Zak and Mel, using magic wands invented by their grandfather, embark on a quest to save Radish Land.

Surrealism style was big in Japan I think. When Japan was at the height of its Imperial power, their ruling elites began collecting western art. And Western Art during the 1930s was Surrealism art, and Salvador Dali and all his wackiness.

So this odd formula of Being Fancy = western art = surrealism was established. I guess surrealism really made a huge impact on Japanese psyche that it never really went away. Perhaps the war-torn Japan of 1950s and 60s found solace in the dreamlike feel and disturbing images used in surrealist works. Now that I think about it, that sure describes what Japanese movies are like nowadays.

It also helped that Surrealism kept strong all the way up until the 1960s. So every time the Japanese checked on Western art, there was still Surrealist works to be found, so the odd formula stayed as well.

At least that's my theory.

*animation *actionpack

Adding video to channels (Actionpack, Animation) - requested by ant.

*art

Adding video to channels (Art) - requested by ant.