Tokio Jokio (Looney Tunes)

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Tokio Jokio (episode 403)
Who thought that making fun of Asians in a Looney Tunes cartoon was a good idea at all?
Directed by: Norman McCabe Written by: Don Christensen Release date: May 13, 1943 Franchise: Looney Tunes Prequel: "The Wise Quacking Duck" (previous short) Sequel: "Greetings Bait" (next short)

Tokio Jokio is a 1943 Looney Tunes cartoon planned by Norman McCabe and finished by Frank Tashlin. The cartoon a newsreel parody which features war-related gags making fun of Asians. This was one of the few World War II Ten cartoons, as well as the most infamous.

Why It’s No Joke on Tokyo

1. The entire point of this cartoon is to dehumanize and demoralize people based on their ethnicity!
   • Granted, this is in the context of it being wartime and dehumanizing the enemy is what you do, so the context makes it understandable, but it doesn’t mean excusable.
2. The comedy here is vile and repetitive, many of the jokes seem to say that “hey look at that funny enemy we will defeat”, and also features rather poor slapstick that falls flat.
   • Probably the worst joke of the cartoon is when it says a room has been prepared for the visit of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander of the Japanese navy, and then cuts to a room containing an electric chair. This means that we have a Looney Tunes cartoon which calls for the death of a real-life person! To add insult to injury, Yamamoto died in combat a month before this cartoon was released, making the reference outdated and incredibly tasteless because it completely disrespects the dead.
3. The cartoon's title itself is downright offensive and laughable since its title "Tokio Jokio" basically means "Jokes on Tokyo", which refers to the cartoon making blatant mockeries and jokes towards Tokyo at the expense of the Japanese people.
4. Not only do the character designs feature the stereotypical traits of Asians, they’re also very ugly to look at, and some don’t even look like their real compartments at all, like Isoroku Yamamoto, who doesn’t have a mustache in real life.
5. Surprisingly subpar animation, even for Looney Tunes standards. The movement feels rather choppy for the most part and the backgrounds look rather poor. This is because the McCabe unit does not have strong budgets when compared to units of other directors, but even some of the McCabe shorts made prior have better animation than this.
   • It doesn't help the previous cartoon McCabe directed, Hop and Go, suffers from this same issue as well.
6. It ended Norman McCabe's directorial career on the Looney Tunes series on an abysmal note, and was also a very poor return for Frank Tashlin, who would later direct way better cartoons than this one.

Reception

Tokio Jokio is one of the most controversial Looney Tunes cartoons of all time for its blatant racism and unfunny humor. It is not only considered to be the worst of the World War II Ten, it is also considered more infamous than any of the Censored Eleven cartoons. This short sits at a 4.4/10 on IMDB and a 2.4 rating on Letterboxd. In spite of its reputation, some critics and historians defended it for being a historical artifact from World War II.

The copyright for the short expired in 1971, as Warner Bros. didn't renew the copyright. However, it is assumed that Warner Bros. lapsed it into the public domain intentionally because they were ashamed of it.

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