Review: South Park “Japanese Toilet”

Overview

South Park learns about the wonders of Japanese toilets.

Our Take

Adult animation has always been accused of being “toilet humor” by usually conservative pundits who deem things like crass language, farts, and puke as anything but tools to get people to laugh. That said, when that same animated series focuses on said “toilets”, the results are usually pretty great. Rick and Morty’s “Old Man and the Seat” is a great example of toilet humor that all men can relate to, the joy of pooping in sound peace and quiet. Even South Park’s own “More Crap” showcases the joy of getting that one “big one”.

On this week’s all-new episode of South Park, we bow to the actual throne of toilet humor, by focusing on thrones imported from Japan who specialize in toilets/bidets that work so well that it doesn’t require toilet paper. Naturally, Matt Stone and Trey Parker did a lot of research, and it should be noted that Trey Parker minored in Japanese studios in college while attending University of Colorado Boulder so he would know a LOT about Japanese culture. Moreover, it would not surprise me that Trey and Matt’s houses featured numerous Japanese porcelain toilets in which they could just as easily reference.

But, the joke here isn’t the toilets per se, its instead Matt and Trey devising another shot at a multi-billion dollar a year industry, and again shining light on another topic that I’m sure isn’t top-of-mind for anybody but them, but is one that makes you think mere minutes into the guys’ monologues. It just goes to show that nobody, not even potential advertisers in the areas of prescription drugs, fast food, and now toiletries, are safe from the magnifying glass that is South Park Studios, and the results are anything but shitty.

Randy-fronted episodes are some of my favorites of all-time. As Trey Parker, you can tell he’s subconsciously registering his own father while clashing with his contemporary take on fatherhood where Trey is much more well-off financially whence compared to his own dad, but still retains both sides of the conversation in the ongoing conflict, best seen in Stan vs the rest of the school. Oddly enough, we don’t get to hear Kyle’s take on anything, surprising considering the duo are best friends, a possible rare oversight on an otherwise hilarious episode.

The premise of being the coolest dad/guy on the block has been done more times than I can count. Full feature films and TV episodes revolve around Christmas decoration contests, big trucks, money, and everything in between. Trey largely sticks to this with Randy, and that’s not a bad thing, because he does enough here where he makes the premise his own and probably even pokes fun at the fact that his own kids have it better than he does, but that’s the point of fatherhood, leaving them in a better place than where you started.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m calling Roto-rooter to make my Japanese Toilet installation appointment…hope I get the Ghost Hunters crew.