:: BEHIND THE SCENES
I started lazily working on The Happy Fun Time Ookiku Furikabutte Page in early November 2007, although it didn't officially open until late December. It's my first time creating a new fansite for years - back in the day I was quite the active webmaster, but my interest in the hobby faded a lot over the years. Still, I've become so obsessed with Ookiku Furikabutte that NOT making a site about it would be just plain WRONG! Since I've always been more into single character fansites (better known 'shrines' around these here internet parts), I originally wanted to make one of those, but I have SO many favorite Oofuri characters that I couldn't possibly decide on a single one to dedicate my life to! So I decided on a general/opinionated/media kind of page.
I like keeping it simple. Overly "creative" and complex site names irk me a little because they seem to have this air of self-importance around them. I originally wanted to name this website something like "The Ookiku Furikabutte Page," but added the Happy Fun Time for the fun of it and because, well, it's not THE Ookiku Furikabutte page. It's only a page. I believe it was inspired by an old series of toys, Action Fun Time Police.
Speaking of toys... that's exactly how I got into Ookiku Furikabutte! I was randomly browsing Yahoo! Japan auctions in early August 2007 looking for a specific toy line when I just so happened to come across an advertisement for the first Ookiku Furikabutte figure straps on an auction page. Thinking they looked cute, I did a search for the cartoon they were from, and the rest is history!
Allow me to introduce myself! Or rather, instead of making a long boring biography, I'll let you know some more of my Oofuri opinions. I love all the teams introduced in the series so far, except Roka's Evil Team that I haven't quite bothered to look into yet. It would be hard for me to pick a number one favorite team, so I won't. As for my favorite characters... I love pretty much all of them, but my top favorites would have to be, in no order, Abe, Kano, Sakaeguchi, Haruna, Daichi, Ichihara and Oyama.
I don't like any so-called 'pairings' - they're all dumb and a waste of perfectly good characters and relationships (WHY RUIN THEIR FRIENDSHIPS??!?!). That is, I only dislike pairings in the romantic fashion - I'm VERY fond of the characters' interactions with each other, and certain characters' hero-worshipping tendencies. In that sense, my favorite character interactions would be... Mihashi and Abe, Mihashi and Sakaeguchi, Renren and Shu-chan, Mihashi and Tajima, oh fudge it Mihashi and EVERYONE, Kano and Hatake, Abe and Haruna, Abe and Sakaeguchi, Kazuki and Junta and Rio, It-chan and Sawa, everyone and everyone else... okay, Oofuri obviously contains a LOT of great character interaction!
Ookiku Furikabutte has certainly helped me through some tough times - by the time I discovered it, I had pretty much been stuck in bed with a depression and anxiety disorder for two years. My discovery of Oofuri, which involves a dweeby anxious main character overcoming his fears, and Shiga teaching Nishiura to relax on command... it felt like I was FATED to discover this cartoon! And really, it DID inspire and encourage me - by the end of the year, I even managed to face my fears and take a month-long trip to Japan to study the language. THANK YOU, OOFURI!!!
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