Laughing Salesman Overview

Getting a LOT of traffic out of nowhere? Were you really all looking up the laughing salesman?

"You guys don't pirate Anime, right?" Sweating furiously

Perfect laughing sales man pitch for the younger generation. Your waifu becomes real, but you have to woo her with your actual social skills.

I couldn't agree more with your analysis on "beating" the Laughing Salesman. If he appears to you with a deal it's already too late. He chooses his victims carefully, you can see him walking around, drinking, and interacting with other people to a limited extent, but the people he offers his "services" to are clearly targeted, often for their vices. If you were the type who wouldn't accept the Salesman's offer, congratulations, you'd never see him.

Live-action Laughing Salesman is too adorable to be scary. Lookit that happy guy.

He's like a cross between Buddha and the Joker

Fun fact: people might have recognised it from the character artwork. But the original creator of “Laughing Salesman” was the same creator as “Doremon”. Whew talk about genre switch.....

Part of the reason I think why the rebooted version didn't succeed is because The laughing salesman feels a lot mellowed out. He still gives wicked punishments to those who break the deal, but more often he just gives them a slight tap on the wrist. in the old version if you messes up you gets absolutely smited, and sometimes even when you don't mess up he still comes after you. That's the main appeal of The laughing salesman. His punishments were unpredictable. He was simply a force of nature. He gave zero crap about whether his customers deserve the punishments. In the new version he seems to follow strict moral code to punish bad people and reward good people, which in itself isn't a terrible idea, but it kinda deprives the omnipotence and unworldliness eminated from the character.

I remember seeing this salesman as a toy in gacha toy machines in a Japanese restaurant in a mall next to my house and it creeped me out so much I ran away screaming internally.

the shows message is: You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference.

I think it's almost poetically ironic that the cultural resting place of The Laughing Salesman is a Pachinko Parlor where he'll face hundreds of gambling addicts a day, likely some of the people he would have "helped".

I used to watch this when I lived in Japan in the late 80s. Loved it since it was so different from the usual primetime dramas and anime fare. Also loved another anime from the same time called Oishimbo, about a reporter who was always doing stories on Japanese food. Always made me so hungry.

The fact that this anime was made by the same people who did Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Perman, Chimpui, Ultra B etc. makes this golden. It's like the adult version of all the childhood shows I watched as a kid that I always needed but never got... till I discovered it this year.

My uncle invested in those Garfield suction toys as a joke. He's lazy rich now

It feels like somebody... WANTS TO SELL ME SOMETHING!

I guess, in the end, the Laughing Salesman could sell just about anything... except for himself

I think the younger generation thinks it looks and is old. They might remember their parents or something liking the show, since it was 30 years between the shows. I think it worked back then because the 80s and 90s were more business-minded, especially in Japan. The new audience might have a harder time connecting with the show, and might not like how short the episodes are and that it’s not a continuing anime story. The old anime of it is something my 60 year old dad would definitely enjoy if I showed it to him, not too long of an episode and watch an episode every now and then instead of binging it.

An unbeatable character that messes up peoples lives? Bugs Bunny?

Sad eyes with a sinister smile Yeah that blanket will definitely help me sleep at night

I've watched a ton of episodes on this anime and the only reason why I can find people not liking it is that there is never a happy ending, just a disturbing reality check.