Schoolhouse Rock: Knowledge Is Power
I can't take credit for this idea. My brother thought this would be funny, and I happily obliged.
I decided to reimagine the characters of the children's show Schoolhouse Rock as anime characters. Schoolhouse Rocky and the "Sufferin' Til Suffrage" lady are the characters most people think of first when they remember the show, so they are the power duo at the center of the frame. The "Conjunction Junction" conductor is the unsuspecting powerhouse, a character archetype of anime. Spiraling around his lantern are Japanese conjunctions, fitting considering what this character teaches children about. The "Interjection" cheerleader is a stereotypical magical girl, yelling "Hey!" in Japanese, and "My Hero Zero" is a parody of Astro Boy stylewise. Bill and his friend from "I'm Just A Bill" are a mismatch of references. Bill is a play on the chiseled and glamorous features of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, whereas his friend is more so a generic child one might from Pokémon. Bill's collar also features the word "bill" in Japanese katakana. And finally, "Interplanet Janet" is based around the ethereal woman character archetype.
The giant blocky lettering and background are based on typical anime advertisements as well. Rather than attempt to translate "Schoolhouse Rock" into Japanese, I just used the katakana, which is typically used to write out foreign words. The English title is featured above the katakana, which is also typical of anime adverts. It is also not uncommon to find anime title screens backed by a snapshot of earth, and since Schoolhouse Rock teaches children about the wonders of the world, it seemed only fitting.
I placed the Funimation logo at the bottom-right of the screen as a tongue-in-cheek joke, since it is a well-known company that dubs anime into English.
I like to tell people that this is the most cursed thing that I've ever made, but that only makes it that much funnier.