A unique experience even amidst the increasing quantity of anime revivals, The Laughing Salesman is a darkly humorous, gloomy, and regrettably rather antiquated voyage into the darker corners of Japanese culture and human nature.
There has been an increasing trend in recent years of new adaptations of older shows for television. An increasing amount of titles, ranging from children's shorts like Bono Bono to action classics like JoJo's Bizarre Adventures, are receiving new prequels, sequels, remakes, reboots, or just adaptations years after the original material was published. This applies doubly to The Laughing Salesman, which is an adaptation of a manga by Fujiko Fuko A that was published between 1969 and 1971 and was previously made into an anime during the 1989-1992 period-another popular period for doing so.
The Laughing Salesman can be summed up as a collection of morality stories with nearly identical structures at its most basic. We are presented with a persona who, maybe in spite of appearances, is searching for something in their life and is lacking it. This brings them face to face with Fukuzou Moguro, a menacing-looking man who promises to provide them with a solution if they agree to follow his instructions. Since they always do, each narrative concludes with a humorous penalty.
The Laughing Salesman has been criticized for being cruel because of its framework. All clients breach their half of the deal, regardless of how worthy or good they appear to be, or how reasonable their reasons for doing so may be; yet, they are all penalized for it. I believe that this critique stems, at least in part, from the misconception that you have to accept their fate. It is not a saint, the Laughing Salesman. He does resemble the Devil from Western legend, in fact, since he seeks out potential victims of his charms and presents them with an offer that appears reasonable but is actually intended to incite his client to break it.
Though when considered only in the context of modern anime, it still manages to feel new, there really ought to have been more done to make this translation stand out as more than just a skillfully done rehash of old ideas. Nevertheless, The Laughing Salesman will appeal to viewers of shows like Paranoia Agent that delve into the darker aspects of people's personalities that they'd want to keep hidden. On the other hand, those who anticipate good things happening to decent people ought to avoid them.
