Finally got up to date with the fansubs of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei a few days ago after getting distracted after episode 3 months ago, and OH MAN, favorite cultural reference? FUUTA-KUN. I am proud to have been the only person to have had "fuuta-kun" as an interest on LJ since 2005.

For anyone who isn't aware -- probably almost everyone -- he's a red panda that could stand up on his hind legs, as shown. The Japanese apparently thought this was the BEST FUCKING THING EVER and you'd see all these news interviews with people who saw him and they were all like, "AAAH HE STOOD, HE STOOD :D !!!!" For our midterm skit in my Japanese class one semester we had a part where we were like, "HMM I WONDER IF FUUTA-KUN CAN SURF." ANYWAY I was just really happy to see that, and dear god was it ever the perfect example of something being incredibly overhyped.