NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.
NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.
NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.
I've never really understood why sumo wrestling is so popular. I don't know, watching fat nearly naked people beat each other up doesn't sound like my idea of a fun spectator sport. But in Japan, it's a national pastime, and to cartoons, it's comedy gold. After all, it involves two things - fat people and naked people - that everyone thinks are much funnier than they actually are. So if it's animated and it takes place in Japan, expect a sumo wrestler to pop up at some point. Even an advertisement for Ritz crackers got in on the act:
At some point, the folks at DiC Entertainment (same guys responsible for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show) got an idea: what if they did a cartoon starring sumo wrestlers? So they teamed up with South Korea firm Ameko Entertainment to produce three animated shows, the first one being Super Duper Sumos.
And thus, September 22nd, 2001 saw the premiere of Super Duper Sumos on Nickelodeon in the United States and on a channel called Tooniverse in South Korea. One season, consisting of twenty-six episodes, was produced, chronicling the adventures of sumo wrestling brothers Booma (the blonde-haired one, voiced by Matt Hill), Kimo (the Caucasian black-haired one, voiced by Ben Hur), and Mamoo (the black one, voiced by Cusse Mankuma). They live in a place called Generic City with their cousin Prima (voiced by Chantal Strand) and fight a corporation called Bad Inc., following the way of the "P.H.A.T.": Peace, Honor, And Truth.
Most people only know that Super Duper Sumos existed because cartoon reviewer RebelTaxi dubbed it the worst cartoon ever. And while I wouldn't go THAT far - shows like Planet Sheen exist, after all - after watching an episode I can confirm that it is indeed pretty bad. Why do I say that? Well, why don't we watch the eleventh episode, "Sumos on Ice", and I'll tell you just why Super Duper Sumos is anything BUT super. Let's get started...