The Cult That Makes Anime - Happy Science 101 

I said it once, and I will say it again: The idea of Thomas Edison willingly making technology for the sake of humanity alone is the least believable part of these movies.

I like how they specify that the hell of the bloody pond is only for people obsessed with the opposite sex. So you can be horny, so long as it's gay.

Geoff you have no idea how excited I am for Happy Science part 3. This is the only thing that can bring us any happiness with the loss of our super space Buddha

Every time I hear the name El Cantare I just giggle like an idiot because in Spanish that means "The I will sing" and it's hilarious

Your fundamental mistake was assuming that I haven't already watched and rewatched your first two videos so many times at this point that I know all the comedic beats by heart.

If an afterlife exists, there had better been a celebrity death match style fight between Okawa and L. Ron Hubbard with the two roasting each other’s books while throwing hands.

If Happy Science had any sense, they could use their bonkers takes on alternate history to create a gacha game to rival Fate/Grand Order.

This video is maybe accidentally a guide on how to start a cult but I'm okay with this

Years ago at an Evangelion panel, Tiffany Grant talked about how Japan viewed angels the way Americans view UFOs. Me then: Oh, neat! Jeff talks about an anime that views UFOs the way Americans view angels. Me now: Oh no!

The “sir Issac newton being with Jesus” bit always gets me

The anime cult wars section and the Death Note background kinda makes me wanna see a Death Note-inspired take on the action - two cult leaders playing extremely clever (unlike reality) mind games to grow and manipulate their cults while undermining the other, with the ultimate goal of consuming the rival. Perhaps toss in a third rival detective to give a moral grounding, maybe one who uses the cult rivalry to try and goad them into exposing each other (and by extension themselves).

That fact that these are dubbed, but not Gundam ZZ is mind boggling in the best way possible.

I love how much Geoff despises the song at 7:23 that he decided to play it again to torture all of us.

What's funny is Ryuho Okawa calls himself the reincarnation of Buddha, but any actually devout Buddhist would tell you that the whole point of Buddhas is that they're the only people who never reincarnate. So... I have a feeling Aum was right that Ryuho knows nothing about Buddhism

In happy science, both heaven and hell contain office buildings. One as an inescapable pit for the poor and one as an ultimate heaven for the ultra rich. What happens if you grow up poor and envy rich people but then as an adult become very rich and contribute to the economy a lot? Or what if you win the lottery and pay a huge tax? That's contributing to the economy but you might still envy richer people.

it's hilarious that Thomas Edison is so elevated by these movies when his real life reputation has been worsening since the 2010s and most people now see him as just a shady businessman

You do have to hand it to Happy Science: they’re probably not quite as evil as Aum Shinrikyo. I mean I guess you could argue that by not committing one of the worst and most blatant terror attacks in Japanese history they have allowed themselves to spread their evil further and wider than Asahara ever could, but at least they didn’t attack the Tokyo subway with Sarin gas! Yet!

@ 16:13 - That: “I’m Hellen Keller” line is possibly one of the most bat fecal matter crazy lines I’ve ever heard in any form of media! I laugh and shake my head in disbelief every time I hear it. 🤣🤔😲

Gotta love that El Cantare based his "job productivity is good and CEOs are good actually" cult in Buddhism, the religion which says that attachment to earthly delights and worries is the cause for suffering 😂

Wait, Ryuto Okawa claims he channeled the spirit of Stan Lee to write superhero movies? I mean, if Stan was gonna be channeled, that's probably the thing he'd like to be used for most, but still. What a thing to say.

Playing Lights theme over his backstory makes it SO much funnier. He truly did try to become a god of the new world.

I am a Jew who went to and graduated from Soka Gakkai’s university (yes they have one). I taught English while finishing my degree. Other than opening ceremony/culture festival there wasn’t any prosthelsizing and never an expectation to join religious activity, though my dorm did have a prayer room etc. My dorm mates were even excited when I cooked Jewish food and celebrated my own holidays. I think the only thing was that they were very confused I didn’t celebrate Christmas.

A few weeks ago I saw a happy science "spiritual center" in my city in germany. I didnt know they even where here too and i would have never known what it was without these videos. Maybe would have assumed it was like a science center for kids to learn or smth. tldr: looking forward to the third installment of their weird stories

I know everyone, their mother and their dog has pointed this out by now, but it's still extremely funny that Okawa's whole bit is claiming he's the reincarnated Buddha when the whole point of Buddha was that he escaped the cycle of reincarnation.

God, I love cults forever blatantly co-opting figures from other traditions for the rep points. And if you think the phenonemon is new - remember the Magi (the Wise Men) from the Christmas story? Magi were priests of Zoroastrianism! They literally wrote in priests of an older religion travelling the world to fall down at the feet of the new religion to proclaim how awesome and correct it was :D

Something about how the leader named himself Hermes makes me think Happy Science may have been the inspiration for a certain character from FFXIV. Spoilers to the Endwalker expansion below: The character is Fandaniel. He's literally the reincarnation of a god-like entity named Hermes. Said-Hermes accidentally created a being that wanted to destroy all life because it thought it was the only true path to "happiness." They do make an effort to paint Hermes as sympathetic by making him a genuine person, yet naïve. He was evil because he was corrupted by the amoral society he reincarnated into. If there is a connection, it's probably a jab at how these movies try to make El Cantare's reincarnations always good even if they're born in a corrupt environment.

Two cult leaders had a debate, ended in terrorism.

It was nice hearing you expand on the Aum Shinrikyou rivalry. Insane stuff

"I'm Helen Keller" are words not even spoken by Helen Keller herself.

cults releasing diss tracks in anime form is the funniest fucking thing i’ve never heard of

Thank you for the last video. I am a second year PhD philosophy student. I am trying to publish a paper on mysticism in religions and Cults. And I have used happy science since watching the first two. Cannot hide the excitement. 🎉

I'm surprised they never made an anime called "The World El Cantare Only Knows"

The best part about this series is realizing mob is making fun of happy science in that one episode with dimple

Let's be honest, they had alien catboy Satan. As far as the anime community is concerned it couldn't have been that bad. Specifically for that reason.

So what I’m getting from this is that Happy Science is Japanese Scientology and Soko Gakai is Japanese Mormonism.

I have a funny feeling Stan Lee wasn't actually dead yet when those super hero anime were penned with the help of his spirit.

Geoff your doing good work. And my good work I mean fueling my understanding of cults so I can write more accurate cults in my stories. Which is of course the most worthy cause there is. God bless.

Yes, glad that you mentioned the "beloved" leader is now in his own 9th dimension.

Its so interesting watching this video right after finishing the comic "We Only Find Them When They're Dead" which deals with dead gods and the existential crisis that comes with that, and then seeing anime Niches howling about how God is dead

I’m well excited for the third part! 🎉 But also… In what universe is Asterion the Minotaur the son of Minos? I mean, Asterion was Minos’s stepson: the bastard of Minos’s queen consort Pasiphaë! How hard would it have been for Space-Buddha-sama to do his f***ing homework?

I used to go to a Japanese class that was done by happy science, there was a freaking shrine for him with flowers, food and everything! But they didn't forcefeed the cult beliefs to me thankfully

RIP Happy Science guy. 7 July 1956 - 2 March 2023

You know, I had just finally managed to block out Happy Science from my memory.... thank you for reminding me what it's like to watch several different theology documentaries simultaneously while also being black out drunk~

HOLY HELL! I forgot how bat shit crazy this whole thing is! And now that part 3 is coming, now I will need to rewatch the first two. So there goes about a quarter of my day. So.... thanks Geoff... THANKS A WHOLE FUCKING LOT!

I still think about that Helen Keller line sometimes.

I almost skipped this one knowing it was a recap, but there's a lot of juicier bits of the absolutely nucking futs history of Happy Science in this that the others don't cover (Also, I will never get tired of the "I'm Helen Keller" scene)

After hearing so much about Unit 731 in recent months, parts of the 4th film feel particularly troubling.

Loving the use of the Death Note soundtrack in a video for a guy pretending to be a God

Have I watched the original two videos thrice each? Yes. Am I still going to watch this? Also yes.

Plot Twists that should have happened. The "Ultimate Destructive Weapon" is revealed to be the severed head of Tong Shau Ping and Okawa has to team up with Chin, Bruce Lee's relative, for the destruction of all 1.2 billion of the ugly reds from the mainland. Would have made so many more believers.

My anime club watched these movies as the unofficial showing every year after the winter break started, I am glad more people are being made aware of the batshit insanity in these

The plot twist at the end of Okawa being dead already gave me whiplash

I feel like a crossover video with Tristan from Step Back on a comparison of Erich von Däniken and Ryuho Okawa and both of their wild lives in general would be a match made in inter-dimensional space heaven and

Oh my goodness, I am really stoked for the third part of the Happy Science movie review. Also, my dad once worked for the Indonesia's branch of Tomen back then. The company is now called Toyota Tsusho after being acquired in the 2000s.

I did this during the original video and I'll do it again, I'll slightly defend Sayako's decision in the baseball stadium. At least in the context of how we as the audience 100% know he's a literal demon. By choosing her "Faith" over the lives of 50,000 people, the Demon is left in a catch 22. Either he makes good on his promise and shows his true colors, making it EXTREMELY obvious that he's the obvious bad guy and probably getting on the entire world's shit list. Or he chickens out like he does in the actual film because he knows how much of a disaster that would be for PR. Meanwhile if she DID relinquish her faith and say this faker was the real god, she'd play right into his hands and enable his world-domination plot. Also more cynically, the idea that 50,000 lives lost right now might be worth how much suffering she prevents by not letting this false deity demon take over the world. Obviously, as far as Morals go it's still kinda messed up to say one's faith is more important than so many lives, but in the particular situation it seems to make sense.

We’re all glowing for happy space buddha because of Geoff’s hard work Happy cult clowning everyone

Jeff, you did a lot of good research on this. I also feel great pity for you, for that same fact. This is actually very informative - it's not often we get accessible, easy-to-digest accounts of how weird far-right cults form. This has a number of useful applications, which frankly after 2016 happened, are necessary. You're doing a good thing.

Real excited for part 3 of your series, Geoff! Also, I'd just like to point out that this video is how I found out that Okawa died, so, uh... yeah.

Dude sounds like an Anime Protagonist that rejoins with his old friends before he became the Protagonist. "Yeah, and that's my Life right now, what about you, Ryuho-san?" "Ah well, when we graduated I started having these weird Spiritual dreams that told me I was a prophet?" "The Fuck?" "Yeah, ridiculous shit, that was bs though..." "Oh good God I really thought that you were a-" "I'm actually the reincarnation of the six aspects of the divine entity known as El Cantare." "..."

Maybe it's just me but i feel that some of their ideas on what heaven and hell are like could be awesome for an actual story

As a peruvian I don't know how to feel seeing my country mentioned in this lunatic anime.

There's an interesting story idea here about a benevolent deity who continually reincarnates across the eons and tries to teach people not be assholes, but they keep forgetting his teachings and being assholes when he leaves... too bad it happens to be a weird cult leader's self-insert.

Praise be to CapitalismSpaceHermesBuddha (RIP in Pieces) for this gift

Because nothing says "I should worship this god" like making multiple failed attempts at uplifting humanity and responding to that failure by flipping the table.

I still can't believe that there has been a happy science "church" next door to my college for years if not decades

Honestly I did not expect Happy Science to have such beef with Aum Shinrykio and Asahara and it's fucking hilarious

I'm so hyped for part 3! Also the Timing is just exquisite

Woah woah what hold up, he didn't go to the *televised* debate, so we escalated to NERVE GAS ATTACKS and TERRORISM??? That went from 0-100 REALLY fucking quick

I forgot how batshit insane this stuff was...and how absolutely hilarious it was! I'm looking forward to the next part in your series when I get time to watch it. Also, loving the death note tunes :)

For some reason Light's Theme seems to fit Ryuho Okawa

I don’t usually watch videos about cults I already know about and take all the information with such a grain of salt but every time I saw the amount of anime figurines on that shelf I couldn’t help it.

Aum shinrikyo is fucking wild

The death note OSTs here are perfect

I swear: these ads are excellently placed, every time.

You realize “the rebirth of budha” is Mob psycho’s OG plot ?

Very hyped for Happy Science 3

Just know how these ideas were conjured and materialised was enough to buffle me hence stimulating my curiousity 😅 well at list you literally introduced your viewers to the teachings the irony of it is that once they study these teachings they will surely question their realities its all mind buffling

LETS GOO, I'm so excited for part three. I'm gonna watch this to refresh my memory. I'm definitely be watching on Friday.

Literally every time I see the clip with Helen Keller shwooshing in as a goose, transforming, pausing a moment, then announcing she is Helen Keller, I outright lose it for awhile. The girl's reaction is identical to mine, "What?"

This is now my wrestlemania weekend main event. I been waiting for this forever and this video is just a preview of what is the only thing that matters on friday I can't wait. It's going to be amazing and also I seen both parts like ten times now and I just happy that we might see the space police and space Buddha series of films next.

I love the death note music playing in the background lmao

I keep meaning to go back and watch the Happy Science videos but I'm grateful for the refresher so I can put my eyeballs all over the 3rd one immediately. edit: my mom is in the room with me while I was watching this and was sort of listening and she went 'you used to watch this didn't you?' knowing NOTHING abt anime and I went 'No I didn't! This is a cult anime' edit: also my mother after I told her this was about a cult 'these this guy in japan who has a cult about being from Venus?' to which I immediately said 'yeah that's this. This is the story of his cult told through anime' XD she just said 'he's a wack-a-doodle'

It's always nice to see you tackle this cult.

Don't forget, attempting to apply logic to Happy Science beyond what you've been told is the same as doubting it and will be cast to hell for blasphemy.

I got whiplash from the sudden twist at 5:45.

Thank you for the refresher, I'd forgotten some of this insanity.

22:07 Ichino Kurosucky Thank you, thank you

I love how Ryuho Okawa has declared himself to be way cooler than the god that created and populated the world, the god who invented a bunch of Atlantis stuff, the god who founded Ancient Greece, the god who saved Greece, and Buddha. Clearly some businessman turned cult leader that makes a bunch of sermons and excommunicates and sues his family is far cooler.

It's coming this week?! I've watched those videos like three times! ... And I think I only started watching your videos last September or so... ...I'll be sure to watch them again before that, too.

My brain paused for the analogue remix of Tubular Bells / Exorcist theme... back to it

In Tokyo right now and the cult has like 5 large buildings in the area I am in. It’s a very affluent area and as my partner and I were walking we came across this white building which looked like it belonged in the UK with a large fence around it. We couldn’t figure out what the hell it was because the building doesn’t come up as anything on Google Maps. We walked around it and saw a Buddha statue in the front so figured it was some temple but the style didn’t match any other temples we’ve seen around the city. When we were trying to translate a sign out front a man came up to us and asked us not to take pictures. He didn’t come out of that building though. He came from a nice home from across the street. As we walked we saw 3 more buildings in the area with the same “R” like marking on them and then finally the words “Happy Science” written above the door. We had no idea what the hell Happy Science was before then and now we have seen other large buildings on the block with the same symbols. Creepy shit. They must have an insane amount of money too because these buildings are quite modern and look more like contemporary art museums than temples.

Jokes on you Geoff! I'm rewatching your other Happy Science videos in a big stupid marathon when part 3 drops!

Man, with how much Custom Robo music you use, I really want you to do a video on that series some day.

I've been waiting for this🎉

IT'S BACK YESSSSS

Now i REALLY can't wait for Friday!

so I should watch the other parts of this phenomenal video documentary again? say no more, I'm on it!

You should do video on Xenoblade series.

Can't wait for part 3

I cannot get over how apropos Light's Theme is for this 😂😂😂