Boys go against ban on everyone's favorite sweet in "Chocolate Underground"

by Chris MaGee

It's the near future and the totalitarian government headed up by the Good for You Party have issued the Perfect Health Special Act. Section three, subsection one of the Act declares that: "Regardless of who you are the production, trade, possession and consumption of chocolate and chocolate-containing brown-coloured objects is illegal," and these Good for You people aren't kidding. If you've got so much as a chocolate chip cookie they're likely to demolish your house with their giant attack robots. Chocolate makes you fat and rots your teeth after all. It's in this bleak future that two boys, Huntley and Smudger, take matters into their own hands and with the help of their friends start up an illegal chocolate factory to supply the health food weary masses.

This is the far-fetched vision put forward in "Chocolate Underground", the animated adaption of British author Alex Shearer's satirical novel "Bootleg" directed by Takayuki Hamana. Episodes of the adaptation were released by Production I.G. this past Valentine's Day for exclusive download to mobile phones and personal computers, but Anime News Network has word that the episodes will now be assembled into one and 20-minutes of unseen footage will be added for the theatrical release of "Chocolate Underground" in Japanese theatres this coming January.

I say far-fetched, but watching some of the episodes on a very popular video sharing website (that's all I'm sayin'!) and the world it presents isn't that far removed from the zero trans fat, low carb, diet obsessed fear-based culture that we live in at the moment. Guess these Good for You people haven't heard that dark chocolate can help with high blood pressure and is loaded with anti-oxidants. Take that!