Vermilion Pleasure Night

Vermilion Pleasure Night (バミリオン・プレジャー・ナイト, Bamirion Purejā Naito^?), or VPN was a short-lived Japanese late-night variety and comedy skit TV show which mixed animated and live-action segments (often parodying TV series) in a fashion similar to SCTV. The series is best known for its recurring segment, The Fuccons, which spun off its own series.

Recurring skits

• The Fuccon Family (フーコン・ファミリー, Fūkon Famirī^?) revolves around the adventures of an American family (portrayed by mannequins), and was eventually spun off into its own show called Oh! Mikey (broadcast and released to DVD in North America as The Fuccons).
• "Cathy's House" features four women in clothing, sets, and situations evocative of Barbie dolls.
• "Resident Starship" is about an apartment complex style starship, complete with crazy residents.
• "Midnight Cooking" parodies cooking shows, set apart by random singing and self inflicted torture.
• "One Point English Lesson," a parody of language learning shows, features an oiran teaching risque pick-up lines in English.
• "Juvenile Delinquent Takako," excerpts from the life of Takako, a rebellious schoolgirl living in a world of mannequins, similar to the Fuccon Family.
• Each episode also included at least one musical performance by a core group of female singers and musicians.

DVD release

Five compilation DVDs of skits from Vermilion Pleasure Night were released in Japan, as well as a repackaged feature-length compilation titled "THE COLOR OF LIFE", which recycled much of the same content though also contained some bonus material as an incentive for collectors.

The US releases (published by ADV Films) paired up these DVDs into three volumes:

• Vermilion Pleasure Night Vol.1: OpticErotica ("GOLD" + Japan volume 2)
• Vermilion Pleasure Night Vol.2: VoxStimuli (Japan volumes 3 & 4)
• Vermilion Pleasure Night Vol.3: Créme de la Créme (Japan volume 5 + "THE COLOR OF LIFE")

In the beginning of 2009, a Complete Collection was released.

CD soundtrack release

"RISE - Vermilion Pleasure Night", the official soundtrack CD containing full versions of another of the show's theme songs as well as audio versions of some of the recurring skits, was released on April 18, 2001 on the Zetima label. The limited-edition first pressing came accompanied with a photobook.

Further reading

• Gifford, Kevin (July 2006). "Vermilion Pleasure Night Volume 1". Newtype USA 5 (7): p. 153. ISSN 1541-4817.