The most delightful, moving, and funniest parts of current US culture -- parts I never would have dreamed of -- have been given to me by my daughter Saya. She is crazy for (as I am) The Powerpuff Girls and she began to ask about a name that kept popping up: Craig McCracken, the show's creator. So we checked and found something even more wonderful: McCracken's second anime series (2004 - 2009) Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. (The great Wander over Yonder is the third.)
Foster's Home is literally an orphanage for characters once cherished by their children creators -- then forgotten due to the children "growing up." It features 8-year-old Mac and his sassy, bossy imaginary pal Bloo. And their special circle of friends: Mr. Herriman, the proper English bunny who runs the place; a red, very tall drink of water named Wilt; Eduardo the purple minotaur who cries at everything; grand dame Mrs. Foster who owns the orphanage; her granddaughter and housemaid Frankie; and Coco -- part palm tree, part airplane, part deflated raft -- and very beautiful. (Coco was imagined by a small girl who was stranded on a desert island after surviving a plane crash, after floating to the island on a raft.)
Here, Mrs. Foster and Mr. Herriman throw an Adoption Fair for the orphanage -- sabotaged by our friends, for who wants to lose any of these wonderful creations?
