

In some of the earlier episodes of _Bakuon!!_ , when Hane is getting her
motorcycle permit, we see a lot of this driving instructor (who reminds me an
awful lot of Pinocchio):

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EvTA.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0EvTA.jpg)

In episode 10, when Hijiri and Chisame are getting their permits, we see three
more strange-looking driving instructors:

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RDCdUm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RDCdU.jpg)
[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrXRim.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rrXRi.jpg)
[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G226qm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G226q.jpg)

It seems like there's some sort of joke I'm not getting here. Why do they look
like wooden dolls? (Is that even what they're supposed to look like?)

We also learn their names in episode 10, which could prove relevant to
answering this question. Respectively, they are: 三等 (Mito), 参田 (Sanda), 木戒
(Crunchyroll claims "Honke", but that doesn't look right to me - this one
isn't a real name as far as I can tell), and 座保 (Zaho).


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-19T03:50:44.653
33823
2016-06-19T22:49:07.407
1908
question
bakuon
Why do the driving instructors look sort of like wooden dolls?


Well, here's a half-answer.

The first guy (Mito) looks like Robot Santouhei (ロボット三等兵 / "Pvt. Third Class
Robot"; "Mito" is spelled with the first two characters of Santouhei"), the
title character of a 1955 manga by MAETANI Koremitsu. Curiously, there is
virtually no English-language information on the internet about either the
manga or its author.

[![Robot
Santouhei](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jzet5.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jzet5.jpg)

The second guy (Sanda) resembles various characters from the 1964 British
television program _Thunderbirds_ (in Japanese, サンダーバード _Sandabādo_ ), which
seems to have ended up being quite popular in Japan.

[![Thunderbirds](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dMklnm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dMklnm.jpg)

The third guy (whose name must be Kikai) resembles Zaborger, the title
character of _Electroid Zaborger 7_ , a well-known tokusatsu program from
1974.

[![Zaborger](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CFEEZm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CFEEZm.jpg)

The fourth guy (Zaho) resembles Kikaider, the title character of _Android
Kikaider_ , a well-known 1972 tokusatsu program.

[![Kikaider](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qdks5m.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qdks5m.jpg)

Some mysteries remain. Why is #3 named "Kikai" when he resembles Zaborger and
#4 named "Zaho" when he resembles Kikaider? And do these characters have
anything to do with _Bakuon!!_ or motorcycles, or are they just a throwaway
gag?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-19T22:49:07.407
33841
2016-06-19T22:49:07.407
1908
33823
answer