Aachi & Ssipak

{{Short description|2006 South Korean animated film}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Aachi & Ssipak

| image = Aachi & Ssipak film poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical poster

| native_name = {{Infobox Korean film name

| hangul = 아치와 씨팍

| rr = Achiwa Ssipak

| mr = Ach'iwa Ssip'ak}}

| director = Jo Beom-jin
English Dub:
Ed Skudder
Zack Keller

| producer = Kim Seon-ku
Park Se-jun

| writer = Kang Sang-kyun
Jeong Hye-won
Jo Beom-jin
English Dub:
Ed Skudder
Zack Keller

| starring = Ryoo Seung-bum
Im Chang-jung
Hyun Young
English Dub:
Ed Skudder
Zack Keller

| music = Kang Ki-young
English Dub:
Nick Keller

| cinematography = Lee Chung-bok

| editing = Kim Yun-gi
Seo Dong-hyeon
Park Han-jae
English Dub:
Zack Keller

| studio = JTeam Studios

| distributor = Studio 2.0
Mondo Media {{small|(US)}}

| released = {{Film date|2006|6|28}}

| runtime = 90 minutes

| country = South Korea

| language = Korean

| budget = {{USD|3 million}}

| gross =

}}

Aachi & Ssipak is a 2006 South Korean adult animated comic science fiction action film directed by Jo Beom-jin and features the voices of Ryoo Seung-bum, Im Chang-jung, and Hyun Young.

Plot

Somewhere in the future, mankind has depleted all energy and fuel sources, however they have somehow engineered a way to use human excrement as fuel. People started to build the new city by making new energy with their excrement. Soon after, the city's leaders announced two legislations to generate and control the new energy; including installing ID chips in each citizens' anus to monitor the defecation level; providing an addictive juicybar to citizens in return. Soon enough, defecation amounts have skyrocketed and the city becomes full of addicts, due to juicybar's strong addictive qualities. An illegal juicybar trade becomes prevalent and its side effects has created dumb pint-sized mutants. The mutants later organize a gang, plundering juicybars, later becoming known as the Diaper Gang.

Section 4 travels back to the city (filled with juicybars), with police officers in their motorcycles for protection until the Diaper Gang hijacks it and kills everyone, they succeed but fail as Geko comes to kill off, once all gone, Aachi and Ssipak returns to the city. Aachi and Ssipak are street hoodlums who struggle to survive by trading black market Juicybars. Through a chain of events involving their porn-director acquaintance Jimmy the Freak, they meet a porn star named Beautiful, who gets a pink ring inside her butt which makes her defecations rewarded by exceptional quantities of Juicybars. For that reason, Beautiful is also wanted by the violent blue mutants known as the Diaper Gang (led by the Diaper King), the police (most notably the cyborg police officer Geko), and others.

Cast

  • Ryoo Seung-bum as Aachi, one of main protagonists, a hoodlum who struggles to survive by trading Juicybars. In the English version, he is voiced by Ed Skudder.
  • Im Chang-jung as Ssipak, one of main protagonists, a hoodlum who struggles to survive by trading Juicybars and falls in love with Beautiful. In the English version, he is voiced by Zack Keller.
  • Hyun Young as Beautiful, one of main protagonists, a wannabe-actress who is wanted by the Diaper Gang and the police after Jimmy puts another chip to her butt, and can gush out thousands of Juicybars.
  • Shin Hae-chul as Diaper King, the main antagonist, mutated king and leader of the illegal clan, Diaper Gang
  • Yang Jeong Hwa as Diaper Gang, hoodlums and mutated minions of Diaper King
  • Seo Hye-jeong as Jimmy the Freak, a porn director who creates illegal movies, friends with Aachi and Ssipak
  • Oh In-yong as Gangster, the boss of a gang until loses all the juicybars and gets his leg broken, goes revenge
  • Lee Gyu-hwa as The Deputy, a special police officer and cyborg that can kill the Diaper Gang
  • Lee Gyu-hyeong

Production

The original story was proposed in 1998. To test different film techniques, demos using flash animation were made before attempting a theatrical version. In 2001, the flash animation versions of the film with four episodes were showcased in the 11th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/4043481#home|date=2001-02-28|script-title=ko:[애니메이션 '아치와 씨팍' 조범진감독 인터뷰]}} All six episodes premiered in an online theatre called cine4m with Aachi played by Ryoo Seung-bum and Ssipak played by Im Won-hee. The clip attracted three million hits, and the movie was originally scheduled for release at the end of 2002.{{cite web|url=http://m.cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=2397|title=플래시애니메이션<아치와 씨팍>|date=2001-06-07}} Ryoo Seung-bum later revealed that it was hard to voice act in the film.{{cite web|url=https://star.mt.co.kr/stview.php?no=2005072718470581595|script-title=ko:류승범 "야수에 대한 선입견을 버려주세요"|website=JoongAng Ilbo|date=2005-07-27}} There were also news reports that a game would be developed by teaming up with game company ziointeractive, expecting the film will be released in May 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.dailyesports.com/view.php?ud=200501171746420000478_26&mobile=1|date=2005-01-17|website=dailyesports|script-title=ko:지오, 극장용 애니메이션 '아치와씨팍' 게임으로 개발}} The team eventually delayed the release date of the film to November 2005.{{cite web|url=https://inews24.com/view/165233|script-title=ko:엽기 애니 '아치와 씨팍', 11월 개봉|date=2005-08-12|website=inews24}} 3.5 billion won was spent to produce the film.{{cite web|url=https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/movie/65810.html|script-title=ko:장편 애니메이션 '아치와씨팍' 제작현장|date=2005-09-21|website=Hankyoreh}}

After animated films My Beautiful Girl, Mari and Wonderful Days flopped despite huge expectations, Jo's film ran into investor problems, and the production team halted working on the animation for almost a year.{{cite web|last1=Hendrix|first1=Grady|title=Kaiju Shakedown: Aachi & Ssipak|url=http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/kaiju-shakedown-gap-kim-aachi-ssipak|website=Film Comment|access-date=2014-10-18|date=18 March 2014}} It would take a total of eight years for the feature-length film to be finished.{{cite web|title=Scatological Animation to Hit Screens After Eight Years|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/06/25/2006062561008.html|work=The Chosun Ilbo|access-date=2013-03-23|date=25 June 2006}}

Marketing

The film was marketed with interactive games and character merch such as t-shirts and in case of t-shirts, they were worn by celebrities such as Yoon Do-hyun and Shin dong yup. Albums were even released.{{cite web|url=https://m.etnews.com/200601190143?obj=Tzo4OiJzdGRDbGFzcyI6Mjp7czo3OiJyZWZlcmVyIjtOO3M6NzoiZm9yd2FyZCI7czoxMzoid2ViIHRvIG1vYmlsZSI7fQ%3D%3D|script-title=ko:국산 장편 애니메이션 '아치와 씨팍', 독특한 사전 마케팅 화제|date=2006-01-20}}

=English dubbed version=

Mondo Media hired Dick Figures creators, Ed Skudder and Zack Keller to rewrite a version of the film for English-speaking audiences.{{cite web|title=Aachi & Ssipak|url=http://www.mondomedia.com/shows/aachi-ssipak/|website=Mondo Media|access-date=2014-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014082220/http://www.mondomedia.com/shows/aachi-ssipak/|archive-date=2014-10-14|url-status=dead}} It was released digitally on February 11, 2014, and the DVD and Blu-ray were released a month later on March 11.{{cite web|last1=Mack|first1=Andrew|title=Mondo Media Is Relaunching Korean Animation AACHI & SSIPAK|url=http://twitchfilm.com/2014/02/mondo-media-is-relaunching-korean-animation-aachi-ssipak.html|website=Twitch Film|access-date=2014-10-18|date=7 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023221523/http://twitchfilm.com/2014/02/mondo-media-is-relaunching-korean-animation-aachi-ssipak.html|archive-date=23 October 2014|url-status=dead}} Four minutes were cut, and dubbed English voice acting and an entirely new soundtrack (a DJ-rap music score by Mad Decent's Kevin Seaton) were added.

Release

Aachi & Ssipak opened in South Korean theaters on June 28, 2006. Like most of its predecessors in homegrown animation, it was well-reviewed, but a box office flop, with total ticket sales of 107,154.{{cite web|last=Kim|first=Tae-jong|title=Adult Animation Has Arrived|url=http://www.hancinema.net/adult-animation-has-arrived-6432.html|work=The Korea Times via Hancinema|access-date=2013-03-23|date=2 July 2006}}{{cite web|last=Hartzell|first=Adam|title=Aachi & Ssipak|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm06.html#aachi|work=Koreanfilm.org|access-date=2013-03-23}} The film was invited to the 2007 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam.{{cite web|url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/12/26/2006122600590.html|script-title=ko:'아치와 씨팍' 로테르담영화제 공식 초청

|date=2006-12-26|website=The Chosun Ilbo}}

In November 2020, the film was rereleased on theaters at Seoul Lotte cinema world tower joined by Nancy Lang.{{cite web|url=http://www.srtimes.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=78214|title=[SR문화] '아치와 씨팍' 낸시랭·조범진 감독 GV 시사회 개최 外|website=srtimes|date=2020-11-08}}

References

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