Of Video Shop Gokuraku and Video Girls

VIDEO SHOP GOKURAKU

'Gokuraku' is 'Heaven' in Japanese, and the reason for the existence of Video Shop Gokuraku is to create a state of 'heaven' in which emotionally hurt males could dwell in. They accomplish this through the Video Girls, who provide comfort and solace for these males. Beneath this seemingly altruistic goal, however, is a mysterious and sinister organization, created for unknown reasons by a person with a hidden agenda.

Gokuraku, in reality, is an international chain of Video Shops. (The old man once introduced himself as the 'Manager of Gokuraku Japan', implying the existence of branches in other parts of the world.) It exists both in the real world and in a strange dimension often referred to as the 'Video World' in the Manga. Gokuraku is founded by a certain Mr Barutekku who only appeared briefly in Manga 12. He is the head of Gokuraku and all of its chains, holding absolute power. Relying heavily on automation and computerization, Gokuraku requires a very minimal amount of manpower. Only two staff positions is described within the story; the 'Manager' and the 'Creator'.

The following descriptions of the job scopes of the 'Manager' and the 'Creator' in the Gokuraku are generalizations drawn from the old man and Rolex respectively:
Each branch of the Gokuraku is run by a 'Manager', a normal person employed from the country where the branch is located. These managers are told the company's goal and initiated in some aspects of the technical knowledge kept secret within the Gokuraku. They are subordinate to the Video Girl 'Creators' and help with the maintenance of equipment and Video Girl tapes. Video Girl Creators are beings who know the ultimate secrets of Video Girl Engineering. Besides producing Video Girls for the Video Shop, these creators also engage in research and experimentation to create better types of Video Girls. Creators are not true humans. Possibly originating from the Video World, they are strange beings with potent supernatural powers. They occupy the highest positions within Gokuraku and are well respected in the organization.

Gokuraku Video Shops exist intermittently in the real world. Appearing only to males who are pure of heart and in need of comforting, it materializes in the form of a small building displaying the neon sign 'Video Shop GOKURAKU'. Invisible to all but the pure-hearted, it appears in the strangest places (such as in the middle of a street) and rarely stays in the same place for long. The interior of the Video Shop appears much larger than its exterior. It is dimly lit, with racks of video tapes and (sometimes) rows of flickering TV screens. The Manager will be the only person present in the shop when it appears for a customer. He manages the rental of Video Girl tapes and presents the customer with a Gokuraku membership card. Rental is free, for the Gokuraku does not run on earthly currency. (Even if they did, they could not possibly produce much profit with their one month rental time and exclusive clientele.)

Video Shop Gokuraku exist mainly in the Video World. The Video World is a weird dimension with an ever morphing landscape. It usually appears as a vast silent emptiness in which an infinite number of rocks of varying sizes drift slowly at varying altitudes. Floating high in the sky or standing on some of the rocks are clocks of many different styles and sizes. The only thing that the clocks have in common is that none of them have any hands. This probably
symbolizes the timeless nature of the Video World, where time stands still eternally even as the time in the real world is passing at a great speed. It is possible that the one motivating factor for humans (such as the old man) to work for the Gokuraku is that they can attain some form of immortality in the timelessness of the Video World. It is in this twisted dreamscape that the Video Shop appears, floating serenely among the drifting rocks.

To visitors from the real world, the Video World appears differently for each individual. For example, Youta first perceived it as a white, sterile and lifeless city. Subsequently, the landscape morphed into a pink dream-like paradise and finally into a dark empty void with the glass staircase. The changing landscape is supposedly a reflection of the turmoil and buried desires of the individual who is dwelling within it. These landscape could be manipulated to a certain extent by the Creators of Gokuraku. Seemingly illusionary in its ever changing state, it is however real enough to cause injury to those trapped within it.

[Added as at 220398] : Here is a very detailed article on the Video World of the VGAi series, written by Ewen Cluney a.k.a. 'Blackbird', website here. Unfortunately perhaps, part of it is written in the jargon of Anime Roleplaying (an obscure interest that I know nothing of). Check out the section on the vital statistics of Rolex, the Old Man and Video Girls. Interesting reading though partially incomprehensible unless you happen to be an anime roleplaying enthusiast.

VIDEO GIRLS

Video Girls are the ultimate creations of the Gokuraku. They are the means by which the organization fulfills its purpose of being a 'heaven' to males who are in need of comfort and support. Designed by the creators of Gokuraku, the Video Girls can only exist freely in the Video World. For a Video Girl to exist in the real world, the tape of that particular Video Girl must be played on a VCR. A metaphor for this would be an overhead projector which projects slides onto a screen. The VCR has a similar effect except that it 'projects' a Video Girl from the Video World onto the real world. A Video Girl's tape is super long-play, with a running time of 30 days or 720 hours. At the end of this time, the Video Girl will vanish, returning to the Video World.

Video Girls are beautiful, young women usually dressed in exquisitely designed outfits that looks pretty outlandish. Existing only to please the male to whom they are assigned, they are programmed to be sweet-natured and compliant to every whim of the comfortee. This could be one reason why the assigned male must be 'pure of heart'. A normal male, when confronted by a beautiful girl who obeys his every wish would probably sink into a deep sexual debauchery that could ultimately kill himself and destroy the Video Girl. That nearly happened in Manga vol. 5 when Rolex tested his prototype Video Girl on the less then pure hearted Naoto Matsui.

There is a dark side to these Video Girls. Programmed to serve and to gratify the assigned male, they are however incapable of anything further then that. Being soulless, artificial beings, they are unable to develop true love and would execute their programming and nothing more.

Some Video Girls are also, for some obscure reasons, programmed with the skills needed to kill. Such Video Girls are extremely agile when they need to be, and they have mastery in some form of martial arts. This aspect of their programming could be included so that they could double as a bodyguard to their assigned male or it might be to serve some dark purpose of their creators.

Within the essence of each Video Girl is a force, translated as 'magnetism' in the Manga. The nature of this force is unique to each Video Girl. A perfect Video Girl could call upon this force at will, emitting it or to use it to move objects without touching it. (telekinesis) When used in a certain way, it could even negate the teleportation ability of a Creator. Though harmless to humans, the force of a Video Girl is deadly to another Video Girl in the same way that the blood of one human is deadly when injected into the bloodstream of another with a different blood group. This is demonstrated in the duel between Amano Ai and Mai Kamio in Manga vol. 6.

In Manga vol. 14, the old man set up 'Video Shop Neo Gokuraku'. Rejecting the philosophy of the original Gokuraku, he became a freelancer, being the manager as well as the creator of the fledging establishment. His creations are worth mentioning for they are programmed with the ability to feel, as Video Girl Ai could. His Video Girls are subjected to the same rules as those from Gokuraku are but due to their special programming, they have a more human personality. Two such Video Girls mentioned in the Manga are Video Girls Len and Haruno.

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