Airmoto (エア本(もと)さん), also known as Hissu(Essential) Amoto-san(Acid) (必須(ひっす)アモト酸(さん)),¹⁾ is an MAD subculture that makes fun of Soka Gakkai, a controversial Kōmeitō-affiliated Buddhist branch, which initially borrowed footage from Shinano Kikaku's Subarashi Waga Jinsei series in 2007.²⁾

In 2003, a 2channel user requested footage of Masami Hisamoto from Subarashi Waga Jinsei, which was provided through peer-to-peer channels.³⁾ Since anti-cult sentiments were at a high,⁴⁾ a short clip would be uploaded to YouTube in 2005⁵⁾ and people mocked it.⁶⁾⁷⁾ With the relaunch of Niconico, the clip was uploaded on March 21, 2007,⁸⁾ then the clip had to be re-uploaded once again on November 17, 2007.⁹⁾

On November 30, 2007, a Niconico user named “Jidōhanbaiki no Nakanohito” (自動販売機の中の人)¹⁰⁾ would upload “Masami Hisamoto's Head Seems to Explode to Kirby's Background Music” (久本雅美の頭がカービィのBGMに合わせて爆発したようです).¹¹⁾ This MAD video borrowed the clip, spliced it to say things like “atama ga pān” (頭がパーン),¹²⁾ and set it to Kirby Super Star's “Gourmet Race” (グルメレース).

This would inspire a trend of Gourmet Race MADs, but it also turned Soka Gakkai into this new MAD source, following a bait-and-switch formula like Gachimuchi. When the takedown requests from Soka Gakkai briefly subsided, there would be a renaissance of Airmoto content. This is when we would get videos including “HON ZONE” by Niconico user “1k”,¹³⁾ “parn 2 parn” by Niconico user “yamas”/“stein”,¹⁴⁾ and so forth.

Historically, the Airmoto community miscategorized its videos as 'Fashion', so Niconico sets up 'Rei no Are' in 2010,¹⁵⁾ but there was some hesitancy as they also accepted takedown requests and it was publicly known that Soka Gakkai did not like these videos,¹⁶⁾¹⁷⁾ including the 'Shinano Free' (シナノフリー) ones. Since then, you often see the community take significantly more 'precautions' when uploading.

• Airmoto-san (エア本さん) / Masami Hisamoto (久本雅美, Hisamoto Masami)
  The most important character, an actress and comedian from Part 2. She's typically edited to talk about her head exploding and flying. Separate her from the modern day 'Riamoto-san' (リア本さん).¹⁸⁾
  • Pān Error (パーンエラー)
    An error noise, from a Microsoft Windows computer, which interrupts Hisamoto's interview. It's most likely an encoding error from whoever made the original analog-to-digital conversion.
• Danji-bu no Ishikawa (男子部の石川) / Kazuma Horie (堀江一眞, Horie Kazuma)
  The actor who plays a solicitor from the 'young men's division' (男子部, danji-bu) in Future 2. He's often misheard saying 'hon da wa' instead of 'konbanwa', thanks to the popular MAD video 'HON ZONE'.
  • Ishikawa no Ushiro (石川の後ろ, lit. “Behind Ishikawa”) / 'Backman'
    Somebody who stands behind Ishikawa during the solicitation skit, yet he doesn't say anything. He would eventually be associated with a xylophone noise, the 'ushirophone' (ウシロフォン).
  • Tōru Kurachi (倉地透, Kurachi Tōru) / 'Krachitōl' (クラチトール)¹⁹⁾
    The man who initially declines Ishikawa's offer, but eventually decides to join after repeated attempts.
• Shibata's Potential (柴田の可能性) / Rie Shibata (柴田理恵, Shibata Rie)
  The glasses-wearing old lady, an actress and comedian from Part 4. She once had the early nickname of 'potential' (可能性, kanōsei) as she wasn't used much back then, but people saw potential.
  • Fusako Saitō (斉藤ふさ子, Saitō Fusako)
    An old lady that follows Soka Gakkai, claiming that Shibata had given her a purpose. She wears a blue-white striped shirt.
  • Masaharu Mori (森雅晴, Mori Masaharu)
    A then-member of Wahaha Honpo. When asked about Shibata, he had misspoke while laughing, so people ended up hearing 'saiya you' (ｻｲｶﾖｳ) as he smiled. He wore this blue bandanna.
  • Yasu Genki (元氣安, Genki Yasu)
    A then-member of Wahaha Honpo. When asked about Shibata, he recalled being late and she said “your brain is worse than a dog” (あんたの脳みそは、犬以下だ). He did an interview in 2025.²⁰⁾
• Yude Tamago (ゆでたまご, lit. “Boiled Egg”)
  A random bald man in the audience, who gives a peace sign to the camera, and the background music supposedly helped make him stand out. The comments often say 'vO', 'v0', 'v○', '✌️🥚', etc.
  • Airhei (エア平, Eahei) / Namihei Isono (磯野波平, Isono Namihei)
    Sazae's father in Sazae-san who says “souka, souka” (そうか、そうか).
  • Sōseiseki (蒼星石)
    The doll with a black hat and red-green eyes from Rozen Maiden. In the anime, she would stop Suiseiseki and Hinaichigo from 'boiling' an egg with a microwave.
• Inusaku Ikeda (池田犬作) / Daisaku (だいさ⑨) / Daisaku Ikeda (池田大作, Ikeda Daisaku)
  Soka Gakkai co-founder and original Kōmeitō founder. He slammed the desk at an SGI-USA meeting in Santa Monica on January 27, 1993,²¹⁾ creating the 'Inusaku Drum' (犬作ドラム).

• One of the alternative tags was 'Air Book', which could've been mistaken for the MacBook Air.
• The gameplay footage of Kirby Super Star on the Onion Garden course was preserved.²²⁾
• A notable Japanese Buddhist term of note is 'honzon' (本尊), or 'gohonzon' (御本尊), referring to objects of worship. The community often throws this around for noteworthy MAD videos.
• ┗(^o^)┛

• Atama ga Pān - The current Japanese wiki.
• Airmoto-san + Hissu Amoto-san on Niconico Encyclopedia
• Airmoto-san + Hissu Amoto-san on Pixiv Encyclopedia
• Airmoto on the Cookie☆ Explanation Wiki
• Airmoto-san on Namu Wiki [KO]

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