AI Reimagines Stranger Things As An '80s Japanese Horror Movie & Vecna Is Terrifying
Some of the best entries in television history have done so well that they've crossed the oceans they were originally confined by in order to spread the joy. For example, after Ricky Gervais came up with "The Office" in all its awkward humor, the show was remade in America as well as 11 other countries in various languages that still got the message across. AI enthusiast demonflyingfox on YouTube, however, deemed relocating "Stranger Things" to Japan was a good idea, creating a fan trailer that turns the show into a horror film. The slideshow of alternative stars playing iconic characters certainly hits similar notes, except somehow, Vecna looks even more unsettling than before.
The account that's responsible for making a super-creepy trailer of "The Simpsons" from the 1950s gives the beloved Netflix show some tweaking, and the Japanese counterparts do resemble the original cast members (even though they aren't real). The biggest giveaway in spotting who's who is the awesome '80s hair (or lack thereof in Eleven's case) that helps single out a few. The new iteration of Steve can be easily identified thanks to that commendable coif, as can Natalia Dyer's and Charlie Heaton's Japanese equivalents of Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, respectively.
While these unsettling but vaguely similar iterations might get your attention, it seems Netflix is one step ahead of taking the "Stranger Things" universe to Japan since it has already developed an animated series set there. Or has it?
The Duffer brothers had hopes to take Stranger Things further than Hawkins
There had been hints at the possibility of "Stranger Things" spin-offs for some time when it was revealed in 2022 that one of them was being lined up to send us to Japan's capital. Appearing on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast (via What's on Netflix), the show's creators, the Duffer brothers, teased that an animated series was in the works, also set in the 1980s. This story would focus on two video game-loving brothers who live just on the outskirts of Tokyo and get caught up in interdimensional activities.
Matt Duffer assured that "Stranger Things Tokyo" would be "1000% different" from the founding show, adding that it would be a "story that connects to the 'Stranger Things' world, but it really is more about how we're telling that story." Since then, there's been very little detail about any further development of the show, with the only exception being in 2023 when Netflix made an official announcement that a "Stranger Things" animated series was in the works, with no confirmation that the two were one and the same.
It's nothing new for details around this world to be kept under lock and key, of course. We still don't even have a confirmed date for when we'll see the return of the Hawkins heroes, and that's even after the "Stranger Things" Season 5 episode titles allegedly leaked online. Here's hoping that when the dust finally does settle on Eleven's story, the next stop ends up being Tokyo after all.