p2p news / p2pnet: “K.K. Slider is a character in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing series of games,” says the Wikipedia. “He is a musician who plays his music every Saturday, either by the train station (GameCube version) or in the Museum cafe (Nintendo DS version).

“K.K. Slider is in fact a stage name for a character named Totakeke (in the Japanese versions he is just ‘Totakeke’). He is something of a ‘renegade musician’ who introduces you to the game, beginning with a short speech about ‘moving on’ and ‘getting your own place’. Essentially, K.K. Slider represents the teenager who wants to break free, yet is also somewhat like Peter Pan, in that he has still never grown up, which is, in a sense, the main theme of Animal Crossing.

“A point of interest is that contrary to K.K. Slider’s very anti-commercial message, the term K.K. is a Japanese business abbreviation meaning ‘public corporation’. This is possibly an inside reference among Nintendo writers to the commercialism of music, however no such speculation has been proven.”

With that in mind:

“Animal Crossing Speaks Out Against the RIAA,” says a post on cheesegod.

“The folks at Nintendo have included a jab at the Record Industry in Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS. It amused me anyway.

“This can be seen by listening to K.K. Slider’s song in the basement of the museum. After listening to the entire song he will give you a copy of the song and the above dialogue takes place.”

However, “In an e-mail message, Nintendo’s vice president for marketing and corporate affairs, Perrin Kaplan, said that ‘no real social commentary was intended’,” says the New York Times.

” ‘People can read a lot into a little,’ Ms. Kaplan said, ‘but musician K.K. Slider - a guitar-playing cartoon dog - is saying only that he’s a free spirit who cannot be bought and sold for any amount of money’.”

:”Ms. Kaplan also said that K.K. wanted his music to be free in the sense of being ‘freed from his guitar, free from any constraints.’ She added, ‘as a dog, it’s understandable that he would not want to deal with any ‘fat cats.’ “

Also See:
cheesegod - Animal Crossing Speaks Out Against the RIAA, December 10, 2005
New York Times - Social Commentary, or Just a Dog’s Opinion?, December 19, 2005

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