YMMV / Piccolino no Bouken

• Nightmare Fuel: While the series is fairly light-hearted, it still closely follows the original book's darker story, and features some rather disturbing scenes.
  • Pinocchio has a bizarre dream in an episode after spending all day studying, in which he's swarmed and attacked by large numbers. The creepy music playing during it doesn't help.
  • When Pinocchio and other children travel with the Coachman to the Land of Toys, they have to cross a dark forest filled with bats, demonic trees and unseen forces of evil that laugh maniacally at them, likely because they've seen the Coachman lure many other children to his cursed property and are all too aware of what will happen to this latest batch of young victims.
  • The scene where Pinocchio transforms into a donkey is also very disturbing in this version, as it's longer than many other adaptations and shown in full detail, from his ears suddenly sprouting into huge donkey ears to thick fur growing on his legs. Unlike many other versions, this one also shows Pinocchio completely losing control of his own body and being forced into a quadruped stance. The way that the poor puppet cries, sweats, grunts and winces as he begins to helplessly turn into an animal makes it very clear that the transformation is not only a terrifying experience for him but also a very painful one. And it's made clear, from the Coachman's impressive collection of riches, that he's far from the first victim. Just try not to imagine how many other children he has tricked into this; children who, much like Pinocchio, only went there so they could play in what appeared to be a perfect paradise and spent a wonderful and carefree time there. And then they, much like Pinocchio, woke up to what seemed like another fun day, only to suddenly realise that something felt off with their ears...

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