It is time once again for your BBB. Yes, BBB on a Saturday. I wanted to put them up on Wednesday like usual, but YouTube was performing maintenance Wednesday and I could not upload videos. My Thursday and Friday were all booked, and I didn't have a chance to upload it then either if I wanted this little thing called "sleep". I went in to work on Friday on about an hour of sleep. I was pretty much a zombie.
So, houskeeping as per usual.
Cleaned up old comments on the General Request Post, and moved it up some to be more visible on the first page.
Changed some post tags to properly spell Itao's name correctly: It's "Itsuji", not "Ittsuji". Sorry 'bout that.
Anyways, I'm just going to put the videos and let you enjoy them this week, since there shouldn't by much to talk about.
And if you haven't yet seen the second, it can be seen here.
I must say, that I love the little preview picture for this second video. XD Read more!
Okay. So I've finally managed to get another Sunday release out. *sweatwipe* I'll probably do my usual "housekeeping" on Wednesday, for the BBB. I've got big things under my sleeve. *shifty eyes*
In today's episode, we get to see what it's like to be on the end of a prank. Endou has long wanted to appear in some sort of worldwide entertainment project, but has only been able to land a few roles in some Japanese dramas and appears on many Japanese TV shows. So when a famous Hollywood producer comes to Tokyo to look for new stars for his latest film, it should come as no surprise that Endou jumps on the invitation he gets.
Endou is lead into a room and is told that a producer saw him on television and was interested in making him a star. This immediately gets Endou's attention. Apparently, he has a soft spot for flattery. He's then led into the fake audition site, where three other people are waiting. If you look carefully, you can see that the man sitting next to Shin-Onii from recent episodes and batsu games. It looks like NTV's had him on their employed list for almost 5 years, I guess.
The fake announcer reveals the fake title of the fake movie, which is "The Last Hohohoi". The Hohohoi is pretty much Endou's signature move, and when he doesn't react, the audience pretty much should have been tipped off that this whole thing was a prank on them. The fake announce then calls in the fake producer, fake translator, fake assistant, and fake cast. All of them are Gaki members wearing the stereotypical "I'm really a foreigner" noses. Notice the hot stems on Tanaka, playing the role of a half-Chinese woman:
The fake audition continues with lots of fanfare and such. They don't really have announcers are such small auditions, do they? I could understand if it was something like an open casting call, but this is a closed session. Maybe this is how they do it in Japan. *shrug*
After formal introductions, the translator tells the Hohohopefuls *dodges rotten tomatoes* about the money to be made on this production: a whopping two million dollars!
In order to prepare and get ready, the producer has an assistant pass out the necessary supplies for completing the Samurai Hohohoi's look: hair gel and white briefs. Endou happens to be wearing his own briefs and will be using those for the audition. The other three go and change.
Then Yamazaki does what he always does on Saturday nights:
Dresses up as a woman
Bends over
Shows his panties in hopes that it will catch a man's eye
Clean up any spilled fluids off of the floor afterwards
I can only assume that the role given to him for this prank comes naturally to him.
With Yamazaki's obligatory "I'm an idiot" moment out of the picture, we can start the audition and see if Endou's going to be a star. The first two old geezers try to do the Hohohoi, and get rejected. Gotta love Matsumoto's "GET OUT!" after the first one. Even though he tends to say less than others when he does speak, his English pronunciation is probably the best out of the Gaki members.
The third auditioner, The Artist Later Known as Shin-Onii, tries his hand at the hohohoi. Apparently, he didn't know what he was supposed to be saying, so he kept saying "Hahaha". That's probably why they kept him around. Unfortunately, even he was eliminated.
With only Endou left, he's sure he's got this in the bag. Between being a Hohohoi master and being in on the knowledge that the producer seemed quite taken with him, his confidence was at its peak.
In an abbreviated remix of the Hohohoi, Endou impresses the production team and comes one step closer to the two million dollars that comes with the role of the Samurai Hohohoi. The producer decides to put Endou through a few more acting challenges.
The first challenge is using a toy light gun to act out an action scene. Basically Endou just looks back and forth and pulls the trigger. Good enough for a laugh. Challenge Number Two is the timeless pillow reaction. I heard that one acting coach does something similar to this. You get something incredibly lame done to you, and you have to overcome the lameness and act like it was seriously life-threatening. Of course, you don't want to overact either.
The third challenge is another HUGE clue that this actually a prank on the audience. Everyone who knows Endou knows that his prized impression is that of the somewhat spastic comedian/producer/actor Takeshi Kitano, who is also known as Beat Takeshi. Endou does the movements quite well, but for some reason the voice just sounds off here. Perhaps the acoustics in the room? He usually does a great impression of him.
Challenge Four is getting Endou to tapdance. He has to do so on the feathers that were just spilled everywhere by the pillow reaction challenge. Hopefully those are the feathers that have that little middle hard tube part taken out. Wouldn't want anyone getting hurt for the sake of my laughter (except Yamazaki). While Endou's tapping away, Hamada, playing the part of the American Hohohoi, loses his nose for a few seconds.
Challenge Five brings us to "Brokeback Hohohoi". The American Hohohoi turns out to be gay and makes moves on Endou. It's these types of moments that inspire homely, adolescents/post-adolescents to write horrible fanfiction about how these types of situation work out later on in the dressing room. Perhaps poorly written, generally Too Much Information, slash fanfiction doesn't hit the Japanese internet anywhere as hard as it does in English-speaking countries? If so, I've decided that I'm moving. (On a sidenote, I saw some SkiFree fanfiction the other day. Yes, SkiFree. That game you used to play on the old Macs with the little Yeti that comes out from the side of the screen and chases you down the slope as you try to avoid trees. Yeah. Gay SkiFree fanfiction. The skier falls in love with the Yeti. *passes out barf bags*)
Anyways, this prank comes to a conclusion as Hamada leaves after being rejected by the Samurai Hohohoi, and comes back with a bazooka. We are treated to the campy "ZOMG IT'S A PRANK, ENDOU!" when we really know it should be a "ZOMG IT'S A PRANK, AUDIENCE!". But we get one last picture of Endou and the rest.
I'll upload the talk for this episode soon. It's pretty funny. I'll hold out for that and then rate the episode.
Everyone has at least one song that will forever be in their hearts. Whether it brings back childhood memories or it's just a song that's just incredibly catchy, when you hear the intro, your eyes just light up and your foot gets ready to tap along.
If you're with others, you might be that person that exclaims, "OH! THIS IS MY SONG RIGHT HERE!" If so, you might be my dad. He does that for practically every song that comes on the oldies R&B station. If you feel that the person or people that you are with maybe unfamiliar with the song or generally not enthusiastic enough, you can then follow up with "You don't know about this song here. This is the jam!"
I've got a song like that, but it's been more "my song" lately, for nearly no apparent reason. Nothing important, just figured it deserved a spot on my blog. (Note: after I finished the post, I noticed that it's hecka huge. So if you don't have a lot of time, but are one of those people that can't stop reading anything midway, TURN BA~CK!) Some of my self-proclaimed "Japan-ophile" friends find out that I'm into Japanese comedy, we start playing this little game every week or so. The rules are fairly simple: They ask if I've heard the latest song by (insert popular Japanese artist here), and I say "No". Despite my love for Gaki, comedy, and Japan in general, I don't keep up with things like Japanese music, manga, anime, dramas, and things of that nature. There are very few Japanese artists that I listen to, and about 75% of the ones I do listen to have stopped making new music.
The Japanese artist that gets major playtime on my mp3 player is Eri Hiramatsu. Back in '93, I believe, Eri released a double platinum single that would become her signature song: "Heya to Y-shatsu to Watashi" (Rooms, Y shirts, and me). She wasn't a one-hit wonder or anything. She also release some other lesser hits like "Mou Waraushikanai" and "Girlfriend" as well some cover version of other songs. I listen to those some, but for me, HtYStW gets major play. Here's a recent snapshot from my iTunes library:
When you look at this keep in mind several things. I have switched computers around November/December '08, and did not export my iTunes library. I'm am sure that on my old library file, I had over 2500 plays for the song, but I believe the number when I erased that data was around 3300 plays. So add that that as well. Also take into consideration that I'm a "fidget-fingers" listener. I often rewind mid-song or will restart the song as it's fading out instead of waiting the extra 8 seconds for it to move on. ITunes only counts it as a play if the track ends completely, so I'm going to say add in about more 750 plays to that at the very least. And this is all in a span of probably less than a year.
I've also gone to great lengths to try and learn the melody, since I couldn't seem to find any sheet music for it. So after many toilsome months trying to play-by-ear, a skill that I suck at, on my violin (Oh yes, BlackGaki has musical talent... minus the talent) I have successfully managed to create my own score for the song. Well, the melody at least, since I'm fairly n00bish at my violin and can't manage chords along with the melody. It's a prized piece of my collection. \o/
As you can also see, I have not one, but THREE versions of the same song. The one with the 1000+ plays is the original version. The first one on the list is a version that has a different drum track and a lot of the . . . I don't know what instrument that is. . . the instrument that sounds like an accordion, removed. The third version of the song, along with "You Are Mine" may warrant some explanation into their importance.
A few years after the success of Heya to Y-Shatsu to Watashi, Eri got married and decided to put her solo career on hold to focus on her family. She had a daughter with her new husband somewhere around 1995/1996, and began a family. In March of 2002, Eri was diagnosed with breast cancer, and put her career on hold for medical reasons. Media seemed to swarm around her, and she pretty much withdrew from the public eye. After a few years hiatus, Eri jumped back onto the music scene incognito, writing songs for other musicians and participating in a small band called "Hi-Hats" which performed only a few times in small venues. When asked why she didn't go back to her solo career, she simply answered "I can't sing Eri Hiramatsu songs anymore". I believe Hi-Hats fell through in about Summer 2003 (fact check anyone?) and Eri took another short break from music. In 2004, Eri created the song "You Are Mine" for her husband and released as a single with a remake of her signature song. The chorus of the song translates to "You are mine\You are mine\Whether you or I should die\You are mine\You are mine\These memories will live on". Obviously what she was talking about, eh? Anyway, I bought the single. (Ya! I supported! Feels good.) "Heya to Y-Shatsu to Watashi 2004" doesn't change as far as the words go, but the whole track is re-arranged. The main track is mainly xylophones and glockenspiels, with some other instruments as well. It's a very "tropical" version of the song, probably to go with the Tropical version of "You Are Mine" that's also on the single.
I love all three and the one that I listen to usually depends on my mood, I guess. It's a song about basically wanting the simple life with her soon-to-be husband. (Note: It was revealed later, that she wrote the song to be singable from both the male and female viewpoint.) There's also a pun hidden in the wording too. The verb to polish/scrub something also means to improve. So when she's saying that she wants to be cleaning house, it also works in meaning that she wants to be a better person. I didn't know what would be the best way to express the wordplay in English, so I just told you here. I was just going to link to the music video, but I figured I might as well provide some translation too, since it gives me more excuses to listen to it several times. :P
Heya to Y-Shatsu to Watashi
お願いがあるのよ あなたの苗字になる私 I, who will have your last name, have a few requests.
大事に思うならば ちゃんと聞いてほしい If there's something I think is important, I want you to listen.
飲みすぎて帰っても ３日酔いまでは許すけど If you drink too much, I'll forgive a three-day hangover...
４日目つぶれた夜 恐れて実家に帰らないで But the fourth wasted night, be afraid and don't come home.
部屋とYシャツと私 愛するあなたのため Rooms, white shirts, and I. All for the sake of loving you
毎日磨いていたいから 時々服を買ってね Because I want to be shining everyday. Like buying clothes from time to time,
愛するあなたのため きれいでいさせて All for the sake of loving you, in order to be beautiful.
いつわらないでいて 女の勘は鋭いもの And don't try to lie. A woman's intuition is sharp.
あなたは嘘つくとき 右の眉が上がる Whenever you tell a lie, your right eyebrow raises.
あなた浮気したら うちでの食事に気をつけて If you should ever cheat on me, be careful of the food at home.
私は知恵をしぼって 毒入りスープで一緒にいこう I'll gather up all my knowledge and we'll both die by the poisoned soup.
部屋とＹシャツと私 愛するあなたのため Rooms, white shirts, and I. All for the sake of loving you
毎日磨いていたいから Because I want to be shining everyday.
友達の誘うパーティー 愛するあなたのため At your friend's party, all for the sake of loving you,
おしゃれに行かせて I want to go in fashion.
大地をはうような あなたのいびきも歯ぎしりも Your snoring and teeth grinding sounds like you're scraping dirt
もう暗闇に独りじゃないと 安心できて好き But I love how you can comfort me with "You're not alone in the darkness anymore"
だけどもし寝言で 他の娘の名を呼ばぬように If while talking in your sleep, you should call me an other girl's name
気にいった女の子は 私と同じ名前で呼んで Call me the same name as the girl you really love.
ロマンスグレーになって Should you get all romantic
冒険の人生 突然選びたくなったら And suddenly choose to live the adventurous life,
最初に相談してね 私はあなたとなら どこでも大丈夫 Talk to me first, okay? As long as I'm with you, anywhere is fine.
もし私が先立てば オレも死ぬと言ってね Should I be the first to pass away, say "I'll die, too"
私はその言葉を胸に 天国へと旅立つわ And I'll keep those words in my heart as I travel to heaven,
あなたの右の眉 看とどけたあとで because I checked your eyebrow afterward.
部屋とＹシャツと私 愛するあなたのため Rooms, white shirts, and I. All for the sake of loving you
毎日磨いていたいから Because I want to be shining everyday.
人生の記念日には 君は綺麗といって And the days when you remember my life, say "You are beautiful."
その気でいさせて And just leave it like that.
Pretty sad, romantic, strange, and cute at the same time, isn't it? When the song came out, Eri never performed some of the odder parts, like the whole "poisoned soup" part. The part about the cat photo in the video just kills me, though. According to the comment, it's getting a lot of other people to tear up too.
This song also came back into the spotlight in recent years for several reasons. First, in a comeback, Eri on several music nostalgia TV programs. She still looks so pretty, but I think I liked her longer hair better.
And then we get into dangerous territory in my opinion: covers. I'm one of the people that believe that if you're going to cover a song, you should be as good as, if not better than the original. It just goes along with the word "cover". If the original song is an elephant, in order to cover said elephant you will need a sheet as big as, if not bigger than the elephant. I came across a video a while ago of the group MihimaruGT 'covering' the song. I knew about MihimaruGT because I did like one of their original songs, but was then turned off by their cover of Kylie Minogue's "I Should Be So Lucky". Let's just say that when it comes to covers MihimaruGT is just throwing single sheets of toilet paper on an elephant's back. It seems like the singer forgets the words about 1:58 below, and scrambles things together that she things sounds nice. "Should you ever cheat, I want you to call my name. I'll wring your arm, and we'll die by the poison soup"? Srsly? I will admit that I do love the jazzy chords in this arrangement.
Then I find ANOTHER version of MihimaruGT with some others singing the song on their show. I really have nothing against the Mihimaru's singer's voice, and she got the words right so I'll forgive her. There was another singer who did a very nice job as well. However, they invited two "singers" who just sounded like cats on chalkboards. I'll spare you the agony.
Most recently, a singer named Reina Tanaka from a girl group that I used to care about, Morning Musume, would be covering the song. The song is being featured on a love song cover album for the big umbrella group that Morning Musume belongs to, called Hello! Project. I don't really care for the overdone drum sampling in the chorus.
I'd say it's an okay cover. She could have held some of the notes longer when it was called for. The music track sounds damn near exactly like the original version of the song mixed with some of 2004 version of the song, with a little R&B drum sampling and water droplets mixed in. You can still see the elephant's feet sticking out from under the sheet, but it's a good attempt. Good enough to make me buy the album, or make me care about Hello! Project or Morning Musume again? No, probably not. At least it didn't turn me off to the song. Good going Reina, you've come closer to my approval with a cover than most people ever will.
(UPDATE: 1/14/2010) Well, it looks like through various circumstances, I have once again returned to this song again. I happened to be a complete idiot, spacing out on a project for a Japanese class where we had to translate a Japanese song into English, and didn't know that the project even existed until the day before it was due. Luckily, I had this translation and used it. I did translate by myself, just not for the sake of this project specifically. I hope the teacher doesn't mind. c.c
Anyway, in my searching and wanderings since I wrote this post, I've found a few more renditions worth note! Whoo!
I guess I left off with a good place using Reina Tanaka from Hello! Project to end it, because the next version is by Aya Matsuura, who is a graduate of Hello! Project. For those who don't know much about Hello! Project, saying someone "graduated" is a kind way of saying "getting kicked out for not being pedo-bait". They had a mass "graduation" for most of their founding and in my opinion, some of their greatest ever, talents a few months. Aya was one of them. This video was taken from a live performance of hers, with a nice guitar arrangement backing her.
I'm taken aback by the sheer cuteness that is her little vibrato flutters at the end of the high notes. :3
Next up is one of the more... interesting versions. Like I said earlier, the song was designed to be singable by both women and men. This time it's a male singing it at karaoke, where he recorded and uploaded it to YouTube. Apparently he's a little too embarrassed to enable embedding. I don't know why. It's pretty good! Although, he messed up a little on one line, he caught it quickly and gave a good performance! Better than I could have done it, I think. (Maybe I should try it. I've never actually sung it outside of my head. <_< ) Since he didn't enable embedding, here's a link: Male HtYStW
And here's another from the lady herself. This time, a live version. This just goes to show why I respect her so much. First, she's plays her own instruments. She kinda makes me wish I had kept at the piano. Oh well, I still have a chance with the violin (which I haven't even picked up in about two months. Maybe tomorrow.) Second, She sings live without playback, and sounds comparable, if not the same or even better than the recorded version. Third, even sitting still behind that piano she still has stage presence, which I'd imagine is hard to do.
Next up to bat is this jazzy, upbeat version. It's really nice, in it's playful take on it. Enjoy!
While the playfulness is a strong-point, it's also a little weak point. It somewhat draws away from the solemn tone of the slow song. But, hey, if you're not looking for solemnity, then this has it going on!
And while we're on the topic of interesting takes, this is definitely a good one. The concept of "music-boxing" songs has long been a fascination of mine. This is the music-box version of the song, and it is damn wonderful. If you like that, the user also has several music-box versions of other classic Japanese songs on their page.
The little chiming in the harmonic chiming that starts in the background at about 2:11 has me hooked. Man, I wish I had the time to re-learn my instruments and such.
Now for the recap of points. Ratings out of 10 points:
MihimaruGT with "Da Offkey Heffers": 4 points
MihimaruGT san queue cards: 5 points
Reina Tanaka: Hmm... 7.5 points (I had it at 8.3 before the update, but I changed my mind.
Aya Matsuura: 8.5 points
Male Version: 7 points
Upbeat Version: 7.5 points
Music-box version: 9 points
Eri Hiramatsu: 10 points (I had some mega huge number here before, but I'll be more reasonable)
We still have ourselves a winner, folks.
(Also, Eri later released a book called "My Name isn't Cancer" and it sold pretty well.) Read more!
Due to more technical difficulties, I was not able to get my release out of Sunday. I thought I'd solved my video splitting problem, but those videos don't work in my subtitler. So I'm either off to find a new video splitter capable of splitting all the files I have, or I'm off to find a new subtitling program.
Anyways, I've managed to get you this week's BBB. This skit involves Hamada playing a business man who frequents a certain hotel on his trips. In his first visit, he was introduced to a friendly spirit, played by Matsumoto, who loves to play games and have fun with guests.
This is their second encounter and Hamada makes it known that he doesn't mind the haunted room. I personally love moments like these shown in this clip. Sometimes Matsumoto's over-the-top personality even surprises Hamada, and they've been working together for years. The skits on Gottsu Ee Kanji are very special in that there's usually no completely solid script for the skits they do in studio. Usually someone starts laughing in an inappropriate place or someone gets hit. You can see that both Hamada and Matsumoto love toying with each other sometimes. Although they don't hang around each other in their spare time, they do seem to enjoy the time the spend working as a comedy team. You can't really ask for more than that.
And in what's becoming a usual around here: The BBB Topic of discussion! Um. . . Talk about your most memorable hotel experiences.
For me, it had to be my trip to Mexico when I was little. I was not used to geckos, but apparently they are pretty common in the Mexico. The outside of the hotel was covered in them. Okay, that was heavy exaggeration, but there were a few of them. Being foreigners, my family didn't really know about them, and freaked out whenever we saw one. The staff at the hotel, being Mexican natives, looked at us like we were wimpy idiots but tried to assure us that geckos were completely harmless and pose no threat. So we just figured we'd stay in our rooms when not sight-seeing, and we'd see as few geckos as possible. So the first night, after a long day of delayed flights and such, my father and I both laid down to go to sleep. The layout of the room should be fairly familiar: It's two beds with a nightstand in between with a lamp on it, all along a wall. Like this, with B being a bed and N being the nightstand: ____ B N B
My father and I both laid down facing the nightstand, and as soon as we did, we saw about 9 geckos clinging onto the back of the nightstand staring back at us. Needless to say that a 10-year old boy and a grown man have never shrieked so loudly in the history of Mexican tourism. Read more!
Ah, the whoopee cushion. Always good for a quick, tasteless, joke.
This BBB (which is late. Sorry. ) comes from Downtown's show "Worldwide Downtown Headline News". The concept is very simple: Get some foreigners, put cheesy Japanese voice-overs on them, and commence with the funny.
In the form of a news show, Hamada and Matsumoto appear as panelists and are subjected to the stereotypical members of the panel. Gilles (French name, pronounced like "Jheel". I had a friend with that name. Let's just say I had a hard time guessing the pronunciation from his name tag in elementary school) Besson plays our host, and he's got a deep profoundness for being corny. He plays the stereotypical "Trying-too-hard" foreigner, trying to crack quick jokes and puns. Unlike most shows where this type of character is pushed to the back except the the odd occasion, Gilles is in the role of power, as he controls the flow of the show.
Ghorchyan and Natalia are foils of each other, with Ghorchan being the fairly grumpy, purely logical one and Natalia being the "Live is lovely!", ever-sunny one, who looks on the bright side.
Almost every show starts with Gilles introducing a video of some sort, which generally features something incredibly corny being made into something amazing. Afterwards, Gilles asks everyone's opinions, and Ghorchan and Natalia disagree. Then Gilles usually starts the funny with Hamada and Matsumoto.
What I love is the way that sometimes the corny voice-overs that they place over the actors are actually what they are saying. For example, if you keep an eye on Natalia, you can see it when she says "I'll think about it"(kangaetoku wa), "Hi, Gilles!"
In this case, the video introduces a coffee shop where the owner pranks his customers. If they react in what he thinks is a funny manner, get food for free. If he keeps that up, he'll be out of business soon.
I'm keeping it short this week for the summary, as I've got a meeting tomorrow that I need to prepare for. However, let's see. . . As I'm trying to foster discussion on the BBBs, let's get a discussion started about this one. Hrm. Share with the world the best practical joke you've seen played (preferably one you experienced first-hand in real life, and not "i saw this funny vid on youtube of (X)") or the funniest promotion you've seen a store have!
I went to a pet store once, and they were giving away tiny (and I mean tiny) sacks of catnip of April 20 (4/20) if you brought your cat dressed up in a reggae outfit. Kinda stereotypical to reggae and Jamaica in general, being labeled as pot-smokers, but you could see the cats look at each dressed up, humiliated, thinking "Hang in there, brother. When we rise up. . . Oh, when we rise up. . .". Almost needless to say, this pet store was run by your stereotypical pot smokers.
I've been pretty scatterbrained lately, hence the lack of a post last Sunday, and lack of anything really substantial this week. Sorry about that. I've recently started playing a free online game and got sucked in, and taking some time to self-administer some "retail therapy". Also, a guy from Japan moved in down the hall, so we've been having a sort of "language exchange". And by "language exchange", I mean that we both fail at communicating in the other person's native tongue and then try to explain it in the other and fail there too. But it's interesting to speak with a native speaker. I've been distracted to say the least. So that's where I've been, not for reasons that I oh so emo-ly talked about a while ago. Anyways, I'm back. Things should be back to normal this week, barring nothing horrible happens. *knock on wood*
Before I get started again, I'll just rundown the housekeeping as usual. (Boy, keeping up a blog like this is hard. I always thought it would be "make a post and never return" type of thing.)
Updated General Request Post, cleaned up older comments, and responded to comments that I'd neglected. Also, due to me finding a better video editor that can handle some of the files that were giving me trouble, "Kiki Nattou" and the "Matsumoto and Eri" episodes have been put back into rotation.I've also moved up some episodes to break up the surge of Itao we're getting around here, due to the new BBB segment and improptu changes to the schedule. Also moved a few requested episodes up the list in doing so.
However, I was thinking about the poll I recently put up on here, and I couldn't help but wonder if the limited descriptions that I put for some of the episode themes were a little too non-descriptive. So I have come up with this post, as a way to explain what I was getting at, and perhaps jog your memory if you've seen any of them. This way you can make an informed decision or adjust your vote if you want to. Just a reminder, if you see something you like and want to request an episode, put it here in the General Request Post so I don't forget it.
High Tension Series - In these episodes, we find comedians being, well, High Tension. "High Tension" is basically how you'd call someone high-strung or easily excitable. Usually in a style parodying a music show back in the late 80's or early 90's, Matsumoto and Hamada host comedians who come and make people laugh while being extremely hyperactive and high-strung. This segment usually features some mainstay comedians like Shouji Murakami and the Chihara Brothers, and will occasionally feature some comedians who are popular at the moment. It almost always features one of Endou's "Hohoho~i!" bits.
Genkai Series - Stemming from Matsumoto flubbing an order at a coffee shop, but still getting what he wanted, the Genkai series puts the Gaki members in the predicament of trying to use words that sound close (and some that don't) to try and order the item of the day. I've already covered one episode here, and there's more to follow.
Shichihenge - Another type of episode already covered here on the blog, Shichihenge gives a comic the chance to make the Gaki crew laugh. They get seven chances, and whenever they manage to make someone laugh, that person has to put money into the bin for charity. There's almost always some sort of nudity, because let's face it, unnecessary nudity is pretty funny. This type of episode has become one of Gaki's most famous series.
Absolutely Tasty - This series has many different names. The whole name is the "Kore wo yattemitakatten! Zettai ni oishii..." series which translates to "I always wanted to that! Absolutely delicious ___". In this segment, they take a commonplace recipe and create two of their dream versions of that item. For example, we have an upcoming episode where the members come up with their dream pizzas, cook them and try them out as a group. The items are assign a rating with 10 stars being the highest, and two skulls being the lowest.
Matsumoto's Challenge - Matsumoto sometimes feels the urgent need to perform some sort of grand task. In these episodes, we see the other Gaki members assist Matsumoto in the completion of said tasks like completing a backside-grab shifty 900 Air, all without the physical cooperation of Matsumoto. Whenever it's time to accomplish the task, his body just becomes a wet noodle.
Itao's Interruption Skits - Usually in the dressing room or on the way to a location shoot, the crew usually gets bugged by Itsuji Itao. Sometimes, Itao's wife comes along for the ride, but it almost always results in hilarity like seen in the "Itao's Car Crash" episode seen here. Usually involving a new television format, or in general a get-rich-quick scheme that Itao thought of, the Gaki members are usually forced to pay up big time if they intend on continuing with their daily lives.
Kiki Episodes - The Kiki episodes are basically taste-testing wrapped up in a penalty game shell. Each member is given one brand of a specific food or item to try while blindfolded and they have to match it up with that brand out of a line-up. An episode where members have to try canned coffee can be seen here.
Goodbye, Yamazaki! - A "prank" which Gaki pulls every year, it involves the ever-annoying Yamazaki faking his leaving the show. The first episdoe in the series, seen here, does an okay job at trying to fool the audience. After the two years or so, they stopped even trying to be subtle about the pranks and they just let Yamazaki be a damned fool. At the end, Yamazaki announces the prank and he does some sort of reference to the popular happenings of the past year. It's usually a popular song with the words "Yama-chan isn't leaving!" substituted in multiple places.
Yamazaki vs. Moriman! - Yamazaki and the notoriously chubby comedian Moriman go head to head in several battles. It first started as a competition to see who could pants their opponent, like bullies do on Japanese playgrounds, hence the kindergarten outfits. Yamazaki and Moriman later got stadiums and sold lots of seats, as this became a very popular Gaki No Tsukai series.
Matsumoto Team Vs. Hamada Team - Usually spanning multiple episodes, Gaki usually invites guest comedians and split into two teams with Matsumoto and Hamada being the leaders. The usually guests are Ame Agari Kessintai, Hosshan, and the comedy duo Fujiwara. Various games are played, and usually culminates in a complicated final round in which all members have to move a ball through several obstacles.
Gaki Team Vs. Former Tennensozai Team - Similar to the Hamada Vs Matsumoto matches above, the Gaki members go against a group that once called themselves Tennensozai (which I ever so failfully misspelled on the actual poll). Translating to "Natural Materials", the Tennensozai team was going green before Al Gore said anything! Just like the above, there's a series of absurd challenges, and the winner gets prize money!
Piccadilly Umeda's Job shows - To put is simply, Piccadilly Umeda is an cool, old man. He comes on Gaki No Tsukai often to showcase what new job he's doing. Of course, being a cool old man, he has no normal jobs. He takes jobs ranging from motorcycle stuntman to fortune-teller. He's pretty creepy though, as he can take all of his teeth out, supposedly. Eww.
Regular Cast Member Auditions - As Gaki no Tsukai gained popularity, it was only natural that other comedians would want in on the show. So, Gaki occasionally holds auditions for new members. As you may have noticed, the regular Gaki team hasn't grown in many years, so it may come as no surprise that these auditions are fake. However, it is fun to watch the comedians jump through hoops to get on the show.
Celebrity Baseball - I guess this title was a little bit deceiving. The "Celebrity Baseball" episodes involve the Gaki members as well as many other staff and comedians dressing up as a popular entertainer and then playing baseball. It's fairly simple. Usually the celebrity has a very distinct mannerism or appearance, which everyone has to imitate. For example, they imitate Hibari Misora, a famous Enka-style singer, and play baseball in full dresses and headwear.
Celebrity Fishing Competitions - Gaki No Tsukai's most laid-back (almost to the point of boredom) episodes are the Celebrity Fishing episodes. Usually in a two- or three-part episode, the Gaki Members invite several celebrities out for a fishing competition on one of Japan's many lakes. It seems more like something for the Japanese Tourism Association or something, if it exists. In some of the later episodes, they introduced some items that were fun, like a dice where the celebrity had to give their honest opinion about what comes up on it.
Cosplay Bus Tours - In what is usually a spree of cross-dressing or nostalgia, Gaki members, along with some of the crew members or other comedians, take to the streets of Tokyo in a tour bus dressed in costume. In the bus, they play a game which will eliminate one person. That person, while in costume, has to walk back to the studio alone.
Producer Suga's Nostalgic Re-enactments - Producer Suga seems to love nostalgia. He sometimes remembers things from his childhood like pro-wrestlers, manga, or anime. And sometimes you just want to relive those things, don't you? He does. Even if it comes at the expense of the Gaki members. In these episodes, Suga puts the members through a series of punishment games, and who ever loses has to play the specified part in his re-enactment.
Heipo's Arranged Dating - One of the Gaki staff, Heipo, is known for being a bit perverted. He also has a great fondness for pretty much all things woman. Unfortunately, he's a big strike-out with ladies, so sometimes, the kind people at Gaki No Tsukai set him up on a date. Heipo goes out and we usually see him go down in flames, as he generally sexually harasses his date.
Yamaquest - In a scavenger-hunt type episode, Yamazaki hides a "hidden treasure" in some location and the other four members go on a spree to find it. There have only been two episodes in this series, one in an amusement park, and one in a water park. Each time, the "hidden treasure" is well. . . Yamazaki. And that means that the treasure was "special", and not in the valuable sense.
Member Chases - In an effort to see what each member's private lives are like outside of the show, Gaki decides to follow a target member around the city "incognito" and take a sneak peek. The member's pastimes seems to include re-enacting old movies and nipple tweaking. Read more!
It's time once again for another BlackGaki Boredom Breaker! *clap clap clap*
This week, we have another quick one from Gottsu Ee Kanji. (I promise I'll do something other than Gottsu Ee Kanji next week. I have some stuff I want to do, but I haven't been motivated enough to rummage through all the video files to find them.)
This time, the loving family tries to feed the young Kouji, played by the aptly named Kouji Imada, with apples.
This whole skit shows you how much fun you can have with a hole in the floor.
The first woman, I have no clue who she is. Perhaps an extra, even though an extra wasn't needed since Ryouko (the one in the red) didn't do anything. However, as for the rest of the line-up:
Grandma: YOU Grandpa: Takahiro Kurano Dad: Itsuji Itao Other lady (in red): Ryouko Shinohara Baby Kouji: Kouji Imada
EDITED 7/3 to add: The woman in black is Yayoi Nishihata. She joins Gottsu Ee Kanji as a regular during later seasons.
Short and sweet indeed, but THAT'S CHILD ABUSE, ITAO!
In an effort to spark conversation around here... hrm... Spankings: Okay or not? If okay, how young is too young? Proceed with discussion.
