Itao is Watching!

(Original airdate: 2/7/1999)

Sorry about the late post AGAIN this week. Got stuck helping a friend move to a new apartment. Unfortunately, this friend has no sense of space and when to let things go, so there was a ton of unnecessary things that he wanted to take with him, etc. I was trapped all weekend, and it takes about 2 days for me to subtitle a video, especially one this speech-heavy. And then I've got to post a review here, which usually make take another night to really refine and polish, but since I don't want to be any later, I'm just going to throw one together in about an hour. Sorry for giving you less than my best. *bow*

Before we get started, a few reminders. The first poll is going to be ending! It looks like Matsumoto is far out in the lead, so I'll probably just declare him the winner now, as Yamazaki getting enough votes to take over the lead is probably the result of foulplay (I can see where the votes are coming from :P ). It ends at the end of Friday. Well, Saturday morning at exactly 12:00, but anyway. Just vote if you haven't!

Then stay tuned for one or two new polls. These polls will be shorter duration and have fairly little effect on the programming here at BlackGaki, but it's a way to get input out of you. So, on with the program.

It was a day like any other. The Gaki No Tsukai members and staff were going to play some badminton and try to shake off some cabin fever caused by the cold winter. Nothing out of the usual. We just get to sit back and enjoy the antics of 4 comedians as they try to play a game which they really have no idea how to play, with the help of a referee who has EVEN LESS idea of how to play. (If you swing and miss at a shot that lands out, it still landed out, Yamazaki! You'll see what I mean when you watch the video.)

Nothing out of the ordinary should happen here. . .

Just going to play some normal, fun, uninterrupted badminton. . .


We're all good at the beginning. Everyone's going to enjoy a nice refreshing game of badminton in a park in the city. The members are divided into Hamada-Endou and Matsumoto-Tanaka teams for the match. When the action begins the Hamada-Endou team (in blue) takes the first point as Matsumoto seems to lack hand-eye coordination with a racket. Both teams find their rhythm and coordination, and finally get a few rallies going, with Endou and Tanaka having some sort of unintentional "Who can hit the birdie the unnecessarily high?" match. After a point that requires a line judgement, Yamazaki spots a familiar face on the veranda of an overlooking residential building.



That figure is Ittsuji Itao, member of the comedy group 130R. Itao is also a member of Yoshimoto Kougyou talent agency, along with the other Gaki members, and worked with Downtown for about 7 years on the show "Gottsu Ee Kanji". One of his main gags is his "wife", who usually is just a sidekick to Itao's hairbrained get-rich-quick schemes. These "wives" aren't his real wife, as he is happily married. The comedy wives are usually foreigners, but in the earlier episodes, they were native Japanese. I believe so far he's had about 6-7 wife characters with the 4th or 5th one being the most popular (the one that dances, and uses only 3-4 phrases). I'll probably have some sort of post on the history of his wives and what I've been able to dig up on some of them.

Anyway, they don't want Itao watching them, which is understandable, as Itao does look somewhat creepy when he stares. He's got the buggy rabbit-eyes thing going on. Naturally, being a shot on location with skies looking somewhat gray, they want to wrap up the shoot as soon as possible. So, they send the doughy manager, Fujiwara, up to ask Itao to kindly GTFI, with I being "inside." After some arguments, Itao does in fact GTFI and the members are able to play.

The quiet doesn't last very long as Itao emerges again. This time, they send a squad of men, slightly more intimidating than chubby little Fujiwara, to make it clearer that Itao has to let them finish taping. And he does get the message and goes back inside disgruntled.

So we thought...

And ONCE AGAIN, Itao peeks his head out onto the veranda to watch the match. The part I found funny about this whole staged situation (Yes, it's staged. Sorry if I ruined the thinly-veiled surprise) is that there actually is a random spectator watching from the roof at 5:13. Ha! Anyway, Itao returns with a vengeance. He doesn't think he should have to go inside, as the place is his house after all. They chose that spot to work and they should just deal with it if he cares to watch from his own property. Minor hilarity and minor blackmail ensue. . .




So in the end, Itao wins the badminton tournament, and the legacy of Itao's episodes on Gaki No Tsukai begins. On my scale, I gave this episode a 4. It was fairly good, but compared to other Itao episodes this is just the basics. This episode itself isn't that iconic in the GNT universe, but this type of structure provides the foundation of what Itao's involvement in Gaki will be for years to come. I promise more Itao episodes to come, as those are some of my favorites (mainly for his wife though).