Matsumoto's Challenge: Skateboarding!

"Matsumoto Week" comes to a close here at BlackGaki with this episode, again from the "Matsumoto's Challenge" series. I wanted to do the "Matsumoto and Eri" episodes that someone requested from this series, but I can't get them to work right. Everytime I try to separate it so it will fit, all the programs I've tried using think it's an audio file. I can open the file and it plays as video just fine. Tried updating my codecs and everything. I'll try and figure out why that is, and then throw it up here to watch. They would have been a nice change of pace, and it's somewhat fitting given the news that he's going to be a daddy. So, minor bummer, as I didn't get to put in all the programming I wanted to during the week.

However, any Gaki is better than no Gaki, right? So today's episode really doesn't need that much explanation if you've seen the other Matsumoto's challenge episodes. Matsumoto wants to skateboard. Not just your normal "maintain balance while rolling" type of skateboarding that I still have yet to achieve. He wants to do tricks. Specifically, a "backside-grab, shifty frontside 900 air".

I'm most definitely not an authority on skateboarding, but using what I've picked up from playing "1080 Snowboarding" a long time ago on the Nintendo 64, I think I've been able to pick apart the nomenclature to dissect the elements of the trick. Any of you who happen to be more skate-savvy, feel free to correct/confirm.

"Backside-grab" = Rider grabs the board on their rear side.
"Shifty" = Rider's feet shift on the board in air
"Frontside" = The rider's front side is going into the spin.
"900 Air" = A 900 degree rotation in midair. 2.5 spins.

That sounds like an impressive accomplishment.



As it's a fairly familiar format if you're a regular, I'm just going to put up the movies and let you sit back, relax and watch. See ya afterwards.






So, it looks like they didn't try to research what a back... that trick is supposed to be. Oh well. It was still very funny in the process. Sometimes I wonder just how much Matsumoto is on what the other members are going to be doing to him. For most of these tries, he looks incredibly surprised, afraid or gets hurt (that surfboard thing lands on his wrist when he falls off of it). After this and the other Matsumoto challenge episode, I might have to see if I can't snag a copy of Hitoshi's movie "Dainihonjin". He shows that he might have some abilities to be a serious actor, like when he's in the dressing room with snot dripping down his face or in the other when he's about to cry.

I didn't actually give this episode a rating, in my big list of episodes. I wonder why not. I'll give that one a 5-star rating. It's got all sorts of natural, scared Matsumoto moments, combined with great comedic set-ups like the magazine reporter's "Wakarimasu wa~"s. Over time, these Matsumoto's challenge episodes become a struggle between Matsumoto and the other members to be the most outlandish. You can see the both sides surprising each other with their shenanigans. I love those moments.