Showing posts with label Poll Results. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poll Results. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Bunch of Catch-up!

Oh my, it's been a while since my last post... Anyone still out there? *knocks on your computer screens*

Given my graduation from college in about a month, I've been all absorbed in job searches, senior projects, etc. Still haven't gotten a job locked in, but I have interviews, which is a good thing. Damned down market. Why couldn't it wait until AFTER I got a job to go into recession? For fear of starting some sort of political debate, I'm just going to jump off of the subject right there.

Anyway, first up. The results of the License Poll show that most people (57% of them) would like to see License take up some roles in limited capacity on GnT. Most others (37%) feel they should probably either start bringing the funny in immense portion or get their own show or just go somewhere and sit in a corner. I feel kinda sad for them in a way, and somewhat not. I think we can all live without them, but some would like to give them some chance to shine.


Secondly, sometime while I was away, my YouTube channel passed on...
*quick eulogy*
It was a good YouTube channel...
It loved to make people laugh...
*breakdown*
TAKE ME, TOO!!!
*jumps onto casket*

I planned on updating most of the subtitles for my earlier works after I reviewed them and found a bunch of things to change. So, I may start replenishing them once I get the chance.

As for progress and anything coming down the pipe, I have one BBB done and one episode is about 60% done, I guess. At least it's better than nothing.

I just want to go over the BBB a few more times. I watched it through once or twice, and it just seemed... off. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe I've lost my flair? Maybe it's just rust? Either way, quality of work must remain high. It will be out soon though, so there will be more than just text posts here shortly.

Stay tuned.
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Friday, March 5, 2010

License Poll!

It's March! February flew by quickly, didn't it? Anyways, that means that it's the end of the "Label formatting" poll. Judging from the results, only one person thought the previous formatting was better, and the rest of you either don't care, don't use the labels, or like the current format better. Most said that you didn't really care, so I guess I won't worry about formatting too much.

Just to give a quick update, I've got a few things I had been slowly but surely toiling away on. I decided that I should just buckle down and get one of them done, and I'll just devote all of my free blogging time to finishing that up and getting it out the door.

Now with all that taken care of, on to the topic of this month's new poll: License!

License is a comedy team under Yoshimoto, the same agency which manages Downtown. They've sometimes appear on Gaki no Tsukai as hosts, and have appeared in the latest Batsu game as announcers for the "Heipo Channel". They've made a few appearances also during some of the Oogiri and Gaki vs. Tenso episodes as title card flippers, usually wearing short-shorts, as seen below.

One of them has also made a character named "Vacuum Fujiwara" who is an amateur competitive eater. This character comes from the big boom that Japan had revolving around competitive eating and eating massive amounts of food. For a while they have been doing the warm-up act for the crowd before Downtown comes on and does their thing, which is rarely seen on TV, but if you've ever been in the audience for the show, they aren't unfamiliar faces.

As of late, it seems that they are being prepped and preened to have a larger role on Gaki no Tsukai. Perhaps something along the lines of a more frequent semi-regular role or even the big step to a regular, every-week appearance. I guess you could call them semi-regulars by now. So, this month, my question to you is:
"Would you like License to join the Gaki members?"

I personally am a little torn on the subject and I don't think that I myself am ready to give a decision. So, I'll list off my reasoning, and maybe it'll give you some food-for-thought to help you cast your vote.

In support of Regular Appearances: New Opportunities
In support of License being joining full-time, it creates some opportunities for some new characters and new situations. Like I mentioned above, the Vacuum Fujiwara character could become more developed, but it would be hard to imagine how something like that would play out especially considering that the brunt of the competitive eating boom in Japan is over. Maybe they could make him homeless and eat anything for money.

Another reason would be for the sake of Cocorico. I guess mainly for Endou's sake. In the his time on Gaki, Endou has always been the "new guy" in the business, and therefore had to show respect to everyone. However, he's the tsukkomi (straightman) in his group. I imagine it's hard for him to really show his prowess in comedic correction when he's bound by etiquette. It's the difference between "Excuse me, but don't you think that is a little foolish?" and "ARE YOU A COMPLETE MORON?!" All of his breakthrough moments on the show have been in stooge positions (Dynamite Shikoku, his Beat Takeshi impersonations, "Hohohoi", etc.) because he can't be as blunt as he'd probably like to be with maybe the exception of Tanaka. License joining would give him someone to bully around. I know it's kinda mean suggesting that they let License in only to be Endou's punching bag, but they would probably get picked on by Downtown anyways so I don't see what the difference is.

In support of Semi-Regular Appearances: Testing the Waters
Like I said above, License probably isn't new to people who have come out to the shows. They do the warm-ups before Downtown comes on to give their talks. But even so, we don't know just how well they'll be taken by home viewers. The episodes that have featured them so far haven't shown much of their personalities. They are usually just there as tag-alongs, but they do have their moments and they don't ruin the mood, per se. I think it might be best to give them spotty appearances until they can develop a fan base beyond the girls who think Fujiwara is cute.

(I think he bears a slight resemblance to Takashi Fujii, if you ask me.)


In opposition to their appearance: There are better
Until they really earn the right to be on the show every week, I don't think they should just get that privilege just because Yoshimoto likes them. I do understand that in the business there are a lot of things that the agency says, and they may be the ones forcing them to play a bigger role in the show. However, Yoshimoto has a HUGE stable of entertainers, and most of them could bring a ton of personality, wit, and popularity to the show. I mean, try to imagine the five current Gaki members plus Itao and Hosshan. Or even another comedy team like Ame Agari Kesshintai. I would personally throw in Summers, but they have their own shows and are very busy. These would probably destroy the argument I made earlier about putting in some people younger than Cocorico so they can have punching bags, but... meh.
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Viewing Habits Poll Results and New Poll!

When I started this blog, I was pretty cynical about the "typical" Gaki fan. I thought they were "fair-weather" fans who only cared about Gaki when they had a New Year's Special and such.

So, in order to get to know you guys better, I decided to put a new poll up at the end of the year asking you your viewing habits.


A little bit after posting the poll, I realized that I didn't state some of the options the way that I wanted to. I meant to make the "A few clips here and there" into some category along the lines of "Any subtitled clip" or "Subtitled clips only". However, by the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to change the poll. I didn't want to just erase the poll because it would then discard the few votes that were already cast.

The results are as follows:
"I watch every week!" - 32 votes (21%)
"Just the Batsu Games." - 11 votes (7%)
"Whatever anyone puts online." - 99 votes (66%)
"A few clips here and there." - 6 votes (4%)
"Gaki? What's that?" - 1 vote (0%)

After looking at the results, my cynicism is pretty much broken. While there are some who just really care about the specials and such, there are plenty who try to enjoy Gaki for what it is.

In the form which I allowed the poll to run, this makes sense to me. I really wanted to get a feel of how many people needed subtitling before they even attempted to watch the shows vs. how many tried to understand what they could without subtitles vs. how many people don't really have much of a problem because they have sufficient Japanese skill to understand it all.

I could make another poll asking just that, but... meh. Why bother?

As you may have noticed already, I'm trying out a new scheme with the labellings, where I break up the labels into categories instead of one honkin' huge list. Also, to get your feedback on it, I've also created a new poll. Looking forward to hearing how I can better organize around here.

I know that by now most people have looked through everything around here and only have interest in the newer posts, but I wanted to make it more navigable from a new visitor's point of view.

Thanks for reading and participating!
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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Poll Results and Update!

Your votes have been cast, and we've found a winner for your favorite recurring episode theme! (Well, kinda. Not all the recurring themes were listed, and I'm pretty sure the real fan favorite would be the big New Year Batsu games.)

The results were surprising, to me at least, and I'll talk more about them after the jump, but first I'll talk about the updates! Whoo! Updating!
  • Posted this week's BBB, Bondage Angels, and last Sunday's episode that I forgot to post up, Kiki Nattou. Sorry about the neglect. Poor blog. *pets blogs softly to assuage the deep emotional scars*

  • Fixed my "Heya to Y-shatsu to Watashi" translation in my Everyone has a Song!" post to be more. . . um. . . translated. "Y-shirts" isn't actually a real word. It's more of a slang term or abbreviation for "white shirts". The "whi" part of "white" sounds like the letter "Y". So, I've changed that part of the translation, since that may not be common knowledge. Yeah.

  • Answered some neglected comments and did some clean up on the General Request Post.

  • Cleaned up the "Labels" section of the blog by removing labels for individual Gottsu Ee Kanji players. At least for now. I may add them back once they get some more substantial articles about them written here.

  • Fixed the subtitles and review for Ice Coffee Limit Check YET AGAIN to correct a misspelling of Vivian Hsu's name. It's correctly romanized as "Hsu", and not "Su" like I had it.

  • Got off my butt once again to actually create a review for the Ittsuji Shopping! episode.


Without further adieu, Ill get down to the result of the poll and my general reaction.

So over 200 people voted, and the results are in!

Your favorite recurring episode theme is: The Absolutely Tasty Series!

Here's a full list of the results and their vote count:

1.) Absolutely Tasty Series - 105 votes (47%)
2.) Matusmoto's Challenge - 83 votes (37%)
3.) Matsumoto Team vs Hamada Team - 67 votes (30%)
4.) Kiki series - 65 votes (29%)
5.) Shichihenge - 59 votes (26%)
6.) Cosplay Bus Tours - 47 votes (21%)
7.) Heipo's Dates - 38 votes (17%)
8.) Gaki Team vs Tennensouzai Team - 36 votes (16%)
9.) Genkai Series - 35 votes (15%)
10.) Itao's interruptions - 34 votes (14%)
11.) Goodbye, Yamazaki! series - 29 votes (13%)
12.) Regular Cast Member Auditions - 25 votes (11%)
13.) Yamazaki Vs. Moriman series - 21 votes (9%)
14.) Suga's Nostalgia series - 19 votes (8%)
15.) High Tension Series - 18 votes (8%)
16.) Yamaquest - 11 votes (5%)
17.) Member Chases - 7 votes (3%)
17.) Fishing Competitions - 7 votes (3%)
19.) Celebrity Baseball - 6 votes (2%)
20.) Picadilly Umeda series - 4 votes (1%)


I was fairly surprised at some of the results, but for the most part, I think there's not a lot to be shocked at here. The five I thought would make up the top five were the "Matsumoto Team vs Hamada Team", "Gaki Team vs Tennensouzai Team", "Shichihenge", "Yamazaki Vs. Moriman series" and the "Kiki series", since they are what brought Gaki to widespread internet fame. I was right on three of them, and ones I was wrong about weren't too bad.

Another bright spot, was the relatively low ranking of Yamaquest. At least I know that you guys don't see the something pertaining to Yamazaki and jump all over it. Although, I will admit that I do like these episodes. Although they are branded with Yamazaki's name, there's very little Yamazaki in them. "Try new Diet Gaki No Tsukai - Now with less Yama-chan!"

As far as surprises go, the biggest for me was the difference between the "Matsumoto Team vs Hamada Team" and "Gaki Team vs Tennensouzai Team" episodes in the poll. I mean, they are practically the same thing. They both use the same 10 people and they do pretty much similar evernts each time. The only real difference between the two is the arrangement of teams. I don't see what would be so different to make around 31 people vote for one but not the other.

Another mild surpise was. . . the winner. The Absolutely Tasty series? Really? I'm sure it belonged in the top half somewhere, but first place? What is it about it that makes it so good? I know it is pretty funny, I agree with that wholeheartedly. Watching them make foods that they know no one will ever want to eat and then having to choke it down themselves is hilarious. But I'd think things like "Yamazaki vs Moriman" or the "Cosplay Bus Tours" would be above it on the list. Is it because it's fairly easy to understand without subtitling?

As for the one in last place, Picadilly Umeda's shows, I would have thought it would have been above the absolutely boring episodes like the fishing and baseball episodes. Is it because you haven't seen an episode of it yet? Picadilly's really cool despite being really creepy when he takes his dentures out. He just walks up to ladies and starts fondling them. I think I've got an episode of Picadilly coming up on the list. I'd be interested in hearing your feelings and reactions after the episode goes up.

Overall, I might use this when preparing my episode plans. I wonder if some of these results are because of lack of exposure to some types of episodes. I might do this again later once I've had some of all of these episodes up. Other than that, if you'd like to enlighten me on your reasoning behind your choices, feel free. Thanks for participating in the poll and thanks for reading.
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