Arashi post again
Status update: Same as before, pretty much. :|b
I've been watching a tiny bit of dramas, which is hardly a dent in what I want to get watched, but, hell, I'll take what I can get. I'll be mostly vague, but I'm putting SPOILER warnings on anyway.
Kaibutsu-kun 01-02: I know, I know, but part of my hiatus from Arashi stuff included properly watching the dramas, so I'm just sitting down with this one now. It took me a bit to get into the first episode (a lot of dramas are like that for me, though) but it's... it's cute and fluffy and funny and it's like a quarter-length tokusatsu series! OF COURSE I LOVE IT. I can't say I love Kaibutsu-kun as much as I loved Kenta from Uta no Onii-san (because that role was perfect for Ohno, seriously) but he gets to show off his comedic timing often enough that I enjoy it. There's always that one moment in any given episode, where Kaibutsu-kun is either considering going over to the evil side or puts on his Serious Game Face and says, "Looks like we don't have a choice. Let's run for it."
Plus, I love that the CG openings are so pretty and yet the FX are so bad in this series. It's delightful!
JOKER Yurusarezaru Sosakan 01: I'm impressed by how non-ridiculous this drama is, to be honest. Usually, when Japan tries something like this, it's way too over the top to actually take all that seriously, so I'm really intrigued by this one. No, it's not as hard-hitting as Western stuff (very little from Japan usually is, but that might also be cultural differences) nor is it meant to be a whodunnit/mystery show. The first episode was super obvious where it was going and I think that was the point of it, that it wasn't about the surprise twist so much as it was about the slow, but inevitable, journey towards the kid getting off because of his father and Date smiling through it all until he cornered the kid late at night to kill him when the justice system failed. For that, it did its job admirably!
(I am a little wary at myself for having no reaction to the grieving parents, though. That kind of thing should have reduced me to tears and it was definitely well done in the episode! I think I'm just kind of numb lately. :/)
Also, I've been watching ARASHI a lot again and, ugh, I am so ridiculously in love with them again, so pardon the fangirling. :|b
♫ - Top ten tsundere in Johnny's is quite possibly the greatest poll ever. I mean, I don't entirely agree with it (no Ryo? seriously?) but Jun being #2 was satisfactory.
♫ - VS Arashi #80 [2009.12.10] with Real Clothes Team: Overall, this was an all right episode to watch. The guests were cute (especially Karina!) and there were a lot of fun moments. Like, Ohno was totally different today!, Sho says as they start Rolling Coin Tower. Last night he went to bed at 10pm to prepare for today! Lolz.
Or the Bank Bowling, where Arashi is far enough ahead and they've already gotten the red pin, which means it's a pointless throw, so, hey, let Aiba do it! His indignation over it! And the hilarity of the saddest bowling ball ever. Or Jun at Falling Pipe Catch! Predicting the numbers right and getting a double catch! I seriously love him at that game. ♥
But mostly it was worth watching for the Giant Crash game. Sure, Jun says it was a "failure" to take the flag out immediately, which twisted Macho-kun into that weird as hell pose as it alllllmost fell, but seriously. That was the greatest game of Giant Crash ever and I think Jun should make more calls like that! Seriously, watching it twist around and then NOT COMPLETELY FALL was amazing and added a new level of strategy to the game! I loved it!
Overall, maybe not the most exciting episode, but it had it's moments. ♥
♫ - Arashi ni Shiyagare #12 [2010.07.24] with Oguri Shun: This is going to get long. I have no regrets, though, because Shun is totally the sixth member of Arashi and you'll never convince me otherwise. Thus, I must fangirl him at the same length I do the other five. :Db (You know. Beyond OMG SHUN SHUN SHUN ILU HI HIIIII HI ILU SHUN SHUN SHUUUUUUN~~! ....not that there won't be some of that, too.)
I can agree that the teaching segments of this episode weren't all that super-amazing, given that this was Oguri Shun and I kind of went in expecting epic amazingness. However. The introductions and the fetish talk and Jun's beaming face the entire time he's looking at Shun and wearing an "I ♥ FUCK" shirt? Yeah, greatest episode of Shiyagare ever. There was so much to learn in this episode!
Starting with how, apparently, Shun is just as big of a nerd for Jun as Jun is for him in return. He was told not to tell! But, "I kept saying I wanted to eappear on Arashi's programs, so when push came to shove, I was so ecstatic and, when I met Jun, I said, 'I'll be appearing!'" He just couldn't help himself, he was so excited! And Jun tries to give him crap about it, but he's too busy going :D :D :D :D until it looks like his face just about hurts because he's so adorably happy. Seriously, I just want to smoosh them together and be giddily happy with them. (....I might have a bit of a thing for them, I'm pretty sure nobody's noticed, though.)
I love Nino's building crankiness in the beginning, too. When they haven't quite revealed the guest, but you have a fair idea since Jun knows the person and it's someone about their age, the audience gets all OOOH~~! about it, so Nino (being the kind and patient and sharing person he is) turns to them and snaps, What're you getting so excited for!? You're here to see Arashi, right? Somebody needs Shun cuddling times, too. :|b
Jun also talks about how he and Jun didn't get along during their Gokusen filming days, but they got better during Hanadan. Sho is surprised they were on bad terms, what's the deal with that? Shun laughs a little and says that he thought Jun was a nasty little shit at the time. (In his defense, during the Gokusen days, Jun probably was a nasty little shit. XD) But, when they met up again for the Hanadan poster shooting, Jun greeted him properly and Shun thought to himself, "Ahhh, this guy is ~*shiny*~*as*~*ever*~." And, seriously, it was a totally straight moment between manly friends on a super straight variety show. I've never seen anything straighter.
Also super straight? After watching the movie Shun directed, Shun tells about how Jun said, "If it's for your sake, I'll promote it to any extent." Super straight and totally not being a fucker by revealing ~*adorable*~ Jun moments! I don't know what anyone sees in Shunkerbell, honestly.
After that, the fetish talk was kind of hilarious, just because once again it's a HUGE SURPRISE that Matsumoto doesn't like boobs, but he's much more of an ass man. Shun is apparently quite the perv for asses as well, the rumor they start out with is "It seems he loves butts..." Ogurin, it is your own fault that I ship you with Jun and Nino, you know. But the best part, of course, is Jun demonstrating Shun's ideal girl's ass on himself and, okay, maybe it's Jun's fault I ship them, too. I can't even add anything to this whole scene (Jun demonstrating Shun's ideal ass, Sho having to CLARIFY THAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT GIRLS, NO REALLY) because it's so perfect. Japan loves me so, so much.
I love the conversation about low-rise jeans as well. Which springs from the whole fetish talk about what each of them like and Aiba's answer? He points to his crotch and I seriously snorted with laughter. Some guys like the arms or the boobs or the butts. But Aiba Masaki goes straight for the kill, that's his favorite part. Crying. And, okay, really he meant more like the hips and such, but I still just about choked with laughter at first! And then they talk about whether or not they like to see the strings of a girl's underwear in their jeans and almost everyone says they like just a little bit. The only holdout? MATSUMOTO DEFINITELY DOES NOT LIKE THAT. >:| Lolling forever.
Also! Sho taking forever to realize what they're actually talking about! Nino's fake laughter! "Ahhh~ he's dumb. :|" at Sho! I love that little fucker, too.
The rest of the episode was all right, but the magic was definitely in the first half. I thought the gasoline stand thing was cute but it went by super fast and we hardly got a chance to see any of them do much. The coffee-and-milk pouring was kind of neat to watch, just to see Shun and Jun both look super awesome while doing it (Jun was especially super pretty omg) and the hilarity of, "Hey, are you sure this guy is an expert on this?" when the guy who'd supposedly been doing it for 36 years still spilled all over the table. Jun bullying the comedian host that wormed his way in was hilarious there.
But mostly I wound up watching those segments for Jun and Shun practically being glued to each other's sides and for this one moment at about 24 minutes in where Jun just casually leans over to snag something off Shun's shoulder to clean him up a little. I just-- *flaps hands uselessly* Did Jun just start grooming him?? It's not even a huge deal, like Jun mocking him for having lint or a stray strand of hair on his shoulder or anything! It's just a casual touch to pull whatever-it-was off Shun while the conversation keeps going and you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't paying attention.
I-- I am weak to the little things, okay? The ones that are almost unconscious with how much you're focused on the other person and then want to ~*touch*~ them even if it's just to clean them up a bit. Also, that's how Matsumoto shows he ~*cares*~. By grooming you.
Holy shit, I am going to be a Shun/Jun shipper FOREVER at this rate. *___*
They wrapped up the episode with Ohno and Aiba against the professional soccer players, which was kind of hilarious for the way Ohno dodges the hell ball and Aiba just laughs at him. And then the tables are turned. I love when they laugh at each other's duck-and-cover of PURE FRIGHT, for serious.
♫ - Himitsu no Arashi-chan #73 [2009.11.26] with Shaku Yumiko: I picked this one up because it was released at the same time as Shiyagare #12 and I'd been meaning to get back into Himitsu for awhile. It was... well! Most of the episode was all right, but not super awesome, mostly because I felt so badly for Shaku-san and how... *waves hands* she only likes guys who liked her first, she only likes people back because she feels they need her or love her, she basically described her eating disorder and yet didn't seem to have any concept of how dangerous it was, she had this string of terrible boyfriends, and it's just... oh, Japan, what you do to your women sometimes. The only thing that really made it tolerable was watching Jun's face, like he could not believe someone would be treated that way in a relationship. The hypocritical overweight boyfriend who didn't want his girlfriend to gain any more weight than she already was (despite that she was even thinner than she was on the show) or having someone call you out in the middle of the night and then falling asleep on you, so you have no idea what happened. You could tell he would have ripped that person apart for being treated like that.
Well, okay, I also did like Shaku-san's guest impressions! Sho's sloping shoulders! Aiba is like a bet you want to keep/he's soothing! Nino is hard to approach! By which she means (without actually saying it) he's kind of a bitch! Ohno is a Madam Killer! Jun is Ero-Handsome! He's sexy and seems to understand a female's heart. ♥ As much as I wanted to make jokes about that, I kind of can't because I love lady-killer!Jun with a fierce passion. I know it makes me that kind of fangirl, but I can't help it! I love Matsumoto's way with making chicks swoon! In a non-ironic way, even. orz
Watching Arashi janken for the various bento means Shaku-san brought out was really nostalgic, too, I miss watching them dork around like that. Same with Nino snagging the hamburger one (which Aiba wanted) and so he eats it near Aiba to make sure he can smell it, and Jun's like UGH GROSS YOU GUYS. Or, when Shaku-san describes her perfect guy, someone who is soothing (like an alpaca, somehow) during the day, but sexy at night, more like a lion. Which apparently means Aiba is totally out, despite that I'm going, okay, clearly Aiba is her perfect type, NIGHT TIME IS NAKED SEXY TIME FOR HIM, SERIOUSLY. But Nino says, ahhhh, then Aiba's completely out, after she clarifies that she wants someone lion-like at night.
HEY, HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M LIKE AT NIGHT!? Aiba demands, but Nino just ignores him. Mmm, he's more... maybe like a goat? Nino says, because he loves Aiba, deep in his soul.
I also enjoyed the skit segment with Shaku-san as the mom who was kind of bullied by her son, when the dad stepped in to put a stop to it. And Aiba was seriously hot as the dad, when he was reading the paper, then getting up, smacking son!Satoshi back onto the floor, getting into his face and pulling on the back of his collar to lift him up and say, "Don't lay a hand on my woman." with a serious face. SO. HOT. Seriously, I would have thrown my undies at him for that.
The Jun and Sho version (with Jun as the dad, Sho as the son) was hilarious because APPARENTLY SHO REALLY DID GET PISSED ABOUT HIS JEANS BEING WASHED but also kind of awesome because Jun was more friendly about it, but still got the son to back off and was kind of hot while doing it. He's... he's kind of my favorite forever. (Though, I have SO MANY HARTS FOR YOU, SHO-CHAN, and your stiff pissy acting that was perfect.)
Shaku-san preferred Jun as well, because "You should never raise a hand against your son." Aiba looks sheepish for a moment, "Ahh, I see the Aiba family was quite strict." Nothing we didn't already know and it did make me feel a twinge of sadness for growing up in a household like that, but he seems fine with it and it was also kind of funny, I had to admit.
However.
The real star of this episode?
The ghost special, oh my god, it was the most amazing thing ever.
It started out pretty regular--there was a spirit in the Himitsu no Arashi-chan studio, one they even called an expert in for because they had proof it existed! And, okay, I'm willing to roll with it, even though these things aren't often that great. But they can occasionally be fun. They brought everyone in and said they were going to show the video. It was a normal Mannequin Five skit and they all said, there!, there!, do you see it? Everyone could see it, except I had no idea what they were talking about, it looked like a normal shot to me.
They get about halfway through it, I think Jun and Ohno had been cleared, Nino was cleared and sitting off to the side, Aiba and Sho still had their cloaks on, the guest judges were still milling around. (Probably not quite exactly it, but it sets the scene well enough.) They said, there! Right off to the side! There's a spirit sitting right there! ".....that looks like..." I start think and they said, "Because there's not even one talent who would sit on the floor in the middle during filming...." and certainly not a really important segment for national television, the only conclusion is... it's a spirit!!" OHHHHH, HOW SCARY--!! they all commented while Nino gets this HA HA VERY FUNNY YOU FUCKERS look.
I just... I just started laughing and could not stop. Because, omg, the spirit moves! "However, even as it tries its best to look [around at the others], it'll definitely not stand." LOLLING FOREVER. SERIOUSLY ABOUT CRYING WITH LAUGHTER AT THIS POINT.
As the spirit claps along with the others, "It can't have thought it became a talent, too?" Everyone else in the studio keeps their serious faces on as they study this important footage! Occasionally, Arashi's faces start to crack, but they always put their serious faces back on and, god knows, I would have been dying in there.
I mean, I'm all for Nino getting chances to rest whenever he can because he works really hard for serious, but I'm even MORE for mocking the little fucker whenever the opportunity comes. ♥
AND THEN THERE WAS AN EXORCISM! EVEN OHNO WAS CRACKING UP! DOUSING NINO WITH SALT! WHACKING HIM TO DRIVE THE SPIRIT OUT! I was actually crying with laughter at that point. And, of course, once is not enough, so this time EVERYONE grabs a handful of salt to pelt Nino with! And then, OOOHHH, IT'S IN THE GUEST HOST NOW--! And then it's in Sensei now--! So it had a great ending, but seriously.
Nino is so incredibly loved to have an entire segment dedicated to mocking him. ARASHI LOVES YOU, NINO. ♥
I've been watching a tiny bit of dramas, which is hardly a dent in what I want to get watched, but, hell, I'll take what I can get. I'll be mostly vague, but I'm putting SPOILER warnings on anyway.
Kaibutsu-kun 01-02: I know, I know, but part of my hiatus from Arashi stuff included properly watching the dramas, so I'm just sitting down with this one now. It took me a bit to get into the first episode (a lot of dramas are like that for me, though) but it's... it's cute and fluffy and funny and it's like a quarter-length tokusatsu series! OF COURSE I LOVE IT. I can't say I love Kaibutsu-kun as much as I loved Kenta from Uta no Onii-san (because that role was perfect for Ohno, seriously) but he gets to show off his comedic timing often enough that I enjoy it. There's always that one moment in any given episode, where Kaibutsu-kun is either considering going over to the evil side or puts on his Serious Game Face and says, "Looks like we don't have a choice. Let's run for it."
Plus, I love that the CG openings are so pretty and yet the FX are so bad in this series. It's delightful!
JOKER Yurusarezaru Sosakan 01: I'm impressed by how non-ridiculous this drama is, to be honest. Usually, when Japan tries something like this, it's way too over the top to actually take all that seriously, so I'm really intrigued by this one. No, it's not as hard-hitting as Western stuff (very little from Japan usually is, but that might also be cultural differences) nor is it meant to be a whodunnit/mystery show. The first episode was super obvious where it was going and I think that was the point of it, that it wasn't about the surprise twist so much as it was about the slow, but inevitable, journey towards the kid getting off because of his father and Date smiling through it all until he cornered the kid late at night to kill him when the justice system failed. For that, it did its job admirably!
(I am a little wary at myself for having no reaction to the grieving parents, though. That kind of thing should have reduced me to tears and it was definitely well done in the episode! I think I'm just kind of numb lately. :/)
Also, I've been watching ARASHI a lot again and, ugh, I am so ridiculously in love with them again, so pardon the fangirling. :|b
♫ - Top ten tsundere in Johnny's is quite possibly the greatest poll ever. I mean, I don't entirely agree with it (no Ryo? seriously?) but Jun being #2 was satisfactory.
♫ - VS Arashi #80 [2009.12.10] with Real Clothes Team: Overall, this was an all right episode to watch. The guests were cute (especially Karina!) and there were a lot of fun moments. Like, Ohno was totally different today!, Sho says as they start Rolling Coin Tower. Last night he went to bed at 10pm to prepare for today! Lolz.
Or the Bank Bowling, where Arashi is far enough ahead and they've already gotten the red pin, which means it's a pointless throw, so, hey, let Aiba do it! His indignation over it! And the hilarity of the saddest bowling ball ever. Or Jun at Falling Pipe Catch! Predicting the numbers right and getting a double catch! I seriously love him at that game. ♥
But mostly it was worth watching for the Giant Crash game. Sure, Jun says it was a "failure" to take the flag out immediately, which twisted Macho-kun into that weird as hell pose as it alllllmost fell, but seriously. That was the greatest game of Giant Crash ever and I think Jun should make more calls like that! Seriously, watching it twist around and then NOT COMPLETELY FALL was amazing and added a new level of strategy to the game! I loved it!
Overall, maybe not the most exciting episode, but it had it's moments. ♥
♫ - Arashi ni Shiyagare #12 [2010.07.24] with Oguri Shun: This is going to get long. I have no regrets, though, because Shun is totally the sixth member of Arashi and you'll never convince me otherwise. Thus, I must fangirl him at the same length I do the other five. :Db (You know. Beyond OMG SHUN SHUN SHUN ILU HI HIIIII HI ILU SHUN SHUN SHUUUUUUN~~! ....not that there won't be some of that, too.)
I can agree that the teaching segments of this episode weren't all that super-amazing, given that this was Oguri Shun and I kind of went in expecting epic amazingness. However. The introductions and the fetish talk and Jun's beaming face the entire time he's looking at Shun and wearing an "I ♥ FUCK" shirt? Yeah, greatest episode of Shiyagare ever. There was so much to learn in this episode!
Starting with how, apparently, Shun is just as big of a nerd for Jun as Jun is for him in return. He was told not to tell! But, "I kept saying I wanted to eappear on Arashi's programs, so when push came to shove, I was so ecstatic and, when I met Jun, I said, 'I'll be appearing!'" He just couldn't help himself, he was so excited! And Jun tries to give him crap about it, but he's too busy going :D :D :D :D until it looks like his face just about hurts because he's so adorably happy. Seriously, I just want to smoosh them together and be giddily happy with them. (....I might have a bit of a thing for them, I'm pretty sure nobody's noticed, though.)
I love Nino's building crankiness in the beginning, too. When they haven't quite revealed the guest, but you have a fair idea since Jun knows the person and it's someone about their age, the audience gets all OOOH~~! about it, so Nino (being the kind and patient and sharing person he is) turns to them and snaps, What're you getting so excited for!? You're here to see Arashi, right? Somebody needs Shun cuddling times, too. :|b
Jun also talks about how he and Jun didn't get along during their Gokusen filming days, but they got better during Hanadan. Sho is surprised they were on bad terms, what's the deal with that? Shun laughs a little and says that he thought Jun was a nasty little shit at the time. (In his defense, during the Gokusen days, Jun probably was a nasty little shit. XD) But, when they met up again for the Hanadan poster shooting, Jun greeted him properly and Shun thought to himself, "Ahhh, this guy is ~*shiny*~*as*~*ever*~." And, seriously, it was a totally straight moment between manly friends on a super straight variety show. I've never seen anything straighter.
Also super straight? After watching the movie Shun directed, Shun tells about how Jun said, "If it's for your sake, I'll promote it to any extent." Super straight and totally not being a fucker by revealing ~*adorable*~ Jun moments! I don't know what anyone sees in Shunkerbell, honestly.
After that, the fetish talk was kind of hilarious, just because once again it's a HUGE SURPRISE that Matsumoto doesn't like boobs, but he's much more of an ass man. Shun is apparently quite the perv for asses as well, the rumor they start out with is "It seems he loves butts..." Ogurin, it is your own fault that I ship you with Jun and Nino, you know. But the best part, of course, is Jun demonstrating Shun's ideal girl's ass on himself and, okay, maybe it's Jun's fault I ship them, too. I can't even add anything to this whole scene (Jun demonstrating Shun's ideal ass, Sho having to CLARIFY THAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT GIRLS, NO REALLY) because it's so perfect. Japan loves me so, so much.
I love the conversation about low-rise jeans as well. Which springs from the whole fetish talk about what each of them like and Aiba's answer? He points to his crotch and I seriously snorted with laughter. Some guys like the arms or the boobs or the butts. But Aiba Masaki goes straight for the kill, that's his favorite part. Crying. And, okay, really he meant more like the hips and such, but I still just about choked with laughter at first! And then they talk about whether or not they like to see the strings of a girl's underwear in their jeans and almost everyone says they like just a little bit. The only holdout? MATSUMOTO DEFINITELY DOES NOT LIKE THAT. >:| Lolling forever.
Also! Sho taking forever to realize what they're actually talking about! Nino's fake laughter! "Ahhh~ he's dumb. :|" at Sho! I love that little fucker, too.
The rest of the episode was all right, but the magic was definitely in the first half. I thought the gasoline stand thing was cute but it went by super fast and we hardly got a chance to see any of them do much. The coffee-and-milk pouring was kind of neat to watch, just to see Shun and Jun both look super awesome while doing it (Jun was especially super pretty omg) and the hilarity of, "Hey, are you sure this guy is an expert on this?" when the guy who'd supposedly been doing it for 36 years still spilled all over the table. Jun bullying the comedian host that wormed his way in was hilarious there.
But mostly I wound up watching those segments for Jun and Shun practically being glued to each other's sides and for this one moment at about 24 minutes in where Jun just casually leans over to snag something off Shun's shoulder to clean him up a little. I just-- *flaps hands uselessly* Did Jun just start grooming him?? It's not even a huge deal, like Jun mocking him for having lint or a stray strand of hair on his shoulder or anything! It's just a casual touch to pull whatever-it-was off Shun while the conversation keeps going and you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't paying attention.
I-- I am weak to the little things, okay? The ones that are almost unconscious with how much you're focused on the other person and then want to ~*touch*~ them even if it's just to clean them up a bit. Also, that's how Matsumoto shows he ~*cares*~. By grooming you.
Holy shit, I am going to be a Shun/Jun shipper FOREVER at this rate. *___*
They wrapped up the episode with Ohno and Aiba against the professional soccer players, which was kind of hilarious for the way Ohno dodges the hell ball and Aiba just laughs at him. And then the tables are turned. I love when they laugh at each other's duck-and-cover of PURE FRIGHT, for serious.
♫ - Himitsu no Arashi-chan #73 [2009.11.26] with Shaku Yumiko: I picked this one up because it was released at the same time as Shiyagare #12 and I'd been meaning to get back into Himitsu for awhile. It was... well! Most of the episode was all right, but not super awesome, mostly because I felt so badly for Shaku-san and how... *waves hands* she only likes guys who liked her first, she only likes people back because she feels they need her or love her, she basically described her eating disorder and yet didn't seem to have any concept of how dangerous it was, she had this string of terrible boyfriends, and it's just... oh, Japan, what you do to your women sometimes. The only thing that really made it tolerable was watching Jun's face, like he could not believe someone would be treated that way in a relationship. The hypocritical overweight boyfriend who didn't want his girlfriend to gain any more weight than she already was (despite that she was even thinner than she was on the show) or having someone call you out in the middle of the night and then falling asleep on you, so you have no idea what happened. You could tell he would have ripped that person apart for being treated like that.
Well, okay, I also did like Shaku-san's guest impressions! Sho's sloping shoulders! Aiba is like a bet you want to keep/he's soothing! Nino is hard to approach! By which she means (without actually saying it) he's kind of a bitch! Ohno is a Madam Killer! Jun is Ero-Handsome! He's sexy and seems to understand a female's heart. ♥ As much as I wanted to make jokes about that, I kind of can't because I love lady-killer!Jun with a fierce passion. I know it makes me that kind of fangirl, but I can't help it! I love Matsumoto's way with making chicks swoon! In a non-ironic way, even. orz
Watching Arashi janken for the various bento means Shaku-san brought out was really nostalgic, too, I miss watching them dork around like that. Same with Nino snagging the hamburger one (which Aiba wanted) and so he eats it near Aiba to make sure he can smell it, and Jun's like UGH GROSS YOU GUYS. Or, when Shaku-san describes her perfect guy, someone who is soothing (like an alpaca, somehow) during the day, but sexy at night, more like a lion. Which apparently means Aiba is totally out, despite that I'm going, okay, clearly Aiba is her perfect type, NIGHT TIME IS NAKED SEXY TIME FOR HIM, SERIOUSLY. But Nino says, ahhhh, then Aiba's completely out, after she clarifies that she wants someone lion-like at night.
HEY, HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M LIKE AT NIGHT!? Aiba demands, but Nino just ignores him. Mmm, he's more... maybe like a goat? Nino says, because he loves Aiba, deep in his soul.
I also enjoyed the skit segment with Shaku-san as the mom who was kind of bullied by her son, when the dad stepped in to put a stop to it. And Aiba was seriously hot as the dad, when he was reading the paper, then getting up, smacking son!Satoshi back onto the floor, getting into his face and pulling on the back of his collar to lift him up and say, "Don't lay a hand on my woman." with a serious face. SO. HOT. Seriously, I would have thrown my undies at him for that.
The Jun and Sho version (with Jun as the dad, Sho as the son) was hilarious because APPARENTLY SHO REALLY DID GET PISSED ABOUT HIS JEANS BEING WASHED but also kind of awesome because Jun was more friendly about it, but still got the son to back off and was kind of hot while doing it. He's... he's kind of my favorite forever. (Though, I have SO MANY HARTS FOR YOU, SHO-CHAN, and your stiff pissy acting that was perfect.)
Shaku-san preferred Jun as well, because "You should never raise a hand against your son." Aiba looks sheepish for a moment, "Ahh, I see the Aiba family was quite strict." Nothing we didn't already know and it did make me feel a twinge of sadness for growing up in a household like that, but he seems fine with it and it was also kind of funny, I had to admit.
However.
The real star of this episode?
The ghost special, oh my god, it was the most amazing thing ever.
It started out pretty regular--there was a spirit in the Himitsu no Arashi-chan studio, one they even called an expert in for because they had proof it existed! And, okay, I'm willing to roll with it, even though these things aren't often that great. But they can occasionally be fun. They brought everyone in and said they were going to show the video. It was a normal Mannequin Five skit and they all said, there!, there!, do you see it? Everyone could see it, except I had no idea what they were talking about, it looked like a normal shot to me.
They get about halfway through it, I think Jun and Ohno had been cleared, Nino was cleared and sitting off to the side, Aiba and Sho still had their cloaks on, the guest judges were still milling around. (Probably not quite exactly it, but it sets the scene well enough.) They said, there! Right off to the side! There's a spirit sitting right there! ".....that looks like..." I start think and they said, "Because there's not even one talent who would sit on the floor in the middle during filming...." and certainly not a really important segment for national television, the only conclusion is... it's a spirit!!" OHHHHH, HOW SCARY--!! they all commented while Nino gets this HA HA VERY FUNNY YOU FUCKERS look.
I just... I just started laughing and could not stop. Because, omg, the spirit moves! "However, even as it tries its best to look [around at the others], it'll definitely not stand." LOLLING FOREVER. SERIOUSLY ABOUT CRYING WITH LAUGHTER AT THIS POINT.
As the spirit claps along with the others, "It can't have thought it became a talent, too?" Everyone else in the studio keeps their serious faces on as they study this important footage! Occasionally, Arashi's faces start to crack, but they always put their serious faces back on and, god knows, I would have been dying in there.
I mean, I'm all for Nino getting chances to rest whenever he can because he works really hard for serious, but I'm even MORE for mocking the little fucker whenever the opportunity comes. ♥
AND THEN THERE WAS AN EXORCISM! EVEN OHNO WAS CRACKING UP! DOUSING NINO WITH SALT! WHACKING HIM TO DRIVE THE SPIRIT OUT! I was actually crying with laughter at that point. And, of course, once is not enough, so this time EVERYONE grabs a handful of salt to pelt Nino with! And then, OOOHHH, IT'S IN THE GUEST HOST NOW--! And then it's in Sensei now--! So it had a great ending, but seriously.
Nino is so incredibly loved to have an entire segment dedicated to mocking him. ARASHI LOVES YOU, NINO. ♥