REALLY long NaiPani Recording Report~♥
ETA: As the final episode has now aired, I'm unlocking this post ♥
All right, I'm not posting this to pnish because, well, I'm breaking enough "rules" as is posting this at all :D But I figure since there's VERY little chance this is getting over to the Japanese fans as it's written in English and locked, I'm okay posting this to my own private journal. This means, guys, DON'T GO TALKING ABOUT THIS IN PUBLIC PLACES (online, I mean) FOR.............3 months XD
Hai! Today was *drumroll* the NaiPani Recording event! Held at Space Zero in Shinjuku, Tokyo, this event spanned over 3 hours. What exactly was it? This was the actual filming of the final two episodes of *pnish*'s TV show Hottokenai! *pnish* TV! Yes, it's been nearly one full year since the show started, and that means it's almost over. We're 9 episodes in right now, the 10th will air in January, the 11th in February, and the final episode will air March 2008.
Today, they taped the 11th and 12th episodes. I did not realize THAT was what was happening--so that meant that we and we alone would know 3 months ahead of time not only who was to win NaiPani, but what exactly the guys buried!
We were asked ahead of time by Yokoyama-director (who was REALLY hot) and Inoue-producer not to post this online or tell friends or anything, because it would spoil the fun, but since I HAVE to spazz with SOMEONE, and gaijin are far enough removed from Japanese public spaces as we are, I figured it'd be okay.
With that said, this is, of course, VERY SPOILERY. I will write up as detailed a report as I can (I'm on the shinkansen writing this right now, and will post when I have net access at home), and that will definitely include the winner, and of course the poor loser, as well as talk about all their individual "treasures" they had to bury. You've been warned!
All righty, now that those formalities are out of the way, let's get down to business! We all lined up at Space Zero at noon with our little postcards in hand. I had an amazingly good number--11, of some 300 people--and so was right at the front, but seating inside was not assigned. That meant once we got into the theater, you could sit wherever you wanted. The first row was offlimits because of the cameras set up, along with the producer squatting down giving directions, so we quickly piled into the 2nd row.
I was a little off to the right, much like at the NaiPani Talk Event back in September, and had a perfect view of the stage--very very pleased. I ran into a girl I'd met at Saturday's evening show before, and we chatted for a few before she had to run back to her seat. The producer came out on stage a few minutes before the event was to start, to explain everything to us (pretty much everything I wrote about outside the cut). He also explained to us when it was appropriate to clap and speak to the guys and when we needed to be an observant audience, since this WAS being taped after all.
He left the stage, and after another few moments the lights went down and all was dark. You could hear movement on the stage, and then the lights came back up and the NaiPani opening theme started playing. There was *pnish* in those lovely black outfits, dancing away the same dance as in the show XD Complete, of course, with the goofy poses ♥
When it was over, they introduced themselves and thanked everyone for coming, and introduced the director of NaiPani (aka the "Do-S Director" who is always making them do stuff they hate XD) Yokoyama. He was to be the MC for the event, bringing them from scene to scene and telling them what to do next. He motioned to the guys to run along and get changed, and when they left the stage he started chatting up the audience.
When he asked someone to ask a question, any question, one girl asked for some behind-the-scenes info on the Haunted House episode. He grew serious and said there were actually weird things that went on! Like they'd be filming the guys, and behind them you'd be able to see some white figure pass from one door to another, and none of the workers would admit it was them. At this point, Tuti poked his head out, and then sauntered on stage alone. "That really DID happen," he agreed, mentioning another time when that same figure had appeared and no one could explain it.
Tuti and the director were the only ones on stage at this point (for the curious, Tuti was wearing the jeans he's really fond of with the tan material around the crotch and off-white belt, Puma shoes, and a tight (XDDDDD) gray t-shirt--boy looked GOOD). While waiting for the others to arrive after changing, Tuti chatted up the audience, asking who'd come to see On6 already (almost the whole audience raise their hands). He then asked who'd come from the furthest to see the taping today.
A few voices went up for Hyogo, Osaka, Kyoto, and one girl even came from Fukuoka (at the far southern tip of the country). By this time, Wasshi was out too, and the pair asked what part of Fukuoka (Kita-Kyuushuu, she said). When Daiki and Eiji finally rounded out the group, they were still talking about Fukuoka and people coming from far away to see the show.
So I took a gamble, put my hands to my mouth to be sure I was heard the 5 feet to the stage and called out, "America!."
The entire group, director and all, did a double take, repeating, "AMERICA? AMERICA?" but it was Yokoyama-director who decided to run with this. "Wow, *pnish* is getting fans all over the world now!" (>_> You've had fans all over the world for a while now, guys, you've met quite a few of them _o_) Tuti leaned forward towards me, asking, "What part of America?"
I said Louisiana, and not expecting them to know where it is, clarified that it was in the southern part of America. I was actually impressed they could pronounce the state (which meant they'd heard of it), because it gave my students no end of trouble pronouncing it.
Keep in mind, now, that this is all going on in front of 300 people--*pnish*, me, and the director having a conversation about Louisiana. After I mentioned around about where Louisiana was, the director motioned to the guys, going, "So do you know where Louisiana is, then?" Wasshi and Daiki shook their heads, but Eiji stepped forward, all cool, and nodded, "Yeah, I know where it is." The others kind of looked at him like, "Oh, really?" and Yokoyama asked, "Where?"
"In America, near the south."
........."SHE JUST SAID THAT." <--the others' response. It wasn't over yet, though XD Yokoyama-director continued, "So...who knows what the capital of Louisiana is?"
XDDDD I was DYING in my seat by this time, because most of the guys were like, "......Yeeeaaah NO idea." But then Tuti stepped forward, confidence all over his face. "I know this one, I know this one." He looked at me and said with all the confidence in the world:
"September."
..........Tsuchiya Yuuichi, I take back everything I said the other day about you being really smart and good at English and all XD SEPTEMBER? That's about as far from a city name as it's possible to get XDDDDD (he said the English word September, btw) The others pretty much felt the same way XD and between my spasms of laughter I realized the director was asking me to tell them the correct answer.
It actually took me a moment to remember (come on, who really thinks about this stuff on a daily basis?? XD) and I said slowly, so they could carve it into their sexy dancing brains, "Baton Rouge."
Lesson learned XD
With everyone finally gathered and the geography lesson over, it was time to start the show. They weren't taping yet (that I know of >_>) so it probably won't be on DVD, but I will forever have in my memory Tuti telling me so confidently that the capital of Louisiana is September (why does this sound like a weird DREAM? wtf)
There were a few minutes dedicated to the members all telling their favorite moments about NaiPani so far, and truthfully the only thing I remember now is Daiki's: he talked about how he'd really wanted to ride the free-fall ride (the one he was put on as a batsu-game) at first, but that the "shoddy" strap-in mechanism worried him too much. He tried to explain this to the audience by motioning with his hands around where there were straps, and where the pole was situated separating his legs.
Picture Daiki, now, standing on stage, motioning a pole coming between his legs, and talking about how he held on to it, bringing his hands up and down and up and down.
Yes, Daiki stood there for a good few minutes looking like he was jerking someone off. There were a good few girls in the audience, including me, who were DYING laughing, and poor Daiki, POOR Daiki, absolutely did NOT know what was going on. When he realized they were laughing at something he was doing, he stopped and asked what was going on, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to tell him XDDDD
Now, let me take a moment here to clarify what the NaiPani standings were at this point:
1) Tuti
2) Daiki
3) Wasshi
4) Eiji
There was about a 20 point difference between Daiki and Wasshi, but it was still anyone's game! With the results of the day's taping there could be a comeback! With that said, they jumped right into the first trial: Rock-Paper-Scissors!
Yes, that tried and true method of deciding stuff, the first round would feature a Rock/Paper/Scissors tournament (complete with the, "Acchi muite hoi!" pointing thingee that I hope everyone understands because I don't feel like saying it XD) It was a tough tournament, and...I think Daiki won? Or Tuti? XD;;; I couldn't take notes while it was going on, so I had to remember this all at the end, and unfortunately my mind was kind of mush for the 20 or so minutes after "September" XD;;;
Next, though, came a really fun corner, in which the director told everyone they were going to have to do an, "一発ギャグ", which is like, an off-the-cuff gag, just a little short funny SOMETHING, whatever you can come up with. There was one catch, though--the audience was asked not to laugh. The director would then decide who won by how much the audience couldn't HELP laughing.
Tuti felt he had this one in the bag and offered to go first. His gag was: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi ("Spirited Away") in 20-seconds. Picture Tuti doing all the characters and scenes for that in super fast motion XD It was hilarious, but I maintained my composure relatively well XD
Next up was Wasshi. His gag was: "Katsura" ("Wig") and all he did was make his scalp move independent of his face so it looked like he had a wig on and it was moving around XDDDDD he did really well, actually!
Third was Daiki, and he sauntered on stage, all confidence. For his gag, he would be imitating...Washio Noboru! This involved him standing on stage, a blank look on his face, staring into space for 30 seconds. When that was done, he added, "Wasshi at Rehearsals!" Which was him mostly sleeping, until he was "caught" and then jumped up and apoligized, or thanked individual people with a brilliant smile XDDDDD Wasshi himself was DYING laughing XDDDDD
Eiji went last, and it took me a moment to realize what he was doing: he was counting from one to ten and using the first letters/sounds of each number to start a sentence describing some part of his life or himself.
The winner of this segment was Daiki-chan yaaaaay~!!
For the next segment, the director asked the guys to close their eyes while the staff readied their props. These "props" were hats that looked like those cone-shaped part hats, fitted with a big piece of posterboard, each with a different word written on it. This was going to be an, "NG Word Corner"! The idea was, each guy had some word written on his board that he couldn't see, but he could see all the others'. The object was to make all the others say their word, and to figure out what was written on your own without actually saying it. If you guessed what your word was correctly, you'd get 10 points, but if you guessed incorrectly, you'd LOSE 5 points. No point change if you got out by one of the others making you say your word.
Tuti's was: 女子 (joshi, "girl")
Daiki's: 初恋 (Hatsu Koi, "first love")
Wasshi's: ボイン (Boin, "big breasts" [kinda slangy])
Eiji's was: ヒゲ (Hige, "beard")
Tuti got knocked out first when the talk turned to early school days. Apparently Tuti went to a TINY elementary school--there were only 50 kids in his entire year, 25 each in two classes. Wasshi was next, when he incorrectly guessed his word as 胸 (mune, "breasts" [the usual word, can also mean "chest"] XDDDDD). Eiji and Daiki "battled" for a while, but neither could make the other say his word, nor could either guess his own, so the director called a draw for the two.
After tallying up the points, it was time to decide who would win and who would be the loooooser. The points came down to Tuti winning this round, with Eiji second, Daiki 3rd, and Wasshi last. What was the batsu-game? One they would all take part in!
The staff brought out a table with four plates on top of it. On each of the plates was a delicious looking cream puff. But inside of just one, the director said, was MUSTARD. They would all choose one, and then eat, and since Tuti won, he got to choose first.
After everyone had chosen, the director gave them the cue, and the guys bit in. Tuti scarfed his down in a couple of bites, but everyone else was being very careful, wary of the impending attack upon their tastebuds.
Tuti would regret eating his so fast, because with it all in his mouth, he came to the horrific realization that yes, his was the mustard-filled one XDDDDD He hacked and coughed and drank water for the next five minutes, HILARIOUS SHIT, MAN.
After this, there was a 20 minute break for bathroom and costume-changes, and then it was on to the next episode! When the guys came back out, they were wearing their black *pnish* suits--Wasshi and Eiji had theirs zipped up, while Tuti and Daiki had theirs on halfway, with the upper jacket part tied around their waists and their blue *pnish* shirts on.
This episode, the director announced, would be a physical contest! First up--PUSHUPS! They all had to do at least 20, and after that whoever stayed in the longest would be the winner. Yokoyama-director had a whistle, and every time he blew it, they had to go down and come back up. If at any point they fell too far behind, that member would be out.
All the guys got to 20 without too much strain, but beyond that, Tuti was the first to fall out around the late 30s, followed shortly by Wasshi. Eiji and Daiki went head to head all the way past 50, but Eiji eventually fell too far behind and the director called him out.
Next up was a sit-up contest! 20 again was the minimum, and after that it was up to whoever stayed in the longest. Wasshi dropped out first this time, and Eiji next (from falling too far behind again). Tuti and Daiki were the last two, but eventually Tuti could lift no more, and Daiki grabbed another win. When asked the secret to his strength, he showed the audience that he actually had some really NICE muscles (we saw a little demo in the TobePani DVD, if you recall), by lifting his shirt and showing us a beautiful stomach, and then rolling up his sleeves and showing us nicer arms than even Tuti had *_________*
The next segment was a tug-of-war. The guys jan-ken'd to break into pairs, and would play tug-of-war then much like the kitchen battle, with winners and losers decided accordingly. First up were Eiji and Wasshi, and poor Wasshi nearly hurt himself, but scraped together a win XD Next round was Tuti versus Daiki, and Tuti came out on top (barely XD But Daiki also nearly hurt himself running into a light). The finals pitted Tuti against Wasshi, and Wasshi came out on top, while it was Eiji against Daiki to decide who would be at the bottom of the group this time around--turned out to be Daiki XD
Next up was a special corner the director had prepared--called the "Director's Award." Yokoyama-director had gone through all the NaiPani episodes so far and picked moments he thought kind of, "summed up," each guy. He had then compiled a video, which they would all watch, and he would announce the winner of the Director's Award after it.
A screen came down, and the video started playing. First up, Sano Daiki! The video played a scene from inside the van on the way to a location in an early episode, where Daiki's talking and babbling really fast, going, "何だろう、あの自転車のナンダロウ??" (Nan darou, ano jitensha no nan darou?? <--this doesn't really make sense in Japanese, which is why the director chose it XD It's kind of meaninglessly repetitive XD "I wonder what it is, that's bicycle's...I wonder what it is...") Apparently to sum up Daiki, it's saying random stuff that makes no sense XD
Next up was Tuti! The video started playing, and we were taken back to their beach Sumo-wrestling tournament. If you've seen manikineko's video up on tutixnagayan here, you'll know EXACTLY the scene chosen: the director felt Tuti was best summed up in a video of "Tsuchiya's Okama Dash" (okama is the Japanese word for a really flaming gay guy XDDDDD) where we saw Tuti running around the ring, arms flying from side to side, legs high in the air. In addition, we saw Tuti falling dramatically to the ground in another very very gay pose. To Yokoyama-director, Tuti was best summed up as, "FLAMING GAY." XD
When asked to explain himself, Tuti had no words, really XD "What do you WANT me to say?!"
After this came Eiji. Those of you who saw the clips I posted the other day from the most recent NaiPani episode know EXACTLY which clip the director chose. Yes, it was the famed, "I want you, I need you, I love you.......*wink*...............................................*wink*" They played the clip some five or six times, zooming in closer and closer on Eiji's face, before Eiji himself finally begged them to stop it, while his fellow members collapsed into fits on stage XDDDDD
Last but not least was Wasshi. His clip was, "The eraser of Washio Noboru's mind" because during the most recent episode, he couldn't seem to remember ANYTHING he'd learned in school hardly XDDDDD
In dramatic fashion, the director announced that the winner of the Director's Award was..................................SANO DAIKI!!! Yaaaay! As testament to this, he was awarded a trophy. A trophy small enough for him to wear as an earring XD It was TEENYtiny XD
The final segment of the episode was a Balloon Popping Battle Royale! The guys were all fitted with belts with a balloon attached to the back (in their appropriate color of course) and were each give a bat with sandpaper taped to it. The object of the game? Pop your other members' balloons with your bat, and don't get popped yourself.
Sounds easy enough, but Tuti was talking already about how he was going to win this, and win EVERYTHING--so of course he went down first :D Next was Eiji, shortly after, and thinking it would be more fun, they both gave their bats to Wasshi and Daiki, who now had two each to work with.
In the end, Wasshi wound up popping Daiki's balloon (because the boy was complaining his arms were still sore from earlier XD), which left Tuti as the looooooser XD
The batsu-game this time? Weeeelll, you might remember back in the earlier episodes, when Eiji lost at billiards and had to sit by a balloon being blown up until it popped, yes? Same thing :D But a bigger balloon. Also, Tuti wasn't allowed to look XD so he didn't know when it was going to blow XDDDDD However, they stopped blowing it up past a certain point, and then instead of allowing it to just blow up, the others started throwing things at it to get it to blow.
In the end, Yokoyama-director wound up getting on of the bats back out XDDDDD The balloon blew, of course, and Tuti jumped a good few feet into the air 8DDDDD
Well, with that, NaiPani was over! All that was left was the announcement of the winner...
SANO DAIKI!!!!
Yes, Daiki-chan, our Leader, managed to make a comeback in the last two episodes and take down the seemingly-unstoppable yellow behemoth that is Tuti. Tuti didn't feel too bad, though--he was second. Wasshi came in third, so that means...
Eiji doesn't get back his treasure XDDD;;;;;
Speaking of those treasures--what WERE they? Well the director had kindly had them dug up for today, to give them back to the guys, and handed them out one by one.
Daiki's was a fedora hat. A while back, he went to Chile (I believe it was) with the TV show Ururun (the same one Nagayan was on in August) and stayed with a family there. When he left, he did a hat-trade with the man who'd taken him in, and it was this hat that he'd brought as his treasure, because it meant a lot to him.
Tuti's treasure was his tennis bag (with rackets inside!) from high school. He opened it up and took out one of the rackets, giving it a few swings, and showing us a BEAUTIFUL serve. Bouncing the imaginary ball on the ground, tossing it up, bending backwards til he almost was doing a backbend, and jumping forward and swing that racket overhead...I felt like I was watching that scene from MTL with the Australian Formation all over again, GOD *________* Daiki tried to copy and failed XD
Wasshi's treasure was a little trophy he'd won with his elementary school soccer team in his first tournament ever, even had a little ribbon on it XD
Eiji's...well, the director said, you'll have to wait til the DVD comes out to find out XD He refused to tell us >_> Bah!
There was one final little extra thing for the audience--they had collected our entrance tickets in a box, and had each member pull one at random. If you recall, last month's episode featured the guys making pottery. Well that pottery had been glazed and fired, and was there now (Daiki's, which had been smashed since it was the worse, was now a little ashtray XDDDD), and whoever's number they drew would go up and get to keep the work of the member who drew their name. Lucky bitches :P I would've killed for Tuti's XD Or even poor Daiki-chan's XDDDDDD
All right, that's pretty much it! Or at least all that I remember right now! I know I'll remember more later, but for now that's how it is! The DVD for these episodes won't be out, probably, for another 6ish months (since the episodes don't air til February and March), but I can't wait to see these already XD There's tons of interactions and stuff I couldn't write down and remember and all, so definitely look for that when it makes it online :DDDDDD
Guh, I'm bushed XD *flees*
All right, I'm not posting this to pnish because, well, I'm breaking enough "rules" as is posting this at all :D But I figure since there's VERY little chance this is getting over to the Japanese fans as it's written in English and locked, I'm okay posting this to my own private journal. This means, guys, DON'T GO TALKING ABOUT THIS IN PUBLIC PLACES (online, I mean) FOR.............3 months XD
Hai! Today was *drumroll* the NaiPani Recording event! Held at Space Zero in Shinjuku, Tokyo, this event spanned over 3 hours. What exactly was it? This was the actual filming of the final two episodes of *pnish*'s TV show Hottokenai! *pnish* TV! Yes, it's been nearly one full year since the show started, and that means it's almost over. We're 9 episodes in right now, the 10th will air in January, the 11th in February, and the final episode will air March 2008.
Today, they taped the 11th and 12th episodes. I did not realize THAT was what was happening--so that meant that we and we alone would know 3 months ahead of time not only who was to win NaiPani, but what exactly the guys buried!
We were asked ahead of time by Yokoyama-director (who was REALLY hot) and Inoue-producer not to post this online or tell friends or anything, because it would spoil the fun, but since I HAVE to spazz with SOMEONE, and gaijin are far enough removed from Japanese public spaces as we are, I figured it'd be okay.
With that said, this is, of course, VERY SPOILERY. I will write up as detailed a report as I can (I'm on the shinkansen writing this right now, and will post when I have net access at home), and that will definitely include the winner, and of course the poor loser, as well as talk about all their individual "treasures" they had to bury. You've been warned!
All righty, now that those formalities are out of the way, let's get down to business! We all lined up at Space Zero at noon with our little postcards in hand. I had an amazingly good number--11, of some 300 people--and so was right at the front, but seating inside was not assigned. That meant once we got into the theater, you could sit wherever you wanted. The first row was offlimits because of the cameras set up, along with the producer squatting down giving directions, so we quickly piled into the 2nd row.
I was a little off to the right, much like at the NaiPani Talk Event back in September, and had a perfect view of the stage--very very pleased. I ran into a girl I'd met at Saturday's evening show before, and we chatted for a few before she had to run back to her seat. The producer came out on stage a few minutes before the event was to start, to explain everything to us (pretty much everything I wrote about outside the cut). He also explained to us when it was appropriate to clap and speak to the guys and when we needed to be an observant audience, since this WAS being taped after all.
He left the stage, and after another few moments the lights went down and all was dark. You could hear movement on the stage, and then the lights came back up and the NaiPani opening theme started playing. There was *pnish* in those lovely black outfits, dancing away the same dance as in the show XD Complete, of course, with the goofy poses ♥
When it was over, they introduced themselves and thanked everyone for coming, and introduced the director of NaiPani (aka the "Do-S Director" who is always making them do stuff they hate XD) Yokoyama. He was to be the MC for the event, bringing them from scene to scene and telling them what to do next. He motioned to the guys to run along and get changed, and when they left the stage he started chatting up the audience.
When he asked someone to ask a question, any question, one girl asked for some behind-the-scenes info on the Haunted House episode. He grew serious and said there were actually weird things that went on! Like they'd be filming the guys, and behind them you'd be able to see some white figure pass from one door to another, and none of the workers would admit it was them. At this point, Tuti poked his head out, and then sauntered on stage alone. "That really DID happen," he agreed, mentioning another time when that same figure had appeared and no one could explain it.
Tuti and the director were the only ones on stage at this point (for the curious, Tuti was wearing the jeans he's really fond of with the tan material around the crotch and off-white belt, Puma shoes, and a tight (XDDDDD) gray t-shirt--boy looked GOOD). While waiting for the others to arrive after changing, Tuti chatted up the audience, asking who'd come to see On6 already (almost the whole audience raise their hands). He then asked who'd come from the furthest to see the taping today.
A few voices went up for Hyogo, Osaka, Kyoto, and one girl even came from Fukuoka (at the far southern tip of the country). By this time, Wasshi was out too, and the pair asked what part of Fukuoka (Kita-Kyuushuu, she said). When Daiki and Eiji finally rounded out the group, they were still talking about Fukuoka and people coming from far away to see the show.
So I took a gamble, put my hands to my mouth to be sure I was heard the 5 feet to the stage and called out, "America!."
The entire group, director and all, did a double take, repeating, "AMERICA? AMERICA?" but it was Yokoyama-director who decided to run with this. "Wow, *pnish* is getting fans all over the world now!" (>_> You've had fans all over the world for a while now, guys, you've met quite a few of them _o_) Tuti leaned forward towards me, asking, "What part of America?"
I said Louisiana, and not expecting them to know where it is, clarified that it was in the southern part of America. I was actually impressed they could pronounce the state (which meant they'd heard of it), because it gave my students no end of trouble pronouncing it.
Keep in mind, now, that this is all going on in front of 300 people--*pnish*, me, and the director having a conversation about Louisiana. After I mentioned around about where Louisiana was, the director motioned to the guys, going, "So do you know where Louisiana is, then?" Wasshi and Daiki shook their heads, but Eiji stepped forward, all cool, and nodded, "Yeah, I know where it is." The others kind of looked at him like, "Oh, really?" and Yokoyama asked, "Where?"
"In America, near the south."
........."SHE JUST SAID THAT." <--the others' response. It wasn't over yet, though XD Yokoyama-director continued, "So...who knows what the capital of Louisiana is?"
XDDDD I was DYING in my seat by this time, because most of the guys were like, "......Yeeeaaah NO idea." But then Tuti stepped forward, confidence all over his face. "I know this one, I know this one." He looked at me and said with all the confidence in the world:
"September."
..........Tsuchiya Yuuichi, I take back everything I said the other day about you being really smart and good at English and all XD SEPTEMBER? That's about as far from a city name as it's possible to get XDDDDD (he said the English word September, btw) The others pretty much felt the same way XD and between my spasms of laughter I realized the director was asking me to tell them the correct answer.
It actually took me a moment to remember (come on, who really thinks about this stuff on a daily basis?? XD) and I said slowly, so they could carve it into their sexy dancing brains, "Baton Rouge."
Lesson learned XD
With everyone finally gathered and the geography lesson over, it was time to start the show. They weren't taping yet (that I know of >_>) so it probably won't be on DVD, but I will forever have in my memory Tuti telling me so confidently that the capital of Louisiana is September (why does this sound like a weird DREAM? wtf)
There were a few minutes dedicated to the members all telling their favorite moments about NaiPani so far, and truthfully the only thing I remember now is Daiki's: he talked about how he'd really wanted to ride the free-fall ride (the one he was put on as a batsu-game) at first, but that the "shoddy" strap-in mechanism worried him too much. He tried to explain this to the audience by motioning with his hands around where there were straps, and where the pole was situated separating his legs.
Picture Daiki, now, standing on stage, motioning a pole coming between his legs, and talking about how he held on to it, bringing his hands up and down and up and down.
Yes, Daiki stood there for a good few minutes looking like he was jerking someone off. There were a good few girls in the audience, including me, who were DYING laughing, and poor Daiki, POOR Daiki, absolutely did NOT know what was going on. When he realized they were laughing at something he was doing, he stopped and asked what was going on, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to tell him XDDDD
Now, let me take a moment here to clarify what the NaiPani standings were at this point:
1) Tuti
2) Daiki
3) Wasshi
4) Eiji
There was about a 20 point difference between Daiki and Wasshi, but it was still anyone's game! With the results of the day's taping there could be a comeback! With that said, they jumped right into the first trial: Rock-Paper-Scissors!
Yes, that tried and true method of deciding stuff, the first round would feature a Rock/Paper/Scissors tournament (complete with the, "Acchi muite hoi!" pointing thingee that I hope everyone understands because I don't feel like saying it XD) It was a tough tournament, and...I think Daiki won? Or Tuti? XD;;; I couldn't take notes while it was going on, so I had to remember this all at the end, and unfortunately my mind was kind of mush for the 20 or so minutes after "September" XD;;;
Next, though, came a really fun corner, in which the director told everyone they were going to have to do an, "一発ギャグ", which is like, an off-the-cuff gag, just a little short funny SOMETHING, whatever you can come up with. There was one catch, though--the audience was asked not to laugh. The director would then decide who won by how much the audience couldn't HELP laughing.
Tuti felt he had this one in the bag and offered to go first. His gag was: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi ("Spirited Away") in 20-seconds. Picture Tuti doing all the characters and scenes for that in super fast motion XD It was hilarious, but I maintained my composure relatively well XD
Next up was Wasshi. His gag was: "Katsura" ("Wig") and all he did was make his scalp move independent of his face so it looked like he had a wig on and it was moving around XDDDDD he did really well, actually!
Third was Daiki, and he sauntered on stage, all confidence. For his gag, he would be imitating...Washio Noboru! This involved him standing on stage, a blank look on his face, staring into space for 30 seconds. When that was done, he added, "Wasshi at Rehearsals!" Which was him mostly sleeping, until he was "caught" and then jumped up and apoligized, or thanked individual people with a brilliant smile XDDDDD Wasshi himself was DYING laughing XDDDDD
Eiji went last, and it took me a moment to realize what he was doing: he was counting from one to ten and using the first letters/sounds of each number to start a sentence describing some part of his life or himself.
The winner of this segment was Daiki-chan yaaaaay~!!
For the next segment, the director asked the guys to close their eyes while the staff readied their props. These "props" were hats that looked like those cone-shaped part hats, fitted with a big piece of posterboard, each with a different word written on it. This was going to be an, "NG Word Corner"! The idea was, each guy had some word written on his board that he couldn't see, but he could see all the others'. The object was to make all the others say their word, and to figure out what was written on your own without actually saying it. If you guessed what your word was correctly, you'd get 10 points, but if you guessed incorrectly, you'd LOSE 5 points. No point change if you got out by one of the others making you say your word.
Tuti's was: 女子 (joshi, "girl")
Daiki's: 初恋 (Hatsu Koi, "first love")
Wasshi's: ボイン (Boin, "big breasts" [kinda slangy])
Eiji's was: ヒゲ (Hige, "beard")
Tuti got knocked out first when the talk turned to early school days. Apparently Tuti went to a TINY elementary school--there were only 50 kids in his entire year, 25 each in two classes. Wasshi was next, when he incorrectly guessed his word as 胸 (mune, "breasts" [the usual word, can also mean "chest"] XDDDDD). Eiji and Daiki "battled" for a while, but neither could make the other say his word, nor could either guess his own, so the director called a draw for the two.
After tallying up the points, it was time to decide who would win and who would be the loooooser. The points came down to Tuti winning this round, with Eiji second, Daiki 3rd, and Wasshi last. What was the batsu-game? One they would all take part in!
The staff brought out a table with four plates on top of it. On each of the plates was a delicious looking cream puff. But inside of just one, the director said, was MUSTARD. They would all choose one, and then eat, and since Tuti won, he got to choose first.
After everyone had chosen, the director gave them the cue, and the guys bit in. Tuti scarfed his down in a couple of bites, but everyone else was being very careful, wary of the impending attack upon their tastebuds.
Tuti would regret eating his so fast, because with it all in his mouth, he came to the horrific realization that yes, his was the mustard-filled one XDDDDD He hacked and coughed and drank water for the next five minutes, HILARIOUS SHIT, MAN.
After this, there was a 20 minute break for bathroom and costume-changes, and then it was on to the next episode! When the guys came back out, they were wearing their black *pnish* suits--Wasshi and Eiji had theirs zipped up, while Tuti and Daiki had theirs on halfway, with the upper jacket part tied around their waists and their blue *pnish* shirts on.
This episode, the director announced, would be a physical contest! First up--PUSHUPS! They all had to do at least 20, and after that whoever stayed in the longest would be the winner. Yokoyama-director had a whistle, and every time he blew it, they had to go down and come back up. If at any point they fell too far behind, that member would be out.
All the guys got to 20 without too much strain, but beyond that, Tuti was the first to fall out around the late 30s, followed shortly by Wasshi. Eiji and Daiki went head to head all the way past 50, but Eiji eventually fell too far behind and the director called him out.
Next up was a sit-up contest! 20 again was the minimum, and after that it was up to whoever stayed in the longest. Wasshi dropped out first this time, and Eiji next (from falling too far behind again). Tuti and Daiki were the last two, but eventually Tuti could lift no more, and Daiki grabbed another win. When asked the secret to his strength, he showed the audience that he actually had some really NICE muscles (we saw a little demo in the TobePani DVD, if you recall), by lifting his shirt and showing us a beautiful stomach, and then rolling up his sleeves and showing us nicer arms than even Tuti had *_________*
The next segment was a tug-of-war. The guys jan-ken'd to break into pairs, and would play tug-of-war then much like the kitchen battle, with winners and losers decided accordingly. First up were Eiji and Wasshi, and poor Wasshi nearly hurt himself, but scraped together a win XD Next round was Tuti versus Daiki, and Tuti came out on top (barely XD But Daiki also nearly hurt himself running into a light). The finals pitted Tuti against Wasshi, and Wasshi came out on top, while it was Eiji against Daiki to decide who would be at the bottom of the group this time around--turned out to be Daiki XD
Next up was a special corner the director had prepared--called the "Director's Award." Yokoyama-director had gone through all the NaiPani episodes so far and picked moments he thought kind of, "summed up," each guy. He had then compiled a video, which they would all watch, and he would announce the winner of the Director's Award after it.
A screen came down, and the video started playing. First up, Sano Daiki! The video played a scene from inside the van on the way to a location in an early episode, where Daiki's talking and babbling really fast, going, "何だろう、あの自転車のナンダロウ??" (Nan darou, ano jitensha no nan darou?? <--this doesn't really make sense in Japanese, which is why the director chose it XD It's kind of meaninglessly repetitive XD "I wonder what it is, that's bicycle's...I wonder what it is...") Apparently to sum up Daiki, it's saying random stuff that makes no sense XD
Next up was Tuti! The video started playing, and we were taken back to their beach Sumo-wrestling tournament. If you've seen manikineko's video up on tutixnagayan here, you'll know EXACTLY the scene chosen: the director felt Tuti was best summed up in a video of "Tsuchiya's Okama Dash" (okama is the Japanese word for a really flaming gay guy XDDDDD) where we saw Tuti running around the ring, arms flying from side to side, legs high in the air. In addition, we saw Tuti falling dramatically to the ground in another very very gay pose. To Yokoyama-director, Tuti was best summed up as, "FLAMING GAY." XD
When asked to explain himself, Tuti had no words, really XD "What do you WANT me to say?!"
After this came Eiji. Those of you who saw the clips I posted the other day from the most recent NaiPani episode know EXACTLY which clip the director chose. Yes, it was the famed, "I want you, I need you, I love you.......*wink*...............................................*wink*" They played the clip some five or six times, zooming in closer and closer on Eiji's face, before Eiji himself finally begged them to stop it, while his fellow members collapsed into fits on stage XDDDDD
Last but not least was Wasshi. His clip was, "The eraser of Washio Noboru's mind" because during the most recent episode, he couldn't seem to remember ANYTHING he'd learned in school hardly XDDDDD
In dramatic fashion, the director announced that the winner of the Director's Award was..................................SANO DAIKI!!! Yaaaay! As testament to this, he was awarded a trophy. A trophy small enough for him to wear as an earring XD It was TEENYtiny XD
The final segment of the episode was a Balloon Popping Battle Royale! The guys were all fitted with belts with a balloon attached to the back (in their appropriate color of course) and were each give a bat with sandpaper taped to it. The object of the game? Pop your other members' balloons with your bat, and don't get popped yourself.
Sounds easy enough, but Tuti was talking already about how he was going to win this, and win EVERYTHING--so of course he went down first :D Next was Eiji, shortly after, and thinking it would be more fun, they both gave their bats to Wasshi and Daiki, who now had two each to work with.
In the end, Wasshi wound up popping Daiki's balloon (because the boy was complaining his arms were still sore from earlier XD), which left Tuti as the looooooser XD
The batsu-game this time? Weeeelll, you might remember back in the earlier episodes, when Eiji lost at billiards and had to sit by a balloon being blown up until it popped, yes? Same thing :D But a bigger balloon. Also, Tuti wasn't allowed to look XD so he didn't know when it was going to blow XDDDDD However, they stopped blowing it up past a certain point, and then instead of allowing it to just blow up, the others started throwing things at it to get it to blow.
In the end, Yokoyama-director wound up getting on of the bats back out XDDDDD The balloon blew, of course, and Tuti jumped a good few feet into the air 8DDDDD
Well, with that, NaiPani was over! All that was left was the announcement of the winner...
SANO DAIKI!!!!
Yes, Daiki-chan, our Leader, managed to make a comeback in the last two episodes and take down the seemingly-unstoppable yellow behemoth that is Tuti. Tuti didn't feel too bad, though--he was second. Wasshi came in third, so that means...
Eiji doesn't get back his treasure XDDD;;;;;
Speaking of those treasures--what WERE they? Well the director had kindly had them dug up for today, to give them back to the guys, and handed them out one by one.
Daiki's was a fedora hat. A while back, he went to Chile (I believe it was) with the TV show Ururun (the same one Nagayan was on in August) and stayed with a family there. When he left, he did a hat-trade with the man who'd taken him in, and it was this hat that he'd brought as his treasure, because it meant a lot to him.
Tuti's treasure was his tennis bag (with rackets inside!) from high school. He opened it up and took out one of the rackets, giving it a few swings, and showing us a BEAUTIFUL serve. Bouncing the imaginary ball on the ground, tossing it up, bending backwards til he almost was doing a backbend, and jumping forward and swing that racket overhead...I felt like I was watching that scene from MTL with the Australian Formation all over again, GOD *________* Daiki tried to copy and failed XD
Wasshi's treasure was a little trophy he'd won with his elementary school soccer team in his first tournament ever, even had a little ribbon on it XD
Eiji's...well, the director said, you'll have to wait til the DVD comes out to find out XD He refused to tell us >_> Bah!
There was one final little extra thing for the audience--they had collected our entrance tickets in a box, and had each member pull one at random. If you recall, last month's episode featured the guys making pottery. Well that pottery had been glazed and fired, and was there now (Daiki's, which had been smashed since it was the worse, was now a little ashtray XDDDD), and whoever's number they drew would go up and get to keep the work of the member who drew their name. Lucky bitches :P I would've killed for Tuti's XD Or even poor Daiki-chan's XDDDDDD
All right, that's pretty much it! Or at least all that I remember right now! I know I'll remember more later, but for now that's how it is! The DVD for these episodes won't be out, probably, for another 6ish months (since the episodes don't air til February and March), but I can't wait to see these already XD There's tons of interactions and stuff I couldn't write down and remember and all, so definitely look for that when it makes it online :DDDDDD
Guh, I'm bushed XD *flees*