The Quiz Show : Intro

The Quiz Show (Season 2) – Spring 2009 [NTV - http://www.ntv.co.jp/quizshow]
Subbing Groups : SBK Fansubs & JE Mix Fansubs as well as STORMY team. Otsukaresamadeshita! (お疲れ様でした!)

The screenshots from this episode come from the STORMY team hardsubs. Speaking about STORMY I will say that they only sub Arashi oriented material so seeing them doing The Quiz Show is no surprise. I’m not a big fan of their styled subs in this drama. I find the red stroke they use here incredibly distracting considering the thin font. (STORMY’s hardsubs from Maou, which I will be reviewing eventually, are excellent and I will have plenty to say on that end.) However, as someone who is a fan of many Jpop and Kpop musicians and loves to see translations of music, variety shows, behind the scenes material, etc, STORMY’s dedication to bringing “readability” to the Arashi fan community is something I appreciate greatly. A huge thumbs up and thanks to them for their commitment to Arashiness … ness! *cheeky grin*

For the remaining episodes I will be watching the 704×396 .avi version of The Quiz Show brought to us by the collaborative efforts SBK Fansubs & JE Mix Fansubs. (There is a 1280×720 version available) JE Mix is hardcore about their love of Johnny’s Entertainment media and since there is a yummy Arashi member as The Quiz Show star, I can see why JE is involved in this project with SBK. SBK has been around a long while and are a dedicated group. I greatly admire their continued focus on completing projects that are clearly labors of true love through all of life’s ups and downs. Hardsubs are always a bonus when the subs are styled well and I really love the sub work done here. The font and stroke color work perfectly with the drama’s overall look (much like STORMY previously did with Maou) and is not distracting at all as you will see from episode 2 on.

Any drama that begins with a patient in an asylum having a nightmare about someone’s death is a clear indication of two important factors:

1. A trainwreck is assured.
2. I will absolutely love this!

As much as I hate to throw in psychiatry jokes I have to say whatever medication is used to get Kamiyama-kun functional as a spectacular MC on live television is something that I would love to have available in the field. *grin* Clearly, it’s not Wellbutrin.

I have not had the pleasure of being able to see The Quiz Show – Season 1 and I will be honest and say that I’m not sure how the two seasons relate to each other if at all. This 2nd season is my first experience with this incredibly unique setup. The Quiz Show plot structure serves as a brilliant format for a mystery/thriller and actually, when I think about it, this structure would make an EXCELLENT stage play. From a purely professional perspective, watching the first episode had me foaming at the mouth. I absolutely love to see writing that explores the complex layers of emotional psychology. As an audience member who can really sink her teeth into watching, quite literally in this case, tiered levels of cognitive emotionality begin, evolve, and culminate, I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of this drama. The contestant on this first episode has a delicious mix of guilt, self-loathing, anger, and low-self esteem, and Kamiyama-kun has an equally tasty mix of mental instability, trauma induced retrograde amnesia, and perhaps a hint of dissociative identity disorder. Woot! I’m so ready for this! *grin*

Because there is a multi-layered mystery that makes up the root of this drama, I don’t plan to reveal too much about each episode aside from a general analysis of each contestant. I will say that each contestant has something to do with the overall connection between the mentally disturbed MC of the show and the producer who seems desperate to trigger the MC’s locked memories. What connects them and why is the true mystery of The Quiz Show and something I am looking forward to having revealed ingeniously over the remaining episodes.

The concept of The Quiz Show is brilliantly simplistic. Answer 7 questions correctly to win ¥10,000,000 or challenge the “Dream Chance”. If you pass the Dream Chance then the television company will make your dream come true. Easy right? Suuuure. Let me just mention one thing before you say so. As the questions continue, each one becomes more and more personal, eventually culminating in revealing the contestant’s deepest secret. By the end of the show they have to either give up and lose all chance of obtaining their dream or admit the truth of their sins in front of the audience on live television.

Andou-san has a dream. Everyone does. Big or small, a dream is a dream. Andou-san’s dream is something that comes from the very depth of who he is as a person. It defines him and pushes him forward in ways that are both passionate and destructive. One of the things I love about the writing of this particular episode is the exploration of selfishness. Any of my students will tell you that I could lecture for days on selfishness and how it is one of the single most destructive emotions in the human psyche. Although, just because when you scratch just below the surface of selfishness you will strike the oil of anger 9 times out of 10, anger isn’t really the main problem. The problem with selfishness is that it masks itself as selfNESS (the concept of doing something necessary, focused, and healthy for yourself) and floats on a murky sea of anger. Andou-san’s selfishness isn’t primarily about greed, but it is definitely about anger and that anger is what fuels his motivations and mistakes.

I understand Andou-san, I empathize with him, I see even before I am told, where he has been and what he has been through. I see him hiding behind a character of himself on stage. I see him wanting to convince himself, more than the audience, that he is the person he wants to be. He tries too hard and in doing so only makes himself look foolish which then only continues to stoke the fire of his desperation. He wants so much to be THE Andou-san when in reality he is only AN Andou-san. The truth of Andou-san, as he peers into the mirrored eyes of everyone around him, is something that he cannot face and he will destroy everything around him to avoid that reflection of himself. Watching him be broken like a stubborn horse, and there is really now other way to describe the process, is kind of fascinating and devastating to watch. I anticipate that watching each contestant in the subsequent episodes will have very much the same affect on me.

Can we just take a moment to talk about Sakurai Sho? Can we? I mean damn. Just damn! I don’t think he could get any cuter or anymore psychotic! I love him and I want to take him home and lock him in a cage. From the hair, to the eyes, to the lips, to the SNEERING and the LEERING and the quirky dancing and eccentric emotional fluctuations, he is an all around great actor. His portrayal of Kamiyama Satoru is truly a pleasure to watch. Like his fellow Arashi brother in Maou, Sakurai-kun is playing a character that has extremely complicated emotional levels that need to be portrayed oftentimes simultaneously.

A good friend of mine who is an actress just marveled, while watching Maou, at the acting job. When I told her the guy was from a Jpop group she just about died. To paraphrase her, she more or less went on about how she spent years in acting school studying these kind of nuances and emotional transitions and wondered what kind, if any, formal acting training was given to these performers to wield these astonishing results. “Do they seriously pull these guys out of dance practice and go ‘By the way, today you’re playing a multidimensional character in a drama. Go.’ and they just pull off these award winning performances?” Maybe. I have no idea. All I know is that my exposure to these dramas is relatively new and if you had told me these guys were Jpop boy-idols, I wouldn’t have believed it until I saw them dancing on Jpopasia.com.

Characters like Kamiyama Satoru and Naruse Ryo are “Dream Chances” for any actor. They are our Patrick Batemans’ and Norman Bates’. They are oceans of complexity and deep seeded emotional explosions that the performers have to keep erupting just below the surface to get those eyes – those looks – those moments where, as an audience member, you know something is not quite right. Kamiyama-kun is mesmerizing to watch. I spent a long time taking screenshots of his distinctive looks. In one moment he is smiling at you, teasing you, and yet making you feel somehow small, scared, and exposed. The next moment he is glaring at you, peering into you because he knows your secret and you feel even more exposed, more scared, and microscopic. One moment he is a clown and the next moment he’s the Devil. I simply love him.

THINGS I GUARANTEE WE WILL SEE A LOT OF IN UPCOMING EPISODES
The epically creepy “Inviter”	The “Cut To A Commercial” button	Honma-kun’s crap attitude
Saejima-san running and/or apologizing	Contestant “Oh shit” or “I’m screwed” face.	Kamiyama-san’s ingeniusly sarcastic backhanded eye-smirks

I will try to point these out everytime. *grin*

As usual, thanks to STORMY, SBK, and JE Mix for providing the subs for this great drama. I appreciate the dedication and hardwork that goes into making this media possible for myself and my partner to review and for all drama fans to enjoy. Keep up the great work and I look forward to more episodes!

• Favorite Scene: Any scene with Saejima-san running in those heels.
• Favorite Line: Everytime Kamiyama-san says "Andou-san ...."
• Favorite Kamiyama-san Look: Timecode (approximately) 40:04
• Song Playing On Winamp: "Toc Toc Toc" - Hyori Lee

• The Quiz Show : Episode 2
• Majo Saiban : Intro
• Monster Parent : Complete
• Orthros no Inu : Intro
• Hancho : Intro
• Godhand Teru : Intro