Henna Kao Yatta Mon
04 April 2008
This week's review of Haromoni@ has been delayed slightly because of problems with my broadband and phone. I'm currently waiting on an engineer to come and fix the line. It'll probably take until sometime next week at the earliest. I'm guessing the next review will also be a little late but everything should be back to schedule in a couple of weeks' time. In the meantime I'll still be able to continue my Haromoni@ tally project with help from the local library's broadband.
Every perverts' dream has come true this week. They're all wearing skimpy cheerleader costumes complete with loose socks and gold pom-poms. The red and white combo works really well. Reminds me of strawberries and cream. I have to admit they do look quite good but I still prefer their cafe waitress outfits from a few shows ago.
The first clip is a continuation of the now famous GakiKame series. It starts with Kamei Eri calling home and telling her mum (Niigaki Risa) that she's on her way home. Risa starts to make some curry for dinner. She chops the top off a carrot and deftly throws it behind her back and into the bin at the other end of the kitchen. Meanwhile, Eri starts rushing back but trips over a discarded drinks can. Cue comedic slow-motion fall complete with over-the-top sound effects. Clearly annoyed she grabs the can and lobs it backwards over her head. It lands straight in the bin behind her, much to the surprise of the person sat on the bench next to it. The clinking sound as it drops in is so satisfying for some weird reason. Back in the kitchen Risa begins to slice some potatoes. She throws each piece into the pot on the stove beside her without turning her head and continues to chop some more. Back with Eri we see her run past a woman on a bicycle, who drops her purse without noticing. After failing to get the woman's attention she throws it straight into the basket on the back of the bike. I thought this one was quite impressive as it's quite difficult to hit a moving target.
Outside the house we see a kid trying to get a basketball into a hoop but failing. The ball rolls to Eri's feet and she picks it up and throws it, backwards over her head, right into the hoop. Impressed by this feat, the kid tries to recreate it but only manages to break someone's window. Finally arriving at home Eri and Risa settle down to eat their curry. They flip each other their spoons and begin to tuck into their food. They finish with their classic 'A' for Art pose. Though this clip didn't do anything radically different from previous shows it was still fun to watch. The things they do aren't mystifying but they're still very entertaining. The members agree and give the video 8/8 stars.
There was a couple of animal clips including one featuring some extremely cute and fluffy kittens that Tanaka Reina liked so much she wanted to eat them. There was also a guy rolling a frying pan into a tube and snapping the handle off. I'm not sure if it was a real pan or not but the girls didn't like it at all and gave it 0/8. After this Risa's Korean impression series returned with another skit. The highlight of this clip was definitely her fake moustache. I've read somewhere that oddly it seemed to suit her quite well, and without trying to sound rude to Risa, I have to say they're sort of right. The act itself was quite funny but I don't think she'll ever beat her Koshima Yoshio impression that she did. The whole thing was just perfect in that video. From the music to the costume and dancing, it just worked so well.
For the first time ever they're showing a couple of videos that were sent in from outside Japan. The first is from Indonesia and the narrator asks Michishige Sayumi if she knew where Indonesia was. Almost immediately she replies with some confidence, “Germany? Germany?” Then Lin Lin suggests it's somewhere on Earth. Reina tries Germany again much to the dismay of the narrator. Takahashi Ai valiantly tries to stop everyone from embarrassing themselves but fails. The narrator tells them that Indonesia is in South-East Asia to which Risa asks, “You mean the top-right area?” /laugh. The whole thing was pure class. It reminded me very much of the old Utaban episodes where they made fun of the members' lack of geographical knowledge. In the end the proceeding clip was a bit of an anti-climax. All it was was a guy balancing a couple of forks on a matchstick propped up on the tip of his finger. The build up to it was much more entertaining to watch.
The second video was from Jamaica. Obviously, once again, the narrator asks Sayumi if she knows where Jamaica is. This time she replied, “Hawaii! Hawaii! Hawaii!” followed by, “I know! I know! England!”. The best thing is that the other members didn't realise how stupid the suggestions were and so didn't react. The video was another quiz where the members had to guess the answer. This time it was asking which famous Japanese person's theme tune had become popular in Jamaica? Jun Jun went first and suggested that it was herself. She looked so cute when she did it. I think that's sealed it for me and I'm now officially a Jun Jun fan. As expected though, it wasn't Jun Jun's theme tune but Koshima Yoshio's 'Oppapii' gag (the one Risa copied in her Korean imitation series). For some odd reason it's become hugely popular in Jamaica as a Reggae song. Very odd indeed.
There was video from Kusumi Koharu singing the whole chorus of 'Mori no Kuma-san' in under 20 seconds. It's quite a long chorus and it did seem quite impressive that she could sing it so fast. Tanaka Deka returned with another interview irritation technique. This time she produced a small jigsaw puzzle of Ai's face that was missing a single piece. She wouldn't let the suspect complete the puzzle until he'd confessed. I don't think this one was quite as funny. Finally the end of the show featured Mitsui Aika returning for another memory test. She had to recall the names of 30 countries from seeing its flag. It ranks up there as one of the more difficult tasks as there are a lot of flags that look very similar or that you've never seen before. There were a few slight slip-ups but it was a very commendable effort.
This has turned into one hell of a long post. Funny thing is that I didn't think I'd have much to write about after watching the episode for the first time. I also had some extra stuff I wanted to include too. Good job I cut them or I'd have a serious novel on my hands!
Posted byHocchan at 2:39 pm
