Onegai Tomato Kite
09 May 2008
It looks like the battle between Jun Jun and Mitsui Aika on the memory test segment has started a full scale war between all the members. They're all competing to be the ultimate memory champion. It looks like this contest will span at least two episodes; most probably three. The outfit they're wearing for it seems to match the occasion. The theme is 'bujutsu' (which can be translated as martial arts) - quite fitting for a battle of attrition. Although I think it would have looked better if the hakama weren't white like the gi. However, I was pleased to see that they were still wearing the hachimaki, I'm a big fan of those. The katana were a nice touch but I doubt many of the girls know how to wield one properly.
For this contest they've split the members into two groups - 'A' block and 'B' block. 'A' block consists of Niigaki Risa, Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina, Mitsui Aika and Jun Jun. I think they should have put Jun Jun and Aika in separate groups to make it more interesting. The topic of choice for 'A' block was the names of vegetables. There were thirty different ones to remember in total. But they weren't your usual peas and carrots (although they put tomato in there as a freebie) but rather things like artichoke, molokhia and okra. The main aim was to collect as many cards as possible by naming the vegetable depicted on it. Whoever had the most cards at the end would progress onto the final round. If all the members failed to name the same card then that card got discarded from the pack.
Sayumi went first but she couldn't recall the name of the vegetable. Everyone else got their first attempt correct. Back with Sayumi, she was already in trouble and praying for tomato to appear. Her wish wasn't granted though and she ended up with something else. I liked how Kusumi piped up and told her it was hopeless. Kusumi was right and Sayumi answered incorrectly. Once again the other members got the name of their cards correct. Onto the third round and it was back to Sayumi. She was praying for tomato again but it wasn't to be. Luckily, this one she did know the answer to and Sayumi finally got her first point! All the other members got theirs right again. On the fourth round a miracle occurred. Sayumi's prayers were answered and she was finally blessed with the elusive tomato card! Her joy was evident as she waved the card around and gave a rendition of the ten-second tomato act from a few shows ago. Aika and Risa also got their fourth round cards correct but Reina and Jun Jun didn't and dropped their first points.
Things were starting to get tough now and a lot of incorrect answers started to appear, including Aika's first ever incorrect answer, much to everyone's suprise (and Reina's delight). Risa's card on the fifth round turned out to be the most troublesome one of them all. The name of the vegetable was 'o-o-ku-ro-gu-wa-i'. Risa got the third syllable wrong and it was deemed incorrect. I absolutely adored her "Huh!?" when the narrator went, "Oh?" after hearing her first answer. It was like, "Huh!? Don't ask me to repeat myself, punk, or I'll hurt you!". Absolutely brilliant facial expression. I love the way her hair is styled this week with the hachimaki.
After Risa came Jun Jun who got the card Aika couldn't answer. Jun Jun very nearly got the name correct but was a couple syllables out. She tried to find divine inspiration by staring up into Heaven. The narrator remarked that she looked like Saint Francis Xavier. From the way she was clutching that picture card I can sort of see the resemblance.
The rest of the competition proceeded without too much incident. Each member got the 'ookuroguwai' card and all got it wrong. Jun Jun looked like she had given up and didn't get any more correct. Sayumi made a late surge and managed to collect a set of three cards that looked very similar. Looks like those vegetables were her speciality. There was no stopping Aika as she cleared all her remaining cards. Reina correctly named the card that both Jun Jun and Aika got wrong. It was during this question that I noticed the skull earrings that she was wearing. Those are some awesome looking earrings, I have to say.
It was a very close run thing by the end. Aika just about held onto her lead with 8 points. Reina secured second place by getting the final card correct. Risa, despite starting strongly, dropped too many points and came in at third place. Sayumi got a respectable 5 points and finished above Jun Jun, who only ended up with 3 points.
Next week's episode will feature the competition between Takahashi Ai, Kamei Eri, Kusumi Koharu and Lin Lin. I'm guessing that the winner of that will face a final showdown in the show after that to decide the ultimate champion. I'm looking forward to it!
Posted byHocchan at 2:24 pm
