Matsumoto 1 Year Hiatus?

Spinning off from the [url=http://www.gaki-no-tsukai.com/viewtopic.php?p=38629#p38629:9i6m3b5q]other thread[/url:9i6m3b5q], I thought it’d be a good as its own topic.

Here’s the article if anyone can translate:

From what I can make out vaguely from Google Translate (so probably innacurate) its something along the lines that Matsumoto will suspend his entertainment activities for one year from April to focus on directing his fourth film. Which has apparently had some trouble causing delays in the start of filming which had been scheduled for late January.

[quote:9i6m3b5q]松本が芸能活動を休止して取り組むのが映画製作。『しんぼる』『さや侍』などに続き、4作目となる新作映画に取り組むらしい。ところが、1月下旬に予定されていたクランクインが予期せぬトラブルで大幅に遅れているとの話なのだ。[/quote:9i6m3b5q]
It seems to say Hamada will take on those entertainment activities alone in the gap.

[quote:9i6m3b5q]「今年4月から1年の期間限定プロジェクトです。相方の浜田雅功は芸能活動を続け、松本の穴を埋める形です」(番組プロデューサー)[/quote:9i6m3b5q]
Google Translate: "There seems to be ambition to graduate from the world of comedy, I want to live as any filmmaker." aspiring to be on par with film director Takeshi Kitano.

[quote:9i6m3b5q] 松本がここまでこだわるのは、北野武監督を目標にしているからだという。
「松本は北野を『監督として尊敬する』と公言し、どうにか“世界のキタノ”に追い付きたい。クリエイターとして北野に認められたいんですよ」(事情通)
いずれはお笑い界を卒業し、映画監督として生きていきたい野望があるようだ。[/quote:9i6m3b5q]
It talks about the Hey Hey Hey! cancellation and status of other regular programs?

[quote:9i6m3b5q]現に18年間続いてきた看板番組『HEY!HEY!HEY！』(フジ)を昨年暮れに終了させたばかりか、現在あるレギュラー番組の大半を、自ら終わらせようと画策しているとの話も聞こえるほどなのだ。[/quote:9i6m3b5q]
As well as about Gaki no Tsukai performance?

[quote:9i6m3b5q]「『ガキの使いやあらへんで!! 大晦日年越しスペシャル』(日テレ系)は、視聴率やDVD売り上げも好調なのに、終了を口にして日テレ関係者を慌てさせた。松本はマンネリが一番嫌いなんですよ」(放送作家)[/quote:9i6m3b5q]

There are some blogging/posting about it in Japan.
Some links:
[hide:9i6m3b5q].

Some do seem to question whether its authentic or tabloid gossip (I guess its like the equivalent of The Daily Mail in the UK here being the first to publish some surprising news, people usually react with skepticism since "its The Daily Mail").
It’s also odd this site seems to have a similar article about a 1 year hiatus but dated as having the 1 year gap start in 2009?

Saya Samurai was already finished filming, about a year ago.
Even Zurui subbed the Movie - a good one at that.
The information found is quite inconsistent.

[quote="al4bandi":jw9jc2f3]Saya Samurai was already finished filming, about a year ago.
Even Zurui subbed the Movie - a good one at that.
The information found is quite inconsistent.[/quote:jw9jc2f3]

Its a bit hazy with Google Translate but I guess actually its saying "films such as Saya Samurai, Symbol" instead? It talks about a 4th installment?
『しんぼる』『さや侍』などに続き、4作目となる新作映画に取り組むらしい。
(Putting just Saya Samurai was my mistake, sorry, I mistook it as a ongoing series. Since I’m unfamiliar with Matsumoto’s films, which I should rectify, the trailers look interesting ).

Some other blog post lists the other 3 and talks about a 4th:
1作目「大日本人」 (2007)
2作目「しんぼる」 (2009)
3作目「さや侍」 (2011)
Source: http://matsumotohitosi.seesaa.net/artic … 78055.html

Still it does seem strange when looking at this article:

Which I assume was in the runup to his second film released in 2009.

Oh yeah, I read about this a few weeks ago but dismissed it since all the commenters were dismissing it as gossip. Although it isn’t a secret that 1) Matsumoto is interested in moving beyond comedy into films (he flat out said so in an English interview), and 2) Apart from the year end show and merch sales, Gaki’s ratings aren’t great… But I think if this were serious news there would be some kind of official announcement by now…

Not necessarily. In my experience in Japan, the bosses try to keep their cards close to their chest for as long as possible. Especially if there are health considerations. I’m not saying Matsumoto is ill, but I’m willing to bet there’s more to it than a movie. A year just for that seems excessive.

[quote="giffan":13e1er3e]Apart from the year end show and merch sales, Gaki’s ratings aren’t great…[/quote:13e1er3e]

Thats a real shame. I wonder how ‘bad’ though? Still better than other shows?

At least this 27th Feb article lists it in "Our popular Japanese TV programs abroad" so guess its still "popular" (for the abroad aspect it talks about Silent Library receiving over 4 million views online):

[quote:13e1er3e]ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!!
番組丸々が人気、というわけでなく、「サイレント図書館」という番組内の企画の一つが海外で大人気。サイレント図書館は、静かな図書館の中でどんなことがあっても声を出してはいけない、というもの。年末特番でおなじみの『笑ってはいけないシリーズ』の原型になったといわれている企画です。某動画サイトにアップロードされた動画は、400万回以上の再生回数を記録しました。世界最大のミュージック・チャンネルである『MTV』でも同じコンセプトの番組が製作されたことがありました。 [/quote:13e1er3e]
Google Translate:
[hide:13e1er3e]So rather than a whole program, one of the projects in the program called "Silent Library" is very popular abroad. Silent library, where one should not be loud at any cost in a quiet library. A project design that is said to have become a familiar archetype of the "Do not laugh series" at the end of year specials. Videos that are uploaded to the site, recorded views of more than 4 million. With the same concept the program was even produced by "MTV", the world's largest music channel.[/hide:13e1er3e]
Its a shame the show cant be ported abroad officially subbed or something as a booster in audience/sales.

Well, I wouldn’t say ‘bad’ but I’ve just read that they’re down quite a bit (in the same articles they talk about their dvds selling really well as usual). But then again you never know how accurate this kind of information is ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Can you imagine if they had a way to add up the number of viewers for all Gaki related clips on the web? It really is too bad they’re not interested in making it available internationally, even if it were just the batsu games…

I think you’d be surprised how low sales of the DVDs would be in English speaking countries. As someone who works with others close in the entertainment industry in the UK, they would only produce around 5,000 units and they would be hard to sell. Sales of DVDs are down across the board anyway, and the cost of getting episodes officially translated is usually what stops Japanese TV from being exported. Take for instance the UK edition of Takeshi’s Castle - the UK channel (Challenge) decided to cut episodes down from 45 minutes to 20, jettisoning all of the skits, and overdubbing new commentary over the J-language track. This was considerably cheaper than getting someone to sub the whole thing.

Not to put a downer on the financial realities of releasing Gaki worldwide - I would really love Downtown to have a bigger profile outside of Japan.

Ah, that’s true. Though I’m wondering if it could be anything like the official set for Gamecenter CX where it included fansubs. I don’t know if that would make a difference or not, that most of the games are already more or less completely subbed. Of course that doesn’t take into consideration getting the permission first and contacting the right people to use them… And it can’t really be compared too much to Gamecenter because gaming has a much larger fanbase than Gaki. Oh well, we can dream

I think that with certain Japanese shows, it seems to be more popular when kept as is. Like with the Silent Library getting 4 million+ views apparently according to that article. The Americanised and British versions pretty much flopped I think, you don’t see people talking about them so they don’t seem to get any viral advertising compared to the original Japanese version which seems to still catch new viewers abroad. Clips of "Human Tetris" (which apparently is called "Brain Wall" in Japan) was hugely popular online and was turned into a show called Hole in the Wall in various countries but I don’t think it became as popular. I bet there’s more chance of seeing people post about the Japanese clips still than finding people posting about the other versions. People maybe watch it if a certain celebrity is on then forget it. I did watch the version made for my country for awhile but I guess I got bored. I read this article recently and I think it makes some good points as to why it seems to be more funny in the original Japanese versions:

Takeshi’s Castle does seem to strike a balance by not removing the original Japanese show, but instead adding commentary or dubbing. It seems to be more successful that way since I think it continually runs and people do post and socially promote it, having been introduced to it that way. Thats also how I found that show. It is funny though how Takeshi’s Castle seems to of lived on over here even though in Japan it ran from 1986 and apparently went under by 1990 partly due to budget but also the above article seems to say that Japanese audiences didn’t find the reactions of the general public as entertaining as comedians. Then Gaki started in 1989 of course.

So it does make me wonder if then Gaki could have a good chance since it has comedians who certainly add another layer of entertainment above Takeshi’s Castle which I think some do find gets a bit old after awhile, once you’ve seen the 50th person get hit by a ball and fall over. But I think with the Gaki team there is a dynamic there which seems to add something extra even if they repeat stuff. Like with the simple slap, if it was just done with members of the public or even celebrities, it’d be pretty much the same each time, slap ow done, but with a comedian, even if the same one each time, it gets a different twist. It would be a shame for them to have to cut large parts out though, since I think my enjoyment of the batsus have been enhanced by getting more familiar with the Gaki team themselves, but it’d open a door at least.

I guess promoting things as only subbed could be tough without a dub alternative. Many simply don’t like to read whilst watching, which is fair enough (if I could understand Japanese and be able to watch gaki without having to read and having to go back if I missed something onscreen whilst reading that would indeed be awesome). It would be cool though if they were released like anime with a choice either way (maybe tweaking the batsu fansubs into an official release as mentioned above for starters).

I rambled quite a bit here, oops.

I know we’re derailing this thread quite a bit, but the topic of Japanese comedy vs Western comedy is always an interesting topic. It’s cool that there seems to be an effort to bring different styles overseas, but it’s gonna take a real commitment to the formula change and more importantly, actual comedians. What’s always bugged me about western game shows is that nobody actually knows how to be funny. They’re all regular joe’s with no entertainer’s sense so they need the cash prize for motivation, but I wonder if that’s because western producers really only see Japanese comedy as clueless people failing in "zany" ways. A show like Whose Line is it Anyway is a great example of successful ‘game’ show sort of in the same vein as Gaki. Sort of.

Anyway, yeah… where was I going with this… bringing Gaki internationally would be a hard sell because I think the audience here don’t really grasp that the group are professional entertainers, or that you can’t [i:dehikhj0]win[/i:dehikhj0] a punishment game because it’s a [i:dehikhj0]punishment[/i:dehikhj0]. at least that’s what I get from the average comment on youtube :\

[quote="giffan":2sgwpmpp]I know we’re derailing this thread quite a bit, but the topic of Japanese comedy vs Western comedy is always an interesting topic.[/quote:2sgwpmpp]

Haha, yeah I was thinking I kinda derailed my own thread but thats fine. If anyone can contribute anymore about the original article, Matsumoto or the status/future of the Gaki show, that’d be cool. But it seems it’ll remain as rumour until confirmed elsewhere or after we pass April since it looks like even the Japanese public are questioning the authenticity of the article.

[quote:2sgwpmpp]It’s cool that there seems to be an effort to bring different styles overseas, but it’s gonna take a real commitment to the formula change and more importantly, actual comedians. What’s always bugged me about western game shows is that nobody actually knows how to be funny. They’re all regular joe’s with no entertainer’s sense so they need the cash prize for motivation, but I wonder if that’s because western producers really only see Japanese comedy as clueless people failing in "zany" ways.[/quote:2sgwpmpp]

Yeah I guess the way to make the average joe gameshows more interesting is when they make the sets / challenges themselves elaborate to make up for it. That article mentions Wipeout which was apparently a ripoff of Takeshi’s Castle (and got sued for it), I think I do remember that being popular enough when it came out due to following the same concept as Takeshi with the elaborate sets. I guess the closest equivalent now is shows like The Cube (challengers doing various tasks whilst trapped in a small area).
But I wonder if comedians from other countries tried the same things as the Japanese comedians would they be as entertaining without the same training that the Yoshimoto agency offers. Its tough to think who’d fit the bill (and actually be willing to do it) due to the cultural comedy gap. Which is why it would be cool if the original Japanese shows could be brought over in some way instead, but yeah maybe wishful thinking. When I first watched Takeshi’s Castle on TV and found other examples of Japanese gameshows on Youtube I wanted a TV channel dedicated to such shows, but I’m still waiting.

[quote:2sgwpmpp]A show like Whose Line is it Anyway is a great example of successful ‘game’ show sort of in the same vein as Gaki. Sort of.
Anyway, yeah… where was I going with this… bringing Gaki internationally would be a hard sell because I think the audience here don’t really grasp that the group are professional entertainers, or that you can’t [i:2sgwpmpp]win[/i:2sgwpmpp] a punishment game because it’s a [i:2sgwpmpp]punishment[/i:2sgwpmpp]. at least that’s what I get from the average comment on youtube :[/quote:2sgwpmpp]

Whose Line Is It Anyway is a good example yeah. Especially since you also get more from the humour when you get to know the comedians as a team (like [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDhamZOl5Po:2sgwpmpp]Colin & Ryan’s great dynamic[/url:2sgwpmpp]) just as with Gaki and the dynamics between them. I think there’s even an example of them "winning" at being punished in Whose Line, clips of the "LIve Scenery" game with Richard Simmons is hugely popular and thats probably because people are enjoying the cast looking uncomfortable, similar to when the Gaki crew are getting harassed by the Obachans. Plus of course in Whose Line there are no clear "winners" too like on Gaki since "the points don’t matter".