All 5 members join?

I know that from the 24 hour tag to Police station, it was just 3 or 4 of the members doing to the batsu games and I know that No-laughing Hospital is when all five started doing the series. Why did they all start doing the series?

I think most fans prefer seeing all the members on the screen throughout the show.

When one or more members were running the batsu, they only came onscreen occasionally.

Mainly because the viewers want to see all the cast members.

[quote="Gakichick":2be5ouyi]I know that from the 24 hour tag to Police station, it was just 3 or 4 of the members doing to the batsu games and I know that No-laughing Hospital is when all five started doing the series. Why did they all start doing the series?[/quote:2be5ouyi]

Because the older batsus (2003 - 2006) were made because on episodes prior to the batsus, when someone lost to the other members, he was featured in the batsu along with other 2 or 3 members, as you can see, Hamada wasn’t present as a participant in the Onsen and in the High school batsus because he won those 2 ‘‘pre batsus’’.

I want to think they stop doing this because the producers may tought this methood was getting old, so they made the 5 members enter to the batsus from 2007 to present day.

I agree with [b:2be5ouyi]TAMinator’s[/b:2be5ouyi] opinion tho.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is the ‘‘pre batsu’’ made to see who were the loosers to be on the High School Batsu from 2005

[video:2p8iibh2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4uSrAtVWCA[/video:2p8iibh2]

[video:2p8iibh2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy8JdLW6fTw[/video:2p8iibh2]

Thanks! I kinda figured it was the audience who wanted all 5 because it also started on New Year’s when all 5 started coming on.

That was like a theory, we don’t know why they strated to feature all 5 in the recent batsus.

I liked the old way better with the bets and such…Also the waking ups lol.

I like seeing all the cast together for the end of year special personally but they could always do bets etc. at other times of the year like they already do with skill games (karuta contest etc.) and games of chance (Kiki).

I like the ‘‘Matsumoto Tecnician’’ challenges.

I agree, VideogameDC, I really wish they’d produce some more Technician Challenges, maybe with other cast members as the eponymous technician, in case Matsumoto might be out of ideas. Perhaps there could be a "Hamada Technician," where the challenge would involve some sort of funny contest to perpetrate the most violence, such as hitting an array of dummies the most times with a pico-pico hammer before time runs out, or slapping a mannequin the farthest off an elevated platform; instead of Matsumoto’s suggestively-themed challenges. Either way, any kind of contest where there are winners and losers is a great lead-in to any batsu game, yearly or otherwise - which I think the show needs more of.

Slightly off-topic, but speaking of "challenge" reminds me of the "Matsumoto Challenge" series. I really wish they’d bring that back, because those episodes are some of the funniest they’ve made, imo. Perhaps License could be the challengers, because Downtown might be getting too old to be flying around in safety harnesses on halfpipes and such things, but nothing says the 5 members couldn’t all be those black-clad stagehands - after all, all of them but Matsumoto played as them during the original series.

I highly doubt they make those segments you recalled, because right now the producers or someone is making other people (Heipo, Itao, etc.) to be in the show. Right now, they made an episode with Itao about lip synching, and the one before this one, there was a retrospective-like of the segments Heipo made that are released on DVD as being the ‘‘Heipo Review’’ episode.

ever since all 5 members participated, I no longer really call it a batsu game,since they enter it willingly, it’s only a batsu game in name, nothing special really, they lost their touch =\

Right, Shadi, having all five members choosing to participate saps all the tension out of the situations.

I agree with Shadi as well. I find myself watching the older Batsu games more often than the new ones. Seems like they don’t try to suppress their laughter as much as they used to and get paddled way more. I still love the show, but it feels like they’ve become more predictable and use "safe" skits that I tend to fast-forward through. I can’t remember the last time I laughed at the Jimmy Onishi skits. We all know Tanaka will be tai kicked several times, Hosei-san will be slapped once (or twice now) by Masahiro Chono and makes a huge scene, and Chiaki will pop out at some point to join in the demise of Endo.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the show, I just think they need to scrap some of their stale ideas and try something a little newer.

I think ultimately stuff that seems popular with the audiences will remain in for the most part. I probably only enjoyed Jimmy Onishi’s first skit in High School but that’s just me personally, I think the majority still enjoy it (people were asking "Is Jimmy in it this year? I hope so!" etc.).

With stuff like the slap, I find its the journey rather than the result that I enjoy the most, like how you might watch a movie even with knowing how it ends because you don’t know all the stuff that led up to it anymore. Their improvised acting is fun to watch. The moment where Chono stood firmly and span on one foot, using Housei’s frantic speed and weight against him was like something out of a classic silent slapstick movie!!

[img:39aig4bg]http://24.media.tumblr.com/5a5590c730bc78f26f1de5f88c0cde0e/tumblr_n2b0oxeiL41s4frgjo6_r1_250.gif[/img:39aig4bg]

Might of said it before but I don’t mind if they do away with the slap but have Chono do other stuff instead, it’s their struggles I enjoy. He is an ex-wrestler after all, not a pro-slapper. For example rather than just a stand-off, Chono could force Housei to aid him with different jobs then start teaching him to do his job right with some forceful aggression. :rofl:

This year Housei has been joking to the press quite a bit about wanting to step down from the slap due to health concerns. Like when he joked about getting away from Moriman’s burdock due to all the bumps it was leaving on his head, there might be an element of sincerity. So it might be good if they switched it up a bit. Though I guess it’s tough because like with Jimmy Onishi, it’s popular with the public. Right when the batsu airs in Japan you see photos/videos of the slap virally spreading across the net and this year on Twitter, photos of people mimicing Housei’s face after the slap trended for awhile. :rofl: Just 2 of the many:

[img:39aig4bg]http://31.media.tumblr.com/f98b05d0a4ef28857ff9baef0e5211f7/tumblr_n32ecfqLHR1s4frgjo1_250.jpg[/img:39aig4bg][img:39aig4bg]http://25.media.tumblr.com/3dc69f24caaa7a4ec1af5252b6beedc3/tumblr_n32ecfqLHR1s4frgjo8_250.jpg[/img:39aig4bg]
Sources: [url=https://twitter.com/bu_Dog/status/437765525507031040:39aig4bg]Photo 1[/url:39aig4bg] | [url=https://twitter.com/watapon0326/status/390034210070597632:39aig4bg]Photo 2[/url:39aig4bg]

I actually had posted in my post and forgot to add it back while editing my grammar. That I realize, being an American, I’m not going to understand some (a lot) of the humor on the same level. A lot of it is universal, but some of the region specific jokes fly jetliners over my head. I figured most of the reoccurring skits are due to fan requests/demand.

I do agree the slap from Chono is all about the ride. The slap is the punch-line, no pun intended, but the joke is him trying to swap with Tanaka or fake a knee injury. I also really enjoy making them sing songs or do haikus for their meals.

At first I felt bad for Yamasaki because of the slap, but I kept watching the batsus and I ended up finfing hilarious his face after the slap. I like to say Yamasaki is my favorite comedian of the Gaki crew, but I like everyone equally.

They surely love to challenge each other and to compete in different games. From the very beginning they made such games with the special penalty for the loser. Nowadays ‘batsu game’ is a common phrase in japanese culture… but I don’t know if Downtown were the creators or those who popularize the term, since Japanese slapstick and physical humor traces even further back into the past.

Downtown is the core of the show, and when a batsu is being set up the selection stops as soon as one of them is picked up. It’s really funny how the rest of them work together, especially against Hamada to take revenge for his cruelty. Solo batsus work fine, and the Pie Hell, Matsumoto or Yamazaki’s haunted hotel, or even Hamada’s crazy trips are quite enjoyable, but if you are going for a TV special, you need the whole crew.

For me it’s all about two things: Audience and Ratings. For instance, Police Batsu is great, but then you miss grumpy Matsumoto in there. And the same goes for those times when Hamada was absent. I think Hospital was a big hit. All of them were involved for the first time, the themed environment works perfectly and it sets the trend for years to come. News and Hotel also work for me because there are quite a bunch of surprises. Now you can see everything coming. You can say "Fine, it’s Jimmy Time" or "Chiaki appears in 3, 2, 1…". Also the face off between the union leaders seem to be a ‘copy-paste’ from the previous year. Gee, I know they can pull out nice original stuff. The last era of Lincoln and also some of the latest GNT episodes are quite good. For a weekly show you can put part of the crew into a game, and it will work perfectly… but I know that for the New Year’s Eve TV special you need the whole bunch… but still, they have to re-invent themselves a little bit.

As of Chono’s slap, I agree w/ Soudou that perhaps now it’s more of the set-up that leads to Yama-chan’s fated slap than the hit itself. I like his impersonations, but perhaps I’m getting tired of his random screaming or the same gestures over and over again. But then again, Cocorico are still way overwhelmed by their seniors. Instead of 5… should they add more comedians to the cocktail? Is it time for the ‘regular family’ to ‘grow’?

I think one of my favorite moments from the Chono slaps is during the Newspaper Batsu whenever Tanaka is picked for having Chono’s book. Just before he’s to be slapped, the little boy runs out and says he was run into. Yamasaki goes from showing everyone he doesn’t have the book, to "changing" his face to not look like himself.

And of course in the Airport Batsu, "Stand up and tell everyone your name!" "Imasaki Jose!!!" laughter ensues.