Arashi ni Shiyagare 2012.11.10 Review

We’ve had some great Arashi ni Shiyagare (嵐にしやがれ) recently – last week was the magician/mentalist DaiGo-kun, the week before was Kabuki actor Nomura Mansai-san, and the week before that was the Takarazuka Revue. Oh, and before that was Takahashi Hideki-san, who has killed 70,000 people (while acting) and made the Arashi members do a samurai/ninja scene, complete with sword fighting. So . . . reversion to the mean suggests that we’re due for a less exciting episode.

Why am I so pessimistic? Well, maybe it’s because the Arashi members were in suits. Not spiffy suits – stuffy, plain grey suits:

 

Maybe it’s because the suits are the main point of interest in the opening, and that they instantly come up with who the guest is likely to be because of them. Sakurai-san has a job as a newscaster on News Zero, and apparently it’s the perfect week for Murao Nobutaka-san (村尾 信尚), the elder statesman of that show, to appear.

They’re so certain that Murao-san is going to be the guest that they take pains to get the tonal balance of his name right. And sure enough, there he is:

J’J – Takaki and Chinen in France 2012.11.12 Review

“Johnny’s Journey – Hey! Say! JUMP Takaki Yuya & Chinen Yuri Futarikki France Juudan Kakuekiteisha no Tabi” (縦断各駅停車の旅) has been getting better with each episode, and with the preview at the end of the show last week, it was pretty clear that this episode would continue the trend.

We last left Takaki-kun and Chinen-kun in Riom, where they had gotten stranded after mispronouncing Lyon, and after hours of searching for a place to stay for the night, they were lucky enough to find an amenable couple. Turns out, as Takaki and Chinen find out in the morning, that the place is a farm.

And that’s why the teaser last week looked so interesting – Takaki-kun and Chinen-kun do farm work! Bet they didn’t see that coming when they were told they were going to France! But to their credit, they’re the ones who come up with the idea of helping out on the farm – Takaki-kun proposes the idea to their host Claudine.