Sunday 3 October 2010

Currently watching: Dasshutsu game DERO



A long time ago in Britain, back in the day when changing channels involved getting up and walking over to the TV and pushing a button, there was a quiz show called The Adventure Game. In this show, a band of minor celebrities had to solve logic puzzles to escape the vaguely sci-fi setting. Well, it's been a few years but finally there's a spiritual successor to this show. Apparently inspired by a series of games for mobile phones, this show puts minor celebrities into a locked room with a series of clues/questions to solve before they can get out.



All of the games involved are easy to follow, even for those with no Japanese and, visually, there's always enough going on to keep you entertained with plenty of mock danger. Most questions are shown on screen in kanji, which helps learners like myself. Some of the clues are pretty clever and I'm starting to appreciate the Japanese love of puns and word play. For example, a jar that won't open (akanai) is a clue to remove the red sections (akanai also means "not red") from the picture inside the jar to reveal the answer.

If you watch other Japanese game shows, you'll recognise some of the faces that take part but there's also a lot of AKB48 members who appear on the show (actually, there's an lot of AKB48 members, full stop). This is another Japanese game show you can watch without knowing any Japanese and still be entertained.

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