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31 May 2009 @ 11:03 am
The Fall of Kamiyama  
Banner thanks to [info]berniechan 
 
TT______TT

I love Kamiyama - I love his character, I love his angst, I love the actor who plays him, I love his funky outfits and wind-blown hairstyle, I love the stupid way he dances during Dream Chance...

I've always felt sorry for him but never have I cried with him like I did in this episode.

The main focus of this episode wasn't on the guest. The guest does his best and in the end things turn out okay for him which I was happy to see.

This episode was more drama and less Quiz Show. Kamiyama himself was ill and sweating before he even took to the stage. He fell and doubled over in pain many times yet he climbed back on his feet over and over again. In the end he fainted and was even attached to a drip. Yet the moment he woke, he ripped it out, slipped his sparkly black jacket back on, and stood back on the stage. Everyone - the guest and audience - was gone and The Quiz Show canceled, yet he demanded that the show go on. He yelled at Honma through the camera saying that the guest still hadn't completed the Dream Chance, despite having faced his inner demons.

Throughout the episode, Kamiyama said over and over that The Quiz Show was a place to grant dreams, both the guests' and his own.

There was more action and more secrets and mysteries uncovered but all I can focus on, even after watching the episode a second time is Kamiyama's desperate and futile plea at the end. It makes me cry every time I watch it. He failed and his failure destroyed the show, and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

I think what makes it hit home more is the fact that Sho Sakurai is the one playing Kamiyama. The workaholic Sho Sakurai who one year ago, almost to the day, pulled a similar stunt on live television. The Kamiyama portrayal is a very dramatized version of it but it just reminded me so much of when I saw Sho on NEWS ZERO that evening, doing his report as though nothing were wrong when he should have been at home resting. It was a stunt that made the media question if Johnny's Jimusho is pushing its pretty boy employees too far, and it is what turned Sho Sakurai into something more than just my favorite idol.

It turned him into my hero and someone I very much look up to now.

Banner thanks to [info]berniechan 
 
 
 
 
FEELING: sad
HEARING: Arashi - "Remembering Tomorrow"
 
 
( 7 hugz — Post a new comment )
Mami: The quiz SHO!![info]mami_chan on May 31st, 2009 02:48 am (UTC)
I love Kamiyama


I love the actor who plays him


I love the stupid way he dances during Dream Chance...


I wonder what should I do when this drama will come to the end.. ;__;
And we have the same feelings for Sho chan <3 ^_^
[info]fma245 on May 31st, 2009 02:52 am (UTC)
I'm getting pumped for next week's episode!

Hey Rin,
Did you catch what Honma said to the guest?
Rin in Japanland: Kamiyama White[info]rininjapan on June 1st, 2009 10:40 pm (UTC)
At the end of the ep?

Honma gave the guest a new job in a different small airline company. He said that any of those questions could have been Dream Chance questions so the man had earned it.

He then made a point for the guest to remember that it was Kamiyama's wish, not Honma's. Honma never wanted to see nor remember the guest ever again.

I get the impression that Honma blames the pilot more for the accident than he blames Kamiyama.
Just call me Nik[info]daisuki_dkzen on June 1st, 2009 09:25 pm (UTC)
Very well said. There may be people out there that will rip apart Sho's acting, cuz really, he isn't THE BEST. But, he's improved exponentially, in everything. Not just acting. And common, look at all the projects he's involved in! I think Sho is what a real idol should be: someone that the younger generations can aspire to be like in every way.

Do you happen to know which NewsZero that was? It seems a little sadistic of me wanting to see, but my respect for the man just keeps rising.
Rin in Japanland: Sho zero rap[info]rininjapan on June 1st, 2009 10:37 pm (UTC)
Indeed, he's become a very good actor. Besides, I consider someone to be acting when they're playing someone they're not (Johnny Depp is a good example.) Sho =/= Kamiyama. Kamiyama is torn, angsty, but most of all he's an extremely rude MC who doesn't really care about the people themselves as much as the process. He did wish for the Dream Chance but I believe it was because the guests represent himself and if they can't give it a shot, then maybe he feels he can't do it either.

Anyway, Sho is NOTHING like Kamiyama so I think that is a step up in his acting. Oh and honestly I would love to hear suggestions for which other Japanese actor could have possibly played Yatterman 1. The director himself even said that only Sho Sakurai to do the role (Miike had made it sound really cool when he approached Sho about it because he was actually frightened that Sho would turn him down.) Oh and I watched Yamada Tarou Monogatari before I really had got to know Sho, so when I watched Shukudai-kun I was confused as to why Sho was such an "uncool and failing guy" while Mimura was actually really cool and calm.

Anyway, the News Zero broadcasts from 2008.06.02 for about two or three weeks are worth a watch. For Shukudai-kun, it was the Ailand episode out-takes where Sho and Jun and Aiba dodged things with a clothes pole in their shirts, and where everyone but Sho and Ogura played tug of war on roller skates. Check out all broadcasts of Arashi shows and guest appearances starting from this date up until the end of July.
Just call me Nik[info]daisuki_dkzen on June 2nd, 2009 04:06 am (UTC)
Oh wow...a whole month worth of stuff?? Poor guy! T_____T Srsly, I hope someone is watching out for their health. Especially recently with all thir solo releases and all the publicity to go with it? Common, you know they cant possibly be getting enough rest. Our guys need a vacation.

Thanks for sharing. I'm totally gonna go check out what I can now.

<33
Rin in Japanland: Sho zero rap[info]rininjapan on June 2nd, 2009 04:09 am (UTC)
It became a month because stuff airs two weeks after it's filmed. Zero was live though.

It appears that someone is watching out for and scolding Ohno in regards to his LACK of work habits.