#harahon

I will once again preface with that I’m not Japanese, and haven’t lived there, so my understanding is through research and from being… uh, I guess an otaku / fujoshi / someone who had an interest in Japanese culture once upon a time 😅

So if there are inaccuracies, please feel free to educate me and I hope it’ll also allow others to learn from your knowledge. The bottomline is, even if I dare to write about stuff and talk freely about what I think, I’m in no way trying to claim myself as a subject matter expert. I just like to ramble, and I’m no better than anyone else - these are just my opinions free for anyone to read and you’re all welcome to make up your own mind 😄

With that out of the way...

So I’ll take the opportunity to offer a little bit of what I’ve come to understand… there are comedic duos (combi / コンビ) who do manzai / skits with set roles of the boke and tsukkomi, and also solo comedians (pin-geinin / ピン芸人). Sometimes duos & solos alike will partner up for shows and variety programmes, making it a nice mix of characters and dynamics. Some of these are quite popular internationally.

Kenjaku making it up on the spot on the grand stage in the “finale” of his battle with Takaba is likely a nod / reference to this manzai culture, where the “pin” in “pinchan” is from “pin-geinin” (solo comedic act), which makes it humorously ironic because they’re a “combi” / duo.

To add to the irony, they’re a manzai duo / combi comprised of enemies… They are on opposing sides but get along? It’s funny!

The more I think about it, the more it appears to me that pinchan represents some kind of dark irony.

For example, Kenny appeared to have worked solo (“pin”) for decades doing his brain-hopping thing with his research & awful experiments and Takaba has always wanted a suitable partner to be a “combi” in his manzai career. They stumbled upon their amazing chemistry by accident, that it was fun, and discovered these feelings within the battle - it’s quite bittersweet and sadly ironic to enjoy something together but ultimately have to mean to harm the other until there is just one.

And as light-hearted as comedy is, what they’re doing is also ironic because it’s totally not light-hearted to want to kill the other. So it’s like proclaiming “we are a solo!” They’re a combi/soulmates! …but they have to kill each other.

The “cute” nature of the honorific -chan also makes it more ironic because, in actuality, the skit itself that brought them together is a battle to the death. It’s so dark. There is irony and duality intermingled in the entire scene. It’s a bit sad, too - which I guess is also shown in how there were mixed feelings between the duo with Takaba crying and Kenjaku appearing rather stoic.

Someone joked on X that with chan gone there can only be pin left. And who knows who is meant to be pin or chan, lol. So I guess it’s quite well understood that the term “pinchan” has some reference to a pin-geinin / solo comedic performance.

I hope my thoughts made sense 🤔 it sounded ok (well, better) in my head, so I never really know how it’s received.

Ah and honestly, lately my brain like Swiss cheese, so I forget a lot of stuff… there are times where I can’t remember what I’ve written, or where 😂 please forgive me if I sound like a broken record.

As for how I am, I’m constantly shifting gears in my head at the moment as I juggle this and that. But! I’m doing good, thanks for asking~!! 🫶 How are you doing? And btw, everyone else is welcome to also post a comment 😃 and tell us how you are!