#ini

What if I need their lil swimmers swimming into my lake <3

We are back because I live at my desk now.  Hi, everybody!  What’s it like outside?  What day is this?  Are you going to eat that?  Oh, and it’s time to get back to the challenge performances.  Welcome to Episode Seven!

This is the shortest episode so far, at just over two hours.  Let’s spend less time in flashbacks and focus more on the performances because we have another round of eliminations to get to.

Next up is the JO1 song “Be Classic.”  The group leader is the guy who, and I cannot emphasize this enough, left a stable job to do this.  Yes, it’s the newly-blonde Kinari, and I just can’t get used to that hair color on him.  It’s too white.  It needs texture.  I mean, look at his teammate Goten.  The stylist didn’t just dump yellow on Goten’s head and call it a day.  There’s highlighting.  There are light browns strands that highlight the blonde.  It looks like it could actually be growing out of Goten’s head.  I’m just saying. 

Okay, enough of picking on Kinari.  We get a flashback in which everyone is sad.  This is supposed to be a dance performance, and Kinari didn’t recruit anyone who knows how to write choreography.  It’s almost like Kinari’s not good at this and should have stuck to, oh I don’t know, MARKETING.

Okay, I’ll stop.  I promise.  I really don’t hate Kinari.  He’s very talented and deserves to be here.  It’s just that every time I see him on my screen, I want to yell at him like a disappointed mom.  I explained why in a previous recap.  It involved life choices and lottery tickets.  Just … enough.  Back to the show.

The flashback drags on.  No one’s good at writing choreography, then everyone learns, and now they can write choreography.  Or something like that.  Junsei is on this team – he’s the 50th ranked one who was inspired to audition for this show after his father died, and I really hope he can at least do well enough to survive the next round of eliminations.    Come on guys, you can do this.  Showtime!

This is so clever.  They’re like living musical notes dancing around the stage.  They snap and buzz like electricity one moment and flow like water the next.  They pass a conductor’s baton around and use it to direct the choreography.  It’s truly inspired.  And Junsei is so good.  If he does get eliminated, at least he’s going down fighting.

Afterwards, Kinari is asked to say a few words, and he breaks down in tears while his teammates hug him.  Okay, I’m officially done giving him a hard time.  Enough is enough.

The group goes backstage to see the voting results.  Oof – Junsei comes in second to last.  That hurts.  And Kinari comes out on top, winning the 10,000 bonus points. 

The next performance will be very interesting, and I’ll probably want to spend a little more time in the flashback, because this is the self-produced song.  “My Grandfather’s Clock” is an American folk song that was written in 1876.  The host tells everyone the song is loved to this day.  He hums a few bars, and the audience just looks at him blankly.  I don’t know what he’s talking about either.  But this next team has to make a whole new arrangement and write more lyrics to make it their own.

This team is 15 year-old Archer from Los Angeles, Yuta from San Francisco, Kaimu from Japan, Adam from Honolulu, and Maki the drummer from Japan.  Skilled musicians as well as performers. 

We go to the flashback.  Once this team is formed, the other trainees are buzzing around them because everyone, on some level, is interested in self-producing.  They gather around the group at the lunch tables and ask lots of questions.  These music nerds are now the most popular kids in school.

The group meets in a rehearsal room, sitting around a table instead of a dance space.  They meet with Slay to discuss arrangements and instrumentation.  Slay talks with them in fluent English.  I’m really impressed when anyone manages to learn English as a second language.  So many people on this show speak several languages.  I studied Spanish for years and am nowhere near fluent.

That night in the dorm, Adam can’t go right to sleep because other teams are asking him for advice on harmonies and lyrics.  Self-producing is an incredibly valuable skill – just ask Stray Kids.  Everyone wants this group’s feedback.  The next day in the practice rooms, the other teams are dancing themselves into a puddle of sweat while our guys play piano, write lyrics, and practice harmonies. 

One afternoon, INI shows up again to work with them.  As much as Adam’s group members keep getting pulled away to answer questions for other groups, I’m glad they’re also getting the resources they need.  The INI guys advise them to move around the stage and not just hide behind their microphones.  This is probably the most interesting flashback I’ve seen on any survival show.  It’s also the most positive one.  No bruised egos, no crying, no being yelled at by frustrated coaches.  For once, we’re getting a message that the creative process can be fun!

The only anxiety is from Adam, who only got one vote in the last challenge.  That was embarrassing.  He wants to get at least two this time.  Fingers crossed for you, Adam.  It’s showtime!

Can you imagine writing this folk song back in 1876 and being told that in 150 years, pop idol hopefuls would be performing a version of it on a Jpop survival show?  I’d imagine you’d have a million questions.  Like, “What the hell is Jpop? Who are you?  How did you get in my cabin?  Martha, fetch my single-shot breech-loading rifle, which Wikipedia tells me Americans are primarily using now in 1876!”

I really like this song and the fact that this show included a self-producing challenge for these gifted musicians.  This whole flashback and performance just made me so happy.  The audience feels it too, as everyone waves their hands in the air and sings along.  There are even tears.  This is an incredibly moving performance. 

Time for the votes.  Adam looks so nervous.  I’m nervous for him.  But it turns out more than okay.  Adam gets the most votes and the 10,000 bonus points.  And being the good-hearted person he is, he takes the news by immediately turning to his team and telling them how proud he is of them.  Why does this show keep making me cry? 

I really wish the show had saved that performance for last.  It would have been a sweet way to end.  But no, we’re back to the drama with our next song.  It’s “Work Hard” by Chanmina.  We have the Italian-Japanese Giuseppe on this team.  The focus will be on rap.

Let’s get through this flashback.  Takuto takes the leader role so Kaname can focus on writing his raps.  Giuseppe writes his rap in English, Japanese, and Korean.  This whole team has really amazing rappers on it.  Shu wants to play percussion, which causes some arguments.  Slay works with them.  Shu decides not to play percussion.  The argue about something else.  (I really tried to follow it, but I don’t know why everyone’s yelling at each other.)  I guess they work it out, because it’s showtime.  Work hard, guys!

I’ll be honest – I really don’t like this style of rap.  I prefer rap songs with more rhythm and flow, and this style is like the rapper has loaded all his words into a machine gun and is just firing them at you nonstop.  But the machine gun style is a legitimate style of rap, and these guys are killing it.  And there is something impressive about being able to rap that fast without tripping over your tongue. 

Now for the votes.  Shu ranks second to last.  I bet he wishes he’d insisted on percussion.  Giuseppe is in second place, and Towa wins the 10,000 bonus points.  I don’t think I’ve written anything about Towa.  He’s a really good machine-gun rapper.

We have another performance.  The song is “Betelgeuse” by Yuuri.  Issa is the leader of this group, and it looks like we’re getting a sweet, cutesy concept.  Although I’m not sure about the costumes.  Two of the group members look like they rolled out of bed and grabbed their clothes out of someone else’s laundry hamper.

We get a flashback, and everybody’s already crying.  Maybe someone gave them a preview of the costumes.  This team seems really awkward with each other.  I think we have a team full of introverts.  When they meet with Slay, he wonders why they haven’t even divided up the parts yet. 

Also, this is Kaichi’s team, the guy who put stickers on his poster for skills he doesn’t have, so he has to admit to the team that he can’t do some of the things they chose him for.  This team is off to a bad start.

They manage to pull it together, and their harmonies are beautiful.  Let’s skip ahead to showtime.

I really wanted to like this performance.  But this group never really warmed up to each other.  The harmonies are lovely, and each one of these boys can sing.  And this performance is clearly affecting the audience, because everyone is crying.  Full on SOBBING.  I want a team of crisis counselors infiltrating the crowd. 

I don’t know.  I just didn’t connect with it.  I’ll give credit to Ayumu – he’s the best vocalist here.  I enjoyed his parts the most.

My reaction could also be because I’m tired.  These episodes are really long, and I wish they’d focus more on the performances than the scripted flashback drama.  But I’ve complained about this before in so many of my recaps, so let’s just get to the voting. 

To my surprise, Ayumu comes in last.  I have no explanation for this.  I am genuinely stunned.  Kaichi the resume padder comes in third.  Issa second, and Hyunjae wins.  Even the group looks tired at this news. 

Next up, we have the ZeroBaseOne song “Doctor! Doctor!”  Let’s see if we can put some life back into this episode.  I have a few favorites on this team – Daiki, Shinhaeng, Yoshiki, and Siyoung.  Osuke is the one I don’t know much about, so I’ll pay attention in the flashback.

With this Avengers team of really talented people, egos do tend to clash, but everyone stays polite.  Osuke doesn’t talk much, but he may have trouble getting his voice heard with so many people.  Everyone’s fighting for a good part so they can stand out. Shinhaeng’s voice starts getting shaky and strained, probably because they’re practicing all night and not getting enough sleep.  INI stops by again and leaves.  I don’t think I hear Osuke say a single complete sentence in the entire flashback. Okay, let’s see how he does onstage.  Showtime!

I really like Osuke’s voice.  There’s an edge to it, both when he sings and raps.  His expressions are playful.  This song has a jazzy feel, and the staging is perfect.  This is sweet and romantic.  This Avenger Team has done a great job.

The votes come in, and somebody had to come in last place.  They’re all excellent singers, but that’s just the way it is.  Yoshiki is the unlucky one this time.  Osuke is 4th, Siyoung is 3rd, Shinhaeng is 2nd, and Daiki is first. 

And that, thank goodness, was the last of the performances.  Now time to find out the overall winning group.  Everyone gathers backstage, and first we get the current rankings shown on the screen, but again, those will change again and again, so let’s skip that part.  The only rankings that matter are the ones at the elimination ceremony and at the end.

The top team wins 50,000 extra points for every member, which of course will change the rankings we just saw.  And the winning team is…

Holy shit.  It’s the Imagine Dragons team.

I am so freaking happy right now.  Yura, Kotaro, Rickey, Chisato, Ryota, and Weize each get 50,000 points for taking a chance on an American rock song none of them had heard before.  So well deserved!

We get thank you speeches, and then they show the new rankings, which again, DON’T MEAN ANYTHING.  Let’s just end it here.  Brace yourselves for the eliminations in Episode Eight.  See you then!  I need sleep.