[TV] - [AKB48 Nemousu Terebi] Season 2 (090710 - 090918)

Thank you so much champloo !

 

^
^ Thank you so much champoo

 

Okay, let’s see how this goes…

Overview:

We start of with a bunch of girls pooling into the theater and taking a seat in the bleachers. Some of them point out how this feels like back when they did Nemousu, and they all point out how there’s no way they’d do another Nemousu. Lo and behold, the host from last time, Ariyoshi Horoiki, pops up on the big screen. He greets the girls with same light insults while explaining that they’ll be doing another Nemousu. (I just realized I’ve been calling him Hiroki when I did my AKBINGO! overviews…oops.) The girls object since they’re so damn busy, but the guy comes out onto the stage and pretty much tells the girls to suck it up since they’re doing the show.

They all gather on stage, and Hiroiki mentions some stuff that the girls will be doing for the second season. (I didn’t catch all of them but I think two of them included shouting out to someone you love from the top of Mt. Fuji and spending a year in the country side.) I’m not sure how real these ideas are, but the girls are like, “No way, we ain’t doing that!” Hiroiki then tells them that for the first bit, the girls will be “opening the path to Buddhist enlightenment” (a.k.a. “getting a crash course at the monk life”).

Hiroiki points out how some research was done on the girls, and some faults were brought up. (I take it as a way to justify sending the girls up to a monastery). For instance, Atsuko tends to sleep a lot (as opposed to taking her job seriously?), Haruna’s on a tomato diet (I guess that’s not very balanced in the way of nutrition), and Takahashi doesn’t respond to her (electronic, phone, postal) mail (which I guess makes her cold person; the other girls seem to be a bit miffed by it). Hiroiki points out how even the staff wanna kick the girls out there before walking off the stage and leaving the girls to their fate. (I think that’s what he says…of course, since a lot of you will take my word for it, I think I can get away with saying anything for this overview, so…yeah, I’ll go with that.)

The girls chosen to be kicked out of civilization for some introspection are the following (with their “faults”):

1.) Atsuko (a big sleeper)
2.) Itano (a fickle street gal)
3.) Erena (a self-righteous brat)
4.) Miho (a girl who makes excuses)
5.) Itano (a timid girly-girl)
6.) Natsuki (an obnoxious girl)
7.) Sae (an extravagant beauty)
8.) Natsumi (a girl who goes at her own pace)
9.) Kayo (a big-eating town beauty)
10.) Yuko (a worrisome wild girl)

(For the record, I took A LOT of liberty with some of these “faults” – and I use quotes on that since I don’t think a lot of them are that bad. Also, I think the Japanese did a wild job thinking up synonyms for “girl.”)

These girls (along with the staff – because you know the staff always comes along) take a bus up the mountains to the temple. (I’d love to tell you the name of the place, but sadly I can’t read the kanji.) At the temple, the girls get creeped out a bit by the ambience and such of the place (except Yuko who just…runs off somewhere), before meeting the monk of the temple, Mr. Murakami Enshin, a pretty big deal considering the pictures of him doing his monk business.

They all gather in some hall and talk about some of the faults each girl has. Along the way, Kayo’s like, “Well, it’s normal for humans to have faults, right?” but in the end, Mr. Enshin points out how wanting stuff to much leads to the different faults. They all talk some more, but I didn’t catch all of it, so well just…move along.

Mr. Enshin leads the girls out to a small…building (for a lack of a better term) where they chant some sort of sutra. The girls read from a sheet of paper with text while Mr. Enshin recites the sutra from memory (since he’s so l33t like that). The girls are a bit “WTF?” over chanting the sutra sitting on their ankles (I’m sure there’s a proper term for it), but Mr. Enshins’ like, “Yup we’re doing it!”

And so they all go on for some time with the sutra before Mr. Enshin stops and has everyone stand up and down for a bit. Of course, with all that sitting on the ankles the girls kinda stumble about. (I, for one, can’t stand that position for five seconds, so seeing the girls last that long is like…woah.)

Afterwards, the girls are divided up to do tasks around the temple. Yuko and Sae are lead to a room by a woman by the name of Ms. Ueno. Ms. Ueno instructs the girls to clean the floors, and gives them a short bit about the tatami mats in the room. (I didn’t catch any of it, but I’m sure it’s pretty damn interesting.) Yuko and Sae are then left to do their job, but end up goofing around. Mr. Enshin then comes around and scolds the girls for being so noisy during work.

In the prayer room, Natsuki, Atsuko, and Itano clean down some of the shrine trinkets – not exactly the most exciting thing for the girls to do. Eventually, the girls take a break with Natsuki taking a closer look at the shrine and both Atsuko and Itano take a quick nap. Natsuki carries on with the cleaning all by herself until she hears Mr. Enshin coming along. “Oh, crap!” she kinda goes as she nudges both girls awake. They all scramble to get back to clean, but Mr. Enshin ends up scolding them – not so much for the two girls taking a nap but rather for doing such a poor job at cleaning. (“Take this work seriously!”)

Outside, Mr. Enshin has Natsumi, Miho, Itano, Erena, and Kayo chop wood. He first shows them how to do it with the ax before having Miho take a stab at it, but ends up calling it quits – “Damnit, this ain’t workin’!” Mr. Enshin then gives the girls an alternative – lightly lodge a steel wedge into the cracks with a hammer and then progressively hit the wedge harder and harder until the log splits. The girls actually manage to split the log but in the process get the wedge stuck inside. Mr. Enshin then evaluates the work and tells the girls that’s enough – “All right…toilet cleaning!” Kasai volunteers Kayo to do the job, and the rest are like, “Yeah, she loves cleaning the toilets!”

Mr. Enshin leads Kayo to the toilet and tells her, “Okay, here you go.” Kayo then carries on with the cleaning while lamenting how she ends up with the toilet duty every time. Back to the other girls, they play around with different sized wedges until Natsumi finally points out, “Yo, we’re done!” The girls then ditch the area and go over to the toilets where they badger Kayo on her duty. Kayo’s like, “Yo, get back to work!” but the girls are like, “Yeah whatever, we’re done.”

After their morning chores, the girls are rallied back in the prayer room where Mr. Enshin lectures them on how cleanliness is such an important aspect of enlightenment and how they should be working their hardest. “You girls are singers, right? How about you think about the fans you perform for when you’re doing this stuff?” Mr. Enshin then leaves, and the girls meditate on what he just said and how they’ve been performing up until now. Afterwards, the girls go back to work – and this time a little more seriously.

The girls are gathered once again in the prayer room, and Mr. Enshin separates them all into two teams. The first team consists of Atsuko, Itano, Kasai, Erena, and Matsubara who’ll be “refining their hearts” – or more specifically, “going into a hole.” The second team consists of Kayo, Yuko, Sae, and Natsuki who’ll be “refining their bodies” – or more specifically, “standing under a cold waterfall.” (I personally prefer the first one, though I ca probably see more pretty things in nature if I do the second.)

Mr. Enshin takes the first team over to the hole where they’re like, “Wow…that’s on serious hole.” (And for the record, the girls will each take turns going into the hole alone.)

The next episode features the actual refining process for both teams and the subsequent resolution – for better or for worse.

Show Highlights:

1.) Yuko
2.) Yuko being a brat until being lectured by Mr. Enshin
3.) Several of the other girls beings brats until being lectured by Mr. Enshin
4.) Natsuki and Kayo taking their work seriously
5.) Kasai waving off Kayo after volunteering her to toilet duty
6.) Kayo freaking out over the spider while cleaning the restroom
7.) Natsumi having a level head during her work
8.) The two “refining” exercieses

Overall Opinion:

Yuko

For serious, Mr. Enshin is one PATIENT dude. I don’t know if the girls were told to act bratty, or if they naturally are like that, but whatever the case is…that man is fierce. (And for some reason, I've been typing his name as "Mr. Enishi" when was I doing this overview. ) I do like the scenery in and around the mountain temple – so much greenery (though that’ll obviously change come winter time).

I like how Natsuki and Natsumi were featured in this (and the next) episode. I hardly see anything of them, so seeing them now’s pretty cool.

The “refinement” REALLY look exciting! I’m sure Mr. Enshin will explain the purpose of both exercise, but I see it as an exercise in acquiring a sense of peace and focus amidst a turbulent environment. In the case of the waterfall, the environment lies outside – namely the constant stream of cold water falling on the person; however, in the case of the hole, the environment lies within – the person’s faults, fears, and failures (along with some ants and such). I’d personally like to do the hole – I don’t mind facing my inner demons since I know it’ll help me become a better person. With the waterfall…I can’t see myself acquiring as big of a benefit.

Anyway, here’s to the next episode…and more Yuko.

So that, that’s what’s up. I hope you liked it. I know I had fun writing this one – took me back to my old casual style with comments scattered in between. Not sure if I can keep up with overviewing both AKBINGO! and Nemousu TV, but I’ll certainly try. And of course, sorry for the usual.

Until next time, y’all take it easy. B-)

 

Thanks for the summary! I'm SO glad that Natsuki is in something again. It's been forever since I watched an AKB TV show, so this was a nice change.

 

Nemousu season 2 VOL. 2 on VEOH
http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/akb ... 92jpc9ahFH

 

Thanks for the overview gideon.

The sitting style is called Seiza btw. =)

 

Thanks for the link for volume two!

 

Wow, nice review Gideon! thanks

this episode was so funny and interesting xD Tomochin and Acchan sleeping...well...Acchan's hobbie is sleeping so...it's something expected :roll:

 

Thanks for the review!

The second episode was pretty interesting. Natsumi was brave to volunteer to go into the hole. It didn't seem that scary, so I'm not sure why Kasai was so scared. XD

 

Acchan could write with both hands

 

shes soo talented : ) i dont no y but this just made me love her more : )

 

She's bi!

I mean, ambidextrous

 

guess all those times when she holds her microphone in her left hand and do the dance actions with her right hand paid off

 

i just found out....acchan is ambidextrous....

 

She had to change to her natural left 'cause she was having trouble with her right so she isn't very ambidextrous.

VOL.5　「Drawing Anime with B!」(Second Part）
Members：Urano, Oota, Kashiwagi, Katayama, Sashihara, Nakagawa, Nakaya, Watanabe
8/7 - 23：00～23：30

VOL.6　「Aiming for international advance, study abroad inside the country!」(First Part)
Members：Kobayashi, Oshima, Shinoda, Maeda
8/14 23：00～23：30

 

ooooh, the second chapter was awesome !

When She had to be in the hole, but she couldn't....so Erepyon was saying "Tomomi! Tomomi?" like a worried little sister
But Natsumin....yeah, you're the best

 

i get that some of them are christians, yet why did they bow in a shrine??

 

^It is really cultural stuff. Just like when they rinse themselves with cold water during new year or when they go to the shrine.

Their culture is really tied with Shinto practice so I suggest of you want to know more, Wikipedia is your best friend

May I know who are they? Sorry if I asked but it really intrigues me knowing that most of the Japanese do not really care about religion.

 

Why's that?

 

You can respect the costums and traditions of a religion even if you do not belong to it yourself.
This especially applies to a show like this. If the girls disrespected the shrine, it would have a chance of backfiring at them.