Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents: DOCUMENTAL
Many years ago, in september 8 of 1963, in the city of Amagasaki located in the Hyougo Prefecture of Japan, a man was born. Well, a baby to be precise. A baby that would then grow to become a man whose name is now synonym with "Batsu Games" (lit. Cross Games) AKA punishment games, both within japan and internationally, as people from across the globe organized to obtain recordings of their annual broadcasts and subtitle them for the enjoyment of the Japanese-impaired. This man's name is Hitoshi Matsumoto and this time he's formulated a new TV show to rival the genius of the yearly "No Laugh Batsu Games". Documental's premise is quite simple, 10 comedians go in a room, whoever laughs has to leave. The last one to stay in the room wins. Whoever's got an interest in the world of funny is sure to be excited by this concept. I mean, it's so simple really, it makes you wonder why it hadn't been done already, and the answer to that might just be that it hadn't been its time.
Recently, more so now with the advent of streaming sites, television has evolved in order to keep up with our growing appetites for chaos. TV Shows continue to test the waters of what they can get away with showing, raising the bar for the next batch. In the case of Documental, the comedians participating in the match to win 10 million yen have complete freedom to do absolutely anything they can think of in order to get a laugh (save perhaps, killing somebody). Anything. And you can be sure they take this to heart, for it feels like each season of the show they push that bar a little higher. And while I'd like to get into the details of "What exactly do I mean by that?" I feel like it'd be best not to spoil a thing and let you, dear reader, experience the ensuing chaos on your own.
Every season sees a new set of comedians join the fray for a chance at winning the coveted cash prize, but more importantly to demonstrate their comedic abilities on what could be considered the ultimate test for anyone in the business, to break your colleagues' poker-face and get them to laugh at you, or at the very least give a smile. Not to mention the fact that part of that cash prize is their own money, as each of the participants has to pitch in 1 million yen from their own pocket towards the prize. This rotation of comedy veterans and newcomers results in some seasons being weaker than others, not to mention some viewers might just not appreciate some of the more "japanese" jokes thrown around, but even so I believe there's something about comedy that really breaks the boundaries of language and cultural differences. Sometimes funny is just funny.
If everything I've said so far has caught your interest then be sure to check out this excellent series, available currently on Amazon Prime... but of course, if you're feeling a little stingy there's always other methods to get your hands on it... Having said that and if you allow me some final words, I recommend this series a lot but just for the sake of being more precise, my rating would go something like this:
2 > 1 > 4 > > 3 (third season has its golden moments still)
And those are the only ones available at the moment with english subtitles, but the show is already on their 8th season in Japan, so if you're like me and you've watched them all, at this point you just have to wait.
Thank you for reading, see you next time!
