2nd Batch: Amachan Trivia Notes (Part 2 of 3)

[earth_colors]

Here is Part 2 of final batch of trivia notes from Amachan.
Originally, I planned to post all the remaining notes here but it turned out too long so I divided it into Parts 2 and 3. Part 1 is here.
Sorry it took so long.. Enjoy~!:

The Lists. What's written on the lists featured in the episodes? Here are some of them:

List 1: Futomaki Filmfest. In Ep. 119, when Futomaki showed Suzuka the incomplete list of movie projects he plans to produce... This list include (the rest is still "Untitled"):
(1) "Female College Student and Japanese Sword" which is a take on the 1981 movie of Yakushimaru Hiroko's "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun"
(2) "Sweater wo Amu (or Knitting a Sweater)", a parody of the title of Matsuda Ryuhei's movie "Fune wo Amu (Knitting a Boat)" (probably showing during time of filming of this episode)
(3) "Saitama no Hanayome (Bride of Saitama)", is said to be a combination of the titles, "SR: Saitama no Rapper" (2009 movie) and "Seto no Hanayome (Mermaid Bride)" (1972 hit song)
(4) and the title "Senpai, Koukou Yame (Senpai Has Quit High School)" is said to be a parody of the 2013 award-winning movie "Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutte yo (Kirishima Has Quit Club Activities)" which starred some of the young actors in Amachan (Hashimoto Ai, Higashide Masahiro, Matsuoka Mayu, Taiga)

List 2: The Top 10 Hit Songs. In Eps. 113 and 119, Futomaki is checking the hit songs every week. Here are the speculations on some of the fictional "songs" and "artists" that are shown in the list:
(1) Zoo Street Boys = a combination of Exile founder, Hiro's former group, Zoo and Exile's former group name, "J Soul Boys"
(2) Fragrance = Perfume
(3) Four Leaf Clover X = Momoiro Clover Z
(4) "Kabukiage" = Titled after "kabuki-age" rice crackers. Kabuki-age rice crackers are said to be a popular snack in the TV shooting site.
(5) Girl's Talk = could be from "Girl's Generation"
(6) Jiro = Jero (African-American/Japanese enka singer)

List 3: The TV Offers. In Ep. 111, Aki is shown scripts of some TV offers that Haruko was able to gather for her. The fictional stations and title of shows (and viewers' speculations on where they got these names) are:
(1) NY BS TV = NHK BS
(2) Kyōiku (Education) TV = NHKE Tele
(3) Teito (Imperial City) TV = Fuji TV
(4) Kantō TV = TV Tokyo
(5) Maiasa TV = TV Asahi
(6) "Express 'Sanriku' Perfect Crime" = from the 1997 "Express 'Shinano No. 21' Murder Case", 13th installment of the "Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Series: Inspector Totsukawa"
(7) "Find It and Break It" = see Part 3
(8) "Downtown Doctor Ippongi x" = could be "Doctor X"
(9) "Okunijimanda yo Zen'in shūgō!" = "8 Jida yo (It's 8:00)! Zen'in shūgō (All Set)"
(10) "Haken no Hanamichi SP 2: Uchi-ra Okottemasukedo" (Temps on the Central Path SP II: We Are Pissed) = from "Haken no Hinkaku" (2007 drama) and "Omizu no Hanamachi" (1999 drama)
(11) "Konkatsu no Susume" (An Encouragement on Marriage) = from Yukichi Fukuzawa's Gakumon no Susume" (An Encouragment on Learning)
(12) "Chakushin Nashi 3 ~ Doronuma Kengai no Higeki~" (Call No.3 ~The Bogged Down Out-of-Service Tragedy" = from "Chakushin ari" or "One Missed Call" (2003 movie)
(13) "Sekai Marugoto Quiz Hunter!" (Whole World Quiz Hunter!) = from 80s game show "Sekai Marugoto How Much" (Guess How Much is the Entire World), and TBS game show "1 Man-en Quiz Hunter" (1 Million Quiz Hunter)
(Btw, Masamune's "favorite show" about guys checking out onsens is called "Yumeguri Ajimeguri" [Hot Water Tour, Taste Tour])

Aki's funny NG. In Ep. 89, in one of Aki's 40 NGs, instead of saying "Shimada-san, senshū hikikoshimashita yo", she said, "Shimada-san senshū shiikoshimashita yo" which sounded like "Shimada-san had peed last week". That was why the staff was laughing. It was hard to translate this particular NG so I changed "moved" to "voomed" in the subtitles.

And speaking of NGs... In Ep. 54 (Time stamp: 13:47,800), Haruko called Hashimoto Ai's character "Ai-chan" instead of "Yui-chan". In Ep. 155 (Time stamp: 12:04,790), instead of saying "Shiosai no Memories" the group, Aki said "You can't call it Shiosai no Memory, if it's just the one with the accent."

The "Tokyo Tour" animation. In Ep. 115, the opening part of Tekken's animation was a reference to the ending credits of the classic anime Sazae-san (left pic above).

Boy discovers bone. In Ep. 156, a boy did in fact discover a dinosaur toe bone in an amber mine in Kuji City in 2012. Read more about it HERE.
(Pic: japantimes)

Hayaumare. In Ep. 152, Natsu asked Suzuka if she's one year older than Haruko. Suzuka said yes but added, "I was born in early part of the year so I'm 2 grade levels ahead." Danburi explains, that in Japanese school systems, kids who are "hayaumare" (born in January to March) will enter school a year earlier than kids born later in the same year as them (April to December). Also, "Shiosai no Memory" has the words "Hayaumare no Mermaid" or "Mermaid born in the early part of the year" as a reference to Suzuka.

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And I also recently added these notes in the subs. I'm putting it here just in case you missed it:

"2 kuuru!". When they were telling Suzuka in Ep. 152 about Daikichi and Anbe's six-month marriage, Aki said it was "2 kuuru!" or "2 seasons!". "Kuuru" is said to be taken from the French "cours" ("course") and it is used as a broadcasting jargon that means a TV season lasting for 3 months. So Daikichi and Anbe's marriage was "2 kuru" or "6 months."

Sugawara's Joke. In Ep. 146, when the GMT girls visited Kitasanriku... Sugawara told a joke which no one appreciated: "GMT ga yattekita (GMT is here), Je! Je! Je!, isn't it?" This is a play on "Beatles ga yattekuru Ya! Ya! Ya! (Beatles are coming Ya! Ya! Ya!) which is the Japanese title of "Hard Day's Night" movie.

"Beware of Cats". In Ep. 132, before Yui is supposed to leave for Tokyo, Isono warned her to be careful of "Cats" (he meant to say "Catch" or "devious offers") from suspicious scouts. "It's not from Shiki Theater Company, okay!" which has been regularly performing the musical "Cats" since 1983.

"I~ppan~ dan~sei~ (Commoner or non-celebrity guy)..." drawled a drunk Mizuguchi to Taneichi in Ep. 122. Then he said something I didn't understand. Turns out, what he said was "Lupan Sansei~ (Lupin III, anime/manga)" (lol *facepalms*). Btw, according to Producer Kurube Kei, "It must have been hard for those actors who must work with little stuff thrown in at them. For example, Matsuda Ryuhei-san's line "Ippa~n Da~nse~i." Ryuhei-san normally doesn't do this kind of acting. He was commenting that the scriptwriter was challenging him."

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Cast Parodying Themselves. If one knows the showbiz background/history of the cast of Amachan, you'd laugh at the lines Kudo Kankuro wrote as a way of poking fun at the actors in the show. I already mentioned some of them in the other trivia notes: the many lines of Koizumi Kyoko and Yakushimaru Hiroko that playfully jabbed at their own Idol heritage; and Mizuguchi's "Birthday of Elephant" reference. Here are some more:

"Which way is house right?" In Ep. 64, Katsue (Kino Hana) asks Yui which way is "kamite" which is a theater slang for "house right" (or "to the right of the audience"). For those who are familiar with the actress, this line is funny because Kino Hana is well-versed in theater jargon being a long-time stage actress and director herself. She is one of the founding members of the only female troupe, Blue Bird Theater Company (Gekidan Aoi Tori).

"Shimokitazawa? Plays are outdated! I hate them!" Same thing with Furuta Arata (who plays Futomaki) who uttered this line in Ep. 79. Furuta is very active in the theater scene.

"They think if they make a movie based on a true story, it'll be hit... big mistake!" In Ep. 98, Suzuka Hiromi (Yakushimaru Hiroko) was lambasting her own movie "The Dog That was Raised By a Cat". In real life, Yakushimaru starred in the 2011 movie "Wasao", which is based on a true story of a dog "abandoned as a puppy, but rescued and raised by a woman running a grilled-squid shop in the coastal town of Ajigasawa in Aomori Prefecture".
(movie info: japantimes)

"Let's continue with the 'renai gohatto' (love is taboo)." In Ep. 112, Mizuguchi tells Aki to continue with the "Love is Forbidden" rule. Some are saying it's might be a reference to Matsuda Ryuhei's first movie "Gohatto" (Taboo, 1999).

"Lock your bike up properly so it won't get stolen." In Ep. 13, Daikichi gave Aki a new bike and told her to lock it up properly so it won't get stolen. This line makes a playful jab at Sugimoto Tetta (Daikichi) who got involved in a somewhat minor incident in 2005 of "stealing someone's bike". Actually, he was reportedly questioned (not arrested) by police after he mistakenly took (not stole) a bicycle that wasn't his after a night of drinking. Incidentally (or coincidentally?), the actor was the lead star in an indie movie the following year called "The Bicycle Thief was Bad".
(info: yahoo)

Kamen Rider Fourze tributes? Some fans think that the "Nambu Rider" mistakenly sang by Isono-sensei in Ep. 94 refers to "Kamen Rider Fourze" that star Fukushi Sota (who played Taneichi-senpai). And also, Suzuka's filming on the set of the moon in Ep. 136 is said to be a reference to one of Kamen Rider Fourze's story settings which takes place on the moon (above left pic).

Next: Part 3 (final) link below...
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Other Amachan Trivia Notes:

1st Batch: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

2nd Batch: (Part 1) (Part 3)

Amachan Episode Index: (link)