Future of Gaki?

Hi everyone, am I the only one here thinking that Gaki is done for good now?

I mean basically since Covid hit, they’ve been doing the same series over and over like the boring card games, no more Silent Library, Kiki, Absolutely Tasty or any new great concept. Only boring lazy stuff where even the cast don’t seem to have that much fun. They also rely way too much on outside guests to make the show for them in my opinion.

And obviously the end of the Bastu Games series this year also helps me make my point. For the first time in 15 years, I don’t feel excited anymore when new episodes show up each monday…

Please tell me I’m not the only one here haha

Hard to say, it has always been in the back of our minds, they are getting older every year. We always hope for at least one more Batsu!
I think a lot of it is also to do with the direction TV programs have gone as well. They don’t have as much freedom as they used to have. You got many restrictions to go against and seeing Downtowns wild past, I think they are more often than not restricted by what they can show, rather than they don’t have ideas.

Look at Documental for example, it’s on Amazon. They don’t seem to care much, but even then, you can go too far. Banned season 8 of Documental. What the actual fuck were they doing? lol

Maybe it is the problem of the platform, maybe age. A bit of both I would say. I’m sure there are other reasons. In the end the whole Covid thing is not helping one bit. Poor timing perhaps.

Somehow I have a feeling there will be at least one more batsu after the pandemic, if we ever get that far.

I understand and I agree with everything you said !

Obviously many different things could explain the big let down Gaki has been for a while now, but it’s really hurting to see that whatever’s coming from them now is nowhere near as good / fun / entertaining / exciting / creative as it used to be not so long ago whether that’s the covid / the restrictions / their age’s fault.

I was just wondering if other people would feel the same because to be honest, even the last 2 or 3 Batsu games have been the worst ones by far in my opinion, the very last one being the worst hands down… So in a way I’m kind of glad they stopped.

Personally I find the normal episodes entertaining, even this week’s long interview was fun to watch.
The only kikaku I find less entertaining is the jiji-nuki series, the cast do their best to make it entertaining but it’s still a very simple card game.
If they need something they can shoot indoors with just the standard cast, I would rather watch the board games series.

In the long run, the show might come to an end when Downtown retire, Hosei and Cocorico have definitely matured over the years but I still don’t think they are as capable of leading the show as Downtown.

TV Chidori might fill that gap in the future, the show to me feels like a milder GnT from the 90s.
Daigo’s kikaku have a lot in common with some of the crazy series ideated by Matsumoto.
I don’t know how good the ratings are for TV Chidori but it’s definitely the closest show to GnT that I can think of that is currently airing.

If you look back at the history of the show, ever since around episode 200 they’ve always taken ideas and used them several times before moving on to new ideas. Some of those ideas weren’t big ratings drivers or very popular, and there have been shifts and trends in the types of things that they do over time. They’ve used outside combis at times, they’ve used extra celebrities at times, they’ve used the staff at times, they stuck to Downtown and Team-0 at times, and they’ve used the main five at times. It always changes up.

I’m not sure if you’re saying they aren’t doing enough new things or they aren’t doing enough older things. In terms of new ideas, they haven’t been starting many new series of episodes… going back a decade, the bigger ones off the top of my head are the drone music video shoots and Jiji-nuki in 2019, World Tabletop Games in 2018, Rendezvous Games and Ask The Best 5/3 in 2016, Stroll To Meet Celebrities, I Think This Suits You, Long Interviews, Hamada’s Hot-Blooded Cram-School, and Lip-Sync Studio in 2014, Nostalgic Video Games in 2013, and Karuta Battle in 2012. Some of those have like three or four episodes, some have like eight or nine.

Looking back in 2021, they did a Matsumoto Challenge (1991 or 2000, depending on how you break the series up), a Trial (1994), a Shichihenge (1995), a Yamasaki Produce (1997 or 2004, depending on how you break the series up), the VTR Best 10 (1998, but it goes back to the Friendship Record episodes covering since 1990 starting in 1994), an Itao (1999), a Silent Library (2001), a Club Activity (2002), a Classroom (2006), and several 500/100 Things Quiz (2006). They also did some of the things I mentioned in the paragraph above.

You’ve got to figure that for almost the past two years now, they’re older and have ever more physical limitations, there’s COVID concerns for where they can and can’t film and what kind of setups they can use, and there’s active broadcast censorship concerns further impacting what can be done.

I don’t have a problem with the newer stuff, but yeah, it’s not really anything outrageous and new at this point. If you don’t like it for what it is, don’t waste your time watching it. They’re never going to be young and in the 1990s again. Or the 2000s or 2010s. It is what it is.

klarthailerion Very well said, I agree with what you wrote.