It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my [... Read more here]]]>

It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my childhood, and I grew up watching almost every show on there. Yes, eventually, when Tom, the host, started becoming different, and the shows they provided became more lame, I stopped watching, but I always had a place in my heart for the entire setup.

Tom was voiced, starting with Tom2, by Steven Blum, and stayed in that position to this day. The original Tom, which you see pictured in the banner above, was voiced by the famous Sonny Strait. Both of them were famous for their roles, not only as Tom, but in many other English dubbed animes.

Even as I write this, I am still truly upset. It still bothers me, even though I know it shouldn’t, and this happens with all of these types of things. But Toonami is really what got me onto the path that I’m on right now. There was so much there that kept me interested, like their Total Immersion Events, which started with “The Intruder” in 2000.

I’ve decided to change my desktop picture in memory of this event, and I shall leave you with a picture of the original Tom, convieniently with a somber look to him. You can find much more information on Toonami on their Wikipedia page, or if you’re interested in seeing ancient videos of the original Toonami and beyond, you can visit Toonami Digital Arsenal.

Hole in the Wall

Genre: Game show Director: Ron de Moraes Hosts:  Brooke Burns & Mark Thompson Channel: FOX

If you’ve ever been to YouTube and searched for something called “Human Tetris”, then you’ve probably laughed hysterically at the hilarity that ensues. “Human Tetris”, actually known in Japan as “Brain Wall”, is a game where a styrofoam [... Read more here]]]>

Hole in the Wall

Genre: Game show
Director: Ron de Moraes
Hosts:  Brooke Burns & Mark Thompson
Channel: FOX

If you’ve ever been to YouTube and searched for something called “Human Tetris”, then you’ve probably laughed hysterically at the hilarity that ensues. “Human Tetris”, actually known in Japan as “Brain Wall”, is a game where a styrofoam cut-out is presented to a player, or group of players. This cut-out is attached to a moving platform which flies at the player(s). The players’ job is to fit themselves through the cut-out in whichever way that it asks them to. If they fail, they get knocked back into a pool of water as their consequence. In Japan, or at least in the YouTUbe clips that are out there, it’s a pretty simple and straight forward game, which usually ends up in getting many laughs from those around you in the room. Recently though, the game has been moving around from country to country, as most popular game shows do, and has finally ended up in America under the name of “Hole in the Wall”.

A team taking on a wall in the original Japanese version, Brain Wall.

Unfortunately, they’ve changed the way the rules have been to American-ize it a bit. While this could potentially be a good thing, I’ve gotten more enjoyment in going back to YouTube and watching the original Japanese version still rather than watching this new show. Basically there are five rounds in which the three-person teams compete in against in each other. The first is the Solo Wall, which is quite self-explanatory a round where each player has to conquer the wall on their own. The second round is the Double Wall, and the third is the Triple Wall; in which they have to participate with two team members and three team members respectively to fit through the holes. The fourth round is the Speed Round, in which the wall flies at the contestants at twice the speed that it did before. In this round, all three players continue to play together.

Whichever team scores more points; which is determined by if they successfully make it through the hole, and how many players do; moves on to the “End Game”, which is called the Blind Wall. Here’s where it seems like America is pushing just a little too far to come up with something unique. In this round, one of the players from the winning team is forced to put on a blindfold, and do a round by themselves. That player’s two fellow teammates have to try and yell out instructions while the wall is coming at the blindfolded mate to try and maneuver him or her through that hole. Honestly, this round is pretty much a joke, because it really doesn’t seem very possible with the holes that I’ve seen so far, nor does it seem very interesting to me, because just like the rounds before, it’s over in a mear moment anyways, so it feels like just a gimmick.

A few other issues that can be truly annoying include the hosts. The female host, Brooke Burns, seems to be way to chipper and happy for the situation, and her voice is so high that whenever she’s screaming around, it can really hurt the ears. It just feels like it’s being forced, and it seems to not fit within this show to make it anymore interesting. The other main host, Mark Thompson, who sits above the stage in a raised platform, before every single wall begins, says, “It’s time, to face, the hole”. It gets very redundent, and quite annoying after hearing it in every round, and it feels like there has to be something else that he can say to at least keep it something new in some sort of way.

One player moving into position to fit through the hole.

While I found that the show does take from the original roots of the show of course, it just feels like it’s way too Americanized for it’s own good. It really takes away from the general enjoyment when you’re forced to listen to the hosts redundancies, and also watch a replay of every single hole, no matter how uninteresting it may have been the first time around. My overall recommendation is to go to YouTube and search for “Human Tetris” or “Brain Wall”. You may not be able to understand a word that they say, but you’ll find it much more interesting and much more hilarious to watch, hands down.

Weasel’s Score: 66%

Welcome to Media Week, here on Weasel’s Weblog! All week this week, enjoy seven days full of reviews of everything media. This includes music, movies, and video games! So keep a watchful eye out all week, and be sure to tell the world what YOU think in the comments! At the end of the [... Read more here]]]>

Welcome to Media Week, here on Weasel’s Weblog! All week this week, enjoy seven days full of reviews of everything media. This includes music, movies, and video games! So keep a watchful eye out all week, and be sure to tell the world what YOU think in the comments! At the end of the week, I’ll post up the best comments, so include a website that you own or want to promote so that I can feature you. Check back tomorrow, Saturday, for the kickoff Blog that will start out this week, and let me tell you, this game is definitely worth the read!