Kinniku Banzuke

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Kinniku Banzuke
Genre Sports Entertainment,
Variety Show
Country of origin Flag of Japan Japan
Language(s) Japanese;
English subtitles in United States broadcast
Production
Producer(s) Ushio Higuchi
Running time 30-minutes episodes in the United States
Broadcast
Original channel Tokyo Broadcasting System
Picture format NTSC in Japan and the United States
Original run Oct 14, 1995 – May 4, 2002
Chronology
Followed by Sasuke
Related shows Zone,
Body,
Sasuke Mania,
Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course,
Taiiku no Jikan (Physical Education Time)

Kinniku Banzuke (筋肉番付? Muscle Ranking) was a weekly-airing Japanese television program and the premiere sports entertainment variety show of the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). Its successors, Taiiku Oukoku (体育王国? Physical Education Kingdom) and Ougon Kinniku (黄金筋肉? Golden Muscle), will be handled on this page. Also, the plans connecting Muscle Musical and the above-mentioned programs are discussed. The seasonal television specials, Pro Sportsman No.1 and Sasuke, are referenced from their respective articles.

Contents

[edit] Kinniku Banzuke

Originally a late-night Friday broadcast, the television special was popular and started airing in prime-time on Oct 14, 1995. It was broadcast every season and gained popularity as Sportsman No.1 Ketteisen (スポーツマンNo.1決定戦? Sportsman No.1 Playoffs). Through various games reverting to the origins of sports, professional players and general participants challenged the limits of physical strength and technique, winning prizes if all targets were successfully destroyed.

Kane Kosugi's Shaolin Temple training and Akira Oomori's Muay Thai bouts were also documented in the broadcasts. The popularity of the displays of amazing physical strength and technique by professional players and luck of general participants drove TV Asahi to move its anime time slot up one hour and caused the cancellation of Heisei Kyouikuiinkai (平成教育委員会? Heisei Board of Education) on Fuji TV.

The use of the program's mascot, Kongou-kun (金剛くん? Adamantium Boy), originally only featured during the broadcast, expanded in 1999 into the program's opening sequence and every game's introduction. Simultaneously, a brandmark for the program, different from its logotype, was created: the English initials, "MR". However, that same autumn, only the mascot remained, and the "MR" brandmark vanished, having only appeared for that brief time.

[edit] Sudden cancellation

However, a performer had an accident in the middle of recording, and as a safety measure, broadcast was paused (in reality, cancelled) in May 2002. The dormant space was filled with a special edition of Count Down TV, CDTV Gold, entitled Za! Gekitou! Daikazoku!! (ザ!激闘!大家族!!? The! Intensely Fighting! Large Family!!).

[edit] Broadcast time

Saturday at 19:00 JST (Except for TV Yamaguchi. At first, it was not broadcast on TV Kouchi either but started midway in April 2000. At that time, TV Kouchi had a time slot open on Kouchi Sun Sun TV when a Fuji TV drama was moved to a different slot, and thereafter, the network started broadcasting TV Asahi's programs at a different time. In addition, TV Yamaguchi was once a Fuji Network System affiliate and syndicated some Fuji TV programs.)

[edit] Hosts

[edit] Courses

Courses that are defeated are then recreated in an attempt to be made more difficult and thus "Unbeatable". This is why there are different versions (I, II, III, IV, V) next to some names. Sometimes an obstacle is changed between attempts to conquer this game. This is why there are letters (A, B) next to the versions. This is most likely done because of the injuries caused by this obstacle. Some of these events have "break zones", where any competitor who reaches that point is allowed to take a 30-second break before they must continue on with the course.

  • Hand Walk I, II, IIIA, IIIB -- Obstacle course where competitors walk on their hands. This course has a break zone. Between IIIA and IIIB, the Conveyor Belt was changed to Bamboo Bridge.
  • Like a Pierrot I, II, III, IV, V -- Obstacle course where competitors ride a unicycle. This event has the most victories.
  • Super Rider I, II, III -- Obstacle course where competitors ride a bicycle.
  • Skeboarder -- Obstacle course where competitors ride a skateboard. This course has a break zone.
  • Bamboo Derby I, IIA, IIB, III -- Obstacle course where competitors walk on stilts. Between IIA and IIB, Green Mountain was changed to Snow Mountain.
  • Kangaroo -- Obstacle course where competitors use a pogo stick. Has a break zone.
  • Giant Ball -- Obstacle course where competitors stay atop a 5-foot-wide ball.
  • Ottoto 9 -- Obstacle course where competitors balance a metal pole on two fingers. Letting the pole fall or touch any metal obstacle results in failure. This course has a break zone. This course has been conquered by one person.
  • Super Helico -- Obstacle course involving a radio-controlled helicopter. This course has a break zone to allow the copter's batteries to be replaced.
  • Neko de Drive -- Obstacle course involving a man transporting a woman on a wheelbarrow that looks like a cat. The contestants have 60 seconds to complete the first four obstacles and reach the break zone. After that, the time is unlimited.
  • Quick Muscle -- Two competitors have to do as many push-ups as they can in 3 minutes. The one who does more at the end of 3 minutes is declared the champion.
  • Muscle Gym -- Two competitors have to do as many sit-ups, back extensions, and push-ups as they can in 3 minutes.
  • Athletic Love -- Two people of a couple stand at either end of a bridge-like construct. They have 60 seconds to reach the center without falling off or using their hands.
  • Sponge Bridge I, II -- Competitors have to walk atop three rows of giant foam blocks, each harder than the last. KUNOICHI's third stage obstacle, Domino Hill, is similar to this event.
  • Daruma 7 -- A 'daruma' sits atop a stack of 7 blocks. Competitors use a sledgehammer to knock out each block from the bottom up without letting the 'daruma' fall off.
    • Super Daruma -- Modified version of Daruma 7 which has 9 blocks to knock out instead of 7.
    • Daruma 7 Ace -- Modified version of Daruma 7 which the blocks start out small and get larger.
  • Extra Kendama -- Competitors play with a life-size kendama. They have 60 seconds to swing the ball onto the large cup, then onto the small cup, and finally onto the central spike.
  • Seesaw 60 -- Two people stand atop a giant seesaw. They have 60 seconds to move a 10-kg barrel from one side to the other without letting either end of the seesaw touch the floor. A third person gets to call out advice to the other two people.
  • Banzai 90 -- A 6-person team has 90 seconds to launch one of their own onto each of four padded logs hanging several feet above the floor.

"Struck Out", "Kick Target", etc.--The contest for the 2 million yen prize consisted of many games that formed the "2 Million Yen Dream Plan".

[edit] Champions (Grouped by Course)

  • Super Rider I -- Isamu Hasenaka - 1:30
  • Super Rider II -- Jaromir Spechny - 4:18
  • Like a Pierrot I -- Yuichi Ono, Fuyuka Tsuchiya
  • Like a Pierrot II -- Natsuki Hata, Daiki Izumida, Yuichiro Kato
  • Like a Pierrot III -- Yuichiro Kato - 3:03
  • Like a Pierrot IV -- Yoshiaki Handa - 2:41
  • Bamboo Derby I -- Hiroshi Kobayashi - 1:37
  • Bamboo Derby II -- Hiroshi Takahashi - 1:01
  • Daruma 7 -- Atsuya Furuta, Yoichi Fukaya
  • Quick Muscle -- Kohei Asano
  • Hand Walk I -- Aizu Nie, Yukio Iketani
  • Hand Walk II -- Yuki Takahashi - 1:15
  • Ottoto 9 -- Tomoteru Fukuda - 4:52
  • Muscle Gym --Jaguar Yokota, Jimon Terakado, Yasuei Yakushiji, Shigeyuki Nakamura
  • Athletic Love -- Atsushi & Michiko Hirata - 0:49, Naomi & Tatsuya Gunzi - 0:59
  • Sponge Bridge -- Makoto Shujii & Shinji Shiratori

[edit] American broadcast

This show is seen on America's G4 network under the name Unbeatable Banzuke. It airs in half-hour episodes, two or three games per episode, in its original Japanese language and partial original broadcast also with English subtitles. The player profiles and replays, however, are narrated by voice actor Dave Wittenberg, who also does this for Ninja Warrior.

[edit] Spinoffs

In the UK, Channel 5 made their own version of this show called Under Pressure. It featured many similar events, namely Hand Walk, Super Rider, Neko de Drive and Sponge Bridge. Games like Kick Target were separate segments normally attempted by athletes at various training facilities. For pictures of this version, check: UKgameshows

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