Ride on Time (2018) s01e22 Episode Script

1
STAND UP ON YOUR OWN TWO FEE
Takizawa Kabuki ZERO.
A new challenge has begun
for the group of young men
who give their lives for this show.
This is insane.
This is documentary series Ride On Time.
New Year's Eve, last year.
JOHNNY'S COUNTDOWN 2018-2019
TOKYO DOME
These young men are trying to
open the door to a new life as idols.
With a clearly high level
of physical ability,
this unit performs acrobatic maneuvers
with the greatest of ease.
Their name? Snow Man.
They will be playing the leading roles
in Takizawa Kabuki ZERO.
Give me your best one.
When you're ready.
Hideaki Takizawa has entrusted them
with a show as graceful
as cherry blossoms.
It's the ultimate
in traditional Japanese entertainment.
-This is amazing!
-It is.
It's beautiful.
The number of reporters reveals
how great the anticipation is.
DECEMBER 2018 IMPERIAL HOTEL, TOKYO
This is how they described their feelings.
A few years ago, I would really never
have believed a day like this would come.
I hope to take the audience into the world
of ultimate Japanese entertainment.
Snow Man was formed in 2012
with six members.
I want Snow Man
to be everywhere this year.
I hope we can be in an anime.
The boys have closely bonded
with one another.
Even when a junior group beat them
to make their debut,
they weren't discouraged
and kept aiming for greater heights.
I want to overcome being unknown.
I want people to know who we are.
The stage for this endeavor
is the birthplace of Kabuki,
Kyoto's Minamiza Theatre.
Just what kind of show will they create?
The days before the show's completion
are truly a series of battles.
It's the fifth day of training.
JANUARY 2019
Good morning.
Here today to do a photo shoot
for an idol magazine,
Snow Man has undergone
a large transformation.
-Good morning!
-Good morning.
It's been a while
since we've been in Wink Up!
Three new members have joined Snow Man,
meaning they've been reborn
as a nine-man unit.
3 NEW MEMBERS TURN 6 TO 9
You've shaken your nerves loose
quickly, Raul.
That's for the best, definitely!
I'm just pretending.
The first is a 15-year-old
still in junior high school
RAUL (AGE 15)
Raul.
He will be joining Takizawa Kabuki ZERO
from their Tokyo performance on.
This is the second new member.
I think I'll get some food.
Something proper. I'm starving.
Ren Meguro will be performing
with his other unit, Uchu Six,
while being part of Snow Man.
REN MEGURO (AGE 22)
And the third addition,
a member of Kansai Johnny's Jr. until now,
Koji Mukai.
KOJI MUKAI (AGE 24)
It goes without saying
that Mukai can sing and dance,
but he's also a great talker
who will be a valuable asset
as an idol who can make people laugh.
Nice smiles, please!
Three new members,
and the original lineup of six.
With a limited amount of time
until the first performance,
how will these nine solidify their unity?
I think what we have to do now is actually
try out all kinds of things.
Surely we need to explore, right?
Now that there's nine of us.
We have to find the best way
that will work.
Meanwhile,
new member Mukai has this to say.
When I first heard,
I was surprised, really.
-I'm sure you were.
-I couldn't believe it.
And so as to not drag down
Snow-san as we try to level up,
I want to work really hard.
I felt that strongly.
It's not like you to say something
so serious, Koji.
The one who ties everyone together
and makes sure they all get along
is Tatsuya Fukazawa.
TATSUYA FUKAZAWA (AGE 26)
Squeaking like this? No way!
After this, Mukai will face an ordeal.
Today is intensive training
for the all-important opening segment.
Thank you.
With Meguro unable to join them
due to other work,
they check their formation.
It's different from the six-man setup
they're used to.
Go! And, jump! That's it.
-Let's do it.
-Okay!
A new song has been created
for the opening scene,
and they must also master
a whole new routine for this.
The choreography is handled
by Koichi Goseki of A.B.C-Z.
His superior dancing ability
is acknowledged even within the agency.
The routine is, naturally,
inspired by the cherry blossom.
It calls for delicate expressiveness,
right down to subtle hand movements.
-Okay.
-Sorry, can we do it one more time?
-It's the hook now.
-The hook, right.
-Okay.
-Let's go.
-Sorry, can we do it again?
-Just once?
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
The choreography is quite fast.
If they lose focus once,
they'll immediately fall behind.
The next day's practice
is for a new Snow Man song.
It has a dance number with a high tempo
to keep in time with.
Soon unable to keep up with the speed
and starting to suffer
is Mukai.
It's so fast.
Mukai is normally cheerful,
but his smile has vanished.
He uses the break to practice alone.
One, two, three, four.
Unable to stand by watching,
Fukazawa and Sakuma join him.
How does the start of the intro go again?
As soon as you get it once,
you'll remember it.
It's the start.
I'll go over it in my head
at the hotel again today.
I'll leave it to sink in overnight.
How's it going?
There's no time to rest now.
Everyone's so fast.
Don't you think they move really quickly?
We did it bit by bit in Kansai.
One. Two. Three. Like that.
I guess I'm used to having it easier.
And there's no time to ask questions
either, is there?
It's not so much strenuous
as it is unfamiliar.
So, it's tough.
Perhaps nervous
or conscious of his inability to keep up,
Mukai is spending a lot more time alone.
Then this happens.
Let's play rock-paper-scissors.
-You playing, Koji?
-Playing what?
Rock-paper-scissors.
It's their traditional lunch game
of rock-paper-scissors to win a burger.
It's only a silly game, but over time,
little things like this
strengthen the group's bonds.
You're kidding me!
Hoping for this closeness more than anyone
is the oldest of the nine,
the worldly-wise Tatsuya Fukazawa.
TATSUYA FUKAZAWA
All of my previous groups
broke up in the end,
so I've always wanted
to protect this group.
And now we've grown by three members,
and we're a new Snow Man.
If we wanted to be that one step
ahead of other groups,
I figured this would be the only way.
Fukazawa was formerly a part
of other units,
but his old band mates debuted
with other groups one after another.
He felt the bitter sting
of being left behind.
They're in Hey! Say! JUMP,
and then there's Hasshy who's in A.B.C-Z.
I've thought about giving up
on many occasions.
I've thought about giving up a lot,
but I didn't
because of the people I'm with now.
My fellow members of Snow Man.
In Fukazawa's eyes,
he's staked his life on Snow Man.
And that's precisely why he will make sure
Takizawa Kabuki ZERO
is an absolute success.
Fukazawa has come here tonight.
-Awesome!
-They do hot pots.
The fried chicken looks great!
Here's to making it a great show.
-Cheers!
-Cheers!
Joining them at the restaurant
are Juniors from Tokyo and Kansai
who are backup dancers for Snow Man.
Most of these guys are from Kansai.
It's our first time.
Is it "Sawata" or "Sawada"?
"Ta".
MASAYA SAWATA
-That's tricky.
-Either's fine.
To steer Takizawa Kabuki ZERO
towards success,
it's not just the solidarity
of in the band itself that's crucial,
but that of everyone
who will be appearing onstage.
Since we're picking up the torch
of Takizawa Kabuki,
that means we'll be passing that torch on
to the next generation one day.
So for us in Snow Man,
not succeeding would mean
we can't pass it on to them.
When it comes down to it,
no matter how badly hurt you are,
you have to keep standing up.
You have to stand up
and give your best performance.
Everyone, acting as one.
They approach the day of the show
with this pure-white thought.
Mukai, who had
been struggling for a moment,
has now found his place, too.
-Not me, I like being clean.
-No way.
He's with Fukazawa.
Seriously, no!
His cheery nature has been fully revived!
Stop it!
I'm not sure about this guy, you know.
Come on! Why not?
There's no going back now!
You can't go back now!
I want to find the personalities
I click with out of the nine,
and just want to be loved by all of them.
So, there's nothing for it
but to do my best.
Just do my best.
I'd like to use a word other than "best".
I guess I'm saying
I want to give more than my best.
Meanwhile, another new member
That's it. Okay! Good.
is in a Tokyo studio.
JOHNNY'S JR. UNI
UCHU SIX
Listen to that breath!
As Meguro is splitting his time
with another unit, Uchu Six,
he's hardly been able to attend any
Takizawa Kabuki ZERO training sessions.
As all this is going on,
what preys on Meguro's mind
is how the fans
of each of his groups feel.
It's the same situation for our fans
and for the fans of the original
six Snow Man members.
Putting their minds at ease
is a sort of goal for me.
I hope I can give them a show
that will get that feeling across
to all of the fans.
I want to overcome that.
If I'm open and bold about it,
maybe the fans will also be open
to naturally accepting the situation.
So I'm looking forward to
the first performance.
I'll give it my all.
It's a firm resolution.
-Good morning.
-Good morning!
Back to training for the first time
in four days,
Meguro shows he means what he says.
-Good morning.
-Good morning.
We'll go over the moves
as we do our usual practice.
Right, thank you.
This is the opening routine,
which he's never practiced before.
Meguro doesn't fall a step behind
his band mates.
He's memorized the moves just by studying
a video that was sent to him.
I went on tour with ARASHI to Osaka.
I got back at around 11:30 last night,
and I heard we were doing this today,
so I asked for a video of the routine.
I practiced it right until morning
before I came in today.
What time was it?
Maybe about 5:00 in the morning.
It was only a video,
but I wanted to test myself
to see how much I could learn.
Or something like that.
It's fun, though.
-Really?
-Yes, I think so.
Thank you.
And this gutsy, determined man
has been assigned an important part.
This job involves the taiko drums.
It starts at Taiko A, with Watanabe.
The arrangement of the drummers reveals
that in the middle of the circle
Meguro, Mukai and original member Sakuma
will be drumming.
This team truly symbolizes
the new Snow Man.
If these three can't work well together,
it will all have been for nothing.
It's a serious responsibility.
So it's "bang, bang-bang" twice?
It's three times.
Can the trio accomplish this huge task?
This is tearing my abs up.
This is going to be rough.
I'm going to burst a blood vessel
in my face.
It was December last year.
Sensei. I do not knoweth
how to tie my belt.
DAISUKE SAKUMA (AGE 26)
Sakuma, who's been given
the important taiko job, is here
along with qualified meteorologist Abe,
as they work on another vital part
of the show.
You get better at playing women
the more you do it.
Yes, played by Takizawa
as the focal point of the production,
it's the female role.
What was your first impression
about playing a woman?
-"Huh?" or something?
-Yes, "Huh?"
-Someone has to do it, though.
-Yes.
When I heard we were doing
Takizawa Kabuki,
I wondered who would be taking
which parts from Takizawa.
But I never thought I'd end up doing this!
They're learning from the beginning.
One. Two. Three.
Yes, that's it.
The lower your shoulders,
the prettier you look.
Sakuma is athletic, the kind to master
whatever he sets his mind to quickly.
But Abe has no confidence at all
when it comes to these things,
meaning he achieves things
through hard work.
I'm so tense!
Yes, you need to relax more.
Relax your muscles as much as possible.
It makes your muscles ache, doesn't it?
Abe found the worth of living life
as an idol
nine years ago.
He was in his second year of high school.
It was when he had his first line
in Takizawa Kabuki.
EVEN YOU WERE ONCE A POOR FARMER
It may have only been
this short line, but
My role was Farmer 8.
But I put so much effort
into delivering that one line.
I took it and ran with it,
and the next year I was the village head.
Nobody can beat hard work.
This job taught him that lesson.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you very much.
A student up until spring last year,
Abe studied at the postgraduate level,
and it was also for the sake
of this career
that he got
his meteorologist qualification.
He needed to take time off being an idol
to take his university entrance exams,
and though his band mates were against it,
Abe pushed ahead
and joined a science faculty
to study difficult subjects.
One of the reasons I went on
to study information science
at graduate school
was because I was thinking about
a performance that uses programming.
So, if Snow Man were to do
something futuristic in the years to come,
with even a little bit
of knowledge about that
I could offer some suggestions.
That was my thinking.
Because I had been in that field.
I'm sure that what I learned will be
useful at some point in the future.
It's the Johnny's way of thinking.
Not wanting to do
what everyone else is doing.
I wanted to acquire a specialized skill.
It was that desire that spurred me on.
That desire remains unchanged.
And now that vital part of the program,
the taiko.
Nobody can get the hang of the rhythms,
and all are concerned.
The members start to learn it
in an unusual way.
Pork ribs, pork ribs, pork ribs,
pork ribs, pork ribs.
Bang, bang, peanuts. Bang, bang, peanuts.
Sherbet, sherbet, bang.
What on earth are they doing?
Bang, bang, peanuts.
Bang, bang, croquette.
What are the peanuts and croquette?
It's our way of remembering it.
It makes it stick.
Abe-chan put some lyrics to the music.
And then it really sinks in.
But you sometimes say it out loud
during the real thing. Peanuts.
You can't do that.
So, Abe really is an indispensable
part of Snow Man.
On the next Ride On Time,
training reaches its final stages
and a mega apparatus shows up.
Takizawa-kun!
The band members' tempers flare.
You fix it. Quickly!
It's your fault
if the person on the top gets hurt.
If you're not constantly giving more
than 100 percent onstage,
I don't think you can stir
people's emotions.
Questions will be asked
of their resolve and attitude.
Isn't it there to get to the next number?
You start at zero, then get higher.
And they head for Kyoto,
the scene of battle.
Subtitle translation by Lewis Williams