*This was originally posted on OneHallyu on Dec. 2nd 2018. With this episode, I changed up the format for the breakdown. It should a bit clearer now when they switch between the members.
A Block Baka Battle!
10/27
There was an overlap with a Figure Skating Contest for this episode, so I don't know if that was good or bad.
Because they won the Title Song for the 4th Single, all the members of LaLuce were featured in the previous episode. This time, only selected members of the other groups were featured. It stated that these 7 qualified/were nominated for the A Block. I guess they met certain requirements on the Academic Test. Fans weren't exactly sure themselves why these 7 were chosen.
Ogi was absent this week. Ito Asako returned as the guest and joined Yahagi for this episode.
The members appearing this week are:
Ozawa Aimi (Chou Cream Rockets)
Nishimura Honoka (Love Cocchi)
Nakamura Shuri (Love Cocchi)
Kiyohara Rio (Someday Somewhere)
Takahashi Mayu (Good Tears)
Yamamoto Runa (2nd Gen)
Machida Honoka (2nd Gen)
Nishimura Honoka said "I'm confident I'm the top in this group".
Rio admitted that she would "probably be the stupidest one here".
(*A fan pointed out that Rio was playing the "Tsukkomi" role which is the "straight man" in a comedy duo. Boke is the "funny man". I guess that means she was just playing off Honoka and didn't really think she would be the stupidest)
Unlike the previous episode, they didn't reveal who placed first in this group. They started off with Mayu. Just like before, the correct answer is in parenthesis, and the LIF member's answer is below the question. I just noticed that underneath each member's name is a short description for them, so I'm including them from this point on.
Takahashi Mayu (16 yrs. old)
"Kasukabe Boxing Girl"
(*Kasukabe is a city in Japan, so Mayu must be from there. Her special skill is boxing)
Q. Who is the person in the picture? (Beethoven)
A. Mozart
Q. What is the Japanese translation for this English word?
"Snow" (Yuki - 雪)
A. Shyashin - 写真 (Photograph)
There's no other reading that I know of for the Kanji for Shyashin, but here's why she made the mistake. There's a popular Selfie app used by Junior High School students, particularly girls, called Snow. Because it's used for taking pictures, Mayu must have assumed that's what the question was referring to. It's kind of a cute mistake.
Q. Make a sentence using the following idiom.
"Kao kara hi ga deru" (*The idiom means "to be extremely embarrassed" or "to burn with shame". You would say the entire phrase)
(Example Sentence: I was so embarrassed when I made a mistake, that my face turned bright red)
A. "Fire! Fire! I'm surrounded by fire and can't escape. Ah. I'm burning with shame."
Lmao! I'm not sure exactly how Mayu interpreted the Idiom, but she just copied it exactly, so I used "burning with shame" based on the rest of her sentence. She must have focused on the "burning with shame" part and interpreted it as literally being on fire, instead of your cheeks turning red. Hi (火) means "Fire" and Deru (出る) is the verb for "coming out/leaving", so Mayu must have thought "a fire has broken out". Either that, or she was trying to make a joke.
Machida Honoka (15 yrs. old)
"In charge of the 2nd Gen's Heart Warming Character"
(*The word that's used is "Honwaka". It means "a pleasant mood", so Machida must brighten up the room)
Machida: "I don't understand words, and I can't read Kanji. If there's too much of English, I won't understand it."
Q. Please write the following Katakana as Kanji.
"Isan Souzoku (イサンソウゾク)" (遺産相続) (*It means to bequeath an Inheritance)
A. Isai Zoku (衣財 族) (*It translates to something like "Family Clothing")
I think she went with that answer because she heard "Isai Zoku" used before and it sounded similar.
Q. What is the Capitol City of America? (Washington D.C.)
Mayu: "That's easy".
Aimi: "Even I know that".
Nishimura: "It's common sense".
From the look on Machida's face, it was obvious she must have made a mistake.
A. Europe
Machida: "I thought it was either Europe or Hollywood. I spent too much time thinking about it".
Ozawa Aimi (15 yrs. old)
"Last Idol's Little Sister Character"
Q. What do you call this illustration in English? (Tiger)
A. Laion
Some fans admitted they also saw it as a Lion too.
Aimi: "I didn't know the difference between a Lion and a Tiger".
"The first and probably the last (Kouzen Zetsugo - 空前絶後)" (There are no examples up 'till now, and I see no examples afterwards)
(*The more straight forward meaning of Kouzen Zetsugo is "Unprecedented", so the explanation of nothing before or after makes sense)
A. Before and after the sky will be absolutely amazing.
I'm not really sure if her answer was correct, but a fan noticed something interesting. They said it was similar to Abe's answer to her Idiom from the previous week. Aimi wrote her answer like this:
空の前後は絶対すごいことになる。
The fan pointed out that she used each of the four characters from the idiom to write her sentence, so it turned into and Acronym:
空前絶後
"空"の"前""後"は"絶"
They thought it was pretty clever.
Nakamura Shuri (15 yrs. old)
"Special Skill is Ballet! A beautiful healing girl"
From what I read, Shuri used to be the top of her class, but her grades have declined. Fans assume it's because she's become an Entertainer and is busy.
Q. Write the word that's in the blank space of this proverb.
"___bit my hand (___ni te wo kamareru - ＿＿に手をかまれる). (My dog bit my hand. Being betrayed by those you've taken care of)
A. Someone bit my hand.
Essentially biting the hand that feeds you. I don't know what Shuri was thinking of. Her grades must have really slipped, lol.
The guest, Ito Asako, said "that sounds like something from an Agatha Christie Novel".
Q. What is the Capitol City of America?
A. London
MC Yahagi opened it up to the rest of the group.
Yahagi: "What country is London the Capitol City of?"
Mayu answered confidently: "I know! I know! It's England."
Aimi: "Is that right? I see."
Yahagi: "Everyone's anxious. I don't think Mayu could have gotten it correct"
For some reason, Yahagi seemed to doubt that Mayu answered correctly despite knowing the answer just then.
Nishimura Honoka (23 yrs. old)
"The oldest! Last Idol's Older Sister"
Q. Make a sentence using the following Idiom.
"Origami Tsuki (折り紙つき)" (When quality is guaranteed, it will gain a reputation with the public)
A. Made an Origami Crane.
Honoka said she never heard of this Idiom before. It means "Something very nice, certified to be good". It actually has nothing to do with the art of Origami paper folding. In this case, Origami refers to an official document certifying the authenticity of a sword. This practice started in the Edo period. The "tsuki" part meant the sword came with a guaranteed certificate (*Tsuki means "attached"). The paper was folded and called "ori" (to fold) "kami" (paper). Now it refers to the quality of objects in general. In contemporary Japan, a similar phrase is used to evaluate Athletes: "The proficiency of this player is guaranteed".
When Rio heard what it meant, she said: "Then you should say it normally. It's good."
They didn't focus much on Honoka and moved along to Rio. They spent allot of time on her, lol.
Kiyohara Rio (17 yrs. old)
"Ehime grown lazy girl"
(*Ehime is the prefecture where Rio grew up. They use the word "Heta" to describe Rio, which basically means "good for nothing", lol. It's Kansai slang)
Rio: "I'm confident. The questions were easy. I don't think I wrote anything stupid".
Yahagi: "Don't screw with me, eh?".
Rio: "Yes. Don't screw with me!".
(*Yahagi says "Fuzakenna" which is slang used in Anime during arguments)
Q. What is the name of the person in the photo? (Miyamoto Musashi) (*The 2 swords he's holding is a hint)
A. Matsujima Tokyo (*This is the closest translation I could get)
No one knew who Rio's answer was referring to. I don't know if this is even a real person, which is why I'm unsure of the translation.
Guest Ito Asako came to Rio's defense: "Maybe this person also held 2 swords?"
Kiyohara: "I like to randomly give names to people I don't know. I did it automatically on the test without thinking".
From what I read, I think Rio gives out nicknames at Handshake Meetings, probably to fans. I guess it's a hard habit for her to break, lol.
Q. Japan's unit of currency is Yen. What is the unit of currency in the United States?
A. Yon
Rio said she only knows the currency in Japan and Korea. She said Korea uses Won, which is correct.
Q. We call Flight Attendants "CA", but what is the official name for CA? (Cabin Attendants)
A. Cabin Attendant Accident (*She wrote it in Katakana)
Fans commented that Rio must have thought the A stood for accident. I have no idea why.
Yamamoto Runa (14 yrs old)
"Last Idol's Cry Baby"
Q. 10000 ÷ 100 = ?? (100)
A. 20000 00
Obviously wrong. I don't know how Runa got that number. They suggested on the show that she just added the 1's and put the two 0's from the 100 at the end.
Yahagi: "You don't know how to say what percent off?".
Runa: "I don't".Rio: "I don't know how to do that".
Yahagi: "You don't know 10% off 10,000 Yen?".
Machida: "What is it?".
Aimi: "10% of 10,000 Yen?".
Yahagi: "What a wonderful meeting is being held".
Aimi's answer: "It's 10, so it would be 9990 Yen".
Truly a meeting of the minds, lol.
Finally, they revealed the rankings for A Block. Rio was in last place. Wow, both Honoka's at the top.
1. Nishimura Honoka - 43/70
2. Machida Honoka - 38/70
3. Ozawa Aimi - 36/70
4. Nakamura Shuri - 33/70
5. Takahashi Mayu - 29/70
6. Yamamoto Runa - 27/70
7. Kiyohara Rio - 23/70
Even Runa can't believe Rio was below her.
Rio only answered 23 out of 70 questions correct. That's worse than Abe's score of 27 out of 70.
Rio: "I haven't had much education up to this point, but never had a bad experience like this before, so I've always been pretty confident in my knowledge".
(*It's a bit difficult to understand the context without a little background. Rio refers to herself as a "Tsuwamono" (つわもの - 強者). Traditionally, it means "a soldier bravely going into battle" or "an exceptional person". It could also be slang for "Tough guy". In modern Japan, it can be used to describe someone doing something under unusual circumstances that's impressive. I found a blog where someone described seeing a woman carefully applying makeup while standing on a moving train and holding a hand bag. This is an uncommon sight, so in this situation, she would be a Tsuwamono. That being said, it's an unusual thing for Rio to boast about herself. It sounds like something someone else would say about you)
So now Rio will join Abe in the finals to decide the #1 Baka in Last Idol Family.
From reading fan comments about the episode, allot of them were surprised at the education level of the members, and how they were unfamiliar with the Idioms which are supposed to be common knowledge. Some said even Elementary School students know what the Capitol City of the United States is, so it's good that they've become Idols. Ouch.
Others wondered if the members were deliberately answering the questions incorrectly, as if it was another competition for the most ridiculous answer. This wouldn't surprise me.
Another person questioned whether it's okay to laugh at the poor education of the members.
Someone commented that it was nice to see Runa laugh for a change instead of crying. It must have been at the moment the results were revealed.
At the end, there was a short preview for the next episode with B Block.
