Incredible Nothing!

Care to help out a blogger “in need”?

(Believe it or not, I don’t mean myself – yet)

There’s this rather gimmicky show that airs around here late every Thursday night (or should I say Friday morning since it’s past 12?) that I sort of started watching a while back (or rather glimpsing out of the corner of my eye whilst I finish a last minute essay to be handed in the morning -_-”)  that features various ‘blogging celebrities’ going around doing gimmicky stuff who depend on the comments on their respective blogs to fuel said gimmicks.

Sounds confusing? As a concrete example, Inagaki Saki is an Asuka cosplayer (from Evangelion fame for those who don’t know – in which case, this post will probably not interest you one bit) who’s essentially been on a backpacker’s journey (cameraman and show staff in tow) around parts of Japan who earnestly reports her endeavors on her blog. Every week on ロケみつ (I’ve only just bothered to learn the show’s name now), we get to watch a segment of her travels (fashioned as a parody of a typical episode of the Evangelion anime – Cruel Angels’ Thesis included), which sometimes turn arduous due to the show’s catch – Starting with essentially nothing, Saki’s travel expenses every ‘episode’ depend on the number of comments her latest blog post gets.

Before she receives any money from the show’s staff at a certain time each day, when she also checks her comments she has to roll a die – if she rolls 6, she receives 10 times the amount of comments in yen, anything from 2 to 5 and she gets the exact amount in yen as her comments. If it’s a 1, she only gets a tenth of the amount. So say she gets 2000 comments that day, rolling a 6 gives her 20,000 yen; 2,3,4, or 5 would give her 2000yen, whilst the dreaded 1 would leave her with a pitiful 200yen.

Saki and her idol, seiyuu Miyamura Yuuko (who voiced guess who Asuka in Evangelion) who appeared to congratulate her at the end of her Kansai journey.

I haven’t really been following the show faithfully since on occasion I do try to sleep earlier for class next day -_-”. That and my anime watchlist didn’t really have time to accomodate “that show with the hosts in horrible animal costumes and that travelling cosplayer chick“. Saki’s travels do pique my interest (much more then that other  segment about a guy who has to hit homeruns in random batting centres around Japan anyways) since I’ve been dabbling into the whole budget travelling experience myself (more on that here later, I promise).

The first ’season’, had Saki travelling around Kansai, where she had to clear specific goals by reaching specific famous destinations like Eiga Mura in Kyoto or Arima Onsen in Kobe. I only really watched the one episode when, already low on cash, Saki rolls a 1 (!) and finds herself stranded in Kyoto having to rely on the help of foreign otakus (lol) and spending the night at half-price karaoke. (The alternative being Internet Cafes I suppose).

That first season around Kansai just recently wrapped up apparently, with Saki reaching all her goals (rolling a 6 as well as a few 1’s along the way apparently) with the help of the kindly locals who always seemed eager to help a poor cosplayer with cameraman in tow (Always helps to stand out, see).

The current ’season’ has Saki tracking around the island of Shikoku (she basically got dropped off there directly after the end of her Kansai trip – though Saki herself really expected to be dropped back home by the show’s staff, it seems like the show could still use their ratings -_-”). She’ll have 2 goal destinations to clear at each of Shikoku’s 4 prefectures, at the end of whch she would have rounded the entire island (something I want to do myself one day ). THis time the rules have been modified such that rolling a 2 gives her a tenth of her comments worth in cash, while rolling a 1 now means all her cash will be confiscated (sadistic show staff XD >.<).

Only the first episode has been aired so far, where starting with zero yen meant Saki had to walk for an hour plus before an ojisan decided give her a ride to the nearest station and treat her to lunch (again, pays to be a young female cosplayer with people tailing your back to make sure old men don’t try anything fishy with you). Thankfully, she rolled a 5 that day – though according to her latest post, she’s rolled 1 twice so far already ORZ

For anyone who wants to lend Saki a hand can drop by her blog (http://www.mbs.jp/888/blogtabi/) and typing a random comment on her current post (only if it starts with a message bolded in red though – that’s usually the message saying that the comments that post receives up till 3pm Japan time that day will be counted to Saki’s possible ‘earnings’ for that day. The plain black bold starting message usually says the show is ‘on a break’ for the day – but comments are still appreciated. Posts starting with the blue bolded ones though, signal the show’s meanest twist – the post has to receive at least 1000 comments or the producers will be ‘forced to’ end Saki’s segment in the show permanently -_-” And the current number of comments is never displayed till the next episode, so yea, it’s really just a lousy comment fishing stunt. Saki really has nothing to fear in that aspect judging by her current support, though if she keeps rolling 1’s it’s all going to be for naught -_-”)

As to why I’m posting about a random cosplayer’s travels you may ask? Not really sure myself, since I’m not the biggest Evangelion fan nor do  ever want to be (Disliked most of the characters on the show, Asuka not exempted) but over the past year I have learnt to enjoy impromptu travelling (despite the eventual difficulties one faces with the lack of actual proper planning).

Or could it be that I’m actually falling for Saki’s ‘cosplayer in distress’ whiles???

*stares at the above images for a while*

Nah. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll have to do some preparing for my trip tomorrow to Nagoya (my 3rd time so far… But Mizuki Nana is definitely worth it )

(All images in this post taken from Inagaki Saki’s ‘Round the Shikoku Blog Tour‘)