TV game shows featuring members of the public are a rare breed in Japan, producers having long since decided that such activities are best left to minor celebrities. Yet in a curious coincidence, two of this month¡¯s major movie releases both revolve around televised battles of wits between people whose only claim to fame is being brainy.
Kohei Yoshino¡¯s ¡°Your Own Quiz¡± has the stronger premise of the two, with its tale of a quiz-show finalist trying to figure out how his opponent answered a tie-breaker correctly without even hearing the question. However, the solution to that puzzle turns out to be a bit of a letdown ¡ª as does the film.
I had more fun with Yukihiko Tsutsumi¡¯s ¡°Mystery Arena,¡± a trashier and altogether spikier movie that entertains partly by virtue of its incongruous mix of elements. It¡¯s set in a vaguely dystopian near-future, 10 years from now, where robots and virtual reality headsets have fully infiltrated the workplace, yet a cheesy game show can still command astronomical viewing figures.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.