I’ve been entering into sports activities currently. Not like bodily, thoughts you, however parasocially. Y’know, watching Hajime No Ippo forward of the anime AF Creed III and seeing what the hubbub is about LeBron James making historical past whereas being an “old.” Whereas new Netflix recreation present Bodily: 100 evokes lapsed athletes like myself to select up leisure actions once more, sadly, like most Netflix “actuality exhibits,” its preliminary greatness is hindered by its controversial individuals.
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Bodily: 100 is a South Korean recreation present the place, in the identical spirit as Squid Sport (hopefully minus the backstage shitstorm), 100 athletes from completely different disciplines compete to win $300 million received (roughly $227,806 USD). These athletes are skilled dancers, gymnasts, rugby gamers, stuntmen, cross fitters, bodybuilders, and extra. My favourite obscenely athletic gods amongst mortals on the present are MMA fighter Choo Sung-hoon, aka Yoshiro Akiyama, a wrestler named Jang Eun-sil, and a automotive salesman named Jo Jin-hyeong.
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Bodily: 100 Makes For Nice Tv
Just like Netflix’s Japanese actuality TV present, Terrace Home, Bodily: 100’s participant’s secondary aim in competing in a myriad of athletic challenges is to advertise their respective crafts to a bigger viewers. And what higher method to try this than by defeating a bunch of egoists within the temple of positive factors via freakish shows of athleticism?
Probably the most enthralling half about watching Bodily: 100, except for how audaciously ripped every contestant is, is how the present’s “quests” (the sport present video games) routinely pit athletes from completely different fields towards one another. As a viewer, these video games create a sort of meta much like a preventing recreation the place athletic backgrounds play a pivotal half within the success of a participant. For instance, video games of maintain away with a medication ball favor top-heavy athletes, whereas when individuals should cling to a steel bar whereas being suspended over a pool, these with leaner builds have the benefit. The present even shows a Japanese RPG-esque flowchart describing which physique sort every quest favors.
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Greatness marred in controversy
Sadly, Bodily: 100, like Terrace Home, is steeped in controversy. Again in Might 2020, Terrace Home’s Japanese broadcast was suspended following the passing of Stardom wrestler and contestant Hana Kimura. Kimura, who joined the present to get viewers interested by girls’s wrestling, was the sufferer of on-line bullying after she and her Terrace Home roommate argued about how he’d ruined her wrestling gear of their washer. Since her passing, Japan created a brand new legislation making cyberbullying a punishable offense of both a one-year jail sentence or a 300,000 yen (roughly $2,200) effective, in response to CNN.
Learn Extra: Followers Keep in mind Hana Kimura As Terrace Home Episodes Are Suspended In Japan.
As of at this time, two Bodily: 100 contestants have been accused of bodily assault, in response to the BBC. Whereas the names of the contestants haven’t been revealed to the general public, it’s been revealed that one contestant is underneath investigation by the Seoul Gangnam Police on expenses of assault and battery of his girlfriend as of final Thursday, February 23, in response to The Korea Occasions.
Kotaku reached out to Netflix for remark.
Whereas Bodily: 100 makes for thrilling tv harkening again to sportsman-like exhibits like 1989’s American Gladiator, it, like many different actuality TV exhibits, loses its luster upon nearer inspection. And like different sequence that put its contestants in somewhat excessive conditions, it raises questions in regards to the penalties of the media we devour, the damaging unintended effects of elevated public scrutiny and focused harassment, and the ethics of giving display screen time to individuals who have a historical past of dangerous conduct.
