I’ve been stepping into sports activities recently. 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 sport present Bodily: 100 evokes lapsed athletes like myself to choose up leisure actions once more, sadly, like most Netflix “actuality exhibits,” its preliminary greatness is hindered by its controversial members.
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Bodily: 100 is a South Korean sport present the place, in the identical spirit as Squid Recreation (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 automobile 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 purpose in competing in a myriad of athletic challenges is to advertise their respective crafts to a bigger viewers. And what higher means to do this than by defeating a gaggle of egoists within the temple of features by freakish shows of athleticism?
Probably the most enthralling half about watching Bodily: 100, apart from 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 sport the place athletic backgrounds play a pivotal half within the success of a participant. For instance, video games of hold away with a medication ball favor top-heavy athletes, whereas when members should cling to a metallic 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 kind 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 enthusiastic about 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 regulation making cyberbullying a punishable offense of both a one-year jail sentence or a 300,000 yen (roughly $2,200) wonderful, in accordance with CNN.
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As of right this moment, two Bodily: 100 contestants have been accused of bodily assault, in accordance with 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 prices of assault and battery of his girlfriend as of final Thursday, February 23, in accordance with 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 collection that put its contestants in slightly excessive conditions, it raises questions concerning the penalties of the media we eat, the harmful uncomfortable side effects of elevated public scrutiny and focused harassment, and the ethics of giving display time to individuals who have a historical past of unhealthy conduct.