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The story
On Nippon TV’s quiz program “Ariyoshi Quiz,” a segment built around the challenge “make a quiz only 2 out of 10 people can answer” featured the Morning Musume.-starring film Pinch Runner — and that became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. Released in 2000, the film is obscure enough that it reportedly ranks 5th on “Everyone’s Cinema Review” (a Japanese movie-review aggregator site)’s list of worst films ever made. Thread posters piled on with comments like “Even I can’t recall it, and I’m nearly 40” and “I doubt even 10% of today’s Hello! Project members could name it.” The discussion also drifted into reminiscing about other Hello! Project-related films from the same era, producing a mix of nostalgia and commentary on just how poorly regarded the movie is.
What people said
Though I bet once I hear the answer I'll go 'oh right, that one!'
#1 Shiryo no Bon Odori (the Japanese release title of the cult film known in the West as 'Orgy of the Dead'), #2 'Peking Man: Who Are You?'
#3 'Fist of the North Star' (live action), #4 'Devilman' (live action), #5 'Pinch Runner'
Seriously, lol
I didn't know that either
When that fell apart, what came out of it instead was the misbegotten 'Devilman'
Re: #9
Scary that he's tied to both #4 and #5
Nothing else is worth watching
'Pinch Runner' is the worst of the bunch
Wait, 'Morning Cop' is actually good?
Is it watchable anywhere?
'Seishun Bakachin Ryouri Juku'
The Hello! Project Kids deliver their lines pretty flatly, but
Nacchi's (Nakazawa Yuko, first-gen Morning Musume leader) acting was good
Yeah
Current members weren't even born yet back then
Probably none of them know it
Would be nice to have something like that for the 30th anniversary
A quiz looking back at Morning Musume.'s beginnings
The bit where the just-joined 4th generation members show up for a split second?
I saw it at the now-defunct Asakusa Toei theater
I've caught reruns on SKY PerfecTV! since, but never felt like rewatching it — still haven't to this day
as long as they're gracious about wrong answers, lol
Nonaka was living overseas, so probably not
Hirai and Tanimoto wouldn't know it
If they'd asked 'What period-drama musical starring Morning Musume. was staged at the Meijiza (a historic Tokyo theater) in 2003?' everyone would've gotten it
Brings back memories
What was that one with Unburan again?
That's 'Morning Town'
The one where Toru-chan played a bank clerk
That's right, thanks
I feel like Gocchin (Goto Maki) and Konno were a couple in that one
Thinking about it, these days probably more people don't know that Nozawa Toru used to appear in stage shows alongside Musume. and Gocchin
Watching it alone is too depressing
the live-commentary threads would absolutely pop off
was the worst movie, in my opinion
Not just among Hello! Project-related films — worst movie, period
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Pinch Runner, released in 2000, starred members of Morning Musume., and as thread posters themselves pointed out, it’s been considered a poorly regarded film since release — it reportedly sits at #5 on “Everyone’s Cinema Review”‘s list of worst movies ever. The segment that reportedly prompted the question, “Ariyoshi Quiz,” is built around deliberately obscure trivia, so Pinch Runner itself isn’t uniquely notorious — several other poorly rated Hello! Project-related films from the same era came up in the thread too. Posters split into two camps: those nostalgically poking fun at just how bad the film is, and those simply stunned by how obscure it’s become — as in, “not even fans from back then, let alone current members, could answer this instantly.” Some unverified speculation about the then-teenage cast members also surfaced in the thread, but as unsubstantiated personal rumor, it has been omitted from this summary.
※ This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “[Sad News] Nobody Knows Pinch Runner.”
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