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was a Japanese quiz
variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...
on
Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...
, airing Wednesdays from 19:00-19:57
Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...
. The show began airing on October 19, 2005, ending on September 28, 2011 with 247 episodes aired; its predecessor, aired from June 5 through October 12, 2005.


Summary

Quiz! Hexagon II was hosted by
Shinsuke Shimada is a Japanese comedian and television presenter. He first became popular as part of a manzai duo formed with his on-stage partner Matsumoto Ryusuke. The duo was active between 1976 and 1985. In 1991 he directed the film ''Kaze, Slow Down''. ...
and Hitomi Nakamura. Guests on the show often included Japanese ''
owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...
'' comedians and ''
tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in the United States were descri ...
''. Since 2007, a number of music subgroups have formed that have released singles; among the most popular of these have been Shuchishin and Pabo. During each episode, three teams (the membership of which was determined based on a paper quiz show participants took prior to each episode) competed for points in various quizzes, testing team members' knowledge on a variety of topics.


Change from Quiz! Hexagon

Due to the low ratings of the previous show "Quiz! Hexagon" (which aired from July 7, 2002 - October 10, 2005) chairman Shinsuke Shimada accepted a request for an update to the show, and beginning the following week (June 15, 2005) - with the added subtitle "This Evening is a Quiz Parade" - the show became a battle between three six-member teams. Later, Shinsuke said in an interview published in the special extra-large summer issue (August 14/21, 2008) of the magazine , "It was not the renewal season, but the producer quickly agreed. All around it was like the quick fix of a government office."


Change to Wednesdays at 19:00 JST

From October 19, 2005 to the present, the name was changed to , and the broadcast time was moved up one hour to Wednesdays at 19:00 JST. The official title was "Quiz! Hexagon II," but within the show in the logo and in Shinsuke's title call, it became "Hexagon II Quiz Parade!! Recently, it has become a common occurrence for the ratings to rise in the last 10% of the show (last 20% of a special), and there have also been times when the show surpasses the competing program . Also, around the times of reorganization and in exceptional instances, the production of 2-3 hour specials has become common, but recently even in times of reorganization the production of regular shows also occurs. On January 2, 2008, from 19:00 - 21:54 JST, it was broadcast as the replacement for the year-end special program that had run on January 2 from 2001 to 2007 (with a New Year's show in 2005 and a special show in 2005) but had ended regular production. (The same occurred in 2009). The show's best ratings were on September 3, 2008, when it received 23.5% in the
Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...
(Fuji TV). In the
Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...
(Kansai TV), the August 1, 2008 2-hour special had a rating of 29.6%. (According to Video Research, Ltd.) According to the Children & Media Opinion Poll sponsored by the Japanese National PTA Convention, under the category of "Programs Parents Do Not Want to Show Their Children" it ranked 6th in 2009, having been 7th in 2008, but on the other hand it was ranked 8th in the category "Programs to Show Children."


''O-baka Tarento''

Those who give strange answers are mocked as ''O-baka Tarento'', 'Foolish celebrities'. In the early stages of the program, people like Shin Koda, Akane Osawa, and Saki Fukuda became semi-regulars, and within the program they were dealt with as "''O-baka''," but beginning around the time of September 2006, when Mai Satoda became a semi-regular, the situation changed. She did not once beat the other regular guests in the preliminary test and came to monopolize the lowest ranking, and the "''Obaka tarento''" who had appeared to this point little by little stopped being treated as "''Baka''." Due to this, from all around the image of "Last Place = Satoda" became strong and it often became joke material. However, in 2007 guests at the same level or worse than Satoda - such as Takeshi Tsuruno, Yukina Kinoshita, Suzanne, Yusuke Kamiji, and Naoki Nokubo - became semi-regulars, and Satoda's monopolized status was reduced. From there, the six people - joined with Satoda - were called the "6-man ''Baka'' Group," and became featured performers on the show. In 2007, the CD debuts of the three women, as Pabo, and the three men, as Shuchishin (when together, the six-person group was called aladdin), were huge hits. Currently, they have moved from semi-regulars to become regulars, and have become popular tarento, become regulars on other shows as well. In 2008, the popularity of misono, who was at the same level as the other six, rose when she became a semi-regular. She appeared as a guest on various shows, and the song , released in June, entered into the top 10, her first since her debut as a solo artist. Beginning in the latter half of 2008, a number of popular performers with low test scores (referred to by Shinsuke as "High-Popularity ''Baka''") have become semi-regulars: beginning in June 2008, Akina Minami; in October 2008, Mari Yaguchi; in 2009, Daisuke Motoki; in April 2009, Shintaro Yamada; in June 2009, Nozomi Tsuji. There are also other regularly appearing "''O-baka tarento''," such as former professional boxer
Yoko Gushiken is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1981. He held the WBA light-flyweight title from 1976 to 1981, making a total of 13 successful defences. Following his retirement from boxing, he remains popular in Japan as a ...
who has an all-time average of 4 points (out of a possible 50) in the qualifying paper test.


Program Proceedings

Prior to the beginning of the show a 50-question preliminary paper test was given to the performers. At the opening of the show the results of the preliminary paper test were announced, and based on ranking three teams were formed with an equal division of knowledge level. These three teams competed in quizzes for the purpose of attaining the cash prize, and the team with the most points at the end of all stages became the winner. (In the case that at the very end the top score was matched by multiple teams, the bottom-ranked members of those teams once more completed in a one question, one shot playoff, with the person who correctly answered the question becoming champion.) In the early parts of 2008, there was a rule that in the case of sudden death, the quiz would take place at the pool used for the Action Quiz, but eventually as it did not reach sudden death, the action quiz was ended and not used after all.


Cancellation

The show came to an end in September 2011, after host Shinsuke Shimada was forced to retire from show business due to his connections with the
Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for longshoreman, dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest organized cr ...
.Comedian Shimada quits show business over reported ties to yakuza
" ''Japan Today'', August 24, 2011.


Program

*Chairman: Shinsuke Shimada **On the October 22, 2008 show, he appeared under the name "Cassius Shimada," in charge of lyrics and songwriting. *Program Assistant: Hitomi Nakamura (Fuji Television Announcer) *Questioner: Toshiyuki Makihara (Fuji Television Announcer) **Additionally, the following people have been employed as question narrators: Toshihiro Ito (Fuji Television Announcer, for "Belt Quiz: Time Shock! Shock!" that occurred during the May 6, 2009 Jumprope Quiz), Tetsuo Sakaguchi (for "Quiz! First Usage" that took place March 28, 2007), Tetsuya Aoshima & Kenji Fukui (Dual Fuji Television Announcers), Hideki Yamanaka (at the time, a Fuji Television Announcer, now freelance). *Assistant: Kazuha Sakiyama (until August 2008), Ayumi, and others *Narrator: Mayumi Tanaka


Principal contestants

*"Hexagon Family" is the name that has come to be used for regular participants in Hexagon.


Male participants

* Shuchishin ** Yusuke Kamiji ** Takeshi Tsuruno *Keisuke Okada * Fujiwara (
owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...
duo) **Takayuki Haranishi **Toshifumi Fujimoto *
Eiji Bandō is a Japanese television entertainer, former baseball player and YouTuber. He pitched many innings in his high school career. The Japan High School Baseball Federation was afraid that he would injure his arm, so they set a new rematch rule in 19 ...
* Shinagawa Shōji (owarai duo) **Hiroshi Shinagawa **Tomoharu Shōji * Yoshio Kojima *Chris Matsumura *Hiromi Sakimoto * Ungirls (owarai duo) **Yoshiaki Yamane **Takushi Tanaka * LaSalle Ishii * Daisuke Motoki * Shintarō Yamada *Masayuki Watanabe * Tetsuya Kanmuri


Female participants

*Pabo ** Yukina Kinoshita ** Mai Satoda ** Suzanne * Misono * Akina Minami * Mari Yaguchi


Former participants

*Naoki Nokubo *Shin Koda * Saki Fukuda *Hidehiko Masuda *Maimi Okuwa * Taka and Toshi *Taro Yabe * Yuko Ogura * Mona Yamamoto *
Kuniko Asagi is a Japanese actress and television presenter. Her real name is . Early career She attended Kokubunji High School in Tokyo, and Gakushuin University. Her resume includes Tokyo Disney Resort advertising, shown widely when the park opened. ...
* Audrey (owarai duo) ** Toshiaki Kasuga ** Masayasu Wakabayashi *Yuuko Mizuno * Dandy Sakano *Rika Sato *Yōku Hata *Ranko Kanbe * Nozomi Tsuji *Akane Osawa


Musical units

Since 2007, when Pabo was formed as a unit originating from the program, music units have frequently been formed - referred to as the "Hexagon Family" - and on October 22, 2008 the album "We Love Hexagon" was released. Also, since the August 1, 2007 broadcast, song announcements have been made during the ending part of the broadcast, and since March 19, 2008, various units have performed almost every time - as an ending - in the form of a live studio performance. *Pabo ** Mai Satoda, Sae "Suzanne" Yamamoto, Yukina Kinoshita * ** Takeshi Tsuruno(Shu), Naoki Nokubo (Chi), Yusuke Kamiji (Shin) * **Chris Matsumura (Rakuda), Yoshiaki Yamene (Kappa) * **Pabo & Shuchishin * ** Misono, Hiroshi Shinagawa * **Keisuke Okada (Kei), Tomoharu Shouji (Tomo), Yoku Hata (Yo), Takeshi Kongochi (Takeshi), Yoshiaki Yamene (Yoshi), Takushi Tanaka () * ** Dandy Sakano, Yoku Hata, Yoshio Kojima, Takeshi Kongochi * ** Mai Satoda, Toshifumi Fujimoto (Jaian), Misono (Jaiko) * Mari Yaguchi * **Tomoharu Shouji, Sae "Suzanne" Yamamoto * **Toshiyuki Makihara (Manager), Hitomi Nakamura (Subordinate) * ** Akina Minami, Hiromi Sakimoto, Yoku Hata, Toshifumi Fujimoto, Takayuki Haranishi, Yoshio Kojima, Chris Matsumura * ** Mai Satoda, Toshifumi Fujimoto (Jaian), Misono (Jaiko), Ranko Kanbe (Goda Sister #2) * ** Takeshi Tsuruno, Hiromi Sakimoto * **Keisuke Okada (Dada Suberi), Yoshio Kojima (Choi Suberi), Yoku Hata (Hata) * ** Mari Yaguchi, Akane Osawa, Rika Sato, Daisuke Motoki, Keisuke Okada, Takayuki Haranishi, Hiroshi Shinagawa, Yoshiaki Yamane, Chris Matsumura * ** Shintaro Yamada (Saataa), Takuya Matsuoka (Andaa), Kohei Mori (Gii) * **Michael Masashi Murakami, Hanaka Tsukita * **Hiroshi Shinagawa, Keisuke Okada (Dada Suberi), Yoshio Kojima (Choi Suberi), Yoku Hata (Hata) * **Tomoharu Shouji (Queen), Yoku Hata (Joker), Yoshiaki Yamane (Ace), Takushi Tanaka (Jack), Ryoei (King) * **Sae "Suzanne" Yamamoto (White Suzanne), Tetsuji Sakakibara (Black Suzanne), & Akane Osawa (Black Suzanne's singing voice) * ** Takeshi Tsuruno, Ryoei, Mai Satoda, misono


Discography


References


External links


Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiz! Hexagon Ii Japanese game shows Japanese variety television shows Fuji Television original programming 2010s Japanese television series 2005 Japanese television series debuts 2011 Japanese television series endings