Hey! Say! JUMP's Yabu Kota and ME:I's KEIKO in a haiku battle on "Pre-Bato"! SHIZUKU tries stone art for the first time

■ Hey! Say! JUMP’s lyricist Yabu Kota and ME:I’s rapper KEIKO take on haiku: “It’s no joke unless you have talent”

On the July 18th broadcast of “Pre-Bato!!” (MBS/TBS), a talent ranking for “Stone Art” and “Haiku” will be aired.

In the “Stone Art” class, where the “encounter” with a unique stone is also important, a masterpiece was born that was highly praised by the teacher. Meanwhile, Shoko Nakagawa, a scholarship student in the third grade, draws on a stone a “breathtaking view that I want to see before I die.” Will she be able to “skip a grade” as she has always hoped?

“Haiku” is a gathering of “celebrities who are not talented or are not funny”. However, Tomio Umezawa, a special permanent master who is in a more serious situation than anyone else, said with a worried look, “Recently, when I think about haiku, I feel like I’m breathing shallowly.”

Yamada Kuniko, who previously won a Talent Award for “Kimono Remake,” chooses her favorite motif, watermelon. Katagiri Jin, whose hobby is collecting rocks, is also full of energy. SHIZUKU (ME:I) and Kumamoto Pro Wrestling (Benishouga), who are confident in their drawing skills, are not to be outdone. Of these four, one fierce competitor is praised by Kuriya Chika, who says, “There’s nothing to complain about. It’s a great piece of work!”, and is promoted to a one-off scholarship.

Meanwhile, Shoko Nakagawa, a scholarship student in the third grade, is taking the promotion exam. “I’ve never skipped a grade before, so I put my life on the line from choosing the stones to skip a grade,” says Nakagawa, with extraordinary enthusiasm. If she can skip a grade, she’ll be able to see the master rank, but what will the evaluation result be?

The talent ranking brings together five people who “wouldn’t be a joke if they weren’t talented.” The lineup includes Yamada Kuniko, a veteran entertainer and best-selling author; Yabu Kota, a member of Hey! Say! JUMP and lyricist; Kaneko Emi, who has been rated “average” in all three previous rankings and feels out of place as an information program commentator; KEIKO, the rapper for the 11-member idol group ME:I; and Inada Miki (Benishouga), whose parents are educators. While it’s true that these are certainly people who would be a joke if they weren’t talented, the results are surprising: a succession of “no talent” candidates.

While MC Masatoshi Hamada was also angry and said, “Shall we stop recording?”, a masterpiece that could be aimed at the scholarship students was born. And for the next level of evaluation, scholarship student 4th grade Koji Matoba and special eternal master Tomio Umezawa appeared.

In contrast to Matoba, whose eyes sparkle as he says, “It’s fun to write haiku,” Umezawa, who has had 14 of his 17 haiku rejected and sent to the shredder since the start of 2024, is nervous and says, “I have shredder syndrome.” It’s about time he breaks the heavy atmosphere with a masterpiece that he’s absolutely proud of… We’ll be keeping an eye on Natsui Itsuki’s judgement.