Mai Shiraishi participates in “Find the Teacher!” for the first time in “New Kagi New Year Special”! “It was a valuable opportunity.”

■Mai Shiraishi competes seriously at school with real high school students!

Mai Shiraishi will appear on Fuji TV’s “New Kagi New Year Special” which will be broadcast from 7:00 pm on January 4, 2025.

Shimofuri Myojo (Seiya, Soshina), Chocolate Planet (Shohei Nagata, Shun Matsuo), and Hanako (Ryudai Kikuta, Hiroki Akiyama, Dai Okabe) will liven up your Saturday night with the comprehensive comedy variety show “Shining Kagi” with skits and plans. .

In the New Year Special, which will be aired for the first time in four years and will be the first broadcast in 2025, Mai Shiraishi will participate for the first time in the popular school project “Find the Teacher!”, which aims to find a teacher who is hidden among the students at school.

The first episode of 2025, “Find the Teacher!”, is set at a high school in Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, where Shiraishi and the Key Explorer Team, led by Captain Soshina, go on an expedition to find the “teacher who pretended to be a student.”

At the beginning, Captain Soshina gets fired up by saying, “New Year Special, we will find all the teachers no matter what!”, and the expressions of Seiya, Nagata, Kikuta, Akiyama, and Okabe suddenly become tense, and the “powerful helper” Shiraishi “I’ll do my best!” with great enthusiasm.

Although he was provoked by Wally Matsu (Matsuo), the instigator who appeared in a New Year’s style hakama, saying, “This high school is amazing! The students and teachers are all talented. There’s even a teacher who was mistaken for a middle school student!” , the key expedition team is dispatched to the school.

This time, there will be a total of 10 teachers on three stages: the classroom building, the ground, and the gymnasium. As Wally Matsu said, at first the soldiers couldn’t tell the difference between a teacher and a student and couldn’t hide their agitation. There is also the pressure of being fined 100,000 yen for each mistake, and being forced to finish the stage if you make a mistake twice.

However, there is a “Freeze” card that can freeze everyone in place for one minute, a “Picture” card that allows you to see a childhood photo of the hidden teacher, and a specially prepared “Nominee” card. Using hint cards such as the “Happy New Year” card that allows you to hear “Happy New Year!” from the three people who did the same, everyone works together to make their guesses.

Will the key members and Shiraishi be able to find the real “teacher”? Or will the talented “teacher” and “students” hide out?

In an interview after the recording, Shiraishi said, “When I see students wearing school uniforms on the street, it reminds me of my school days,” and about recording with current high school students at an actual school, “It was a valuable opportunity.” I was deeply moved.

Regarding “Find the Teacher!”, which was his first time participating, he said, “When I actually participated, it was more difficult than I expected, and I was desperately trying to keep up with the “New Kagi” members, who have sharp observation skills.” Looking back, he said with a smile, “I was smiling the whole time during the recording, and it was so much fun!” He also sent a message to the viewers: “I hope you can watch it with a smile.”

■Mai Shiraishi comment
Q. How was it participating in “Find a Teacher!” for the first time?
Shiraishi: It was fun! I had watched it on TV as a viewer, but when I actually participated, it turned out to be much more difficult than I expected… The members of “New Kagi” had extremely sharp powers of observation, and I was desperately trying to keep up with them. I don’t usually have the opportunity to meet current high school students, so it was a valuable time for me to spend time with them at an actual school today.
Q. One of the themes of “New Kagi” is “youth”. What comes to mind when you hear the word “youth”?
Shiraishi:I used to ride my bicycle from my house to the station and take the train to go to high school, and every day I was in a struggle over whether or not I would make it on time for my scheduled train (lol). It was a daily routine where I was happy if I made it in time, and if I spilled something I wasn’t posting today. After school, I went home talking with friends, played, and wore my school uniform.I think that high school life was my youth. Even now, when I see students wearing school uniforms on the street, I am reminded of those days.
Q. Message to viewers
Shiraishi:With the “New Year Special,” we will bring you lots of “laughter” starting in the new year! I was also smiling the whole time during the recording! Did you manage to find all the teachers? I would be happy if you could pay attention to it and see it with a smile on your face.

Program information

Fuji TV“New Key New Year Special”
2025
01/04 (Sat) 19:00-21:00
Performers:
Marbled star (Seiya, souvenir)
Chocolate Planet (Shohei Nagata, Shun Matsuo)
Hanako (Ryudai Kikuta, Hiroki Akiyama, Dai Okabe)

guest:
“School Hide and Seek” Ren Nagase (King & Prince), Tsubasa Honda
“Find the Teacher!” Mai Shiraishi

“New Key” program site
https://www.fujitv.co.jp/newkey/index.html