Last One Standing (Japanese TV series)

Last One Standing (Japanese: トークサバイバー!~トークが面白いと生き残れるドラマ~, Hepburn: Tōkusabaibā! ~Tōku ga omoshiroi to ikinokoreru dorama~, transl. Talk Survivor! ~Survive The Drama with Interesting Stories~) is a 2022 crime drama/comedy reality show, produced by Netflix and launched on the streaming service on March 8, 2022. It stars the comedy duo Chidori and features a number of Japanese comedians as contestants.

Last One Standing
Japanese name
Kanjiトークサバイバー!~トークが面白いと生き残れるドラマ~
Literal meaningTalk Survivor! ~Survive The Drama with Interesting Stories~
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnTōkusabaibā! ~Tōku ga omoshiroi to ikinokoreru dorama~
Genre
Created byNobuyuki Sakuma[1]
Written byRyoichi Tsuchiya
Directed byHayato Kawai
Presented byNobu (Chidori)
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes24
Production
Executive producerShinichi Takahashi (Netflix)
Producers
  • Yoko Usui
  • Seiya Horio
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseMarch 8, 2022 (2022-03-08)

Premise

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The story is a crime drama which starts at the NF High School, where a precious painting has been stolen from the principal's office. Several times each episode, a character would pose a question to the contestants, who also play roles in the drama and would then drop character and tell a story relevant to the question. In the end of each episode, one or more contestants would be eliminated from the contest and also removed from the plot.[2]

Production

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Last One Standing was inspired by the "Dramatic Heartbreak King" segments of the variety show Neo Battle Variety: King-chan [ja], which was also produced by Nobuyuki Sakuma and hosted by Chidori, and aired primarily on TV Tokyo for three seasons from 2016 to 2018.[3]

Reception

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Last One Standing became Netflix's most popular show in Japan after its premiere.[4] Decider rated the show "Stream It", commenting that it is "fun watching the contestants trying to one-up each other" and contrasted it to the "serious and dramatic" plot.[2] The Times of India rated it 3.5 out of five stars, similarly praised its "entertaining" combination of suspenseful elements with light-hearted humor and suggested it might inspire an Indian adaptation.[5]

Cast

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Nobu (Chidori)[1]

Observers

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Drama

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Season 1

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Episodes

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Season 1

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No Title[6] Contestants (first appearances only) Drama cast (first appearances only) Guest observer
1 So We Meet Again Daigo (Chidori), Gekidan Hitori, Kazuki Iio (Zun), Minami Minegishi, Takemasa Tsukaji (Drunk Dragon), Toshiyuki Itakura (Impulse), Takushi Tanaka (Ungirls) Shotaro Mamiya

Hikaru Takahashi

Takenori Gotō

Karen Takizawa
2 An Unforeseen Future
3 We Can Make It Right
4 Restart Kendo Kobayashi, Yuki Iwai (Haraichi), Kei Mukai (Panther), Tetsuya Morita (Saraba Seishun no Hikari), Takashi Yoshimura (Heisei Nobushi Kobushi), Eiko Kano Masahiro Higashide

Hiroaki Okada

Yuki Morinaga

Shiori Sato
5 Youthful Days are Gone Forever Hiccorohee, Takashi Watanabe (Nishikigoi), Tonikaku Akarui Yasumura, Hironobu Komiya (Sanshiro), Iwakura (Kaerutei), Ahn Mika, Shunsuke Ito (Ozwald), Sāya (Lalande)
6 Escape from a Labyrinth Toshiaki Kasuga (Audrey) Reina Triendl
7 Repeat Mistakes Haruna Kondō (Harisenbon)
8 The End, and The Beginning Karen Takizawa

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "About Netflix - Last One Standing: A New Japanese Comedy Survival Talk Show Begins". About Netflix. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  2. ^ a b "'Last One Standing' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?". Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  3. ^ "佐久間宣行のお笑い愛 『トークサバイバー!〜トークが面白いと生き残れるドラマ〜』がバラエティを拡張する". telling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-05-20.
  4. ^ Frater, Patrick (2022-03-25). "Netflix Expands Unscripted Content Slate in Japan". Variety. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  5. ^ "Last One Standing Season 1 Review: This chaotic amalgamation of thriller and comedy is novel and surely entertains", The Times of India, retrieved 2022-05-22
  6. ^ "Watch Last One Standing | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
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