Ainori

"Ainori" is kind of Japan's answer to Real World and maybe Road Rules plus a little bit of Japanese strangeness. The name is a play on words, normally meaning something like 'carpool', but also can mean 'love ride'. The premise of the show is a mix of 7 guys and girls ride on a bus together all around the world. The catch is that the object of the show is to make couples. All the members are single and they are looking for love. When one member thinks they have a shot with one of the other members, they ask them if they would like to return to Japan together. If the person says yes, the new couple gets a pair of return tickets to Japan. If they say no, the person that got shot down returns to Japan by themselves. The other catch is that the members are not allowed to talk about their feelings about one another to anyone else. They keep video diaries so that the viewers know what's up, but they can't talk with anyone else on the bus. The show is fairly proud of its past successes, which have resulted in 7 marriages and 2 babies. They also had a problem when one of the members fell in love with one of the cameramen.

Last week, a successful couple was made and they headed back to Japan. This week saw two new arrivals, but I think the main focus of the show is on San-chan and his hot crush Bambi. San-chan is about the goofiest looking guy, scrawny with an overbite and a pretty annoying voice, but he's really awkward and affectionate and kind of cute. Bambi is a pretty normal young lady, but I think she gets the vibe that San-chan has the hots for her and she thinks he's sweet and very naive in the ways of love. The way things are going now, I doubt San-chan will have the guts to pop the question, so I'm guessing it will be a couple more weeks til Bambi makes his dreams come true. Let's watch and see...

Quick update!: One of the new guys, named Oga, is evidently pretty cool and is moving in on Bambi! They showed a shot of San-chan counting money for some reason while the announcer wondered what the future of San-chan and Bambi might be. Next week's teaser showed the cast in a club and the girls being reduced to tears after being forced to grind on the dance floor with some gross random dudes. Men: going where no woman wants them to. What shall happen next week?