Matsuko x Matsuko: Lifelike Android Rocking Japanese TV
I recently talked about how you have to find the Japanese TV you like among a sea of TV you don’t like. I’ve tried to give you faith in Japanese TV. But maybe you still are not convinced of its creativity, innovation and forward thinking. Let’s talk about one of the most unique TV shows that has broken through new levels of imagination.
マツコとマツコ (Matsuko & Matsuko) is a show that is beyond anything you could possibly have seen before. First it stars the wildly popular and extremely funny comedic talent Matsuko Deluxe (whom you may remember in my review of the show 月曜から夜ふかし). He is a very large, gay cross dresser, and is one of the most identifiable figures in current Japanese pop culture.
He recently had a lifelike android made of him (known now as マツコロイド – Matsukoroid) that was done to show off advanced robotic technology. This android is incredibly lifelike (moves, looks, and speaks exactly like him).
He and the android together have been both hosting a show called Matsuko & Matsuko since April of this year (with a brief test pilot in December 2014). It is a combination talk/comedy variety show which shows off this advanced technology. They have been showing a lot of “first ever android…” TV moments, such as first ever android newscaster, driving instructor, comedian, story teller, and therapist.
Getting interesting enough?
Well Arnold Schwartzenegger appeared on the show for an interview to promote the new Terminator movie recently. Matsukoroid acted as the interviewer, with the real Matsuko behind the scenes voicing the robot. Matsuko doesn’t speak English so she needed an interpreter. They add another lifelike android to the interview to act as the interpreter. The real interpreter, sitting next to Matsuko is an 80 year old lady.
The resulting scenes produced are just jaw-dropping and absolutely surreal, giving a strange look into the possible future of programming. Matsukoroid has become a seperate registered talent from the real Matsuko, now performs at events, and goes on location TV shoots in the place of the real Matsuko.
The first few episodes in the series presented the wow side of the technology behind the android, and I wasn’t really paying attention to it when it came out months ago. But it’s turned into something completely different now and is just downright fascinating.
I highly recommend you check out this show, especially the Arnold Schwarzenegger interview episode on 7/11/2015. Join the Matsukoroid craze! And watch out the next time you go to KFC!
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
omg.. are there any youtube clips of the show? particularly the bits with Arnold? xD
I wonder if they will continue to make androids of other celebrities? They will take over the planet!
I await the episode where the interpreter is also an android that uses Google translate to do all the interpretation work.
http://japaneselevelup.com/will-a-universal-translator-ever-be-possible/
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Thanks to this, I just learned that Arnold is nicknamed シュワちゃん in Japan. This is delightful.