One of the standout creations of Japanese culture over the last decade+ has been the extreme game show. Before the broadcast priates of America were ripping each other off a few years ago with televised torture tripe along the lines of The Chamber and Pain Box and The Rhombus Of Doom, we Yankee plebians were shocked to watch our news shows doing the occasional story, or World's Most (fill in the blank) TV Shows type programming introducing us to the "endurance" games of the East. Plucky Japanese contestants putting their bodies on the line in torturous acts of competition in order to win some kind of mindblowing prize, like a Godzilla� shoe horn or a golf cart. Finally, the less educated of the world had a chance to fulfill their dreams via televised challenges without having to answer in the form of a question. With so many failed attempts at duplicating the formula (except maybe Fear Factor, which takes it way too seriously in it's presentation) in this modern boob tube world of "reality programing" (though not one of the networks has managed to duplicate anything even remotely "real" yet), it was only a matter of time until somebody got fed up and brought the original material to our airwaves... or in this case, two somebodies.

Most Extreme Elimination Challenge is the result of two Americans buying the rights to a Japanese gameshow, not understanding a single word of what was being said, and simply dubbing over all the dialogue with their own sense of dick and fart humor. It's like Beavis and Butthead grew up and became game show hosts. Originally Takeshi's Castle in the land of the rising sun, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge follows two teams of competitors (like Cartoon Voice-Over Artists vs. Dairy Workers, Musicians vs. Outdoorsmen or Religious Advocates vs. the Fashion Industry) engaging in tests of physical ability as they try to prove who's better. In reality, these people aren't on teams, they're just part of one big raiding force seeking to overcome the obstacles of Takeshi Kitano's fantasy castle and his elite guard of guys who look like they fell out of a "Gatchaman" manga. Why would they be "raiding" this "castle"? Who knows. If the guys behind the Americanization don't know, what makes you think I've got the slightest fucking clue?! I may be turning Japanese, but it doesn't mean I speak it!

The events in which competitors compete (what else would you expect a competitor to do exactly?) vary from jumping on stones over a pool of murky water (with some stones real and others artificial), running through a maze of doors to escape crazy guys in demon costumes (who grab you and throw you into another pool of murky water), dressing as giant hands and answering math problems by jumping face down onto giant flash cards before your opponents (uhm, minus the murky water) and racing through an obstacle course designed after a life-sized videogame (ah, yes, more murky water) just to name a few. If you're into watching people hurt themselves, if you're into watching spines fold like paper, if you're into heavy blows to the back of the head, if you're into people flying like ragdolls... or, at least watching it happen to other people... then MXC is for you. And I'm not ashamed to say it: some of these jokes are funny in spite of themselves. Actually, funnier than the actual spoken jokes are the way they seem to fit the crazy antics over which they've been dubbed. The icing on the cake? Takeshi's Castle looks so downright absured and mind-fuckingly bizarre, you don't need to understand what's going on to enjoy it! Hell, sometimes the language barrier just makes things better.