Usually
I don't watch the newer episodes as much, but I couldn't resist this
episode. Not only the guest team were the Paradise Kiss film cast, the
Plus One was Haruna Ai ♥. Even before the guests appeared, though, one
of the best moments in this episodes appeared - Nino was wearing a
simple looking jacket, which Aiba commented on, saying that it was too
normal for Nino (who, admittedly, has been given a lot of embarrassingly
garish outfits throughout this show) and said that they ought to
exchange their jackets. Nino protested lightly at first, but gave in in
the end. That's not all - Aiba's tee read the words "carnival", causing
Sho to call him Carnival throughout the episode. ^^
Aimiya exchanging their jackets | Haruna Ai getting excited to see Osamu Mukai.
The
first game was Cliff Climb, with Sakumoto representing Team Arashi. I
really liked how Sho quoted my favourite (and everyone else's, haha)
line from ParaKiss, and the exchange he had with aiba before they
started. aiba asked him to take his shoes off, which he did, but then he
was told that he had to put them back on before climbing XD. Both Sho
and Jun failed completely in this game. Next is Dual Curling, with Nino,
Haruna Ai, and Ohno representing arashi. They lost in this game, too,
although it was an impressive match. Nino had a showdown with Osamu
Mukai, and before they started Haruna danced to "Shoujo Jidai" for them,
which was really cute.
Sho quoting ParaKiss | "Please wait while Sakurai-kun puts on his shoes..." XD
The
third game was Kicking Sniper, where Nino mentioned that they were
losing and that neither Jun nor Ohno seemed motivated. Aiba joined him
and the two of them said that if they didn't do well, they'd have to do
the Shoujo Jidai dance. This certainly brought out their motivation, as
they managed to catch up to their gap in points in this game. Jun even
got a perfect score (he really didn't want to do the Shoujo
Jidai dance), but then Aimiya decided that he had to do it because he
got a perfect. I love it when Aimiya bullies Jun XD. Jun decided that
they should janken for it, and in the end it was Ohno and Nino that had
to do the Shoujo Jidai dance with Haruna. Since he was safe, Jun went
back to his DoS mode and enjoyed their embarrassment. Unfortunately,
when the ParaKiss Team played, they immediately went back in the lead.
Osamu Mukai was really good!
Jun being bullied by Aimiya | Ohmiya + Haruna Shoujo Jidai Dance
Because
of all the Shoujo Jidai performances, there weren't enough time, and
one of the games had to be cancelled. They skipped Pinball Runner and
went to Bound Hockey as the last game. The ParaKiss didn't seem to be
able to play this well at first, but they got the hang of it soon
enough. Team Arashi had to get 400 points to catch up and win. They
played well, but ended up with 50 points behind their goal, and lost.
Thankfully
for the Arashi members, they agreed on the MDA early on - it ended up
being Haruna Ai, who did the Shoujo Jidai dance one last time before
falling.
[vid credit: yuizaki-libra@LJ]
Choosing my favorite Studio Ghibli work is hard. On one hand, there's Totoro and Majou no Takkyubin. On the other hand, there's Neko no Ongaeshi and this. I just watched Mimi wo Sumaseba
for the first time yesterday, and it has completely charmed me (despite
my first reaction when "Take Me Home, Country Roads" played at the
opening sequence). 
Okay, writing this days after watching it doesn't help at all. But I didn't have internet/computer access then, so...