Zuiikin’ English or officially Eikaiwa Taisō Zuiikin’ English (英会話体操 Zuiikin’ English, Eikaiwa Taisō Zuiikin Ingurisshu?) is a Japanese television series originally aired in 1992 by Fuji Television. Eikaiwa, Taisō and Zuiikin mean English conversation, gymnastic excercises and voluntary muscles respectively. The series is a spoof borrowing the formats of both English conversation lesson and gymnastic exercise programs. The series consists of 12 episodes.
At the beginning of the show, the host and mastermind, Fernandez Verde, demonstrates an interesting philosophy in learning languages. He proclaims that different cultures use muscles in different proportions due to their customs. For example, in one episode he states Japanese people have stronger lower back muscles (from bowing and keeping a lower posture), and a different leg muscle structure (due to squatting for long periods of time). He feels that using those particular muscles while learning the language of that culture will create strong connotations in your mind and faster learning.
Then a sketch starts like an ordinary language lesson program. Every time a new English phrase is introduced, the sketch pauses and switches to the Zuiikin Gals, a threesome gymnastic exercise team. They start to perform synchronised excercises with innocent smiles on their faces while chanting the phrase hypnotically to idyllic techno-pop sounds. The choice of unpractical phrases such as “Spare me my life” and “Let’s go Dutch” in combination with the total lack of efforts to nuetralise the accent add up to a sense of irrelevance that is probably the main source of viewer’s amusement.
According the Wikipedia, this show was a huge internet phenomenon, I hadnt heard of it, but here you go, you be the judge.
