Global InformationKinniku Banzuke information
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| Kinniku Banzuke | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports Entertainment, Variety Show, Game Show |
| Presented by | Ichirou Furutachi Ryuuta Mine |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Production | |
| Producer | Ushio Higuchi |
| Running time | 30-minutes episodes in the United States |
| Original release | |
| Release | October 14, 1995 – May 4, 2002 |
| Related | |
| Sasuke Zone Body Sasuke Mania Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course Taiiku no Jikan (Physical Education Time) | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Kinniku Banzuke (筋肉番付, lit. Muscle Ranking) a.k.a. Unbeatable Banzuke is a Japanese television program that aired weekly and was the premier sports entertainment variety show of the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). Its successors were Taiiku Oukoku (体育王国, Physical Education Kingdom) and Ougon Kinniku (黄金筋肉, Golden Muscle). They were succeeded by Muscle Musical. Several seasonal specials were also made, such as Pro Sportsman No.1 and Sasuke.
Originally a late-night Friday broadcast, the television special was popular and started airing in prime time on October 14, 1995. It was broadcast every season and gained popularity as Sportsman No.1 Ketteisen (スポーツマンNo.1決定戦, Sportsman No.1 Playoffs). Through various games reverting to the origins of sports, professional players and general participants challenged the limits of physical strength and technique, winning prizes if all targets were successfully destroyed.
Kane Kosugi's Shaolin Temple training and Akira Oomori's Muay Thai bouts were also documented in the broadcasts. The popularity of the displays of amazing physical strength and technique by professional players and luck of general participants drove TV Asahi to move its anime time slot up one hour and caused the cancellation of Heisei Kyouikuiinkai (平成教育委員会, Heisei Board of Education) on Fuji TV.
The use of the program's mascot, Kongou-kun (金剛くん, Adamantium Boy), originally only featured during the broadcast, expanded in 1996 into the program's opening sequence and every game's introduction. Simultaneously in 1999, a brandmark for the program, different from its logotype, was created: the English initials, "MR". However, as of 2000, only the mascot remained, and the "MR" brandmark vanished, having only appeared for that brief time.