Eight finalists have been selected for the comedy award race "THE SECOND ~ Manzai Tournament ~ 2025", where veteran manzai comedians who have been together for over 16 years compete with their best material. The names on the list include "Machine Guns", "Kinzoku Bat", and "The Bonchi".
Eligibility to participate in "THE SECOND ~ Manzai Tournament ~" requires that they have been together for at least 16 years (formed before December 31, 2009) and have not won a nationally broadcast manzai award competition program. The rules state that only manzai acts can compete, and impromptu units are not allowed to participate, with the hope that manzai comedians who have the talent but are unable to enter an award race will have a "second chance." The tournament began in 2023, with the first champion being "Gallop" and the second being "Gakutensoku," and this will be the third time it has been held.
This time, 140 groups entered, the largest number ever. The winner will be selected from the eight finalists at the Grand Prix Final on May 17th. The Grand Prix Final will be broadcast live from 7pm on the same day.
◇The finalists are as follows (titles omitted):
Block A: Machine Guns (Shuichi Takizawa, Ryo Nishibori) Block B: Monster Engine (Yoichi Nishimori, Kenji Obayashi) Block C: Metal Bat (Keisuke Kobayashi, Junpei Tomoho) Block D: Yoshida-tachi (Kohei, Yuhei) Block E: The Bonchi (Osamu Bonchi, Masato Satomi) Block F: Go-Shogi (Daisuke Fumita, Taichi Neken) Block G: Harikens (Noboru Maeda, Yoshiyuki Arai) Block H: Two Tribe (Takanori, Shuhei Tamashii)
