<figure id="attachment_218645" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2450px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-218645"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5c8b034c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/12/NKMR6266-4c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-218645" class="wp-caption-text">Akira Shimizu (top left), Kan&#8217;ichi Kurita (top right), and Korokke (center), the &#8220;Big Four of Impersonation,&#8221; who were very active in variety shows in the &#8217;90s.</figcaption></figure>
Korokke (61) appeared on the November 21 broadcast of &#8220;Shukan Sanma to Matsuko&#8221; (TBS). There was a scene where he lamented about the recent situation of impersonators.
 He questioned the fact that social networking sites and YouTube have become the main battleground for impersonators. In such a situation, he opened his own channel, but the number of views is not increasing. &#8230;&#8230;&#8221; He made me laugh, but it must be complicated inside. The number of impersonation shows themselves are declining, and not being able to perform live at the Covid-19 disaster hurts,&#8221; said an entertainment industry executive.
I&#8217;ve pointed out many times in this series that each station is focusing on core viewership ratings (ratings for men and women between the ages of 13 and 49) in their programming, but a director of a production company pointed out that &#8220;impersonation programs are also shifting to content with core viewership ratings in mind.
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 The target of the imitators has changed from the stars of the past to the people of the season. On the other hand, many of the impersonators are very particular, so even if the program proposes that they do an impersonation of this celebrity, they don&#8217;t accept it. That&#8217;s why the staff started to look for people like Kodai Matsuura (28), who is good at imitating seasonal artists like Genji Yonezu (30), on the Internet and offer them to do it. As a result, the demand for the old impersonators is dwindling.
On his YouTube channel, Korokke performs impersonations of Shinji Tanimura (72), Naomi Chiaki (74), and Eiko Segawa (74). While his contemporaries may enjoy his impersonations, it is not surprising that the number of views has been sluggish since many of the Internet generation do not know the original impersonators.
 As the demand for impersonators on terrestrial TV is dwindling, BS broadcasting has become a destination for the big names. (54) and other veterans such as Nobu &amp; Hooky and Cozy Tomita (54). Everybody Knows! Hit songs&#8221; featuring veterans such as Nobu &amp; Hooky and Cozy Tomita (54), and &#8220;Monomake Korokke All Show Special! ～BS Asahi aired a special live impersonation show by Michiko Shimizu (61). &#8220;Since BS viewers are mostly elderly, there is still demand from that generation,&#8221; said a key station producer. There is still demand from that generation,&#8221; said a key station producer.
It is still fresh in our memory that Takahiro Yamamoto (46), who dominated the world with his impersonations of Yuji Oda (53) and Kane Kosugi (47), recently moved to an agency that has many voice actors, and it was reported that he might be turning into a voice actor.
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 He denied on social media that it was a business sabotage, but I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;s considering shifting his weight to voice acting in the future. I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;s aware of the recent trend of weeding out the big names and mid-level impersonators.
It&#8217;s a shame that we will have fewer opportunities to see the great performers, but it may be the fate of the industry to replace them with a new generation.
From the December 17, 2021 issue of FRIDAY

 Kazuhiko Nakamura

 Korokke appeared in "Shukan Sanma to Matsuko" (TBS) broadcast on November 21. There was a scene where he lamented about the recent situation of impersonators. Impersonation shows are shifting to focus on core viewership, and the big names are in a difficult situation.

The “Big Four” have fallen on hard times… Why the big names have disappeared from terrestrial impersonation programs

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