Kickflip's Japanese Member Had No Korean Karaoke Prep — He Won Everyone Over Anyway

When a Japanese idol member who has never heard most classic Korean songs walks into a Korean music quiz show, there are really only two possible outcomes: total disaster, or something unexpectedly charming. For Kickflip's Keiju, the 19-year-old born in 2006, the second episode of tvN's new variety series Amazing Thursday delivered the second one — and then some.

The show's format pits two celebrity teams against each other through a series of music-based challenges, with the winning team claiming a coveted prize food. In episode two, which aired on March 26, it was the "Yongane" team, led by comedian Lee Yong-jin, against the "Jeonggane" team, captained by actor Jung Lee-rang. The prize at stake: a bowl of jjakyechi — instant ramen topped with an egg and a slice of cheese, elevated to an absurd degree of desirability by the competitive format. Jeonggane won their second straight episode by a single coin margin, in a match that went down to the wire.

But the result almost did not matter. The conversation afterward was about the moments, not the scoreboard.

A Japanese Member Faces Down Korea's Song Library

The challenge that lit up social media was the "Bbangkku Karaoke" round — a fill-in-the-blank song game requiring contestants to complete missing lyrics from a curated selection of Korean hits spanning several decades. For contestants who grew up listening to these songs, the task is delightful. For Keiju, who joined Kickflip from Japan and is still navigating the breadth of Korean pop history, it was something else entirely.

The setlist included tracks that shaped Korean popular music — BoA's dance hits from her early days, Lee Jung-hyun's 2000s anthems, IU's beloved catalog, and the inescapable trot classic "Mujogun" by Park Sang-chul, a song that Korean grandparents and grandchildren alike can hum from memory. Keiju had heard none of these in any meaningful way. He knew this going in.

His approach was to improvise with full commitment. When "Mujogeon" appeared and the blank came up — the line typically translating to something like "unconditionally, I love you" — Keiju filled it with a phrase that roughly meant "my love for you is completely special," a line that exists nowhere in the original song but somehow captured its emotional spirit. The cast loved it. It was the wrong answer delivered with such earnest confidence that being wrong almost seemed beside the point.

There is a particular kind of variety show moment that cannot be scripted: when someone who genuinely does not know what they are doing walks through a challenge anyway and comes out the other side looking endearing rather than embarrassed. Keiju found that moment. His willingness to try, to commit to answers he was clearly making up, and to do it all without losing his sense of humor made him one of the most talked-about participants from the episode.

Gyehun Sets a New Standard in K-Variety Charm

While Keiju was winning affection through cheerful improvisation, his Kickflip bandmate Gyehun was operating on an entirely different frequency. Gyehun has a reputation among fans as someone with unusually developed natural charm — a quality that in Korean variety entertainment gets its own vocabulary. He is, by consensus, a certified "flirting master."

The episode gave him room to demonstrate this. Both actress and variety personality Yewon, and Kim Min-ji, the model and television personality best known internationally from Single's Inferno 5, were present as cast members. Gyehun handled the dynamic with a practiced ease that made both of them visibly flustered, which is not something that happens easily to two people with their level of public exposure.

His interactions were not scripted in any meaningful sense. Variety shows in Korea are loosely structured, with lots of space for genuine reaction. Gyehun used that space well. The moments that emerged from his presence in the episode — a well-timed look, a comment that landed with exactly the right weight, the general sense that he was comfortable being himself in front of cameras — were the kind of thing that gets clipped and shared across platforms after the broadcast.

Together, Gyehun's charm and Keiju's endearing efforts gave Kickflip one of those rare variety appearances where an idol group leaves looking like they actually belong on a non-music program. Not every K-pop act translates well to variety. Kickflip, at least in this episode, did.

Amazing Thursday and What It Means for tvN's Lineup

The show itself is worth context. Amazing Thursday joins a crowded field of Korean variety programming that uses food, music, and team competition as its basic architecture. The format is familiar enough to attract established audiences while leaving room for fresh faces — which is why bringing in a newer idol group like Kickflip alongside more established variety veterans like Lee Yong-jin makes structural sense.

Kickflip debuted in 2024 and has been building a following through a combination of performances and variety appearances that showcase the group's range. The group includes both Korean and Japanese members, giving them a natural crossover appeal that programs looking to expand their reach find useful. An episode like this one — where Keiju's background becomes an asset rather than an obstacle — is exactly the kind of organic storytelling that makes variety appearances worthwhile for a newer act.

The episode also featured a broad selection of musical genres across decades, from 2000s dance tracks to trot — a genre with its own passionate, multi-generational fanbase in Korea. Watching contestants of different ages and backgrounds react to songs that meant different things to them depending on when they grew up gave the episode a texture that went beyond the game mechanics. When Park Sang-chul's "Mujogeon" came up and the room reacted with instant recognition, while Keiju quietly processed that this song clearly existed before he was born, that generational gap became a small, funny, entirely relatable moment.

The Takeaway From Jeonggane's Second Win

For the record: Jeonggane, the team captained by Jung Lee-rang, claimed their second consecutive victory by the slimmest possible margin. The coin-based scoring system created genuine tension in the final rounds, and the close result suggests the competition will stay interesting as the season continues.

But Amazing Thursday's value right now is less about any individual episode's winner and more about what kind of program it is becoming. The combination of music nostalgia, physical challenges, and a rotating cast of celebrity guests gives it flexibility. Kickflip's presence in this episode demonstrated what that flexibility looks like when it works — two members, opposite approaches, both leaving an impression.

Keiju's Korean song knowledge will presumably improve over time. Gyehun's charm seems unlikely to change. Amazing Thursday airs on tvN every Thursday at 8:40 PM KST. The full episode is available on TVING.