The Olympics really slept on this hit sport.
In the gaming community there exists a popular competition known as real time attack or “RTA” for short. This is a type of speedrun, an attempt to clear a game in the shortest time possible, but using and external timer such as a stopwatch to measure it.
▼ The Mario games are common subjects for speedruns and RTAs
It’s a very common challenge for gamers around the world and from 5 May the Nagoya RTA Off 2022 was held at the Nanjare event hall in Nagoya City. It was also streamed live via Twitch and featured competitive speedrunning of a variety of games such as Ring Fit Adventure and Xenoblade 2.
However, one event that surprisingly went viral was the Anpanman Gummy Opening RTA. This is where one must open a pack of Anpanman Gummies as neatly and as fast as possible. Anyone who’s ever eaten one of these things will understand that it is a lot easier said than done.
To understand why, let’s take a look inside some Anpanman Gummies. Upon opening the outer wrapper, there are six gummies shaped like characters from the very long-running children’s anime Anpanman. However, they are very tightly fitted into a shaped plastic tray which is covered with a film.
At first glance you might mistake this film for plastic or wax, but actually it’s oblaat, a substance made of starch. Not only is it much more environmentally friendly than plastic, but it’s even edible. In fact, it was often used to hold powdered medicine to make it easier to take, much like the gel caps commonly used today.
However, when attempting an Anpanman Gummy Opening RTA, it is imperative that the fragile oblaat film be removed without tearing of any kind. Although that’s definitely the biggest hurdle because it rips so easily, getting the gummies out of their molds quickly and neatly is certainly no picnic either.
▼ The gummies really are quite snugly wedged in there.
Anpanman Gummy Opening RTAs have been around for a few years now, and the first known attempt was posted on the Japanese video sharing site Niconico Douga in 2017 by YouTuber Ai no Senshi. His original time was one minute and 5.42 seconds, which is pretty good for the first-ever run. The game has since been elevated, however, and YouTuber Inukamike has proven himself to be perhaps the fastest in the world, with a current record of 8.26 seconds.
▼ Inukamike’s fastest RTA thus far
During the Nagoya RTA Off 2022, speedrunner Giraffe Tea (Ocha Kirin) attempted the Anpanman Gummy Opening RTA, eventually getting a time of three minutes and six seconds, due to tearing the oblaat several times and having to restart.
As an effort to raise awareness of the sport, members of the live audience were also given packs of Anpanman Gummies to play along with Giraffe Tea. It apparently worked too, because after the demonstration event “Anpanman Gummy Opening RTA” became the top trend on Twitter in Japan.
▼ The challenge’s creator, Ai no Senshi, tweeted his delight at how far it’s come in five years since he first uploaded the video, posting a screenshot of Anpanman Gummy Opening RTA (アンパンマングミ開封RTA) in the number-one trending topic spot.
It looks as if this competition might be about to really take off here, so I better get in on the ground floor and try a real-time attack of my own. Wish me luck!
Well, that sucked. After about 35 seconds I made a small tear in the oblaat and disqualified myself. However, just for kicks I decided to keep trying and actually managed to get the rest of it off without any more tearing in just under a minute.
There are apparently a lot of tactics too, like an ideal ambient temperature, finger condition, and age as determined by closeness to the expiry date. I also noticed in the two packs that I had that it was much easier to remove the oblaat from the apple flavor than the grape.
On the other hand, the grape came out of the plastic tray much more easily than the apple. I’m not sure if that had to do with the flavor or the fact that the apple was two months older than the grape.
▼ Pulling on the film would often take the grape gummies with it
So, maybe with a little practice and knowhow it will be possible to get good at it. Beating 8.26 seconds will certainly be a challenge but maybe with the right training regiment of eating gummies every day I can do it and finally get that Nike endorsement I’ve been angling for.
Source: Twitch/Nagoya RTA Off 2022, Den Fami Nico Gamer, My Game News Flash
Photos ©SoraNews24
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