The infamous talent show–also seen as the most cliché thing in high school next to prom. Classically, talent shows have been stereotyped as a display for those gifted with talent, or those wishing they had talent. However, the talent show here at West High was anything but talentless; every act in the show was amazing, such as a spectacular magic show or someone dancing around stage to Michael Jackson seemingly having the time of their life.

  Like all talent shows, it was not just a show, but it was also a competition judged not only by some teachers, but the audience as well. They were able to vote through their phones. However I chose not to vote because everyone was too amazing and I simply could not make a decision.

  All of the winners deserved their place because they were all spectacular, even one of the competitors Joseph Yanez (11) who sang his heart out. He said, “The people who won were totally deserving of it, especially Shin.”

  Now who is this Shin guy you may be asking yourself? Shin Mizutamari a junior at West was the first place winner of the 2019 talent show. He performed a few fantastic magic tricks that blew not only my mind, but the audience’s minds as well. Mizutamari combined his amazing magic with his humor which made his act stand out. At one point, even his and his assistant’s shirt changed midway through his act which was unbeknownst to the audience.

  I had the pleasure of talking with Mizutamari after the show, where he admitted to me that he did not think he would win. He stated, “Actually during my first act I messed up on some part so I thought that I would not be able to get first prize but, yeah I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

  Mizutamari had performed last year as well and has worked very hard on his craft learning new tricks, and even working on his old tricks.

  During the show, I was never bored or anything like that. After every act, I said to myself, “Who could top that?” and every time, it was topped. West Torrance is a place with a lot of talented people and I was honored to witness a showcase of some of the talented people in our city.