Something i will NEVER understand

[bigblind168]

the hatred for this man,

Sato Hiromichi (Thanks for the pic, Arsenette!)

From what I have seen, a vast majority of the board strongly dislike the man, and why, i do not know. What has he ever done? Nothing.
He hasn't been cocky at all, he hasnt embarressed himself or made an a** of himself. The only explanation I can find is that he's given high numbers. Which, if that is your reason, people get your head out of your a**es and move on. Yamada didnt deserve 80, Levi didn't deserve 99 in SASUKE 21. Wakky doesn't deserve...well any high number above 85. Yet I see no unexplained hate for Levi or Yamada, and no hate for Wakky.
If your sole reason of hating Sato is because of his starting number, get real and get over it.
And if you do not like Sato for another reason, please explain it to me, because I see nothing wrong with the man.

[YoDaUO]

I like Sato. He doesnt complain or anything and does great for his age.

Id like to know that also. Why do people hate him and Jun Sato for their high numbers?? Its not their fault.

[ansem120]

I am very indifferent towards Sato. I don't hate him by any stretch of the imagination, but he has shown me absolutely no reason to like him. He's just very meh to me.

Numbers don't matter to me, I completely understand why he is always in the 90s. If Kobe Bryant showed up at an American version of SASUKE, would you honestly put him in the middle of the show?

Also, as a side-note, why didn't Levi deserve #99 in 21? He reached the Shin-Cliff Hanger on his first try, and was only one of 3 people to even clear Stage 1. If they were going on recent performances back then, who else honestly deserved it?

[bigblind168]

Apr 21, 2010 20:37:50 GMT -5 ansem120 said:

I am very indifferent towards Sato. I don't hate him by any stretch of the imagination, but he has shown me absolutely no reason to like him. He's just very meh to me.

Numbers don't matter to me, I completely understand why he is always in the 90s. If Kobe Bryant showed up at an American version of SASUKE, would you honestly put him in the middle of the show?

Also, as a side-note, why didn't Levi deserve #99 in 21? He reached the Shin-Cliff Hanger on his first try, and was only one of 3 people to even clear Stage 1. If they were going on recent performances back then, who else honestly deserved it?

IMO be shoulda gotten 97/98, give Takeda 99.

[yamfriend]

I don't anything against Sato either really. He doesn't seem to be arrogant or anything like that, so what is there to not like about him? Nothing off of the top of my head. And although I do respect him pretty much, I still find it funny when he fails in part due to a certain person's "C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!" videos. But that's another story.

Also,

Apr 21, 2010 20:37:50 GMT -5 ansem120 said:

Also, as a side-note, why didn't Levi deserve #99 in 21? He reached the Shin-Cliff Hanger on his first try, and was only one of 3 people to even clear Stage 1. If they were going on recent performances back then, who else honestly deserved it?

It seems as if in the past few Sasukes, #99 has been the person who went the farthest in the previous tournament and wasn't an All-Star. Don't believe me? Look:

Sasuke 21: Levi was #99 (best overall in 20)
Sasuke 22: Miyazaki was #99 (best non-All-Star in 21)
Sasuke 23: Urushihara was #99 (best overall in 22)
Sasuke 24: Kanno was #99 (best non-All-Star in 23)

Of course,

SPOILER: Click to show

25 broke this trend,

but yeah...it seems pretty fair that this has happened IMO. Now if only some others who deserve #99 (Mr. Octopus Takeda especially) would finally get it.

[ansem120]

I still find it extremely odd to this day that neither Takeda nor Yamamoto have ever been #99.

[Deleted]

Can we focus on the topic of this thread? I've been wondering this too...

[RiderLeangle]

Apr 21, 2010 20:53:04 GMT -5 yamfriend said:

I don't anything against Sato either really. He doesn't seem to be arrogant or anything like that

Apparently he is off-screen

[scnoi1217]

The only explanation I can think of this:
Arsenette doesn't like him because she knows from others how he is in person with other people. Other people see that Arsenette doesn't like him, therefore they don't like him either.

Personally, I've got nothing wrong with him. When it comes to SASUKE and performance/attitude on the course, he is much better than many of the others we complain about as well. Plus, the guy is a celeb and does well in the show. Two things that can attract some viewers.

[japantv1210]

I don't have anything against him either. In fact, I think he's pretty cool cause he beat a monkey and Yamada on that Saruke obstacle course haha. I think the reason it seems most of the board doesn't like him is because the people that don't like him are more outspoken about it than the ones who do like him.

[Badalight]

I just think Arsenette rubs off on a lot of people. However unlike Arsenette they don't have legitimate reasons to not like him. Atleast she has people that tell her things about him. Everyone else just thinks "oh Arsenette doesn't like Sato? Ok, he's a jerk! "

I don't mind Sato. He's doesn't seem like that bad of a guy. If you think he's arrogant... well my god I'm sorry that not everyone is perfect. Grow up People have flaws, everyone has flaws. It's better to get over that fact.

God it's just like when some Christians shun people who have different beliefs than them. Not to get into a religious debate or anything, but my parents whom are christian don't associate with non-christians, because they think they are better than everyone else. It's a really stupid mind-set to be honest.

/rant

[lostinube]

He makes children happy. That simply cannot be allowed. SASUKE is only allowed to show children crying. Cry, dammit! Cry!

Since he was the host of VIKING on Fuji (the weekly show), he was shoved down the viewer's throats during the original VIKING broadcasts - they had whole segments based around him and his family driving to the VIKING course that were glorified car commercials. When he started appearing on SASUKE it seemed like they were trying to position him in the same way which was very irritating.

Oh, and he was the host of the Muscle Channel program which sucked sucked sucked although that's not necessarily his fault.

[Badalight]

Though, that has no bearing on him personally... you can't really blame him for any of that.

[lostinube]

Unfairly or not, it made me tired of seeing him. Much like in wrestling, trying to force someone onto the audience will sometimes result in a backlash towards the performer.

The point of this thread is why some people don't like him. I stated why I don't like him.

[joemello]

I can understand overkill as a reason. I'm starting to think some Americans feel the same way about Ryan Seacrest. Of course, trying to be a sort of heir to Dick Clark hasn't curried him favor, either, but that's getting into relative obscura.

I do wonder a little about Hiromichi's behavior off-screen. Japan doesn't have TMZ yet, do they?

[lostinube]

There are lots of gossip sites but most of them are more focused on female entertainers.

I will note that if Sato were to go heel and start making kids cry he'd become my favoritest SASUKE competitor ever.

[artyfowljr]

I personally don't like Sato (not that I hate him, I simply don't like him), but I've done this on my own, since it started when I first saw Sasuke 18: way before I even knew blogs or this forum.
He's famous , Viking, kids shows and all, and that's why he gets such high number without having ever done amazing- yes, he's done nice a couple of times (I must credit him for his one-handed iron grip on the Metal Spin in 24) - so I understand why they do that. Still don't like it, but I understand.
I agree with Ube and Joemello, there's also the overkill factor. He got segments in Sasuke Navi with his average nice results while, for example, Kongu had to wait 'til Sasuke 25. And I honestly find the couple of commercials with Sato incredibly annoying.
My two cents.

[Badalight]

Yeah, but hta'ts not HIS fault. And him being shoved down our throats doesn't have anything to do with his personality. He himself hasn't done anything wrong.

You don't have to like him, but to hate him is a bit much. He doesn't choose to be popular. Even still, can you blame him? If you got onto Sasuke wouldn't you want to be featured as much as possible?

Also, he's good for ratings. So of course M9 is going to show him a lot, despite how well he does. That's why they don't show people like Kenji Takahashi unless he does really well. So it makes perfect sense really. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's wrong.

[arsenette]

Yep just like Yamada I'm jaded by how he is in real life. Simple things like during an outing with pro basketball players in Muscle Park he was caught cheating and had a hissy fit saying that he's the star and should be allowed to win by default. Stupid things like that. Turn OFF the camera on him and he's a totally different person. The best Sato story had to do with happened ON AIR.. .they do a closeup of him and his "grin" and they pull out to a wide shot and there are like 6 kids on him (trying to climb him) and one is biting his leg on the thigh, the other is kicking him trying to get his attention, another is just sitting there eating a booger.. but the WHOLE time he's smiling because the camera is on him. The kids were an afterthought. In fact most of the time on his show he is condescending towards the kids because it's all about HIS image.

Joe I love the Seacrest analogy because that's the same vibe. So long as Seacrest is star he's good. I remember back in the day when he was trying to get BIG and would have bitchfest and start acting up on camera with a "look at meeeeeee" attitude. This is Sato.

Thanks Ube. That's the impression I got from the people that describe him to me. The fact that the story with the basketball team was recent (within the last 6 months) is the part that disturbs me... it's not like he's mellowing.. seems to be getting crotchety with age).

And yes.. this doesn't happen in Sasuke so if watching him only on camera in Sasuke one would not understand why he's loathed. Still.. people (doesn't matter what country) would view just what is in front of them and ignore any faults (like the episodes of him snapping at the kids on air) because he's "human". Personally I can't stand that a person is one way on camera and then horrible when you meet in person. Only proves how they are more enamored as an image and not as a human being.

[joemello]

Apr 22, 2010 9:43:02 GMT -5 arsenette said:

Joe I love the Seacrest analogy because that's the same vibe. So long as Seacrest is star he's good. I remember back in the day when he was trying to get BIG and would have bitchfest and start acting up on camera with a "look at meeeeeee" attitude. This is Sato.

Fwiw, I remember seeing Seacrest being on no less than 3 different syndicated shows in the late 90's before hitting it big on Idol, so he certainly put in the effort. Could he have been more amicable about it? Sure, but he's now the public face of pop music, so whatever he did worked.

I wonder what Brian Dunkleman and Kristen Holt think of all this