Competitors of wasted potential

[shunsukenumber98]

Which competitor do you think screams wasted potentials? 

[zoran]

Tanaka Hikaru - The closest a competitor ever came to kanzening on their first attempt, then just vanished after a rolling log fail.

Ken Hasegawa - 3 consecutive stage 2 clears as well as a real life ninja and then just vanished, due to his poor strength I doubt he would have doen well in future stage 3s but I could see him doing well on stage 1s and 2s up to shin sasuke.

Hatakeda Yoshiaki- First competitor to beat Sasuke 6's first stage with the fastest stage 2 time and second best performance then never showed up again.

Kuboki Hironori - Extremely impressive run in Sasuke 7, getting the fastest time and using math to beat the warped wall and made it all the way to the cliffhanger.

Kota Honma - One of the youngest to ever clear stage 1 (that stage 1 being the hardest or second hardest at that time) with multiple earlier close calls including at 13 on the renewed course in Sasuke 13 and in Sasuke 15 with the scorching heat. I oculd have really seen him becoming a proto version of Morimoto if he got the hang of Shin Sasuke and maintained his passion for the show.

Nagasawa Hidenori - Had a ton of passion for the show with multiple replicas, when he cleared in 16 I thought it was really satisfying, didn't perform too bad in future tournaments like 23 either but I really think he could have been a stage 2 or 3 regular.

Yuji Washimi - He cleared 19's brutal stage 1 but after that due to silly mistakes he never reached the heights of that again besides his 24 performance. Does still have interest in the show as he competed in 40's trials, would like if he was invited back.

Shinya Kishomoto - Dominated in Sasuke 30 with some good runs in 27 and 32 as well but his lack of training of his lower body cost him.

[dakohosu]

Naoya Tajima - had arguably the most impressive Stage 3 run in the entire tournament up until his fail, with him just muscling up the Spider Flip with his arms only. Obviously he made that faux pas at the end, then had a couple of bad runs, a freak accident in 27, and then just retired. I think he could've had a legit chance at the Final, if not Kanzen, had he not derailed the Slider Drop in 27. And his build would've been pretty ideal for tournaments after that, with him being light and insanely strong upper body wise but not weak raw strength-wise which is where Ryo and Yuuji started to decline.

Naoyuki Araki - is clearly incredibly capable, having beaten entire Stage 3 replicas in practice, but just cannot seem to execute in competition, and despite now being fairly experienced on the course is the only member of the Morimoto Sedai who you could argue is inconsistent currently. He's probably got the worst ratio of performance to potential in the group as well; I'm confident Keitaro hasn't shown us his final form but has performed incredibly well recently, and Sato's clearly maxed out his potential. Araki, like Keitaro, is an experienced climber, but his best performance is tied with Sato who everyone now lambasts for his frequent Stage 3 fails.

Yusuke Goto - granted I think his potential might have been overhyped/overrated, but he does regularly train on replicas and can clear courses in practice, but just has a severe tendency to choke. 39 was reckless, 40 was due to poor hand placement, etc. I presume at this point he's possibly letting the fear of being culled get to his head, given that these days anything short of a Stage 3 run puts you at risk of getting the chop, and Goto's best performance is a Salmon Ladder Nobori/Kudari fail. Part of the reason he's on this list is that concern means he'll very possibly never get to actually show what he's made of. Compared to guys like Ryo or Tomo who can choke as much as they please and will still get invited back.

Shinya Iwasaki - I admit I probably had a hand in hyping him up too much on here before 40, but the guy arguably has the most insane upper body out of anyone I've seen in the Sasuke space, and has been training/applying for 15 years with a home course. Gets on the show, makes an incredible rookie error by just walking straight into the Fish Bone's yellow portion, gets knocked off, is now probably never getting invited back. Would've killed to see him run Stage 3.

Drew - was arguably a Top 3 competitor during his tenure, given his trajectory of improvement across ANW/Sasuke over those years and his eventual win on ANW he could've become a potential Final or Kanzen candidate on Sasuke. But that obviously didn't happen for..... reasons. Indeed, an utter WASTE of potential.

[zoran]

Jul 27, 2024 12:01:55 GMT -5 dakohosu said:

Naoya Tajima - had arguably the most impressive Stage 3 run in the entire tournament up until his fail, with him just muscling up the Spider Flip with his arms only. Obviously he made that faux pas at the end, then had a couple of bad runs, a freak accident in 27, and then just retired. I think he could've had a legit chance at the Final, if not Kanzen, had he not derailed the Slider Drop in 27. And his build would've been pretty ideal for tournaments after that, with him being light and insanely strong upper body wise but not weak raw strength-wise which is where Ryo and Yuuji started to decline.

Naoyuki Araki - is clearly incredibly capable, having beaten entire Stage 3 replicas in practice, but just cannot seem to execute in competition, and despite now being fairly experienced on the course is the only member of the Morimoto Sedai who you could argue is inconsistent currently. He's probably got the worst ratio of performance to potential in the group as well; I'm confident Keitaro hasn't shown us his final form but has performed incredibly well recently, and Sato's clearly maxed out his potential. Araki, like Keitaro, is an experienced climber, but his best performance is tied with Sato who everyone now lambasts for his frequent Stage 3 fails.

Yusuke Goto - granted I think his potential might have been overhyped/overrated, but he does regularly train on replicas and can clear courses in practice, but just has a severe tendency to choke. 39 was reckless, 40 was due to poor hand placement, etc. I presume at this point he's possibly letting the fear of being culled get to his head, given that these days anything short of a Stage 3 run puts you at risk of getting the chop, and Goto's best performance is a Salmon Ladder Nobori/Kudari fail. Part of the reason he's on this list is that concern means he'll very possibly never get to actually show what he's made of. Compared to guys like Ryo or Tomo who can choke as much as they please and will still get invited back.

Shinya Iwasaki - I admit I probably had a hand in hyping him up too much on here before 40, but the guy arguably has the most insane upper body out of anyone I've seen in the Sasuke space, and has been training/applying for 15 years with a home course. Gets on the show, makes an incredible rookie error by just walking straight into the Fish Bone's yellow portion, gets knocked off, is now probably never getting invited back. Would've killed to see him run Stage 3.

Drew - was arguably a Top 3 competitor during his tenure, given his trajectory of improvement across ANW/Sasuke over those years and his eventual win on ANW he could've become a potential Final or Kanzen candidate on Sasuke. But that obviously didn't happen for..... reasons. Indeed, an utter WASTE of potential.

Drew would have been vertical limit fodder or dimension fodder at best. After ANW 11, he stopped training regularly and put on weight.

[loboticialtree]

Looking at who has not been mentioned so far:

Travis A. Schroeder - Guy just powered through the first two stages in SASUKE 4 with some of the fastest times, and he might've won the entire tournament had he not pulled off the bar in the Pipe Slider. In SASUKE 5, he still did relatively well, going the farthest of the 97 (or 95) people who failed Stage 1. Had he not withdrawn in SASUKE 6, he probably could've done rather well. He might've not cleared Stage 3 because of his weight, but he probably could've done relatively well in the All-Star era of SASUKE had he competed.

Some Stage 1 Speedsters from the mid 30s SASUKE - I'm lumping people like Dai Igarashi in because they had done relatively well in Stage 1. However in Stage 2, they did rather poorly, for example Igarashi failing the Salmon Ladder doesn't scream future top competitor, hence why they are in the trials.

Shunsuke Nagasaki - Terrible take I know, but he might be one of the most natural athletes to be on SASUKE. Even when he returned in SASUKE 29, he only failed Stage One once in his next five appearances. Admittedly he wasn't going back to Stage 4, but his gradual decline is just sad because it is clear he can still clear Stage 1, but he doesn't train.

Hirata Atsushi - He was a one-and-done competitor in SASUKE 19, but he did quite well, failing at the Rope Ladder in Stage One when time ran out. Afterwards, he left and wasn't seen again in any SASUKE related competition as far as I know. Had he competed more in Shin-SASUKE, I do think he could consistently clear Stage One, as doing well in SASUKE 19 (at the time) is not a small feat. The only real unknown is how he would've done in Stage Two (and Three if he gets there) since we do not know how he would've performed in soemthing such as the Salmon Ladder or Metal Spin.

[dakohosu]

Jul 28, 2024 10:47:17 GMT -5 loboticialtree said:

Shunsuke Nagasaki - Terrible take I know, but he might be one of the most natural athletes to be on SASUKE. Even when he returned in SASUKE 29, he only failed Stage One once in his next five appearances. Admittedly he wasn't going back to Stage 4, but his gradual decline is just sad because it is clear he can still clear Stage 1, but he doesn't train.

Not a terrible take. One of the biggest "what if"s is what would've happened had Nagasaki still continued to compete into the Shin-Sasuke era, which is another reason why Shunsuke can be classed as wasted potential, not just his recent slump.

His natural athleticism is probably not far off Nagano's, with him going from a Stage 2 timeout to a Final appearance in under two years, and still as a teenager no less, not even in his prime, and all he had in his back yard was a Cliffhanger ledge. He was basically Nagano's second in command for the short time until he took his hiatus. Then comes back after 6 years and almost immediately starts being a Stage 3 regular again. His consistency was something that was never brought up enough; he only failed Stage 1 twice in his first twelve tournaments (after that being his slump), one of which was Sasuke 19, which again showed his natural potential as he could reliably get far into very different and ever-changing courses.

I think the reason I say Shin-Sasuke is because he already showed he could clear the new Stage 1, having done so in 18 and almost in 19 which was the hardest version, as well as Stage 2. Stage 3 would've just been a case of practicing for the Shin-Cliffhanger, as Shin's version was arguably easier than the one he beat in 17. He could've very easily become a Final Stage regular, as he'd be in his prime years (21-24) and only building on his past experience through practice etc. I wouldn't go as far to say he had a good shot at Kanzen given that he didn't do particularly well on 17's Final, I'd say his best chance would be in Sasuke 22 with the higher time limit and the course not being broken like the Stick Slider/Sending Climber in 20 and Gliding Ring in 21. 

But even considering his slump, even though as you said he didn't have much chance of making it back to the Final, he was arguably a top competitor after his hiatus with a good number of Stage 3 runs, then has a freak accident on the Spider Walk, lets that past fail cause another mental choke on the same obstacle, and then enters his Stage 1 slump.

I think ever since he had his first kid (around 35 time) he just stopped training regularly, as well as his new job and his brother's health issues, etc. Sasuke just isn't a priority for him anymore which is fair, though it doesn't circumvent the fact that his performances have obviously suffered as a result.

[azn]

If we're talking about competitors who's wasted potential were as a result of inconsistent performances, then definitely Kobayashi Shinji and Ryo come to mind.

Both are clearly able to have really deep runs, with the latter making it to two finals, but the issue is that they just can't reach the third stage in the first place on a consistent matter.

[hoseasasuke]

Igarashi Dai. Dominated Stage 1 in his brief time on the show. Was capable of so much more

[darthvaderlim]

I'm going with someone who hasn't been mentioned yet:

Yamada Koji-Finished 2nd and 3rd place in 15 and 16 on a very hard Stage Three. He was also one of only two men to clear 19's Stage One, but has never returned to Sasuke since. Had he continued competing, he might have a decent chance of making it to the Final, especially with the Gliding Ring being easier than the Pipe Slider

Daisuke Matsuda-Despite building 19 obstacles in his backyard, he has yet to clear the First Stage. He would often choke on obstacles that he has built combined with his age.

Haga Tomoya-Has made it to the seventh obstacle on Shin-Sasuke's Stage One, which is by far the hardest era of Sasuke, in all of his three attempts. Would have likely cleared if he competed in the Inui era, where Stage One is much shorter and easier.

[YourResidentKojiFan]

I'm actually gonna say Kane. Had he competed in 2 or 3, I could see him Kanzening in either tournament, and I think he had a very good shot at Finals all the way up through 27, excluding 19, 20 and 25 due to either near-impossible or impossible Third Stages. Maybe the extended Third Stage stops him, but I highly doubt that as everything there could be done with just natural talent, which he clearly had in spades. He'd also have only been 30-36 from 14-27, the extended Third Stage era, so he would still be in good to decent shape age-wise.

Honorable mention to Kawahara, poor guy just got constantly done in by the timer. 4 of his 10 attempts being Rope Ladder timeouts is tragic consistency, not to mention he made the seventh obstacle 3 other times.

[azn]

Dare I say that Akiyama also fits the bill to be here?

Yes he achieved a Kanzen, but if he was able to acclimate to the renewed course a lot quicker, then perhaps he would've had a lot more deep runs under his belt. Potentially even a 2nd Kanzen, given his incredible speed and technique climbing up ropes.

[xelA197]

Levi: One-tournament wonder who constantly underperformed after his magic debut.

Kanno: Going from a Stage 3 regular to a meme competitor who is perenially injured; the fact that his decline started when he was 31 is quite depressing.

Asaoka: He had an overall pretty decent career, but I have the feeling he would have become an All-Star type competitor if he continued to train regularly after 12.

Shingo: never clearing the Cliffhanger after 7 despite being in his mid-to-late 20s and his dedication to the show.

Kosuke Yamaguchi: such a shame he disappeared after 14, he would have become a Ishikawa-type competitor, with several Stage 1 clears and maybe a few more Stage 3 appearances.

[dakohosu]

Jul 31, 2024 10:20:45 GMT -5 azn said:

Dare I say that Akiyama also fits the bill to be here?

Yes he achieved a Kanzen, but if he was able to acclimate to the renewed course a lot quicker, then perhaps he would've had a lot more deep runs under his belt. Potentially even a 2nd Kanzen, given his incredible speed and technique climbing up ropes.

I rewatched 12 recently and was pretty astounded at how easy Akiyama made the course look, especially Stage 3 right up until his fail at the end. It was arguably the only time after his win that I was reminded at the time that he was the single reigning champion of the show. 

I always figured the problem was that the course renewal really exposed Akiyama's major inherent weaknesses that the original era just didn't. Specifically his height, lower body, stamina, and in some cases his eyesight (though I'd say barring 13 this wasn't a major factor considering the nature of most of his fails). This was why we saw him pretty much drop off immediately.

He hadn't lost any of his athleticism, his run in 12 was evidence of that, but it was more that he was now faced with challenges that worked against said weaknesses. Specifically the Jump Hang and Warped Wall which really targeted his short stature, and evidently lackluster lower body (you could always tell from his build that he was very upper body dominant). Then factor in a clear mental block which I'm certain is why he failed time after time despite building replicas, and there you go. 

What he was good at, he was REALLY good at. He had insane upper body strength, grip strength, rope climbing skills, and in a lot of cases, speed as well. His career was ultimately tarnished because unfortunately everything he could and did struggle with seemed to be condensed into the First Stage, but if he had cleared more often, who knows what could've been?

[ppurdy20]

Jul 31, 2024 12:31:17 GMT -5 xelA197 said:

Levi: One-tournament wonder who constantly underperformed after his magic debut.

Kanno: Going from a Stage 3 regular to a meme competitor who is perenially injured; the fact that his decline started when he was 31 is quite depressing.

Asaoka: He had an overall pretty decent career, but I have the feeling he would have become an All-Star type competitor if he continued to train regularly after 12.

Shingo: never clearing the Cliffhanger after 7 despite being in his mid-to-late 20s and his dedication to the show.

Kosuke Yamaguchi: such a shame he disappeared after 14, he would have become a Ishikawa-type competitor, with several Stage 1 clears and maybe a few more Stage 3 appearances.

As it pertains to Levi - I think he highlighted the limitations of parkour based competitors on stage 3 rather than someone who underperformed. I see him being the prelude for what we would see out of Jun Sato (this is not saying that Levi/Jun are bad competitors). 

The one that stands out to me the most is Nagasaki Shunsuke, but to be fair, he had Olympic ambitions which led him to take a hiatus from Sasuke. I cannot fault him for that.

[dakohosu]

Aug 13, 2024 14:00:06 GMT -5 ppurdy20 said:

Jul 31, 2024 12:31:17 GMT -5 xelA197 said:

As it pertains to Levi - I think he highlighted the limitations of parkour based competitors on stage 3 rather than someone who underperformed. I see him being the prelude for what we would see out of Jun Sato (this is not saying that Levi/Jun are bad competitors). 

The one that stands out to me the most is Nagasaki Shunsuke, but to be fair, he had Olympic ambitions which led him to take a hiatus from Sasuke. I cannot fault him for that.

I already described above why I think Shunsuke is a good example, but agreed on Levi.

I don't think he was really wasted potential, especially with the introduction of the Ultimate and Crazy Cliffhanger, the mid-point of Stage 3 would've been his hard limit. 

Of the Americans I'd say Drew had the most wasted potential, not only given that he showed that he was both able to beat Cliffhangers as well as outright winning in ANW11, but also because what happened is the definition of a "waste". Given his gradual improvement he could've been a serious Kanzen candidate.

Travis Schroeder too. Could've Kanzened had he not derailed the Pipe Slider in 4, especially as he did straight up clear the stage. Would've cleared in 5 had he not had his foot get caught in the Jump Hang. Was at some point planning to compete in both 6 and 7 but withdrew from both. I think the hardened Stages 2 and 3 might've worked against him considering his weight but I definitely think he could've had a few good runs left in him.