Araki

[darthvaderlim]

How would you describe Araki in terms of personality and performance wise? I mean, compared to the Morimoto Sedai, I'm struggling to define him. Yusuke is Nagano 2.0, Tada has reached the Final twice, Jun is a speed demon, and Keitaro has lots of upper body strength. Even the All-Stars all had distinct jobs and personalities throughout their career.

[dakohosu]

Aug 26, 2024 3:02:12 GMT -5 darthvaderlim said:

How would you describe Araki in terms of personality and performance wise? I mean, compared to the Morimoto Sedai, I'm struggling to define him. Yusuke is Nagano 2.0, Tada has reached the Final twice, Jun is a speed demon, and Keitaro has lots of upper body strength. Even the All-Stars all had distinct jobs and personalities throughout their career.

The problem with the Morimoto Sedai (MS) as a whole is that they're not as characteristically unique as the All-Stars were, and this certainly isn't helped by the fact that they're constantly shafted in the tournament edits, often being mass digested. 

The All-Stars all had unique jobs, outfits, and characteristics; Nagano was a fisherman who was the Number 1 competitor and wore black pants and vest, Akiyama was the original champion who had his crab prop and red shorts, Shingo had his goofy personality and his gas station uniform, Takeda was the orange pants firefighter who was known for his consistency yet inability to reach the Final, Yamada was Mr Sasuke who devoted his life to the show, and Bunpei was the OG course builder with impeccable technique and his long jump uniform. They holistically gave off his really endearing vibe of ordinary working guys doing extraordinary things, and all had their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and quirks, which is why they were the perfect mascot group.

The MS in many ways kind of blend into one. They all have less distinguishable salaryman professions that aren't as marketable as a gas station manager in uniform or a firefighter etc. and barring Jun they're all rock climbers. They also don't have the unique quirk of being working guys who are unexpectedly athletic, because pretty much everyone in today's cohort fits into that category, unlike the All-Stars where it was a case of them and then mostly pro athletes like Iketani etc. Not to mention that Jun being a pro athlete himself goes against this sentiment anyway.

As mentioned it's also hard to really dive into their differences when they regularly get fast forwarded. Them being formed as the new "it" group seems to be at odds with the way they're treated in the broadcast. The point of groups is to market them as mascot groups are always more sellable than individuals, evident by the fact that competitors that didn't fit into any group like Kong or Shunsuke frequently got shafted. But none of this happens in the broadcast. Not to mention the fact that the term being used inconsistently didn't help. They were formed in 36 where I don't think Jun was even categorised as a member, dropped in 37, reused in 38, not mentioned much in 39, and then put together in 40.

The way I see it, Yusuke is the Nagano equivalent but is almost his own entity as the solid Number 1 dominator of this era, and both running and being positioned entirely separate from the rest of the group. Jun kind of as well as the only pro athlete in the group, though he is effectively the Takeda equivalent. It's hard to define Tada and Keitaro beyond the fact that the former has had two Finals and the latter is an up-and-coming competitor. 

Araki is definitely the hardest one to define, beyond the fact that he's lagging behind the rest of the group. His best performance is tied with Sato but doesn't have Sato's consistency, while he seemingly doesn't have the potential of Keitaro, nor has he achieved notable feats like Tada or, goes without saying, Yusuke. This didn't exist with the All-Stars; Akiyama had the worst career overall by a considerable margin but was the first winner which was his defining trait. 

Maybe they've not marketed him well enough as a Sasuke Vietnam Finalist as well as having a pretty cool job as a car designer, but to me until he actually starts showing some considerable merit in competition, he's the odd one out. I fear the [REDACTED] might cause some issues with this.

EDIT: I really can't help myself, I keep saying this post will be short, 20 mins later.....

[subtleagent]

The one who can fail anywhere, though not quite to the extent Shingo or Ryo do.