1st Stage Transition

[m4tt3r0x]

In Sasuke 25, the designers brought back the jungle/green theme for the first stage. Personally, I loved it. It was quick, easier, and much more balanced. When Sasuke 26 came around the corner, I was expecting the same kind of first stage (With a few changes here and there) but then came to heights with the shin sasuke theme and red mats.

So, many thought that Sasuke 25 was just a "Sasuke through the ages" sort of deal. While others thought that the producers eventually thought that Shin Sasuke's first stage was much more "enjoyable" for their viewers to watch.

Now I have a few theories, but I'd like to make sure that nothing was confirmed about the 1st Stage transition of 25-26. Was it on purpose? If not, why do you think there was a change? And also, do you think this transition was supposed to lead up to a *Brand New* 1st Stage for Sasuke 27? (Which at this point I think is a 50/50 chance of happening).

[yamfriend]

I honestly think this is part of their "Kanzen Renewal" idea/meaning---that they're going to change and/or modify Stage 1 drastically after every tournament. I'm guessing that if this is true, it's probably being done for 3 primary reasons (going in order from least important to most important to them):

1.) to see which competitors can adapt best to changes on the course, even when they're so sudden and drastic (i.e. who's best all-around)
2.) add more variety to the results and people clearing Stage 1 who had never done so before or haven't in a while (I'm betting people would like to see new people to cheer for to have a running chance to get past at least the First Stage)
3.) keep the viewing audience more interested and hopefully get better ratings

Also, I think they're only doing this with Stage 1 not only to keep the entire course from having too drastic of a change (they don't want to risk bad results like Sasuke 19 again where nobody gets to Stage 3), but also because it's probably already a huger budget than usual for them to get this together compared to tournaments in which only a few changes are made to the course in between tournaments (which is especially tough for a show struggling to achieve the ratings it needs to survive).

Or, perhaps they'll go in cycles for some of the obstacles in Stage 1. For example, maybe they'll take out the Rolling Escargot for 27 and (hoping Sasuke makes it this far) have it return it in 28 in order to throw some people off and mix up results again.