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Post by bdavenport on Dec 27, 2012 18:20:27 GMT -5
Excellent tournament. With so few clears on stage 1, it reminded me of the tournaments years ago, when only 7-10 people would clear. Like it was said earlier, it makes you more excited next time, when they do clear it.
Yamada looked like he was nursing a hip injury.
New obstacles were unexpected, but awesome. Glad to see some completely new stuff, and not just variations of the same old obstacles. Unstable Bridge and Spider Walk being the old models, leave room for them to be tweaked for Sasuke 29.
Iron Paddle was just plain awesome. Unexpected. Targets muscles in a way that you don't train for. Perfect for Rising.
Here's hoping to a 29!
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chackpop
David Campbell
25%
Posts: 1,543
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Post by chackpop on Dec 27, 2012 18:50:35 GMT -5
I didn't like how difficult the Spin Bridge was. Would have liked to see a lot more attempts on the Jump Hang and rest of the course. Also, they didn't show a lot of people this time around. No Americans or Cat. Hoped more would have cleared but I guess that's okay for a renewal.
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Post by dudesky1000 on Dec 27, 2012 19:18:10 GMT -5
Well if there's one word to define this tournament it sure is 'crazy'. From the crazy shocking failures to the seizure-inducingly crazy second stage lighting setup, to none other than the CRAZY cliffhanger, this was one crazy a** tournament. First of all, thanks to those who tried (and succeeded, literally 2 minutes after I gave up lol) to scrape a backup stream together. Unfortunately I went to bed before the backup stream got up, but fortunately I was able to watch it since then and WOW! Am I glad I wasn't spoiled like I was in ANW3/Sasuke 27. My general comments first. It think if nothing else, this was an intriguing tournament. I agree with Arsenette that some of the editing decisions may be difficult to swallow at first, but I warmed up to them after an hour or so. First, the things that irked me: -The abandonment of non-All-Star competitor themes. Personally, this was the thing that was the biggest disappointment (and by this being the biggest disappointment, you can probably tell by now I really enjoyed 28). Maybe I have become too accustomed to each of their theme songs, but when I see Kanno at the startline, I want to hear that awesome theme! Also, other familiar music such as the main digest theme... which for the first time EVER was absent from the entire broadcast, were either displaced or missing altogether (tournament ending theme, replay theme, iconic themes like Iketani's, Yuuji's, Li En Zhi's, etc.) -Pacing early on in the first stage. We skipped from what, 1 to 9 to like, 30 right off the bat? Yet, it took an awfully long time to get even just that far. I'm not sure why, but the first 45 minutes or so of runs were exceptionally slow, and for a tournament where only a handful of the 100 made it past obstacle 3, we NEEDED more digests. Besides, we're missing A LOT of results, which is kind of ironic considering how we were given the full list of competitors. Thankfully, someone noticed this and after that first half hour or so the show picked up wonderfully. The turning point was really once we got our first stage clear. -Missing competitors that could have promoted the show as more internationally relevant. What exactly happened to Lobeck and Dodd we may never know, but it is certainly odd that they weren't even digested. Even Cat, who was featured in full length last time, who had great potential to be profiled as someone looking for redemption after his result in 27, was cut. -Graphical presentation. From Sasuke 27, this really felt like a step backward. The awesome competitor mugshots that would be in the corner of the screen during their run, along with the slick Sasuke 'wipe' to transition to replays, and even the small box in the corner saying a competitor's name, profession and age were all but gone in Sasuke Rising. Now it is simply 'Sasuke Rising' in the top left corner, and the TBS watermark in the top right. Now, it is definitely worth mentioning that they DID do the Sasuke 27 mugshot graphic during digests, but that only makes me wonder why they couldn't do it during normal runs? -Finally, the commercials. Fine, take as much money as you can get, but like others have said, make any casual viewer sit through that first half hour of First Stage runs with that many commercials and watch the ratings drop. Honestly, the people who made this decision probably had the best intentions... get all of the commercials out of the way early on so the more exciting and emotional runs later wouldn't have to be interrupted. Great, and I definitely appreciated it once we got deep into the broadcast. However, I am a little bit worried that this strategy may backfire when ratings come it. Okay, now that I've written all that I will take a break and post all of the good stuff later. I just want to make my stance clear that the negative comments I've described are really just fine-tuning complaints, that really have nothing to do with my overall enjoyment of the show. Personally, I thought it was fantastic, and was exactly what SASUKE needed revive itself. More on that later. I am just being a bit critical from the film school perspective
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Post by RiderLeangle on Dec 27, 2012 19:22:38 GMT -5
Well for the international competitors, Cat was in the chat and told us the results of him and the americans Cat timed out at the Rope Ladder, he also was talking about his back was all cramped up after the Escargot and was in pain.
Joe and Will both ended up going out on the Escargot...
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Post by wrestlingfan55 on Dec 27, 2012 19:26:58 GMT -5
I liked that those mugshots weren't there. I found them to be needless distractions.
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Post by RiderLeangle on Dec 27, 2012 19:37:44 GMT -5
I liked that those mugshots weren't there. I found them to be needless distractions. Agreed. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who hated those in 27... Glad they were only for 1 tournament...
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Post by dudesky1000 on Dec 27, 2012 19:44:54 GMT -5
I liked that those mugshots weren't there. I found them to be needless distractions. Agreed. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who hated those in 27... Glad they were only for 1 tournament... Awwww I liked them Some of them were funny!!
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Post by shuhuqua on Dec 27, 2012 20:36:51 GMT -5
God! I'm so disappointed... What the hell happened? NEVER EVER in my worst nightmares would I have thought that Nagano might have a problem with the warped wall....!!! What happened there? It seemed like he gave up...? It wasn't his style! It was Yamada's style (though Yamada managed the first wall for the first time since...a long time)... Takeda had a Shingo-style fall I expected Nagano's victory or at least 3d Stage completed.... That was definitely a good show. Just from the way the marketing and advertisements went, the results were about what I expected; the only real shock was Nagano failing on the second wall. I am really confused by this... why is Nagano failing the wall surprising? In the past few tournaments when he's made it to the wall, he NEVER got it on his first try. He's also gone on record MANY times saying the first thing to go when you get old are the legs. Honestly, while heart broken, I was not surprised. It's been said before, but since this was aimed at me, I'll say it again... Nagano got the wall on the first try in 25 and 27 (sadly didn't get there in 26). This added to the fact that he glided through the other obstacles giving you the feeling "Nagano is going to show the new guys he's a legend for a reason," made it heart breaking. Also, I don't have that many posts; so I'm sure I only said, "the first thing to go when you get old are your legs" once rather than MANY times.
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Post by wrestlingfan55 on Dec 27, 2012 20:42:46 GMT -5
Agreed. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who hated those in 27... Glad they were only for 1 tournament... Awwww I liked them Some of them were funny!! Only Shingo's (shockingly )
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Post by lostinube on Dec 27, 2012 21:21:21 GMT -5
I know people are disappointed by the absence of the international competitors but we do not know what the agreements are between the different groups. Also, who exactly would you be aiming towards if they were shown? It was a Japanese show broadcast in Japan. I honestly do not think the Japanese audience gives one whit about the outside competitors other than Li.
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Post by thebobmaster on Dec 27, 2012 22:58:54 GMT -5
I'm going to be in the minority and say that I liked almost everything about this tournament. There were a lot of shocking results, which made the tension that much greater for me to watch my favorite competitors go, and I liked almost all the obstacles both new and old.
There were a few issues I could see, though. The commercials for the first hour were far too numerous (I almost felt like I was watching an American Football game), the studio audience or whatever that was was a bit distracting, and the Water Tank was a pointless obstacle, not even functioning as a good time waster. Overall, though, I think what they did right far outnumbered what they did wrong. And I could be annoyed about the number of cut competitors, but I figured that would happen, since this tournament was the swan song for the All-Stars.
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,617
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Dec 28, 2012 0:02:26 GMT -5
Hey I'm part of the minority that I LIKED this tournament a lot. It was weird.. unpredictable and kept me thinking. I didn't want to get off my seat once because I HAD NO IDEA WHO WAS GOING TO PASS.. in the past we were getting complacent knowing "oh okay.. I can run to the bathroom here or get something to eat because there's no friggin' way such and such is going to fail". Not so with this tournament. Love/hate the obstacles they did their job which is knock off that complacency mindset and make them THINK for once. That's what I liked about early Sasuke episodes.. some of the obstacles were deceptively simple but easy to screw up if you don't take them seriously. I think they did their job. Do I have some of them in my "meh" list? Oh hell yeah. Stage 2 was just.. weird.. but it took out Ryo because he got tired early.. so it did it's job.
Btw Ube is 100% correct. Sasuke is on it's last legs in Japan. They HAVE to get good ratings this time or the show is gone. Tailoring to the demographic is key and I believe they did that the best they could. Only time will tell if that happens.
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,617
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Dec 28, 2012 0:21:46 GMT -5
I read from Inui's tweet's week ago that if the show doesn't get above 15, then they would cancel the show. Can you link the tweet? I can't find it.
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Post by lhii789 on Dec 28, 2012 0:31:21 GMT -5
Here it is. It's in Japanese, but it mentions "15%" clearly. According to Inui, 15 is "norm" not the goal, so he's expecting rating to be higher than that. (wishful thinking, since SASUKE hasn't got 15 since SASUKE 19(15.2); 5 years ago).
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,617
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Dec 28, 2012 0:41:55 GMT -5
Thank you! I appreciate it. Most of the time it's so difficult to find those tweets after the fact... especially since he writes so much LOL
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Post by yamfriend on Dec 28, 2012 1:11:49 GMT -5
Sasuke Rising didn't seem "good" or "bad" to me, but instead was different. We've become so used to set rules for Sasuke, and the vast amount of changes that occured in 28 created mixed feelings from nearly everyone who watched it (and especially those on here). Don't get me wrong though---a lot of adjustments had to be made for myself while watching 28. The editing (music, graphics, setup/organization of how everything was shown, etc.) almost seemed like a completely different show. Sure, they retained a few things, but the majority of the "classic" post-production edits in the Sasuke broadcasts were tough to adjust to. Personally, I found the previous ones a lot more fitting, but that may be largely in part to having them there for so long. I was also a bit displeased with who was/wasn't shown and/or for how long they were shown. There was a lot of repetition early on with so many failures on the first 3 obstacles and definitely could have been improved a bit in the editing. I also feel that Inui did a good job with the All-Stars' final runs, but it did feel a little melodramatic (off-topic: I unexpectedly didn't tear up at all because of how surreal it was). Also, I feel that at the end of the broadcast they could've been given a more proper sign-off after being dedicated to the show for so long. In any case, Inui still put a lot of effort into this part (as well as the rest of what he did with 28) and I'm glad with what he did. I sure will miss seeing the All-Stars compete though. Course-wise, I was so-so. Stage 1 proved much tougher than I expected. And to think, I was expecting 20+ clears. Seriously though, here's my obstacle breakdown: Stage 1Godantobi - A good starting obstacle. The only bad thing was that Kuramochi failed them and made me lose my bet -____- Rolling Escargot - It might've been too tough seeing people like Iketani and Takeda failing it, along with about half of the rest of the field. It should be toned down slightly in future tournaments IMO. Spin Bridge - Honestly, I despised it this time around. WAY too difficult and unpredictable for a third obstacle. If this hadn't been so tough, we would've probably seen considerably more clears. Jump Hang Kai - Neat idea, but not enough people trying it after a tough 2nd and 3rd obstacles. Also, I don't even remember seeing anyone going for the left net. Perhaps next time, only the right net should be kept and placed slightly lower so there is a higher risk of touching the water. Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe - A different approach to the Soritatsu Kabe which I would personally like to see again in at least a few more tournaments. BTW, I was glad to see Yamada end his Sasuke career atop the first wall; it gave me the impression that although he couldn't clear the entire First Stage, he overcame the mental block/physical wall that he's been facing for so long. Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder - Please go away Rope Ladder. The Tarzan Rope can stay, but I want the Rope Climb back. Time Limit of 105 seconds - A bit strict, but not extremely bad. IMO 5 to 10 more seconds should be added. Stage 2Cross Slider - Original idea, but needs a modification (perhaps a drop?). Swap Salmon Ladder - Okay, but I need to see more attempts on it to evaluate it better. Unstable Bridge - That was just a time killer. It needs to go. Spider Walk - Too easy for Sasuke Rising IMO. It might work if going straight from the Swap Salmon Ladder to this, but is primarily a time killer on its own. Backstream - Odd to watch in action, but innovative. I'm hoping to see a modification of it in the future. Passing Wall - Meh, I preferred Wall Lifting. Once again, tough to gauge from only seeing so few attempts on it. Time Limit of 135 seconds - WAY too long. While it's a good way to drain the competitors, it's rather slow-paced and overall a bit boring to watch (and that was with only 5 runs---imagine if 10+ people had cleared Stage 1). So much for Stage 2 being a speed stage. Stage 3Rumbling Dice - Very happy to see it back. Hopefully it remains for a while as the Third Stage's first obstacle once again. Iron Paddler - Deceptively difficult and a great strength drainer, but a bit awkward to watch. It might be more interesting to watch once competitors know how to maneuver it more effectively. Crazy Cliffhanger - A nice spin on the 9-17 Cliffhanger (pun intended ). While its technique will likely be gotten down by some competitors by next tournament, I can still see a lot of unpredictability with it how the results on it will turn out (pun intended again ). It should be neat to keep seeing on both the course and in home training videos. Curtain Cling/Vertical Limit/Pipe Slider - Hard to gauge since nobody made it this far, but something tells me that these obstacles will make the new generation of competitors really work in order to clear Stage 3 from now on. The 14-17 era of Stage 3 is back with a vengeance. Final StageWe need something besides just the Tsuna Nobori, regardless of the time limit. A new era should mean a new Final Stage setup. Wow, I haven't made a post this long in quite a while.
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Post by thebobmaster on Dec 28, 2012 2:08:59 GMT -5
yamfriend, I had the same thought about the CCH, but after talking to arsenette, she pointed out (well, I suggested, and she agreed with my suggestion) that I was underestimating the Iron Paddle's draining effect. I'm not saying that the CCH won't get beaten, but it is one thing to get the technique down, and another to do it after an obstacle that tough on the arms.
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gdom
Chōshū Koriki
Posts: 1
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Post by gdom on Dec 28, 2012 2:22:30 GMT -5
Sasuke Rising sucks...i saw that and every all-stat fell in 1st stage..and that obstacles sucks.i like the old sasuke...
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,617
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Dec 28, 2012 3:28:19 GMT -5
Well I think we might all agree on one thing. This tournament definitely was the most polarizing? Either you liked it or you utterly hated it.
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Post by wrestlingfan55 on Dec 28, 2012 9:36:43 GMT -5
I think Kouji's fail shook me up in a "the course isn't easy" sort of way.
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