Who was your first favourite competitor?

[tns8597]

Who was your favourite competitor when you were just beginning to get into SASUKE?

Mine was Yoshiyuki Okuyama; I remember the first proper tournament I watched on G4 was (unfortunately) SASUKE 20 which was mostly a rubbish tournament, but the highlight was seeing Okuyama clear. I saw him at the start line and figured 'this guy is never going to stand a chance' and he blew me away, little did I know he would become one of the most formidable competitors of the era. This was also the time where the All-Stars were starting to decline, and Okuyama basically crushed any excuse that they were getting 'too old' as he was reaching Stage 3 well into his 40s. Such a shame he retired so soon though.

[LusitaniaAngel313]

Believe it or not it was NOT Shingo! The first time I saw SASUKE was the day Nagano would kanzen and was the first time shown to US audiences. I LOVED it. Shingo well... fell to the wayside for just a day. Sometime that night I had to go downstairs and I stumbled and dislocated my shoulder. Cut to next day where I was on recover and SASUKE 7 happened. Once Shingo ALSO dislocated his shoulder on the FINAL STAGE THAT NAGANO BEAT, I felt for him immensely. The rest is history.

[yusukeisthegoat227]

My favorite was Shingo, when I first started watching the show as a Kindergartner back in 2007. I always found it amusing how he lost his hat. My Dad's favorite was Nagano, but we definitely both celebrated when we saw Nagano's total victory run. Still though, Shingo will probably always be my personal favorite.

[tns8597]

I can see why a lot of people say Shingo. His gas station uniform and his quirks were so identifiable out of all of the competitors.

I guess I learnt about SASUKE a lot later so I sort of ended up backtracking from Shin-Sasuke and learning about the archive tournaments. He’s probably my favourite All-Star because of his personality; Nagano I always found to be a bit too perfect, and Takeda quite clinical at times.

[m4tt3r0x]

Always was Takeda. Always was disappointed when G4 would FF his Stage 3 run.

[sasukefinnja]

Shinji Kobayashi. I loved his speed and style when he ran the course.

[ChiBiJKT48]

My first favourite is... Yamada Katsumi. Yeah, I know. But he is the front man back in early days of SASUKE, and G4 always sell him *even more than Kosugi Brothers if my mind recall it correctly*. The status of Mr. SASUKE help me to remember him more. Of course, when later I learnt about his attitude, I turn away from him.

[tns8597]

That's fair enough. I like Yamada a lot more now as a coach for the Black Tigers, and clearly he's not bad at it either given that two of them made Stage 3 in the last tournament.

I only really started to dislike him as a competitor when I found out about his SASUKE 12 kerfuffle. I always knew he was obsessive but to try and lie his way into the Third Stage .....

[ArbuthnotBlob]

Shingo! As I always say, he (or rather, his theme music), was the entire reason I found SASUKE in the first place so he's sort of inextricably tied up in my love of the show. I watched a good chunk of his runs first, and his near misses on the final, perfect attendance and distinct outfit really made him memorable.

The first competitors I came to love through really sitting down and watching whole tournaments were Nagano, Takeda, Kong, Ryo, Asa, Tomohiro and Morimoto. Shingo is still my favourite though - even though I know he's beyond Kanzen now, I'm still holding out hope to see him step foot on the Stage 3 entrance again.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Jul 29, 2020 14:13:53 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

That's fair enough. I like Yamada a lot more now as a coach for the Black Tigers, and clearly he's not bad at it either given that two of them made Stage 3 in the last tournament.

I only really started to dislike him as a competitor when I found out about his SASUKE 12 kerfuffle. I always knew he was obsessive but to try and lie his way into the Third Stage .....

Agreed. As competitor, BIG NO! But as the coach, I quite like him.

[tns8597]

Jul 28, 2020 21:58:37 GMT -5 sasukefinnja said:

Shinji Kobayashi. I loved his speed and style when he ran the course.

He was quite cool as well; loved how he'd always compete in his work uniform (even in SASUKE 15 where it was baking hot), and he was probably one of the biggest underdogs in that era. Almost made the Final Stage twice where he would've had a big chance at total victory due to his speed, but seemed to always get cut whenever he didn't perform well.

[BigT]

Jul 30, 2020 9:20:17 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Jul 28, 2020 21:58:37 GMT -5 sasukefinnja said:

Shinji Kobayashi. I loved his speed and style when he ran the course.

He was quite cool as well; loved how he'd always compete in his work uniform (even in SASUKE 15 where it was baking hot), and he was probably one of the biggest underdogs in that era. Almost made the Final Stage twice where he would've had a big chance at total victory due to his speed, but seemed to always get cut whenever he didn't perform well.

Would've loved to see more of him in Shin-Sasuke. I heard a rumour that he got cut so much because in Sasuke 14 he pressed the buzzer with his foot and it was considered disrespectful. Maybe someone can confirm or deny this.

[tns8597]

It was shown in Sasuke 14 that he pressed the buzzer with his foot, but I don't see how that's an issue. He also got cut in 12 and 13 despite putting on an incredible performance in his debut, so I'm not sure how far that rumour flies.

[ChiBiJKT48]

That situation *pressing the button with his foot* is not considered disrespect. Before his run, he mention that the shoe was created/bought *clearly I'm not fluent in Japanese* by his children, and he use it to tap the button using his shoe to remembering him/her *don't know if it was son/daughter*. So, really, that was not the issue we're looking at.

Probably the only issue *in my opinion* is that when he was shown in full *SASUKE 15, #98*, he perform badly, so Monster9 probably just don't want to take another chance with him again *he only clear once since that, SASUKE 16, and he got digested in both First Stage and Second Stage*. And in Shin-SASUKE, he didn't perform really well either, and when you got a lot of celebrities to be broadcasted *Sato Hiromichi, for example*, you had to cut someone who wasn't famous and doing bad on the course. It just happened to be him.

[BigT]

Jul 30, 2020 14:04:44 GMT -5 ChiBiJKT48 said:

That situation *pressing the button with his foot* is not considered disrespect. Before his run, he mention that the shoe was created/bought *clearly I'm not fluent in Japanese* by his children, and he use it to tap the button using his shoe to remembering him/her *don't know if it was son/daughter*. So, really, that was not the issue we're looking at.

Probably the only issue *in my opinion* is that when he was shown in full *SASUKE 15, #98*, he perform badly, so Monster9 probably just don't want to take another chance with him again *he only clear once since that, SASUKE 16, and he got digested in both First Stage and Second Stage*. And in Shin-SASUKE, he didn't perform really well either, and when you got a lot of celebrities to be broadcasted *Sato Hiromichi, for example*, you had to cut someone who wasn't famous and doing bad on the course. It just happened to be him.

Thanks, I didn't know that. It's really unfortunate that when he was cut in later competitions, he did really well (Flying chute in Sasuke 19!) and the only time he was shown, he badly failed the Jumping spider. Perhaps it was just shown as shocking fail. Just seeing a digest would've been nice.

[tns8597]

They really are brutal with their digests/cuts. I feel like unless they make the Final Stage in a recent tournament, no one is safe from being digested or cut.

Even Asaoka, who made the Final Stage in SASUKE 12, was digested completely in his next tournament (14) and all cut in the tournament after (15).

[Zach Smith]

It always has been and always will be Nagano.

[albion]

Nagano, who I was already a fan of from having seen Viking before seeing Sasuke.

When I started watching Sasuke he continued to be my favourite, but I also loved Shinsuke.

[tns8597]

Shunsuke was a badass in the Nagano era; it’s just a shame he left for a while because his comeback hasn’t been as fruitful imo.

He’s by no means a weak competitor as he’s made Stage 3 three times since his return and very few competitors can say that they’ve taken 6-7 years out and returned to Stage 2-3 almost immediately, but we’ve seen a lot of dumb fails out of him (literally every fail from 34-37) and there’s no indication that he could go all the way. He seems to be regressing even though he’s barely into his 30s.

I think if he’d stayed in Sasuke or maybe took a shorter hiatus we would see a more focussed and less underachieving competitor than we are today.

[BigT]

I already wrote about it in first competition you saw thread but - Makoto Nagano. His attitude of never giving up, honestly admitting to making a mistake without looking for excuses and trying harder next time really inspired me and his total victory will forever be my favorite moment in Sasuke history.