Worst Stage 1/2/3/4

[tns8597]

I took this idea from bigt, but instead I’m going for the worst stages by tournament instead of best. Again these are in terms of both obstacles and results. Up to you.

Here are mine.

Stage 1 - SASUKE 2: A lot of reasons for this. Firstly, like SASUKE 4, I don’t get how you can just cut competitors’ runs and then put them on the clears list at the end of the stage; the only reason I didn’t choose 4 is because it had some iconic obstacles like the Rolling Maruta and Rope Climb. SASUKE 2 just had a ridiculously easy Stage 1 with almost all forgettable obstacles except for the rolling hill.

Stage 2 - SASUKE 29 and 32: couldn’t decide between the two. 29 because of the fact they tested the Backstream on the competitors unfairly by turning it down after Shingo nearly drowned and back up after a couple of clears, as well as the rubbish time limit. 32 because of the easy time limit and the fact that it was over in about 10 minutes.

Stage 3 - SASUKE 3: hard to believe this was Stage 3. Propeller Bars and Hang Move......

Stage 4 - SASUKE 7: not Shingo’s fault obviously, but it was over in about 5 seconds and was heartbreaking as well. we also didn’t get to see the final stage in full swing for that reason.

[BigT]

A good idea to turn it around.

Well, I don't like to repeat but I agree with a lot of what you said and I'll try to add something.

Stage 1 - the problem with early (1-3) Sasuke for me is that there are very few memorable competitors. Even Shingo, Yamada, Akiyama are often not shown, so you end up watching lots of nobodies. I disliked the messy digests of Sasuke 26 and 27. It was complete chaos. I'll go with Sasuke 28. While the course was somewhat interesting, the results are terrible. They didn't invite Kongu, Okuyama Yoshiyuki, there was a noticeable void left by missing Americans. They gave artificially high numbers to All-Stars in their supposedly last tournament, that ended terribly. Who the hell are people numbered from 90 to 95? Why are top competitors like Hashimoto Kouji and Lee given such low numbers? Yuuji, Ryo and Kanno should be just below All-Stars. Oh, and that box lady.

Stage 2 - there is just nothing to remember about Sasuke 32. Apart from Yamada's epic run, Sasuke 10 stands out as weak to me despite the fact I really liked that Stage 2 as a speed stage.

Stage 3 - might be Sasuke 29. The concept of timed stage 3 is against what Sasuke stands for. Sasuke 32 for digesting Sato Jun and rain ruining the end. It was just unfair to Ragivaru and Tomohiro. I hate seeing that.

Stage 4 - I actually find Sasuke 7 enjoyable for shock value. I'll go with Sasuke 1. It had the worst results, at least in 2 and 3 someone came close, and I didn't feel attachment to competitors (the argument from stage 1).

To conclude - I need to root for someone, I guess. So early Sasuke tournaments suffer.

[tns8597]

That is a very good point about SASUKE 1-3. I guess it didn't matter as much for me because Omori did well in that era and he's still one of my favourites. SASUKE 26 and 27 I almost considered for those reasons but ultimately went with 2 because of how pathetically easy it was and the completely cut and unacknowledged clears. The only other competition that did that was 31 but that course was awesome and it was only 3 clears they cut. I agree with you for 28 though. A lot of that tournament showed that it was Inui's first tournament and that he wasn't 100% accustomed to the Sasuke traditions, like the numbers and the competitors he invited. Also, yeah wtf was with 90-95? The Americans in that tournament no one had even heard of, like at least invite David Campbell or someone hahaha. I think he was actually planning on retiring the All-Stars before realising that that was an awful idea in every way possible.

10 was quite weak as well I guess; you'd think that with less competitors they'd show runs in full but they still digested 3/5 runs ffs. They did introduce the Balance Tank that tournament though.

Sasuke 29 I never got that timer; like it's so easy to see who goes farther even if 2 people make the Final. I didn't penalize that massively though given that only Morimoto had a chance of clearing.

Actually, scratch that I changed my mind about Stage 4. I'm going with SASUKE 27 purely because the Final was intentionally watered down so someone could win. Like it was literally a bigger version of the easiest Final Stage in existence..... SASUKE 7 I only chose because I couldn't think of anything else. Again SASUKE 1-3 was interesting for me because the prospect of a comedian climbing the tower is honestly hilarious in itself.

[ChiBiJKT48]

First Stage: SASUKE 22. Urgh. The cuts. The digests. The out-of-order runs. Not to mention every SASUKE All-Stars competing fail? Not good.

Second Stage: SASUKE 12 and 29. Two of the worst Second Stage ever.

It is a Speed Stage, but no one timed out, technically, in SASUKE 12. Also, eight of eleven runs digested. This is what you got for giving only nine days to edit the tournament before it was aired. Absolute BS.

For SASUKE 29, it went to ridiculous. Not to mention they mess with competitors by turning Backstream's power up and down. Wow.

Third Stage: SASUKE 3. Pole Jump that was only a straight jump. Hang Move. Urgh. Glad Hang Move was replaced by iconic Cliffhanger in next tournament, and Pole Jump was slightly modified.

Final Stage: SASUKE 27. Tone down the Final so that the tournament ended with Kanzenseiha. Absolute disgrace. But, surely Urushihara won't complain about it.

[tns8597]

Who was cut/digested in 22?

Also they only digested loads of runs in 12 because of the numbers of clears I presume. You wouldn’t want to see clear after clear as it would get boring.

[BigT]

Aug 15, 2020 15:59:21 GMT -5 ChiBiJKT48 said:

Second Stage: SASUKE 12 and 29. Two of the worst Second Stage ever.

It is a Speed Stage, but no one timed out, technically, in SASUKE 12. Also, eight of eleven runs digested. This is what you got for giving only nine days to edit the tournament before it was aired. Absolute BS.

Do I remember correctly - a hurricane delayed taping but they still released it as planned initially?

[tns8597]

Correct.

To be honest it’s so surprising how they managed what was such a good tournament in my eyes in basically a week.

I don’t think the Stage 2 and 3 digests were due to a lack of time more because as I mentioned before everyone at least made it to the end of Stage 2, and 9/10 competitors made it to at least the Cliffhanger. That totals a lot of footage so they had to digest and cut where they could.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Aug 15, 2020 16:04:14 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Who was cut/digested in 22?

Also they only digested loads of runs in 12 because of the numbers of clears I presume. You wouldn’t want to see clear after clear as it would get boring.

Too many to remember. One that was famous was Morimoto Yusuke.

You don't digest clears, that is absolute BS. But at least better than actually cut the clears back in early days.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Aug 15, 2020 16:26:01 GMT -5 BigT said:

Do I remember correctly - a hurricane delayed taping but they still released it as planned initially?

A typhoon, to be exact. August 2003 was supposed to be the taping time, but Typhoon Etau strike Japan around that time. The taping was pushed back to 23 September 2003. The airing time was 1 October 2003. Nine days. The editor(s) did a great job.

[tns8597]

I understand digesting clears when there are loads of clears in a tournament like the 34 we got in SASUKE 2, because you can’t possibly run all of them in full with the limited broadcast slot, but I don’t understand the cutting completely given that some digests are like 5 seconds ...... it especially looks really dumb when you suddenly see someone on the list for Stage 3 and you realise that you never even saw their Stage 1 or 2 runs, like Ueda in SASUKE 4.

Even so, low numbers of clears haven’t stopped Inui from digesting competitors. Like SASUKE 32 when only 8 people cleared, yet 2 of them were digested entirely. That’s inexcusable.

[darthvaderlim]

Mine would be
Stage One- Sasuke 26- Imagine ANW Vegas, where only 5 Americans cleared Stage One and all 10 Europeans cleared. Small wonder the ratings are low.
Sasuke 28- No explanation needed. By far my least favorite tournament with 26 being a close second.
Honorable Mentions
Sasuke 10- The precursor to Sasuke 19
Sasuke 19- Same reason as Sasuke 28
Sasuke 20- Boring as hell.
Sasuke 22- The editing and all 5 All-Stars failing stage one.
Stage Two- Sasuke 29- 13 timeouts in a row. Small wonder the time limit was raised the next tournament.
Honorable Mentions
Sasuke 28- Boring as hell. Stage Two is supposed to be about speed.
Sasuke 32- You'd think Stage Two would be modified after a Total Victory, but nope
Stage Three
Sasuke 29- The Time limit. That's all I have to say.
Stage 4
Sasuke 37- I was hoping either Tada or Rene would reach the rope, but sadly I was wrong.

[tns8597]

What was wrong with Sasuke 10’s Stage 1?

I actually thought it was pretty interesting how there were so many fails towards the end of the running order and only Yamada cleared out of the last 20 competitors. I know bad results is usually a negative aspect of a tournament but I think loads of the all-stars unexpectedly failing, like Takeda and Nagano failing the jump hang, and Shingo looking like he was about to clear then timing out last minute, made it really exciting.

Also we got an interesting mix of clears from competitors that were sort of the ‘secondary players’ of Sasuke at the time.

[LusitaniaAngel313]

Ah ok. For me.

First stage: SASUKE 28 ranks lowest... Ok so Escargot, spin bridge... ok why 2 WARPED WALLS?! That's just... ok sure why not. This renewal was STUPID. Also it only proved SHIN SEDAI BEST GROUP ALL STARS GOOD BYE! :3 Literally all 4 of them cleared and Koki Someya just... BARELY did. If he FAILED we would have had an only Shin Sedai tournament! Not exactly the best way to cap a tournament. Let's have faces like Lee, Hashimoto, and maybe some all stars to even the score but... no.

SASUKE 19 is up there too for similar reasons except this time it literally almost nuked everyone.

Second Stage: SASUKE 19. So the tournament ended there. Thanks stage 1. -_-

SASUKE 29 is up there too for unfairly fixing the course after both Koji and Shingo just about drowned in the backstream. Also the time limit was WAY TOO STRICT.

Third Stage: SASUKE 33... THAT STUPID WIRE gets everyone BUT FREAKING DREW. That's a hard NOPE!

SASUKE 32 similar reasoning.

Final Stage: SASUKE 30 had Tomo's VERY shotty run. but honestly results wise I would put 13 as well as you'd THINK after how close Nagano was in 12 he'd nail it next time. Yeah no. He regressed. 7 you can HARDLY blame Shingo. He got injured. 8 was influenced by the typhoon so again, hardly blame Kane or Jordan.

[tns8597]

The Stage 1 in SASUKE 28 was really disappointing, except for the Jump Hang Kai which to be fair was a decent idea. The design of the course was also pathetically drab as well. Also as I mentioned before the low numbers of clears wasn't because the actual course was that hard (I'd say it's barely harder than 27 which had more than 5 times the number of clears), they just didn't invite a whole load of prolific competitors including Americans who they substituted with a couple of nobodies. I felt like at that point Inui didn't really understand Sasuke all that well including the competitors who made the show what it was.

I forgot about 13 to be honest, but I think Stages 2 and 3 in that tournament were worse because the results in both stages were statistically worse than in 12 despite minimal changes, leading to only 1 Final Stage attempt as opposed to 3 in the previous tournament.

27 I still think was an abomination of a Final Stage; it was literally a longer version of what was the easiest final in the history of the show.

[BigT]

For some reason the rope was swinging really heavily in Sasuke 13.

When they bumped up the backstream again in Sasuke 29 after Kongu cleared, was it as strong as in the beginning with Shingo and Hashimoto or weaker?

I also wonder - if the editors in Sasuke 12 had more time, would they have kept Yamada's second and third attempt in Stage 2? Such a shame that it wasn't included in the broadcast as the footage is now so hard to find.

[tns8597]

Yeah I think Sasuke 13 was aired in winter/early spring time hence weather would've been worse. I think that whole tournament generally was just underwhelming. Some people have compared 12 and 13 to 36 and 37 respectively, but at least 37 had a lot of cool twists and turns. 13 didn't have any.

About the Backstream, I'm not exactly sure but I don't think it would've been as strong. Hashimoto and Shingo are both strong swimmers and neither had a fighting chance against the jets, whereas we got 3 out of the 7 competitors after Kongu clearing the obstacle, none of whom struck me as a particularly strong swimmer type.

I only saw the Yamada footage once and it got deleted soon after. I think that was a new low for him in terms of behaviour: claiming the button was broken when he clearly just touched but didn't press it.

[BigT]

If I recall, the button got revenge in the end. Yamada was leaning on it and fell down.

[tns8597]

That was on his final attempt. He’d already timed out by that point ages ago but decided to finish the stage. It was kind of sad but also funny at the same time. It really downgraded my opinion of him as it just shows he was prepared even to cheat to get total victory, where many other competitors wouldn’t have felt like they achieved their goal if they had to cheat to get there.

[darthvaderlim]

I always wondered why Yamada never returned to Stage Two after Sasuke 12 and I think he didn't want to wear gloves again. Correct me if I'm wrong.