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Post by subtleagent on Aug 4, 2021 21:57:25 GMT -5
I think if 18's Stage 2 had 19's time limit, it would've felt more intense. Nagano would've timed out had this been the case. I swear though they bring back the Arm Bike every time they intentionally want a clear or a Cliffhanger attempt. Curtain Swing was pretty meh as well, honestly I think it could've been a Stage 1 obstacle. And yeah it was really weird that they kept the Climbing Bars even though they really didn't do any damage. Sending Climber honestly should've been kept in 21 ~ 24, but I guess they were worried about ratings. If you ask me, Sending Climber and Final Ring (assuming it had the same function as the Grinding Ring in 21) weren't that hard that it really warranted the nerfs we got (at least they weren't the UCCH + VLK combo).
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Post by dakohosu on Aug 5, 2021 6:03:33 GMT -5
I honestly don't think 19's difficulty was as bad as people say it was; the only reason they made the course easier for 20 is that they knew another Stage 2 ending would potentially result in worse ratings, and given that we only got 3 Stage 1 clears and 1 Stage 2 clear (though Okuyama would've cleared had it not been for an obstacle malfunctioned) that's not too irrational an assumption.
However, just because a course causes a lot of failures/very few clears in its debut (19 was a completely different course to 18 as every obstacle in Stage 1 was either modified or replaced, as was the case for a lot of Stage 2 and 3), doesn't mean that it's automatically too hard and should be toned down immediately. Throughout Sasuke we've seen renewals cause lots of damage in their debut (understandably, due to new obstacles that competitors can't train for and a bump in difficulty) but eventually we see a gradual rise in success rates fundamentally trending towards a Final Stage attempt and then a Kanzen. I still think this would've been the case if 19's course had been left as it was. Sure, we might've got another Stage 2 ending, but personally I think that would've been kinda refreshing after years of several Stage 3 and Final Stage attempts, giving a sense that the course is 'fighting back'. And it's not to the level of 32-34's Stage 3 where we were unlikely to see a clear on the UCCH+VLK combo for YEARS; the 2 clears in 19 showed that the Stage 1 course could at least be beaten, so no doubt results would've improved tournament-by-tournament until we get results like we did in 23-24.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 1, 2021 14:20:13 GMT -5
Nagasaki should have never come back to SASUKE.
I know it's a little cruel to say that, but honestly his record now is kind of sad to see compared to how he was pre-hiatus. Compare it to Kong's hiatus where he made it to Stage 3 and even the Final, or Sato who's made Stage 3 in every tournament he's competed in since his return. Nagasaki on the other hand went from 4/6 Stage 3 attempts where he at least made it to the Cliffhanger to only making it to the Cliffhanger once in his last 10 attempts (on a very easy Stage 1 and 2 no less) and especially in these last five attempts he's biffed hardcore and it doesn't feel like he's really that into SASUKE anymore.
He does still post about SASUKE on his YouTube, but really it just doesn't seem like he has the same drive that he used to have. I guess you could factor that to family, work, and other things, but it's become really sad to watch him fall this hard. And he's not even that old, only in his mid-30s.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 1, 2021 14:59:54 GMT -5
Nagasaki should have never come back to SASUKE. I know it's a little cruel to say that, but honestly his record now is kind of sad to see compared to how he was pre-hiatus. Compare it to Kong's hiatus where he made it to Stage 3 and even the Final, or Sato who's made Stage 3 in every tournament he's competed in since his return. Nagasaki on the other hand went from 4/6 Stage 3 attempts where he at least made it to the Cliffhanger to only making it to the Cliffhanger once in his last 10 attempts (on a very easy Stage 1 and 2 no less) and especially in these last five attempts he's biffed hardcore and it doesn't feel like he's really that into SASUKE anymore. He does still post about SASUKE on his YouTube, but really it just doesn't seem like he has the same drive that he used to have. I guess you could factor that to family, work, and other things, but it's become really sad to watch him fall this hard. And he's not even that old, only in his mid-30s. While I see where you're coming from I sort of disagree. I actually think that Shunsuke's comeback for the most part (until Sasuke 34 at least) was pretty strong. He basically came back to Sasuke after a 6 year hiatus on a way harder course full of obstacles he'd never attempted, and made Stage 3 on three out of his first five attempts when he came back (would have been four if 29's Stage 2 wasn't unfairly brutal as well). He even technically came second place in Sasuke 33 as he was the only competitor to attempt the second jump of the Flying Bar apart from Drew. Until Sasuke 34 he managed to consistently do well in two completely separate eras of the show which is really rare; even Kongu's post-hiatus career, while ultimately more successful, was plagued by four straight Stage 1 failures bang in the middle of it. And yes his Stage 3 performances haven't been that great but again remember that Stage 3 has probably had the steepest difficulty spike since when he competed as a teen so I wouldn't say that means his upper body strength declined or he got weaker. He also competed for Team Japan in the Sasuke Indonesia special and did pretty well on Stage 3 there (he failed the Flying Bar again but this time it was the last obstacle lol). Obviously from Sasuke 34 onwards was a different story; it's almost impressive how gradual his decline has been. 2 Stage 3 fails, then 2 Stage 2 fails, then 3 Stage 1 fails. 34 I can attribute to a freak fail but ever since he's had a kid his head hasn't been in the game and you can tell by the fact that all of his most recent fails were due to dumb errors and all on obstacles he'd passed before. And obviously there's the story with his brother which is understandable. He even mentioned on Instagram that he hadn't trained the Cliffhanger in 6 months which is proof of his waning interest. And as you mentioned, he's only 34, so it's not like he's physically in that much worse shape than beforehand (though he has got pretty bulky recently), it's more that he's just not the superfan he was when he was a teen. Hence do I think Shunsuke should have never come back? Not at all, I certainly don't class him in the same vein as guys like Akiyama who should have stayed retired after their hiatus due to their sub-par performances post-return. Do I think he should have quit as his interest was waning (e.g. from 37 onwards)? I'm not really sure how to answer that one. A part of me feels like he only competes because he gets invited but at the same time is treated really badly by TBS; if he really cares as little about Sasuke as we think he does then maybe it's time to throw in the towel now, because we've never seen a competitor's interest wane and then suddenly come back with a vengeance. I wouldn't be surprised if he retired within the next 2-3 tournaments.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 1, 2021 17:38:46 GMT -5
You got a point. It's probable he feels some kind of obligation to still compete for his fans. They clearly wanted to see him back for so long and yeah he did make it past the Swap Salmon Ladder and a hardened Backstream on his return so that is quite impressive. Maybe he's only there recreationally to see old friends since he doesn't seem to have the same stigma Yuuji had from 29 ~ 33 (ironic since that's when Nagasaki seemed like he was on his way back to the top). Yuuji's started after getting slammed in USA vs. Japan and his Backstream and Tackle struggles worsened his mental state. Obviously he found a reason to continue in training ABC-Z, getting a girlfriend who was also into SASUKE, starting a YouTube, and much more. Plus he seems much less afraid of the camera than he did pre-34.
I obviously don't mean he isn't allowed to compete since to me competitors should be allowed to take breaks or retire whenever they wish (looking at you SASUKE 28). But I really do think there isn't much point to him competing anymore.
And yeah the only ones who really bounced back post-hiatus were Nagasaki, Kong, Sato, and to an extent Kinnikun (in the sense that he did get past Stage 1 in 30 [despite it being easy af] and holds the largest gap between Stage 1 clears at 19 tournaments). So I can definitely credit Nagasaki there.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 2, 2021 7:53:51 GMT -5
I mean TBS inviting him back is pure speculation, especially given how badly they treat him. Out of his 10 post-hiatus tournaments, there’s only been 1 where none of his runs have been digested or cut and that was Sasuke 35 where there were only 8 clears. It seems weird that they would invite him back for every tournament yet constantly cut his runs especially as he’s sort of an old legend from the glory days so has a strong fan base.
As to whether Shunsuke himself actively wants to compete, it’s hard to tell. He seems to almost never train (he’s never at any of the group training sessions) but posts about Sasuke on his YouTube channel, though a part of me feels he’s doing that as a bit of an attention grab to get more subscribers as that’s where most people know him from.
Regardless of the pretence under which he competes though I definitely kind of feel bad for the guy. He’s basically become a laughing stock among the community, being nicknamed Nagasucki and videos titled ‘Shunsuke’s theme’ actually playing the digest fail theme (which to be fair was pretty funny lol). Sure his recent fails have all been kind of dumb and avoidable but I sort of see him in the same vein as Kanno who’s failures have been fairly similar yet gets more sympathy due to his injury whereas Shunsuke just gets memed.
Maybe it’s because we know that he’s more capable which is why his rookie error level fails are considered dumber and therefore funnier. Even so, at this point I can’t really see Nagasaki coming back with any sort of vengeance as waning interest isn’t something that just goes away suddenly, so yeah I can see him retiring maybe when he’s 36-37.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 2, 2021 12:25:56 GMT -5
I know his management pissed off M9 and he ended up paying for that. How he managed to get back on, I'll never know, but it's pretty clear TBS still has some sort of vendetta with his management.
As far as getting digested in addition to his management being a*****es, sadly he's just expendable in that regard and in the cases of especially his later runs you really aren't missing much (of course since it's him people want to see him). None of them except maybe 29 and 32 really stuck out. Take 30 for example: Him, Lee, and D*** were all digested. Why? Because they all failed the Cliffhanger and thus could be cut (yeah him and D*** were shown in the rebroadcast, but still. Wonder why Lee was the odd one out...). Hioki went first so obviously he's gonna be shown, Asa and Kanno had history of failing it twice before 30 so they're more valuable screenwise, and of course Kawaguchi, Shinya, and Ryo cleared it so they get shown.
If Nagasaki say got to the Vertical Limit (which at this point I don't think will ever happen), he would likely get shown in at the very least Stage 3 and maybe even at least Stage 1 or 2 (ex. Tada not being shown in 38 essentially gave away that he was failing the Cliffhanger).
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 2, 2021 13:03:17 GMT -5
Yeah I mean I don't complain about him being digested because I actually want to see his run, most runs that get digested are really not worth seeing. If it's a successful run then they obviously got through all the obstacles and cleared so no surprises there, and in the case of a fail the only noteworthy aspect of their run is where they fail which is obvs shown. I just find it annoying how who gets shown and who gets digested is a simple case of politics at this point, effectively proven by Shunsuke's management situation. Though around Sasuke 33-34 he was getting in the high #90s and got picked for Sasuke Indonesia so maybe that stigma was wearing off by that point.
But yeah I did find it quite disappointing how a competitor who was effectively Nagano's second-in-command for a while and as well known as Shunsuke came back after 6 years yet got digested in both his first and second post-hiatus run despite a near-Stage 3 and Stage 3 attempt respectively, then gets completely cut from the broadcast in his third (though 31's editing was pretty weird as they just seemed to cut a load of clears as well).
And as for Shunsuke making the Vertical Limit, he's just too big a competitor to do well on Stage 3. He's effectively the same size as Drew yet doesn't train 18 hours a day (Drew's job was literally owning a ninja gym before you know what....) so his size really works against him unlike the Stage 3 specialists, all of whom are much smaller like Morimoto.
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zoran
Jessie Graff
Posts: 1,031
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Post by zoran on Sept 5, 2021 12:07:30 GMT -5
Got a new one. Fans overhype Kane Kosugi's contribution to the shows ratings.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 5, 2021 12:20:10 GMT -5
Is there any evidence to suggest this though? Like how do we know what proportion of fans watched the show because of Kane? Especially given that there was barely anyone else to root for during that era except for Shingo, Yamada, and Akiyama.
I feel like Kane was the main star of the show purely because Sasuke’s fan base for the reasons above was quite limited at the time, while Kane was the most famous person competing so probably boosted viewers’ perspective and awareness of the show.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 5, 2021 12:57:18 GMT -5
I kind of disagree with this because when Kane was around, the ratings were at their show's highest and after he left even the first tournament after (SASUKE 9) saw a decrease of 6% from 25.8 to 19.7 and they never really reached those heights again after that.
Then they tried to have 3 SASUKEs a year from 14 to 16 which ended up doing more harm than good, especially since New Year's tournaments tend to not get as high and that year (in 16's case it was the day before New Year's eve, but my point still stands) and then they tried this again with 23 to 25 and ratings ended up sagging further. And in both of these instances the tournaments that came after these unlucky trifectas (17 and 26 respectively) ended up not happening until 9 months later compared to the usual 6 (before RISING changed it to yearly).
Kane was basically the lynchpin of the show's ratings and while creating the official All-Stars helped to a degree, the show never quite reached the heights it did when he was around. The groups that came after didn't do quite as much. The Shin Sedai only really lasted until after 31-ish at best, the Morimoto Sedai has bombed badly (and TBS knows it, hence why they're digested more frequently), and the celebrities used now (sans Tsukada, Darvish, Mori, Takeru, and more recently Hikaru) are either not committed to the show long term or their results haven't been adequate enough to really solidify ratings. Even with Darvish's painfully long Stage 3 screen time in 36 the ratings never went beyond 6%. Kane both trained for SASUKE, was a celebrity, and was around when the show was first growing. The only other celebs you could say this about are Omori and the Iketani bros. But Yukio retired after 1, Omori retired after 7, and Naoki's results were often stagnant and he would always do worse in Stage 3. Kane on the other hand always beat Stage 1, and was 4/5 on Stage 2, not to mention clearing Stage 3 in his final attempt on a rain soaked course. So his record and his stardom really held the show together in a way no other celebrity has matched.
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zoran
Jessie Graff
Posts: 1,031
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Post by zoran on Sept 5, 2021 13:56:50 GMT -5
I kind of disagree with this because when Kane was around, the ratings were at their show's highest and after he left even the first tournament after (SASUKE 9) saw a decrease of 6% from 25.8 to 19.7 and they never really reached those heights again after that. Then they tried to have 3 SASUKEs a year from 14 to 16 which ended up doing more harm than good, especially since New Year's tournaments tend to not get as high and that year (in 16's case it was the day before New Year's eve, but my point still stands) and then they tried this again with 23 to 25 and ratings ended up sagging further. And in both of these instances the tournaments that came after these unlucky trifectas (17 and 26 respectively) ended up not happening until 9 months later compared to the usual 6 (before RISING changed it to yearly). Kane was basically the lynchpin of the show's ratings and while creating the official All-Stars helped to a degree, the show never quite reached the heights it did when he was around. The groups that came after didn't do quite as much. The Shin Sedai only really lasted until after 31-ish at best, the Morimoto Sedai has bombed badly (and TBS knows it, hence why they're digested more frequently), and the celebrities used now (sans Tsukada, Darvish, Mori, Takeru, and more recently Hikaru) are either not committed to the show long term or their results haven't been adequate enough to really solidify ratings. Even with Darvish's painfully long Stage 3 screen time in 36 the ratings never went beyond 6%. Kane both trained for SASUKE, was a celebrity, and was around when the show was first growing. The only other celebs you could say this about are Omori and the Iketani bros. But Yukio retired after 1, Omori retired after 7, and Naoki's results were often stagnant and he would always do worse in Stage 3. Kane on the other hand always beat Stage 1, and was 4/5 on Stage 2, not to mention clearing Stage 3 in his final attempt on a rain soaked course. So his record and his stardom really held the show together in a way no other celebrity has matched. I'd say it was more Banzuke getting canceled that led to the ratings decline. The show was on prime time Japanese tv and the way it was cancelled probably harmed the reputation of the obstacle based shows. There's also the decline in tv viewership,stagnant results(no grand champions in 13 tournaments) and general show rating decline common across all genres. I'd probably bet if you went back in time to 2000s Japan and asked the average citizen if they knew who Kosugi was, most probably wouldn't have a clue.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 5, 2021 14:26:22 GMT -5
As someone who doesn't have the perspective of a citizen living in Japan throughout the early 2000s I can't say this for certain but I definitely get the impression that Kane was a big deal throughout his acting career, much more so there than in the US.
He's got extensive filmography and he probably got given such high numbers like #98 during his tenure for that reason, he even got put on the front cover of the infamous Sasuke game that led to the whole dispute with Monster9. Game covers are pure marketing and if they didn't think enough people in Japan knew who he was then they would've gone with Yamada or Shingo instead.
Don't forget that Kane also competed in several different game shows such as Sasuke, Kinniku Banzuke, Pro Sportsman etc. when they were at their most popular, so a load of viewers that didn't otherwise know who he was would've seen him on screen frequently enough.
Also I'm not really sure how true the comment about Kinniku Banzuke being cancelled affecting Sasuke's ratings is. We saw a minor dip after Sasuke 8 but the ratings sustained in the mid to high teens, the lowest being Sasuke 16 (14.5%) because it was the third tournament in one year and the third consecutively where no one reached the Final Stage. We only really saw the ratings dip significantly after early Shin-Sasuke. Kane definitely had a part to play in the high ratings in the early Sasukes, and what prevented the dip from being more significant after he left was the aggressive marketing r/e the new All-Stars that was only committed to BECAUSE Kane was no longer competing. Banzuke's cancellation was neither here nor there, Sasuke was originally a Banzuke special yes but by that point it had morphed into a completely separate entity, which is why Sasuke wasn't cancelled alongside it. Either way, Banzuke was cancelled after Sasuke 9, and the whole All-Star fiasco was introduced during Sasuke 9, so that must've been due to no other reason than Kane's departure clearly because they knew the ratings would dip without him otherwise.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 18, 2021 2:50:58 GMT -5
Both of Morimoto's kanzens were incredibly anti-climactic and honestly I think people are too hard on Yuuji's 27 kanzen. Not because I don't think Morimoto's kanzens aren't impressive, but because the way they were handled were atrocious. Both of them were spoiled in the beginning and edited in a way that made it extremely predictable that Morimoto was going to win (i.e. Double digesting otherwise intriguing runs that could've left us guessing like Kanno in 31 and Tada in 38). Granted you could fault Morimoto being the lone finalist both times, but it still took all the fun out of it.
Both of Yuuji's kanzens, despite being on less difficult courses were at least edited in a way that didn't make his win entirely predicable before the Final even happened.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 18, 2021 3:51:34 GMT -5
People aren’t hard on Yuuji’s second victory because of the way it was edited, rather because he won on a completely nerfed course. Though I do agree in that his victories were among the least predictable and least spoiled; even Akiyama’s victory, while it came out of nowhere, was in a tournament where so many competitors got digested or cut that it was either going to be him or Yamada as those were the only two who got fluff pieces and all their runs shown in full.
I especially liked the suspense during 24; everyone was expecting it to be Nagano who then proceeds to fail Stage 1, while we end up with five finalists who all got equal levels of attention and screen time. I would’ve called it being Yuuji from a mile away given his near Kanzen only two tournaments prior but as victories go this one was as nail biting as it should’ve been.
And yeah I agree about Morimoto; I don’t get why they’d tease a Kanzen in a tournament where only one person reaches the Final Stage, it’s like spoiling the outcome before it’s even begun and thus ruining the part of the show that should’ve been the most exciting. 38 wasn’t as bad as it was obviously going to be Yusuke anyway but once Kawaguchi failed Stage 3 in 31 the results were entirely given away.
I just wish the producers wouldn’t spoil half of the results before the tournaments have even begun; the Navis used to be infamous for capitalising on competitors who would just happen to do well that tournament. Coincidence? I think not....
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 18, 2021 10:28:44 GMT -5
To me the only other candidates besides Morimoto in 31 were Ryo, D***, Kanno, and Kawaguchi. And no one who's kanzened has ever had a digested run in the tournament where they have done so. The only ones who received such treatment in 31 were Hioki, Anastase, Morimoto, and Asa and sans Morimoto none of the latter group gave me hope that they would clear. As for the group with potential, Ryo failed Stage 1, Kawaguchi had his Stage 1 run digested (ironic considering future tournament would REALLY pad his fluff pieces and unnecessarily extend his runs), and D*** had his Stage 2 run digested and Stage 3 run midcut (well we all know what happened BEFORE his 2nd attempt). All of the aforementioned (bar Ryo of course) failed the Crazy Cliffhanger which by that point Cliffhanger jumps had become the make or break factor of the stage.
The reason why I singled Kanno out was because had his first two runs not been digested, it would have added suspense to him either making or not making the final since most people didn't expect him to beat the Crazy Cliffhanger and he did. As you know, no one with a double digest makes it to the Final Stage, much less kanzens. So it ruined what could have been a more riveting run out of Kanno and by the time we got to Kawaguchi it was painfully evident he wasn't going to kanzen even if he did make the Final Stage because his Stage 1 run was digested. Thus to me Morimoto's kanzen was spoiled before Kawaguchi even ran.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 18, 2021 11:40:49 GMT -5
I only pointed out the Kawaguchi thing because that was the point at which Yusuke became the last man standing thus meaning there could’ve been no other outcome.
I personally knew it was going to be Yusuke right after Ryo failed Stage 1. Every other potential candidate as you mention got digested or flat out cut (Kong) anyway.
I just feel that in a tournament where only one person reaches the Final Stage, teasing a Kanzen at the beginning of the tournament is such an unnecessary spoiler as it completely ruins any suspense in the Final Stage that’s meant to be the most nail biting part of the tournament. I get that they tease them to boost interest and hence ratings but it’s not worth spoiling the entire last half hour of the broadcast imo. 24 was obviously a different case as there were no crazy modifications to the course so a Kanzen was expected anyway, and we got 5 finalists so it could’ve been anyone’s game.
It’s a shame because had they not eluded to a Kanzen occurring and had they edited the tournament a bit better, it could’ve been a real surprise to see Morimoto take centre stage instead of Ryo who everyone was expecting. Also if Kanzens happen by surprise then no one’s actively eliminating candidates purely by working out who gets digested in which stage. Besides, Morimoto got full fluff pieces ever since 29, so him getting them again in 31 wouldn’t really elude to a total victory by itself. If that makes sense.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 27, 2021 15:04:21 GMT -5
Not sure how unpopular this view is but here we go.
Kawaguchi’s run in Sasuke 30 was one of the luckiest runs I’ve ever seen, which sort of further reaffirms why I think he’s massively overrated (given that a lot of his screen time seems to be influenced by him being one of very few competitors to have made the Final Stage in recent tournaments).
Easy Stage 1 and a nerfed Stage 2 (appropriately so but still). Then in Stage 3 he clears the Crazy Cliffhanger and subsequently the stage which was fair enough. But we know how inconsistent he is with the 180 transitions; it was a genuine 50-50 as to whether he would’ve cleared it given that he failed it in the next tournament. I also think 30 was basically his only chance at the Final Stage, given that 31 implemented the Vertical Limit Kai which would’ve taken him out given that he screwed up the same transition in 35. 32-34 obvs no one was getting past, and 35-36 I think he still would’ve failed the Vertical Limit even if he didn’t screw up in those respective tournaments. If Yuuji or Ryo couldn’t get past it then I don’t really have much faith in Kawaguchi. And now he’s obviously started to decline so the chance of him reaching those heights again are ever diminishing.
So yeah, I think in 30 a lot of things worked in Tomo’s favour, unlike Ryo who reached the Final in that same tournament who I felt would’ve cleared the Crazy Cliffhanger 5 times in a row if he had to, and could’ve easily reached the same feat in 31 had he not failed the First Stage.
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Post by subtleagent on Sept 28, 2021 2:50:20 GMT -5
One I would add to the luck category was (as much as I hate to say it) Yuuji in 28. Stage 1 wasn't THAT difficult and while he did get the fastest time, he didn't look like he was really going very fast. Stage 2 had a ridiculously lenient time limit and he only had 13 seconds left (compared to Asa and Kanno who had almost 30 a piece and none of them seemed to go very fast). And then in following tournaments (29, 30, and 34) Yuuji would often get nabbed by Stage 2 (mainly by the Backstream).
That being said, I do think he really has bounced back on Stage 2. He nailed it in 36 and 37 which sparked some hope that he's still got it, but after seeing his near miss in 38, which had a significantly buffed Stage 2, I feel like he's now at least capable of making Stage 3.
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Post by dakohosu on Sept 28, 2021 5:32:58 GMT -5
Not sure how much I agree with that. In 28 he was fresh out of a Kanzenseiha and cleared a Stage 1 that even guys like Hashimoto, Iketani, and Lee failed.
Also yes, Stage 2 had a lenient time limit but that's kind of why he went at the pace he did; people forget that just because someone clears a stage with x seconds left, doesn't mean they can't go faster if they have to. Yusuke is a prime example of this where he cleared 34's Stage 1 (which had a pathetically lenient time limit) with <10 seconds left but then cleared 35's Stage 1 which was much more stringent time-wise, because he's a master at utilising the time he's given. Yuuji went slowly because he knew he could, and if anything his Stage 2 run in 29 showed how fast he could go if he had to (he was easily the fastest competitor up until the Backstream).
Speaking of 29, I actually think the reverse in that he didn't get lucky in 28 but UNLUCKY in 29. Remember that tournament they were basically toning up and down the jets based on the clear/failure rates, and I'm pretty sure given that Asa and Kanno cleared before him that they turned the jets back up to their maximum force (that caused Shingo who's an experienced swimmer to nearly drown). Yuuji had 50 seconds before the Backstream which was easily enough time to clear had the jets been a more reasonable difficulty. And true he failed Stage 2 in Sasuke 30 which had an easier Backstream and a higher time limit, but similar to Yusuke I think he took that nerf too much for granted as he really wasn't going that fast that tournament.
Obviously Sasuke 31-33 was a completely different story but I defo think he could've made Stage 3 in at least 29 or 30 if the above factors hadn't played out.
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