Who is the best celebrity on Sasuke?

[tns8597]

Who do you believe is the best celebrity to have competed on Sasuke? I’m opening this thread because celebrities of recent have generally caused a lot of controversy due to their laughably high amount of screen time (Inui loves their apparent ability to promote Sasuke to a wider audience who maybe doesn’t follow the show or the current roster of strong competitors), even if some of them aren’t particularly noteworthy for their performances. However, in the past we had a lot of celebrities that were actually worth their weight in terms of their actual performances and didn’t get a stupidly high proportion of the broadcast.

Thoughts?

[m4tt3r0x]

I’m gonna say probably not the most popular answer Sato Hiromichi. He did well on Shin Sasuke’s 1st Stage twice (22, 24) in tournaments where many vets got crushed. He took a while to get there failing 18-21’s Stage 1 consecutively, but Sasuke was notoriously difficult then and for a first timer he still did alright. He almost got the Jumping Spider in 26 and by 29 he was already in his mid 40s. I imagine if he started competing earlier than 18 he would had exceeded Iketani albeit not by much (also Iketani is a sport celeb so I take it he doesn’t really count here?)

Current celebs really only do well if the pack does well. Hiromichi almost made it to Stage 3 in two very selective tournaments. And the celebs now still never break top 10 competitor performances except Darvish, who I think is a good contender as well.

I didn’t pick Kane since the course was easier then, and although he could perhaps have evolved with the course like a lot of old school guys did, I still think Sato would have had a bit of an edge overall in comparison.

[tns8597]

Statistically speaking the strongest celebrity competitors are Kane, Iketani or Omori: Kane for consistency, Iketani for most Third Stage appearances, and Omori for most Final Stage appearances. But you're right; all of these were in much easier eras and as we know the latter two declined pretty heavily as the course got more difficult, Iketani in Shin-Sasuke and Omori post-Sasuke 4.

If we're talking about celebrities who did well in Shin-Sasuke, then what about Daisuke Miyazaki who actually made Stage 3 (and was only one of three to do so, the other two being Takeda and Nagano which says a lot in itself) and very nearly made it back there in Sasuke 22 (he very nearly cleared Stage 1 in a tournament where we got only 5 clears and the Stage 2 that tournament was the same as the one he cleared beforehand). He also made it there in only his second attempt with basically zero Sasuke-specific training, whereas Hiromichi took 4-5 attempts to clear Stage 1.

Darvish is a strong competitor but he's not done that well recently given how much he trains for Sasuke specifically, having only made Stage 3 once in like 10 tournaments and even there he was out almost instantly; I suppose it's just my personal opinion as it generally strikes me as more impressive if a competitor doesn't train much for Sasuke yet through pure athleticism manages to do really well. Unfortunately we don't see much of this anymore as to do well in this current era you have to obsessively train Stage 3, which Darvish does but he's still no match for it.

[m4tt3r0x]

Miyazaki Daisuke I think excelled on Stage 1 because of his big size and leg power. On Stage 3 I think it’s obvious if he got to the Cliffhanger he’d be lucky. Sato on the other hand I think was more well rounded.

It was impressive to see Miyazaki beat Stage 2 on his first attempt among two other All Stars though. I guess it’s a tough call. I just hate it when a competitor dominates Stage 1 and 2 and everybody knows they’re too big and not properly fortified for Stage 3.



PS one of my fav themes. I think I only liked Kanno’s, Nagano’s, and a few others more. I want to go back to M9 days so bad

[tns8597]

Yeah the way he beasted the Salmon Ladder which took out basically the whole Stage 2 field until then was pretty impressive imo.

Though I do agree with your last comment; there are certain competitors who I've always felt are overhyped because they get a load of clout for reaching Stage 3, even when it's so obvious that they have no chance of clearing. People like Daisuke Nakata who was fairly consistent but always sucked at Stage 3, or Paul Terek who was never going to do well based on his size alone.

I'm just more of an advocate of giving competitors who actually have a legitimate chance at Kanzen the higher numbers and higher praise, otherwise it's just giving people more clout for the sake of it, even when there's no overarching impact of them reaching Stage 3 but going out almost immediately.

[Ninja Relaxer]

I have to give it to Omori, even though he competed on an easier incarnation of the course. I also liked Sato Hiromichi, though I don't think he ever had a chance of reaching the Final Stage.

Ishimaru Kenjiro deserves consideration too, considering how long he competed and how close he came to beating the Stage 1 age record. He has objectively the worst record of everyone nominated so far, but I think I'd actually give him the nod, because I find his story the most impressive and inspiring.

[SasukeBanzukeNo1 (Moon12)]

I really think Kane deserves this title. Even though he did compete in the earlier and easier SASUKE torunaments, the dude has quite a track record IMO. He has a 100% clear rate in the first stage the five times he's competed, with four of those times making it to stage three (SASUKE 7 was a definite upset), and one final stage appearance. In fact, had it not been for the rain in SASUKE 8, he would've had the best chance out of any celeb to beat the tower.

Not hating on Omori--he's made the final stage his first three attempts and that's something to cherish, but each time he's attempted it, he hasn't really gotten much closer to the top (he's either halfway or about 2/3 of the way up). For Kane's sake, even with the pouring rain, and the addition of the slippery spider climb, he still made it closer to total victory than all three of Omori's attempts (probably about 3/4 of the way).

Also, Kane was the first (and still the only) American to make the final stage, and the second foreigner to so (right behind Jordan Jovtchev in the same tournament). So yea, Kane is definitely worth the mention.