Best and Worst Yamada Runs

[darthvaderlim]

What are your Top 5 best and worst Yamada runs?
Best
1-Sasuke 10. Argubaly the most iconic scene that is overplayed since then.
2-Sasuke 6. A close contender, but who knows how different things would have been if he cleared.
3-Sasuke 18. Sure, he timed out on Stage One, but he hasn't been to the final obstacle since then.
4-Sasuke 3. I put it lower, due to its easy diffculty.
5-Sasuke 5. Great save on the Rolling Log, but could have been better if he didn't slip on the Spider Walk.
Worst
1-Sasuke 12. Probably the most controversial incident in Sasuke history. Don't need to explain this. Such a shame he didn't get a chance to redeem himself on Stage Two.
2-Sasuke 30. Another controversial run, due to behind the scenes drama with Inui, causing him to be banned and cut.
3-Sasuke 9. Wasting 20 seconds removing tape on your feet is probably the most idiotic thing you could have ever done.
4-Sasuke 19. Watching him spend 75 seconds on the Pole Maze got boring quickly.
5-Sasuke 26. This is the tournament that convinced us that Yamada has zero hope of clearing Stage One.

[zoran]

Feb 2, 2021 2:20:50 GMT -5 darthvaderlim said:

What are your Top 5 best and worst Yamada runs?
Best
1-Sasuke 10. Argubaly the most iconic scene that is overplayed since then.
2-Sasuke 6. A close contender, but who knows how different things would have been if he cleared.
3-Sasuke 18. Sure, he timed out on Stage One, but he hasn't been to the final obstacle since then.
4-Sasuke 3. I put it lower, due to its easy diffculty.
5-Sasuke 5. Great save on the Rolling Log, but could have been better if he didn't slip on the Spider Walk.
Worst
1-Sasuke 12. Probably the most controversial incident in Sasuke history. Don't need to explain this. Such a shame he didn't get a chance to redeem himself on Stage Two.
2-Sasuke 30. Another controversial run, due to behind the scenes drama with Inui, causing him to be banned and cut.
3-Sasuke 9. Wasting 20 seconds removing tape on your feet is probably the most idiotic thing you could have ever done.
4-Sasuke 19. Watching him spend 75 seconds on the Pole Maze got boring quickly.
5-Sasuke 26. This is the tournament that convinced us that Yamada has zero hope of clearing Stage One.

19 should be the worst.Imagine being an elite competitor and almost timing out on the fourth obstacle.

[tns8597]

It's hard for me to decide which ones were the worst: his early runs were obviously quite good in terms of raw results but were frustrating as they were plagued by mental errors that prevented him from a potential total victory. Sasuke 7 and 8 started his downward spiral relationship with the Soritatsu Kabe, for example. Also, has anyone noticed that when Yamada mentions that he's worried about a certain obstacle, that's the obstacle he tends to fail on/contributes to his failure (I know some basic Japanese so I picked up on this trend). In Sasuke 9 he was worried about the Spider Walk, which led to him timing out due to removing the tape that was supposed to help him on that obstacle. In Sasuke 11, he mentioned that he was worried about the Balance Tank (even though he cleared in the prev tournament), and he failed there. In Sasuke 12, he was concerned about both the Chain Reaction and Spider Walk, so either got too cocky about clearing the former so forgot to take his gloves off or was worried about the latter so kept his gloves on to prevent slipping (given that he'd taken his gloves off in earlier competitions and also his tendency to try and cheat, I think the latter was the case). It just goes to show how badly his mental state affected his performances.

Then obviously came his post-hiatus runs. I'd say the ones that stuck out as being particularly poor for me were Sasuke 14-15; the reason being is that he was still seen as a strong competitor at the time so him failing in the first half of Stage 1 was terribly unexpected (given that prior to his hiatus, he'd cleared Stage 1 on 10/12 tries), compared to later competitions where those fails were much more predictable. Sasuke 19 I can forgive given that the course was cruelly hard, but everything after that was pretty disappointing and anti-climactic. Even Sasuke 24, which was by far his most promising run post-hiatus, was predictably halted by the Soritatsu Kabe, again a function of his mental state preventing him from reaching his potential, though by that point his physical capability was defo on the decline given that he was 44 at the time.

[subtleagent]

Best
SASUKE 10 - Had he not cleared, we'd have seen all of the final 20 fail Stage 1 and after seeing it kill off 4/5 All-Stars seeing him clear was a glimmer of hope. This tournament was really his.
SASUKE 18 - Although he timed out, I found it pretty impressive that he was able to get to the Rope Ladder on a renewed course given not even 10 people made it past the Flying Chute.
SASUKE 23, 24 and 27 - All of these he looked on track to clear, granted the Warped Wall killed him, but given he was kicking some serious a** up to this point I gotta give credit where credit's due. Had the wall not knocked him around like a pinball, I'm certain he would've cleared in 27 and possibly 24.

Worst
SASUKE 9 - He had an easy trip to Stage 3, but chose the tape method which was stupid and ate up 17 seconds.
SASUKE 12 - Cause of the glove rule (which as dumb as it was, was even dumber that he broke a rule he obviously knew), the timing out and lying about the button being broken and then all just to pull his earliest injury fake. Had he just taken off the gloves it'd have been another easy trip into Stage 3.
SASUKE 19 - How he managed to spend THAT long on the Pole Maze was ridiculous.
SASUKE 21 - Injury or not, he really hammed it up for the camera. Given he did this a lot, it made it really difficult to take him seriously whenever he had one.

[Ninja Relaxer]

If we're talking pure results, then I dunno. But if we're talking most memorable and feel-good, then Sasuke 38 is definitely up there. Seeing Yamada attempt the course at his age, with the other All Stars cheering him on, was a great experience -- especially with the positive attitude he had about it. It felt like Yamada had conquered his demons at long last and was enjoying Sasuke for the first time in years, if not ever. One of the top Sasuke moments in recent years.

[tns8597]

Realised I forgot to write the best ones.

Honestly, any run after Sasuke 27; as I mentioned his early runs were strong but seeing how consumed he was with anxiety, obsession, and delusion just spoilt it for me, and between Sasuke 14-27 he was still desperately trying to cling on to his dream on a downright unrealistic level. But from Sasuke 28 onwards, I think he realised that enough was enough and that inspired him to take a new attitude to Sasuke; trying to train the newer generation to succeed where he failed, and now he's a much more likable character who sees his fellow competitors/All-Stars as long-time friends and not rivals/people to be jealous of. Sure, his chances of clearing Stage 1 are lower than they ever have been, but for once he's going into his runs with a positive and light-hearted attitude.

Maybe I'm biased because I just hated his personality in the form of his tendency to cheat and lie to get ahead, as well as his inability to feel compassion and happiness for his fellow competitors due to his self-obsession and jealousy, but now I definitely see him in a different light, as a coach to the younger generation, and I'm really glad to see that his hard work has paid off with Yoshiyuki and Isa.

[azn]

I actually really liked his SK16 Run, but then again that first stage was a really fun course in general, so seeing him attempt the Reverse Fly was pretty funny for me, oh and also for the fact that he actually timed out on the final climb, which considering his first stage streak, is kind of impressive.

As for the worst, I'd say SK2, he got digested on an obstacle he had little trouble with in the previous tournament (spider walk), plus he got Digested. I get he wasn't marketed as Mr.SASUKE yet, but still, one of Inui's favorite competitors to showcase got digested, albeit before his prime.