What sorts of results would you want to see from Sasuke 39?

[tns8597]

Given that a renewal is expected in the following tournament, there's obviously a lot of speculation in terms of how hard the new modifications or obstacles are going to be, and how this will shake up the field of Stage 2 and 3 compared to previous tournaments. We've had varying levels of innovation and difficulty, from Sasuke 5 which introduced only a few new obstacles but those that grew to be formidably iconic (resulting in the clear rate dropping by 12-fold), to Sasuke 18 which 'aimed to fail all 100 challengers in Stage 1', to Sasuke 25 and 32 which both focussed less on increasing the difficulty first two stages but explosively buffed Stage 3 etc. These different tactics have hence led to differing levels of success in each of these renewal tournaments.

If you had to choose, what sorts of results would you want to see from Sasuke 39?

For me, if the tournament doesn't end on Stage 3 then it's definitely a failure of a renewal; Stage 3 has been the most formidable stage for the last 20 years and often undergoes the most dynamically significant modifications each time round, so the aim imo should be to stop everyone in their tracks, even Morimoto (that's where I felt Sasuke 18's renewal could've been improved; Nagano could've beaten the stage if he didn't DQ himself). Hopefully this won't be in the form of yet another Cliffhanger modification or some irrationally hard combo like Sasuke 32 brought in, rather some interesting new ideas that catch everyone off guard.

Controversially, I'd actually like the number of Stage 1 clears to be in the mid-single digits (5-7 clears or thereabouts). It seems like forever since we've had a Stage 1 that's been so brutal, and recent tournaments have just seen the same group of competitors (e.g. Hioki, Sato, Yusuke etc.) clearing; it would be really interesting to have a Sasuke 5 or 18-esque Stage 1, where it's made very clear that no one's safe and shock fails on new obstacles happen left, right, and centre, with maybe one dark horse or rookie coming out of nowhere and being one of the few clears. It would be a test to see who's the most resilient of resilient competitors, rather than having 15-20 clears most of which are highly predictable anyway. Also, if 38 had 14 clears, then 39 being a renewal should ideally have significantly fewer anyway, especially with the *hopeful* removal of the Silk Slider which did s*** all damage.

In terms of Stage 2, I'd like to see a few fails obvs but nothing too OP given that the stage was significantly buffed in 38 anyway; any further significant modifications and we could run the risk of a Sasuke 19 scenario, assuming Stage 1 is as brutal as the above. 2-3 down-to-the-wire clears would be ideal imo.

Let me know your thoughts.

[Dazed (Wiin)]

Yoshiyuki kanzen.

[salt]

It's been a while since we've had a tournament end at stage 2 due to a brutal renewal. I kinda wanna see that again for the shock value, though I'm not sure how well that would go over with everyone else.

Anyways, maybe just a few stage 1 clears, along with maybe 1 or 2 stage 2 clears with a preview of the third stage would be pretty good. See what they'll do with the renewal, but really make it hard.  Maybe bring back the more difficult wall lifting so Yusuke isn't safe.

[Zach Smith]

A complete bloodbath on the level of Sasuke 5

[subtleagent]

Maybe a First or Second Stage designed particularly to stop Morimoto kind of like how 19's First Stage was built to stop Nagano or 31's First Stage was built to stop Yuuji.

[tns8597]

Glad I'm not alone in wanting a truly brutal Stage 1.

I wouldn't go as far to say I'd want a Stage 2 ending given that EVERYONE doing badly just comes across as quite underwhelming and boring to watch fail after fail; that said, I'd want the prospect of a Stage 2 ending to be a possibility (like it was in Sasuke 5 or 20, where had Shingo been a tad slower, or if Levi hadn't corrected the Stick Slider issue then the tournament would've ended at Stage 2) but not actually end at Stage 2 if that makes sense, with only 2-3 really close clears. It would be a shame to not see the 'grand spanking new' Stage 3, whatever that is....

And r/e stopping Morimoto, discussions on this have been had and it's honestly a pretty tough call. Sasuke 31 was much easier because they started to recognize that the course was far too biased towards small and light guys like Ryo and Yuuji, so they added the Tackle prior to the Warped Wall to directly target their height and lack of raw power; like they had obvious weaknesses thus allowing the producers to capitalise on that.

Morimoto doesn't really have any obvious weaknesses; he struggled with the Wall Lifting but this was when he was like 21. He's got a much better tactic for that obstacle and his general strength is pretty good at this point I'd say. He's also managed to overcome his height through tireless training, and also given the average stature of Sasuke competitors, there's a limit to which the producers can leverage height-based obstacles without it effectively 'excluding' some competitors from doing well (think some of the ANW obstacles which basically target guys who are 5'11+) which is unfair. He's also never been the fastest competitor, but this is more of a function of him using the available time on the course wisely; he's proven that IF he needs to adhere to a more stringent time limit then he can, no problem (e.g. Stage 2 in 38).

Hopefully Morimoto's all-round ability, which is similar to Nagano's in Shin-Sasuke, doesn't result in the producers just becoming lazy and responding by making everything f*** off hard like they did in 19. It would obviously be cool to see Morimoto get caught out on Stage 1, but the appeal of this happening is massively reduced when the course takes out everyone else in a similar way. I think the best bet is just to add several new obstacles that aren't necessarily brutally hard in nature (allowing for some competitors to still do well), but those that simply incorporate new elements that haven't been capitalized on in recent tournaments, like balance which has been missing from Stage 1 for a while, combined with a stringent time limit. That way, Yusuke won't have time to strategise between obstacles and will be forced to improvise off the bat which could easily throw him off; remember his near-miss on the Fish Bone in 33, which was an obstacle he'd never encountered before.

Hot take but it would also be cool to see Jun Sato fail Stage 1, though his adaptability to course changes is immense given his parkour background.

[zoran]

Apr 10, 2021 4:30:27 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Glad I'm not alone in wanting a truly brutal Stage 1.

I wouldn't go as far to say I'd want a Stage 2 ending given that EVERYONE doing badly just comes across as quite underwhelming and boring to watch fail after fail; that said, I'd want the prospect of a Stage 2 ending to be a possibility (like it was in Sasuke 5 or 20, where had Shingo been a tad slower, or if Levi hadn't corrected the Stick Slider issue then the tournament would've ended at Stage 2) but not actually end at Stage 2 if that makes sense, with only 2-3 really close clears. It would be a shame to not see the 'grand spanking new' Stage 3, whatever that is....

And r/e stopping Morimoto, discussions on this have been had and it's honestly a pretty tough call. Sasuke 31 was much easier because they started to recognize that the course was far too biased towards small and light guys like Ryo and Yuuji, so they added the Tackle prior to the Warped Wall to directly target their height and lack of raw power; like they had obvious weaknesses thus allowing the producers to capitalise on that.

Morimoto doesn't really have any obvious weaknesses; he struggled with the Wall Lifting but this was when he was like 21. He's got a much better tactic for that obstacle and his general strength is pretty good at this point I'd say. He's also managed to overcome his height through tireless training, and also given the average stature of Sasuke competitors, there's a limit to which the producers can leverage height-based obstacles without it effectively 'excluding' some competitors from doing well (think some of the ANW obstacles which basically target guys who are 5'11+) which is unfair. He's also never been the fastest competitor, but this is more of a function of him using the available time on the course wisely; he's proven that IF he needs to adhere to a more stringent time limit then he can, no problem (e.g. Stage 2 in 38).

Hopefully Morimoto's all-round ability, which is similar to Nagano's in Shin-Sasuke, doesn't result in the producers just becoming lazy and responding by making everything f*** off hard like they did in 19. It would obviously be cool to see Morimoto get caught out on Stage 1, but the appeal of this happening is massively reduced when the course takes out everyone else in a similar way. I think the best bet is just to add several new obstacles that aren't necessarily brutally hard in nature (allowing for some competitors to still do well), but those that simply incorporate new elements that haven't been capitalized on in recent tournaments, like balance which has been missing from Stage 1 for a while, combined with a stringent time limit. That way, Yusuke won't have time to strategise between obstacles and will be forced to improvise off the bat which could easily throw him off; remember his near-miss on the Fish Bone in 33, which was an obstacle he'd never encountered before.

Hot take but it would also be cool to see Jun Sato fail Stage 1, though his adaptability to course changes is immense given his parkour background.

Given Jun's recently really bad injury, I'd say his chances of failing stage 1 are substantially higher.

[subtleagent]

Apr 10, 2021 5:48:44 GMT -5 zoran said:

Apr 10, 2021 4:30:27 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Glad I'm not alone in wanting a truly brutal Stage 1.

I wouldn't go as far to say I'd want a Stage 2 ending given that EVERYONE doing badly just comes across as quite underwhelming and boring to watch fail after fail; that said, I'd want the prospect of a Stage 2 ending to be a possibility (like it was in Sasuke 5 or 20, where had Shingo been a tad slower, or if Levi hadn't corrected the Stick Slider issue then the tournament would've ended at Stage 2) but not actually end at Stage 2 if that makes sense, with only 2-3 really close clears. It would be a shame to not see the 'grand spanking new' Stage 3, whatever that is....

And r/e stopping Morimoto, discussions on this have been had and it's honestly a pretty tough call. Sasuke 31 was much easier because they started to recognize that the course was far too biased towards small and light guys like Ryo and Yuuji, so they added the Tackle prior to the Warped Wall to directly target their height and lack of raw power; like they had obvious weaknesses thus allowing the producers to capitalise on that.

Morimoto doesn't really have any obvious weaknesses; he struggled with the Wall Lifting but this was when he was like 21. He's got a much better tactic for that obstacle and his general strength is pretty good at this point I'd say. He's also managed to overcome his height through tireless training, and also given the average stature of Sasuke competitors, there's a limit to which the producers can leverage height-based obstacles without it effectively 'excluding' some competitors from doing well (think some of the ANW obstacles which basically target guys who are 5'11+) which is unfair. He's also never been the fastest competitor, but this is more of a function of him using the available time on the course wisely; he's proven that IF he needs to adhere to a more stringent time limit then he can, no problem (e.g. Stage 2 in 38).

Hopefully Morimoto's all-round ability, which is similar to Nagano's in Shin-Sasuke, doesn't result in the producers just becoming lazy and responding by making everything f*** off hard like they did in 19. It would obviously be cool to see Morimoto get caught out on Stage 1, but the appeal of this happening is massively reduced when the course takes out everyone else in a similar way. I think the best bet is just to add several new obstacles that aren't necessarily brutally hard in nature (allowing for some competitors to still do well), but those that simply incorporate new elements that haven't been capitalized on in recent tournaments, like balance which has been missing from Stage 1 for a while, combined with a stringent time limit. That way, Yusuke won't have time to strategise between obstacles and will be forced to improvise off the bat which could easily throw him off; remember his near-miss on the Fish Bone in 33, which was an obstacle he'd never encountered before.

Hot take but it would also be cool to see Jun Sato fail Stage 1, though his adaptability to course changes is immense given his parkour background.

Given Jun's recently really bad injury, I'd say his chances of failing stage 1 are substantially higher.

Really bad injury? What?

[ArbuthnotBlob]

Apr 10, 2021 9:48:28 GMT -5 subtleagent said:

Apr 10, 2021 5:48:44 GMT -5 zoran said:

Given Jun's recently really bad injury, I'd say his chances of failing stage 1 are substantially higher.

Really bad injury? What?

He tore one of his leg muscles, can't remember which off the top of my head, but it's one of the big, nasty ones.

[tns8597]

It was his Achilles Tendon; same thing that happened to Kanno in 33

[m4tt3r0x]

That's a shame if it's that major. He's about 30 now so just a little younger than when Kanno had his. I think Stage 2 will be the bigger problem though. He barely cleared it in time last Sasuke as is. Hopefully he has a good recovery.

Also I want to see Yoshiyuki also blow everyone out of the water. I think he's one of the most hardcore athletes the show will ever see.

[tns8597]

Apr 10, 2021 12:07:35 GMT -5 m4tt3r0x said:

That's a shame if it's that major. He's about 30 now so just a little younger than when Kanno had his. I think Stage 2 will be the bigger problem though. He barely cleared it in time last Sasuke as is. Hopefully he has a good recovery.

Also I want to see Yoshiyuki also blow everyone out of the water. I think he's one of the most hardcore athletes the show will ever see.

Agreed; Yoshiyuki reminds me a bit of Kongu in the sense that he just seems to be the best all-rounder we've seen in ages; is a taller and more powerful competitor, yet still kicks a** on Stage 3 (which he likely would've cleared in 38 had it not been for you know what...), shows immense speed (just watch his Stage 2 runs in both of his appearances.....), and is incredibly consistent so far at least.

Kongu had all of the above (bar the consistency you could argue as he had a few rough patches here and there) and very nearly achieved Kanzenseiha; so I'm pretty hopeful for Yoshiyuki given that the latter's younger and arguably even stronger on Stage 3.

Speaking of Black Tigers, Isa's also pretty impressive, but is kind of in Yoshiyuki's shadow as he's never been as elegant on the course, and you could argue that he got lucky in both 37 and 38 (the former being due to the lenient Stage 2, and the latter because he cleared Stage 2 with no time left).

[hoseasasuke]

I just want the 1st Stage to be tougher, without making everyone fail like in 19.

[subtleagent]

Apr 10, 2021 16:08:34 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Apr 10, 2021 12:07:35 GMT -5 m4tt3r0x said:

That's a shame if it's that major. He's about 30 now so just a little younger than when Kanno had his. I think Stage 2 will be the bigger problem though. He barely cleared it in time last Sasuke as is. Hopefully he has a good recovery.

Also I want to see Yoshiyuki also blow everyone out of the water. I think he's one of the most hardcore athletes the show will ever see.

Agreed; Yoshiyuki reminds me a bit of Kongu in the sense that he just seems to be the best all-rounder we've seen in ages; is a taller and more powerful competitor, yet still kicks a** on Stage 3 (which he likely would've cleared in 38 had it not been for you know what...), shows immense speed (just watch his Stage 2 runs in both of his appearances.....), and is incredibly consistent so far at least.

Kongu had all of the above (bar the consistency you could argue as he had a few rough patches here and there) and very nearly achieved Kanzenseiha; so I'm pretty hopeful for Yoshiyuki given that the latter's younger and arguably even stronger on Stage 3.

Speaking of Black Tigers, Isa's also pretty impressive, but is kind of in Yoshiyuki's shadow as he's never been as elegant on the course, and you could argue that he got lucky in both 37 and 38 (the former being due to the lenient Stage 2, and the latter because he cleared Stage 2 with no time left).

Yoshiyuki definitely could be the next kanzen. Aside from Rene, he had the best rookie run we've seen in ages and the fact that he managed to beat the Dimension's second jump despite being harder shows amazing adaptability. He might've even made the final.

I agree on Isa, I was certain Stage 2 would eat him in 38 because he would've definitely timed out in 37 given the amount of errors he made while still managing to clear. But he managed to beat it. I was a little annoyed that they cut so much of his runs, but it shows he's adapted some form of consistency (even if his Flying Bar fail was debatably a malfunction). And he got the second fastest time behind Sato in Stage 1. His runs are generally more rough around the edges while Yoshiyuki's form is like ballet, but he went from a Rolling Hill failure to being one of the few to beat 38's buffed Stage 2, as close as it was.

It's evident Inui digested the two who did worse (Tada and Isa) than in 37 and Yoshiyuki was shown fully because he was the first clear in Stage 2. I did find it odd that he chose to give the former two such an edit while Kawaguchi got basically a bio on his SASUKE history. I'm not really against Inui giving Kawaguchi so much (admittedly he does have a pretty interesting story to market even if his results are typically underwhelming or generic), but when it takes away from more successful potential that's when I start to feel sour (e.g getting high numbers and ridiculous amounts of screen time while better more interesting competitors get digested).

Then again, Kawaguchi getting this treatment I'd say started around SASUKE 32. He had the least successful run on the Cliffhanger in 31 aside from Anastase AND did worse than his last attempt. And yet he still got 97 while Kong, Asa and Kanno (the last of whom beat the Cliffhanger) all got lower numbers. Well there's Hioki and Drew, but the former is usually the guinea pig while the latter was aggressive (and we all know what else happened behind the scenes and what he was later revealed to be) so their lower positioning was understandable. He likely would've gotten #99 or possibly even #100 in 32 had it not been for Nagano retiring from SASUKE in that tournament. Then in 33 he gets #99 despite Drew, Sato, Nagasaki and Anastase (Sihm and Brent too, but they weren't invited back) performing better than him. Would've gotten it in 34 had it not been for Yuuji, but still got #98. Got it again in 35 ~ 37 with arguably 35 and 36 being the only justified ones as he made it the second furthest. 37 had everyone bar Darvish and Toyer (that's seven people) out perform him and now he's failed the Warped Wall twice (and he even got #96, the highest of anyone not an All-Star or champion). Particularly the last two tournaments convinced me that Kawaguchi was out of the running for another Final, let alone a kanzenseiha. His lack of consistency in Stage 3 was already a precursor to this (ex. 31 and 36), but two Warped Wall fails consolidated that.

[tns8597]

subtleagent r/e Inui digesting Tada and Isa, I found that quite annoying. Not because I desperately wanted to see their runs in full as most clears are unremarkably similar to one another. But because it sort of made the results even more predictable.... granted no one positioned Isa as a genuine threat to clearing Stage 3, but in the case of Tada, the fact that he got digested in BOTH Stages 1 and 2 made it obvious he wasn't going to reach the Final. No one gets an edit like that and does that well, if you get what I'm saying. Had he been shown in full with fluff pieces (which he f***ing deserved given his performance in 37) it would've been a genuine shock to have seen him fail the Dimension.

And yeah about Kawaguchi, I sort of get why he gets so much screen time; he's a former Finalist, he's got a cool backstory reuniting his parents and using the discipline he learned from Sasuke training to transform himself from a delinquent rebel to a hard-working director (you know he's got an 11-year-old son as well which I'm surprised is never mentioned in his MANY fluff pieces). But his excessive screen-time has been going on for years now, and I feel like it just capitalizes on the same s*** over and over again; apart from Per-Adra he never brings anything new to the table. Hioki at least has an ever-expanding family, and has a much quirkier on-screen personality than Tomo. I also find it pretty irritating how in a tournament where he reaches Stage 3, he gets a fluff piece before each and every one of his runs, all of which basically say the same s***; Per-Adra, his parents, how he made the Final Stage etc.

That said, the reason he kept getting such high numbers (I think at least) is because he was one of only three finalists throughout that entire period. There was also Morimoto who wore the obvious #100, then we had Ryo but we know what happened with him. It seemed as though Inui was constantly using his former Final Stage attempt to position him as the 'second in command' to Morimoto and hence warranted giving him #97-99 constantly, even though his attempt in 30 sucked balls and he never even came close to repeating that feat anyway. That's a pure guess on my part, but it seems logical given that no one else got such high numbers despite surpassing his performances tournament after tournament, like Sato and Drew. I do agree though that it's becoming almost a Darvish-like situation with his numbers and screen time; even worse I'd argue in the sense that his numbers don't seem to be affected whatsoever even if he does badly (like in the case of Sasuke 34 and 38). Also, it's now been 7 years almost since he made the Final, which I'd argue is the reason he started getting screen time in the first place....

Not that numbers are the be all and end all, but I'll call bulls**t if he gets anything higher than #95 given that he's two Stage 1 failures deep now.

[subtleagent]

It's just one of those things really. Hiromichi Sato IMO is the most egregious example of number favoritism. He got #99 in SASUKE 19 even though he didn't even pass Stage 1 last time and sucked pretty hard in said tournament. He also got #97 in 24 even though he f***ed up the Jumping Spider in 23. One can speculate it was from winning Family VIKING, but his SASUKE record was average at best. Yes he bested a Stage 1 in 22 that took out Nagano, Levi, Shingo, Takeda and Kong amongst other prolific competitors, but he was overshadowed by four other people who all had their breakthrough runs having never reached Stage 3 prior so he was the odd one out in that regard and yet he still gets #98. Then comes 24 with 7 Second Stage clears and 5 finals so again he was left in the dust. #91 in 26 I guess was reasonable, given that, but still he got #94 in 29 despite not even competing in four out of the last five tournaments and not even passing the first obstacle in that one.

Overall, I feel Hiromichi was just another one of those competitors who came into SASUKE too late. I could see him turning in some relatively good performances in the pre-Nagano kanzenseiha era, but his era was Shin-SASUKE and he only had two remotely decent performances while having a very inconsistent record on top of that.

Kawaguchi at the very least has had some Third Stage appearances to justify him in the early to mid 90s, though he's definitely not worthy of #99. Especially now. I speculate they lowered Tada to #95 because he doesn't like getting high numbers.

Hell I'd even consider Sato in the spot before Kawaguchi since while Sato is pretty much guaranteed to fail the Cliffhanger, he did better in 36 ~ 38 (compare that to Hioki, who missed the first jump in 37 despite making it in 36, or even Kawaguchi and Drew missing the jump in subsequent tournaments) and arguably could've beaten it in 38 had they not messed up the ledges for him to the point where it was just f*** you impossible. I doubt he would've beaten the Vertical Limit (maybe, maybe not), but still he has consistency which is something Kawaguchi doesn't have.

[zoran]

Apr 11, 2021 20:46:34 GMT -5 subtleagent said:

It's just one of those things really. Hiromichi Sato IMO is the most egregious example of number favoritism. He got #99 in SASUKE 19 even though he didn't even pass Stage 1 last time and sucked pretty hard in said tournament. He also got #97 in 24 even though he f***ed up the Jumping Spider in 23. One can speculate it was from winning Family VIKING, but his SASUKE record was average at best. Yes he bested a Stage 1 in 22 that took out Nagano, Levi, Shingo, Takeda and Kong amongst other prolific competitors, but he was overshadowed by four other people who all had their breakthrough runs having never reached Stage 3 prior so he was the odd one out in that regard and yet he still gets #98. Then comes 24 with 7 Second Stage clears and 5 finals so again he was left in the dust. #91 in 26 I guess was reasonable, given that, but still he got #94 in 29 despite not even competing in four out of the last five tournaments and not even passing the first obstacle in that one.

Overall, I feel Hiromichi was just another one of those competitors who came into SASUKE too late. I could see him turning in some relatively good performances in the pre-Nagano kanzenseiha era, but his era was Shin-SASUKE and he only had two remotely decent performances while having a very inconsistent record on top of that.

Kawaguchi at the very least has had some Third Stage appearances to justify him in the early to mid 90s, though he's definitely not worthy of #99. Especially now. I speculate they lowered Tada to #95 because he doesn't like getting high numbers.

Hell I'd even consider Sato in the spot before Kawaguchi since while Sato is pretty much guaranteed to fail the Cliffhanger, he did better in 36 ~ 38 (compare that to Hioki, who missed the first jump in 37 despite making it in 36, or even Kawaguchi and Drew missing the jump in subsequent tournaments) and arguably could've beaten it in 38 had they not messed up the ledges for him to the point where it was just f*** you impossible. I doubt he would've beaten the Vertical Limit (maybe, maybe not), but still he has consistency which is something Kawaguchi doesn't have.

Tada got 95 because they were trying to have the last 4 be the champions, Akiyama couldn't compete so they picked Yamada, who came the closest to Kanzen in the 1-4 era behind Akiyama.

[tns8597]

Controversially I sort of understood Hiromichi getting high numbers because he was a celebrity. It was the same with Wakky, Daisuke Miyazaki, Darvish, Snowman (who got his highest number in Sasuke 38 despite being 5 Stage 1 failures deep) etc. A lot of viewers aren't really Sasuke fans, rather they tune in because famous celebrities are competing. Hence, the producers group the celebrities in the later portion of Stage 1 to ensure said fans stay tuned for longer and boost the ratings etc.

Kawaguchi on the other hand is a weird one; he probably gets treated in the most 'celebrity'-like way for a non-celebrity, if that makes sense. Hioki as well, but he's apparently quite popular among the community and has that 'family man' vibe so I kinda get it, and he also gets lower numbers. Then we've got Morimoto and Yuuji who get screen time because they're champions, Black Tigers because of their affiliation with Yamada who himself is incredibly popular, All-Stars because they're All-Stars etc. Kawaguchi stands out to me as the non-celebrity most undeserving of the supposed praise he gets. None of his performances have stood out in years (even Sasuke 35 because his VL attempt was rubbish), he's not the most screenworthy personality, and he gets a fluff piece for EVERY SINGLE ONE of his runs which gets pretty grating sometimes.

And I'm not sure why Tada got #95 exactly, but it is well known that he doesn't like getting high numbers due to pressure, hence why he got #46 in Sasuke 37 despite making Stage 3 in the tournament prior (later changed to #49 due to the postponement of taping). But given that he made the Final Stage in 37 there had to be some sort of tradeoff; he may well have got #99 otherwise (and hence may not have got digested) but this was instead given to Yuuji who had the best prior performance in 37 bar Tada and Rene who didn't compete. #97 and #98 I feel may have been given to Graff and Rene, given that Covid-19 preventing internationals from competing definitely had a hand in Yamada and Nagano, the latter of which said he wouldn't come back until Sasuke 40, to suddenly decide to return for 38. Either way, I really didn't vibe with Yamada getting #97; was such a break in the excitement as everyone knew he was going to fail. It would've been more appropriate for him to have got #51, just after his Black Tigers ran. Anyway....

[jvlalic]

I would take these results per stage

• 1st Stage: I wouldn't mind less than 10 people clearing, as long as its near the tier of SASUKE 5 renewal where there are new killer obstacles but not like the SASUKE 19 course where everyone is eliminated at the First Stage.

• 2nd Stage: With them possibly retaining the Rolling Log, I would expect less than 5 people clearing, 38's 2nd Stage is one of the better stages in this era and if they stick with that kind of flow in the stage, it will be great as an essential speed stage with a high level of difficulty

• 3rd Stage: NO clears. Thats it. There are comments by Inui saying that they will try to modify the course to a point where its "Yusuke vs the course". In addition, he said that he'll modify 3rd Stage to the point where no one even reaches the Cliffhanger Dimension.

In terms of competitors

• Yusuke might reach 3rd Stage again but it depends on the difficulty presented on the 1st Stage
  
• Yoshiyuki is the best bet for going far especially with his 38 performance
  
• Tada is also in the same case as Yoshiyuki
  
• Shin Sedai competitors like Yuuji and Ryo might time out on 2nd stage but like i said earlier it all depends on the difficulty of the 1st Stage

[zoran]

Apr 12, 2021 8:58:02 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Controversially I sort of understood Hiromichi getting high numbers because he was a celebrity. It was the same with Wakky, Daisuke Miyazaki, Darvish, Snowman (who got his highest number in Sasuke 38 despite being 5 Stage 1 failures deep) etc. A lot of viewers aren't really Sasuke fans, rather they tune in because famous celebrities are competing. Hence, the producers group the celebrities in the later portion of Stage 1 to ensure said fans stay tuned for longer and boost the ratings etc.

Kawaguchi on the other hand is a weird one; he probably gets treated in the most 'celebrity'-like way for a non-celebrity, if that makes sense. Hioki as well, but he's apparently quite popular among the community and has that 'family man' vibe so I kinda get it, and he also gets lower numbers. Then we've got Morimoto and Yuuji who get screen time because they're champions, Black Tigers because of their affiliation with Yamada who himself is incredibly popular, All-Stars because they're All-Stars etc. Kawaguchi stands out to me as the non-celebrity most undeserving of the supposed praise he gets. None of his performances have stood out in years (even Sasuke 35 because his VL attempt was rubbish), he's not the most screenworthy personality, and he gets a fluff piece for EVERY SINGLE ONE of his runs which gets pretty grating sometimes.

And I'm not sure why Tada got #95 exactly, but it is well known that he doesn't like getting high numbers due to pressure, hence why he got #46 in Sasuke 37 despite making Stage 3 in the tournament prior (later changed to #49 due to the postponement of taping). But given that he made the Final Stage in 37 there had to be some sort of tradeoff; he may well have got #99 otherwise (and hence may not have got digested) but this was instead given to Yuuji who had the best prior performance in 37 bar Tada and Rene who didn't compete. #97 and #98 I feel may have been given to Graff and Rene, given that Covid-19 preventing internationals from competing definitely had a hand in Yamada and Nagano, the latter of which said he wouldn't come back until Sasuke 40, to suddenly decide to return for 38. Either way, I really didn't vibe with Yamada getting #97; was such a break in the excitement as everyone knew he was going to fail. It would've been more appropriate for him to have got #51, just after his Black Tigers ran. Anyway....

Kawaguchi did better than Drew in 35 and had never attempted the transition on the vertical limit before. Beating the UCCH alone id say is enough to justify having a 99 considering competitors like Jun Sato and Hioki struggle so hard on it.