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Post by darthvaderlim on May 31, 2021 2:40:47 GMT -5
What do you think are your best and worst Akiyama and Bunpei runs? Akiyama Best Sasuke 4-While most people could argue that he beat an easier course, the face that he managed to scale the tower in 24 seconds despite his eye vision is amazing. Not to mention that before that, he had only timed out on Stage 2 twice and not many expected him to go all the way. Sasuke 11-By far the most emotional clear in Sasuke. Sasuke 12-By far his best performance after his total victory. Sasuke 10-It was nice to see him finally beat the Jump Hang. Sasuke 28-Not the run itself, but his retirement speech. Worst Sasuke 9-The only Grand Champion to fail the first obstacle and the only one to wear #100 to do so. Sasuke 8-While 6 is understandable due to inexperience, his third Jump Hang fail was sad to watch. Sasuke 13-His Crooked Wall fail convinced the producers that his eye vision was only getting worse.
Bunpei Best Sasuke 15-He had heat stroke and ran last on Stage 1, but was able to make it all the way to the Third Stage. Sasuke 12-Not only was he close to Kanzen, but the fact he managed to clear the Third Stage on his first attempt was amazing. Sasuke 16-The only time he made it the furthest in a Sasuke tournament. His Devil's Swing technique would then be replicated in the following tournament. Sasuke 13-While he almost cleared the Third Stage, he was doing so well up to that point and didn't look gassed out, just a failed dismount similar to Yamada in 10. Worst Sasuke 14-By far the most painful fail. Sasuke 21-Another painful one, wouldn't be surprised if that fail exacerberated his back problems. Sasuke 30-His technique backfired on him for the first time.
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Post by salt on May 31, 2021 3:38:13 GMT -5
Sasuke 9-The only Grand Champion to fail the first obstacle and the only one to wear #100 to do so. Wasn't there also Yuuji failing to transition to the Rolling Hill in 33?
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tns8597
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Post by tns8597 on May 31, 2021 3:42:21 GMT -5
That technically counts as failing the second obstacle as he reached the Rolling Hill already.
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Post by subtleagent on May 31, 2021 12:14:36 GMT -5
IMO Bunpei's 17 run was painful to watch. Mostly because he was set for the final then he just goes and flubs the Body Prop when he had a legit shot at kanzening. Though my favorite Bunpei run would have to be 15. Overcoming heatstroke and getting as far as he did on arguably the hardest Third Stage of the era was amazing.
Akiyama in 11 will forever remain one of the most satisfying runs to watch from him, overcoming a 5 in a row First Stage fail streak to makes it to Stage 3 before nearly beating Stage 3 in the following tournament. Shame that was his last real hurrah unless you count 16.
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Post by tns8597 on Jun 1, 2021 4:53:51 GMT -5
My personal favourite of all of these was Bunpei's Stage 3 run in Sasuke 12, partially because at the time he was unproven. The guy was the most unassuming looking competitor, being a government worker who didn't look particularly intimidating, yet he absolutely demolished Stage 3. Sped through the Lamp Grasper in a matter of seconds, and how he explosively traversed the Pipe Slider.
Shame he couldn't repeat his success despite coming really close in 13 and 16.
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Post by sasukeninjawarrior on Jun 1, 2021 12:12:18 GMT -5
My personal favourite of all of these was Bunpei's Stage 3 run in Sasuke 12, partially because at the time he was unproven. The guy was the most unassuming looking competitor, being a government worker who didn't look particularly intimidating, yet he absolutely demolished Stage 3. Sped through the Lamp Grasper in a matter of seconds, and how he explosively traversed the Pipe Slider. Shame he couldn't repeat his success despite coming really close in 13 and 16. He also had one of the best recoveries on lamp grasper, slipping but clinging on with one hand.
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Post by tns8597 on Jun 1, 2021 13:36:57 GMT -5
Yeah true that was an awesome save.
The thing I loved about Bunpei was how his techniques on obstacles were so unique yet so powerful and were frequently copied by loads of competitors as a result. Like his Lamp Grasper technique was copied by loads of guys in Shin-Sasuke, and he basically turned the Devil Balanco from a Ninja Killer into a walk in the park. His Jump Hang technique wasn't used by anyone else but that's because he was a former triple jumper so only he had the prowess to pull that off, though it did backfire in his last attempt (though I can forgive that as he'd not been training for years).
Also looking at the guy you'd never expect him to be able to throw a 50kg wall over his head as though it was nothing.
Him and Okuyama I think are my favourite 'dark horses' when it comes to appearance; both were older than most of the other competitors of the era yet both were probably the second strongest competitors in their respective eras (Bunpei behind Nagano, Okuyama behind Yuuji).
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Post by subtleagent on Jun 4, 2021 0:07:41 GMT -5
I'd personally put Hashimoto as Yuuji's #2. Though tbh it was pretty close between them for me. I think the only thing making me pick Hashimoto over Okuyama was his stronger Final Stage attempt in 24 (like Nagano in 23, he would've won had the time limit been 45 seconds) him getting further on 25's Ultimate Cliffhanger, and him beating it in 27. Okuyama was more consistent true, but his Final in 24 wasn't quite as great and I personally am not entirely sure he would beat the Ultimate Cliffhanger. But when Hashimoto delivered, he really delivered. I think his Metal Spin fail in 26 was more or less a freak accident. But yeah Okuyama is definitely up there.
But I definitely agree, despite their age Bunpei and Okuyama just seemed to stay consistent. I know some say Bunpei wasn't really All-Star material, though I disagree. He came into the fray around the time the All-Stars were formed in 9, made a name for himself in 12 and delivered some pretty strong runs pre Shin-SASUKE. Though Bunpei still did pretty good in 19 and 21 (considering the former First Stage was idiotically hard while the latter was still relatively difficult and Bunpei still beat it while injured [before unfortunately flubbing the Downhill Jump and being basically forced to retire]).
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Post by tns8597 on Jun 4, 2021 8:17:02 GMT -5
Maybe you're right.
I'm basing my choice more on who was selected to go to the USA to try out the ANW trials; they picked Yuuji, Nagano, and Okuyama. Nagano obvs because he's Nagano, Yuuji because he was the reigning champion, and Okuyama because he was the next best in line supposedly.
I think it was probably close between all of the Sasuke 24 Finalists: Kong, Okuyama, Lee En-Chih and Hashimoto. The reason I picked Okuyama was because he delivered as strong a performance as all of the others but managed to do it consistently; Kongu was pretty up and down in terms of having a good spell of Stage 3 runs but also his fair share of streaks of early fails, and then Hashimoto and Lee's careers were somewhat tainted by the fact that their prime was only over a couple of tournaments. Okuyama was constantly coming second/third over six straight tournaments, and could've easily continued that consistency well into the Rising era had he actually been invited to Sasuke 28 and didn't get injured in 29/that Stage 2 wasn't just s***.
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Post by subtleagent on Jun 4, 2021 10:29:18 GMT -5
True, and Okuyama had to retire due to injury, while Hashimoto mentally choked and that's why he retired. So Okuyama was definitely less prone to mental blocks.
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Post by sasukeninjawarrior on Jun 4, 2021 11:57:34 GMT -5
Yeah true that was an awesome save. The thing I loved about Bunpei was how his techniques on obstacles were so unique yet so powerful and were frequently copied by loads of competitors as a result. Like his Lamp Grasper technique was copied by loads of guys in Shin-Sasuke, and he basically turned the Devil Balanco from a Ninja Killer into a walk in the park. His Jump Hang technique wasn't used by anyone else but that's because he was a former triple jumper so only he had the prowess to pull that off, though it did backfire in his last attempt (though I can forgive that as he'd not been training for years). Also looking at the guy you'd never expect him to be able to throw a 50kg wall over his head as though it was nothing. Him and Okuyama I think are my favourite 'dark horses' when it comes to appearance; both were older than most of the other competitors of the era yet both were probably the second strongest competitors in their respective eras (Bunpei behind Nagano, Okuyama behind Yuuji). Not that Bunpei's Jump Hang backfired, he just missed the white part of the trampoline.
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Post by tns8597 on Jun 4, 2021 12:29:17 GMT -5
That probably had something to do with Okuyama being a former competitive athlete. You’re trained to perform no matter what, even under massively pressuring circumstances. That’s why he came across as so stoic imo, because when he took on the course he knew how to detach himself from any emotional pressure and hence why he never made mistakes, he was just focussed on the course at hand and nothing else; Yamada was the opposite and look where that landed him.
And Bunpei’s leg tripped on the safety pad when he leaped for the net which fundamentally wouldn’t have/would’ve been less likely to have happened if he’d used the normal technique, so I call that backfiring.
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Post by subtleagent on Jun 4, 2021 14:38:16 GMT -5
Bunpei's technique on the trampoline wasn't always 100%. I recall in SASUKE 21 he missed the Jumping Spider's trampoline and still landed the walls (he's lucky he's good at jumping).
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