Do you think [SPOILER]

[tns8597]

Do you think Yoshiyuki would've achieved Kanzen in 38 had he not been robbed by the wet ledge?

I personally think it could've been a genuine possibility. He's shown in practice to breeze through the Vertical Limit and he's tall enough that the Pipe Slider dismount wouldn't have been an issue for him. In terms of the Final Stage, the guy has some serious speed on the Spider Walk and Salmon Ladder if his Stage 2 runs (both of which have been the fastest of each tournament) are anything to go by, and I don't think he'd have much issue on the rope climb either. My only concern is how his run would've been affected by the rain that plagued the latter half of the tournament.

Let me know your thoughts.

[Ninja Relaxer]

Yeah, "genuine possibility" sounds about right. Predicting who will/won't do well on Stage 4 is difficult. And even those who have actually achieved kanzenseiha have a pretty abysmal track record on Stage 4. Nagano is only 1/5, Morimoto is 2/4. So even those who "have what it takes" don't have it all the time.

Hopefully Yoshiyuki gets another shot at the Cliffhanger in 39.

[tns8597]

True. Having said that, Yoshiyuki seems to be faster than Yusuke on the Salmon Ladder and Spider Walk, and given that Yusuke cleared with 2.5 seconds left that tournament you never know. That said Morimoto did fail that same Final Stage twice, though I can sort of discount 35 as he hadn't really trained for that iteration of the tower.

The thing is that the Final Stage's time limit is so tight that there's such a small margin for error; I think Yoshiyuki could've done it provided he didn't slip too much on the Spider Walk due to the weather, and/or didn't make any mistakes on the Salmon Ladder.

[subtleagent]

I think statistically it's a 50/50 chance considering it took Morimoto 3 tries to beat that final. For all we know, he could have Yuuji'd the Pipe Slider.

[sasukeninjawarrior]

No, he may have been a beast for a newcomer, but if Yusuke couldn’t do it first time, then Yoshiyuki probably won’t. I’d say he have a good attempt though, timing out relatively close to the buzzer on a good day.

[PizzaKing57]

If Morimoto couldn't nail this version of this Final Stage in his first try, then I doubt Yoshiyuki would either, especially as the weather was brutal that night and so I could see him timing up on the Rope Climb about a few meters short. Yamada did construct a new replica of the Salmon Ladder Jugo Dan though as shown via Twitter this week and I'm pretty sure that with a tremendous amount of practise, the Black Tiger will clear Stage 4 on his first attempt, whenever he makes it that far.

On that note, it would be amazing if Yoshiyuki achieves Kanzen or at least reaches the Final Stage in SASUKE 40, since Yamada may decide to return once more in order to celebrate the show's anniversary and if he does win, then Yamada should be airlifted to the top of the tower for free, joining his pupil champion and get to experience the view he never got to see with his own eyes before, as well as finally ending his own SASUKE career for good. I also bet the producers will give him five minutes of airtime with him crying the most amount of tears than ever before in his life, knowing that his long-lasting dream was finally achieved.