What is your rating for SASUKE 39?

[hoseasasuke]

As I have said on another thread, had this tournament been a normal tournament, I would have given this tournament a 9 - 9,5 out of 10. However, as it is a renewal tournament, I can only give it a 7/10. It lacks new obstacles, it lacks a new color scheme, it lacks a lot of new things. What is your rating for this tournament?

[SRW]

6 it was lazy overall and sadly now will be vindicated that it barely needs a real renewal thanks to the rain. It's so Lazy Niren Sorsatsu kabe a identical stage 2 zzzzz points for the Swing edge though!

[yusukeisthegoat227]

5/10. Swing edge was interesting, but that's about it as far as new stuff. I'm disappointed like everyone else at this "renewal". But what I'm really upset about is how they keep digesting Tada's runs, when he's one of the only guys with a legitimate chance at kanzen. When he was the last man standing, I just knew he was gonna fail as a result. Good to see Keitaro Yamamoto finally clear the second stage. But as far as other human interest stories, it's a lot of disappointment. That 46-year old with the course replicas failed the dragon glider, Kanno and Shunsuke failed the dragon glider (again), Shingo regressed, Mr. Sasuke embarrassed himself, and Ayano Oshima is still so close yet so far away. While I don't root for them or anyone to fail, Yuji and Yusuke failing the warped wall certainly at least added some drama, I'll say that.

[Lennon]

6.5/10. I still enjoyed myself for the most part. The lack of renewal definitely killed my overall opinion of the rating. This Sasuke will be remembered as the one where rain killed all the top numbered players in the first stage.

[wolf4537]

6 for me. It was nice to see a couple new obstacles but I am completely baffled that Stage 2 hasn't changed at all. It was also heartbreaking to see some of the failures that happened throughout this tournament.

[subtleagent]

I think Stage 3 being shook up a bit was a nice change, but with Stage 1 dragging out AGAIN, and Stage 2 nerfing the one obstacle that actually did any sort of damage to the competitors it really flatlined the tournament. Though admittedly the shock factor was high and I would give it a 6.

[LusitaniaAngel313]

I have it as a 4. It started VERY strong but once the rain showed up, the bull sh!t began and it came in DROVES. Hioki carries alongside Keitaro, Ryo, and Tada.

[CustomKing57]

GOOD:

• Keitaro FINALLY reaching the 3rd Stage after all this time!
• A couple of newbies also reaching the 3rd Stage on their second appearances.
• Yamada and Darvish failing at the first and second hurdle, they were the jokers of the pack in the whole tournament and I couldn’t care less about them.
• A couple of newbies also reaching the 3rd Stage.
• The Final Stage not being attempted this year.
• Suzuki unexpectedly breaking the record for oldest Stage 2 clear.
• Ryo proving his trip to the 3rd Stage in 36 wasn’t a fluke.

BAD:

• Only a couple of new obstacles introduced to the show, which doesn’t make the tournament feel like a proper renewal at all.
• The Stage 1 clear age record STILL remaining unbroken after 24 years of history.
• Most results until the 90s being so predictable again with challengers like Saikawa, Isa and Hioki etc. always clearing and other challengers like Shunsuke and Kanno again failing.
• Hioki again failing with the same boring result and getting a little too much screentime.
• The Morimoto Sedai being treated disrespectfully again.
• The horrible rainy weather preventing challengers after #91 from clearing the 1st Stage, including the Double Grand Champions.

UGLY:

• Tada AGAIN got digested TWICE when he was last man standing and got the furthest! Curse you Inui
• The dying stars (Shun and Kanno) replaying their failures from last year in the EXACT SAME spot!
• ARAKI GOT CUT!

I’m giving this tournament a solid 5/10 for all these aforementioned tournaments points I’ve stated.

[anime boy]

If you just pretend this isn't a renewal tournament, it was really fun. I had a blast watching it, easily the most entertaining tournament in the past two years.

[azn]

7.5 (which would be an 8 for the given options)

Easily the weakest renewal tournament of the shows history yet the rain, despite the b.s it caused at least eliminated the biggest threat of the tournament in Morimoto, that alone made it a lot more entertaining for me, plus the 3rd stage kinda showed quality over quantity as the majority of the fails where from the new additions. Then again I wasn't really gonna take this tournament as seriously, which is why I'm giving it this really generous score

Pros:
Rain led to some much needed diversity in terms of runs, especially Stage 3. As well as some close clears and fails in the first stage.

Despite only 1.5 new additions and mods to the 3rd stage, they were very effective. Albeit I am concerned over how fast those swing edge fails where, guys where clearing the first 2 obstacles in a matter of seconds only for them to fail the third.

Swing Edge was an awesome ANW derived choice to bring to Japan, the name is Questionable but at least the 3rd obstacle is more difficult and failable

Cons:
Rain of course was also a major problem, 1st Stage was at times pretty dangerous (Ryo slipping on the Tackle) and leading to 3 fails with asterisks attached in Tomo, Yuuji, and Morimoto.

No effort given to renewing stages 2 and especially 1.

Very Questionable editing decisions. Digesting the last man standing twice, Digesting Ryo's 2nd stage run given his redemption story for the tournament, Digesting some history with Suzuki's 2nd stage run and cutting Araki... for some reason, especially given he's a Morimoto Sedai.

[slicedboi]

Actually I was glad that new competitors clearing 1st stage/2nd stage.
Rain made it more intense tho.

But I felt renewals weren't much too. I hope there will be original obstacles.
I also know there weren't interesting results around 60s, but about 3 min digests were too long.
Digesting Tada was the biggest pain for me.

Overall, It was good to see fresh moments than last time.
8.3

[wrestlingfan55]

That was the most difficult tournament I've ever had to sit through. A stale course with even less drama than before.

Other than the intro for Stage 3 (whatever on Earth that was for), it was the most skippable tournament for me. I'm not sure what number I'd give it; maybe a 3/10 at best.

[Zach Smith]

9/10, if there was no rain it would probably be a 4.

[Ninja Relaxer]

I just watched Sasuke 39 last night, so I'm late to the party.

I give it a 6, and that's being generous. If it weren't for Tada's impressive Stage 3 run and the Swing Edge making Stage 3 interesting, I'd probably give it a 4 or a 5.

The worst parts:
* Tada's Stage 1 and 2 runs being digested. This took all the suspense out of Tada's Stage 3 run, because you knew he was going to fail; the producers obviously weren't going to digest a kanzenseiha run or even (one would hope) a Final Stage run. Note to the producers: You do NOT digest ANY of the last-man-standing's runs. EVER. This is like Sasuke editing 101. Geeze...

Also, this is two times in a row that Tada has had his runs digested. What did this guy do to piss off the producers? Note to Inui: Tada is currently one of the best and most likable competitors. He has All-Star-level appeal. STOP DIGESTING HIM. Seriously.

* RAIN. Completely unfair to the last few runners.

* The small crowd size was painful. I could excuse it in the last tournament, but it really took the excitement out of this one.

* Very few course changes. Thank goodness for the Swing Edge or this would have been a really lousy tournament -- one of the worst ever. But now I'm reading that the producers actually updated the Final Stage... when they could have updated the first one instead... Absolute madness. A Stage 1 overhaul is always going to give you more bang for your buck. Not only does Stage 1 occupy the most screen-time (approximately half the broadcast length), but every competitor attempts it. Given a choice, you should ALWAYS update Stage 1 over Stage 4. Argh...

* Shorter fluff pieces. Okay, this was actually a good thing where the celebrities are concerned -- no 2-minute music videos for every pop star in the competition. But I thought the regular competitors deserved more attention. The only fluff piece that really stood out was Tada's. The others seemed kind of sterile and generic.

-----

I have to say, I think Sasuke's future is looking pretty grim based on what we've seen the past few years and especially in Sasuke 39. The whole time, I felt like I was watching a show on its last legs. Stagnant course, stagnant competitor pool, stagnant atmosphere... Sadly, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 40 is the last tournament ever. Heck, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 39 is the last ever, but I think TBS is more likely to green-light Sasuke 40, given that it's an important anniversary, but they might give Inui a last-chance ultimatum when they do, something like, "Double the viewership this year or get cancelled." And when producers get an ultimatum like that, that's when they start making desperate plays like radically altering a show's format. I hope it doesn't happen, but we'll see.

[lightningmatt]

Jan 2, 2022 16:06:42 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

I have to say, I think Sasuke's future is looking pretty grim based on what we've seen the past few years and especially in Sasuke 39. The whole time I was watching, I felt like I was watching a show on its last legs. Stagnant course, stagnant competitor pool, stagnant atmosphere... Sadly, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 40 is the last tournament ever. Heck, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 39 is the last ever, but I think TBS is more likely to green-light a Sasuke 40 anniversary special, and maybe give Inui a last-chance ultimatum like, "Double the viewership this year or get cancelled." And that's when the producers start making desperate plays like radically altering a show's format. I hope it doesn't happen, but we'll see.

Well, considering TBS themselves said 32.234 million people watched SASUKE 39, which is about a quarter of the country, I think it's safe to say this show ain't ending any time soon.

[Ninja Relaxer]

Jan 4, 2022 12:28:08 GMT -5 lightningmatt said:

Jan 2, 2022 16:06:42 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

I have to say, I think Sasuke's future is looking pretty grim based on what we've seen the past few years and especially in Sasuke 39. The whole time I was watching, I felt like I was watching a show on its last legs. Stagnant course, stagnant competitor pool, stagnant atmosphere... Sadly, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 40 is the last tournament ever. Heck, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 39 is the last ever, but I think TBS is more likely to green-light a Sasuke 40 anniversary special, and maybe give Inui a last-chance ultimatum like, "Double the viewership this year or get cancelled." And that's when the producers start making desperate plays like radically altering a show's format. I hope it doesn't happen, but we'll see.

Well, considering TBS themselves said 32.234 million people watched SASUKE 39, which is about a quarter of the country, I think it's safe to say this show ain't ending any time soon.

Well, that certainly sounds promising. How does it compare to past tournaments?

[subtleagent]

Yeah giving Tada two digests when he was the only one to clear the Cliffhanger was pretty weird. And yeah the rain in the last 10 made said last 10 feel really anti-climactic since you know most of them would have cleared Stage 1 otherwise (especially Yuuji and Morimoto). On top of that nerfing the Rolling Log was probably one of the most unforgivable nerfs this show has made in a long time. Especially since it was a renewal tournament.

[dakohosu]

Jan 4, 2022 14:52:34 GMT -5 subtleagent said:

Yeah giving Tada two digests when he was the only one to clear the Cliffhanger was pretty weird. And yeah the rain in the last 10 made said last 10 feel really anti-climactic since you know most of them would have cleared Stage 1 otherwise (especially Yuuji and Morimoto). On top of that nerfing the Rolling Log was probably one of the most unforgivable nerfs this show has made in a long time. Especially since it was a renewal tournament.

I’m certain the reason they nerfed the log was to ensure enough people reached Stage 3 such that more people would fail the Sidewinder or Swing Edge to make it seem like more of a bloodbath. I agree though that it was a stupid move, especially given that without the rain we probably would’ve got 20+ Stage 1 clears and 10 or so Stage 2 clears even had there not been said nerf. What makes it even worse is that unlike halting the Cliffhanger Dimension as a sudden decision after Morimoto failed, they planned all along to have made the track shorter; it’s not like they just made the obstacle easier after a load of big names failed Stage 1.

[ahzoo]

Jan 4, 2022 12:28:08 GMT -5 lightningmatt said:

Jan 2, 2022 16:06:42 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

I have to say, I think Sasuke's future is looking pretty grim based on what we've seen the past few years and especially in Sasuke 39. The whole time I was watching, I felt like I was watching a show on its last legs. Stagnant course, stagnant competitor pool, stagnant atmosphere... Sadly, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 40 is the last tournament ever. Heck, I won't be surprised if Sasuke 39 is the last ever, but I think TBS is more likely to green-light a Sasuke 40 anniversary special, and maybe give Inui a last-chance ultimatum like, "Double the viewership this year or get cancelled." And that's when the producers start making desperate plays like radically altering a show's format. I hope it doesn't happen, but we'll see.

Well, considering TBS themselves said 32.234 million people watched SASUKE 39, which is about a quarter of the country, I think it's safe to say this show ain't ending any time soon.

Honestly, if nothing else, it's clear that the marketing push and near-constant social-media barrage did exactly what it should, and indeed, if there is a standout part of the tourney, it has been in the lengths Inui went to promote and build hype around the competitors in the endless fluff pieces locally, as well as the fact that even outside of the official channels there has been more excitement built up around this tourney with the Sasuke fandom readily being encouraged to build up excitement around this year.

Honestly, if I were Inui, I'd try and leverage this swift and sustainable rebound [Sasukepedia lists 38 and 39 as the two highest-rated tourneys since Morimoto became a Grand Champion] into a twice-yealy recording, and/or try to transition fully into a marketing/social-media outreach role, as it is clear that the Japanese public still care about SASUKE, the show simply needs to harness this more fully [maybe design-your-own obstacle contests like in ANW?].

At the very least, this should certainly help with the budget cuts if TBS can believe that last year wasn't a fluke.