|
|
Post by subtleagent on Feb 3, 2022 3:16:58 GMT -5
Simple question. Basically Darvish has always more or less been the celebrity that the show has given the most coverage as well as the highest numbers. That said, he's had a bout of rotten luck these last 3 tournaments while other celebrities have not only cleared in his place, but many of them have done so on their first try. Saikawa, Sugeta, and especially Kajihara have all exploded onto the scene and all of them have at least beaten the Salmon Ladder. And in Kajihara's case he's now made it further than Darvish did in 36. Though Saikawa and Sugeta have proven they have the potential to go far. Ajima is more a maybe as he flubbed the nerfed Rolling Log. But he did beat Stage 1 on his first go, which I found pretty impressive given not many celebs have done that and he also is still quite young so he has the potential to go further.
And then there's Snow Man who in the last two tournaments has more or less become the new focal celebrity in Darvish's place after he fails. I doubt they'll take eyes off Darvish given he's a huge ratings draw, but do you think any of the aforementioned will end up with higher placement in the rotation than Darvish and/or become the face of the show in Darvish's place in the future? Right now I'm looking at Snow Man or Kajihara to take the role of their main celebrity. Saikawa they seem content with leaving as a first clear (essentially he's become the new Hioki and in an earlier spot to boot), but they could boost him and Sugeta I'm not sure.
|
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on Feb 3, 2022 7:09:40 GMT -5
When Darvish the stupid clown retires forever ill celebrate out loud Please keep this thread civil and don't derail the topic; no one asked whether you'll celebrate or not when Darvish retires. I'd say any replacement has to be both at least as famous as Darvish is in Japan and have similarly reasonable levels of success . He's probably the most famous competing celebrity currently who's serious about doing well, which is reflected by the fact that he's the only one who consistently gets numbers in the high 90s in spite of his recent performances and gets spotlighted more than basically any other competitor. Golden Bomber is a huge deal in Japan so it's unsurprising; it's a similar situation to Hiromichi Sato in Shin-Sasuke who is also really well known as the NHK host. Darvish is also probably the OG serious celebrity of the post-RISING era as he was the first out of that lot to make Stages 2 and 3. In terms of a replacement, I'd say only Snow Man really fits the bill. He's had a similar track record to Darvish so far, with a bunch of Stage 1 fails followed by gradually improving Stage 2 attempts and I predict he may reach Stage 3 at some point but likely go out early, again similar to Darvish. And yeah, he's basically already become the new Darvish in recent tournaments given that basically every fail or clear cuts to his reaction. Not that I'm well educated on Japanese pop culture, but the fact that he was given so much promo material is clearly a reflection of how famous he is in Japan, so he's definitely sufficiently well-known among viewers to be the new 'it' celebrity. He's also in a boy band which again is another parallel with Darvish. Saikawa and Kajihara are fundamentally stronger competitors but they're probably more of a replacement for Mori given that they're all Athlete Actors rather than musicians. Sugeta and Ajima I'd say are a tad too young and not developed enough career wise to be candidates, and ABC-Z has now failed Stage 1 five times in a row and was never as strong a competitor as Darvish was anyway. |
|
azn
Ishikawa Terukazu
"There's a time and place for everything... BUT NOT NOW!!!" - Prof. Oak
Posts: 455
|
Post by azn on Feb 3, 2022 14:34:49 GMT -5
Saikawa and Kajihara are essentially this generations version of the Kosugi Brothers, talento's who are well rounded and are really good at SASUKE and are usually seen partnered up and supporting each other. Whether they'll also become significant "needle movers" for the show akin to what the Kosugi Brothers (especially Kane) were is up for grabs. The Johnny's Jr guys - Rinne and Hideki - are interesting in that they have great promise to do well but I guess it's a matter of waiting until future tournaments to see what happens to them. I'm actually not the biggest fan of SNOW MAN, but that's also because I find him pretty boring, especially given his celebrity status. However considering his significant screen time and his gradual improvement, I do think he's the closest we'll get to Darvish at the moment. I did however chose other, and I might get some flack for this but considering how much attention he got, Boruneesan is someone who I feel also has a really good shot at replacing Darvish. Yes the entire premise around Boruneesan makes him insane to compete, yes he might actually not have the usual credentials to be celebrity, as he's more of a internet personality but I think the reason why it will be on par, if not replace Darvish is that he's perfect marketing material, particularly for youth audiences. Unlike other celebs, Boruneesan can be part of similar events like this one which I feel is beneficial for him as he can have his own moments in these videos and gain a lot of intrigue from spectators and fans of the show (solid technique on the UCL too) If anything if SASUKE want's there very own mascot for future tournaments, Boruneesan is the one for the job. Also just wanna quickly mention Tsukada (ABC-Z guy) as a possible candidate. I can only assume the reason why he wasn't on the poll nor was he mentioned by Subtleagent, PizzaKing 2.0 (who struck again) and Dakoosu is because of his track record. 2/7 on the first stage and 0/2 on the current salmon ladder isn't eye opening by any means, although clearing the first stage twice means he's more successful than the numerous other celebs who competed on this show. He was a consistent 2nd in command behind Darvish up until Snow Man started to clear obstacles Tsukada hasn't but he still get's just as much screen time and he's just as popular. |
|
azn
Ishikawa Terukazu
"There's a time and place for everything... BUT NOT NOW!!!" - Prof. Oak
Posts: 455
|
Post by azn on Feb 3, 2022 14:51:20 GMT -5
Darvish is a poo face and talks like a dieing cat SASUKE is stuck in this clowns brain and nothing else Do this on a YouTube comment section, not here. It's getting ridiculous now. (you should also put a period between cat and SASUKE, also it's dying not dieing) |
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on Feb 3, 2022 15:14:53 GMT -5
I'm not big on Snow Man either; he kind of just acts like a typical celebrity, only hanging out with the other celebrity competitors (the exception being Hioki but he's effectively a Sasuke celebrity at this point) and doesn't seem to acknowledge or care about the wider Sasuke community. At least Darvish is somewhat more down-to-earth and has befriended a lot of the other competitors on a personal level. Either way, the level of attention he's been getting over the past two tournaments has basically consolidated him as the new Darvish, whether we like it or not. Basically every fail or clear cuts to his reaction, he gets an absurd amount of screen time, and is given 5-minute-long fluff pieces for all of his runs.
Boruneesan would actually be quite a compelling choice if it weren't for that damn suit, the issue being is that the suit is what defines his character. It's the equivalent of Darvish's face paint, except it's actually detrimental to his success on the show (I mean his Fish Bone fail was literally due to the edge of his suit being caught by the pole). Also, what would happen if he actually cleared Stage 1? Surely they wouldn't let him compete in Stage 2 with the costume on. Either way, I'd be interested to see his true potential given that he's a climbing mascot and the course is heavily biased towards those with climbing backgrounds.
On the subject of Tsukada, I'm not really surprised he's been doing poorly recently as none of his recent fluff pieces have shown him to actually train for Sasuke specifically, so I feel as though he's not that interested anymore and just competes to show face and to help the ratings (and obviously because he's paid to do so....). He doesn't strike me as being passionate enough (anymore at least) to be a viable replacement for Darvish.
And seriously, is this guy PizzaKing's seventh(?) account? I'm not throwing shade but this is a discussion thread and your comments are reaaaalllllyyyy childish and not adding any value to the topic at hand.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ninja Relaxer on Feb 3, 2022 15:30:14 GMT -5
Darvish is definitely aging out of the competitive sphere, so I think the producers are smart to replace him with someone younger at this point (as cold as that sounds). But it's impossible to talk about potential replacements without knowing more about Japanese culture and the relative fame of its celebrities. Is Snowman comparable to Darvish? What about Kajihara? Because Kajihara seems the most promising competitor, but if he's not as famous as Darvish or Snowman, then he might not be the best replacement.
|
|
|
|
Post by subtleagent on Feb 3, 2022 16:36:15 GMT -5
I think SASUKE was always more of a side gig for Tsukada. Yeah he trained with Yuuji for a while, but even then his results were less than stellar as a whole (even his Stage 1 clears were on the slow end despite the time limits in 33 and 34 being super lenient). I left him out because his results really haven't given me the impression that he has much of a chance of getting through Stage 1 again, let alone Stage 3.
All of the aforementioned have shown signs of improvement and have shown to train for the course. Though they are all still quite young so we'll see. I was debating putting Tomohiro Mutou on the list, but I'm not entirely sure I would count him as a celebrity. While he does represent Samurai Orchestra, I don't think he's quite as mainstream as Iketani (who was never really invested in SASUKE that much to begin with as it was always more of a side gig than something he was committed to), so he always came off as more to Iketani what the Black Tigers are to Yamada.
And given Iketani's recent results have been more sporadic and he's done worse than both Yamada and Torisawa I reckon that's why they didn't let him on for SASUKE 39.
Given the show tends to flip flop on spotlight for athletic celebs, I'm not sure if they would place Kajihara on over Snow Man since bands tend to be a bigger draw for the show as a whole (which is why I was a little shocked they digested Wasabi this time around). Just look at Wataru Mori, his screen time was high, but it wasn't anywhere near the amount Darvish and Tsukada got on a competition basis.
|
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on Feb 4, 2022 3:23:42 GMT -5
I think SASUKE was always more of a side gig for Tsukada. Yeah he trained with Yuuji for a while, but even then his results were less than stellar as a whole (even his Stage 1 clears were on the slow end despite the time limits in 33 and 34 being super lenient). I left him out because his results really haven't given me the impression that he has much of a chance of getting through Stage 1 again, let alone Stage 3. All of the aforementioned have shown signs of improvement and have shown to train for the course. Though they are all still quite young so we'll see. I was debating putting Tomohiro Mutou on the list, but I'm not entirely sure I would count him as a celebrity. While he does represent Samurai Orchestra, I don't think he's quite as mainstream as Iketani (who was never really invested in SASUKE that much to begin with as it was always more of a side gig than something he was committed to), so he always came off as more to Iketani what the Black Tigers are to Yamada. And given Iketani's recent results have been more sporadic and he's done worse than both Yamada and Torisawa I reckon that's why they didn't let him on for SASUKE 39. Given the show tends to flip flop on spotlight for athletic celebs, I'm not sure if they would place Kajihara on over Snow Man since bands tend to be a bigger draw for the show as a whole (which is why I was a little shocked they digested Wasabi this time around). Just look at Wataru Mori, his screen time was high, but it wasn't anywhere near the amount Darvish and Tsukada got on a competition basis. They're also nowhere near as famous as Darvish is. Mutou isn't particularly well known and I wouldn't even class him as a celebrity, he's sort of the modern day Terukazu Ishikawa. Besides we've had a couple of other Samurai Orchestra guys clear Stage 1 (in 31 and 33) and I bet you couldn't even name them without looking up Sasukepedia because they're so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Just because someone is the protege of or works for a celebrity doesn't make them one. Results are only half the story; Darvish was massively spotlighted even when he was doing pretty badly in his first few tournaments. They need someone to aggressively market in the content leading up to, and during the show, in order to drive ratings, and for this to be successful the 'replacement' needs to be sufficiently well-known throughout Japan to attract viewers who otherwise might not bother watching. It seems as though Snow Man fits the bill (especially given how much he was featured in the promo content), and the fact he's been doing quite well recently only adds to this. Again, I think the recent editing decisions are pretty conclusive that Snow Man is starting to become the new 'it' celebrity. |
|
