SASUKE 40 Trials

[cb]

I just found out that there will be SASUKE 40 trials that would be broadcasted on the 12th (episode 1), 13th (episode 2), 15th (episode 3), 16th (episode 4) and the 17th (episode 5) on TVer. There will be 500 people trying to qualify so it will be the biggest trial.



More Info:
www.oricon.co.jp/news/2256314/full/

[exactaabdillah]

More SASUKE stuff to fill the void before the actual competition is always welcomed, hope to see exciting prospects and hidden gems lurking around the trials this time around.

[dakohosu]

500 f*** me I can’t remember how many were shortlisted for trials for earlier tournaments but this is easily the biggest trial we’ve ever seen.

I just hope that means that there’s more than like 10 spots to actually get on the show lol.

Like if we get all these massive and complex sets of trials and then end up getting a load of Dragon Glider fodder then what the f*** is the process for getting selected lol? At least we get to see it in action so we can rule out Inui just picking randos who he think will be ‘funny’ to see on the show, as if that’s not been saturated already with the hoards of celebrity comedians we get.

[katoshiho]

And I think Sato Kaede may also compete this year.
The other member Ito also from Nogizaka 46 is impossible. It just a watcher watching the trial. That It.
I wish there's at least one women idol reached Dragon Glider.

[dakohosu]

Nov 9, 2022 7:29:24 GMT -5 katoshiho said:

And I think Sato Kaede may also compete this year.
The other member Ito also from Nogizaka 46 is impossible. It just a watcher watching the trial. That It.
I wish there's at least one women idol reached Dragon Glider.

I mean this has nothing to do with the trials as celebrities get their own selection process.

The trials are for regular competitors who want a chance to show what they’re made of. Pretty much every non-celebrity prominent competitor today; Hioki, Tomo, Keitaro, hell even Yuuji and Yusuke, were trial qualifiers.

Celebrities usually just straight up get invited, or have a much less stringent/physical audition experience.

[cb]

More info and speculation:
- The trials contain 5 rounds so that's 1 round per episodes
- If you look closely on the photos people are wearing bibs in 5 different colours (red, green, purple, blue and orange) so most likely they'll be split into groups based on the colours and 2 people might get chosen for each colour. (DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR THIS, IT'S SPECULATION.)

On a side note, if these trialists aren't fodder and can actually do well, I can see loads of clears on Stage 1 (20-30). Hopefully, if there's a lot of clears, this will be a wakeup call for them to change the course. I also like people doing well so there's that.

[dakohosu]

Nov 9, 2022 11:03:40 GMT -5 cb said:

More info and speculation:
- The trials contain 5 rounds so that's 1 round per episodes
- If you look closely on the photos people are wearing bibs in 5 different colours (red, green, purple, blue and orange) so most likely they'll be split into groups based on the colours and 2 people might get chosen for each colour. (DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR THIS, IT'S SPECULATION.)

On a side note, if these trialists aren't fodder and can actually do well, I can see loads of clears on Stage 1 (20-30). Hopefully, if there's a lot of clears, this will be a wakeup call for them to change the course. I also like people doing well so there's that.

I’m assuming the speculation part of your post was that you’re guessing there will be 10 spots right? Fair assumption given the direction the show seems to be going in r/e celebrities. 10 out of 500 would be insanely tough, though the upside of this is that those who do get selected are the cream of the crop. I’d rather have 10 genuine threats to reach Stage 3 rather than 50 fodder competitors who will at best fail the SL Nobori. Even if that does mean more of the field gets allocated to joke competitors.

Yeah assuming nothing major on Stage 1 (we know the course is likely to stay the same but even a time limit change could shake things up) we’re easily getting 20+ clears, given that we would’ve had at least 18-19 in 39 with no rain. With there allegedly being no weather issues, competitors having trained for an additional year, and HOPEFULLY some talented new blood we can defo see 20+ this year, which is usually the cutoff point at which they start to actually do something about the course (like after 30 and 34).

[YourResidentKojiFan]

Okay, so more speculation, and very pessimistic speculation at that, but I'm scared that because of this, it means guys like Shinya Iwasaki (the 37-year-old Morimoto picked) might not be guaranteed to get in. Cause what I'm thinking is him and everyone else that a noted competitor picked may still have to go through the trials, and if they're anything like previous trials, it could mean one slip and they're done, which I guess is the whole point of SASUKE, but still. I really hope those guys that got picked by Morimoto and company just get invited regardless, but knowing Inui...

[dakohosu]

Nov 9, 2022 13:55:38 GMT -5 YourResidentKojiFan said:

Okay, so more speculation, and very pessimistic speculation at that, but I'm scared that because of this, it means guys like Shinya Iwasaki (the 37-year-old Morimoto picked) might not be guaranteed to get in. Cause what I'm thinking is him and everyone else that a noted competitor picked may still have to go through the trials, and if they're anything like previous trials, it could mean one slip and they're done, which I guess is the whole point of SASUKE, but still. I really hope those guys that got picked by Morimoto and company just get invited regardless, but knowing Inui...

Yeah that was actually my exact thought.

If it were up to me I'd have seen Iwasaki's audition video and picked him instantly, along with anyone else who's displayed that they're athletically capable across at least all of the first three stages. To me, anyone who's shown through proven footage that they're a genuine Stage 3 or even Stage 4 contender would be a guaranteed pick, and I'd honestly wager a really high proportion of the 500 applying just aren't. It still baffles me that guys like Sho Ishikawa or that Aoki Nagano guy haven't been picked despite training for 10+ years, especially given that the performances of the 'regular' competitors (non-celebs and non-veterans) have been laughably bad on the whole. It begs the question how a lot of these guys even get picked; it can't be for comedy, we have enough (way too much in fact) of that from the celebrity competitors. 

Either way, if any of the old trials are anything to go by, how can you gauge the full extent of someone's athletic ability through a sandbag throw or balance beam event, compared to a much tougher course that's more in-line with the difficulty of the actual SASUKE course? I get the idea of giving everyone a chance, but clearly the point of these trials and the more rigorous selection process is to choose competitors who could potentially break out and provide some unpredictability to the results, so by that logic shouldn't the threshold of skill be significantly higher than its been before?

I won't say any more as we haven't even seen what the trials are like; I just hope it's something closer to the Sasuke 13 trials (unlikely cos Inui is too stingy to set up an entire course just for trials).

Also, what is that I see in the background of the first photo? Are they tents? Lol.

[brz0ny]

I am wondering what the 5 in front are for lol. Maybe they will act like mentors for the teams or something lmao

[YourResidentKojiFan]

Nov 9, 2022 15:12:08 GMT -5 brz0ny said:

I am wondering what the 5 in front are for lol. Maybe they will act like mentors for the teams or something lmao

I believe so, considering that that's either Hioki or his twin we never heard of on the far right, then whom I believe to be Ryo, Yuuji and Kawaguchi in the center, and I think that's Shingo on the far left? Looks like him. And I don't consider myself a genius, but I don't believe any of them will have to go through the trials, so they've gotta be the mentors or something.

[m4tt3r0x]

guess we're not getting numbers till at least the 17th

[cb]

After watching a video about the Trials here's new info:
- All episodes will air 7pm JST
- The 500 competitors will be split in to 5 groups of 100
- The top 10 fastest clears overall move to the final round
- Anyone who manages to beat the final course will earn a spot for SASUKE 40 (so it means we get 0-10 trialists for 40, hopefully we don't get 0)

[ahzoo]

Nov 10, 2022 2:40:59 GMT -5 cb said:

(so it means we get 0-10 trialists for 40, hopefully we don't get 0)

I'll be frank - Just getting 10 trialists on its own was already to me the definition of a scandal and proof that Inui just didn't care about creating new stars from the show anymore.

The fact that even that is a best case scenario, and depending on just how horrifically steep the final round may be [as, let's be clear, about the only way that it could be easier than the First Stage which they are all vying for a chance to take on is if Inui just lifted the results of the Worst Course ever polls Brozny did a while back, and even that might well be less of a hurdle than the first 3 obstacles are anymore].

Not only is this double-entry system unfair on the competitors who live, care for, and are passionate about chasing their dreams, but it also just gives Inui the perfect pretext on which to deny skilled, able competitors who would get at least 10 different fluff pieces about their drive and tenacity, if not the outright Levi treatment had they just signed to a talent agency [as I refuse to believe that any member of that final 10 could not make it to the Third Stage on an average-to-okie day if the rounored competition level of the Trials turn out to have been in any way correct], and use them to pad out the runtime and 100 list on more joke competitors, and use the inability of the finalists to scale a Double Salmon Ladder within 10s, or some other similarly unreasonable hurdle as proof that theoe bland, only-in-it-for-the-paycheck celebrities are somehow more deserving of the honours.

Just...

How can we be expected to get excited about this sham of a Trials, if chances are it's just going to be there to grant us the illusion of hope?

The runners deserve better.

The fans deserve better.

The show deserves oh so much better than this.

So, why?

[brz0ny]

Nov 9, 2022 19:22:30 GMT -5 YourResidentKojiFan said:

Nov 9, 2022 15:12:08 GMT -5 brz0ny said:

I am wondering what the 5 in front are for lol. Maybe they will act like mentors for the teams or something lmao

I believe so, considering that that's either Hioki or his twin we never heard of on the far right, then whom I believe to be Ryo, Yuuji and Kawaguchi in the center, and I think that's Shingo on the far left? Looks like him. And I don't consider myself a genius, but I don't believe any of them will have to go through the trials, so they've gotta be the mentors or something.

I thought the first one there is Tada? Really not sure now that I look back at it lol.

[dakohosu]

In response to the revelation about there being 0-10 finalists, honestly fuuuuuuuuuuck that. Surely being the top 10 out of five f***ing hundred is enough? Especially as I'm sure thousands more applied but got declined, like I get Sasuke is popular and everyone wants to be on the show so you have to make the selection process stringent, but this is honestly bordering on madness at this point. I'm also assuming that given the limited number of veterans/regulars we have on the show, any one of the ten spots that doesn't get fulfilled is just going to go to another random celebrity who gets invited. I mean the difference between 60 and 70 celebs isn't much at this point, but it's the principle that just pisses me the hell off. It's almost as though Inui felt compelled to do the trials for the 40th tournament as an occasion but then last minute decided he wanted yet more comedians so changed the terms on the fly. The final trial is also likely to be much harder than the preliminaries, so there's a fair chance a good proportion of the 10 finalists WILL fail.

Honestly my expectations are soooooooo low at this point, not even on the floor, but in a deep trench dug up ever since RISING started in 2012, yet Inui always, ALWAYS finds a way to do something utterly baffling.

[m4tt3r0x]

Hoping I can find somewhere to watch this tomorrow (or early on the 12th I guess, not really sure on the time)

[Ninja Relaxer]

I've never seen any of the Trials. I hope the episodes become available somewhere for us non-Japanese viewers to watch.

Agree with others, though, that the possibility of having 0 "winners" is quite lame. Ideally, the best 5-10 competitors should advance to the real competition. The show needs more talented young competitors, and this is the best way to find/select them.

[Sasuke Mania]

Nov 10, 2022 3:47:10 GMT -5 ahzoo said:

Nov 10, 2022 2:40:59 GMT -5 cb said:

(so it means we get 0-10 trialists for 40, hopefully we don't get 0)

I'll be frank - Just getting 10 trialists on its own was already to me the definition of a scandal and proof that Inui just didn't care about creating new stars from the show anymore.

The fact that even that is a best case scenario, and depending on just how horrifically steep the final round may be [as, let's be clear, about the only way that it could be easier than the First Stage which they are all vying for a chance to take on is if Inui just lifted the results of the Worst Course ever polls Brozny did a while back, and even that might well be less of a hurdle than the first 3 obstacles are anymore].

Not only is this double-entry system unfair on the competitors who live, care for, and are passionate about chasing their dreams, but it also just gives Inui the perfect pretext on which to deny skilled, able competitors who would get at least 10 different fluff pieces about their drive and tenacity, if not the outright Levi treatment had they just signed to a talent agency [as I refuse to believe that any member of that final 10 could not make it to the Third Stage on an average-to-okie day if the rounored competition level of the Trials turn out to have been in any way correct], and use them to pad out the runtime and 100 list on more joke competitors, and use the inability of the finalists to scale a Double Salmon Ladder within 10s, or some other similarly unreasonable hurdle as proof that theoe bland, only-in-it-for-the-paycheck celebrities are somehow more deserving of the honours.

Just...

How can we be expected to get excited about this sham of a Trials, if chances are it's just going to be there to grant us the illusion of hope?

The runners deserve better.

The fans deserve better.

The show deserves oh so much better than this.

So, why?

....excuse me but what are you on about

I don't see how 0~10 is an issue? You're saying this on pure speculation, we don't know any of the events yet or who might be competing. Have a shred of optimism dammit, would you rather we go back to the same dumb push-up system we had before this? lol

[brz0ny]

Nov 10, 2022 14:54:18 GMT -5 dakohosu said:

In response to the revelation about there being 0-10 finalists, honestly fuuuuuuuuuuck that. Surely being the top 10 out of five f***ing hundred is enough? Especially as I'm sure thousands more applied but got declined, like I get Sasuke is popular and everyone wants to be on the show so you have to make the selection process stringent, but this is honestly bordering on madness at this point. I'm also assuming that given the limited number of veterans/regulars we have on the show, any one of the ten spots that doesn't get fulfilled is just going to go to another random celebrity who gets invited. I mean the difference between 60 and 70 celebs isn't much at this point, but it's the principle that just pisses me the hell off. It's almost as though Inui felt compelled to do the trials for the 40th tournament as an occasion but then last minute decided he wanted yet more comedians so changed the terms on the fly. The final trial is also likely to be much harder than the preliminaries, so there's a fair chance a good proportion of the 10 finalists WILL fail.

Honestly my expectations are soooooooo low at this point, not even on the floor, but in a deep trench dug up ever since RISING started in 2012, yet Inui always, ALWAYS finds a way to do something utterly baffling.

To be honest, if these 500 guys are any good, top 10 should breeze past final challenge. Imo if they cant get past it then either its an extremely difficult challenge that only frequent stage 1 clearers can consistently beat, or they just arent good enough for anything more anyway.