Ryo's recent performance

[jpxiii]

Will Ryo return to the final stage tower in Sasuke 40?
From Sasuke 31 to 35 he'd been sucking and failing all over the place. He had a minor resurgence in 36 and 38-39, but can he get back to the final stage though? He's nearing 35 and I'm worried he'll start declining since I thought he made a comeback in 38 and 39.
Side note: at least he didn't become a Yamada Jr. as others said back in 2018 because of his 5 consecutive stage 1 failures. And I've noticed he started smiling and showing emotions lately, which I didn't see in the past 5 years

[brz0ny]

Hopefully yes, I have a good feeling about this tournament for some reason. He is definitely capable of doing that, after almost clearing in 36. If he works on Vertical Limit more and has a bit of luck on Cliffhanger Dimension then I dont see him fail Third Stage. Obviously first 2 stages were always pretty tricky for him which is why in my predictions post the difference between low and high was massive.

[dakohosu]

Realistically I don’t see him failing anywhere before the Third Stage, maybe the Second if they’re really mean with the time limit reduction.

The whole “Ryo’s inconsistent” is a bit out of date now. He’s shown that when he actually applies himself he’s not inconsistent at all as seen by his runs in 27-30 where he was in his honeymoon phase from his breakout, and his recent performances where it seems he’s turned a corner in terms of attitude and has done a lot better in the last two comps. Coincidence? I think not. He mentally checked out between 31-35 and I regularly heard that he didn’t train or engage with the community, as well as apparently expecting to fail on a couple of his runs, which is why he did poorly. Now that’s clearly no longer the case with how committed he is to the community and training etc, and with the lack of changes to Stage 1 I can’t see him failing anywhere bar a freak accident. The fact that he was able to beat the Warped Wall which had always plagued him, in the wet no less, was probably the most impressive run of the entire tournament imo. His age isn’t an issue at all, he’s 33 not 45. He’s in the prime of his athletic career, and if anything it seems to have helped him gain some maturity rather than going on a strop if he does badly like he did a few tournaments ago.

In terms of how he’d do on Stage 3, hard to tell. He definitely has the most potential to clear bar Yusuke and maybe Tada, but he could either fail on the Dimension or at the end of the VL. The Dimension because the obstacle obviously has a tendency to desync it’s ledges which can screw him up completely (part of the reason I think the obstacle shouldn’t exist but story for another thread) as well as the fact that he did almost fail the Ultra Crazy showing that he is susceptible to the unpredictability of the moving ledges. The VL he nearly cleared in 36 but I feel like the Swing Edge and Dimension could tire him out significantly more prior to the obstacle than only the Ultra Crazy.

I really do want to see him clear though, SO badly. A third Final Stage run almost ten years after his last would be incredible.

[subtleagent]

Ryo's technique of completing everything before the Tackle as fast as he can, could easily trip him up if he's not careful as seen in 37 so I'm a bit worried on that. Though other than that I'm fairly certain Stage 1 won't be an issue for him. Stage 2 assuming it's the same as last time I doubt would pose much of a threat to him aside from the Backstream. Honestly I think so long as this new Stage 3 obstacle they speak of doesn't do anything to him he could easily reach the Final.

Funny how Ryo didn't seem to care and yet is still very passionate about the show while Shunsuke who's apparently lost interest in the show was supposedly upset at his fail in 39. Also weird how Shunsuke's Stage 1 slump began right after Ryo's ended.