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Post by subtleagent on Jan 27, 2023 10:03:49 GMT -5
So I think Isa is probably closer to becoming the next Daisuke Nakata than Suzuki is. His attempts at Stage 3 were less than stellar and yeah he had a run of bad luck in 38 with the padding on the cradle dislodging the bar so I figured maybe he could still do it. But then after watching his 40 run I was just flabbergasted. He spends TWO MINUTES on the Sidewinder and even then just barely makes the mat in the way we imagine Takeda's cut Cliffhanger "clear" in 12 probably ended up. Then he fails early on the Swing Edge.
Granted he did go from failing the Rolling Hill to being consistent in getting to Stage 3, but now I'm just worried. 40's run didn't give me much confidence that he has a shot at the Final Stage and perhaps he ought to train for Stage 3 more? I mean he is a decathlete (which isn't really a sport known for upper body strength), but still I do find it a bit confidence dropping that he had this much trouble on Stage 3. I do also recall he's not really aiming to clear the stage, just reach it which good on him he's achieved his goal, but it doesn't really give us much to look forward to if he's just going to keep reaching Stage 3 only to give pitiful performances like that one.
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brz0ny
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Post by brz0ny on Jan 27, 2023 14:02:36 GMT -5
Lol I like how everyone is agreeing.
But yeah, no chance. He cant even reach Cliffhanger anymore let alone clear it and there is still 2 more obstacles.
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 27, 2023 14:07:03 GMT -5
Isa clearing Stage 3 is honestly not that much more likely than Yamada clearing Stage 1.
I personally never pegged him as a Final Stage candidate, especially with how long it's taken some of the most elite competitors to clear Stage 3 to begin with. His run in 37 wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring in and of itself (a pretty poor attempt on the first Cliffhanger transition). Granted his 38 run was unfairly screwed over (was kind of a theme in that tournament), but his runs in 39 and 40 were honestly pretty painful to watch. Anyone who has a legitimate shot at beating Stage 3 always gets through the first half of the course as quickly as possible to conserve energy. Isa by comparison looked like he had no idea what he was doing, which was understandable in 39 given the Spinwinder was new, but to see him take even longer in 40 and narrowly avoid failing it is pretty conclusive. So we have one Cliffhanger fail, and three fails on the first half of the course. When competitors like Hioki and Jun, who are at least consistently always making it to the Cliffhanger, are pegged as having no chance of clearing the stage, to say that Isa, who's only made it there once in his 4 attempts, has a shot, would be delusional imo.
There are a couple of reasons for why his performances on Stage 3 have largely sucked, and hence why I think he has zero shot at clearing. Firstly, as you mentioned, he's a decathlete, which is primarily cardio and lower-body based. He's also generally quite bulky (I think they said he weighs 170lb which is a s*** load for Japanese) which will work against him on Stage 3. Secondly, Isa doesn't really train for Sasuke (the announcer mentioned this during his Stage 2 run), at least not to the level that other competitors do, and definitely not on Stage 3. He has like one Cliffhanger ledge in his gym and that's it, and he doesn't seem to attend any group training sessions. The current Stage 3 isn't a course you can just muscle through, it's highly technical and specific, so he's effectively screwing himself over on that basis. I would also imagine that his departure from the Black Tigers would've had a negative effect on this as well, given that Yamada obviously trains his team much more specifically to Sasuke and has a load of Stage 3 replicas that they train on regularly. Yoshiyuki was always a better competitor, but this is why he's excelled significantly throughout his career whereas Isa's stagnated and if anything regressed on Stage 3. Besides, even at the height of Isa's career in the Black Tigers, he was still failing the second Cliffhanger transitions and Vertical Limit transitions in practice, which most Cliffhanger fodder competitors can do.
So yeah I'd honestly say if Isa continues not to train then the Swing Edge is his absolute limit, if he does actually get off his butt and train at Matsuda's, then Cliffhanger. I'll sign in blood now, there is absolutely no way he's reaching the Vertical Limit, let alone Stage 4. He's a very typical B-tier competitor, similar to Nakata and Masaki Kobayashi.
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Post by sasukewarrior333 on Jan 27, 2023 17:19:44 GMT -5
Nah, I don't think so. He's just never really hinted at having that potential honestly, I'd honestly put Tomo's chances of clearing a lot higher than his and he's in his 40s and hasn't beaten a Cliffhanger transition in competition since 35. Unless he has a massive glow up between tournaments, which hey is always possible, but I don't personally see it happening. I personally see five people who have Final Stage potential with a few maybes.
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Post by zoran on Jan 27, 2023 17:27:31 GMT -5
Isa clearing Stage 3 is honestly not that much more likely than Yamada clearing Stage 1. I personally never pegged him as a Final Stage candidate, especially with how long it's taken some of the most elite competitors to clear Stage 3 to begin with. His run in 37 wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring in and of itself (a pretty poor attempt on the first Cliffhanger transition). Granted his 38 run was unfairly screwed over (was kind of a theme in that tournament), but his runs in 39 and 40 were honestly pretty painful to watch. Anyone who has a legitimate shot at beating Stage 3 always gets through the first half of the course as quickly as possible to conserve energy. Isa by comparison looked like he had no idea what he was doing, which was understandable in 39 given the Spinwinder was new, but to see him take even longer in 40 and narrowly avoid failing it is pretty conclusive. So we have one Cliffhanger fail, and three fails on the first half of the course. When competitors like Hioki and Jun, who are at least consistently always making it to the Cliffhanger, are pegged as having no chance of clearing the stage, to say that Isa, who's only made it there once in his 4 attempts, has a shot, would be delusional imo. There are a couple of reasons for why his performances on Stage 3 have largely sucked, and hence why I think he has zero shot at clearing. Firstly, as you mentioned, he's a decathlete, which is primarily cardio and lower-body based. He's also generally quite bulky (I think they said he weighs 170lb which is a s*** load for Japanese) which will work against him on Stage 3. Secondly, Isa doesn't really train for Sasuke (the announcer mentioned this during his Stage 2 run), at least not to the level that other competitors do, and definitely not on Stage 3. He has like one Cliffhanger ledge in his gym and that's it, and he doesn't seem to attend any group training sessions. The current Stage 3 isn't a course you can just muscle through, it's highly technical and specific, so he's effectively screwing himself over on that basis. I would also imagine that his departure from the Black Tigers would've had a negative effect on this as well, given that Yamada obviously trains his team much more specifically to Sasuke and has a load of Stage 3 replicas that they train on regularly. Yoshiyuki was always a better competitor, but this is why he's excelled significantly throughout his career whereas Isa's stagnated and if anything regressed on Stage 3. Besides, even at the height of Isa's career in the Black Tigers, he was still failing the second Cliffhanger transitions and Vertical Limit transitions in practice, which most Cliffhanger fodder competitors can do. So yeah I'd honestly say if Isa continues not to train then the Swing Edge is his absolute limit, if he does actually get off his butt and train at Matsuda's, then Cliffhanger. I'll sign in blood now, there is absolutely no way he's reaching the Vertical Limit, let alone Stage 4. He's a very typical B-tier competitor, similar to Nakata and Masaki Kobayashi. I think he should talk to Yamada and try to get back into the black tigers, the red tigers were an objective downgrade for him. |
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 27, 2023 17:55:04 GMT -5
I think he should talk to Yamada and try to get back into the black tigers, the red tigers were an objective downgrade for him. If Yamada's anything to go by, won't happen. Yamada clearly wants competitors with Kanzen potential and I believe Isa made his stance quite clear that his goal was just to reach Stage 3 (which I had something to do with his departure), so I don't think Yamada will take him back on that basis. I also don't think Isa himself will want to go back because a part of me feels that he left partially because he didn't want to constantly play second fiddle to Yoshiyuki, which he obviously would be to an even greater degree given the latter's huge success. Having said that, I don't really think Isa knows what role he wants to play in the Sasuke community. He went from being a Black Tiger member, to, for some really odd reason, heading up the Red Tigers which neither worked nor lasted (the only reason I would've wanted them to come back would be to give Yoshiyuki Ogata a chance to embarrass Isa on Stage 3 lol), to now being an independent competitor that's way out on his own, which was why they placed him separate from everyone else in the running order. Hell, even his competitor description was 'Former Black Tiger' lol. He also seemed to be hanging out mainly with the pro athletes like the rugby dude and the fighter girl (forget both their names), as opposed to the other regulars. He's clearly trying hard to make a distinct name for himself but he's undecided as to how to go about it lol. But yeah, generally I agree with you. Maybe this sounds harsh, but personally I find Isa a pretty uninteresting competitor without the impetus of Yamada and the Black Tigers behind him. His performanes are very okay in that he's someone who can get to Stage 3 pretty reliably but always fails really early. Similar to Suzuki, but at least he has the novelty of being the new Sensei and is one of the most active and committed members of the community, rather than being a pro athlete which, while it doesn't take away from his consistency (as we know that most pro athletes do pretty terribly on Sasuke), isn't particularly interesting. I'm also not the biggest fan of his constant screaming; everyone complained when Asa did it, imo this is no different. |
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brz0ny
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Post by brz0ny on Jan 27, 2023 19:34:24 GMT -5
I think he should talk to Yamada and try to get back into the black tigers, the red tigers were an objective downgrade for him. If Yamada's anything to go by, won't happen. Yamada clearly wants competitors with Kanzen potential and I believe Isa made his stance quite clear that his goal was just to reach Stage 3 (which I had something to do with his departure), so I don't think Yamada will take him back on that basis. I also don't think Isa himself will want to go back because a part of me feels that he left partially because he didn't want to constantly play second fiddle to Yoshiyuki, which he obviously would be to an even greater degree given the latter's huge success. Having said that, I don't really think Isa knows what role he wants to play in the Sasuke community. He went from being a Black Tiger member, to, for some really odd reason, heading up the Red Tigers which neither worked nor lasted (the only reason I would've wanted them to come back would be to give Yoshiyuki Ogata a chance to embarrass Isa on Stage 3 lol), to now being an independent competitor that's way out on his own, which was why they placed him separate from everyone else in the running order. Hell, even his competitor description was 'Former Black Tiger' lol. He also seemed to be hanging out mainly with the pro athletes like the rugby dude and the fighter girl (forget both their names), as opposed to the other regulars. He's clearly trying hard to make a distinct name for himself but he's undecided as to how to go about it lol. But yeah, generally I agree with you. Maybe this sounds harsh, but personally I find Isa a pretty uninteresting competitor without the impetus of Yamada and the Black Tigers behind him. His performanes are very okay in that he's someone who can get to Stage 3 pretty reliably but always fails really early. Similar to Suzuki, but at least he has the novelty of being the new Sensei and is one of the most active and committed members of the community, rather than being a pro athlete which, while it doesn't take away from his consistency (as we know that most pro athletes do pretty terribly on Sasuke), isn't particularly interesting. I'm also not the biggest fan of his constant screaming; everyone complained when Asa did it, imo this is no different. Tbh he is way less whiny than Asa |
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 27, 2023 19:43:12 GMT -5
Tbh he is way less whiny than Asa Yeah true, and tbf he also omits Asa's tendency to cry loads, though this never bothered me as it was just a sign of emotion and crying generally seems to be much more common in Japanese culture. The screaming though heeeelllll no. |
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Post by sasukewarrior333 on Jan 27, 2023 22:01:04 GMT -5
Honestly I absolutely loved Asa and I really miss him, but I do totally get how his screen presence could be a little much.
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 28, 2023 11:42:56 GMT -5
Honestly I absolutely loved Asa and I really miss him, but I do totally get how his screen presence could be a little much. Yeah so do I, I feel like we don’t really have enough unique characters anymore, at least not to the level that Asa was. I think the main thing that rubbed me the wrong way about him was how him and Kanno had effectively identical results during RISING, yet the former got masses more screen time despite the latter having a stronger track record. I fully agree that Asa was more interesting a competitor than Kanno was, but a part of me almost felt like the reason for the greater focus on him was BECAUSE of his shouting and screaming alone, which made them feel much more incessant and grating at times. I liked Asa for his backstory and his emotional investment, not his on stage antics. Sure, you could argue the two are one and the same, but crying is something you can’t control and again just shows passion, at times I felt like his constant screaming was unnecessary and borderline annoying. I’d mind it a lot more if he didn’t seem like such an all round nice guy and a greater competitor, but yeah. |
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transgenderserena
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Post by transgenderserena on Jan 28, 2023 12:02:50 GMT -5
Honestly I absolutely loved Asa and I really miss him, but I do totally get how his screen presence could be a little much. Yeah so do I, I feel like we don’t really have enough unique characters anymore, at least not to the level that Asa was. I think the main thing that rubbed me the wrong way about him was how him and Kanno had effectively identical results during RISING, yet the former got masses more screen time despite the latter having a stronger track record. I fully agree that Asa was more interesting a competitor than Kanno was, but a part of me almost felt like the reason for the greater focus on him was BECAUSE of his shouting and screaming alone, which made them feel much more incessant and grating at times. I liked Asa for his backstory and his emotional investment, not his on stage antics. Sure, you could argue the two are one and the same, but crying is something you can’t control and again just shows passion, at times I felt like his constant screaming was unnecessary and borderline annoying. I’d mind it a lot more if he didn’t seem like such an all round nice guy and a greater competitor, but yeah. Fun Fact:Jim North nicknames Asa "The Crying Gardener" in the challenge dubs of SASUKE 28-34 |
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 28, 2023 14:11:12 GMT -5
Yeah so do I, I feel like we don’t really have enough unique characters anymore, at least not to the level that Asa was. I think the main thing that rubbed me the wrong way about him was how him and Kanno had effectively identical results during RISING, yet the former got masses more screen time despite the latter having a stronger track record. I fully agree that Asa was more interesting a competitor than Kanno was, but a part of me almost felt like the reason for the greater focus on him was BECAUSE of his shouting and screaming alone, which made them feel much more incessant and grating at times. I liked Asa for his backstory and his emotional investment, not his on stage antics. Sure, you could argue the two are one and the same, but crying is something you can’t control and again just shows passion, at times I felt like his constant screaming was unnecessary and borderline annoying. I’d mind it a lot more if he didn’t seem like such an all round nice guy and a greater competitor, but yeah. Fun Fact:Jim North nicknames Asa "The Crying Gardener" in the challenge dubs of SASUKE 28-34 Yeah I noticed, it's about as literal a nickname as you can get. He's a gardener, and he cries. Lol. |
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Post by Cosmic Castaway on Jan 30, 2023 0:28:54 GMT -5
Is Asa's literal name Asa first and Kazuma second? For a long time I have had this nagging confusion especially since I think even the announcers mispronounce it...
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Post by YourResidentKojiFan on Jan 30, 2023 0:42:36 GMT -5
Is Asa's literal name Asa first and Kazuma second? For a long time I have had this nagging confusion especially since I think even the announcers mispronounce it... So, in the U.S., Canada, U.K., etc., they call him Kazuma Asa, which is his actual name. First name Kazuma, last name Asa. In Japan though, they say the last name first, which I believe is done to respect the family or something along those lines, so they'd call him Asa Kazuma. |
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Post by azn on Jan 30, 2023 1:22:04 GMT -5
I remember getting flack in the past for saying that I could totally see him going downhill in his career. That obviously has not happened yet, and yet a part of me kind of selfishly smiles inside considering I sort of saw an outcome like this after his SK38 fail. With that said, the Nakata comparison is spot on.
He's on the wrong side of consistent in that you could safely predict where he is going to fail and he'll likely fail that spot. In this case it's him and the Swing Edge.
I do think however he definitley has the ability to clear the swing edge however then comes the next obstacle afterwards, which cruely for him is the Cliffhanger Dimension, and considering his first attempt at it, I don't know if I'll be confident in him clearing that too. Not to mention the obstacle that comes right after the CLD.
But I mean...if SK40 has showed me one thing, it's to expect the unexpected. Even if the unexpected in this case is REALLY unlikely to occur.
Also just to my add my 2 cents with the Asa subtopic, He was (and still is) one of my favorite competitors so when I initially saw the subtle dislike to him back when I made my account, I honestly was taken by surprised considering I always thought he was well liked by the community. I understand now why he get's flack and dislike, his outbursts are something to watch and can definitley be massive turn offs, but for me at least his screaming and his antics are stuff that I really don't mind, especially given it's nothing compared to stuff I've seen in other sports.
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Post by Cosmic Castaway on Jan 30, 2023 16:36:13 GMT -5
Plus in hindsight Asa was right to be one of the first to hate Drew even if it was not at the time for the reason that ultimately got him blacklisted. Initially, it was a little rivalry on Asa's part which I think was part due to them shariing the fastest times on official and qualifying competitions.
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brz0ny
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Post by brz0ny on Jan 30, 2023 20:12:21 GMT -5
Plus in hindsight Asa was right to be one of the first to hate Drew even if it was not at the time for the reason that ultimately got him blacklisted. Initially, it was a little rivalry on Asa's part which I think was part due to them shariing the fastest times on official and qualifying competitions. I think Jun was the first person to actually hate him. |
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Post by subtleagent on Jan 30, 2023 21:15:46 GMT -5
Isa's one of those competitors that I have no problems with personality-wise, but I find really bland. Like if he gets digested I usually just shrug. I even remember when he got digested in Stage 2 in 39 and I didn't really care compared to Suzuki, Ryo, and Tada where I was annoyed a bit. So yeah, he's one of those competitors that's just there really.
I respect Asa's passion, but yeah the screaming and yelling became too much. And seeing others get digested in favor of him was as dakohosu said, frustrating.
Funnily enough I always thought of Isa as a kind of successor to Asa for said passion and crying moments. Their names are even similar.
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Post by dakohosu on Jan 31, 2023 10:17:32 GMT -5
Plus in hindsight Asa was right to be one of the first to hate Drew even if it was not at the time for the reason that ultimately got him blacklisted. Initially, it was a little rivalry on Asa's part which I think was part due to them shariing the fastest times on official and qualifying competitions. I think Jun was the first person to actually hate him. No that’s not true. Asa disliked Drew since prior to Sasuke 30 because of the ASEAN Open Cup results prior to that tournament. I’m not sure if there was another reason besides Drew beating his time. Jun only came back from his hiatus from Sasuke 32 onwards. Where did you hear that Jun disliked Drew anyway? I know he was a bit of a prick around 32-33 time, like being cold towards others and inappropriately showboating etc. but I didn’t know he actively disliked anyone. I find it hilarious how much he’s mellowed out now lol. |
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Post by transgenderserena on Jan 31, 2023 11:16:04 GMT -5
I think Jun was the first person to actually hate him. No that’s not true. Asa disliked Drew since prior to Sasuke 30 because of the ASEAN Open Cup results prior to that tournament. I’m not sure if there was another reason besides Drew beating his time. Jun only came back from his hiatus from Sasuke 32 onwards. Where did you hear that Jun disliked Drew anyway? I know he was a bit of a prick around 32-33 time, like being cold towards others and inappropriately showboating etc. but I didn’t know he actively disliked anyone. I find it hilarious how much he’s mellowed out now lol. Wait, when was Jun Sato NOT a nice guy, i always thought of him as the friendly parkour guy who gets unlucky on the cliffhanger EDIT:I have become Hibari  |
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