The SASUKE 40 Numbers Challenge!

[YourResidentKojiFan]

So, in the wake of numbers nowadays seeming to make less sense than G4's subtitles, Masato Inui, being the smart lad he is, has gone and invented time travel to go back to before the numbers for 40 were decided. He looks at this forum (since apparently he's learned English too) and sees all of your suggestions for other stuff. He thinks to himself "Well, maybe these people can fix the number problem!" So he's asked for your help with picking the numbers for the tournament, however he has set a few ground rules, listed below.

-The four champions must be the last four numbers, however you can change the order they run in.
-Torisawa must be #3. Tradition is tradition.
-Nakashima and Kaiou must be next to each other, and same goes for the Black Tigers.
-Kane must be #91 to pay homage to his SASUKE 8 run.
-Shunsuke and Kanno must be next to each other.
-Lastly, there must be at least one rando in the last 15 spots. Some things never change.

Other than that, he has given you full control. So go wild! Here is the link to the actual competitor list in case you need a refresher: 

www.tbs.co.jp/sasuke_rising/players/#n3901

[dakohosu]

Honestly, in terms of 80-90% of the number placements, I don't have much to complain about and hence change at all. When 39's numbers were released I was really baffled about the majority of their choices (especially in the 90s), and don't get me wrong when I saw 40's I still scratched my head as to why they put a few competitors where they did, but you can't deny it just worked. And that's the whole reason why numbers are important, if it adds value to the progression of the tournament when imo it definitely did. So assume my choices are relatively the same except for the following revisions I would make (figured it would be easier to list them out rather than reshuffling the whole list which I don't have enough time for):

- First and foremost, spread out the comedians/celebrities in the 50s-60s. This has been a recent trend and it's honestly borderline infuriating how much of a pace breaker this section is, especially being sandwiched by the absolutely stacked field we had in the 40s and early 50s, and from the 70s onwards. It's literally 30+ minutes of back to back padded out runs, unfunny (at least in my opinion) and predictable fails, and even more ads. Apart from duo acts, there is literally zero reason to have all of them mashed together. They've started spreading out the stronger competitors, why can't they do this for the comedians too? If anything it would probably help the ratings as it would keep viewers watching for a longer spread of time, and it would make our experiences a lot less..... I don't even know lol.

- I'd bump Hiroshima down from #92 to the #80s or #70s where a few of the other athletes were placed, and replace him with maybe someone like Kajihara given his breakout run last tournament, or Jessie Graff given her popularity and past successes (I know she was grouped with the women but previously she's been way out on her own). I know having pro athletes in the 90s is pretty standard, but given how stacked the rest of the 90s were this just seemed a bit odd and quite out of place. Hell, even Itoi would've made more sense given how much they hyped him up, rather than Horishima who they digested anyway. I imagine they probably would've wanted to give that number to Darvish but he obviously didn't end up competing due to health reasons.

- I would've switched around Kaiou and Nakashima so that their numbers correspond to their ages, sorry I'm just OCD like that lol.

Apart from that, no complaints. I initially had some reservations about the block of competitors in the 70s, especially Tada and Jun being that low, but it went with the whole 'Morimoto Sedai' theme they were going for, and also allowed them to digest all the consecutive clears, which I personally didn't mind as seeing clear after clear would get tedious after a while. Also, seeing who were in the 90s in their stead made me completely forgive that initially odd-sounding choice. Usually, I don't like Yamada being so high given that his runs are quite immersion breaking and slow, but given that he was next to Akiyama and Shingo (the original three non-celebrity stars of the show) it just worked. Ryo at #94 was a bold but good choice, though not exactly for him (sorry, I had to). Kawaguchi at #93 is what it is, I still think he should've been lower but it's definitely not as egregious as being at #98-99, and he did have a redemption run worthy of a later placement. Then Kane at #91, how can you complain about that? If it wasn't an anniversary tournament with all competing champions in the top spots I probably would've put him at #97-98 given how he carried the show for the first few tournaments. The #30s-50 were also stacked as hell too, with the trial qualifiers, rookies, and a bunch of regulars competing back to back. Overall, I felt like the stronger competitors were spaced out really well this tournament, with the aforementioned exception of the #50s-60s being a complete slog.

Honestly, I've seen about 15 numbers lists in real time as they've released (from 26 onwards), and I'd NEVER been more excited for a tournament after seeing that of 40. I just hope this wasn't an anniversary tournament fluke and that we'll get a strong lineup for 41 as well. Inui clearly knows what the hardcore fans want, and Sasuke 40 proved that.

[transgenderserena]

Feb 1, 2023 17:14:21 GMT -5 dakohosu said:

Honestly, in terms of 80-90% of the number placements, I don't have much to complain about and hence change at all. When 39's numbers were released I was really baffled about the majority of their choices (especially in the 90s), and don't get me wrong when I saw 40's I still scratched my head as to why they put a few competitors where they did, but you can't deny it just worked. And that's the whole reason why numbers are important, if it adds value to the progression of the tournament when imo it definitely did. So assume my choices are relatively the same except for the following revisions I would make (figured it would be easier to list them out rather than reshuffling the whole list which I don't have enough time for):

- First and foremost, spread out the comedians/celebrities in the 50s-60s. This has been a recent trend and it's honestly borderline infuriating how much of a pace breaker this section is, especially being sandwiched by the absolutely stacked field we had in the 40s and early 50s, and from the 70s onwards. It's literally 30+ minutes of back to back padded out runs, unfunny (at least in my opinion) and predictable fails, and even more ads. Apart from duo acts, there is literally zero reason to have all of them mashed together. They've started spreading out the stronger competitors, why can't they do this for the comedians too? If anything it would probably help the ratings as it would keep viewers watching for a longer spread of time, and it would make our experiences a lot less..... I don't even know lol.

- I'd bump Hiroshima down from #92 to the #80s or #70s where a few of the other athletes were placed, and replace him with maybe someone like Kajihara given his breakout run last tournament, or Jessie Graff given her popularity and past successes (I know she was grouped with the women but previously she's been way out on her own). I know having pro athletes in the 90s is pretty standard, but given how stacked the rest of the 90s were this just seemed a bit odd and quite out of place. Hell, even Itoi would've made more sense given how much they hyped him up, rather than Horishima who they digested anyway. I imagine they probably would've wanted to give that number to Darvish but he obviously didn't end up competing due to health reasons.

- I would've switched around Kaiou and Nakashima so that their numbers correspond to their ages, sorry I'm just OCD like that lol.

Apart from that, no complaints. I initially had some reservations about the block of competitors in the 70s, especially Tada and Jun being that low, but it went with the whole 'Morimoto Sedai' theme they were going for, and also allowed them to digest all the consecutive clears, which I personally didn't mind as seeing clear after clear would get tedious after a while. Also, seeing who were in the 90s in their stead made me completely forgive that initially odd-sounding choice. Usually, I don't like Yamada being so high given that his runs are quite immersion breaking and slow, but given that he was next to Akiyama and Shingo (the original three non-celebrity stars of the show) it just worked. Ryo at #94 was a bold but good choice, though not exactly for him (sorry, I had to). Kawaguchi at #93 is what it is, I still think he should've been lower but it's definitely not as egregious as being at #98-99, and he did have a redemption run worthy of a later placement. Then Kane at #91, how can you complain about that? If it wasn't an anniversary tournament with all competing champions in the top spots I probably would've put him at #97-98 given how he carried the show for the first few tournaments. The #30s-50 were also stacked as hell too, with the trial qualifiers, rookies, and a bunch of regulars competing back to back. Overall, I felt like the stronger competitors were spaced out really well this tournament, with the aforementioned exception of the #50s-60s being a complete slog.

Honestly, I've seen about 15 numbers lists in real time as they've released (from 26 onwards), and I'd NEVER been more excited for a tournament after seeing that of 40. I just hope this wasn't an anniversary tournament fluke and that we'll get a strong lineup for 41 as well. Inui clearly knows what the hardcore fans want, and Sasuke 40 proved that.

I loved SASUKE 40s competitor list, but Inui has also done great competitor lists in the past, for example, 29 and 37 were stacked

[brz0ny]

Yeah like Dakohosu said there isnt many things wrong with recent numberings. The weirdest one would probably be that long digest group starting with Jun and ending with Suzuki (I think), where it looked like he scrambled them together, but thats quite insignificant and apart from that, there really isnt much wrong.

[dakohosu]

Feb 1, 2023 20:05:56 GMT -5 brz0ny said:

Yeah like Dakohosu said there isnt many things wrong with recent numberings. The weirdest one would probably be that long digest group starting with Jun and ending with Suzuki (I think), where it looked like he scrambled them together, but thats quite insignificant and apart from that, there really isnt much wrong.

They 100% did that for the purpose of digesting all of their clears together, and I’d wager if one of them failed Stage 1 they’d get cut entirely.

But yeah, it’s weird how Inui’s trying to market the whole Morimoto Sedai thing and even grouped them all together back to back only for the purpose of fast forwarding them, hell even triple fast forwarding Jun and Araki, lol.

I didn’t find it as egregious as some others did I’m sure, clears are clears for the most part and seeing 6 back to back clears would get kinda boring, but I did find it a touch odd how the editing decisions were kind of at odds with Inui’s intentions to market a new generation.