Kenji Takahashi's hiatus

[gonto]

Hi everyone! I'm new at posting here, so I apologize beforehand if this is not the right place to ask this or if it is common knowledge here, but I couldn't find this information anywhere.

My question is: what is the reason behind Kenji Takahashi's absence on SASUKE 8-15? He had a great performance on 7 and went on to be one of the best and nearly Kanzen after he returned on 16.

I think it's fair to assume he'd be one of the most likely competitors to Kanzen from 8 through 15. Plus, even if it hadn't happen back then, he'd be more experienced and more likely to do it from 16 onwards.

The only thing I found about this was his Wikipedia page in Japanese (translated to English by Google) which says he was a tester during his hiatus, although he did want to compete. The page has a source to an interview where he states the same thing, but doesn't elaborate.

Is it known why he couldn't compete for so long?

[Ninja Relaxer]

Interesting. I didn't know he'd been a tester. But that would have conflicted with his ability to compete, since it would have given him an unfair advantage. The producers probably valued his work as a tester too much to let him go, although that obviously changed at some point. We'll probably never know the full story, though I think it likely just comes down to the fact that spots on Sasuke are highly competitive (it is a popular TV show, after all, with probably thousands of applications each year).

[dakohosu]

Aug 15, 2023 19:34:31 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

Interesting. I didn't know he'd been a tester. But that would have conflicted with his ability to compete, since it would have given him an unfair advantage. The producers probably valued his work as a tester too much to let him go, although that obviously changed at some point. We'll probably never know the full story, though I think it likely just comes down to the fact that spots on Sasuke are highly competitive (it is a popular TV show, after all, with probably thousands of applications each year).

It didn't for 18, because he tested the Salmon Ladder and Flying Chute before 18 yet was still given the go ahead to compete. 

He did test the Backstream in 28 - you can see in the Stage 2 intro that someone in red shorts who was bald was testing the obstacle, and he was present at taping yet didn't compete, so I'm 95% sure it was him. Though I think that was due to the fact that he wasn't selected anyway so just decided to be a tester. I believe Inui didn't want to invite the stronger but older Japanese competitors, to give him more of a reason to retire the All-Stars due to age. It would've somewhat nullified his argument if Kong, who was only a year younger than Takeda, reached Stage 3. So I'd presume he didn't get invited first, and only then did he decide to test the obstacles. Same reason that Okuyama wasn't invited either, as he really put the All-Stars to shame to a certain degree because of how well he was doing in his 40s.

[gonto]

Thanks for replying! Here's the interview where he says that if someone wanna see it:
an-life.jp/article/124

It sucks if that was the case. He was 2nd best on 7 and was still training and wanting to compete.
Since he was a tester, they obviously knew his abilities. Maybe they thought they already had too much "everyday workers" and didn't see much personality in him?
Plus, they give up so many spots to untrained people who don't take it serious.

I know this is a TV show and the production has the right to choose the competitors that they feel will make up the most entertaining program.
However, I still think it's so unfair that one of the best ever missed a big part of his prime, because he wasn't allowed to, despite having finished 2nd in his last tournament pre-hiatus.

[loboticialtree]

If he was able to compete in 18, yet was only tester from 8-15 & 28, I'm guessing he somehow got rejected from 8-15, which is strange given his 2nd place run in 7. Sucks that he got replaced with people who were all-cut(?) or something, because of this.

[sasukefan1993]

Aug 16, 2023 11:45:47 GMT -5 dakohosu said:

Aug 15, 2023 19:34:31 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

Interesting. I didn't know he'd been a tester. But that would have conflicted with his ability to compete, since it would have given him an unfair advantage. The producers probably valued his work as a tester too much to let him go, although that obviously changed at some point. We'll probably never know the full story, though I think it likely just comes down to the fact that spots on Sasuke are highly competitive (it is a popular TV show, after all, with probably thousands of applications each year).

It didn't for 18, because he tested the Salmon Ladder and Flying Chute before 18 yet was still given the go ahead to compete. 

He did test the Backstream in 28 - you can see in the Stage 2 intro that someone in red shorts who was bald was testing the obstacle, and he was present at taping yet didn't compete, so I'm 95% sure it was him. Though I think that was due to the fact that he wasn't selected anyway so just decided to be a tester. I believe Inui didn't want to invite the stronger but older Japanese competitors, to give him more of a reason to retire the All-Stars due to age. It would've somewhat nullified his argument if Kong, who was only a year younger than Takeda, reached Stage 3. So I'd presume he didn't get invited first, and only then did he decide to test the obstacles. Same reason that Okuyama wasn't invited either, as he really put the All-Stars to shame to a certain degree because of how well he was doing in his 40s.

Yeah Okuyama never failed stage one in his 40s, and only failed stage two once in his 40s in Sasuke 29 due to an injury he got after dismounting the Cross Slider, the massive reduced time limit, and the extremely difficult Backstream! It would've been awesome to have seen his full stage two run given such a low time limit and tough Backstream, it would've been nice to see how much time he had left when he got to the Backstream (I'm gonna say no more than 20 seconds on the clock at max since Shingo Yamamoto has that much time left when he got to the Backstream). Also none of the All-Stars reached stage 3 in their 40s, Shiratori had a shot in Sasuke 21 since he trained for the Salmon Ladder and never failed the Metal Spin before, but psyched himself out just before his run on stage 2 and failed the Downhill Jump, Katsumi Yamada almost cleared stage one in Sasuke 16, but as soom as he hit 40, age hit him hard, being the first time he didn't immediately rush to take on the Jump Hang, and needing a few seconds to catch his breath, and he got caught on the pole on the Reverse Fly, and although he cleared the Warped Wall in one shot, he timed out at the top of the Rope Climb, but even if he had cleared, I think he either would've failed the Metal Spin, or timed out on the Wall Lifting. Nagano could've done it in Sasuke 30 had the Swap Salmon Ladder not been so glitchy and caused him to be disqualified like Kenji Takahashi, and I'm pretty sure with Nagano being a Fisherman and the Backstream being toned down massively from Sasuke 29, I'm pretty sure he's a great swimmer (I'm pretty sure you have to be in order to be a Fisherman since there's a chance you could fall off the boat). He barely timed out on stage one in Sasuke 32, but even if he did clear stage one, I don't think he would beat the Reverse Conveyor considering he's 44 at the time and being wet after the Backstream doesn't help. Takeda in Sasuke 33 and 34, well he's not good at any Salmon Ladder obstacle, except for Sasuke 21 23 & 24 after he practiced for it, but he failed the Double Salmon Ladder in Sasuke 25 due to barely missing the top level by like a couple of centimeters and the force of the drop causing him to let go, Sasuke 30, well I'm not so certain, I think it's a mix of glitched obstacle and perhaps didn't put enough momentum behind his swing. Sasuke 33 he had a slight mishap on the first Ladder, corrected it, and on the second later he had no problem with the drops, however he let go on the very last drop. Sasuke 34 he did the first Ladder perfectly, but on the second ladder the left side dropped down two levels, and he was running very low on time, and the right side came off the ladder when he tried to get the bar even on the bottom level. Had he had both his Sasuke 34 attempt on the first Ladder, and his Sasuke 33 attempt on the second ladder in the same tournament, he probably would've still timed out on stage two, possible he could've beat stage two, but I think that would've been like a 5% chance at max. Shingo Yamamoto in Sasuke 40, even if he didn't lose 10 seconds getting on to the first Ladder of the Salmon Ladder, that would've only gave him like 13 seconds for the Reverse Conveyor and wall lifting, and he was 48, and he rushed into the Reverse Conveyor, but it was obvious when he came off immediately that he was beat, of course he's not in his prime anymore, and former firefighter training only goes so far after your prime is over. Sasuke 38, had he not been disqualified on the Fish Bone Kai, he would've became the first person to ever clear stage one 20 times, but he most likely would've failed the Salmon Ladder Kudari again (I don't know which ones which, I know one of the 2 ladders is Salmon Ladder Nobori, and the other one is Salmon Ladder Kudari), the second ladder. Kazuhiko Akiyama in Sasuke 40, well, his endurance is just shot at this point, he only had 30 seconds left when he failed the Dragon Glider, but even if he had cleared stage one, he would've most likely failed either one of the two ladders on the Salmon Ladder due to his bad eyesight, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't trained for Sasuke after his retirement in Sasuke 17. Of course his endurance was shot after his retirement anyway, and he almost cleared the Warped Wall in Sasuke 25, but even if he had cleared it in that tournament, he would've failed the Circle Slider again, because if he couldn't beat in back in Sasuke 17 during the day and the ring being much closer, he stood no chance against it in Sasuke 25 in the dark and the ring being much further away. Oddly enough, he and Makoto Nagano are the only two All-Stars to fail the Metal Spin and Circle Slider, and both of them are the only two All-Stars to be grand champions! Also, they're the only two grand champions to not achieve Kanzenseiha twice, and Kazuhiko Akiyama is the only grand champion to never reach the final stage in any tournament after his Kanzenseiha.

[sasukefan1993]

I meant to start a new sentence talking about Takeda failing the second Salmon Ladder again in Sasuke 38 had he not been disqualified on stage one. My bad. 😁😁😁