Thoughts on Inui

[xelA197]

Masato Inui: the mind behind SASUKE since the latter returned in December 2012, avoiding its definitive closure.

Since then, SASUKE has entered a decidedly different era, thanks to all the choices of the director, who in your opinion is?

[darthvaderlim]

To me, the Inui from Sasuke 1 to 14 and the Inui from 28 to today felt like two different people

[PsychoDelusion]

By Japanese TV standards, he's alright. By western TV standards he's rather subpar.

[loboticialtree]

How was Inui's production in 1-14? Other than that, he has made a lot of mistakes 28-. Just looking at the endless pile of mistakes such as 29's Backstream, spending a much of money on motors, snubbing competitors who have potential because they aren't celebrities', the list can go on and on. He definitely had his fare share of mistakes over the years, and can't be forgotten. That being said, he does have some good ideas. If he didn't understand how to market the show, or what to promote, SASUKE, uh, probably wouldn't be here maybe? While the amount of celebrities is a lot, he does understand some things about the show. For that, he is not an abysmal producer, just makes a lot of decisions that aren't the best.

[dakohosu]

I'm in two minds about him.

On one hand he's made a lot of frustrating decisions over the past few years. The lack of course changes, the awful "quirks" he tried to add to the early tournaments (All-Star retirement, Stage 2B, Stage 3 timer, Backstream etc.) which he's gladly come out of, and a bunch of other controversies that I need more than a pair of hands to mention. I am also unconvinced about the whole "budget" excuse, because if he had a larger budget he would just spend it on things no one wants, like more motorised stuff, and he even stated that he wanted an entirely underwater Stage 2. It's also not difficult to make a course brutally hard with minimal changes, as seen by Sasuke 5. He is definitely a combination of creatively bankrupt and scared of making the course too difficult so that his celebrities won't do well, which I understand but still doesn't change the underwhelming aspect of things.

On the other, he's clearly been very successful at marketing Sasuke, both bringing it back from the dead after Monster9's collapse and recently bringing about a surge in popularity through it's increasing social media presence. I also feel like he gets a lot of flack for things that Higuchi did worse, like obstacle malfunctions, safety, etc. not to mention that Shin-Sasuke, as great as it was for fans, was awful for ratings and Inui has clearly tried to avoid taking pages from that book. Sure, the oversaturation of celebrities can be painful, but he knows how to play the game which ultimately ensures Sasuke's survival for the future. So that I respect.

At the end of the day, people call Inui incompetent, but he 100% knows what he's doing. Which is both confidence-inspiring and incredibly worrying at the same time.

[Ninja Relaxer]

He seems like a shrewd businessman to me, someone who both understands the appeal of Sasuke and the realities of working with a limited budget.

I can easily imagine a worse director re-tooling (and destroying) the show's format in the quest for higher ratings (think Kunoichi 8), but Inui has thankfully never gone that route.

[brz0ny]

I think between bad and average, but for me he belongs to bad more from your tier descriptions

[dakohosu]

Nov 30, 2023 15:44:22 GMT -5 Ninja Relaxer said:

He seems like a shrewd businessman to me, someone who both understands the appeal of Sasuke and the realities of working with a limited budget.

I can easily imagine a worse director re-tooling (and destroying) the show's format in the quest for higher ratings (think Kunoichi 8), but Inui has thankfully never gone that route.

Ultimately this is how you need to be in order to ensure the survival of a show or business in general. Some decisions are going to piss off the hardcore fan base, as they have.... many.... many.... times, but ultimately if said decision boosts ratings then we have to see it from the point of view that it'll increase Sasuke's chances of going on for another x years. As much as I'm not a fan of the crappy editing, over-saturation of celebrities, etc. I'd rather that than no Sasuke at all. Most people who want a return to Shin-Sasuke don't realize how calamitous it was for ratings with lack of a mascot group, fewer celebrities, poor clear rates, three tournaments in 6 months (Sasuke 25 had the lowest ratings in history by far at the time) and so forth. 

The budget though I don't see as an excuse, because Sasuke 5 proved that you can significantly buff a course with few changes; tweaks, time limit reductions, etc. cost next to nothing. Inui has also shown in many ways that any budget he does get he'll spend on the wrong things, like more grip obstacles, more motorised stuff etc. Hell, he even said he'd make the entirety of Stage 2 underwater if he could, which I don't think anyone wants. What IS the case is the fact that he very clearly doesn't want to make the course to difficult as that will mean that faces of the show like Iwamoto, Darvish etc. will fail Stage 1, and them doing well is what drives continued interest into the later parts of the show. Otherwise, most people will just drop off after their favorite star fails somewhere early. Low clear rates also mean less content that was digested in the main broadcast to put on the YouTube channel, which is ultimately what drives continued interest between tournaments, necessary given that they're only hosted once every year now. It sucks, but it is what it is, and social media traction governs so much of the success in the entertainment industry these days.

Re the re-tooling, Inui did have some pretty awful ideas from 28-30, like the All-Star retirement, some new editing decisions, Stage 3 timer, Stage 2B etc. but he seems to have come out of that mindset now. He probably assumed that the original formula didn't work so he needed to add all these quirks and features, before realising that there are other ways to boost ratings without changing the tried and tested formula that everyone loves.