Are there any signs of modern Inui in older tournaments?

[zoran]

So apparently Inui directed the first 14 tournaments which is a surprise to me as I always thought he was just involved in upper management but not the full on director. (Could it be arguable he is the or 1 of the creator's of the show?) Correction: Higuchi created the show.

Obviously modern Inui and Sasuke is very different to 90s and 2000's Inui and Sasuke but are there any signs of modern Inui's style or choices in 1-14? 

Examples include focus on celebrities, neglected stage 2, technical obstacles and skill over endurance stage 3 etc etc (what are some others you can think off?)

One example I can think of is that it's possible he "created" the all stars whether it be the original 13 in 6 or the main 6 in 10. He did create/define the Shin Sedai in 28 as well as the Morimoto Sedai in 36 so he likes grouping the competitors. Sasuke 5's minimalistic renewal is also very similar to 32 and 39 when compared to 18  and 25's big scale renewal. 

[dakohosu]

Stage 2 didn't change a whole lot between Sasuke 7 and 17, we only really had the Balance Tank in 10 and Metal Spin in 14. It was also similarly more of a glorified gateway between Stages 1 and 3, unlike in Shin-Sasuke where it was a real killer. That said, we did at least get a fairly significant time limit decrease over its tenure, unlike in the modern Stage 2 where even that is a lot to ask for, despite costing a grand total of zero yen to change. I did also notice a fair few more digested clears and fails during the Golden Era compared to Shin-Sasuke, though that was mainly due to a lower broadcast time, and for what they were I thought they were a lot more tasteful than anything we've seen recently.

I also agree that Inui has a weird tendency towards "groups", possibly because they're historically more marketable with a lot of iconic cartoons and films being centred around groups like Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even Power Puff Girls etc. Every time he's implemented this it seems incredibly forced, especially recreating the Shin Sedai in 28 and the Morimoto Sedai in 36, which was inconsistently referred to until imma say 39-40; it just so happened that the All-Star group in 9 worked out well with the group becoming good friends in the process. Similar to 28, he also went back on his formation of the original All-Stars almost instantly. You can also tell his tendency towards groups in terms of the treatment given to competitors who don't fit in any group, both new and old. Competitors like Shinji Kobayashi back in the day who got almost reliably cut, as well as competitors like Shunsuke and Kong in more recent tournaments. They were too old and experienced to be branded as the "new generation" and so were just considered kind of their own entity, thus being deemed not particularly marketable which is why they constantly got fast forwarded. Same with competitors like Jun Sato until 36-37.

Apart from that, not much, but I think that's a lot more due to the difference in what makes a good show now compared to back then. Nowadays, with social media being so influential, and Sasuke-esque game shows inherently not being as popular in Japan as they once were, celebrity presence and editing geared to drive hype around said celebrities are much more important to keep Sasuke afloat. Similarly, Stages 1 and 2 don't change much due to a combination of "lack of budget" which Sasuke back in the day had a lot more of, as well as the need to prevent bloodbaths to ensure that there are enough runs to digest in the main broadcast, and then show on the YouTube channel in full to drive continued interest between tournaments. Especially with tournaments only being once per year now, as opposed to 2-3 times a year, more content needs to be posted to prevent declines in interest, and obviously bloodbath tournaments mean fewer Stage 2 and 3 runs to show on YouTube which is what they're doing these days. Easier Stages 1 and 2 also mean the mascot celebrities can get farther into the course which will drive a lot more hype, especially if it's someone like Iwamoto.

Re the OP Stage 3, few factors at play here imo:
1) if Inui wants to keep Stages 1 and 2 relatively doable so that Iwamoto etc. can do well, he still needs to uphold Sasuke's feared reputation somehow and so condenses majority of the difficulty into Stages 3 and 4.
2) with replica training becoming much more of a thing, the need to make obstacles more and more technical and unrepeatable is kind of the only way to ensure a difficulty curve to uphold the aforementioned reputation for Stage 3.
3) obstacles like the Crazy Cliffhanger jumps have become so synonymous with Sasuke and iconic now that, even for marketing purposes alone, he doubles down on those particular nuances of Stage 3 to drive more hype among more hardcore fans.

[arsenette]

Huge topic but missing one huge component. The creator of the show - Higuchi. Inui was a director with some creative process in the past but not like he does today. Higuchi made all of the major iconic decisions since it was his creation (especially after Banzuke was taken off the air). Inui after 28 was hell bent on changing that dynamic until it imploded on him (everyone forgets his "ideas" in 28). Once he realized that he lost most of the original audience, he then changed to take some elements that Higuchi introduced to save the show. I'm far from a Higuchi apologist, but ignoring the reason why anyone today watches Sasuke is I think detrimental to the conversation.

[xelA197]

Modern Inui can be seen in SASUKE 14, with a nerfed Stage 1 and a massively buffed Stage 3, with also plenty of digests even of the best competitors, like Nagano in Stage 2 and Shingo in Stage 3. Probably Higuchi didn't like It and the two had the falling out lol

[zoran]

Feb 20, 2024 7:36:18 GMT -5 xelA197 said:

Modern Inui can be seen in SASUKE 14, with a nerfed Stage 1 and a massively buffed Stage 3, with also plenty of digests even of the best competitors, like Nagano in Stage 2 and Shingo in Stage 3. Probably Higuchi didn't like It and the two had the falling out lol

I wonder what Shin Sasuke would have looked like if Inui was kept on.

[dakohosu]

Feb 20, 2024 8:26:57 GMT -5 zoran said:

Feb 20, 2024 7:36:18 GMT -5 xelA197 said:

Modern Inui can be seen in SASUKE 14, with a nerfed Stage 1 and a massively buffed Stage 3, with also plenty of digests even of the best competitors, like Nagano in Stage 2 and Shingo in Stage 3. Probably Higuchi didn't like It and the two had the falling out lol

I wonder what Shin Sasuke would have looked like if Inui was kept on.

At the very least, obstacles like the Rope Glider, Flying Chute, and 27's Half Pipe wouldn't have been a thing. Higuchi was a bit of a madman when it came to safety standards, or lack thereof, lol.

[arsenette]

Feb 20, 2024 11:33:51 GMT -5 dakohosu said:

Feb 20, 2024 8:26:57 GMT -5 zoran said:

I wonder what Shin Sasuke would have looked like if Inui was kept on.

At the very least, obstacles like the Rope Glider, Flying Chute, and 27's Half Pipe wouldn't have been a thing. Higuchi was a bit of a madman when it came to safety standards, or lack thereof, lol.

People forget that the infamous cancellation of Banzuke where someone almost died.. not only was directed by Inui.. he was filming the shot when it happened. He was part of the same team. The advent of "health and safety" did not even enter the equation until years later. We are used to it now.. but it didn't exist back then. Remember that Inui has more ideas actually not implemented into the show more than Higuchi. Remember that Inui wanted a full underwater course.. he wasn't joking when he said that.