Yamada's issues

[shunsukenumber98]

While I do know mostly about this man's issue, could someone explain it fully and put all the pieces together of Yamada's downhill for me? Let's also discuss about it as well and how he was compared to now. 

[dakohosu]

I'll answer this one.

Yamada had an abnormal level of devotion to Sasuke, as seen from many examples, such as suffering from insomnia when he decided to lose 15kg between Sasuke 2 and 3, allegedly getting fired from his job around Sasuke 5-6 time for training in the warehouse he was working in, and not wanting to hold a stable job so he could spend more time training for Sasuke, in the process alienating his family. I personally never understood how someone could devote themselves so greatly to a game show that at the time wasn't particularly well established (especially the Sasuke 3 point) but there we go.

When you give so much up to achieve a certain feat, it places a lot more mental pressure on you to do well, because otherwise it feels like you've sacrificed the entire rest of your life for nothing, which seemed to have been the case with Yamada. This resulted in a lot of his runs suffering from mental self-sabotage, where he would regularly feel pressured about his run which would result in errors and freak accidents due to a number of reasons like overcompensation etc. It's no coincidence that Yamada would mention in interviews that he was worried about a certain obstacle, and then proceed to fail that obstacle. He was concerned about the Spider Walk in Sasuke 9, and used that tape technique that caused him to time out. He mentioned he was worried about the Balance Tank in 11, then failed it. He again mentioned his concerns with the Spider Walk in 12, and tried to get away with not taking off his gloves, etc. etc. Sometimes it's better to try and block external feelings and concerns out and just adopt a "you vs the course" mentality. That's why former pro athletes like Okuyama, Lee, and Jovtchev did so well, because they were literally trained to adopt that mindset to enhance performance and not get bogged down by mental pressure as it causes mistakes. Nagano and Shingo also did well partially because they were so easy going and clearly were having fun on the course in addition to wanting to do well. Yamada couldn't be this way because, as mentioned, he'd given up his entire career and personal life for Sasuke, which massively exacerbated the ramifications of him not doing well, thus increasing the mental pressure that caused said self-sabotage. 

There was likely also an element of his fame on the show having some additional effects as far as pressure is concerned, with him frequently wearing #100 and being "Mr SASUKE". We've seen titles and expectations wreak havoc on competitors like Ryo and Yuuji, imagine the effect it would have on someone like Yamada who was clearly way more prone to stress and hence mistakes.

This mindset also resulted in him exhibiting various personality features that made him not particularly likable by the fan base, such as various spouts of jealousy like blatantly seeming annoyed when his comrades did well, and claiming that the shoes Yuuji used for his Final run in 24 was illegal. Obviously when you give up your whole life to achieve something that you see someone else achieve while you consistently fail to do so, can screw you mentally leading to the aforementioned tendencies. Similar story with his attitude to losing/failing, for most it was just a disappointing result for a sport they were passionate about, for Yamada it was a case of his whole life's work crashing down on him. I can see why some may see this as narcissistic. Personally I think he was just mentally trapped as he'd reaffirmed time and time again that it was win Sasuke or nothing.

In terms of his actual downfall from Sasuke 14 onwards, in addition to the issues I discussed above, by this point Yamada had likely lost a lot of confidence in his ability to actually achieve Total Victory, with Sasuke 12 being an almost "too bad to be true" moment, had the added pressure of it being his grand return after missing the last tournament, and let's also not forget that by this point he was pushing 40 at a time where almost no one close to that age was doing well, so was also fighting a losing battle with stamina. Especially considering that he was never known for having particularly good stamina, often getting the slower clear times and struggling with the wall constantly even during his prime.

14 and 15 for the most part seemed like freak accidents, but it evidently sent him into this negative feedback loop where the more he'd fail Stage 1, the more confidence he would lose which would mentally affect him for further runs, hence further contributing to him continuing to fail Stage 1. Add his waning stamina to the equation, and it meant that he would either self-sabotage himself somewhere on the course, or at best fail the wall or time out due to it by extension.

As time went on, the wall in particular became his biggest enemy because of how often he had struggled with it in the past, especially when it was raised from Sasuke 19 onwards, and further issues with stamina as he was basically in his mid-40s by this point. And that basically ended his career, contributing to a longer and longer streak of Stage 1 fails which further affected his confidence and mental state while competing. Hell, in Sasuke 24, he gave an abnormally strong run up until the wall, but I can 100% imagine him eyeing up the wall which had felled him several times prior, and just completely freaking out inside, which would've had a good hand in contributing to his fail on it that tournament. Especially as he lost a ton of weight between 23 and 24, and managed to clear the wall in 23 (admittedly with no time left).

I think after 27 he had no choice but to give up as he would've believed that Sasuke was over/pending cancellation, which was probably the only thing that could've stopped his borderline delusional mindset of still wanting to achieve Total Victory despite pushing 50. I think the year between 27 and 28 gave him time to accept that he was never going to win himself, and provided some kind of mental reset, evident by the fact that he seemed genuinely happy after his 28 run for the first time in years. He still obviously had the desire for Total Victory, as something you've wanted for 15 years doesn't just vanish, but knew he had no capability to do so himself, which is why he founded the Black Tigers, so that he could live his dream through one of his proteges. 

And so far, it seems to be working well, because he's applying the same level of devotion to training his group that he did himself in the early days, but without the pressure of having given up your entire life for a dying dream, which had a great hand in ruining his career. 

Even when he competes now, he just looks happy to be there to show face and be running on the course, even laughing off his Quad Steps fail in 39, and is much more involved in the community now than he was back in the day, where he tended to shut himself off from the rest of the All-Stars due to jealousy and borderline narcissism. Well, except for his rogue anger after his fail in 40. That definitely caught me off guard lol.

[shunsukenumber98]

I always wondered about why he had a outburst in sasuke 40, that was unexpected.

Also thanks for giving this very long and detailed explanation, appreciate it.

Glad to see that yamada is now doing somewhat ok

[dakohosu]

Feb 22, 2024 3:01:42 GMT -5 shunsukenumber98 said:

I always wondered about why he had a outburst in sasuke 40, that was unexpected.

Also thanks for giving this very long and detailed explanation, appreciate it.

Glad to see that yamada is now doing somewhat ok

Yep, I tend to check out during Yamada's runs when watching live because it's usually a bit of an immersion breaker, with the 90s being the most nail-biting part of the tournament and then having Yamada in the middle, lol. So I wasn't really paying attention and then just heard his scream of anger and was like "wtf".

I didn't understand it myself because I think even he himself knows his hard limit is Dragon Glider, as he doesn't even train the obstacle. At most he'll do the trampoline jump and touch the bar on his home course, maybe due to injury or general aging, so I didn't get why he got so frustrated only failing one obstacle prior. He seemed really happy with his result in 38, and even when he failed the Quad Steps in 39 he just laughed it off. 

I would imagine he may have got additional hope from seeing Shingo before him clear, even though the former's failure streak was only 9 tournaments as opposed to 20+ and he's almost 10 years younger, as well as maybe wanting to do well in what may well be his last ever anniversary tournament (he'll be 67 by the time Sasuke 50 rolls around). It was also a pretty avoidable mistake that he made, just rushing into the Fish Bone without calculating timing and just getting knocked off, so I presume he was annoyed about that too.

[xelA197]

Yamada should wear numbers in the #40s-#50s immediately before or after his proteges bar Yoshiyuki, such as happened in 30 and 33, it would fit better for a competitor almost in his 60s, but he is too popular even now to wear too low numbers, in 30 and 33 he was probably demoted in the #30s after his infamous argument with Inui, now they seem to have made peace and therefore he is back to wearing numbers in the #90s.

[dakohosu]

Feb 22, 2024 9:27:56 GMT -5 xelA197 said:

Yamada should wear numbers in the #40s-#50s immediately before or after his proteges bar Yoshiyuki, such as happened in 30 and 33, it would fit better for a competitor almost in his 60s, but he is too popular even now to wear too low numbers, in 30 and 33 he was probably demoted in the #30s after his infamous argument with Inui, now they seem to have made peace and therefore he is back to wearing numbers in the #90s.

From purely a pacing and immersion standpoint him being in the 90s isn't ideal as those numbers are typically where the stakes are highest with the best competitors running, so to have someone in the middle of that bracket who's got a near zero chance of clearing and also goes pretty slow throughout the course in general is kind of immersion breaking. It's not just unique to Yamada though, you could say the same thing about Nagano or Akiyama, but they get more of a free pass from fans because they're former champions. 

But from a ratings standpoint, which is fundamentally what matters a whole lot more, it makes sense, as Yamada is one of the main faces of the show, arguably the biggest bar Yusuke and maybe Snow Man in modern day Sasuke, so it's worth having him in the higher numbers to drive viewership throughout the course of Stage 1. Especially now that, without spoiling anything from 41, the numbering of the Black Tigers has somewhat changed.

The trend of rando athletes in the 90s though has to stop, because they just get digested or cut anyway.