Sasuke 24 preview special

First images of the current Sasuke 24 course

As many of you know before Sasuke 24 aired there was supposed to be a "History special" which was supposed to (eat least we thought would) be the top moments from Sasuke as voted by fans (from the Sasuke 24 announcement of the airdates back in November). It turned out to be a variation of Sasuke Navi which I already blogged about and a course description with a few bits of behind the scenes.

Camera getting the shots of the lineup for Sasuke 24

For the purposes of this blog I'll post only what was different from Sasuke Navi. All in all I was disappointed we didn't get to see the history special for obvious reasons but more importantly because at this point I've seen Navi for the 3rd time. They re-aired Navi right after the Sasuke 23 broadcast almost in it's entirety. I was curious what the fans were going to vote this time. Maybe they will put it up eventually on the Sasuke Mania website.. I hope it doesn't turn up on the pay site they added for the Iphones in Japan only.

Who will be the 3rd winner!?

Kenjiro Ishimaru 石丸謙二郎 - TV host

As I had mentioned they re-aired Sasuke Navi in limited format and added a few new faces. I added here the faces that weren't in the original Navi but were already announced in one way or the other in the competitor's list we tried to compile.

Yukio Iketani 池谷幸雄 - Gymnast (Sasuke 20) and his brother Naoki Iketani 池谷直樹 - Muscle Musical マッスルミュージカル

Did I explain how much I detest Yukio? If you look at the dictionary under the word SMACK.. his mug is all over it.. OMG I can't stand this arrogant man.. I'd rather watch Sato all day.. I detest this man that much. One of the rare times I actually feel bad for Naoki for having such a distasteful brother.

Nochi ノッチ (on the right doing his President of the USA Barack Obama impression) - Comedian from Dangerous デンジャラス (Sasuke 22)

Kuruo Hatoyama 鳩山来留夫 (doing his Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama Impersonation)

The start of the behind the scenes

The preview did most of Navi but at one point it started to deviate and show behind the scenes of what it's like to be on Midoriyama moments before official taping. Then they went and did more fluff pieces on key people like the All-Stars and New Stars (the continuing theme from Sasuke 23).

Mister Sasuke Katsumi Yamada 山田勝己 speaking with fellow Sasuke competitor Kota Honma 本間晃汰

Finally under All-stars they reused old footage for Bunpei Shiratori 白鳥文平 (who will not compete in Sasuke 24)

And new footage of Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 who was doing exercises with weights

A rare siting.. All 6 Sasuke All-stars in one event (still Sasuke 17 marks the last time all 6 COMPETED together) so it was a treat to see.

Makoto Nagano 長野誠

Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩

Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 and Bunpei Shiratori 白鳥文平 unfortunately were not interviewed

Makoto Nagano 長野誠, Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Katsumi Yamada 山田勝己

Seems Nagano was motioning his legs again.. he complaining about stamina?

Katsumi Yamada 山田勝己

Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 - Gymnast and Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治 - Shoe salesman (UNCLI #3)

Then they shifted to doing interviews of the New Stars (Kanno and Yuuji) and other competitors invited like Comedians and Professional Athletes.

Sasuke 24's overhead shot of the entire course

Stage 1 description: 130 meters total distance, 9 obstacles, 120 second time limit

At this point they changed to describing all the obstacles of Sasuke 24 from Stage 1 to Stage 4 in detail. They showed testers practicing the obstacles for the benefit of the competitors. In some of the screenshots you notice a crowd.. those are the Sasuke competitors watching the demonstration.

First obstacle is the same - 12 steps called Jyunidantobi 十二段跳び (for some inexplicable reason stupid G4 moronically called this obstacle 12 timbers..)

2nd obstacle is the X-bridge (basically a variation on the old Cross bridge)

Here is another view of the X-bridge

3rd obstacle is the same - Log Grip ロッググリップ

4th is the same - Jumping Spider ジャンピングスパイダー

View of the Spider walk portion of the Jumping Spider ジャンピングスパイダー

Competitors talking amongst themselves during the demonstrations
Kenji Takahashi 高橋 賢次, Kanno, Yamada, Lee Enchi リー・エンチ, Shingo and Akiyama's head :p

Yuuji was buried in that crowd too

5th obstacle is also the same - Half-Pipe Attack ハーフパイプアタック

6th obstacle is also the same - Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁 (what G4 calls the Warped Wall)

Rie Komiya 小宮理英 and Ayako Inada 稲田 亜矢子 commenting on the Warped Wall

Nagano waltzes up to this next obstacle.. I'm sure to make sure it's been fixed.. LOL

Oh! I didn't notice this before until now.. Tomohiro Kawaguchi 川口 朋広 is also with him

7th obstacle is also the same - Slider Jump スライダージャンプ

Reverse angle on the Slider Jump スライダージャンプ

This of course provokes much murmur in the crowd (foreground is Nagano and Takeda)

Takeda is motioning what you have to do in order to succeed

Seems he's trying to communicate with Lee Enchi

Lee of course can't speak Japanese so he just smiles and is happy to be included in the conversation

8th obstacles is also the same - Tarzan Rope ターザンロープ

This directly goes to the last obstacle - Rope Ladder ロープラダー (which I always call the Rope Wall since that's what it looks like to me :D )

Incoming Stage 2 for Sasuke 24
6 obstacles - 85 second time limit

First obstacle has not changed - Downhill Jump ダウンヒルジャンプ

2nd obstacle has not changed - Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー

This is where this is different. The stick slider is now.. gone..

You must now go directly from the top of the salmon ladder to the 3rd obstacle - Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ

TBS reminding you of an epic fail in Sasuke 23 - Yuuji's demise to this exact obstacle

Overhead shot of the Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ

View from the Salmon Ladder side (note the walls facing you) of the Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ

4th obstacle is actually a variation of the old Balance Tank バランスタンク it's a lot shorter distance and it finishes at the bottom of a wall that you climb (a rope is provided)

After you climb out of the Balance tank pit you are facing the 5th obstacle - Metal Spin メタルスピン

This of course was the resting place of Sato Hiromichi 佐藤弘道 in Sasuke 22

Metal Spin メタルスピン up close

The final obstacle is the same - Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

The 3rd stage is 8 obstacles that has no time limit

The first obstacle (not shown) is the same - Arm Ring アームリング
This is the 2nd obstacle - Rope Junction

This is the Rope Junction with a tester on it

3rd obstacle is the same - Devil Steps デビルステップス
This is the 4th obstacle - Shin-Cliffhanger 新クリフハンガー

5th is the same - Jumping Bars ジャンピングバー

Which directly connects to the 6th obstacle - Hang Climbing ハングクライミング

Which directly connects to the 7th obstacle - Spider Flip スパイダーフリップ

And course to the last obstacle - Gliding Ring グライディングリング

The bottom section of the Gliding Ring グライディングリング

Final stage is unchanged. 40 second time limit

Comprised of the Heavenly Ladder ヘブンリーラダー　(13 meters in length) and finishing with the G-Rope Gロープ　(10 meters in length) making the whole obstacle distance of 23 meters - approximately 75 feet high)

Final shots of the lineup as the camera pans back and forth

Notable face in the crowd is Lee Enchi (thank you TBS for paying for him to be there!!)

Note where Yamada is.. LOL er.. look down.. Seems Nagano was .. er. tying his shoes? LOL!!!

Sasuke 24! In half hour!!

Please note that Sasuke 24 was almost 6 hours long... it will take time to do the picture blog. Please be patient as I recover from being up early in the morning and sitting all day watching this non-stop. I'll post parts of it as I can. In the meantime please read Lost in Ube's liveblog of the entire event!

Please note! Next week is Sportsman #1 Monster Box Special! A few Sasuke competitors will be there including 3 of the All-Stars - Nagano, Shingo and Takeda! For the commercial go here.