Sasuke 25 - Spoilerific Review - Part 1

SASUKE 25!!

PART ONE

Sasuke spoilerific review ;) Warning.. incoming blog of Sasuke 25.. if you don’t want to know.. you have been warned :D (Just remember.. the USA Broadcast of this.. will be.. well.. WE DON'T KNOW.. Idiots haven't even shown Sasuke 23 in it's entirety yet.. (Ya'll have to wait until April 10th for the next Ninja Fest.. ) so Sasuke 25 might be next year for all we know.. wtf... which of course delays the rest of the world's release to next year since they buy the G4 ridiculously edited and Americanized version of the same show... Anyway.. For a preview of this event.. Please see SASUKE 25 NAVI 1 hour review of Sasuke 25 with fluff pieces of all the major players in the upcoming Sasuke!). Oh.. and as Ube says: If you are from the G4 Forums, DON'T POST THIS THERE. They expect everyone to stick their head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist..

UBE'S Sorta-LIVE-BLOG FOR SASUKE 25 IS HERE!

(Massive thanks to Ube for his help on the names in English and Japanese of all the competitors!!)

Opening Shot of Sasuke 25 - the countdown to the 3rd ever winner of this show in it's 13 year history

Anyway.. I'll be doing this in chunks.. Thanks to the community for a great event and for everyone doing what they could to enjoy the broadcast together. There were approximately over 4000-5000+ (conservative estimate) people watching Sasuke 25 live. Yes! That many! There were rooms (Livestream - some with and without limits) and thanks to a few fans willing to help stream paid service (WIST) and share that feed with the rest of the community. There was a huge contingent on KeyHole. This number doesn't even include the people who paid for subscriptions to online streaming programs like WIST and watched on their own. Also thanks to our friends in Taiwan who found rooms in Justin TV showing Sasuke 25. I do hope it does show how much the online community has grown!!

Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治 - 3rd KANZENSEIHA!!!! (Sasuke 24) just a brief 3 months ago

And the letters flashing across the screen here yell "SPRING RENEWAL" or 春のリニューアル (hmm.. before it was total.. guess with returning obstacles like the jump hang you can't exactly call it total. Which is fine with me actually.

Someone totally geronimo'ing off the Circle Slider.. LOL I'm sure that's a huge spoiler but I'm not addressing it until I get there :)

Takeda and Nagano totally losing it again

But just remember.. Toshihiro will LAUGH AT YOUR DEMISE! Makoto just double facepalms

Double salmon ladder looks wicked...

And I see Monster 9 is going for the total "shock" factor in this updated version of the Cliffhanger

Saturday, February 20th.. er.. uhm.. Sasuke 25 line up! Because everyone has to register to get their stuff

If you haven't guessed it (and you do need to read Navi..) this is the first time all 47 Japanese prefectures have at least one representative!

They say they are going global this time though we know it's barely a dent but hey I'm going with the theme.. it's not All-Stars vs New Stars anymore so I'm happy :)

and just like that my happy bubble is gone.. meh.. Yukio Iketani 池谷幸雄

He's showing that for this tournament they are using lottery for even the named competitors. Seems they are using numbered ping pong balls..
Yukio Iketani 池谷幸雄 will be #59 today.

Returning finalist Yoshiyuki Okuyama 奥山義行 is #50

Back from his Sasuke 23's 3rd stage appearance is Levi Meeuwenberg リーヴァイ・ミューエンバーグ who will be #48 today

Taiwan's Lee En Chi リー・エンチ is fishing for his number

Taiwan's Lee En Chi リー・エンチ is #80 today

Notice we didn't see him holding a bag.. just kidding LOL I don't care!!

All-Star - Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 is #90 today!

All-Star - Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 is happy to represent the Prefecture of Tokyo 東京

Levi sees this as the Olympics with this particular set up with the regions. As we know Levi represents the USA (in Japan.. they just say Amerika アメリカ - (I guess Central and South America don't count and Canada doesn't exist.. LOL))

How do you like the do? I'm back to au naturale! No more hair dye for me!

My man.. I'm so disappointed.. hair dyed is the only way to go...

Would you like some laces to go with that?

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 - Sasuke's very first winner (Sasuke 4)

At this stage they are mentioning that the past 3 champions are going in order with the most recent to win going last to close out the first stage show. I like this idea a lot considering that Yuuji did deserve being 100 for the very first time in his Sasuke career AND I hated the marathon Nagano had to go through in Sasuke 18... When Akiyama returned in Sasuke 6 after his win he was given the 100 saddlecloth as well.

All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 - Sasuke's 2nd winner (Sasuke 17)

Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治 is our 3rd winner (Sasuke 24)

All-Star Kazuhiko Akiyama 秋山 和彦 is representing the Prefecture of Hokkaidō 北海道

All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 is originally from Miyazaki 宮崎県 prefecture.

Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治 is representing the Prefecture of Tokyo 東京

Course overview! That's a lot of green .. and Mud.. and.. did the physical location of the tower .. change? Just seems.. different for some reason.. anyway this is Sasuke 25's course.

They are doing their opening now. Hmm.. they moved all the major stars away from the front! Poor Yuuji!!! He doesn't even get front and center!!! That's horrible...

I see Ryo being dwarfed by Brian. Levi and Lee all in the far back row.

Koji, Okuyama, Kanno and.. wtf.. Yuuji is THAT far back? /sigh.. that's .. that's just bad.. Anyway.. Kawaguchi and Mr. Octopus in sight as well.. WHO THOUGHT THIS LINEUP??? THEY NEED TO BE FIRED!

They shoved the All-Stars back there too... the only positive is that they manage to keep Shingo from messing up the shot this time...

Sorry this just seems wrong.. /sigh.. anyway.. ho!

Sasuke 25 has begun

That's one big ass crane..

Ladies and Gentlemen.. First Stage! Get it on!

Starting this long day is announcer Fumiyasu Satō 佐藤 文康 - the less annoying announcer.. (you have no idea how happy I am that Ogasawara 小笠 is not here..)

The steps got some sort of upgrade and they renamed it..
These are the Dome Steps ドームステップス

2nd obstacle is the Rolling Maruta ローリング丸太 or what G4 calls the "Rolling Log"

The 3rd obstacle is the Jump Hang ジャンプハング

4th obstacle is the Bridge Jump ブリッジジャンプ

That's all for now .. LOL The total course is 130 meters in total length. Time limit for the first stage is set at 115 seconds.

Our first competitor of the day is!
Shinichi Fukumoto 福本信一 - Representative from Ibaraki 茨城県 Prefecture

Shinichi Fukumoto 福 本信一 death by Dome Steps!

And just like that we are at #4.. LOL!
Masaru Akagawa 赤川大 is the representative from Toyama 富山県 Prefecture

Hmm apparently he's not a photographer as I thought in Navi.. he's a cable car engineer?

We get to the Rolling log!

Masaru Akagawa 赤川大 - Death by Rolling Log

WOW he's early.. Anway we skip to the 6th competitor.. and what is he holding?? Paint thinner container? Keg of beer?

This is Ryo Matachi 又地諒 (better known as #2 Cliffer)

I'm still cracking up he's trying to act all cool.. he's probably shaking like a leaf!! Btw.. I'm glad he got rid of that blond color on his head.. though I'm still thinking there's a fire sale on Nagano's crunchy orange hair dye by the gallon...

Prefecture of Kanagawa 神奈川県 which is just south of Tokyo btw

We first met Ryo (at least I did) back in Sasuke 21 summer trials.

And yes.. that is his room! LOL

For us fans in SMF we follow his blog and YouTube almost.. daily.. Still.. they make no mention he's part of UNCLI along with Yuuji..

They mention he was part of Sasuke Trials which took place on Valentine's Day

There were many events that everyone took part in groups. This was the 1500 meter race in varying terrain and elevation (i.e. They made them run the BMX course.. LOL)

They also had live performance auditions

120 people were invited to participate and they were broken down into groups. This group had to do a shuttle run

These guys had to do a 50 meter race

And Ryo had to do pull ups (well.. chin ups..)

Ryo Matachi 又地諒 destroyed the competition with 42 pull ups earning him a return trip to Sasuke (his last was Sasuke 21)

Hard to tell here but apparently he was grinning a lot during the competition.. he worked his butt of doing this exact thing..

Ryo Matachi 又地諒 has no problems with the Dome Steps

Onwards to the Rolling Log

Onward to the Jump Hang

He catches it reaaaally low...

Gah he's giving me a heart attack.. I always freak out when they drop this close to the water...

Onwards to the Bridge Jump

He's the first to get here.. so he's taking his time.. he's the guinea pig here..

Going with conviction and speed he's going across all 3 swings..

And dives for the rope...

And slides safely to the other side

Finally onto the Log Grip

And I see Monster 9 managed to turn the Warped Wall in an angle so they can't Takeda their way up the side! LOL

Ryo takes a gander at the clock and almost falls over...

GAH! I hate when they casually run down the bottom..

Don't look at me that way.. MOVE IT YOU!

He gets up the .. doooh he missed it...

Back up immediately for another run..

And he MISSES AGAIN...

Dude wtf.. I can do this in my sleep...

Okay.. he finally gets up the wall but he's running out of time..

He's going to to the next obstacle..

The Circle Slider. Only guys that were in Sasuke 17 know how this feels like..

Running up.. and.. oh oh..

DAMMIT! I knew it.. he used a technique that only works for trampolines.. NOT SPRINGBOARDS.. gaaaaaaaaaaah..

Looks okay here.. but..

Yeah.. not even close to the ring..

Wow.. LOL they have a great UNCLI sign! TBS must be PISSED!

LOL the sign is specifically for him! Awww that sucks he didn't pass the first stage!

TBS showing our first competitor to tackle the Bridge Jump

Never letting the rope leave his sights he just ran across the swings

And floated across safely

Here is where it all went wrong...

He's expecting spring to come out of nowhere.. again.. trampoline technique..

Springboards rely on YOU doing most of the work..

But his legs just crumbled. Aww that's a shame. I had high hopes for him. Still. He did fantastic. It's a shame he drew a low number. He could have benefited from seeing others have success in this obstacle to understand that the technique had to be different. Doesn't help he couldn't compensate with his height.

Poor Ryo covered in mud

Ryo Matachi 又地諒 - Death by Circle Slider
TBS please invite him again!!

I see a hanglider!

Hang Glider - Masami Harashima 原島雅美 - one of the representatives from Saitama 埼玉県 Prefecture which is actually north of Tokyo. Saitama has the most representatives with 8 today btw.

Hmm.. he has a lunch truck.. 6 of something for about 3 bucks.

Oh I know what that is.. those are takoyaki たこ焼き (thanks Ube I forgot the name).. never had on before so I have no idea what they taste like.. I just know them from anime where the English translation are fried octopus balls...

Hang Glider - Masami Harashima 原島雅美 now has a new name.. Octopus Ball maker..

Damn straight!

Anyway.. back on the platform..

Wait.. wait.. he's making it across.. he's done this before...

And right on cue he gets it wrong.. wtf is he doing?

Er.. yeah..
Hang Glider - Masami Harashima 原島雅美 - Death by Dome Steps!

Takeda is afraid his octopus balls will be fried.. (sorry.. I HAD TO.. it was RIGHT THERE...)

LOL I'm still surviving "Homey" Shingo look (what up yo?).

Nagano is cheesing.. Takeda still looks petrified.. Akiyama is hearing the crowd reaction because he can't see jack sh&t and Shingo is just chilling with a smirk on his face

Takeda is still embalmed, Nagano is doubling over in laughter.. Akiyama is starting to get it.. and Shingo still chillin'

The real octopus balls guy is happy

Mr. Octopus (Tako Man) - Minoru Kuramochi 倉持稔 approves of this message

PART TWO