Sasuke 27 - Spoilerific Review - Part 12

SASUKE 27!!

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 4) (PART 5) (PART 6) (PART 7) (PART 8) (PART 9) (PART 10) (PART 11)

Sasuke spoilerific review ;) Warning.. incoming blog of Sasuke 27.. if you don’t want to know.. you have been warned :D (Just remember.. the USA Broadcast of this.. will be.. well.. March, 2012.. Yes.. you read that right.. another 5 months after taping this event back in July... Thanks to everyone for being so patient. Got sick with headaches again this year and am still recovering from an inner ear infection.. yum.. Anyway.. For a preview of this event.. Please see SASUKE 27 NAVI 1 hour review of Sasuke 27 with fluff pieces of all the major players in the upcoming Sasuke and even a couple of runs that were cut from the official broadcast!. 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.. P.S. I will NOT be covering ANW3 on this blog especially since it aired a couple months ago and I prefer to blog about everyone at once.. not in isolation! Thanks!

UBE'S Sorta-LIVE-BLOG FOR SASUKE 27 IS HERE!

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

Top 6 Japanese in the 3rd Stage:
Ryo Matachi 又地諒
Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治
Makoto Nagano 長野誠
Kouji Hashimoto 橋本亘司
Yoshiyuki Okuyama 奥山義行
Terukazu Ishikawa 石川 輝一

Top Americans in the 3rd Stage:
David Campbell デイヴィッド・キャンベル
ポール・キャゼミア Paul Kasemir
ライアン・ストラティス Ryan Stratis
ジェームス・マクグラス James McGrath

We've got 10 in the 3rd stage today! (No it's not a record)

And the 3rd stage is changed again.. this time marking the return of the ① Arm Bike アームバイク

This one moved location and got shortened ② *Flying Bar フライングバー

This is what it looks like from a wide shot

Still one of the ugliest obstacles.. LOL ③ Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー

It took out Kenji

and Kouji

and Lee

and Brent

and David

Strat doing jumping jacks

Paul stretching

same with James

and David

who has a UCH (what the Japanese call the AruKuri) and TBS expects for him not to suck

Chick: So are you ready for 3rd Stage?

David: I'm about as ready as I can be. I've been training hard and I'm feeling good. I think I can do it.

Ryo is stretching.. not flipping us.. LOL

more stretching pics from Ishikawa

and Kouji

and Okuyama

And Nagano

LOL Yuuji as well

and they only interview Nagano

Dammit.. he's back for the 3rd stage.. groan... really friggin' annoying announcer is back.. Wataru Ogasawara 小笠原 亘

Okay we are in the white lit area of the course now

Okay! We start off with a Finalist from Sasuke 24 Kouji Hashimoto 橋本亘司

who is a Gym instructor (what we call personal trainers)

He was a gymnastics standout as early as high school where he managed to get into a prestigious school due to his talents. He went on to go to college also because of Gymnastics.

Sasuke 24 he was stopped by the debut of the UCH

Seems TBS spent time to visit him at home

where they recorded him watching his previous performances

Will he make it past the UCH this time?

Parents yelling encouragement! His father is Hiroyuki 広幸 and mother is Chihoko 千歩子

① Arm Bike アームバイク

doing just fine on the arm bike

so strange seeing Nagano alone.. I miss Takeda already..

Getting ready for the ② *Flying Bar フライングバー This one used to be at the end of the stage and on one had seen it actually in action (well .. aside from testers). It's also missing 2 from the original 5 rungs

Kouji doing fine on the 2nd one

This is an interesting obstacle. It's basically jumping bars hanging on to a pipe.. precise placement is a ridiculous must...

The rest of the 9 looking intently.. they are up next..

meh.. this obstacles is fugly anyway.. here we go.. ③ Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー

taking his time waiting for the director to signal him to go

okay.. time for revenge..

already doing better than the last time..

about halfway...

oooh he caught the small ledge...

YES! He caught the last ledge!

and we got a CLEAR! No wonder NBC had to cut all this out to persist the illusion that no one passed...

Rebel Yell! First ever clear of the ③ Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー

LOL this is kinda awkward.. hello camera man..

Mom having kittens right now

okay.. now we are in uncharted territory..

I'm convinced.. something is in the water...

already on deck is James

Ryo is impressed at the first clear of the UCH!

meanwhile the psychoanalysis starts .. new obstacle coming so everyone is watching intently..

This is a combination .. first are the ④ ^Jumping Ring ジャンピングリング (also shorter than it was before)

doing fine

and he caught the next one

okay here's the connection. The ladder belongs to the next obstacle

personally I hate this next obstacle but I'm horribly digressing..

Kouji now turning himself around to face the next obstacle

Mom anxious...

watching intently...

here it is.. I .. hate.. this obstacle.. ⑤ ^Chain See-Saw チェーンシーソー

you start off on the ladder on the left.. then grab the rope/chain thing that is on a pulley which you have to keep straight or you just fall off whatever side is not balanced..

from this set of rope/chain pulley thing you have to jump to yet another set then catch the rope ladder on the other side

No!!! He is not balanced and is falling on the right side...

see how the rope/chain thing just basically unravels..

each end of the chain has handles and he tried to grab the handles but he was leaning too much on his right..

and his left hand just ripped off then handle..

watching as he does the transition jump to the 2nd chain

yeah...

Nagano is now in an unhappy place™

parents reaction

Disappointed indeed..

Kouji Hashimoto 橋本亘司 - Death by Chain See-Saw

he's also trying to figure out how the heck he can do this...

more unhappy place™

while James seems excited for his run? Just seems out of place is all. I would think it's more "I'm giddy I'm here" rather than "I'm happy he fell" (and yes I have to explain this since I got some messages where people were angry he was happy about Kouji's fail)

replay of the very first UCH clear in history!

He should be proud to have cleared it. Especially listening to many online saying it was impossible...

Rebel Yell!

This was the Chain See-saw. He managed to grab them both

but became imbalanced as his right hand yanked down

so his left hand just couldn't hold on to the handle

I think that's why I hate this obstacle.. there's zero recovery from this..

basically stating the obvious that he lost his balance

Still though he did friggin' awesome and made history!

Reporter: How do you feel about that?

"I'm feel excellent" (I think he misunderstood the question as it's typical that TBS will ask not about their run but about what the previous person's run.. considering that I doubt he was saying he felt excellent about Kouji failing.. rather he was feeling excellent about his upcoming run) "Hopefully I can get to the ending point"

Ice Cream man is up!

here we go again with the Giant stuff along with Training videos

will this giant beat Stage 4?

ジェームス・マクグラス James McGrath

LOL Ryo's hands are caked in chalk already LOL

Up first is the arm bike

as the contestants cheer the clear

doing very well on the Flying Bar

LOL Strat is jacked

Looking for cues on when to go

Okay here we go on the UCH even though NBC already told me how he did over a month ago..

For the benefit of the other 150+ countries that won't even see this because G4 deletes it from the Ninja Warrior broadcast.. /sigh

Okay through the middle of the UCH

trying to set up a jump

but can't hold on to the small ledge

actually he wasn't going to really catch it with both hands anyway

Strat not pleased

Nagano still in his unhappy place™

ジェームス・マクグラス James McGrath - Death by Ultimate Cliffhanger

Strat getting the fast-forward on the arm bike

Strat on the Flying bar

and they FF'ed directly to the UCH

going up to the 3rd ledge

but he missed the transition to the 4th

he's NOT 37 TBS....
ライアン・ストラティス Ryan Stratis - Death by Ultimate Cliffhanger

Hmm they did a replay on his FF.. he did manage to grab the ledge

but couldn't hang on

meanwhile Mr. Cake hands..

Ryo is up next (I cut the repeat of the fluff pieces)

Mom Miki

Ryo Matachi (Cliffer #2) 又地諒 is up next!

we all know by now how long I've been following this kid through the years of training on this stage alone..

omg he really does have a lot of chalk on his hands.. it looks like a glove!

clear on the arm bike

Nagano approved™

doing well on the Flying bar

and now for the reason why he is a Cliffer .. Especially with Kouji passing this.. I expect him and Yuuji to pass this obstacle..

yeah.. now you can see Keita on the right of the screen - that's Cliffer #4!

dude.. you don't need more chalk.. LOL

still waiting for the director to tell him to go

up we go.. methodically..

no problems going up to the 3rd ledge

again methodically going across the UCH

catches the small ledge...

catches the last ledge!

and clear!!!!!!!!

Ryo celebrating as we got our 2nd clear for the UCH today!

Yuuji (Cliffer #3) is celebrating his friend's clear

LOL everyone is so subdued.. they expected Ryo of all people to pass this...

dude has a chalk fetish..

maybe Nagano has a chalk fetish as well...

lol sheepish rolling shoulders

okay.. time for the jumping rings

lol he's backing up.. because he's just as short as Nagano...

ROFL he's trying to go back even further.. now checking to see if he's going to fall off the platform!

huge running start to the first ring

catches the 2nd ring

an immediate foot catch to the ladder

took him a bit to get around it but he's now eyeballing the first set of chains

finally leans forward to grab them to feel how they move

he takes a leap for the 2nd set and he CATCHES THEM!

family losing their marbles

Nagano impressed

okay.. now to get off this thing.. he foot catches the other ladder

whoah.. that would have sucked if he fell backwards now...

Yuuji sending encouragement down the line.. (seems to Ishikawa)

okay.. now for another modified obstacle.. which looks like an even simpler version of the Rope Junction that had no function.. this is the ⑥ Rope Climb ロープクライム

yeah I figured as much as he just uses this to get to the bar

reached the green bar of safety!

Hoooo yeah...

Ishikawa just as sheepish.. he's up next..

lol and doesn't look as confident..

now trying to get some strength back as he's finally at a resting point..

yet another modified obstacle. It's basically a straight horizontal Pipe Slider but with a twist. This is the ⑦ ^Bar Glider バーグライダー

Still taking his time to get some wind back while analyzing the obstacle

Nagano anxious

here's the twist.. it angles up.. (yet another thing stolen from Supersheep's Sim Sasuke..)

okay here we go

yep.. pipe slider hold he's used to

LOL reminds me of the Pipe Grinder that was at the Maguro Festival.. approaching the slant up..

blew through it like it wasn't even there!

seems this one also has a small stopper since the entire length of the track is actually tilted backwards...

Nagano yelling encouragement

swinging...

and YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friggin' FINAL for RYO!!!!

Yuuji yelling encouragement to his fellow Cliffer

and SUCCESS as Yuuji is over the moon!

So is Nagano

Pandemonium at the Family camp

I'm sooooooooooooooo happy for him!!!!!!!! About time he realized his potential!

All he needed to do get out of Trials.. then FINALLY get out of the first stage when he got there!! LOL

So we have our first? to the final.. we know someone wins.. I'd totally have a cow if he won... omg.....

LOL TBS is not going to show Yuuji freaking out more.. they are sticking with the All-Star.. TBS must not be happy a Cliffer is there.. LOL the implications! Oh my!

Ryo Matachi 又地諒 - THIRD STAGE CLEAR!!!

That's one happy (and exhausted) kid!

now to see if he can kick some butt on the final...

Now for the replay of the UCH clear

and the kids were right about all that chalk at the end of the last ledge.. Good eye!

replay on that 2nd grab..

and the final leap from the bar

I'm so happy right now..... I've always wanted this kid to get here!

ah! we have a Lee sighting!

whoops.. he notices he's going towards his mom so he just quietly leaves the area LOL

I'm so friggin' tired...

PART 13 HERE