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Monday, July 1, 2013

Sasuke 29 Spoilerific Review - Part 7

Sasuke spoilerific review ;) Warning.. incoming blog of Sasuke 29.. if you don’t want to know.. you have been warned :D (Just remember.. the USA Broadcast of this.. will be.. well probably never honestly. Yes.. you read that right.. Now with the death of G4 official and NBC not giving a damn about Sasuke Japan (especially after boycotting Sasuke 28 AND Sasuke 29..).. we may never see Sasuke Rising on US television (or any overseas country for that matter unless everyone buys the original 3 hour broadcast from TBS). For a preview of this event.. Please see SASUKE Rising (29) NAVI a half hour review of Sasuke Rising 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!


(Massive thanks to TBS for posting the names of all 100 competitors!  Thanks to Ube for his help on the names in English!!)

Okay!  Second Stage.. and I'm not happy about it because having seeing this live as it aired on TBS.. and knowing what happened.. I'm still furious.  So I'll do my best to not burn the internet with my fury right now. I don't have the energy to even bother faking not seeing this.. Right now I'm trying not to rip someone a new one..

Cross Slider クロススライダー
Note those 2 padded things.. you have to prop your body like a cross (thus the name)
slide down and land on this mat at the end of the moat 
From here you get the ② Swap Salmon Ladder スワップサーモンラダー
 As you go up the rungs (jumping from one set of rings to the other) the notches above pop out.
 That also explains why you couldn't just "Keita" up the higher rungs..
 because they would have not been exposed yet without landing on the opposite rungs to trigger the mechanism.
*Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ  
Note that it's "modified".. they nerfed this one to only have the first plank (the easy one with 4 chains). I'd be shocked if anyone missed this... Personally this is a "joke" obstacle. It was clear they just ran out of room and couldn't figure out another thing to add here.
 ④ Spider Walk スパイダーウォーク
Also an older obstacle.. personally I like this obstacle.
 .. here is my object of fury..
 ⑤ Backstream バックストリーム
The one everyone is talking about worldwide.. not just USA.. not just Japan.. yes.. you have to swim through it.. no other way around it. TBS just telling people to go eff themselves if people can't swim. So based on this alone I expect a bicycle for Sasuke 30 because clearly the new crew wants to turn Sasuke into a Triathlon..
Passing Wall パッシングウォール  
Note that the middle wall opens sideways...
Outside of 2 MAJOR tweaks this is the same Second Stage as last year.  Both "tweaks" will become apparently almost immediately as we start.  One you can see right now.. the TIME.. we went from 135 seconds down to 90 seconds. Lemme explain in detail.. That is a cut of 45 seconds.. Yeah.. If you need a reminder.. the 3 clears from Sasuke 28 were at MOST 27 seconds (Kanno), 25 seconds (Asa) and 13 seconds (Yuuji). SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU CUT 45 SECONDS?
 Pre requisite interviews..
Sasuke All-star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟
 Taiwan's Lee En Chi リー・エンチ
Masashi Hioki 日置 将士
 Yusuke Morimoto 森本 裕介
 Kazuma Asa 朝一眞
Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志
 Ryo Matachi (Cliffer #2)
  2-Time Grand Champion Yuuji Urushihara 漆原裕治 (Cliffer #3)
.. here we go.. 100 people competed in Stage 1 and we have 21 clears.
 First victim in order of clear is 2-Time Sasuke Finalist
Sasuke All-star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟
 and for the love of everything holy HE DID NOT LOSE HIS TITLE..
 NONE of the All-stars lost their titles.. geez.. anyway.. back to the 2nd Stage.
Clear on the Cross Slider and having wobbly issues going between the floating mats
 as a reminder.. this is floating on water so you have to be a wee bit careful
 okay on the Swap Salmon Ladder
 First transition is clean
 next transition is clean
 3rd clean
 and we are done
 I never did like how they took out the 2nd board.  This has 4 chains holding it up.. but I digress
 I have bigger things to hate about the 2nd stage to care about this right now..
 Spider Walk which he's done a billion times..
 but first Dracula needs to brush his teeth..
 Through the magic of television Shingo goes back in time..
 .. okay.. here we go.. (btw.. notice the time.. yeah.. wtf..)
 he goes in..
 he's feeling out the current..
 he says this is bullshit and balks at it..
 He turns around and goes back to the beginning..
 Because he is not going to drown in a friggin' game show.
 For those who don't understand the importance of this..
 HE IS A FRIGGIN' SURFER. HE CAN SWIM..
 Next on is Kouji who ALSO is a surfer so when he sees Shingo put up the white flag and he is openly shocked... I agree.. this is bullshit..
 Sorry for cursing kids.. I feel that strongly about this..
 Eiko is surprised.. she KNOWS he's a good swimmer.. (and she says it) She's been present at the surfing competitions he enters... c'mon
Shingo's wife Eiko 英子 distressed over the situation.
 Shingo cannot believe what is happening. When you face a rip tide.. you go around it.. there's no place to go here!
 Now TBS trying to cover their asses by saying that he should go under the water since they created a conveyor system.
 "supposedly" you get a current pushing you forward if you go under the water..
 But clearly you see a WALL of water stopping you midway.. the closer to get to the JET of water coming at you the more it just stops you.
 So the idea that if you just go under the water you clear is clearly.. yeah.. Bullshit..
 HE is a good swimmer.. he even mentions something was up with the current and wasn't going to subject himself to it.
 Sasuke All-star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 - Death by almost literal drowning.
 okay okay I'll be good.. Sasuke All-star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 - Death by Time up on bullshit "obstacle".. that better?  SWIMMING IS NOT AN OBSTACLE IT IS A DISCIPLINE. A worthy sport on to it's own. It does not belong in Sasuke. For 16 years if you touched the water you were disqualified.
Btw.. you see it too right? IT'S A FIRE HOSE..
 Hubby wants credit for seeing this and thinking of this skit on the movie UHF - "YOU GET TO DRINK FROM THE FIRE HOSE!"
 Next Victim.. is newly reinstated New Generation Sasuke 24 Finalist Kouji Hashimoto 橋本亘司
 Who is also a COACH.. HEAR THAT YAMADA?  Anyway he's moved back down to Shimane to teach little kids gymnastics.
 Clear on the Cross Slider
transition in the Swap Salmon Ladder
 other side
turning around on other side
and clear
Joke of a Unstable Bridge
doing well on the Spider Walk
 .. here we go... (remember.. he's a surfer.. used to strong currents.. he can swim..)
 doing exactly as they said to do.. go DOWN...
 what happens?  Pops right back off from the force of hitting the wall..

 Yeah.. they see it too.. Kongo cannot BELIEVE what he just saw.. There is shock running through the competitors right now..
LOOK AT THIS THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT CONVEYOR?
W.. T.. FFFFFFFFFFF...
 WHAT Stream? WHAT CONVEYOR??  I SEE A WALL!!!
 He's pushing as hard as he can..
 AND HE'S GOING BACKWARDS!!!!
He keeps trying to dive under it but keeps popping back up.. at one point he's trying to get some air!!!!!!!!
 Wakky can't believe he's watching this.. Kouji can swim.. what does that tell someone who can't swim as strong?
 Clearly frustrated.. he also wondered what was wrong with the backstream.. he literally said he considered himself a VERY strong swimmer..
 Sasuke 24 Finalist Kouji Hashimoto 橋本亘司 - Death by Bullshit..
 Next Victim .. oh yeah.. the THIRD FINALIST IN A ROW..
Sasuke 24 Finalist Taiwan's Lee En Chi リー・エンチ
 The only ones in Taiwan not sending him death threats.. (and YES I am dead serious about this)
 Here we go.. I just cackle at that timer.. who the hell thought cutting 45 seconds from the timer was a brilliant idea?
 Clear on the Cross Slider..
 Transition good on the Swap Salmon Ladder
 Continuing on the other side
 and other side
 and top
 trying to go as fast as he can without being forced into a careless mistake
 Spider walk with no issues
 .. here we go.. a full 25 seconds..
 DIVING under as best he could..
 on TOP of the fire hose..
GETTING PUSHED BACK...
within inches of the damn exit.. and he's going backwards..
 EVERYONE IS IN DISBELIEF!!!
 EVERYONE GETTING UP
 LOOKING AROUND.. TRYING TO SEE WHY THIS IS HAPPENING..
 ASA IS SCREAMING RIGHT NOW..
 LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY he miraculously managed to get ONE HAND on the support beam and PULLS himself out of the JET of water.. so help me if they disqualified him for doing this I would have quit watching Sasuke and taken down my damn blog.
Slides down with literally no time left to tackle the walls..
He's exhausted from fighting the RIPTIDE for almost 20 seconds.. he times out on the first wall.
I'm with you!

Wakky is clearly showing his displeasure.. he's shaking his head and yelling at how unfair this is.
He's physically spent.. THIS is just wrong.. it's so wrong I'm shaking I'm so furious..
Taiwan's Lee En Chi リー・エンチ - Death by Injustice
More victims.. this guy dives deep in to try go under it.
Daisuke Morikami 守上大輔 - Death by BRICK WALL
Another one!  Seriously.. ANOTHER ONE..
Taiga Hoshikawa 星川大我 - Death by BRICK WALL
replay from the commercials.. Hidekazu Inoue 井上英和  - Death by Cross Slider
Hiromasa Katakabe 片伯部浩正 - Death by Swap Salmon Ladder
and apparently they changed the rules again.. now you can't readjust if you miss a side.. since when?
apparently now.. Toshiharu Takami 高見俊治 - Death by Disqualification on Swap Salmon Ladder on rule that only applied now and never before...
ISHIKAWA TRIED TO GO AROUND THE FIRE HOSE!! See? He couldn't go around it either!
Terukazu Ishikawa 石川輝一 - Death by BRICK WALL
oh boy.. next victim is already looking panicked..
yeah.. 9 people and 0 clears.. YOU THINK? /facepalm
Masashi Hioki 日置 将士
I'm to the point I can't even see the screen I'm so angry..
literally this is probably the first time I see his full run..
I literally was seething right now..
I didn't even care to see more...
I have not been THIS angry at Sasuke.. ever.. I do mean it.. EVER..
There's a difference between stupid things that happen like Ryo squeezing under the wall that is over a FOOT off the ground..
and there's a difference when you see this crap happening..
Did he run out of time? of course he did. Did he waste too much time on the Unstable bridge? Of course he did..
but it angers me there's zero room for error.  He is NOT a strong swimmer. We can clearly see that..
But when you cut 45 seconds off a clock for no apparently reason and add a JET of water so strong that it sends experienced swimmers back..
You get THIS reaction.. Kongo getting a migraine.. Kouji feeling empathy and Yuuji crapping a brick.  Yuuji isn't a strong swimmer.. so how is that supposed to help his confidence?
I feel bad for Hioki and the other poor souls before him.
and his poor wife Mayumi that saw this happen when it shouldn't have happened.
Masashi Hioki 日置 将士 - Death by Time up.. doesn't matter where at this point.
He can't even breathe..

PART EIGHT

17 comments:

thebobmaster said...

Glad to see the translation. I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that the Backstream was WAY too fast, and that the producers saying "conveyor lol" were full of shit.

thebobmaster said...

Glad to see I'm not the only one calling BULLSHIT on the Backstream, especially with the producers comments of "you're just doing it wrong".

Unknown said...

(Rod)Arsenette, don't be shy, tell us how you really feel....

This doesn't feel like Sasuke 19, where you figure with enough time between competitions and a bit of tweaking by the course designers, they could make it through. This felt like they went too far in one-upmanship in the difficulty category. When competitors have to give up, I'm guessing even fearing for their own safety, it's not good.

Unknown said...

How about this scenario
Add 20 more seconds
Take out unstable bridge replace it with stick slider
Take out spider wall
Leave the back stream the way it is I like it
Maybe add metal spin
Keep the passing walls and done

Arsenette said...

Yeah.. the image showing "zomg you are doing it wrong" followed by the other fails where they actually followed their advice was just an insult. During the rest of the stage there is a comparison video. I can't show it yet until I finish the other person featured on the video's own run.

Bingo Rod. Exactly right about how it wasn't because they weren't up to the task like they were when they first saw the Salmon Ladder in 19 (or anyone else dealing with the Flying Chute in stage 1).. It really was just way too much at once and for no reason.

Hello Nicholas! Nah.. Backstream's gotta go. It serves no purpose..

TigerOfHaughton said...

I was definitely annoyed that Shingo and the others timed out because of the back-stream. If even strong swimmers can't clear that obstacle, there's basically no hope for weak swimmers. The back-stream needs to go.

On a different note, file this under "stupid things I notice," but in 16 years/29 tournaments, this is the first time we've ever seen Shingo wear tabi. Up to this point, he was the only one of the All-Stars that we had never seen wear tabi. In the other tournaments he wore sneakers. I didn't even know that he had tabi. In the pics he posts on Facebook, he's wearing sneakers (outside), or occasionally, slippers (inside), or he's barefoot.

Arsenette said...

Oh! I Didn't notice that either until you mentioned it! Now of course that I see the screenies I see it but I couldn't see past the frustration to notice things like that like I normally do. Thanks! After Part 2 of stage 2 I'll calm down. The BS wasn't as high in stage 3.. well.. sorta.. luckily a crisis was averted with that for me to actually enjoy the rest of the tournament.

sasukefan said...

I'M SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW!!
I just don't understand what they have to do in that bullshit!! you can't go around,you can't swim,you can't dive... And they cut 45 seconds! 45! Why,why the hell would they do that??? The Backstream was in the Second Stage in Sasuke 28 and I don't think it was that hard to clear it back then. WHAT DID YOU DO,TBS????? I want that obstacle go. RIGHT NOW! It doesn't belong in Sasuke,just like you said.
I'm curious. Did anyone,ANYONE cleared the Second Stage? cause it doesn't seem possible.

Unknown said...

I felt like they didn't want some of the older competitors to get through especially Yuji if he won again he would be 3 time champion and promoting anyone else as the face of Sasuke would be hard.
Does anyone know if Yuji had been successful in completing the crazy cliff hanger in training.

gustave154 said...

Backstream is pretty bullshit. Sure ninjas back then needed to swim but they didn't swim against a friggin river rapid...
Shit needs to go.

Arsenette said...

Hey Sasukefan: I feel your pain. I'll get to the rest of the 2nd stage. Trying to figure out if I need to break it up into 2 more blogs or not.

Tyson I think they really wanted to hamper everyone for the sake of the ASEAN cup... wait until stage 3 for what I mean about why on that.

Amen Gustave!

Gamer_2k4 said...

Nothing wrong with the Backstream. Sure, it's a really hard obstacle that caught the people unprepared for it. But how is that any different from the Ultimate Cliffhanger? When they pulled the curtain off that thing for the first time, you KNEW that no one was going to pass the darn thing.

But guess what? Competitors learned what they needed to do, trained for it, and came back the next year to beat it. The fact that people even cleared it this year means that it was an acceptable obstacle.

And yes, some people aren't going to be strong swimmers. But some people won't have stellar grip strength, or great jumping ability, or stamina to go for days. You know what? They don't clear the obstacles they're weak on, and that's all there is to it.

One of the things that makes Sasuke so appealing is that it's so darn HARD. The thing has been running for 16 years and only three people have achieved total victory. Of course there are going to be hard obstacles! But people will still conquer them, and people will still beat the course. The Sasuke of today is quite a bit different from the Sasuke of 1996, and that's not a bad thing.

Arsenette said...

There was something wrong with the backstream. Working on the next part now that will show definitively that they changed the flow of the water during the competition giving the latter ones an unfair advantage while shafting those without a re-run because they went earlier. There's a huge firestorm going on in Japan about that now that videos have come out with it. Difference with Cliffhanger is that the Cliffhanger is not adjusted as competitors go though it. You either do it or you don't. Not so with the backstream which was constantly adjusted as the night went on.

Robin Yeoh said...

I noticed while watching that all the competitors in the 2nd stage were wearing tabi. Some new rule for the 2nd stage, I guess?

Arsenette said...

There are no rules for what you wear. A lot of people usually wear tabi for the Spider walk specifically. That however, is not a required though.

Unknown said...

(Rod) Gamer, I understand what you're saying, but to me the difference is the worst case scenario. If you fail the ultimate cliffhanger, you fall into the water. You fail the backstream, I imagine getting out alive is the thought. Maybe I'm lowering the standards too much, but anyone can improve speed, strength, and stamina. Swimming is a skill that a lot of people don't do well and is different from other skills they've had. If Sasuke feels this level of risk is what has to be done, so be it, but to me is a different level/task from any previous obstacles.

Arsenette said...

I understand your viewpoint I really do! And this is coming from someone who thinks the Olympics is better the FIRST week when Swimming is on. it's a sport worthy of it's rich history and far more interesting than running.. I .. hate the running sports but think Swimming is a friggin' artform. That said it doesn't belong in Sasuke. ESPECIALLY in this form. There's no even playing field. Swimming not only is so specialized and was never required for 15 years, but it's so uneven in how it's being dealt out. The flow of water, the current was constantly changing giving people unfair advantages throughout the 2nd stage. If you had a static obstacle, even if it was ridiculously difficult. it was exactly that. STATIC. this was constantly being adjusted. The worst was when you had experienced swimmers (one who balked going you have got to be kidding me) and others who almost drowned trying to get through, around, under the riptide. In addition to the time cut of 45 seconds it created a controversy so large that not even a week past and they want Inui's head on a stick in Japan. It's huuuuge over there. So the simple thing is to get rid of the damn "obstacle" and come up with something that doesn't have to be constantly adjusted. For those who ran through Sasuke 29 this time.. they can't get that back.. you have a dozen GOOD SWIMMERS who were unfairly taken out because the TBS team was just too ambitious. It was a disaster and many viewers just stopped watching.