SASUKE MANIAC August 24, 2008 Sort of liveblog サスケマニア

Last week! Um. I heard something about the final stage of the SASUKE Trials!

This week! More SASUKE Trials! It's the Final Stage! Who will survive?

The Final Stage goes like this: 4 Hurdles (4連ハードル), Rope Cling (ロープクリング), Jump Ring (ジャンプリング), Shinzou Yaburi no Saka - literally the Heart Break Hill (心臓破りの坂), Danchigaubou - Uneven Poles (段違棒), Power Hanger (パワーハンガー), Final Ladder (ファイナルラダー).

The best eight will go on to the big show! At the end of last week, Kazuma Asa 朝一眞　was at the head of the class! Will he get moved out of his seat? Will Casey Cummings ケーシー・カミングス airplane his way to SASUKE 21? It's SASUKE Maniac!

I got soul but I'm not a soldier!

The pictures for this week are here.

Here we go. Clips from last week. Casey gets bumped by Mr. SASUKE pants Kazuma Asa.

SASUKE Maniac!

Hashimoto Koji 橋本亘司 is a sports instructor!

Under one minute is a safe time to get.

Hurdles. Rope Cling OK. Doing OK so far. Jump Ring. Hill. A bit ahead of the split. Final Ladder. 49"91! He's the new number two! Casey gets bumped down a spot.

Next is Takami Toshiharu 高見俊治. He's 16. So far so good. He's ahead of the split. But he must have gotten tired because he finishes at 51"89. Casey moves down again.

Next up! He's a firefighter! Is firefighting the best suited job for SASUKE? So far he's do...NO! Course out! He got to the uneven poles but couldn't stay on track.

Someone doesn't make it. Someone doesn't quite make it to bump off number 8.

Kubota Takayuki 久保田崇之. He failed at the Cliff Hanger at the last Trial. Revenge! By the way, I'm not picking on Casey. He's just the easiest to remember.

Asa's time is 48"67. Kubota is a bit behind the split so far. About two seconds. But he picks up the pace. Final Ladder. 50"26! New number 3. The older high school teacher gets bumped.

Didn't catch the next guys name. Wait, 東雅彦. Azuma Masahiko? 54"56! Yet another older guy gets bumped. Aoki is nervous!

Yamanaka farmer guy is up next! He's a buff fifty year old. The family that trains together..trains together. Yep.

The older competitors have not fared so well during this part of the Trial. Katsuo? Tatsuo? I'll check later. OK. Kazuo. 山中和男. Here he goes. Hurdles. Rope Cling. He's doing OK so far. Wait. Problem with the rope. No! Koko de ochita! He couldn't reach the platform.

Aoki is safe for now. Next guy is Sakuma. No! He missed the Rope Cling!

The host Ishibashi Yuki 石橋祐記 misses the Jump Ring. Aoki is quite nervous.

Yamazaki Daisuke 山崎大輔 is up next! He needs at least a minute three seconds. He's a bit behind the split but is on track to get under a minute.

Stamina wa dou da? 51"77! Oh my god! Aoki is out. Casey is now 8th.

Murakami 村上 is a hairdresser! His someone is there! Mom? Wife? Hudles. Rope Cling. Doing well. He's at about the right time. Poles. Power Hanger. Final Ladder. Uh oh. 49"59! Ouch. He's the new second. Murakami has a first name but for now we'll leave it at Murakami.

Bye Casey. Maybe next time. If you're reading, email me!

Still 12 people left! Including Mr. SASUKE's Assassin and all the remaining Muscle Park All-Stars.

CMs.

Hey, it's Mr. Handball, Daisuke Miyazaki. He was at Muscle Park recently. Team handball seems to have made some fans in Japan this year when Team Japan tried to make it to the Olympics.

Clips of Daisuke and his teammates trying out the different events at Muscle Park. They show his autographed jersey and shoes commemorating his Sportsman No. 1 wins. Tobi key chains. They debut the Tobi handball key chain at this event.

We relive Miyazaki and his teammates runs at SASUKE. Oh. OK. Let's relive ALL of his run.

And they take a look at SASUKE Park. One of them can't handle the Salmon Ladder. Wait, two of them can't. None of them can but here goes Daisuke!

After these CMs.

Catherine Zeta-Jones wants the women of Japan to buy her shampoo.

I wonder if his teammates purposely tanked the Salmon Ladder to make Daisuke look good?

Here goes Daisuke on the Salmon Ladder. Whoops. My picture froze. But the sound says he did it!

Next week, more SASUKE Trial!