Sunday, March 28, 2010

SASUKE 2010 春! The Sort of Live Blog! SASUKE 25!

Last time! It was January 1st! And Urushihara Yuuji was all like...


And the All-Stars were all like...


What will happen this time?

It's SASUKE 2010 Spring!

Ping pong balls! Are drawn!

Shingo is 90!

Levi is 48!

Akiyama is 98!

Nagano is 99!

Yuuji is 100!

Did they save those numbers for them or something?

Koji Hashimoto is 60 but shh...we shouldn't know that yet.

Cookman!

People put up their fists! Gonzo!

1st Stage!

Dream Steps. Rolling Maruta. Jump Hang. Bridge Jump. 115 seconds to clear.

1. Fukumoto Shinichi! He's from Ibaraki! Steps..NO!

4. Akagawa Masaru is from Toyama! He's a train engineer? Wait. Cable car engineer? Is he going to take the cable car all the way there? Here he goes! Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. NO! Barely got going!

6. Ryo Matachi! He's from Kanagawa! Wow! UNCLI in the house! We see the auditions for SASUKE they held on Valentine's Day. Here he goes. Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang coming up. Yes! He'll go under. Bridge Jump...this is new...YES! No problem! You have to go fast. Log Grip. YES! Soritatsu Kabe. Needs to get set. Ye..NO! Again. NO! Again...YES! Does he have time? Circle Slider. NO! He mistimed the jump! Or rather, he didn't jump. Check out that sweet banner. He slaughtered the Bridge Jump though. Damn. Kibishii!

7. Harahsima Masami! Hang glider guy! He's from Saitama. And he's started a takoyaki truck? Wha? OK. Here he goes. Steps. NO! He looked like he was going to dropkick the platform.

9. From Africa! He's a baseball player! Steps. Yes! He's from Burkina Faso. Rolling Maruta. Whoa! He's stil on! And still going! Can he do it? Yes! Never seen that before. Jump Hang. No! He didn't get the jump. Hontou zannen!

10. From Ishikawa! Dandy Sakono! He's one of the few celebrities this time around. Let's talk to his high school teacher. Yeah, it's not like we have a hundred people to cover tonight or anything like that. Here he goes. Steps. NO! Go-getsuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Four met their dooms. Wait. Five. Wait six. No seven. No eight. That was a lot in a short time. Yeesh. OK. Let's use the power of digital TV and fix this...

Aichi futsal player failed the Jump Hang. So did a guy from Mie. Guy from Iwate failed the Rolling Maruta. Someone from Shiga failed the Jump Hang. So did the guy from Nagano. And the guy from Nara. And the guy from Tokushima. But hey, the guy from Hyogo failed the Rolling Maruta.

18. Sato Jun! STQer in the house! He's from Tokyo. He does the dreaded parkour. But first, let's go to commercial.

Back!

Steps. Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang. He goes over. Needs to pick it up a bit. Jump Bridge. Yes! Log Grip. Did he fail here before? Was that a different teenager? Either way..YES! Soritatsu Kabe. Yes! One try! Circle Slider...YES! Lots of time! He can do it! Tarzan Rope...Rope Ladder...Time is going to go red soon...YES! With 7.21 seconds left!

1 out of 18!

Shingo refuses to give him a hand! Refuses!

Whoa...He only got one hand on the Circle Slider initially.

And now...from Kochi!

21. Sakamoto Ryoma! Um..OK. I don't really thinks so but..Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. NO!

26. Kira Yuuji! He's from Niigata! I believe he'll fail the Jump Bridge. Here he goes. Steps...Whoa! He's holding on to the carrots! Rolling Maruta is OK! Jump Hang..YES! Slowly. A bit behind. Jump Bridge coming up...Kira Yujiiiiiiiiiiiii!!! The commercials never lie! Never!

27. From Gunma! Imai Hiroshi! He's a daruma craftsman! Um...Go. Wasted a bit of time. NO! Love the guy in daruma costume.

CMs coming up as we get a look at one of the members of Shinsengumi Rien.

Back.

30. Shinsengumi member Seki Yoshiya! Steps...almost...YES! Rolling Maruta is OK! Jump Hang...gets set...FACE PLANT! The face! The hair! No! By God no!

34. Higa Ryoji! He's from Okinawa but he works at Muscle Park! Here he goes. Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. Yes! He's the SASUKE Park demonstrator. Jump Hang..Yes! He goes over. Bridge Jump...YES! No problem! Can he break the Muscle Park curse! Log Grip! Yes! Still has time but can't dawdle. Soritatsu Kabe..NO! Again. NO! Time is running out. No! Time is going red! For pride! NO! You're fired!

Watanabe from Hiroshima fails the steps. 20. 23. Akita- ken. Squash player. Pejun fails the steps. Lots of fast forwards today!

Going back..Watanabe from Hiroshima fails the Dream Steps. As did the guy from Wakayama. A guy from Miyagi failed the Bridge Jump. The guy from Kagoshima failed the Dream Steps also. As did the guy from Akita. The guy from Kumamoto made it to the Log Grip and that's it. The guy from Fukuoka made it to the..Steps.

40. Takahashi Kenji! The Kongo Express! He was a finalist the last time! Let's see some children feel him up and watch him play with children. Wow. That was a weird sentence.

39 have tried! 1 has passed!

Can Kongo be next? He's from Saitama by the way. Steps. CMs...*sigh* time to go back and fix some stuff...

Back!

By the way, they are called the Dream Steps. I am a moron.

Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang! Yes! Takai! He goes over. Lots of time. Jump Bridge. Yes! Log Grip coming up. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. Yes! One time! Lots of time. Circle Slider. Another one hander! But he' got it! Tarzan Rope! Yes! Lots of time! 16.48!

He's happy!

Let's relive a very special moment from last time with the Octopus.

43. Kuramochi Minoru! Tako-tenchou! Here he goes. Steps. NO! Tako-tenchou!!!

Ninja Warrior alert! Levi is coming up next.

Let's look at his past history.

48. Levi Meeuwenberg! OK then. Let's cut to a commercial and entice the viewers with shots of testers doing the 3rd Stage. Wow, that looks hard.

Back!

Steps! Yes! Rolling Maruta! Levi! Jump Hang. Takai! He goes over of course. Bridge Jump. Yes! Log Grip. Levi! Soritatsu Kabe. First try! Circle Slider! Good jump! Tarzan Rope as the crowd starts a Levi chant. Lots of time. Can he beat Kongo? Yes! He's through! 19.16! Brian and Richard had something going on. Maybe if he'd finish with 20 seconds left? You don't really have to jump forward to get the Circle Slider going I guess. It was a little tougher than I expected!

49. Tajima Naoya! He's from Saitama too! Rip that book! Twist that can! He was so close to the Final Stage last time were it not for a mental error. Steps. OK! Log Grip. Whoa! Legs flying everywhere! Abunakatta! Jump Hang..whoa! Scary time again! But he's OK and goes under. Jump Bridge! OK! Log Grip up next. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe..NO! And again...Yes! Right as a Tajima chant starts. Circle Slider. NO! You have to jump hard or the platform does nothing. Everyone is shocked.

50. Okuyama Yoshiyuki! He's up next! He made the Final Stage last time! His kids gave him a letter! "Dear Dad, Make the final or no tie for you this Father's Day."

CM.

Back! Steps! Rolling Maruta! Jump Hang..he goes under. Bridge Jump is good! Log Grip coming up. Yes! Okuyama! He's from Yamagata by the way. Soritatsu Kabe! No problem! Circle Slider. Yes! Good form! Tarzan Rope. Crowd tries to do the two-syllable chant for a guy with four syllables in his name. Clear! That's four! 7.96 left!

No problems aside from a scary moment on the Jump Hang.

Maeda Chiaki from Chiba fails the steps. A Flair bartender from Tokyo too. A guy from Okinawa fails the Rolling Maruta and a cheerleader from Saga fails the Steps. A guy from Aomori failed the Jump Hang and another guy from Kyoto stopped at the Soritatsu Kabe..damn that was fast. But there are still lots left!

51. Whoops. Sakakibara Tetsuji from Shinsengumi Rien..Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta! Yes! Jump Hang! NO! Not nearly as painful looking as the other guy.

57. Guy from Mongolia! Steps. OUCH! Did he just leave a dent in one of the steps?

Shut up Iketani.

59. Iketani Yukio. Steps. Not all that Olympian in nature. Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang. Goes high! Should go over. Yes. Kind of iffy in the net and loses some time. Bridge Jump...NO! He went way too slow for that. You have to go for it. Somewhere, Naoki is laughing.

Guy fails the steps. Oita guy fails the Soritatsu Kabe. I'll go back and fix this later.

K. A guy from Shiga failed the Steps. Oita stops at the Soritatsu Kabe. A guy from France fails the Jump Hang. The guy from Okayama fails the steps. The guy from Nagasaki fails the Soritatsu Kabe. Guy from Yamaguchi (yay!) fails the steps (boo!). Ryo Shirai is from Fukushima and he failed the Jump Hang. And a guy from Kagawa failed the Log Grip.

60. Hashimoto Koji! He's from..hey, does he have a theme song now? Sorry, he's from Shimane. Let's see him train and visit his parents! They have a SASUKE shrine set up for him. Let's get confused and see more testers failing.

Back.

Steps. No problem! Rolling Maruta. Is OK! Jump Hang! Yes! He'll go over. He's from Shimane by the way. Bridge Jump is no problem! Log Grip coming up. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. One try! Circle Slider. Hashimoto Jump! Abunai! But he's through! Tarzan Rope! Lots of time! Here he goes! Time is going red. Yes! 2.8 His parents are happy! Kanno has 89 by the way. 2.80 exactly.

Let's skip numbers all the way to 69 (dude!)

69. Brian Orosco! He's yet another free runner. He's the America number two. Steps. Log Grip. Jump Hang next. Takai! He'll go over. Bridge Jump. Yes! Log Grip next. YES! Lots of time! Soritatsu Kabe. YES! Circle Slider. I wonder if Brian knows they're calling him the Number Two. Circle Slider is no problem. Tarzan Rope. Lots of time. Yes! That's six! Hrm? He must have done something afterwards? He wanted to beat Levi but he got tired partway through. 10.31 by the way.

70. Takeda Toshihiro! He's up next! Let's see Takeda shill Move Sports while training and studying. He was the only All-Star to survive last time.

CMs.

Back. Reppin' Gifu-ken! Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang next. YES! He goes over. Nice form dropping down into the net. Bridge Jump is no problem! Log Grip! Soritatsu Kabe. First try! Hahaha. That was weird. Circle Slider. Getting set. Yes! Tarzan Rope. Lots of time left. What is that weird echo chant going on? Yes! That's seven! Shingo DOES NOT CARE! 9.42. Abunakatta! Perfect form on the Rolling Maruta.

74. Torisawa Katsuhide! Will blow his stamina lifting that barbell! Did he bring that with him? And yes. He's huffing before he even hits the steps. He tries to hold on but just gives up. Should have used something lighter.

And then the sideline reporter freaks him out.

79. Richard King! Oh wait. He's from New Zealand? OK then. He's wearing clothes this time. Steps. Rolling Maruta is no problem. Jump Hang. Yes! Bridge Jump. YES! Log Grip..NO! Ouch? What happened? F*CK! Not me. Someone on the course was VERY loud. He was soooo close.

80. Lee Enchi! He's from Taiwan! He has his SASUKE towel hanging in a strategic place! People in Taiwan know who he is! He's Taiwan-famous! It's like being net-famous. But only in Taiwan. Hey..is that a Condor Hero? No! It's Lee Enchi! But let's hit a commercial first.

Back.

Lee Enchi! He's kind of tall. Steps. Rolling Maruta. Yes! Ouch. Jump Hang. Yes! He'll go over. Bridge. Yes! Log Grip. No problems so far. Yes! Didn't have his legs fully wrapped around it. Soritatsu Kabe! One time! Circle Slider. Getting set. Yes! Tarzan Rope. Crowd chant. Lots of time left. Yes! That's one for every ten! Or 8 for 80! 14.29. That was awesome. They cut to Kongo clapping then had to drop the camera down to show Yuuji standing next to him.

81. Shimamura Bodybuilding guy. Steps! Hahahaha. Let's laugh with the crowd!

Udon guy, pottery guy, rice guy, strawberry guy, another guy, tofu guy, grape guy all fail. Not a good day for farmers.

Guy from Kagawa (Udon guy) failed the Steps. Another Kyoto (pottery) guy failed the Jump Hang. Kasahara from Niigata (rice guy) failed the Steps. Strawberry guy from Tochigi failed the Steps. Yoshimura from Fukui failed the Rolling Maruta. A guy from Tottori failed the steps. Grape guy from Yamanishi failed the steps too. As did a guy from Aichi.

And the sun has gone down.

87 have gone! An old man is next!

88. Hahaha. Everyone was surprised when he got his number I guess.

Do you think something like this happened at the beginning of the day?

Octopus: Hey, I got 96! *Does the happy octopus dance*

M9 Guy: Give that back right now.

Octopus: Aw. I got 43.

M9 Guy: Damn straight.

Octopus: *Does the sad octopus shuffle.*

CMs.

Back. Steps. NO! Yuuji acts like he thought the guy was going to go all the way or something.

89. Kanno "Guns" Hitoshi! Pow pow! Zap zap! Last time he was the surprise 1st Round failure. But he has read books! About mental training! He's ready! Check the smoooooooove music Kanno gets. He should start popping and locking on the stage. Wow. Does he look smaller? Steps. Rolling Maruta. Jump Hang coming up. Yes! He's upper middle so he goes over. Lots of time. Woo..Bridge Jump is clear but looked iffy. Log Grip. Yes! Dekiru ka Kannooooooo! Soritatsu Kabe. Yes! Circle Slider. Gets set. Yes! Lots of time lots of time. Tarzan Rope. Kanno chant. YES! That's nine! His parents are happy! 10.84. He's relieved.

90. Yamamoto Shingo! From gasoline station arubaito to area manager! He's known SASUKE success and failure!

Those chickens are revolting! It's Yamamoto Shingo! Chicken Run was such a good movie. Here he goes. Steps. Whoa! Log Grip. What's with the swinging legs today. Shingo almost gives himself whiplash on the Jump Hang. He goes under. Bridge Jump. YES! Log Grip. He knows he has to pick up the pace. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. Yes! Mondai arimasen! Circle Slider. Yes! WHOA! Yamamoto! Tonda tonda! Tarzan Jump. If anyone can fail this, Shingo can. But he won't! Lots of time! YEAH! 6.85! He's happy! The crowd is happy! There were about three points where he almost blew it but like Butler in the NCAA tournament he pulled it out!

92. Hioki Masashi! He gets his own music! He works at a electronics store. Damn, I can't concentrate. This music is just grooving. It's like he should have his own old school police show. Here he goes. Whoa. But yes! Rolling Maruta. Jump Hang. Gets set. Yes! He goes under. Bridge Jump. Log Grip. OK! He's a dark horse! He'll fail the Circle Slider I think. Soritatsu Kabe. No! Try again. Ye..YES! He's over. Circle Slider. Here he goes. NO! Took off too far away! Mou chotto! Never doubt the commercials.

95. Kishimoto Shinya! He'll bend a frying pan for your pleasure! He's from scenic Shizuoka. The family is there. That means children crying! One can only hope. NO! Whoops. Steps and that's it. Nande? Maji ka yo? Maji man, maji.

96 have gone! 10 have passed!

97. He's a priest! And that's it! Sad bell! Akiyama is upset that people are going too fast!

Woo...check out that old school hair. Let's see. Fishing. Fishing. Shoes. Yeah, OK. I get the progression. The next SASUKE champion will sell suits at like Haruyama or something.

98. Akiyama Kazuhiko! He's next! He's the first ever SASUKE champion. He's not visited the 2nd Stage for a while now. Can he do it? Here he goes! Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang. He has problem with these type of things. Yes! Ikuuuuuuu! He goes under. That may have cost him some time though. Bridge Jump. He's nervous. YES! Log Grip. Still has time. YES! Soritatsu Kabe coming up. Needs to get set. No! Still has time but has to get it now. NO! One more chance. Cut in time. NO! That's it! Time Up! Damn. That was the best he's done in a while.

Yow, that's tight shirt Nagano has got on there.

99. Nagano Makoto! Is next! Hey, Lee gets to hang with the All-Stars. Will the shirt help or hinder? He has his usual cast of supporters. Co-workers, wife, child. Here he goes. Steps..CMs first.

Back.

Steps. Yes! Rolling Maruta. Beaten! Jump Hang. He goes over. Bridge Jump is no problem. Mondai arimasen. Log Grip. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. Gets set. Yes! First try! Circle Slider. Here he goes. NO! And he takes a header into the water! Wow. Yappari! Yuuji is freaked out. The crowd is surprised. The only person not surprised is the wifey. Yuuji knows it is GO TIME.

Well, that was a nice header he took into the water.

Let's take a look at the Asakusa shoe company man Urushihara Yuuji! Here's a question. Are Yuuji, UNCLI and the STQers doing well because they think beyond Monster 9 and whatever they can come up with?

100. Urushihara Yuuji! Here he goes! Steps. He is the leader of the new generation. Rolling Maruta. Yes! Jump Hang. Gets set. He's dizzy. Yes! He goes over. He is still dizzy. Needs to speed up. Bridge Jump. Yes! Log Grip. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe coming up. Yes! No problem! Poor guy gets the chryon all over his run. Circle Slider..CMs.

You'd think the old guard would have an easier time with most of these obstacles but the new generation literally grew up watching these obstacles being done so many times that they shouldn't pose a problem.

Back.

Log Grip. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. Yes! Circle Slider. Nervous time. Gets set. Yes! Tarzan Rope coming up! Yes! Lots of time. Time will go red though so he can't dawdle. Yes! That's 11! UNCLI in the..crowd! All-Stars golf clap. 7.52! Wow, he was spinning fast on that thing. No wonder he got dizzy.

2nd Stage.

Let's see the new obstacles. They have 95 seconds. Slider Drop, Double Salm...HOLD THE PHONE! They just showed all 100 competitors. They've never done that before. Well, just the names anyway. And in order! Wow. I'm verklempt.

18. Sato Jun is first! He's had trouble the Salmon Ladder before. Slider Drop is no problem. Double Salmon Ladder...at the flip. YES! On to the Unstable Bridge. First plank. Going to the second. NO! Damn. Well, he gets a little further each time. It'll be his time one day.

Kongo is next! But after these commercials.

40. Takahashi Kenji. Slider Drop. Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Yes! Unstable Bridge. First plank. Yes! Be careful. Yes! Balance Tank. Yes! Metal Spin coming up. Yes! Wall Lift. Lots of time. 30! 40! 50! Yes! 20.9 No problems at all for Kongo.

The kids love Kongo!

48. Levi Meeuwenberg is next! Here he goes. Slider Drop..Whoops! What the hell? He didn't keep the bar straight before it dropped to the next track. Yikes. Looks like no one knew it could do that. The commercials never lie.

Bars are Levi's kryptonite!

50. Okuyama Yoshiyuki is up next! Slider Drop. OK! Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. YES! Needs to pick up the pace though. Unstable Bridge. First plank. Yes! Careful. Yes1 Balance Tank. Metal Spin. Needs to hurry. Yes! Go go go go go! Hurry! Yes! Yikes. He knows he almost blew it. 5.0!

60. Hashimoto Koji is next! Slider Drop. Double Salmon Ladder. Yes! Unstable Bridge. First plank. Yes! Yes! Balance Tank. Yes! Metal Spin coming up. Here he goes. Yes! Wall Lift. Yes! 5.4! That's three through!

69. Brian Orosco is next! The hopes of America are on his shoulders! Slider Drop. Yes! Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Yes! Needs to get going though. Unstable Bridge. First Plank. Yes! Needs to pick up the pace. Be careful. Yes! Balance Tank. Yes! Metal Spin coming up. Yes! Go! Needs to hurry! Not much time! Go. Go! YES! The Heart-Attack Kid is back! 1.4! That was impressive. He just picked up the pace like it was nothing.

70. Takeda Toshihiro is up next! But first a commercial or two.

Back.

Takeda! Slider Drop is no problem! Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Yes! NO! He missed a rung! He wasn't ready for the shock of the bar doing that? Ah..as he missed he wasn't really ready for the impact.

Is it me or is the ladder not even? Takeda's reward is getting called baka by Nagano.

80. Lee Enchi! He's next! Slider Drop. Yes! Sal..sorry, DOUBLE Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Whoa! He's got it. Unstable Bridge. First plank. Be careful. OK! Balance Tank. Metal Spin coming up. He's failed this twice before..NOT THIS TIME! JUST gets the third wall up and he's through! The others are nervous! 4.1!

89. Kanno Hitoshi! Is up next! He trains! He looks at himself in the mirror! He trains while looking at himself in the mirror! Here he goes! He sports the bling! Slider Drop. Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Yes! Unstable Bridge. First plank. Yes! Be careful. Yes! Needs to pick up the pace..Balance Tank...NO! Oh wow. That was a surprise.

Shingo, of course, keeps his smile while getting ready. He is the last hope of the All-Stars!

90. Shingo gets more somber music this time. Here he goes. Slider Drop. OK! Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. Yes! Watch out! He was off but he's OK! THE HAT IS OFF! Unstable Bridge. First plank. Be careful. Yes! Balance Tank. NO! He tried to jump for it from too far away! Maji ka!

Nanderou ne!

100. Urushihara Yuuji! Hey, they finally mention the boots thing. And that's it. Well alright then. Here he goes! Slider Drop. Yes! Double Salmon Ladder. At the flip. WHOA! He's still holding on! NO! His feet hit the water! Ouch. Well then. Damn.


3rd Stage

To keep the secrecy, all the obstacles are covered! Yikes. Wow, to have been there when they dropped the sheets would have been awesome.

40. Takahashi Kenji is first! Roulette Cylinder is first. That thing looks crazy. The new stars and All-Stars are all like, "What the hell is that?" Cylinder is clear. To the Doorknob Grasper. OK! Floating Board is up next. Five boards. He's at the middle. Fourth. One more to go. CMs.

This new 3rd Stage is like someone freaked out at a NAFCO/Home Depot or something. I bet the doorknobs came from the boards or something like that.

Back. Last board. Needs to drop down to safety. Yes! Ultimate Clif Hanger coming up. Wow. There are three points they have to "jump" at. First slant up. NO! Wow. If Kongu looks like he's struggling with it, it's hard.

Well, I mean, it looks hard now but now that everyone has seen it, I'm sure they'll find a way.

Ah. He couldn't get the second hand on it. Maybe you have to move to where it's a little closer together or something? And then Kongu tells Okuyama that the Ultimate is hard. Thanks Kongu. He needed that.

50. Okuyama Yoshiyuki! Is up next! Roulette Cylinder. Transition to the Doorknob Grasper. Yes! Although from the angle we just saw he could have dropped off the face of the earth. That was weird. Floating Board. First. Second. He's struggling. This is not his thing I think. At the middle board. Fourth. Fifth. Needs to drop down now. Yes! Ultimate Cliff Hanger coming up.

Here he goes. First slant...Or a commercial. Whichever.

Back.

First slant. NO! The boards took way too much out of him. And that water must be COLD because he was trying to swim out of it immediately.

Okuyama was holding on for dear life on the boards so yeah, the Ultimate Cliff Hanger was about as far as he was going to get this time.

The good thing about the Ultimate Cliff Hanger is the size. It'll be hard to simulate something like that in your backyard.

60. Hashimoto Koji! Slight cut in time as we go straight to him on the Roulette Cylinder. Doorknob Grasper. Again with the weird angle. Floating Board. At the second. Third. He's having an easier time of it than Okuyama and Kongu. Last board. Needs to drop down. Yes! Ultimate coming up. Break for some SASUKE Spray. First slant. Second. Yes! He's the first to get through.

CMs.

Back.

First slant. I wonder if he'll make it this time? Oh. Second slant. Wait. What the hell is he supposed to do next? Todakanai! Damn. Still, that seemed more like a mental than physical error. He didn't seem like he was out of energy, he just couldn't reach the next part.

OK, I think I get it. Not that it makes it any easier.

That was like the worst SNL skit in history.

69. Brian Orosco is next! Roulette Cylinder. Reaches the end. Doorknob Grasper up next! One. Two. NO! Ouch. Levi: "Brian Orosco." I don't think he was prepared to swing like that in the position he was in. It was a little bit cold. Very true. He has gotten better and better each time.

One left! About twenty minutes left! Let's kill some time! He's the last man standing!

80. Lee Enchi! He's our last hope to see any other obstacles! Roulette Cylinder. Doorknob Grasper. Sasuga pro rock climber. Floating Board coming up. First board. Does this play to his strengths? Wow. He zipped through that. Wow.

Nagano cheers him on. All eyes are on him now and I think he knows it.

Here he goes on the Ultimate Cliff Hanger. First slant. QUICKLY up to the second slant. CMs.

Back.

First slant. Second slant. Up to the top. Needs to do the jump. NO! Ouch. That's everyone. Wait, does this mean that Lee gets his name on the shirt? Darn. Lee did set the standard though, for how to do the first three obstacles. You can't dawdle and waste energy.

Let's review the fact that it took a while for people to beat the Shin-Cliff Hanger consistently.

So...what now? We still have some time. Let's see a guy actually do it. And let's see the last three obstacles. But of course they don't give us the damn names.

And that's it!

Well. That was interesting. No one new broke through. The All-Stars still struggle somewhat. The STQers are proving themselves with each new show. There is a new big obstacle that everyone has to get through before even contemplating getting to the Final Stage. Note that no one even got to the halfway point of the Ultimate Cliff Hanger so there is still some ways to go. All in all, the course didn't totally destroy people but it still presents some challenges. Good times!

Added:
By the way, what was all that stuff about Number One and Number Two for the Americans? So how come Richard King didn't get to be called the The Number Three? Wait..Number One, Two and Three? My god, we need Chin Siu Ho!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

SASUKE 2010春 Photos from TV Magazines

Since there's not much else out there to whet people's appetites, here are some photos scanned from the 3/20 - 4.4 TVぴあ and 3/20 - 4/2 TVLife, respectively. Click through to see the bigger shots.

Photobucket

Photobucket

The part in red are the prefectures that they are representing:

Nagano - Miyazaki 宮崎
Akiyama - Hokkaido 北海道
Dandy Sakono - Ishikawa 石川

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