SASUKE 23 SASUKE 2009秋 The Sort of Live Blog!

Power! Speed! Balance! Only those with all three of these qualities can become the next Miss Univ...wait.

Power! Speed! Balance! Only those with all three of these qualities can become the next American Idol!

That's not right either, I think.

So You Think You Can Beat SASUKE? America's Best Ninja Warriors!

I think I'm getting my wires crossed.

Since 1997...



2200 have tried! Only two have ever completed! That's 0.09 percent! Gosh, it's hard!

Don't forget that the 23rd Annual Ube International Sculpture Competition is soon! 第２３回　ＵＢＥビエンナーレ'０９　現代日本彫刻展

Here we go!

Last time! All of the All-Stars failed! オールスターズ　全滅!

It's SASUKE 2009秋!

Nagano! Shingo! (with his personalize SASUKE towel) Yamada! Takeda!

Yuuji Urushihara!

Many comedians! And entertainers! And athletes!

The Final Stage!  There are people! With their arms crossed! Now their fists are in the air! SASUKE~!

1st Stage

Let's go! It's a 130 meters long.

1. Satomi Kohei 里見恒平 is first! Jyunidantobi! 十二段跳び Curtain Slider! カーテンスライダー! Log Grip! Yes! Good showing so far! Jumping Spider...YES! GO! GO! He played in NFL Europe. Spider Walk OK. Half-Pipe Attack coming up. NO!

5. Katsuhide Torisawa! 鳥澤克秀! He ripped off his clothes! Jyunidantobi! Slowly...ye...WAIT! NO!

Emi Sekisui. 関水えみ. She's a girl. She has dogs. NO! She kind of just tried to run all over the place.

10. Hosshan! ほっしゃん Here he goes. Jyunidantobi. 十二段跳び! O! Ouch. Did he hit his face?

12. Spinboy Aichi! Or Aichi Oono. 大野愛地 He's in the Muscle Musical. Whoa! Almost didn't make it. Curtain Slider. Yes! Log Grip. NO! He couldn't hold on.

Eiko Kano wants to quit already.

17. Eiko Kano 狩野英孝 is next! Will his suit get wet? Of course. He went like three steps or so.

19. NOBU! He's also in the Muscle Musical. He's a double dutch specialist. Steps. OK. Everyone is taking it slow there. Curtain Slider is OK. Log Grip coming up. Checking. YES! Jumping Spider is a NO!

Sayaka Nakamura 中村明花 is next! She's a reporter on 王様のブランチ. Can she..NO! Right in the middle area.

Fukutarao Umemoto 梅本福太郎 (number 6) no. Log Grip. Yutti ゆってぃ (11) No on the steps. Atsushi Aoki 青木篤志 of Pro Wrestling NOAH..Steps..no. Nanami Tsukamoto 塚本奈々美 falls on the Curtain Slider. Talento Kurumi Kojima 小島くるみ falls on the steps too. Oonishi Lion. 大西リオン NO! (On the Curtain Slider).

20. Junichi Miyashita. 宮下 純一 WHOA! Good thing he has long legs. Curtain Slider is OK. Log Grip. NO! He was off from the very beginning.

Rie Komiya 小宮理英 is next! She made it to the final of KUNOICHI before. What will she do here? 120 seconds by the way. Steps. NO problem! Curtain Slider. Log Grip. Taking a while. Yes! She failed here before. Jumping Spider. Yes! Spider Walk coming up. Slowly. Slowly. Taking a while. Half-Pipe Attack...NO! Almost!

22. Tetsuro Degawa 出川哲朗 is next. And the shirt is off. Yeah yeah. Two steps and done!

Shot of the second stage for some reason.

38. Aoki Creepy Sculpture Guy. 青木保夫 No!

40. Masami Harashima 原島雅美...NO!

Minoru Kuramochi! 倉持稔 Here he g....wait. There we go.

Beauty Kokubu ビューティーこくぶ (28, steps), Yasumasa Koniwa 小庭康正 (29, Log Grip) and Hori ホリ (30, Curtain Slider) don't make it. They are all monomane specialists.

Momoko Tani 谷桃子 can't get past the steps.

Muscle Musical member Tomomi Arimatsu 有松知美 also fails the Half-Pipe Attack.

31. Takuya Kawahara 川原拓也sweats for a living or is in the Muscle Musical. Take your pick. Steps. Curtain Slider is no problem. Can he do it? Log Grip. Yes! Jumping Spider...Yes! Quite high too. Spider Walk is...squeaky. Half-Pipe Attack...Ye..YES! Soritatsu Kabe. Getting set. ONE TIME! Slider Jump...he's the first. He failed here last time! YES!  He goes over. He has to hurry. GO GO GO! Tarzan Rope...The time is going red...jikan ga nai! Jikan ga nai! Nakatta!!!!!!!

Ninja Warrior! There were ten of them. I guess this is the first.

Ryk Maverick! Or umm...Ryk Felger? I have no idea how to turn リック・フェルガ. He designs jewelry. Yes! He was number 10 by the way. Curtain Slider is no problem. Close to the Edit! He got tied up on the Slider Jump!

Number 9, Jupe Katana ジュープ・カタナ times out on the net portion of the Slider Jump.

Number 8, Shane Daniels シェーン・ダニエルズ got to the Tarzan Rope too late.

Number 7, Jeff Iida ジェフ・イイダ timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe.

Caine Sinclair ケイン・シンクレア....Can he do it? So close..NO! He was six.

The top five are next!

42. Richard King! リチャード・キング He's a Free Runner. And a stuntman. He was 5th. Up to the Log Grip. Sure looks like he's participating in his underwear. Jumping Spider! No problem. Smooth run so far. Half-Pipe Attack. Wait..YES! Richard...KINGU! Soritatsu Kabe is on the first try. Potential! Slider Jump...Whoa...lots and lots of time. Here he goes...

CMs.

Back! Let's see his Slider Jump again. Lots of time. Underwear man. Underwear. Here he goes. Lots of time. Tarzan Rope. Up...can he do it! YES! THAT'S IT! Cue Yagyu-Gaiden! We've got one!

He's tired but happy!

SASUKE Trials! Gosh they look so damn young. Six made it.

45. Naoya Tajima! Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip coming up. Taking his time. Yes! Jumping Spider. Yes! A little awkward but he's through the Walk. Half-Pipe Attack. YES! Soritatsu Kabe. First time no. YES! Second time is the charm. Slider Jump...Yes! He goes under. Lots of time. Tarzan Rope. Rope Ladder. Can he be number two? YES! YES!

That's two!

47. Koji Hashimoto! 橋本亘司 YES! Edit but YES!

49. Satoshi Nakamura! 中村哲 YES!

50. Jun Sato! 佐藤惇 YES!

Jeez. Don't give them their day in the sun TBS.

51. Takayuki Kinoshita 木下隆行 of TKO! Here he goes. YES! He actually passed the steps. Curtain Slider...UH OH. Huh..OK. Didn't think that could happen.

56. Takashi Fukunishi! 福西崇史 He played soccer. Steps. Curtain Slider. He certainly looks...happy to be there. Log Grip. Yes! Jumping Spider. Yes! Spider Walk...

CMs.

Back.

Spider Walk is iffy...He's losing his grip...He needs to get higher...NO! Aw. Monkiki sighting!

Man, I want one of those towels.

53. Yoshiki Itou! 伊藤圭槻 He was the Miyazaki Sportsman No. 1 winner which is why he gets spray from Nagano. Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip. Jumping Spider. Spider Walk. Half-Pipe Attack! All yes! Soritatsu Kabe! First time! Slider Jump. Needs to shave his pits. Yes! He goes over. Stuck in the net. Still has time though. Tarzan Rope. Here he goes! Can he do it? Time is going red...YES!

Wow! That's six! And he gets a hug from Nagano! What a lucky guy.

61. Takeshi Nadagi なだぎ武 is next! Steps! NO! Ouch.

Ayumu Katou 加藤歩 fails the Log Grip. The members of License ライセンス are done early. Takafumi Imoto 井本貴史 on the Curtain Slider and Kazuhiro Fujiwara 藤原一裕 on the Steps. As is Gari Nakajima ガリ中島 of Tengen テンゲン on the Log Grip. One Savanna member Shigeo Takahashi 高橋茂雄 goes down on the Steps.

70. Masumi Yagi 八木真澄 of Savanna! Steps! Curtain Slider. OK! Log Grip. Gosh he's tall. Yes! Jumping Spider! NO! He was up then down.

71. Hey hey hey. Katsumi Yamada! Cue the crying clip! It's been nine SASUKEs since he passed the 1st Stage. And it's time for Genya, an intro that's just too cool for him. Can he finally do it? Can he finally break the curse? Steps. OK. Curtain Slider. Whoa....Log Grip. OK. Jumping Spider. Spider Walk as we go to commercial.

It's hard to work up any passion about this guy anymore.

Only 122000 yen to go to Angkor Wat!

Is the legend over?

Back!

Half-Pipe Attack...Yes! I mean..OK! Soritatsu Kabe. Taking his time. First time..no. Second try. Wait. Try again. NO! Gee. Take your time Katsumi. Did he get hurt again. YES! With one arm. Slider Jump...He looks pained. NO!

TEN!



Ah. Looks like he hurt his ankle on the first Soritatsu Kabe attempt.

73. Brian Orosco! ブライアン・オロスコ! Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip coming up. He was the American number 2. Jumping Spider. YES! He looks serious as he FLIES through the Walk. Half-Pipe Attack. Yes! He's blitzing the course. Soritatsu Kabe first try! Slider Jump. Still lots of time! Here he goes. The final stretch. Tarzan Rope. Slowly. Here he goes. Should make it no problem! YES! That's two from America.

74. Genki Sudo! HE'S DOING THE ROBOT FOR YOUR PLEASURE! Here he goes. Style kankenai! NO! He would have coursed out anyway.

75. Shinsengumi Rien's  Tetsuji Sakakibara 榊原徹士. Shut up Shimada. Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip coming up. Dammit, I hate Shinsuke Shimada. Yes! Jumping Spider coming up. NO! He didn't get his feet up in time.

76. Shinsengumi's Hiroya Kunisada 國定拓弥 as we go to commercial...

Back.

Kunisada gets through the Steps and Curtain..ONLY TO FAIL AT THE LOG GRIP. Oh well. Sell them CDs boys!

79. Jordan Jovtchev! He's small. Steps. Curtain Slider. Leznig looks on! Log Grip. Jumping Spider. Yes! Man, he's tiny. Slowly...Half-Pipe Attack coming up. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. First try! Wow. Slider Jump. He looks worried. YES! WHOA! He dropped down but caught the net! Yes! Does he have enough time? Here he goes. Ten seconds...HURRY! NO! NO! Hard to say what cost him the time. So close.

80. Monkiki! Akira Omori! 大森晃 AKA Monkiki (or Monkickey) モンキッキー He hasn't been to SASUKE in 8 years! Wow. That's a long time. Here he goes. Steps. Uh OH. YES! Curtain Slider. Log Grip. He knows he has to make up the time. Jumping Spider. YE..NO! Ah. His right foot didn't get it. Darn.

Taiji ishimori 石森太二 fails the Jumping Spider. And pro triathlon guy Ryoichi Yamamoto 山本涼一 doesn't take to the Curtain Slider too well. Handballer Tetsuya Kadoyama 門山哲也 muffs the Jumping Spider, Tomoki Kitagawa 北川智規 (81) misses the net on the Slider Jump. Kairi Kouchi 高智海吏 times up on the Rope Ladder.

84. Kenji Takahashi! 高橋賢次! Poor guy always falls to the knife. I know he's not that pretty but still...anyway...He gets to the Tarzan Rope with lots of time. Here he goes! Should make it with no problem! YES! That's...um...EIGHT! That's eight!

89. Wakky ワッキー is up next! Gee...the last Geinojin Sportsman was in 2007 so he still gets the title? He does some comedy with Oonishi Lion. He also gets the King Kull music that Miyazaki got. Here he goes. Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip. Yes! Jumping Spider! Yes! He's up..can he do it? Spider Walk is OK. Half-Pipe Attack...Ye...WHOA! He fell but he was OK.

CMs.

 Back.

Soritatsu Kabe...First time! No wait! He couldn't hold on. One more time! Slider Jump...He looks worried. NO! He didn't even reach the net.

91. Leszek Blanik レゼク・ブラニク! Steps. He won a gold medal, ya know. Curtain Slider. NO! Oops. He didn't quite make it to the platform.

We see the ones who are left.

92. Yoshiyuki Okuyama! 奥山義行! His kids are there. Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip. He's moving with purpose. Jumping Spider. Yes! He should really reconsider his color scheme though. Up to the Half-Pipe Attack. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe! First time! Slider Jump...Yes! Wow...it was like he was just walking up to some steps. Lots of time! He should make it. Will we get double digit clears for the first time since the renewal? Yes! Clear! Yagyu-Gaiden!

93. The chickens are revolting! Wait..it's just Shingo Yamamoto! He's failed the 1st Stage five times in a row. Steps. But CMs first.

Back.

Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip...oops..the announcer mentions "careless miss." Don't jinx it! Everything else is good. Yes! Half-Pipe Attack was no problem. Soritatsu Kabe. YES! On the second try. Can he do it? Slider Jump. YES! He goes over. Lots of time. Can he do it? C'mon! There goes the hat! Tarzan rope. GO GO GO GO GO! Yes! YES! YES! Yatta!!!!

And that's ten!

Hey! Staff boy! Get Shingo his towel! He's happy!

The pressure is on Yuuji!!!

Shingo gets hugs!

94. Lee Yen Chi! リー・エンチ Steps. Curtain Slider...WHOA! He didn't get a running start. Log Grip. Still has lots of time. But he can't take his time. Jumping Spider. He flies through. He knows the clock is going. Half-Pipe Attack. Soritatsu Kabe. No! Yes! Second try. Slider Jump coming up. YES! He can't take his time though. He should have gone under. Hurry! Hurry! Tarzan Rope! Hurry! Hurry! Time is red! YES!!!

That's eleven!

95. And now it's the man TBS would like to be White SASUKE Jesus, Levi Meeuwenberg リーヴァイ・ミューエンバーグ.

Steps. Curtain Slider. OK. Log Grip. Yes! Jumping Spider as he hot dogs over the platform. Half-Pipe Attack coming up. Soritatsu Kabe. YES! Slider Jump..Wait. CMs.

ELT in Yamaguchi!

Back.

Slider Jump. Yes! Lots of time as the crowd starts a chant as he does a flip. Tarzan Rope. Yes! And that's three! And he does another flip.

Nagano and Takeda are like..OK.

96. That body! It's Hitoshi Kanno! 菅野仁志! Steps. Curtain Slider. UH OH...Whew. Log Grip. He still has lots of time. Yes! Did he hurt himself? Jumping Spider. Yes! Spider Walk. Half-Pipe Attack. WHOA! NO! He had to take a while to get to the platform! First time up the Soritatsu Kabe. Slider Jump. He goes under..watch out! He should have enough time...about 30 seconds left. Don't rush man...just do it. YES!

Shingo is all smiles (because he already passed) but Toshihiro Takeda is FOCUSED!

There's the slap (which made Takeda cringe)!

97. Toshihiro Takeda! 竹田敏浩! Here he goes. BUT NOW THE NEWS.

Back.

Steps. Curtain Slider. Yes! Log Grip. Yes! Jumping Spider. Last time..Jumping SPIDEEEEEEEEEEEEER. Yes. Half-Pipe Attack. Soritatsu-Kabe. Slider Jump. He goes over. Yikes. Kind of just dives into the net. Tarzan Rope. Lots of time! Here he goes! He's all smiles now!

Only three left.

98. Hiromichi Sato! 佐藤弘道! He finally lived up to his hyp...er..promise last time. But we need to get those ads in people!

Back.

Steps. Curtain Slider coming up. Log Grip. OK. Jumping Spider. WHOA! Abunakkata! NO! He didn't have the Spider Walk. Doushita! His family was disappointed.

Speaking of shoes...

99. Yuuji Urushihara! 漆原裕治 He's feeling the pressure. Makoto tells him to try being number 100. You tell him! Let's go!

Steps. Curtain Slider. Man, these runs are like a commercial for Descente sportswear. Jumping Spider. No problem. Half-Pipe Attack. WHOA! Same thing as Kanno but he's through! Soritatsu Kabe! YES! On the second time. Slider Jump...He goes over. If he can get through this he'll have a spot on SASUKE forever I think. Tarzan Rope. He's slow but he'll still make it...Thumbs up! YES!

Hey! The New Stars get all 100% through! Although when there are only two people that's a bit easier.

100. Cue the Last Battle! It's the KING OF SASUKE. Makoto Nagano. 長野誠! Here he goes! Steps. But first, a word from our sponsors.

Awww yeah...the Jinro commercial.

Back!

Steps. Curtain Slider. Log Grip coming up. Wow...the pace feels faster for some reason. Log Grip is no problem. Jumping Spider. Yes! He FLIES through. Half-Pipe Attack. Whoa! YES! Soritatsu Kabe. No! He must have slipped...Slider Jump...Douda...NO!!! Hold on...something happened. Malfunction!

IIIIIIIInteresting. So there was a malfunction during the Slider Jump so he has to do it again. And Takeda and Yamamoto's reaction was to LAUGH. LAUGH AT MAKOTO NAGANO.

Here we go again! He has a new shirt! Steps. Curtain Slider. yes! Log Grip. Jumping Spider. And again he flies through. Half-Pipe Attack. Yes! Soritatsu Kabe. YES! On the second try. Slider Jump. There were problems before...YES! He goes over. Tarzan Rope. Lots of time as the crowd chants his name. Yes! YES!

16 through! King of SASUKE. Wait...the announcer just called him Mr. SASUKE. AHAHAHA!

2nd Stage

Let's look at what's there. New obstacle! The Swing Ladder is gone, replaced by the Unstable Bridge.

42. Richard King is up first! At least he has shorts now. Downhill Jump is OK. Salmon Ladder. YES! Stick Slider. Unstable Bridge coming up. NO! Wow that looked hard.

45. Naoya Tajima! Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder. Some problems. He can't get it balanced on the rungs...NO!

47. Koji Hashimoto. Downhill Jump...WHA? What happened? GAH! He couldn't hold on.

49. Satoshi Nakamura...is out! He used his feet.

50. Jun Sato..NO!

53. Yoshiki Itou too!

Damn. The Salmon Ladder is still the killer.

73. Brian Orosco! Can he do it? A little bit of trouble at the beginning but now he's got it. YES! He's through! Unstable Bridge. Not much time. He has to hurry! GO BRIAN! GO! NO! Damn that thing looks hard.

The eliminations are going fast and furious now.

84. Kenji Takahashi! The Salmon Ladder poses no problem for him. Unstable Bridge. YES! He did it! CMs first though.

He's the first to get past the new obstacle!

Metal Spin is no problem! And neither are the Walls! That's it! Kongo and his shaved head are into the 3rd Stage!

That's one.

92. Yoshiyuki Okuyama! Here he goes. Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder. Yes! He's through! Unstable Bridge. I think he's unsure how to do it. He needs to hurry...YES! Can he do it? Hurry! Metal Spin. Hurry! ONE! TWO! THREE! YES! WITH 2 seconds to spare!

Shingo really wants to go to the 3rd Stage!

Let's see him and his unshaved pits.

93. Shingo Yamamoto! Downhill Jump...he's never tried the Salmon Ladder before, has he? Here he goes. YES! Unstable Bridge coming up. Wow...he looked he was really going to go for that. YES! Metal Spin! He doesn't have much time!

Commercials.

Geez. I would worry about splinters and ruining my hands doing the Unstable Bridge.

Hurry! There goes the hat! HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! YES! And he lies there in exhaustion.

94. Lee En Chi! Salmon Ladder! Unstable Bridge...Metal Spin. NO! Dammit.

95. Levi Meeuwenberg! Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder coming up. He stopped here before. No problem! Unstable Bridge coming up. No problems! Metal Spin coming up but some commercials first.

Back.

Metal Spin is no problem! Walls. One. Two. Three. And that's three through.

96. Hitoshi Kanno! Can the new star do it again? Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder. WHOA! NO WAIT! He's still on track but he has to hurry. Unstable Bridge. Just made it. Hurry man. Hurry. Go! GO! GO! Metal Spin. YES! Walls. No problems! YES! I think he lifted it that high just to show that he could!

That's four!

97. Toshihiro Takeda! But let's look at cars and stuff first.

Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder! Yes! Unstable Bridge. Yes! Wait... YES! Metal Spin. Walls should be no problem. HAHAHA. Show-off.

That's five.

99. Yuuji Urushihar. Downhill Jump. Salmon Ladder. Unstable Bridge coming up. WHOA! YES! He's though. NO! WHAT? NO! He lost his balance at the end and couldn't get back to the board. Damn.

Damn damn damn.

100. Makoto Nagano! Downhill Jump! He's the last man. Can he do it? Salmon Ladder. Yes! Unstable Bridge but let's watch something else for a few minutes, shall we?

Back.

Salmon Ladder again. Unstable Bridge. OK! Metal Spin. WHOA. OK! Yes! And he takes a leisurely lift of the walls! Those obstacles pose no obstacle!

3rd Stage.

And of course we see the Shin-Cliff Hanger. The Jumping Bars. The Hang Climbing. The Spider Flip. And then the Gliding Ring.

3rd Stage

84. Kenji Takahashi is up first. Arm Rings and Downward Lamp Grasper are no problem. Devil Steps. No problem either! Shin-Cliff Hanger. Can he do it? Here he goes...WHOA! He didn't even try to jump it. He just reached over. Wow...everyone else is just like..WTF? Levi sums it up by saying "That was different."

He just crossed his arms over and then reached out. It was ...weird.

Jumping Bars. Hang Climbing up next. Wow. No problems. Spider Grip into the Spider Flip. He's getting ready for the Spider Flip. That's kind of a long way to fall. Here he goes...He can see the Final Stage. YES! Yikes...he looked scared.

Gliding Ring...Here we go...His mom is there! You can't disappoint mom! Here we go..NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was on then he was off.

Dear Kongo, You are out of the will. Love, Mom.

Oh hey. I guess the Gliding Ring wasn't that easy.

92. Yoshiyuki Okuyama is up next! Arm Rings are no problem. Downward Lamp Grasper. OK! Devil Steps coming up next. Would he be the oldest finalist? His wife and kids are there but hey, he already disappointed them last time. Shin-Cliff Hanger. YES! WOW! He did it! WOW!

Jumping Bars. OK! Hang Climbing! OK..wait. OK! Spider Grip. Spider Flip...HERE HE GOES. NO!!!!!!!!!

Hey, that wasn't that easy either.

Damn.

93. The chickens are back! It's Shingo Yamamoto! It's been three years since he made it to the 3rd Stage. Oy vey! What the heck happened? He had problems on the Arm Rings. He couldn't hold on and had to drop into the water.

95. Levi Meeuwenberg is up next. Arm Rings. Downward Lamp Grasper. Devil Steps. Some editing here. Shin-Cliff Hanger coming up. Here he goes! At the slant. NO! And that was it for the United States of America.

And then he does a corkscrew into the water.

96. Hitoshi Kanno! Here we go! He is the last hope of the new stars (all two of them). Arm Rings. Downward Lamp Grasper. OK! Take your time man. Devil Steps. Going to take a breather here. Shin-Cliff Hanger. At the slant...YES!! And CMs.

Jumping Bar, Hang Climbing into the Spider Grip then Spider Flip coming up. Jumping Bar is OK! Hang Climbing. He needs to redeem himself here. YES! At the Spider Flip and holding on for dear life.

Spider Flip. Getting ready. Seeing someone else fail it always plays in your mind. YES! HE DID IT! Going into the Gliding Ring. Now he's on the Green Bar of Safety!

Gliding Ring. He gets ready. Here he goes! Pushed back a bit. CMs.

Back. Getting ready. Swinging. YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

That's two SASUKEs in a row a new person has made it to the final. Hugs for dad! Unlike Kongo, Hitoshi is IN the will.

97. Toshihiro Takeda! The pressure is on!

Arm Rings. Downward Lamp Grasper. OK! Devil Steps. At the turn. OK! No problem! Shin-Cliff Hanger coming up as he uses the spray that pays. Here he goes. At the slant. Swinging. YES! No problem-o. This is the tough area. Three parts with no rest in between. Jumping Bar. OK! Into the Hang Climbing. He stopped here before. He uses his feet (which is legal). Can he do it? He's shaking. OK! On to the Spider Grip. Shaky shaky. OK! C'mon! Get up then you can rest!

CMs.

KUNOICHI!

Back.

He's UP! At the Spider Flip. Don't rush. Here he goes. NOOOOOOO! He probably shouldn't have stuck his foot out like that.

Damn. Makoto Nagano is alone again..until Hitoshi Kanno goes up to wish him luck.

100. And now..the KING OF SASUKE. MR. SASUKE! No, not that one. It's Makoto Nagano!

Arm Rings are absolutely no problem. Neither is the Downward Lamp Grasper. Devil Steps. Shin-Cliff Hanger. He has failed and passed this. Here he goes. He doesn't have Kongo arms so he has to do the jump.

Yes!

Jumping Bars coming up. One. Two. Three. Four. Going into the Hang Climbing now. No problem! Straight into the Spider Flip. Easy as pie! No wasted motion. No struggling. Getting ready. Yes!

On to the Green Bar of Safety!

Getting ready.

Here he goes. Swinging. YES! YES! YES! YES! That's two!

And now he's all smiles. The crowd is all cheers! As is the wife and his boss who is thinking *Ka-ching! Ka-ching!*

Wow. And it comes down to the All-Stars versus the New Stars.

CMs.

As the kids would say..this is epic.

Final Stage

And then there were two.

The All-Star versus the New Star. The Veteran vs the Kid. The...OK, I'll stop now.

Let's look at the past history of the Final Stage. Akiyama. Nagano. Yuuji was the first man to break the new era Final Stage code.

Shingo's shirt says Surrender the Booty! Awesome.

Unlike before, there is a male reporter at the top. Will it make a difference in our competitor's motivation?

Cue the overly dramatic music!

96. Hitoshi Kanno is first!

Here we go! Forty seconds to the top! But of course we get commercials.

Back.

Here we go! (Again). Heavenly Ladder. The ladder is 13 meters. He's on to the rope. Go man GO! Oy...the time is already going read...Yikes. He barely got up there.

Damn. That sucked.

They let him hang there for a moment to let the shame of failing until bringing him up for the interview.

Of course that leaves more pressure on Nagano.

There's the slap.

He's wearing an EMS shirt. He will bring the All-Stars to the heavens with him!

Except Yamada that is.

100. Makoto Nagano! Here he goes! Climbing much faster than Kanno I think. On to the rope. Can he do it? He's moving fast! Here he goes! But before that...you know the drill.

Depending on how long this last commercial break may tell us if Nagano makes it or not.

Back.

Five minutes left in the show.

Back to the beginning. Do it for the child Makoto!

Heavenly Ladder.

On to the rope with twenty seconds.

Here he goes. Half way up.

Time is red. Almost. He looks so close...

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn. Darn. Well now.

16 through the 1st Stage. 7 passed the 2nd. 2 made it to the Final Stage. Not much more they can ask for, really.

Important show because of all the little cliques that we had to pay attention to. There were the ten Americans: 3 pass the 1st Stage, 1 passes the 2nd Stage. The six SASUKE Trial Qualifiers (STQers): 4 pass the 1st Stage, none pass the 2nd. The New Stars had just Yuuji and Kanno but they both get past the 1st Stage. Yuuji unfortunately doesn't make it past the 2nd but Kanno goes all the way to the Final. The All-Stars had three out of the four that were there go to the 3rd Stage and one to the Final. Plus repeat people like Okuyama and Lee both got past the 1st Stage.

It seems like G4's idea seemed to pay off although two of them had been there before. The Trials seemed to pay off in that the people that made it did a good job and most of them are quite young. The new stars showed they weren't a fluke. And constantly ripping the All-Star's IALAC into pieces seemed to motivate them.

Overall, a great show! Exciting and definitely interesting. Should do well in the ratings and ensure at least another year.

And don't forget...