I finally just finished watching the 3 hour finale on my DVR (kept trying to avoid this spoiler post) and was thoroughly happy with the results.

I'm way on board with your sentiments, but must add my 2 cents.

First, I think it's important to realize it's not the way ANW runs the show that causes the competitors to behave the way they do; it's the American competitors themselves who share that undesirable selfish, braggadocious attitude/philosophy. Even when you watch the Japanese Sasuke competitions, when there's an American competing surrounded by Japanese competitors inside Japan, you still feel that same air of arrogance.

I've been watching the Sasuke for many years and started watching ANW before it was ANW (even in the first "seasons" on Attack of the Show where the competitors had bounce on a trampoline and swing on some monkey bars to earn their way to Japan). The American attitude always been something that bothers me and takes a huge chunk out of my interest.

I always find it disconcerting the way they don't explain any details, such as why Geoff got to climb first (which is why he gets to claim he's the first person to ever reach the top).

The other thing I've been crying "foul" on is that they seemed to lighten it up on the obstacles. This year there were 38 people to go to round 2. That's ridiculous. But what's worse is that round 2 had way too long a time limit. Normally competitors who succeed on stage 2 have about a second left when they hit the button, but many of those who went through to stage 3 had around 30 seconds on the clock.

I had to rewind a couple of times, but I confirmed Isaac said "share the moment" not the money.

My wife and I were both displeased that Geoff announced he gets to say he's the first to beat stage 4. That's such a poor attitude, and I liked Popeye a lot more until then. And regardless how they decided who got to go first, I think they both have to be considered as equally the first to finish stage 4. (Side note: I was really bummed they didn't use the loud "bang! bang!" sounds to start stage 4 like they do in Japan.)

I myself don't have a problem with the very redesigned courses each season.

The USA versus the World bullshit is some serious bullshit that's hard to swallow. Not only is the whole "our country is better than you" concept horrible, but the actual competition is shit. It's not the same beating the course one rested person at a time. But also last year the Europeans brought in a rock climber who knew nothing about Ninja Warrior and just sent him in fully rested to do the arm-centric work.

Boy, we could get together and write a dissertation on this subject.

What a monster. Both guys are so deserving. Both in their 30's!!

On a less joyous note, I take pretty serious issue with the way ANW runs the competition. Once I found out about the original Sasuke, I went back and watched every single season. Because it's awesome. But I feel like the Japanese organizers of Sasuke clearly understood that the competition was "competitors versus course", not "competitor versus competitor". In that vein, any set of competitors who complete the course should be equally rewarded.

Can you imagine dedicating your life to completing that course, succeeding (as one of only two people in the world, over nearly a decade of competition), then walking away with nothing because the other guy was an insignificant amount faster than you?

Props to Isaac for at least mentioning "share the money" in the post-interview (not included in this sift).

Another way I massively disagree with ANW is that they significantly redesigned the courses for every year of competition. Some variation is essential to testing the competitors' adaptability, but with so much new stuff each year they excluded lots of top talent due to bad luck or running order. Cynically, maybe to avoid paying the prize money. Last year was particularly bad with only two guys making it to stage 3. I feel like this year the pendulum swung back a little too far (or maybe "farther than intended") which is why they actually had two winners. That said, that new cliffhanger is ridiculous, but at least it's a variation on existing obstacles instead of something totally unique.

Lastly, let's not forget ANW's "USA versus The World". Really? That's so stereotypically American it's sick, especially for an adopted competition.

I've been a fan of Ninja Warrior every since watching G4's broadcast of Sasuke. And the American version is best for me on DVR where I can fast forward through the vast amounts of talking...but moments like this are why I watch the show. That was amazing. And it was nice to hear the commentators (who I agree can be scripted and boring) be genuinely surprised and excited too. It was refreshing.

I am an enormous fan of Sasuke. I even watch the full 4 hour subtitle-free Japanese broadcast every time. Anyone else?

American Ninja Warrior has come a long way from their first year where the finalists competed on the monkey bars at a beach.

Three men have beat Sasuke: the original guy, Nagano Makoto, and the shoe salesman.

In reply to this comment by Bidouleroux:
>> ^ctrlaltbleach:

Announcers never cheer on the American version of the show. This lady has won several times but I can't remember if a lady has ever won in the mens competition.


lol. not even the men win the men's competition. In fact, in all history of the show only two won.>> ^lucky760:

It's worth mentioning that this is not the same Ninja Warrior tournament that only 3 men have completed, Sasuke, but the women's version, Kunoichi.
Even more worth mentioning is that not only did Ayako Miyake beat Kunoichi her first time out, but she won three tournaments in a row. Impressive.


Only two ever won SASUKE. Also, KUNOICHI is kind of a joke. For comparison, the third stage of SASUKE (the men's competition) has no time limit; that's just how difficult it is. And after that you have the final stage, with a rope twice as long as the women's pole. IMO, they could just have the women do SASUKE with less of the upper arm endurance (replace it with full body endurance or leg endurance) and add time to the time limit on the first, second and final stages. The fact that such a scrawny girl, an acrobat at that, won shows it takes more balance/coordination/lightness than muscle/endurance/speed to win KUNOICHI, so the girls who train with SASUKE in mind are disadvantaged (especially, they can't have enough muscle and endurance to beat SASUKE, but they have too much to beat KUNOICHI which requires a lighter, more "balanced" - in every sense - body).

Also, the English commentator is piss-poor. It's even more infuriating than the Japanese guy who keeps screaming like she's winning the first freaking gold medal of History. At least the Japanese guy does it consistently in a crescendo and not only when he thinks there's "action" happening in a weird counterpoint or worse, whispering for no reason since she CAN'T BLOODY HEAR HIM. The Japanese guy comments live and doesn't whisper, why the hell would he do that. He should be imprisoned for noise pollution over the airwaves. Also, get rid of the ridiculous overlays, it's distracting.

>> ^ctrlaltbleach:

Announcers never cheer on the American version of the show. This lady has won several times but I can't remember if a lady has ever won in the mens competition.


lol. not even the men win the men's competition. In fact, in all history of the show only two won.>> ^lucky760:

It's worth mentioning that this is not the same Ninja Warrior tournament that only 3 men have completed, Sasuke, but the women's version, Kunoichi.
Even more worth mentioning is that not only did Ayako Miyake beat Kunoichi her first time out, but she won three tournaments in a row. Impressive.


Only two ever won SASUKE. Also, KUNOICHI is kind of a joke. For comparison, the third stage of SASUKE (the men's competition) has no time limit; that's just how difficult it is. And after that you have the final stage, with a rope twice as long as the women's pole. IMO, they could just have the women do SASUKE with less of the upper arm endurance (replace it with full body endurance or leg endurance) and add time to the time limit on the first, second and final stages. The fact that such a scrawny girl, an acrobat at that, won shows it takes more balance/coordination/lightness than muscle/endurance/speed to win KUNOICHI, so the girls who train with SASUKE in mind are disadvantaged (especially, they can't have enough muscle and endurance to beat SASUKE, but they have too much to beat KUNOICHI which requires a lighter, more "balanced" - in every sense - body).

Also, the English commentator is piss-poor. It's even more infuriating than the Japanese guy who keeps screaming like she's winning the first freaking gold medal of History. At least the Japanese guy does it consistently in a crescendo and not only when he thinks there's "action" happening in a weird counterpoint or worse, whispering for no reason since she CAN'T BLOODY HEAR HIM. The Japanese guy comments live and doesn't whisper, why the hell would he do that. He should be imprisoned for noise pollution over the airwaves. Also, get rid of the ridiculous overlays, it's distracting.

>> ^lucky760:

It's worth mentioning that this is not the same Ninja Warrior tournament that only 3 men have completed, Sasuke, but the women's version, Kunoichi.
Even more worth mentioning is that not only did Ayako Miyake beat Kunoichi her first time out, but she won three tournaments in a row. Impressive.

Yeah, I read the title and was like "Holy crap!", because I'd heard that Chie Nishimura was the only woman to even get past the first stage.

It's worth mentioning that this is not the same Ninja Warrior tournament that only 3 men have completed, Sasuke, but the women's version, Kunoichi.

Even more worth mentioning is that not only did Ayako Miyake beat Kunoichi her first time out, but she won three tournaments in a row. Impressive.

So awesome!

He looks like Nagano Makoto doing the third stage of Sasuke (Ninja Warrior).

Tags for this video have been changed from 'obstacle course, japan, ninja warrior, game show' to 'obstacle course, japan, ninja warrior, game show, sasuke' - edited by lucky760

Is that the trampoline guy from the Sasuke (ninja warrior) series?