ANW, Sasuke & Other International Versions

[meep.meep]

I watched some of the episodes on this weekend.  And actually saw Olivia Munn!  

[Kromm]

Ninja Warrior UK is back with their third series.

Unfortunately that total tosser Chris Kamara, and his constant hyena laugh every run when someone falls in the water (as well as constant bad puns) is also back.

Really, the UK producers edit, position and allow the commentators to act like it's a sequel to Wipeout, rather than something that should be taken seriously.

[JenMD]

Looks like a Celebrity Edition is coming; films in LA on Thursday.

Update: I didn't take into account the info at the link provided would be changing as new dates rolled in and old dates went by.

Celebrity edition taped on March 9th in LA.  Only confirmed celebrity I can find is

Spoiler

Stephen Amell from Arrow.

Results

Spoiler

finished the course!  And then did another 1 1/2 obstacles for charity.

Haven't been able to find any more confirmed celebrity participants (and I"m the worst at linking from Twitter, there are pics/video in the

Spoiler

Arrow Social Media

thread).  From what audience members have posted, this was filmed for Red Nose Day, which is May 25th.  I'm thinking the season premiere for S9 will either be the Monday before or after that.

Edited March 12, 2017 by JenMD
Link no longer contains correct info

[Fukui San]

I missed that they aired Sasuke 33 in March.  Here's a YouTube link that may go down at any time:

A good edition of the show.  If you only have time to watch one run, I'd recommend the first stage run of a guy who's in some sort of boy band with a painted face that starts around the 44 minute mark. He looks like a goof and a poseur, but the run is worth watching.

From that video I came to a video by an American lady who ran in Sasuke 32 while living in Japan. Her run wasn't aired, but she gives great background on the experience from applying, auditioning, training, what happens on the day of, the differences in Western and Japanese tolerances for public displays of affection, and actually running the course.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Fukui San

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, Fukui San said:

A good edition of the show.  If you only have time to watch one run, I'd recommend the first stage run of a guy who's in some sort of boy band with a painted face that starts around the 44 minute mark. He looks like a goof and a poseur, but the run is worth watching.

Damn. I think that I can figure out how to write "WHAT THE FUCK, DARVISH?!?!?" in kanji. Doesn't Aziz Ansari have a cousin with that name?

Is that the same announcer? I kinda miss him. I mean, Matt and Akbar are cool, but I miss that voice. If somebody fucks up that royally on ANW, either Matt or Akbar would have passed out. Maybe both.

[Fukui San]

I know there's a major league pitcher from Japan named Yu Darvish. 

Oh, and near the end of the broadcast there was a promo for a Kunoichi tournament, the ladies' version of Sasuke they haven't run in a while.  I guess the franchise is healthier than it has been in a while with this activity. 

[jhlipton]

On 4/18/2017 at 11:23 PM, Fukui San said:

I missed that they aired Sasuke 33 in March.

This version of the Warped Wall looks insane!

[Fukui San]

I might be wrong but I think it's the same dimensions as a Vegas Finals US episode. 

[jhlipton]

17 hours ago, Fukui San said:

I might be wrong but I think it's the same dimensions as a Vegas Finals US episode. 

I haven't seen that for a while so you're probably right.

[JenMD]

This year's installment of ANW's USA vs. The World is airing on NBC on June 4th.

USA team members are:  Jake Murray, Josh Levin, Daniel Gil, Drew Dreschel, Brian Arnold, and Jessie Graff(!). 

Here's a pic of all three teams on Jessie's Facebook. 

[jhlipton]

On 5/24/2017 at 1:30 PM, JenMD said:

USA team members are:  Jake Murray, Josh Levin, Daniel Gil, Drew Dreschel, Brian Arnold, and Jessie Graff(!).

Good for Jessie to make to the "men's" team.  Dayummmmm!!

[JenMD]

EW.com posted a spoiler vid for Sunday's USA vs. The World.  Details below...
 

Spoiler

 

Jessie finishes Stage 2!

I'm so happy for her.  And how awesome of Drew to give up his spot so she can give Stage 2 a try?  I mean, after seeing her get through the first half of the stage in the Vegas finals, he had to have been pretty sure she could at least get past the first obstacle, but still, that was pretty cool.  Love the reactions of everybody, especially her mom and Maggie; I was a bit verklempt myself, I'm not going to lie.   

 

[SnideAsides]

After being delayed for what seems like forever (seriously, it was announced like two years ago), Australian Ninja Warrior will be getting burned off three nights a week (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) for the next three weeks.

[Morgan of Hed]

Drew Dreschel and Jessie Graff are in Japan right now shooting Sasuke. 

[Lantern7]

Nice. I wonder how many of the old school they would meet. I'm sure Jessie isn't bringing Sammo, lest she get grabbed by the Octopus and turned into a dish. How soon until we find out how they did?

[SnideAsides]

Randomness: After what was clearly a "we are not confident in this" burnoff, Australian Ninja Warrior had the biggest premiere of any show on Australian television in the last five years, and didn't lose many viewers throughout the season.

[Lantern7]

8 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

Randomness: After what was clearly a "we are not confident in this" burnoff, Australian Ninja Warrior had the biggest premiere of any show on Australian television in the last five years, and didn't lose many viewers throughout the season.

That's nice to hear. Like hearing about the success of The Mole worldwide, but without the bitterness of ABC screwing the show over and over again. Any chance the Aussies would represent in the next "U.S. Vs. The World" showdown?

[SnideAsides]

I doubt it, since your version is aired on a different channel down here.

[Fukui San]

Found a video of the 2017 Kunoichi tournament aired last month. Looks a little budget as it was filmed indoors and not outdoors as usual. Oh, and it's 50 women and not 100.  However it's the normal format and not the weird format they tried last time where in the first round four competitors ran simultaneous legs with only the top two at most advancing.

It's fun to try and figure out what hook each girl has before they show it in the intro. Oh, that's a popstar! That's a pro wrestler! That's a Hooters girl! I don't recognize anyone. It's been a while since the last time they did Kunoichi.

They have a Warped Wall, even if it's a smaller version. That's a first for Kunoichi. Actually overall it's a lot less different from the men's course than it used to be.

Yes, they kept Domino Hill in the third stage!

All in all, I like this rendition.

[halopub]

Sasuke aired earlier today.

Jessie Graff impressed the Japanese vets. While watching her, Kenji Darvish jokingly first said, "Isn't this is a little wrong? This is a man's place." He then followed up more seriously with, "Women have finally arrived. That really was too cool/amazing." 

Results for Jessie and Drew:

Spoiler

• Jessie became the first woman ever to finish stage two of Sasuke.
  • She had the benefit of ten extra seconds, which she needed after the Reverse Conveyor slowed her down. That obstacle caused a few vets to time out.
  • On stage three she made it to the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger but wasn't able to regain her hold during the first flip transition.
  • The panelists and other competitors were astonished when Jessie decided to rest her arms by wrapping her legs around Sidewinder Kai.

 

• Drew essentially finished third this year.
  • He flew through stage one with nearly 40 seconds left on the clock.
  • On stage three, he got to the second flip transition of the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger.
  • TBS must have miked him - the audience clearly heard him yell out advice and encouragement during Jessie's runs.

 

[Fukui San]

Reallly fun tourney. 

I kind of feel that they are due for a bit of a course redesign. Little has changed in about three season has it?

[halopub]

They probably could use a little innovation in the design but at least the current course is tough to beat.

TBS has posted official clips on Facebook. The translations could use work and unfortunately, they didn't subtitle the other competitors reacting to them on the course.

• Jessie
  • Clip 1, Clip 2, Clip 3
• Drew
  • Clip 1 (cut from TBS broadcast?), Clip 2, Clip 3

[mlp]

I hope Matt and Akbar watch this.  Maybe they'll finally stop talking about Kacy.  Just wow, Jessie!

[Kromm]

As much as Matt Iseman occasionally annoys, the more I hear from the announcers from the International versions, the more I appreciate Matt in comparison. I just watched some Australian Ninja Warrior, and the female commentator is super annoying, and the male one so innocuous and boring he might as well not be there.  And I've talked about Chris Kamara on UK Ninja Warrior. It's painful to have to sit through even ONE of his jokes, and he does them constantly.

I would recommend watching some Aussie Ninja clips if you haven't, despite the horrible commentators. They had a woman get up the wall in their first season, and while the obstacles seem a bit dumbed down, they had a few interesting runners who with some maturing over a few years might stand a decent chance if they do a USA vs. the World with Australia at some point.

[healthnut]

If you don't have Facebook or you just want all the runs in the same place: 

Jessie's runs courtesy of ANW Nation

[Kromm]

On 10/8/2017 at 4:21 PM, halopub said:

Sasuke aired earlier today.

Jessie Graff impressed the Japanese vets. While watching her, Kenji Darvish jokingly first said, "Isn't this is a little wrong? This is a man's place." He then followed up more seriously with, "Women have finally arrived. That really was too cool/amazing." 

Results for Jessie and Drew:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Jessie became the first woman ever to finish stage two of Sasuke.
  • She had the benefit of ten extra seconds, which she needed after the Reverse Conveyor slowed her down. That obstacle caused a few vets to time out.
  • On stage three she made it to the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger but wasn't able to regain her hold during the first flip transition.
  • The panelists and other competitors were astonished when Jessie decided to rest her arms by wrapping her legs around Sidewinder Kai.

 

• Drew essentially finished third this year.
  • He flew through stage one with nearly 40 seconds left on the clock.
  • On stage three, he got to the second flip transition of the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger.
  • TBS must have miked him - the audience clearly heard him yell out advice and encouragement during Jessie's runs.

 

Aside from her pure amazing athleticism, her blond hair, blue eyes and very long legs seem to have gone over well with the Japanese as well.  Not that they haven't seen plenty of western women before, but the fact that she could easily and indefinitely hold her entire body weight via her legs being wrapped about a big puffy pole seemed to fascinate them.

[halopub]

3 hours ago, healthnut said:

If you don't have Facebook or you just want all the runs in the same place: 

Jessie's runs courtesy of ANW Nation

Just FYI - in case folks want it to be a surprise, the final results are spoiled in the headline of the ANWN recap. FB is not requiring logins at either site.

3 hours ago, Kromm said:

Aside from her pure amazing athleticism, her blond hair, blue eyes and very long legs seem to have gone over well with the Japanese as well.  Not that they haven't seen plenty of western women before, but the fact that she could easily and indefinitely hold her entire body weight via her legs being wrapped about a big puffy pole seemed to fascinate them.

Heh. I do think a lot of that was the play-by-play guy being so loud with his reactions but as he said it probably is an approach that other Sasuke competitors have never thought to try. On ANW, on the other hand, we are used to seeing competitors find places to shake out their arms and hands.

6 hours ago, mlp said:

I hope Matt and Akbar watch this.  Maybe they'll finally stop talking about Kacy.  Just wow, Jessie!

Do you expect Kacy to haunt the competition next year in retirement? (chuckle). I'm not saying the attention on Kacy has been proportional but I think they have both been effusive in their past praise of Jessie. Like the time she did the splits between those clear boxes. Or that US vs. the World competition.

Edited October 10, 2017 by halopub
spelling

[mlp]

Quote

 I'm not saying the attention on Kacy has been proportional but I think they have both been effusive in their past praise of Jessie. 

Agreed.  They have been very supportive of Jessie indeed (and other women too).  I'm just sick of them carrying on about "Mighty Kacy" when it's been three years since she actually did anything worth talking about.  She was rightly lauded when she was the first woman up the warped wall and again when she finished a city finals course.  Both events were exciting.  I think I watched her run that finals course about 10 times myself.  But time has moved on and now many women are making it up the wall and we have women accomplishing new things while Kacy hasn't been able to keep up.  Matt and Akbar need to find something else to carry on about.

[ClareWalks]

Yep, the praise of Jessie is effusive but well-earned. She keeps getting better and better every year. Loved watching her Sasuke runs!

[Kromm]

Ninja Warrior UK has been back again, with it's Series 4, apparently for a few weeks. Finally saw a few eps before they got taken down (LOL).

Unfortunately Chris Kamara is also back.  He's still doing that annoying endless hyena laugh, but to the credit of the show's editors and/or directors they aren't leaving as much of that in now. At least in the episodes I've seen so far they've aired more serious runs and less footage edited to look like ridiculous pratfalls that Kamara can laugh his arse off at.  He still comes off as an annoying goon, but he's given less time basically. 

They've even made the qualifying course a little more difficult, so it's now almost on par with the US one.

And there have been a few truly impressive runs, like this one:

 

 

 

 

 

And Tim Shieff, a name we know from the US shows, with this record-setter: 

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Kromm

[jhlipton]

On 4/23/2018 at 11:36 AM, Kromm said:

They've even made the qualifying course a little more difficult, so it's now almost on par with the US one.

The major difference I saw is the American version of the "peg jump" has one or two extra long pegs that I didn't see in this version.

Edited April 27, 2018 by jhlipton

[Fukui San]

Caught up on Sasuke 37 which aired at the very end of 2019.  It was quite an eventful tourney and I'm glad I managed to keep myself unspoiled. Here's a link to the video with my comments in spoilers.

Spoiler

Jesse Graff was in it again and was assigned #98! In the Japanese version, they assign your number order and they reserve the ones at the end for the most likely to succeed, so #98 was quite the honor, just behind two time Grand Champion Uruushihara. Numbers 99 and 100 failed in the first round, so then Jesse became the anchor as she once again amazingly made the third round! She made it all the way to the Cliffhanger variant again. The high number have sort of a prestige and pressure that I don't think the Americans do and it messes with some of their heads, but you couldn't tell that at all with Jesse, who looked great at had a blast through the whole thing.

The other American was Captain NBC Jamie Rahn. And, well, he failed the second obstacle. He misjudged the dismount from a slope of slanted rolling logs onto a platform and ricocheted into the water. He went a long way to fail in 15 seconds.

Anyway, interesting tourney. Two proteges of the retired All Star Yamada finally clear the first and second round. He's been bringing groups of five or so pupils to Sasuke but they've usually not gotten past the first round. The weather was a touch wet, and some big names failed like Morimoto. They had to nix the first obstacle of the 2nd round as it wasn't functioning right in the wet weather. 8 of 10 cleared the shortened 2nd stage, and two cleared the final stage, including a German competitor who did Germany's version of Ninja Warrior who made the 3rd stage look easy.

The other finalist was a guy who first competed at the age of 14 and only the last two tourneys has he broken through and cleared all the way to the third and final rounds at the age of 28. The histories of some of these guys.

The two finalists failed the final stage, which was the insane combo of Spider climbing into a Salmon Ladder into a rope climb. These guys didn't even make the rope climb as they both went diagonal midway through the Salmon Ladder and couldn't get it straightened. The German guy was particularly distraught. The final stage was filmed live some time after the taping of the bulk of the tournament which was neat.

Almost joining the two finalists was two time Champion Uruushihara, a bit past his prime at 41. He made it to the Pipe Slider, but accidentally slipped off rather than having his strength give out. It would have been amazing to see him get a third total victory. Bad way to go out, but he impressively got all the way there.

 

[enoughcats]

Australia's winner made it up their mount in record time