New Obstacle ideas

Something with fire, you say, Chriss? I have some really good ideas in that case. They came to me just as I was about to fall asleep, which might not be when you get the best ideas, but I strongly feel that these could make Sasuke's ratings skyrocket, should they use them in Sasuke 31.

First out, I have an idea for a first stage obstacle that would be called something like the Ring of Fire, or Fire Ring, I'm not picky about which one is picked. I'm thinking it should be right before the Jumping Spider, and it would look something like this (excuse my poor Paint skills):

It's simple, really. You jump on the trampoline, dive through the ring of fire, do some kind of somersault and land on the mat like it's no big deal. No loose cloothing on this obstacle, if you know what I'm saying ...

Yes, some people might argue that it would be really dangerous if someone, idk, did something as absurd as catch on fire while attempting this, but I've already got it figured. If you do it correctly, you won't catch on fire, and if you fail and do get lit on fire, then you're just gonna land in the water below and immediately be extinguished. Perfect, right?

Next up is a third stage obstacle based on the Crazy Cliffhanger. I've heard rumors that they want to remove this obstacle, but I think that would be a bad idea when it could be developed into something even better. I'm not sure on the name for this one, since Ultimate and Crazy is making it very hard to come up with something that will really tell you that we're taking the obstacle to the next level, but after careful consideration I've decided to name it the Motherfucking Cliffhanger.

As you can see, it is exactly like the Crazy Cliffhanger, but instead of landing in muddy water when you fail, you fall into a raging inferno. I think this would be the final motivation certain competitors, such as Asa Kazuma, needs to actually finish this obstacle.

Yeah, I'm totally feeling these ideas. Now I just need to find out how much it would cost to send a package to Japan ...

Ninja Warrior SE: episode 4 recap

Air date: 19 February 2015

A quick rundown of how many people we got to see fail each obstacle:

Unless I miscounted (not entirely impossible) we saw more people CLEAR FIRST STAGE than we saw fail them.

Here are the names of the people who cleared it, hopefully I didn't mispell anything. I noted the times when I could, but when they just quickly show them pressing the button and skip everything else you do not get the timing, sadly:

Here's the Top Ten best times after episode 4:

Source: Kanal5play.se

As you can see, that's only two from this ep, Oskar Örn (damn, got his name wrong in my graph!) and Nathaphon Sermjan.

______________________________________________________

Chriss & Ell commentary:

Chriss: "I can't get over that they're calling it semifinal! That's so wrong!"

~*~

Seeing the Jump Hang again after watching Sasuke 6 yesterday, we're back to our standard "ninja please". That's what, 1 meter of jumping or something? It's nothing compared to Sasuke ...

~*~

We saw what we think might be the first instance of someone failing the Cross-Bridge, and noticed that there is no water underneath it? So if you're gonna fail something in this course, go with that or the Warped Wall and you won't get wet.

~*~

A girl we rooted for brutally failed.

Chriss: "Can I throw candy at your computer screen? I'll pick it up and eat it later, 'cause I can't afford to throw away candy."

~*~

We keep discussing our planned Ninja Warrior training for when I apply for the show. I'm gonna stand out and NOT be doing parkour, as idk, at least half the guys who are competing. I'm not sure what exactly I'm gonna do that's more awesome than that, but we'll figure something out.

~*~

"He speaks ninja", says the commentator about contestant Bernhard Dalsheim, which apparently means that he speaks Japanese. Dalsheims is apparently in love with Japan and gives us some advice on how you're supposed to eat sushi (with your hands, not chopsticks). We were mildy impressed ... until he cleared the course! Go Bernhard, but EVEN MORE, go Bernhard because when asked to say "I'm gonna be the first to win Ninja Warrior SE" in Japanese WE HEARD HIM SAY SASUKE.

First mention of Sasuke on this show - Bernhard Dalsheim, you are officially our favourite.

~*~

With Anna Lee Markstedt O'Dwyer (that name is a handful), we have four women in stage 2. If this is, as some people say, a better version that American Ninja Warrior, then I'm wondering if it just happens to be that Sweden has a lot more awesome women than the US and Japan? Or is the first stage just a lot easier? I guess we'll see what the future brings.

~*~

Even more celebration when Camilo Lattof had the best technique on the Spider-Walk, doing it like all the Japanese Ninjas on Sasuke are. He also cleared the Quintuple Step in just 2 seconds, although his final time wasn't that impressive compared to the top 10. We still like him.

Chriss: "I'm gonna call him Sweden's Speed Demon. I was gonna call him the Swedish Asa, but he didn't cry, so it doesn't really fit."

~*~

And finally we're treated to two parkour (no shit?) loving friends, Oskar Örn and Nathaphon Sermjan, who both cleared the stage with great times and did a little happy dance afterwards. It was very cute.

~*~

That's it! We are officially done with stage one, so next week we'll finally see what stage two brings. We have seen Salmon Ladder and Arm Rings in the previews so far, which works well with what that inaccurate Aftonbladet article told us, but I'm not trusting it until I see it all on TV.

Ninja Warrior Sverige: Stage One

Three episodes in we have gotten to know the first stage (known as the qualifying round) in the Swedish Ninja Warrior rather well. Since it's based on the American format rather than good old Sasuke, 125 competitors are starting out and the 25 (or is it 30? I must say I'm not entirely sure) with the best time will move on to "the semifinal", which is what should be known as Stage 2.

Anyway, stage 1 is as follows:

Source: Kanal5play.se

We start out with a classic, the Quintuple Step. I love it when people fail this one, it's always such an amazing let-down to fail on the first obstace.

Source: Kanal5play.se

I've spent forever trying to figure out the English name for this one? I haven't seen it outside of Sweden yet, but I know it exists because I've seen this superhot pic of Asa Kazuma doing it in the USA vs Japan special (which we haven't got our hands on yet, something that pains me every day).

After looking it up on YouTube it seems to be kinda like the Hang Slider, although I've yet to see anyone rotate while doing it. Mostly they fail because they grab one handle too quick and then the other shoots up and away from them.

(Edit: it is called the Silk Slider, thank you, Arsenette!)

Source: Kanal5play.se

Next up is the Cross Bridge, and I can't recall if we've seen anyone fail it. After the quintuple step it doesn't seem to be giving anyone much trouble, as long as they don't trip.

Source: Kanal5play.se

Okay, but NOTHING is funnier than seeing someone make a spectacular jump on the Jump Hang, grab onto the rope and then get fucked over by gravity and fall into the water. They always look so shocked and I always laugh. This one gets SUPERCLOSE to the water when you climb under it, and several competitors have failed just because their tees dropped into the water. Baggy clothes isn't very ninja.

Source: Kanal5play.se

Spider Climb! A classic. It's just 8 meters long, nothing is moving and doesn't involve going up or down or through any kind of obstacles. Compared to what we've seen in Sasuke it's not really that impressive (and looking at how people move through it you can see the different between seasoned Sasuke competitors and Swedes who've never done this before).

Source: Kanal5play.se

And of course, a classic at the end: the Warped Wall. I think it's 4 meters high, which isn't that impressive compared to Japan's 4.5, especially not given how much taller Swedes tend to be compared to Japanese people. Since time is counting up, not down, you only get three tries on it, like in the American version.

When I first watched this, never having seen any of Sasuke, I found stage 1 pretty impressive but having seen it's more recent Japanese incarnations we're mostly rolling our eyes. I don't wanna talk shit about my gender (girls are the best), but two women have passed it so far and saying "she is one of only three in the world to finish stage 1!!!" sort of loses its charm when it's so much easier than the original. Even so, here's Jenny Adolfsson (known from Swedish Gladiators) looking great while finishing it:

Since it is based on the American version rather than Sasuke stage 2 is apparently just gonna be a repeat of stage 1 that is slightly harder, adding the Salmon Ladder, Arm Rings and Rope Ladder after Stage 1. I'll post an update once we've seen that on TV, and I'll definitely keep you posted on stage 3.

Anyway, I'm off because later tonight I'm forcing a friend of ours to watch Sasuke for the first time. I'm sure she'll love it just as much as we do.