Ninja Warrior

Now that I get G4 from Comcast, I'm obsessed with Sasuke, aka Ninja Warrior. It's a Japanese competition featuring a single-day, 4-stage obstacle course, held twice a year for 100 competitors. So far there have been 23 editions, and only two of the 2300 competitors have ever completed all 4 stages, most recently Makoto Nagano in Sasuke 17. Nagano has entered the last 17 editions, and he's advanced to Stage 2 twelve times, Stage 3 ten times, and Stage 4 five times, resulting in one victory and two agonizing close calls.

One of those close calls was in the latest edition, Sasuke 23. Keep in mind when watching these videos that these are the best performances, by guys who make this stuff look easy.

Stage 1 is always the longest and most varied. This is Levi Meeuwenberg, a badass free runner and America's best hope at Ninja Warrior (he was the only competitor to make it to Stage 3 in Sasuke 20), destroying the stage with 30 seconds to spare, while most competitors who advance to Stage 2 make it with only seconds remaining. Sixteen out of 100 competitors made it out of this stage, including Levi and Nagano.



Stage 2 is shorter but more intense. The obstacles are more focused on strength, including the ridiculous Salmon Ladder. Here's Nagano dominating it. Seven of the 16 competitors advanced out of this stage, including Levi and Nagano.



Stage 3 is a pure test of upper body strength, and it is not timed, though competitors have only 30 seconds to rest in between obstacles. Levi failed on the Cliffhanger, the second time he's failed to get past it, but Nagano and one other competitor survived:



Stage 4 is all about getting to the top in the allotted time climbing a rope ladder in the first half and a rope in the second half. The other guy didn't even come close, but Nagano came up just a couple meters short.



Sasuke 24 is coming in December on G4!