The Ninja Warrior

So some of you might know the TV show from Japan known as Ninja Warrior.  It's one of the many included in the gameshow pantheon, others being Takeshis castle and Viking along with some lesser known varities.  Ninja Warrior (hereon referred to as Sasuke (because it's easier to write)) is the serious big brother to the goofy shows we are occasionally privy to in the west.

There are no pranks here - no people dressed up as giant monsters, no ritual humiliation (well okay, a little humiliation) and no jokes.  This series is serious.

Takeshi's castle is voiced by Craig Charles, who is absolutely perfect for the kind of stupidity found within.

The Takeshi's Castle classic 'knock knock,' epitomises the fun side of Japanese 'sporty,' gameshows.

Viking is primarily celebrities and thus nowhere near the level of competition of Sasuke.

Viking is the halfway point between serious challenge and comedic wipeouts.  Incidentally if you were wondering how the BBC came up with the concept of Wipeout (or whatever it's called now) then look no further than the above clips.  Genesis!

Anyway, Sasuke is very difficult.  The first stage is open to a hundred competitors; some famous, some comedic, some hopeful.  If you can pass the first stage you move onto the second and so forth.

The challenges often change, but the competition is always very difficult.  In the twenty odd series that have been made, only four or five people have ever completed the course.

If you can look past the stupid commentator (not present in the English version, thankfully) then the challenges show how athletic the participants are.

Upon close inspection you'll also see a huge bias towards smaller, lighter, more gymnastic sorts.


Anyway, you're wondering why I'm writing all this.

Well, they opened a park where you can try your hand at some of the events as shown in the programme, so I went along and had a go.  I took footage of my attempts and I'm in the process of editing those videos now, but in the meantime here is a picture:

Spoilers for when the next post (and hopefully the video) are up:  I didn't finish the course but I nearly finished stage 3.  The cliffhanger is a killer for someone who weighs as much as me!