The 13th Competition, official name: SASUKE2004春 (literally SASUKE 2004 Spring) is the first tournament after Nagano Makoto's near miss of kanzenseiha in SASUKE 12 and the only tournament held in 2004. Before the tournament, the biggest trials were held. TheSASUKE 13 Trials had a total of 224 competitors with the top 30 rankings and the top 10 women getting an automatic bid (the rest of the participants were judged by the producers as usual). In this tournament, Hatsuta Keisuke took over as main announcer, replacing Furutachi Ichiro. Also, with Yamada Katsumi's absence,Yamamoto Shingo became the only man to hold a perfect attendance record. Because of Nagano's 0.11 second miss in the last tournament, major changes were made to the First Stage. The color of the mats was changed from green to black. Every obstacle except the Soritatsu Kabe was either changed or modified to be made harder. The new vertical Jump Hang took out several top competitors. Still, ten people cleared the First stage. The most impressive performance was Nagano. He blitzed through the First Stage and cleared with 29.03 seconds left, fifteen seconds faster than everyone else. In the Second Stage, the first five people failed in various failures and time outs. Yamamoto Shingo for example, almost cleared the stage, but his foot was trapped by the third wall and time ran out. However, the last five people all cleared, with these five last men standing all funnily enough coming in the top five in the trials. In the Third Stage the remaining five competitors all failed different obstacles. Takeda Toshihiro failed the Cliffhanger because of his injured right shoulder. Shiratori Bunpei made it to the landing mat at the end of the Third Stage but lost his balance and fell into the water. Nagano Makoto cleared the Third Stage for the third consecutive time joining Ōmori Akira, who did it in the first three SASUKE tournaments. However, Nagano failed short for the third straight time.
TBS Date: April 6, 2004
TBS Ratings: 18.1%
SASUKE Announcers:
1st Chair Hatsuta Keisuke (Stage 1 (#1-30, 71-100), Stage 2, Stage 3, Final Stage)
2nd Chair Komada Kengo (Stage 1 (#31-70)
SASUKE Results
Best: Nagano Makoto, Final Stage, Rope Climb
Stage 1: 10 Clears
Stage 2: 5 Clears
Stage 3: 1 Clears
Final Stage: 0 Clear
First stage
Obstacles
② *Sandan Rolling Maruta 三段ローリング丸太
③ ^Cross Bridge クロスブリッジ
④ *Jump Hang ジャンプハング
⑤ ^Neshireta Kabe ねじれた壁
⑥ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁
⑦ Tarzan Jump ターザンジャンプ
⑧ *Rope Climb ロープクライム
Time Limit: 80 seconds
Length: 98.7m
^ Denotes New Obstacle
* Denotes Modified Obstacle
Second stage
Obstacles
↓ Brick Climb ブリッククライム
② Spider Walk スパイダーウォーク
③ Balance Tank バランスタンク
④ Gyakusō Conveyor 逆走コンベアー
⑤ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング
Time Limit: 70 seconds
^ Denotes New Obstacle
* Denotes Modified Obstacle
Third Stage
Obstacles
② Body Prop ボディプロップ
③ ^Curtain Cling カーテンクリング
④ Cliffhanger クリフハンガー
⑤ *Pipe Slider パイプスライダー
^ Denotes New Obstacle
* Denotes Modified Obstacle
Final Stage
Obstacles
② Rope Climb 綱登り (10m)
Length: 22.5m
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