SASUKE 36

SASUKE 36 (officially,「SASUKE2018大晦日」) was officially announced by TBS on Twitter on the June 29, 2018. It was the fifth tournament after Morimoto Yūsuke's kanzenseiha. It was the first tournament to air on New Year's Eve, aired at 6pm JST and was the last New Year's Eve and the last SASUKE tournament of the Heisei era. The broadcast was scheduled to last approximately 6 hours and it shared its airtime with a boxing match featuring Kazuto Ioka and Donnie Nietes for the vacant WBO super-flyweight title. This tournament also introduced SASUKE's new logo for the first time ever.

Applications
Applications were released on June 29, 2018 by TBS on their Official Website and Twitter. Final applications closed in mid-October. For the first time, the auditions were held in four different cites at four different regions in brackets: The applications for Sapporo and Fukuoka closed on August 17, 2018 and August 27, 2018 respectively. Later, the applications for Osaka closed on September 28, 2018 and Tokyo closed on October 18, 2018. All applications closed at 5pm JST on their respective date.
 * Sapporo (Hokkaido) in August 26, 2018.
 * Fukuoka (Kyushu) in September 1, 2018.
 * Osaka (Kansai) in October 8, 2018.
 * Tokyo (Kanto) in November 3 and 4, 2018.

In addition, the auditions held in Sapporo and Fukuoka were the first in 15 years to be held in those cities, and there were estimated to be around 4000 applicants in total.

Filming
Taping took place from December 1, 2018 till December 3, 2018, spanning across 3 days. It was originally planned to be held until December 2, 2018.

Additionally, for the first time in the history of SASUKE, the conclusion of the tournament was broadcast live. Competitors who made it to the Final Stage will attempted it at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, which concurrently airing with the pre-taped broadcast on New Year's Eve.

It is also the first time in SASUKE's history where one of the stages do not take place at Midoriyama Studios, disregarding the fact where SASUKE 1 took place in Tokyo Bay NK Hall.

Tournament Summary
This tournament featured many iconic moments such as Matachi Ryo's one-handed save at the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, Drew Drechsel's slip-up on the landing pad from the Backstream, Urushihara Yuuji becoming the oldest competitor to ever clear a version of the Cliffhanger, and the live Final Stage attempt by Morimoto Yūsuke.

The First Stage received two modifications: the modification and renaming of the TIE Fighter into the Wing Slider and the 20-second addition for the time limit for female and/or over-50 competitors to 105 seconds. As such, this is the fourth tournament since SASUKE 34 to have a time limit difference. Despite that, there were some notable failures like Nagasaki Shunsuke and Tsukada Ryoichi falls on the Dragon Glider, Yamamoto Shingo's fall on the Wing Slider, and Takeda Toshihiro had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury on the Wing Slider. A notable attempt by a female, Oshima Ayano, becomes the first Japanese women to defeat the Dragon Glider, narrowly missing out the chance to complete the First Stage. Even still, 15 competitors were able to complete the stage, nearly twice as many competitors than the previous tournament, including Araki Naoyuki and Tada Tatsuya (who both cleared the First Stage for the first time after several failed attempts), Urushihara Yuuji (who timed out on the First Stage in the previous tournament), and Matachi Ryo (who cleared the First Stage for the first time since SASUKE 30).

No modification was made into the Second Stage since SASUKE 33. Despite that, there were several notable failures like Mori Wataru's disqualification at the Reverse Conveyor after using the padding beside the conveyor to crawl across with his legs (although he completed the stage with less than one second remaining) and Drew Drechsel's slip off the course from the chute from the Backstream to the landing pad (making his first ever Second Stage failure in his SASUKE appearances, thus ending his streak of 6 Second Stage clears, and failing to match Takeda Toshihiro's record of 7 consecutive Second Stage clears), 10 competitors were able to complete the stage, which was the second highest number of Second Stage's clears in SASUKE history (after SASUKE 4 at 11 competitors), including competitors like Urushihara Yuuji (who completed the Second Stage for the first time since SASUKE 28), Matachi Ryo (who cleared the First and Second Stages after 4 years) and Darvish Kenji. In addition, this is the highest number of the Second Stage clears since SASUKE RISING era.

The Third Stage remained unchanged from the previous tournament, albeit the distance for the foothold from the Planet Bridge was increased by 40cm. 4 out of 8 competitors (Tada Tatsuya, Matachi Ryo, Urushihara Yuuji, and Morimoto Yūsuke) were able to complete the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, with Morimoto being the only one to complete the Vertical Limit and later the Pipe Slider, while the others failed on the Vertical Limit, coincidentally at the third section. In addition, three competitors were able to complete the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger on their first attempts. Morimoto's Third Stage clear in this tournament made him just the third competitor in SASUKE history to attempt the Final Stage for 2 tournaments in a row (after Ōmori Akira and Nagano Makoto) and tied with Ōmori Akira and Urushihara Yuuji for the second most Final Stage appearances in SASUKE (with 3 appearances each, only being beaten by Nagano Makoto at 5 appearances).

In the Final Stage which was broadcast live for the first time ever at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, Morimoto Yūsuke had a faster pace than he did in the previous tournament, despite having a little trouble at the Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan. However, possibly due to the wind or his safety harness nudging the rope, the rope kept swinging, losing precious time in order to transit to the Tsuna Nobori, and as a result, he pressed the buzzer around 0.5 seconds late despite barely arrived 0.5m away from the goal.

Obstacles
① Quad Steps クワッドステップス

② Rolling Hill ローリングヒル

③ *Wing Slider ウィングスライダー

④ Fish Bone フィッシュボーン

⑤ Dragon Glider ドラゴングライダー

⑥ Tackle タックル

⑦ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

Time Limit: 85 seconds (105 seconds for female and/or over-50 competitors).

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① Ring Slider リングスライダー

② Salmon Ladder Nobori サーモンラダー 上り ③ Salmon Ladder Kudari サーモンラダー 下り ④ Spider Walk スパイダーウォーク

⑤ Spider Drop スパイダードロップ

⑥ Backstream バックストリーム

⑦ Reverse Conveyor リバースコンべアー

⑧ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 110 seconds.

Obstacles
① Flying Bar フライングバー

② Sidewinder サイドワインダー

③ *Planet Bridge プラネットブリッジ

④ Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger ウルトラクレイジークリフハンガー

⑤ Vertical Limit バーティカルリミット

⑥ Pipe Slider パイプスライダー

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① Spider Climb スパイダークライム (8m)

② Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan サーモンラダー15段 (7m)

③ Tsuna Nobori 綱登り (10m)

Time Limit: 45 seconds.