Devil Balanço

Devil Balanço, romanized as Devil Buranco (デビルブランコ), called Devil's Swing in English broadcasts, was an obstacle introduced during Third Stage's redesign in SASUKE 14. However, during SASUKE 14, it was considered part of Pipe Slider, with Hatsuta Keisuke omitting addressing the obstacle. The official name was not verbally announced up until SASUKE 15, where it is now regarded as a separate obstacle, similar to what happened to Climbing Bars. To clear this obstacle, competitors had to grab a trapeze bar, which was suspended 45 cm lower than the green resting bar, then generate enough momentum to be able to reach Pipe Slider's pipe, which placed at the same height as the green resting bar.

However, it was proven to be difficult enough, as almost half of the attempts ended in failure. In fact, only two competitors who were able to attempt it in the first two tournaments, being Kobayashi Shinji in SASUKE 14 and Takeda Toshihiro in SASUKE 15. This might be due to the presence of Jumping Bars, which is designed to be an energy waster. Jumping Bars was then modified in SASUKE 16 to help make the results better, reducing the number of bars from six to four.

There was a risk of getting the suspension chains stuck on the rest bar behind the obstacle, as happened to Nagano Makoto in SASUKE 16. Here, Nagano attempted the obstacle using Shiratori Bunpei's technique (see below) that was effective to overcome the gap needed. However, when he lowered his body down, the left chain of Devil Balanço get stuck to the resting bar, sapping away Nagano's energy. He eventually break free of the resting bar, but ended up failing this obstacle for another case.

The another case mentioned above is the risk of grabbing the pipe of Pipe Slider, only to release it and have the pipe roll away on the track. Beside Nagano in SASUKE 16, this also happened to Kobayashi Shinji in SASUKE 14. Both of them had a touch on the pipe, but due to the action they did (knocking the pipe in Kobayashi's case/grabbing the pipe but letting it go in Nagano's case), the pipe went a bit further than its original starting position. They tried one desperate jump to reach the pipe, but it wasn't enough and both of them failed the obstacle.

In SASUKE 17, to rectify the issue of the chains being caught behind the resting bar, the producers extended the length of the green resting bar and placed it at a higher position relative to Climbing Bars compared to the previous tournaments in which the green bar was at the same level as the end of Climbing Bars.

While undefeated in the first two tournaments, an easier trick to the obstacle was discovered in SASUKE 16 by Shiratori Bunpei. Shiratori would gain momentum by swinging from the green bar and then grabbing onto Devil Balanço, before using the momentum to reach Pipe Slider. This made the obstacle much easier, as all attempts after him (baring Nagano's failure in SASUKE 16 due to the chains getting caught behind the resting bar) all ended in success. As result, combining with Nagano's Kanzenseiha in SASUKE 17, this obstacle was replaced by Spider Flip in SASUKE 18.

Competitors' Success Rate

 * All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found.

デビルブランコ 惡魔鞦韆