SASUKE 34

SASUKE 34 (officially,「SASUKE2017秋」) has been officially announced by TBS on Twitter, and will, similarly to the previous tournament, commemorate SASUKE's 20th anniversary since its inception on September 27, 1997. It is the third tournament after Morimoto Yūsuke's kanzenseiha and aired on October 8, 2017 with a time slot of 3 and a half hours from 6:30pm JST, identical to the air time of SASUKE 32.

Applications
Applications were released May 2, 2017 by TBS on their official website and Twitter. Applications were closed on May 26, 2017. The first audition was held on June 4, 2017 in Osaka, and the second audition was held on June 11, 2017 in Tokyo.

Filming
The taping dates were confirmed to be on the July 22 and July 23, 2017. The taping of the First and Second Stage was taped in July 22 while Third and Final Stage was taped in July 23.

During filming, due to the hot weather, all preventive measures are taken to prevent any competitors suffering from heatstroke during the day. Frequent breaks occurred during taping. Nevertheless, the First and Second Stage finished taping on schedule on July 22.

Some of the top competitors were absent from this tournament due to injury, such as Asa Kazuma, Kanno Hitoshi, Kishimoto Shinya.

Tournament Summary
All of the obstacles across the four stages remained the same as in SASUKE 33, with minor modification for several obstacles, thus making this the first tournament that no new obstacle was introduced into the course. The First Stage's time limit was reduced by 5 seconds, though the time limit for women was increased by 5 seconds from the previous tournament, marking the third tournament with a time limit difference since SASUKE 32. On a side-note, this tournament ended up being the second time in SASUKE history, that the First Stage's time limit was not a multiple of five for two consecutive tournaments (SASUKE 8 and SASUKE 9 being the first time). There were notable failures, like Mori Wataru's slip-up on the Quad Steps and Matachi Ryo's failure on the Double Pendulum.

In the end, 24 competitors completed the First Stage, which was the fifth largest number of First Stage completions in SASUKE history by date, the most clears since Morimoto Yūsuke's kanzenseiha in SASUKE 31, including: Out of all the clears, three competitors were new faces. In addition, for the second time in SASUKE history, a woman completed the First Stage, as Jessie Graff completed it with 14.51 seconds left, joining Tanabe Chie's First Stage completion in SASUKE 2, 19 years ago. Coincidentally, when Tanabe completed the First Stage in SASUKE 2, she was a stuntwoman (the same current occupation with Jessie).
 * Takahashi Kenji,
 * Urushihara Yuuji, who declared retirement if he failed the First Stage in this tournament,
 * Anastase Ragivaru,
 * Darvish Kenji, who avenged his Lumberjack Climb failure in the last tournament,
 * Two out of three Black Tigers members,
 * Suzuki Yusuke and Kawaguchi Tomohiro, who both redeemed themselves on the Double Pendulum.

In the Second Stage, the time limit remained unchanged, albeit for the first time in the Second Stage, women got an additional 10 seconds to complete the stage (due to Jessie Graff's First Stage clear in this tournament), signifying the first time in SASUKE history to have a time limit difference on multiple stages. Nevertheless, 9 competitors completed it, including Jessie Graff, who made history once again as the first woman ever to complete the Second Stage in SASUKE, and Obata Satoshi, who became the first member of the Black Tigers to advance to the Third Stage. Despite the lack of changes in the course, many competitors either timed out or failed an obstacle, notably for Nagasaki Shunsuke, who failed on the Spider Walk, taking out its very first competitor since SASUKE 17, and Takahashi Kenji, who became the first competitor to fail the Reverse Conveyor by not timing out.

In the Third Stage, the results were slightly better than the previous tournament, as no competitor failed on the Flying Bar, as even though the wire was still present, the cradles were a little bigger, amending the difficulty of the obstacle. In case of bad weather, a long white cloth is placed above every obstacle to prevent happenings like SASUKE 33. In addition, the green resting bars were not blocked off, meaning competitors would once again be able to rest after completing the Vertical Limit Kai. While two competitors failed on the Sidewinder Kai, it was the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger that did the most damage, eliminating almost every competitor who attempted it, including Jessie Graff and Drew Drechsel. Only Morimoto Yūsuke was able to get past the obstacle, and successfully made the transition to the Vertical Limit Kai, before his grip gave out and fell. For the third time in his SASUKE appearances, Morimoto Yūsuke became the Last Man Standing, and also for the third time, he made it further than any other competitor. Also, with Jessie Graff falling at the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, this marked the furthest point a woman has ever made it to in a SASUKE tournament.

This tournament ended yet again with no Third Stage clears, leaving the Pipe Slider and the Final Stage untouched for the third consecutive tournament.

Obstacles
① Quad Steps クワッドステップス

② Rolling Hill ローリングヒル

③ TIE Fighter タイファイター

④ *Fish Bone フィッシュボーン

⑤ *Double Pendulum ダブルペンダラム

⑥ Tackle タックル

⑦ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

⑧ Tarzan Rope ターザンロープ

⑨ Lumberjack Climb ランバージャッククライム

Time Limit: 123 seconds (133 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 (120 seconds for female and/or over-50 competitors).

Obstacles
① Drum Hopper Kai ドラムホッパー改

② *Flying Bar フライングバー

③ Sidewinder Kai サイドワインダー改

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

⑤ Vertical Limit Kai バーティカルリミット改

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 サーモンラダー (7m)

③ Tsuna Nobori 綱登り (10m)

Time Limit: Unknown.