IT'S HERE!! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

NINJA FEST IS HERE!! It is tonight!

This has been so anticipated in my house, and I'm so excited it is finally here. If you have not watched Ninja Warrior before, you are really missing out. Ninja Warrior is a Japanese game show known in Japan as Sasuke and it airs here on G4TV with English subtitles. It's on every weeknight at 6pm and 10pm. We have seen them all since they 've only done Ninja Warrior 19 times, but we watch them over and over. It never loses it's magic. 100 competitors compete and there are four stages of obstacle courses. Each stage is harder than the last and the contestants drop like flies. The courses are so ridiculously hard that only two guys have ever completed it to be crowned Ninja Warriors. It's so addictive.

Stage One is a lot of fun to watch because most of the contestants in no way have the upper body strength to compete in the later stages and the people have no shame. Japanese soap stars, newscasters, comedians, models, movie stars, transvestites, old people, average joes and there was even a guy who played a Ninja at an amusement park who competed... They don't care. They all try it anyway and end up swimming in mud and its great entertainment. Some even do this in thongs. Awesome. And during all of this you get to hear this crazy Japanese announcer screaming and saying ridiculous things like "Watch his sinewy muscles glisten in the red sun." I'd say maybe 10 people actually get through the first round because it's pretty hard. Stage 2, even harder. State 3, unbelievable. And Stage 4 near to impossible: if contestants get this far, they have to spider climb up about 35 feet between two walls and up a 30 foot rope. IN THIRTY SECONDS.

I love how the contestants aren't professional athletes. There are some olympians, but the really good ones are mostly blue collar workers, who work out, build obstacles in their back yards and rock. I think everyone has their favorite contestant. There are six guys that are considered All Stars, since they always do so good.

I always love Shingo Yamamoto. He has competed in every single Ninja Warrior. He's the only person who has and he's made it to Stage 4 twice. One time he JUST missed finishing and the other time he dislocated his shoulder about ten feet into the spider climb. In the first season, he pumped gas at a gas station. He always wears his uniform for the competition. I love how over the competitions we get to see how he kept getting promoted (he's a regional manager now), got married and built his house (of course with a full Ninja Warrior training course built in the yard). Cool guy.

The best guy ever though is Makoto Nagano. He is Marty's hero. He's a fishing boat captain who totally fucking rocks at Ninja Warrior. He has been to the final stage four times and actually won once. He is the coolest guy ever. He makes the obstacles look effortless a lot of the time because he takes his time and is so graceful. I've seen him fail in every stage, but he is always smiling when he emerges from the muddy water. He is so modest and humble. The best part is, I swear he cheers more for the other competitors than himself. This is such a cool thing about Ninja Warrior. There doesn't have to be just one winner. I remember a show where Nagano was in the final stage with a Japanese actor and a Bulgarian olympic gymnast. There didn't seem to be any comradery between them all. The gymnast and the actor were so out for themselves. Nagano changed that. He suggested that a bunch of guys train together and that is how the all stars came about. Can you tell I'm a Makoto Nagano fan? Hahaha.

So I am challenging everybody to watch it. I challenged my Mom and Marty's Mom and they are both addicts now too. G4 ran a competition to send over an American competitor. So tonight they are running a special showing the winner of the American Ninja Challenge starting at 8pm and 3 new episodes back to back of Ninja Warrior from 9 to 10:30pm. So tune in for more outrageous competitors, more insane obstacles and more NIIIINJA WAARIOR. G4 is channel 74 for Comcast in my area and 175 for Cablevision peeps.



Here is a sneak peek if you can view it of Makoto Nagano in all four stages. Enjoy!