Kanayama Survival mini-tourney report

Well, there was another tourney at Kanayama Sega this weekend for the latest VF4E championship, titled "Survival". I believe this was just more of a "qualification" type deal, as there wasn't even a quarter as many people there as there were at the last Kanayama event. Plus, something similar is scheduled next week.

I got there a bit late, as it started off pretty early (about 3 PM), and I arrived about in the middle of the whole affair. Some of the guys I knew from a team called Project B were around. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the team's Tsuwamono Kage had already been eliminated by Shibanessa, a Vane player who we've seen in recent movies. The other two members there managed to do quite well.

What surprised me, though, was that our good friend and national champion Oosu Akira was there, and that he managed to absolutely wipe the floor with everyone using Brad. (In fact, he was going under the ring name "ohsubrad" and didn't use Akira that whole time he was there.)
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he was there, seeing as how Nagoya is his home turf. Still, seeing the current national VF champion was something I didn't really expect.

After Oosu dominated the mini-tourney, Everyone went to square off against each other in regular matches. I managed to chat with Oosu and his "posse" a bit. They seem to like me for some strange reason. We talked a bit about VF and Japan, and I asked him if he knew anything about the rumored Version B. It looks like it is definitely coming, and it should have gameplay tweaks, and even MORE items. Jeez, you could spend a lifetime trying to get all of the current Evo items, and now they're giving out more. But hey, I'm not complaining. Maybe they'll up Genkyuu frequency too. (hope hope)

Also, while I was there, I discovered:

1. Oosu Akira plays Vanessa.
2. A really, really damn good Vanessa too.
3. Holy shit. (Or in the local lingo... ARIEN!)

In fact, there was a lot of Vanessa love going around that night. It made me happy. (^^)

I noticed almost all of Oosu's cards are Tsuwamono or above. One of his "posse" who had the ring name "uraohsulau" had the first Meijin card I've seen used - three guesses who the character was (and the first two don't count).

BTW, I might be wrong, but it seems like they're disconnecting from VF.net for the tournaments now. I think it's because things like prize battles would pop up during tourney fights, and some people would make some, er, "interesting" chat messages for tournament specific use.

Anyways, so ends this mini-report. I'll be going to the event next week too, and if anything of interest happens there I'll be sure to report.

(And no, I didn't beat Oosu.)

 

Man I really wish I can catch one of those tournaments. Seeing the bestbout part of the green book DVD made me wonder. Did you guys see how almost all of the players would always give a friendly smile after their matches? No matter what the outcome is, they act in a way that shows that, after all, this is all good fun. I really like that spirit... /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Also, I was surprised when I saw Yanaga playing Shun in some of the clips. Maybe I am missing something, but I don't remember seeing any match clips of him after Maximum Battle VF3. He was a good Jacky player then (Didn't like his attitude, but he was good nonetheless)... /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

I hope I can experience any of that since I will be visiting Japan in about 3 weeks. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

Yup, Yanaga winning Max Battle was actually the whole basis of his match up with Kurita later on. Kurita was a VF3 champ (Java Tea tourney) with Taka and Yanaga was a VF3 champ with Jacky. Two VF3 champs using different characters in VF4.