Daigo Umehara's Event Schedule 2015

- Canada Cup's Master Series [January 9-11]
- 5th Niconico Shotenkaigi [January 18]
- Yonpahi radio show [January 23]
- 6th Niconico Shotenkaigi [January 25]
- Taipei Game Show [Jan 31]
- Tokaigi 2015 [Feb 1]

Sunday, July 10, 2011

MAG-Net ep. 6: Street Fighter

If you're a fan, you already saw this. And since we never had one, this's a summary of the 6th episode of MAG-Net show on NHK channel, May 9, 2010. There're clips with English subtitle on YouTube, but the video was from a camera and the subtitle isn't 100% accurate/complete. The screenshots in this post came from an HD version in my PC.

MAG-Net (MAG・ネット) is a documentary TV program focused on Manga, Anime, Game related subcultures. Each episode has a different topic. Up until now, the topics range from mainstream works like Love Plus, Gundam UC, Bakemonogatari, Idolm@ster to stuff like Hatsune Miku, Touhou Project, and bishoujo games. The show is entertaining yet very educative.

The episode we're talking about is dedicated to Street Fighter, but Daigo Umehara plays a big part in it.

1. Introduction to Street Fighter
- They briefly show players who competed in SF4, including Tokido, RF, ItaZan, and Ricky Ortiz.
- They explain about command inputs and health bar.
- They introduce Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Gouki, Rufus.

2. MAG-NETalk
- Ayana Tsubaki (a model who's into fighting games),  editor-in-chief of Arcadia magazine Sawatari, an assistant teacher from an international university come to discuss about their fighting game experiences.
- Ayana (Ryu) had a SF4 match with Sawatari (Ken). She shows some FADC skill and won.



3. The scenes
- They show Capcom's official SF4 National Tournament on April 4 (2010) at Akihabara, Tokyo.
- They introduce 7 star players in the tournament: RF (Sagat), Tokido (Gouki), Momochi (Gouki), Mago (Sagat), Iyo (Dhalsim), Kindevu (Rufus), and Umehara (Ryu). This leads to the introduction to Daigo Umehara, a world class player.
- They show the 2004's dramatic comeback which they call "奇跡の逆転劇" (Kiseki no Gyakuten Geki) or The Miraculous Reversal Play, and explain it in slow motion.
- They had an interview about it with Umehara. He said it was something he is able to do, but the important part was the sound.
- They interviewed a foreign player named Nicholas about Umehara.
- They show and talk about Umehara's trophies.
- They talk about his training. Umehara says he practices everyday, 363 days a year to be exact.
- They show Tokido and Mago at a game center in Yokohama.
- They show and interview the surrounding spectators.
- They interview Tokido and Mago about the National Tournament.


4. The production
-  They introduce Yoshinori Ono, the series producer. He talks about the creation of SF4: moving from 2D to 3D and the storyboards.

5. Daigo Umehara's Street Fighter Courses
- Lesson 1: Stick Gripping
He teaches the way he holds the stick called "ウメハラ持ち" (Umehara Mochi)* or Umehara Grip. (Beast Note: This term has been around for years before the show.) It's similar to wine glass grip, but the palm is around the ball, instead of just fingers. He explains that this way gives more precision and proves it by showing input display of Shinku Hadoken.



6. MAG-NETalk (Part 2)
- They talk about character diversity.

7. The production (Part 2)
- Ono reveals character design candidates. Juri originally looks innocent.


8. Daigo Umehara's Street Fighter Courses (Part 2)
- Lesson 2: Practicing method of a combo
He teaches Shoryuken > FADC > Metsu Hadoken combo by separating 3 steps into 2 parts.


9. The SF4 National Tournament
- They explain the format (3 on 3) and the brackets.
- Umehara team has Bon-chan (Sagat).
- Tokido and Mago is in the same team.
- Okozukai 2000 yen has Kindevu, Momochi, RF.
- Choco is seen in the crowd.
- Umehara lost to MDR (Rufus) and his team lost to Team Kaiser Phoenix.
- In the interview:
Umehara: "I want to play a little more."
Bon-chan: (to Umehara) "Sorry. Really sorry."
Umehara: "It can't be helped."
MDR: "I'm finally here, I defeated God, now I'm going to defeat everyone."
- Team Kaiser Phoenix defeated Tokido team.
- Momochi defeated MDR. Okozukai 2000 yen defeated Kaiser Phoenix to win the tournament. They received Golden Boxing Gloves trophy. (Beast Note: Ono then announced SSF4AE on the stage.)

10. MAG-NETalk (Part 3)
- They discuss about the future of fighting games, about being the best in Japan and then the best in the world.

11. Ending
- "This Spring, Umehara-san is sponsored by an American game peripherals manufacturer. And go overseas as a pro gamer."

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