ANW 12 was well... Weird. Not having VEGAS ruined the season for me, but I was very hopeful ANW would be able to fix itself. This season felt like ninja vs ninja, without the head to head element involved. What I am most worried about is how this season stacks up in "Records". What we consider qualifiers, what we consider "city finals" and If 'vegas" is applicable.
The Format
The format is well... Unfair. I think a lot of things can be changed to give everyone a fair shot.
Fix the Women's Rule. only a certain number of women are allowed to move on unless there are extra in the top 12. If women qualify for the top 12, either eliminate them from the top two women and give them a spot, or... Keep them in the top two women and if more than two women make the top 12, they all advance. except the top 2 women won't be on the leaderboard.
ANW is going the wrong way with numbers
ANW wants to limit how many people go to vegas... I understand this but.... THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY NINJAS NOW!
City Finals spots should be increased to 20 or 25
With Qualifier spots increased to 35, 40 or 45
You could still have 4 to 6 cities
General Overview
This season was supposed to be a sasuke type season for the first half with regular people attempting a course. Don't know why sasuke people weren't excited. I guess sasuke people just go to sasuke cause of no "sob stories".
How to Correctly do "Sob Stories"
There is a time and a place for sob stories. If you can, please go watch the cleveland qualifiers of season 9 and skip to around sarah poulin and mike bernardo. Sob stories shouldn't be fake, or altered in any way. If they are, that's the tv network ripping us off with tv that shouldn't be there. Sob stories have a time and a place, most likely the second half of an episode.
Pauline Avila and Sarah Poulin had both faced extreme challenges, and described them as real and difficult to deal with. These are the sob stories we want. Not "I have one leg only" and I'm going to run this course. That's a triumph moment that can also have a story. But not a "sob story". That's a "shock story".
To those with a loved one that passed away, advertise on the sidelines(I.E shirts of a dead family member) as much as possible and try not to overemphasize the story before they run.
Pauline Avila was in the first episode, don't be so judgemental of her. Hate on ANW if you think the sob story was annoying. Not her. She did not do anything wrong.