Match Sanada vs Fuji

[Kaoz]

A few days ago I made the following remark in the chapter thread:

I'm wondering now [..] if Closed Eyes would nullify Black Dragon

Since the discussion didn't really go anywhere over there, I'm still quite curious what others think and we haven't had a VS thread in ages, here we are with Sanada vs Fuji. For those that don't quite remember, here are their respective stats (as of Vol 10.5) and special moves.

Sanada
Speed: 4
Power: 5
Stamina: 4
Mental: 5
Technique: 5
Special moves: Fuu, Rin, Ka, Zan, Rai, In, Black Aura/Dragon

Fuji
Speed: 3
Power: 3
Stamina: 3
Mental: 4
Technique: 5
Special moves: Tsubame/Houou Gaeshi, Higuma/Kirin Otoshi, Hakugei/Hakuryu, Kagero Zutsumi, Hecatoncheires no Monban, Hoshi Hanabi, Cut Serve, Closed Eyes, Hollyhock Blizzard


As I said at the start, I think Sanada would ultimately win regardless of whether Fuji can deal with Black Dragon or not, mostly thanks to the stat advantage. Even if we supposed that Fuji has closed the gap a bit since then, Sanada should still have a comfortable lead overall. That said, I could definitely see arguments for Fuji winning too though, so I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are.

 

[Philia]

Can't see Fuji winning. I actually see Sanada winning 6-0. Sanada can returun everything Fuji has to offer. Also stat different is too high. Sanada is higher in every stat excluding Tech where they are equal. Sanada has better set of special moves as well. Fuji has improved. But so has Sanada. Since nationals I'd say Sanada has improved faster. In my opinion the gap between them since the nationals has only increased.

 

[tieuta]

I would say Fuji, don't see him losing to anyone soon after shiraishi then tezuka, is true sanada has advantage but even though Fuji is the under dog he has one important aspect is that he always improve during the match, one key point.will.be.kagero zutsumi if it can nullify sanada op moves and hollyhock blizzard, maybe another new offensive counter will be created

 

[Sheekee]

Fuji
Speed: 3
Power: 3
Stamina: 3
Mental: 4
Technique: 5
Special moves: Tsubame/Houou Gaeshi, Higuma/Kirin Otoshi, Hakugei/Hakuryu, Hecatoncheires no Monban, Hoshi Hanabi, Cut Serve, Closed Eyes, Hollyhock Blizzard


As I said at the start, I think Sanada would ultimately win regardless of whether Fuji can deal with Black Dragon or not, mostly thanks to the stat advantage. Even if we supposed that Fuji has closed the gap a bit since then, Sanada should still have a comfortable lead overall. That said, I could definitely see arguments for Fuji winning too though, so I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are.

Kagerou Zutsumi was not mentioned?

Yes, stastisically, Sanada is way better than Fuji (except in that technique factor since they're basically at par). But, they also have different playstyles. In my eyes, they seem to be equally powerful to me...

For me, it is a close fight, because each of them have their own drastic improvements.. Also, i cannot see Fuji not getting any points either.

But, i'll give it to Fuji, because he's somehow, a trickster compared to Sanada..

 

[Kaoz]

Kagerou Zutsumi was not mentioned?

Whoops I had a feeling I was forgetting one. Fixed.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 17, 2016, Original Post Date: Nov 17, 2016 ---

I think in general the question is how well Fuji can deal with Sanada's special moves and the reason why I think he doesn't get blasted off the court is related to that as well. For instance, Fuji can probably return Ka with Hollyhock Blizzard (important because of the difference in power), but Sanada's just going to use Rai to catch up with Fuji's shot. So what can Fuji do against Rai? I think he does have a chance of returning it with the frame like how he returned the ball against Kirihara after his strings had broken. However, that return only had a 2% chance of success according to Inui and Yanagi. It's also possible that they didn't take the frame return into account though and the probability was actually higher than that (plus Fuji got better since then). Even still, that leaves the question if Fuji can catch up to Rai's movement - does Closed Eyes help here?

One move I'm fairly confident Closed Eyes will be effective against is Black Dragon. To answer my own question, since part of the Australians' strategy for dealing with it involves closing their eyes, Fuji being able to play without seeing in general should make him more sensitive to the direction changes in my mind.

There's Sanada's stamina advantage to consider too. Basically, if we assume very favorable conditions I could see Fuji pulling it off, but unless there's at least a more reliable way for him to return Rai it remains a stretch in my eyes. Maybe another Critical Wind would help with that, that's still just speculation without any indication that it actually will though.

 

[tieuta]

I agree with the sanada.having.all.strong.moves and the power.to.back it.up, but seeing Fuji in the pre wc, I feel that he has been working on his strength and power, because that's what Fuji lacks most, or maybe because he lacks power so he is way better in techniques and is creative? if he can push his power and strength up to use those counter and make them work, I'm 100% he'll beat Sanada, but the old Fuji until Pre wc I'd say 100% he'll lose because he has no strength to back up his techs, just like the thunder move from Sanada will blow Fuji's racket out, or he might have to use 2 handed kagero zutsumi, it's like yukimura unable to return Volks, Trifle or whatever that move was lol. Yukimura and Tokougawa lacked strength to back up their techs, it's the same situation for Fuji, but if he's been improving in strength and if him and sanada were to be on par in strength wise, Fuji will win 100%, Fuji is versatile, flexible and always improving, Don't hate but I'd say Fuji would even beat Atobe, the only person I don't see Fuji winning is against Yukimura lol, Yukimura is too much of a badass.
It's like two strong fighters versus each other, it comes down to techniques and chakra from within, who has the most balance will win, if both have good amount of techniques then it's chakra (strength) to back it up or over power each other. Few factors, is we really haven't seen or understand hoshi hanabi yet from Fuji, what it does and what it counters, if Fuji has the strength to? Fuji can use kagero zutsumi to nullify any shot from sanada + closed eyes to counter black dragon, and gatekeeper of hetaconchires to mess up sanada, and sanada will have to find a counter to that just like shiraishi did but Fuji will use hoshi hanabi right after.Fuji is really good a comboing his skills like one skills leads on to another and goes hand in hand, similar to the match vs tezuka in the anime.

 

[Kaoz]

Few factors, is we really haven't seen or understand hoshi hanabi yet from Fuji, what it does and what it counters, if Fuji has the strength to?

Well, we do, don't we. He needs a cord ball to use it and if he manages to hit it I'd essentially treat it as unreturnable by most people, Sanada included. However, I don't really see Sanada hitting a lot of cord balls because...

and gatekeeper of hetaconchires to mess up sanada, and sanada will have to find a counter to that just like shiraishi did but Fuji will use hoshi hanabi right after.

...I don't feel like Hecatoncheires should be much of a problem for Sanada? Not only is his Technique higher than Shiraishi's, he also has Rin to reduce the spin on the ball. I imagine Fuji might be able to outplay Sanada in longer rallies if it comes down to that, but sooner or later we're getting back to the stamina question then.

 

[-Ken-]

Right now I'll give it to Sanada. I do believe however that Fuji will be the one to face Tezuka during this tournament (there's a lot of hints given) and by that match I'll place him higher than Sanada regardless of upgrade he might or might not gotten.
Tezuka will probably beat Fuji in that match but it'll be a good match to read probably.

 

[tieuta]

Fuji vs Tezuka is a good match but it won't satisfy me lol I'd really love to see Tezuka versus Yukimura in the finals, those two badass got to get at it at least lol since they did mention their past match when they were young, this would be a good time to bring it up and the winner of the current match. I just hope Tezuka doesn't face Fuji, Atobe and Sanada lol kind of tired of those matches it doesn't matter who the winner is, Tezuka doesn't have much to gain from beating any of the 3's even though they all did beat Tezuka before, Tezuka vs Yukimura that's epicness. Top 2 Middle schooler might even be world wide,

 

[BenLubre]

_ Fuji is the Winner.
- Because he always comes up with many new Things and Counters.
- But it will be an extremely hard match.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 30, 2022, Original Post Date: Jun 5, 2022 ---

_ Fuji also can return Heavy-Shots like Lightning with Kagerou-Zutsumi.