Street Fighter League Japan Day 5 Recap

Street Fighter League Japan day 5 just took place and we are ever closer to the end of the first part. Of the nine teams, three will be cut off and the remaining six will move on to the second stage. FAV Gaming have been leading the way so far and they came into this game day as the clear leaders. 

This week's fixtures were as follows:

• Hiroshima Team iXa vs Shinobism Gaming
• Nagoya Oja Body Star vs Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto
• FAV Gaming vs Team DetonatioN FocusMe

Hiroshima Team iXa vs Shinobism Gaming

VS

Team Hiroshima iXa were first out against Shinobism and with iXa's recent form, it was expected that Shinobism would carry the day. It did start well for Shinobism as Fujimura defeated Kichipa. The second set also went the way of Shinobism as Yamaguchi's Dee Jay defeated Storm KUBO's E. Honda in what was a really close match that went down to the wire. 

The anchor match between Momochi's Rashid and Jazzy's Luke was a wash, but not in the way that would have been expected. Jazzy completely shut out Momochi and defeated him to tie up the match.

With the final game  in hand, Jazzy was the natural choice and up against Fujimura he needed to win just one game, and he did just that, winning the two rounds and grabbing a much needed win for his team. 

Jazzy's profile has certainly risen with that win and he is one of the stars to watch moving forward.

Nagoya Oja Body Star vs Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto

VS

The first set of the second game was between one of the young stars, Sasamo, against veteran, Kei. B. The game was also held live with fans present. So, Nagoya Oja Body Star played in front of their fans at their offices and Saishunkan Sol did the same. Nagoya Oja are one of the three teams in the 'relegation zone' and need wins. So when Kei. B was able to get a win against Sasamo, it was a great start for them. Sasamo did play really well and was really close to taking the match, it was a rare opportunity to play as Higuchi was out sick and it is safe to say that he gave a good performance and has given his chances of playing more a boost. 

The second game was between Nemo and Torimeshi and it gave us another chance to see the Dhalsim vs JP matchup which many people think is not favorable to Dhalsim. But, last time around, Torimeshi defeated Fenritti's JP making people wonder if Dhalsim might actually be viable against JP. But, Nemo is a monster and many of Torimeshi's attempts to escape JP, which mostly consisted of taking to the skies to escape JP's spike, were countered by Nemo who utilized the jump grab, and so on. He was able to get the win which then set up an exciting final match where the winner wins the whole match for their team.

Up stepped Akira against Shuto. Shuto is famed for his Modern Marisa, but opted for Classic as he mentioned that Classic is a better fit for Cammy and Dhalsim as it allows him access to advancing moves for Marisa that helps him close the gap. 

Shuto took two games off Akira who was then able to take one game off Shuto to fend off defeat. But, Shuto switched back to Modern and was able to take that third game to consign Nagoya Oja to another defeat leaving them firmly within the cut-off zone. 

FAV Gaming vs Team DetonatioN FocusMe

VS

DetonatioN FocusMe came into this week with absolutely no points having lost their last two games 40-0 each. This meant they needed something drastically from this match. So Nauman stepped up first to go up against Ryusei. With all that pressure of no wins on him, the Evo Japan 2020 winner showed his mettle and took a 2-0 win over Ryusei to give Team DetonatioN FocusMe their first points of the entire season. 

Up next was John Takeuchi finally reunited with his Street Fighter V main, Rashid. His opponent, however, was Tokido, one of the greatest Street Fighter players ever. Compared to his performances with Jamie, it seems like John Takeuchi's gameplay improved with Rashid, but perhaps a little undercooked and therefore, was unable to defeat Tokido. This left the final set between Bonchan and Fuudo to see if DetonatioN could get their first win of the season.

But, it was not to be as FAV Gaming continued with their dominance and with another 30 points, they now have 140 points.

This leaves DetonatioN FocusMe rooted at the bottom of the table and FAV Gaming far and away the top team. With the games hotting up, you can be certain the next match days are going to be heavy.