Kunoichi Season 3
This season Women of Ninja Warrior began to more closely resemble Sasuke (men's Ninja Warrior). Stage 3 was added, unlike previous seasons where the Final Stage was the third. The Final Stage was revised to use the same tower and basic structure as in Sasuke. And several new obstacles were borrowed from previous seasons of Sasuke. This season Kunoichi also had an obstacle borrowed from another show, Unbeatable Banzuke: the introduction to Stage 3 of Domino Hill, to my mind one of the most interesting challenges in Kunoichi.
I wouldn't say that Kunoichi was getting easier at this point, but the competitors did seem to be more comfortable with the course. Many more people completed Stages 1 and 2 than in previous seasons. Many of my favorites were there, like Higachi Rena the high school student, Yuko Mizuno, Mika Izumi, samba dancer Yuko, sumo wrestler Hiromi Sataki, and "lady wrestler" Momoe Nakanishi.
I wouldn't say that Kunoichi was getting easier at this point, but the competitors did seem to be more comfortable with the course. Many more people completed Stages 1 and 2 than in previous seasons. Many of my favorites were there, like Higachi Rena the high school student, Yuko Mizuno, Mika Izumi, samba dancer Yuko, sumo wrestler Hiromi Sataki, and "lady wrestler" Momoe Nakanishi.
It seems like in these early seasons, Kunoichi has a higher percentage than Sasuke of frivolous competitors -- comedians, pop singers, unathletic people dressed in silly costumes. People who clearly have no chance of completing Stage 1, and are there just to be on TV. Although we don't see every single competitor of either show, so my perception might be wrong. The shallow:
What is the deal with those leg wrap things? They look sort of like leg warmers, but rather than an elastic tube, they seem to tie around the leg just at the knee and hang down to partially cover the shoes. Lots of Kunoichi competitors (at least the ones in costumes) wear them, not just the samba dancers. Is this some Japanese fashion trend that hasn't yet hit the US?Speaking of shallow, I firmly believe that this is not gratuitious:
Worst hair of the season:
Clearly this woman. Sorry, Purple Lady. I like your spunky sensibility, and I like purple hair. I wore it myself a few years ago. But it just doesn't go with that conservative cut, and the hair with the outfit and glasses ... too much of a good thing.
The stats:
Stage 1: 8 obstacles, 85 seconds, 14 cleared
Stage 2: 4 obstacles, 40 seconds, 11 cleared
Stage 3: 3 obstacles, 90 seconds, 3 cleared
Final Stage: 35 seconds, 0 cleared
Worst hair of the season: Clearly this woman. Sorry, Purple Lady. I like your spunky sensibility, and I like purple hair. I wore it myself a few years ago. But it just doesn't go with that conservative cut, and the hair with the outfit and glasses ... too much of a good thing.
The stats:
Stage 1: 8 obstacles, 85 seconds, 14 cleared
Stage 2: 4 obstacles, 40 seconds, 11 cleared
Stage 3: 3 obstacles, 90 seconds, 3 cleared
Final Stage: 35 seconds, 0 cleared
Competitors cross the water by stepping on a series of "stones" (round things covered with yellow plastic) on top of posts.
Unchanged from Season 2, competitors must step onto a rotating "cross" and then jump to a small platform.
New obstacle. Competitors climb over two walls, the first lower than the second.
Competitors walk on a rolling barrel.
New obstacle. Competitors run across a bridge which rotates when unbalanced. An obstruction in the middle prevents competitors from running along the center axis and avoiding the rotation. This obstacle appears identical to a version of the Balance Bridge from early seasons of Sasuke (men's Ninja Warrior). This version of the Balance Bridge has lots of hard edges that look painful.
New obstacle. Competitors jump on a trampoline and use a small platform to hop across the water. The Hop Rocket uses the same trampoline as the Jump Hang in Sasuke.
New obstacle. Competitors run along a platform at a 45° angle. This one looks fairly easy as long as the competitors keeps moving fast enough not to lose momentum.
Returning obstacle. As in Season 1, competitors climb a rope ladder loosely affixed at the bottom. Harder than it looks, it takes even the best competitors 20 seconds or so to get up the ladder.
Competitors slide
down an incline on something that looks like a skateboard. At the
bottom they jump off the skateboard, across the water and land on a
circular platform.
New obstacle. Competitors run up a steep hill. They are allowed to hang onto the edge of the platform if they can't make it all the way up in one sprint, which only one could.
New obstacle. Competitors must cross a log that rotates as they run along it. This obstacle previously appeared in Stage 1 of an early season of Sasuke. 
Just as in season 2, competitors run along a series of logs floating in the water.
New obstacle. Competitors pole vault across two water obstacles. The second time they must vault to a higher platform. This obstacle is similar to a Stage 3 obstacle in early seasons of Sasuke, although in the Sasuke version there was one one pole vault.
New obstacle. Competitors walk along the top of forty "dominoes," flexible foam pads. The dominoes are about the size of mattresses and get taller as the obstacle progresses. Competitors are out if they fall or touch the dominoes with their hands.Domino Hill is very similar to an obstacle in Unbeatable Banzuke, an earlier sports reality show by the same producers. The version in Unbeatable Banzuke used styrofoam dominoes which sometimes broke when competitors fell.
Competitors walk along a narrow balance beam, which is suspended from above causing it to swing back and forth. The Pendulum Bridge was originally in Stage 2, but with the addition of Stage 3 this obstacle was moved back, making it the last obstacle before the Final Stage.
New obstacle. The Final Stage in season 3 was retooled to use the same tower as the Final Stage in Sasuke (men's Ninja Warrior). Although the basic structure is the same, there are a few major differences: 
First, where Sasuke has the Spider Climb, the Kunoichi version begins with a 32 foot Ladder Climb: competitors use two metal ladders to climb the first part of the tower. As with the Spider Climb, after 20 seconds the two ladders begin to separate, making it impossible to continue if the competitor does not reach the second part in time. In the second part where Sasuke has the Rope Climb, Kunoichi competitors have the 16 foot Pole Climb. Another difference is that when Sasuke competitors time out, the rope is released, dropping the competitor to hang in the air ignominiously. Since Kunoichi competitors are climbing a pole, obviously they can't be dropped when the time runs out.
3 women reached the Final Stage this season, and all were very close to the finish. Yuko Mizuno even had her hand on the buzzer when she timed out. 
