Reason DVD review

Editor: Yasushi Tanabe
Camerawork: Yasushi Tanabe
Hajime Yamazaki
Makato Shiraishi

We previewed the trailer for the Reason dvd a few months back, and this week the dvd was kindly sent to me by our japanase flatland correspondant Takuji Kusahara. Thanks Taku!!



The dvd features full sections with:

Hirokazu Miura
Shintaro Misawa
Shinichi Kiba
Yoshiro Nishikawa
Hideki Kawai
Susumu Morioka
Yoshiki Uchino



The opening section goes to Hirokazu Miura, the back wheel assassin. Miura has refined his riding a lot over the last year, cutting out the scuffs on the backyards and gerators, the links as a result are mindblogging and flow even better than before!!, some links huh? The opening combo is banging... inside switch b pivot to upside down wheelie xft stubbleduck pivot one kick to two footed backyard 360 barspin pivot to upside g roll to two footed backwards spinning upside down wheelie and out, f'ing emmense!!! Sets the ton for the whole section...Multiple gerator stubbleducks with no pumps 360 bar spin to upside g-rolls and repeat to xfoot stubbleduck out, he's cut out the bike laying down after, so this so clean!! Amazing!! All back wheel combos from Miura.Many think he has one of the best styles in flat, i'd have to agree based on this. This looks like was filmed all in one session.. Killer opening section!!



The next sections falls to Shintaro Misawa, Shintaro's style sometimes I feel makes people overlook what he's actually doing, he makes everything looks so smooth!! These guys are blessed with incredible riding spots, indoor marble spot anyone? Looks like a shopping mall, i've seen this spot on a few of Shintaro videos so i'm presuming it's a regular spot for him. In contrast to Miura's opening section, Shintaro's section is all front wheel, and equally as complex. Shintaro's combos are almost all massive in length, the last combo is like a video part on its own: Halfhiker to steam walkover to left hand halfpacker 360 to right hand halfpacker to switch hand steam to hang nothing whiplash to no handed messiah to left foot pumping mccircle turbine to right foot mccircle to forward karl to halfpacker to inside xft steam pivot to steam (are you following this seriously??!!!) to spinning halfhiker grabbing tyre to karl 360 to steam no handed one foot under frame whip around to spinning cliff!! Like i said Shintaro is so smooth and complex, I think he's largely overlooked!! And of course that combo did involve pumping by the way...



Susumu Morioka intro is so nice, with close up of the tiles on his riding spot, again looks like an indoor mall!! This guy made the trip to the worlds this year, made the cut killing it with his unique back wheel style..Infamous for his xft mega spin one handed on the bottom bracket! His section is two combos, the last combo is again like shintaro's.... massive!! forward death truck carved into forward death truck multiple turbines to gerator to two footed backyard pivot to pumping xft peg wheelie flip to upside down megaspin degroot style exit but pivots back to gerator back to two footed backyard and out...Susumu brings a different back wheel style than Miura, good to see the differing styles these guys all have..Left me wanting to see more from him!



The pedal steam master, Hideki Kawai has the next section, great location again!! Looks like underground subway, his tricks and style is unique and refreshing,what I love about japan is the diversity of styles, and these guys are pushing it as far as they can go. Stalled one handed pedal steams anyone? Inside halfhiker 540 flip to pedal steam!! xft steam flips out. Short and sweet!! The tricks are appreciated for their difficulty and beauty. Effortless pedal steam walkover to crackpacker on pedals to crackpacker and out, Hideki's pedal steam variations blow me away, and good to see someone continue to explore that trick, when most forgot about it.



The next section falls to Taka, another backwheel rider, and has one of the best riding spots,fountains in background, seems to be ongoing theme here!! One of my favouritre links from his section is the Inside dump truck glide pivot to left armed two footed dump truck pivot to xft upside down wheelie to junkyard glide hands round the back to mega spin to perverted out! Taka gains insane amount of speed on his pumping, amazing flow!!!



The next section goes to one of my favourite riders, Yoshiki "Hotoke" Uchino, and the "reason" I wanted to see this dvd (sorry bad pun but couldn't resist). Hotoke's part opens with a fantastic panning shot of 14 whiplashes to xft pedal hang five to xft boomerang out, amazing intro!!! As you'd expect Hotoke's part is mega tech, one of my favourite switches is Steam to left arm crackpacker step to yammer style xft steam to opposite side forward karl immediate jump to halfpacker (insane buttery!!) pivot to xft opposite hitch barflip out, and the ender is so tech, opposite xft whiplash to xft pedal hangfive xft turbine whiplash whipped direct into opposite side xft halfhiker 360 pivot to left arm halfpacker(!!!) pivot to xft whip jump to steam fire hydrant front scuff out, f'ing combo and a half!!! Flow for days, sadly it seems Hotoke is overlooked in japan, more should be made of this guy for sure. I know many agree what is the deal?? seriously!! Incredible section!



The next section goes Tsutomu Kitayama, he has the task of following Hotoke, as in japan, completely different style, more turbine based style, lot of Desroche influence in his riding (turbine karls, steam jump to teakettle etc, love his x hand one hand steam to karl back and forth all one handed, so stylish!!! He does Adam Kun's xft one foot cliff barflip to x bar cliff jump to steam whip to hang to crazy jump to steam mis whip out exit!!! Awesome exit!!



The last section goes to Shinichi Kiba, also known by many as "Russia", hes had great year so far, 2nd at the KOG round 2, and made cut at the Worlds, opens with Osicka inspired 540 endo direct to flap jack (sick!!), you could say he's taken off where Osicka left off, he's pushing this style of riding, crazy nosewheelie boomerang to right arm halfpacker to two footed frontyard to left arm halfpacker to switch hand hang five 360 flapjack turbine out to left foot mccircle to hangfive 360 cowboy scuff out, evidence of Russia pushing it can be explained with this combo, two footed multiple turbined hangfive whip out to left foot mccircle whip turbine pivot to inside xft karl turbine (so fast) pivot back to steam whip around bars to left foot mccircle to triple turbine whiplash to hang five xft boomerang exit!! So high in the techinical and difficulty department!! Russais section is filmed in variety of locations, and looks like he's found his direction in riding!!

The music for the video is provided by: Foo Fighters, Crystal castles, Smashing Pumpkins, Wasley Matsell, a well constructed soundtrack.

Thats the end!!
Reason is professionally edited, sections are filmed in some amazing locations. Seems like Japan is blessed with marble spots in every major city. There's plenty of variety between each of the riders and their styles, so the video doesnt get boring. Indeed I would say the video has a feel good factor about it.
It gave me the feeling I had when I watched Props Groundworks for the first time, that's how good it is!! Theres nothing half arsed about this dvd, great rider list!! This gets full marks from me!! One of the best dvds since the KGB dvd! Great job by Yasushi Tanabe!! The camera work is so professional, it adds to the incredible riding.
I hope Pat at Flatland fuel gets this in!! Everyone needs to see this!! The end credits even tell you where the riders are filmed at, nice touch!!