Headscratchers / American Ninja Warrior

• Am I the only one really annoyed by how the hosts of the show use the word "veteran" to describe anyone who had previously been to Japan, even if only once? They throw it around like it's going out of style.
  • I wouldn't call them veterans unless they have been competing for at least five years or more.
  • Sports players are called veterans if they keep playing after their rookie season, so it's not unusual.
• The creators realized that a good chunk of the fandom was the direct result of women competing directly against men on the course - and succeeding while doing it. So for the 2017 season, they implemented a rule change. Now, both the top 30 overall competitors and the top 5 female competitors advance to the city finals. Effectively, women are no longer competing against men (or at least, don't have to). They only have to do better than the other women. Completely defeats the point of what made the female athletes so amazing, to begin with.
  • Double Subverted in that unlike Kunochi, they're still on the same *course* as the Men, and the Top X gender rule goes out in the finals.
  • As of 2021 and Season 13, it’s quite common to have 4/5 or even 5/5 of the advancing women qualify within the top 30, so no, it doesn’t make the women any less impressive and doesn’t make them stop trying to beat the men. They’re actually steadily improving as a whole to the point where the rule may become unnecessary soon.
  • Not to mention, it’s ironic that hardcore fans complain about ANW needing to be more like Sasuke when this rule actually makes it somewhat closer to Sasuke than it was before- except in the case of Sasuke/Kunochi, women have to compete on a separate course. Makes one wonder why there are no complaints about that…