College entrance exams could be a reason why acola traveled less out of Japan and didn't perform as consistently on top last season (2nd half of 2023)

acola has been extremely consistent since 2022. While he still performed extremely well last season (2nd half of 2024, typo), it probably was not as good as some people expected.

I think one reason could be that acola was a senior in high school and Japanese college entrance exams are no joke. Often times, students would quit their high school clubs (huge deal in Japan) to focus on studying for the exams.

acola did state at the 2023 Japan eSports Awards Ceremony (awarded Japan Esports Player of the Year) that he wished to study harder because exams were next year. This also probably was why he traveled less. https://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20240126058/

Now that college entrance exams are over, we have been seeing an even stronger acola. I'm hoping to continue to see him get more success in Smash and his personal life.