no problem. Ultimately, it's really hard to say what could've been done or what was happening in their minds at the time. Remember this was in slow motion & these things are happening in fractions of seconds in real life. Each person was constantly making adjustments, changes, & adapting to the situation as it unfolded. These are also very high ranking individuals with decades of experience. I've been practicing kendo for a little over 5 years (with about 2.5 years of olympic style fencing before that) so I'm still considered very much a beginner. I can only analyze these guys so much b/c I have so little experience comparatively.

Also, blocking/deflecting is something that is very complicated, hard to do, and especially to describe. It is poor form to hold your sword up horizontally to block as it is a really weak posture (someone striking with good strength will knock the sword down with the power of their strike & still hit you in the head, your wrists just aren't stong enough to stop a powerful blow). Also, you NEVER block with the sharpend edge (it will ruin the edge & create a weak point where the swod can break more easily. plus if you strike two katanas edge on edge they literally stick together as the edges cut into each other & then must be forcibly pulled apart...). You also don't block directly with the side of the sword, as it can be broken or bent too easily. You either use the side of the sword at an angle to deflect the force of the blow, or use the hard back side of the blade to block/deflect. But the best thing to do is to cut down your opponent before you have to counter his strike...