Forum - View topicThe Pro Wrestling-Shonen Anime Connection
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Crani
Posts: 3 |
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For the uninitiated this is a very informative article and if anyone is interested in the story of Rikidozan there is a very interesting and well made Korean movie by the same name that you should definitely check out, it takes some liberties, mostly because some aspects of his life are a bit murky, but I like how it didn't shy away from the fact that despite his status and being the father of Japanese Wrestling he was a huge dick in his private life and how it shows how the ascension of Pro Wrestling in Japan is tied with National Pride issues and despite having drift from that in sometime in the 80's, japanese vs gaijin matches are still popular.
But there is a glaring omission of Kinnikuman and if there is ever a follow up to this article you could expand on the careers of Jushin Thunder Liger, who was huge in his hay day and is one of the biggest influences on the Junior Heavyweight division both in the Japan and the US, and Tiger Mask, who was also huge in the 70's/80's and the guy behind Tiger Mask II, Mitsuhara Misawa, has a pretty interesting story and was a major player in the 90's (His matches with Kobashi are legendary) with a tragic ending. And there's also some noteworthy anime connection, like that One Piece episode with Minoru Suzuki, who is apparently a good friend of Oda, and that anime show that has Okada has a voice actor. If anyone is interested in getting to know the history of Japanese Wrestling, despite being mostly focused on NJPW, I recommend picking up "Lion's Pride". It's an excelent read and very informative. |
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Anime World Order
Posts: 389 Location: Florida |
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The omission of Kinnikuman from this article was deliberate, as I don't think I really need to tell anybody that an anime about pro wrestling which features caricatures of real pro wrestlers was indeed influenced by professional wrestling. This is also why I only mentioned Tiger Mask in passing.
The article for which you are replying to already clearly states that Rikidozan was not Japanese, but he was also not from South Korea. He was from North Korea, and everyone in North Korea knew it at the time because Kim Il-Sung was a big fan. It's beyond the scope of this article, but to make a long story short the characters used to write the name "Rikidozan" were a giveaway to those in the know that "hey, he's from North Korea!" That detail was not publicly known in Japan while he was alive, though parades, statues, state television broadcasts etc took place in the DPRNK over Rikidozan. Even today, the reason Antonio Inoki is able to travel to North Korea and put on the shows he did is because he is Rikidozan's most famous student. (Baba was 2nd.)
The closest equivalent to Crunchyroll would be NJPW World, their online streaming service equivalent to the WWE Network. It costs 999 yen a month, but aside from the signup page much of it's in Japanese. The current shows are streamed live, and the major shows feature an alternate track for English commentary courtesy of the Ring of Honor announcers. |
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jroa
Posts: 537 |
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That's...one way to put it. But I digress. My seemingly petty jab aside, this was an interesting read. I don't exactly know much about Japanese wrestling, nor wrestling in general for that matter, but you've made a fair case explaining the history of this activity and providing examples of how that industry has had an impact on anime and manga. |
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Octorockandroll
Posts: 66 |
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Damn, less than 10 bucks a month for all the NJPW stuff with english commentary and presumably the ppv's too? Well, I know what I'm saving up for next. |
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Crani
Posts: 3 |
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Fair enough on Kinnikuman, although it does deserve the shoutout and could do with some more popularity state side, but I think Tiger Mask and Liger could do with more than mention because they are actually examples of cross promotion between anime shows and wrestling, in Tiger Mask's case he was pretty popular with the younger crowd and NJPW licensed him to capture that same crowd and apparently there is going to be a new one some time this year, I think that at some point Tiger Mask the anime was the lead in to the NJPW show on Asahi, and Liger was them trying to repeat that success but ended up creating a far more popular character than the original anime. And another interesting tidbit, Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask I) ended up publish a tell all book about the world of Japanese Pro-Wrestling in Japan entitled "Kayfabe", which apparently is a very inflamatory piece and made him get some pretty nuclear heat that lasts to this day.
It's well worth the money, I subscribed to it prior to the English commentary being added and even then it was still a lot of bang for your buck. It has content that dates back to the first recording of NJPW with only a few matches missing. Don't have it on me but there's a recommendation excel somewhere on reddit if you don't know where to start. And if you are familiar with the American Wrestling scene trying watching the ROH/NJPW shows to ease you in into NJPW. Or in the off chance that you watch British wrestling last year they started doing joint shows with RevPro and a few of NJPW's stars have started to appear on a few RevPro events sporadically. Edit: And i just remembered yet another Wrestling/Anime connection, Togi Makabe and Hiroshi Tanahashi (Japanese John Cena) did voice acting for the latest Doraemon movie. Not that Doraemon is a Shounen Anime but it's still pretty cool. |
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xchampion
Posts: 370 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho |
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I love anime and I love pro wrestling (my avatar should have gave you a hint at least) so this article was a match made in heaven. I guess I fall under the 200 out of 25,000 anime fans who also like anime and wrestling. Can I get a Woo Woo Woo?
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KingGainerXan
Posts: 2 |
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as Isao Sasaki's theme song reminds
Just had to point out that Mazinger Z's theme song was sung by Mizuki Ichiro (aka Aniki). In fact, even among the hundreds of anime songs he's done, it's still what he's most famous for. There is a version of the Mazinger Z sung by Sasaki Isao (in English), but that (iirc) was just for the dub broadcast in Hawaii. |
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Gemnist
Posts: 1758 |
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Sorry to get off-topic, but where do you get the thing with "My Manga" and "My Anime"? I can't find it. |
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Heishi
Posts: 1321 |
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Interesting article!
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5932 |
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No, no you can't and you know it.
Seems to be missing a "damn" somewhere in there. But hell this article was good.[/quote] |
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yuusha
Posts: 16 |
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I had previously written an article for Thug-geek.com about the manga/anime-Puroresu connection but after that site got hacked and my own files having gotten eaten it is no longer available. I covered the Tiger Mask connection, the history of AJW and its connection to the Dirty Pair and even touched on how some wrestelrs will moonlight as seiyuu for special projects (Ex. Dump Matsumoto doing the voice for Jade Ivory Fan in Crying Freeman, which was something coming full circle since Koike/Ikegami had paterned Jade Ivory Fan's appearance on Matsumoto herself)..
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11367 |
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::hangs head:: Oh, I know that experience all too well, though it only happened to me once, and your description is perfect. It was horrifying, one of those moments where your rational brain is screaming at you to shut the f*** up!!!! but nothing can hold back the torrent once the dam has broken. Fortunately, I quickly realized that no one I know in person is interested in anything I am. It is so much easier to not talk about stuff than to stop talking about it. Pro wrestling does not happen to be one of those things I'm into, but I am into cultural connections and the history of how various things came to be the way they are, so this was a fascinating article. I'm looking forward the the distaff side of the story! |
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GVman
Posts: 729 |
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Wel, well, well, an article by Daryl Surat om ANN, huh? I'd pay to see more of this. He always talks about the most interesting stuff. Maybe we could get the rest of the AWO crew writing on here, too..
I have to give you mad props for making Kinnikuman your firsts, man. That's just too cool. |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Thank you for sharing this. I knew that Lioness Asuka did a small amount of anime voice work, but not Dump of all people! |
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Panoptican
Posts: 160 |
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Great article! Actually it's funny, but I just read a separate anime/wrestling article over at IGN. It's an interview with a WWE wrestler who dressed up in DBZ gear for Wrestlemania. It's actually a great interview about his love for anime. The anime wrestling connection goes both ways it seems!
The interview: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/07/xavier-woods-on-how-anime-and-wrestling-came-together-at-wrestlemania-32 |
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