#kotaro is kaito i guess

[haventseensun]

this is like............only for me

[meltorights]

ultra canon or basically canon het tiers:

makes me insane: haruki/yoko

iconic: dan/ann, ultra mom/ultra dad, george/that one chick

really good: gen/momoko, naomi/gai

cute: daigo/reina, kaito/mizuki, asuna/daichi

i guess: go/aki, kotaro/saori

[hungnitan]

Vivid Bad Squad "Bout for Beside You" Event Summary

First of all my condolences that this event VBS composer get sick and can't complete the song then we must wait for another 8 month for replacement... too bad I guess since I always wait for VBS unusual theme song (lol) aside 25 ji...if you ask me, I never dislike any of their original songs even Forward still at okay range so yeah too bad~

Okay into summary :

Character : ALL VBS Members (Meiko and Kaito just mention only while Luka still not appear at VBS sekai) + Kotaro + Arata + Taiga (ikemen old man's name)

For card : (Gacha) An + Touya + Miku VBS + (Event Reward) Len VBS + Akito

Summary (Twitter) : Kohane has gained her confidence and showed a glimpse of her talent. Despite being happy for Kohane, a hazy feeling is slowly growing deep inside An.On the other hand, the mysterious man who gave some advice to Kohane once again appears in front of the 4 members and...?

Summary (Mine) : Just as I thought, An really lost her confidence and that man identity as I stated here... That old man name is Kotaki Taiga, one of three member team alongside Kenn that shaken Rad Weekend. The other one is Nagi, Taiga's brother but it explicitly stated there's something happened to Nagi...I guess this gonna be explained at upcoming VBS event later~

so to put in simply way, this is all about An uneasiness of don't want to be left behind by Kohane. The story started from An keep reminded by Kohane amazing performance at Stay Gold at VBS previous event story then Taiga suddenly asked Kohane to train with him eventhough An never get one makes her feels uneasy... At almost end of chapter she know the uneasiness came from her fright of losing one and only partner if Kohane keep growing to the point won't consider An as same level anymore In the end An just got a half of answer (like to push onward but don't know the direction) and there's indication An might get a taste of Akito past while still at Bad Dogs Akito get underestimated and considered to be riding at Touya's tail

so I guess this problem still TBC at next VBS event focused on An again or Kohane again

PS : Funny enough we got An meet up with Akito Touya team up at first time flashback and saw Akito used his good boy face around An (lol)...

Important Card Time and Place :

This scene happened as Len asked Miku to hear his song. At first chapter Rin stated that she want to team up with Kohane. Miku then brought that conversation again and makes Len jealous (lol)

This scene happened right after Len one then they coincidentally meet with An Akito as Akito realized about An uneasiness and want to talk separately against VBS members after know something wrong with An, she asked her out of it

Miku : An want to become "the one that Kohane respect as partner", that's why you want to makes Kohane feels excited with your voice but... Akito : As Kohane keep growing like now, you think that day will ended someday right ?

To be honest, I dislike An or Akito like characters since start (I mean the one think they always right or high pride one). As stories progress Akito kinda understandable but An type really came from things I dislike like bully type characters so it's kinda ambiguous for me to understand her way of think Don't misjudge me, it doesn't change the part every VBS songs need An and/or Akito voice to sounds good...

After knowing (half of) the answers she started her solo street live with mixed feelings

Rarity, I guess they using Touya because he lately don't have *4 and too bad Touya don't do anything here... and the one contributed most part is just *2 (lol)

Street theme again, I kinda like the art while for costume men version looks good but woman version pretty weird for my taste

Miku after change kinda questionable since she get featured alongside Rin in balanced ways (makes me think just who's that card main character lol), different than Touya since Akito placed at darker side...

And as always, my 2x10 doesn't even near on getting Touya attention (lol)

PS : Is this just me or every I do multi live I always get Leo/Need and MMJ songs ? Like those two group songs rarely get played at single live (lol) I never get VBS or 25 ji, I got 1-3 times if I played 20 songs randomly...

[gdwessel]

NOAH, AJPW, STARDOM, Dragon Gate Supercard Results for Emperor’s Birthday Holiday 2/23/2022 With Title Matches & Changes Galore; DDT’s COVID-19 Woes Continue To Wreak Havoc On Ultimate Tag League, DDT/TJPW 2/23/2022 Results

Today is the 62nd birthday for the Reiwa Emperor Naruhito. It is a national holiday in Japan, so there is a bunch of wrestling happening, with a bunch of title defenses across a bunch of promotions.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH ran Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya today, live on ABEMA and Wrestle Universe. Two title defenses, and a match to fill a third title, took place on this show.

Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya - 2/23/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall (ABEMA, Wrestle Universe)

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] d. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue [Funky Express] (Yone > Inoue, Kinniku Buster, 11:58)

Nio [Kongo] d. Kinya Okada (Stuka Splash, 9:58)

NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano (Suzuki > Yano, Excalibur, 6:42)

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & ALEJA [Kongo] d. Hao, Junta Miyawaki & Kai Fujimura (Tadasuke > Fujimura, Fuyuki Special, 14:42)

Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] DCO Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] (11:01)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun] d. Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura (Sugiura > Inamura, Olympic Qualifying Slam, 20:22)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship Decision Match: Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY d. HAYATA & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (YO-HEY > Susumu, Super Face G, 26:58) - Kotoge/YO-HEY are the 49th champions

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada © d. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Hurricanrana, 18:57) - Harada succeeds his 2nd defense

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba d. Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Kiyomiya > Soya, Double Armlock, 21:21)

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] d. Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © (Powerbomb, 21:11) - Nakajima fails his 5th defense - Fujita is the 37th champion

Good golly, Miss Molly. Kazuyuki Fujita can now be one of the all-time worst IWGP *and* GHC Heavyweight Champions of all time. What can I say, besides, CyberFight love their 50+ year-old champions. I really don’t know what purpose this serves to NOAH. God I hate Kazuyuki Fujita.

So I guess Hajime Ohara is part of Kongo now. I can’t keep up with the changes in that stable anymore. YO-HEY comes good for Ohara’s old partner Kotoge, as they now fill the vacant junior tag belts. Hope this reign lasts more than a week, given the vacations of the belts the last month. One day BIG TANK Yoshiki Inamura will beat Takashi Sugiura. Super Crazy does not get to hold two promotions’ junior titles in the span of a couple of months. Masao Inoue returned to the ring in an inter-Funky-Express match.

NOAH’s next show is on Friday from Yokohama Radiant Hall.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

A Triple Crown match highlighted today’s Korakuen Hall rally for AJPW. Three other title matches took place on this one too. Hokuto Omori and Yusuke Kodama were pulled from this show as being close contacts to an undetermined positive COVID-19 case.

Excite Series 2022 Night 5 - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

Ryuki Honda [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Ryo Inoue (Lariat, 4:00)

Dan Tamura [Evolution] & Ryuji Hijikata d. Takuho Kato & Kazumasa Yoshida (Tamura > Yoshida, 6:49)

Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori & Black Menso-re d. Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Ishikawa > HAYATO, Fire Thunder Bomb, 9:02)

KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Takayuki Ueki & Seigo Tachibana d. Yoshitatsu, Izanagi & Devil Murasaki (KAZMA > Yoshitatsu, Schoolboy, 8:22)

GAORA TV Championship: Shigehiro Irie © d. Isami Kodaka (Flying Headbutt, 10:22) - Irie succeeds his 2nd defense

World Juniorheavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato [Evolution] d. SUGI © (Cross Armbreaker, 9:51) - SUGI fails his 3rd defense - Sato is the 61st champion

World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Shotaro Ashino [Evolution] © d. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (Ashino > Doi, T-Bone Suplex, 18:26) - Runaway SUPLEX succeed their 3rd defense

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM] © d. Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW] (German Suplex Hold, 16:06) - Miyahara succeeds his 1st defense

I don’t think there were any surprises here today, including the junior title change. AJPW will not put the Triple Crown on a wrestler contracted to Big Japan. Sato is far superior a wrestler to SUGI. But hey, Shigehiro Irie retained his title, and we like him a lot around these parts.

It would not surprise me to see Shuji Ishikawa challenge Kento coming up either.

The Excite Series wraps up Sunday in Chiba.

STARDOM

STARDOM held Cinderella Journey in Nagaoka today, live on PPV. I don’t think you can still get it; both links I tried, failed. Four title matches on this one.

Cinderella Journey 2022 in Nagaoka - 2/23/2022, Niigata Aore Nagaoka (PPV)

Future Of Stardom Next Challenger 3-Way Match: - Rina [Oedo Tai] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] (Rina > Tsukiyama, Gory Bomb, 6:09) - Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (8:06)

Future Of Stardom Championship: Hanan [STARS] © d. Momo Kohgo [Queen’s Quest] (Backdrop Hold, 5:20) - Hanan succeeds her 2nd defense

Ruaka & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] d. Utami Hayashishita & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Ruaka > C, Freezer Bomb, 7:34)

Mayu Iwatani [STARS] & Tam Nakano [Cosmic Angels] d. Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] (Iwatani > Kashima, Moonsault Press, 10:04)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mondo] TLD Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] (20:00)

Goddess Of Stardom Championship: Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] © d. Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] (Koguma > Shirakawa, Diving Body Press, 12:28) - Koguma/Hazuki succeed their 2nd defense

High Speed Championship: AZM [Queen’s Quest] d. Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai] © (Numero Uno, 17:03) - Starlight Kid fails her 6th defense - AZM is the 22nd champion

Wonder Of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] © d. Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] (Phoenix Splash, 21:55) - Kamitani succeeds her 2nd defense

Immediately after retaining her title, Saya Kamitani nominated both her table leader Utami Hayashishita, and Cosmic Angels’ leader Tam Nakano, as challengers to her title for both nights at Ryogoku on 3/26 & 3/27/2022. Momo Watanabe challenged Koguma & Hazuki for their titles, with a special mystery partner to team with her. The crux of the opener is to determine the challengers for Hanan on both nights of Ryogoku, which will now be Rina and Mai Sakurai, both. Seems like an awfully busy time for STARDOM.

STARDOM return this weekend with shows Saturday and Sunday.

Dragon Gate

DG held Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama today, which you can see now on Dragon Gate Network. Featured today was the first defense of the Open The Twin Gate titles for Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka.

Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama - 2/23/2022, Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium (Dragon Gate Network)

Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & U-T [Natural Vibes] TLD KAI, BxB Hulk & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] (15:00)

Takashi Yoshida & Ho Ho Lun d. Strong Machine J & Shachihoko Boy (Yoshida > Boy, Release Powerbomb, 3:49)

SB KENTo & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Yosuke Santa Maria & Punch Tominaga (KENTo > Yosuke, SB Shooter, 0:34)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda & Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Ultimo Dragon, Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, Yasushi Kanda & Shuji Kondo (Kagetora > Kanda, Kagenui, 12:24)

Open The Brave Gate #1 Contender 5-Way Match: Takuma Fujiwara d. Riki Iihashi, Ishin Iihashi, Takumi Hayakawa & Ryu Fuda (Fujiwara > Ishin, Schoolboy, 7:32)

Naruki Doi, Kota Minoura & Kaito Ishida d. Kzy, Genki Horiguchi & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Minoura > Horiguchi, Gang, 9:58)

HYO [Z-Brats] d. Eita (Schoolboy with ropes, 7:37)

Open The Twin Gate Championship: Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka © d. Jason Lee & La Estrella (Yoshioka > Estrella, Frog Splash, 17:58) - DiaYoshi succeed their 1st defense

Dragon Dia remains a double-crown champion after he & Yoshioka beat Dia’s former MASQUERADE mates in Lee & Estrella. I don’t know if DiaYoshi is the name, but it sounded good and DG-esque. Dia will now face Takuma Fujiwara to defend the Brave Gate title after Fujiwara beat his dojo class fellows. I was kinda rooting for Ryu Fuda actually. That match will be at Champion Gate in Osaka on 3/5/2022.

Naruki Doi’s Unit With No Name gets a good prelude win over Natural Vibes, as we head for that Open The Triangle Gate match, also on 3/5/2022.

HYO gets another one over on Eita, the man he deposed to turn R.E.D. into Z-Brats. In other Z-Brats goings on, after a week or so of Big Boss Shimizu beating HYO in prelude matches, and getting a direct win over KAI, now Z-Brats is starting to get one over on Shimizu, first with KAI interfering to cause Shimizu’s loss to Jason Lee on Sunday, and now a time limit draw in the opener to add some intrigue to the KAI v. Shimizu Open The Dream Gate title defense that is coming 3/6/2022 in Osaka.

The Truth Gate 2022 tour wraps up Saturday in Tsushima, and on Sunday with another streamed show from Kobe.

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

The COVID-19 issues for DDT continue, as Hideki Okatani has now tested positive as well. Eruption are now effectively out of the tournament – their match that was to take place today v. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya is a forfeit, and due to Kazuki Hirata being out, the Eruption v. Hirata & Shuji Kondo match for the Final on Saturday will be a double-forfeit. Neither team were in the running at this point as it was. So today’s Ultimate Tag League show had no actual Ultimate Tag League matches on it. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya end the League with 4 points, not in the running for the Final as that will come down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA on Sunday for A Block.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 In Fukushima!! - 2/23/2022, Will Fukushima (Wrestle Universe)

Kazusada Higuchi d. Yuki Ishida (Brain Claw, 10:00)

Danshoku Dino & Yuki iino [Pheromones] NC Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] (13:08)

Chris Brookes d. Yukio Naya (Death By Roll-Up, 12:41)

HARASHIMA [DISASTER BOX] & Antonio Honda d. Yukio Sakaguchi [Eruption] & Gorgeous Matsuno (Honda > Matsuno, Crushed La Magistral Cradle, 13:07)

Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] d. Yuji Hino & Akito (Sasaki > Akito, Crossface, 12:43)

Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada [Burning] d. Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA] (Endo > Katsumata, Best Burning Star Press In The Universe, 19:27)

Burning get the win in a prelude match to the Final on Sunday against The 37KAMIINA. Post-main, Endo and Akiyama basically said The 37KAMIINA ain’t shit without Konosuke Takeshita. Endo says he will beat Takeshita at Korakuen Hall Sunday, and for the KO-D Openweight title at Ryogoku. Endo also ripped MAO’s favorite Gorgeous Matsuno shirt, for which MAO swore revenge. Speaking of Gorgeous Matsuno, at age 60, given CyberFight’s proclivities towards titling up older wrestlers, he may like his chances here soon.

Current Ultimate Tag League 2022 Standings:

A Block Akiyama/Endo – 6pts (3W 0D 0L) Takeshita/Ueno – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Hino/Naya – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Higuchi/Okatani – 2pts (1W 0D 3L) Kondo/Hirata – 0pts (0W 0D 4L)

B Block HARASHIMA/Yoshimura – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Sasaki/Paul – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Iino/Imanari – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Brookes/Takanashi – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) MAO/Katsumata – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) The Final show is Sunday from Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Block A comes down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA. Block B is still up for grabs between DISASTER BOX & Pheromones; DAMNATION TA are out, having had 4 matches (One of them was a forfeit win however). The Final will be the Block winners in the main event. Hopefully this card stands.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 The Final!! - 2/27/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Soma Takao, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku v. Toru Owashi, Toi Kojima & Yuki Ishida

3-Way Match: Danshoku Dino [Pheromones] v. Antonio Honda v. Hiroshi Yamato

Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] v. Yuji Hino, Akito & Yukio Naya

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi v. Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] v. Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari [Pheromones]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 A Block: Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama [Burning] v. Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA]

Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai [Eruption] v. Sanshiro Takagi & Maya Yukihi

Ultimate Tag League 2022 Final: WINNER A Block v. WINNER B Block

Tokyo Joshi also ran today, a second show this week from Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall. Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh are still out due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Tokyo Joshi 2022 Winter - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu d. Hikari Noa & Kaya Toribami (Kamifuku > Toribami, Famouser, 9:10)

3-Way Match: Suzume d. Haruna Neko & Moka Miyamoto (Suzume > Neko, Jackknife Hold, 9:52)

Hyper Misao d. Marika Kobashi (Hypami Returns, 10:51)

Shoko Nakajima, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino d. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Yuki Arai (Aino > Harajuku, Bakuretsu Bulldog, 14:40)

Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Nao Kakuta d. Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Arisu Endo (Tatsumi > Endo, Twist Of Fate, 16:28)

Tatsumi cut a post-match promo about how great it was that she and Yuka Sakazaki joined TJPW as classmates, and how Daydream will beat the Magical Sugar Rabbits at Ryogoku. Nodoka Tenma will have a singles match at Ryogoku as well against her Bakuretsu Sister, Yuki Aino, as we head towards her retirement. Hyper Misao will also face Sanshiro Takagi at Sumo Hall. Misao also protested Marika Kobashi’s “graduation from TJPW” before their match.

BJW, Ice Ribbon and Gatoh Move also held shows today. There may have been even more I don’t know about.

No post tomorrow. I am going to try to do an Upcoming Events post on Saturday, then back to the regularly scheduled posts on Sunday.

[narashikari]

Soooo.... there was this recent survey in Japan of who was the favorite Kamen Rider actors and boy oh boy am I screaming at the results or what. Anyways click below for the top 20 results and some ranting commentary 

20- Joe Odagiri-- Yuusuke Godai/Kamen Rider Kuuga <64 votes>

19- Hiroki Iijima-- Emu Hojo/Kamen Rider Ex-Aid <65 votes>

18- Eiji Akaso-- Ryuuga Banjou/Kamen Rider Cross-Z <69 votes>

I seriously did not expect Eiji to make the list, let alone be on the top 20 and beating out Joe freaking Odagiri (albeit by a mere five votes but still!)

Imagine being Banjou and beating the OG Heisei Rider I cannot

17- Fumiya Takahashi-- Aruto Hiden/Kamen Rider Zero-One <70 votes>

Aruto ja nai to!!! 

I just feel obligated to put that in lol

16- Dori Sakurada-- Kotaro Nogami/Kamen Rider New Den-O <76 votes>

15- Yutaka Kobayashi-- Kaito Kumon/Kamen Rider Baron <79 votes>

14- Keisuke Watanabe-- Woz/Kamen Rider Woz <87 votes>

I guess all the memetic IWAE-ing worked in his favor... 

13- Ryutaro Okada-- Isamu Fuwa/Kamen Rider Vulcan <97 votes>

Holy shit guys. This disaster of a human being beat out Woz. Freaking WOZ.

AND HE BEAT OUT THE MAIN ACTOR OF HIS OWN SERIES by a wide margin?? How?? 

What is this man and what world are we living in

12- Mahiro Takasugi-- Mitsuzane “Micchy” Kureshima/Kamen Rider Ryugen <113 votes>

And here I thought everyone hated Micchy... seems like Japan loves Mahiro though

11- Sou Okuno-- Sougo Tokiwa/Kamen Rider Zi-O <114 votes>

[Insert obligatory Woz IWAE speech here]

10- Koji Seto-- Wataru Kurenai/Kamen Rider Kiva <131 votes>

9-  Atsuhiro Inukai-- Sento Kiryuu/Kamen Rider Build <153 votes>

AAAAAH ACCHAN MADE IT INTO THE TOP TEN

YOU’RE DOING SO WELL SWEETIE KEEP IT UP

I do wonder how much his... recent work factored into this

(I’m talking about the one where he was butt naked, pun intended)

Side note but Sento would totally rub it in Ryuuga’s face that he got almost a hundred votes more than him lol

8- Shu Watanabe-- Eiji Hino/Kamen Rider OOO <174 votes>

Just in time for the tenth anniversary?? Lol

Was said to be the #1 OOO fan in the world and tbh, yeah he is

7- Renn Kiriyama-- Shoutaro Hidari/Kamen Rider W <197 votes>

*flipping table kaomoji* 

EXCUSE ME WHILE I SQUEAL ABOUT MY HUSBANDO

The (Chrome-translated) caption says “The sex appeal that increases year by year is too nice” and I wholeheartedly agree

The featured comments are about people liking Shou despite him being half-boiled and honestly? About fuckin’ time y’all admit it

Tbh I did not expect him this high up on the list because Renn isn’t really thought of as “popular” the way his partner is but damn am I happy to be proven wrong

SQUEALS SOME MORE

6- Shun’ya Shiraishi-- Haruto Souma/Kamen Rider Wizard <232 votes>

Holy cow that jump in the number of votes?? I am legit surprised

I am also aware that he has a Tumblr blog. Let’s hope he doesn’t find this post. 

5- Ryoma Takeuchi-- Shinnosuke Tomari/Kamen Rider Drive <253 votes>

As expected of The Nation’s Boyfriend/Pokemon Trainer Red(?)

4- Sota Fukushi-- Gentaro Kisaragi/Kamen Rider Fourze <306 votes>

Uchuu kitaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Everyone loves Gentaro. It’s just a fact of life. DEAL WITH IT.

3- Masaki Suda-- Philip/Kamen Rider W <383 votes>

Well... tbf this is totally expected at this point

I mean the guy was fully booked for two fucking years when they approached him for HeiGen Forever. Which was only a year and some months ago. Good lord, is this guy in demand or what

Also a fantastic singer to boot? Seriously, forget Finger on the Trigger, go listen to Machigai Sagashi and Long Hope Philia 

Also also- won Best Actor at Japan’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. You know who he beat out? Hint- he’s #1 on this list

2- Ryo Yoshizawa-- Ryusei Sakuta/Kamen Rider Meteor <435 votes>

...Huh. I am actually surprised and impressed by this one, you guys

Beating out the actor of his series by over a hundred votes 

Not bad for someone who started out transforming to disco music huh?

1- Takeru Satoh-- Ryotaro Nogami/Kamen Rider Den-O <1,201 votes>

Why should we be surprised it’s him, of course it’s gonna be him

He got over 1/5 of the total number of votes on his own 

Momotaros wasn’t lying when he said that no one was ever going to forget Ryotaro...

[chacerider]

WELP. GOTTA DO KAMEN RIDER SHIPS NOW. IT'S ONLY FAIR.

@yumikonsarugaki1​ replied to your post  “ok all youre sentai ships GO”

I want to know the Kamen Rider one’s now tho                    

PFF. Such curious lovely followers I have. Y’all are lucky I like making lists. Alright, alright, I’ll drag out the readmore cut again…

Decade: Tsukasa/Yuusuke/Natsumi/Daiki, AU!Takumi/Photography Girl, uhhh idk remembering decade is hard (*RIMSHOT*)[Why yes, we watched Decade first of all Kamen Riders. I… I don’t actually know whether that was a mistake or not, to be honest… Anyway, i rewatched Decade once and I still don’t remember huge chunks of it, moving on,]

Den-O: Koutarou/Teddy[As mentioned in the other list, yup, this is all I got. It’s strong tho. They’re just so goddamn cute. Curse you, Kobayashi.]

Fourze: FRIENDSHIP. FRIENDSHIP FOR EVERYBODY. Also, too scared of Tomoko to not say Ryusei/Tomoko.[just let her have what she wants, ok, it’s safest for us all]

Kuuga: um is there anyone who doesn’t ship Yuusuke/Ichijou because like, how could you not, really

Wizard: :( why couldn’t haruto and koyomi just be happy, why, w h y

Gaim: I don’t remember having any strong ships here but someone suggested mai/kouta/kaito and i guess that woulda been cute[ALSO RYOMA WAS A GODDAMN DISASTER GAY, AND AT ONE POINT I WAS HALF CONVINCED HE WAS GONNA TRY TO REPLACE TAKATORA WITH THE PERSONIFICATION OF A FOREST.] [RYOMA STOOOOP.]

Agito: ??? yeah idk. Uh. Wouldn’t be opposed to throwing the Agito Club together. Mana and that kid I always called Headphones Kid could be cute too. Sure, why not.

OOO: YOU COUNT THE MEDALS ONE TWO AND aaaaand I got nothin’ really. There’s good ships here that I got nothin’ against, I just don’t strongly feel ‘em. Eiji/Therapy, though. Feel that one pretty strong.

W: Philip/Shotaro, Akiko/Terui.[I DON’T EVEN NEED TO SHIP THIS SEASON, THE SHOW DOES IT FOR ME]

Ryuki: Ren/Shinji, Ren/Shinji, Ren/Shinji, ~INFINITY LOOP~

Kiva: wow another one where I got nothin, Inoue’s kinda bad for shipping too, wow. Just burn down society and replace it here, it clearly failed its children, who need to be allowed to LIVE THEIR TINY PRECIOUS LIVES

555: Yuuji/Takumi, Yuka/Keitaro[ok nevermind inoue’s okay for shipping in this one instance. Anyway let Yuka and Keitaro be happy or whatever, those dumb anxious babies]

Drive: OH YES HELLO, EXTREMELY CANON GOU/CHASE[Don’t actually care much one way or the other about most others, though. Eh, let them be happy~]

EDIT: MORE DRIVE: oops I forgot shift cars. DiCab/Vegas, Solar/Winter, Monster/Hunter (pff), platonic Shadow/Hunter, Formula Pit Crew OT3[THERE WE GO, MISTAKE CORRECTED]

Blade: yes hello it’s me, the tiny little birb clinging to Queerplatonic Hajime/Kenzaki with all the strength in their weak little heart, hi, hello

Kabuto: Tendou/Kagami, yaguruma and kageyama are garbage but they deserved better

Ghost: Alain/Makoto, Onari/Akari[look takeru just feels very ace/aro to me ok, puppy just wants friends]

Hibiki: Hitomi/Akira, Ibuki/Kasumi[IT ALL STARTED WITH ME YELLING “LOOK, AKIRA’S COOLER THAN ASUMU. HITOMI, DATE HER INSTEAD.” AND… it just spiraled out of control from there…]

Ex-Aid: Emu/Hiiro, Emu/Parad, Emu/Hiiro/Kiriya[Why yes, there’s some conflict here. Idk, for once I can hold multiple ships in my heart without necessarily resorting to a cuddlepile. Ex-Aid was unusual.]

Black RX: KOTARO/HAVING A NORMAL LIFE AND ALSO HIS GIRLFRIEND WOW THEY WERE CUTE TOGETHER GOD I’M SO PROUD ;W;

Build: OT5! OT5! OT5! OT5!!! [also i think gentoku’s bitter exes with both katsuragi and soichi tbh,,,]

[blazardragon]

Mobdemy – The Catalog of Background Characters in Assassination Classroom

In the Graduation Album, there are three pages dedicated to various background characters that have appeared throughout the series, ranging from students to laboratory workers to random elders. It doesn’t cover every minor character, but it does cover 72 characters you’d never expect to learn more about. I’m dividing it into three parts since I don’t want to swamp you all with random people ^^;

This is written in Korosensei’s point of view, by the way. At the top of the page, he asks us readers to “Please try searching for the 72 people I have selected!!”. Also, I’m starting at the top left column and going down, if you want try to match each face with each name while you read this.

Group 1: Friendly Faces – With faces that exude a virtuous personality, these are people that gave a sense of security to the scene when they appeared!

Itona’s Dad: He reunited with Horibe Itona after paying off all his debt. [I wish we were given a name and not just “Itona’s dad”, but okay…]

Jessica: Nakamura Rio’s friend. She knows even more obscene slang than Nakamura. [That’s rather impressive :o]

Kousaka Yuuna: A girl who went to the Cultural Festival. She’s just friends with Maehara Hiroto.

Yusano Shizu: The nurse who is taking care of Yanagisawa Kotaro. She has six kids.

Ooyagi Takeshi: One of the boys at the game center. He dreams of becoming a computer programmer.

Harada Kaito: He holds a big brother-like role at Wakaba Park.

Ooshima Aiko: She’s such a big fan of Asano Gakushuu that she makes handmade goods for him.

Mizui Hironari: One of the astronauts. He just exudes goodness from his very pores.

Tomita Masuo: Takebayashi Kotaro’s and Okuda Manami’s section manager. He’s a professor who is popular with young people.

Komiya Shigeru: Asano Gakuho’s driver. He makes sure to pay extra special attention to the scent of his car. [The connotation in the words used here is that the driver is paying attention to another’s needs, so I guess Gakuho has a sensitive sense of smell]

Group 2: Strange faces – These are people who added an unexpected spice to the series due to their face shapes going far beyond common expectation!

Mogi Shinya: A Class D student who ate up the acorn ramen Class E made with great gusto.

Umezawa Kyoko: A reporter who loves gossip. She’s still single.

Narusawa Asami: A female reporter. She had not slept for two nights, so she had terrible dark circles under her eyes.

Kobori Yasusuke: His nose swells up when he’s near a scoop.  

Iwakura Etsuko: A reporter with eyebrows shaped like a squished letter 「ハ」. [The katakana “Ha”]　

Sado Keita: The homely man who was flirting with the girls at Fukuma Hotel.

Oliver: One of the astronauts. He’s an American who loves jokes.

Iwasaki Tamami: An older woman who lives in Nagisa Shiota’s neighborhood. She’s a landlady who loves to help others.

Nanahara Tatsuko: A girl with a terrible sob. Sometimes, you can hear her even from afar.

Nagahara Wataru: A cameraman. His favorite phrase is “U-hyu-hyuu!!”

Sakurada Setsuko: The old lady who pitied Class E. She’s quick to cry at just about anything.

Igarashi Makoto: A delinquent. He has fired so many guns that he’s now completely embroiled in battle.

Group 2 - continued [These two were on the next page so I pasted them onto the bottom of my picture of page 1] 

Nagasawa Shouji: The head of the Neighborhood Association. He fell for Bitch-sensei’s seductive techniques.

Sengoku Eiichirou: A black-market lender. His nickname is “Gargoyle”. When it comes to weird faces, he’s the first pick on this list.

[quarkie-blog1]

Thoughts on Arc-V

Welp, finally finished it. Now that more than a day has passed, I’ve been able to properly sit down and think about it more carefully. This is just really a ramble of what I found was cool and what was terrible in the series. Some of them were from reading online (with points that I consider valid), others were more of my own observations/opinions. 

While I don’t have very strong opinions, I may be brutally honest...

So let’s start with the beginning, what I found was really awesome about Arc-V. 

1. Yuya’s personality Following the cheerful and naive Yuma, we have Yuya the entertainer. The first thing I had noticed was that his father had also disappeared, like Yuma’s. Yuya does act goofy, but one could easily tell that he was doing it purposefully, to make others get a laugh out of it. For me, this way of speaking and acting intentionally is something I can relate to on a very fundamental level. While the first season shows that it’s not the best solution to simply laugh it off, I was impressed that he did something rather than staying depressed. The other that did make Quarkie like him is that he handles kids well. It’s just that in the previous series you don’t see it too often (Even with Yuma, who was only looking after Haruto for a little while). Yuya was able to make the kids at Yushow school laugh, and he certainly cared very much about Reira. 

2. Entermage/Performapal deck I know a lot of people found it laughable, but I found it refreshing. The previous MCs had decks with warrior/dragon/magician monsters as the majority. (I don’t know about Yusei’s main deck yet, but I’ve been seeing a lot of Junk Warriors and Stardust dragons). Again, it means that Yuya’s ideal wasn’t to show “strong via strength”, but “if it can make people smile”.  The other reason why I liked it was also because it seemed like a troll deck... when people won’t take the circus animals seriously and the odd-eyes pendulum dragon appears next minute. 

3. Female characters (mostly Yuzu and Serena) The best of the female characters in Yugioh were never able to beat the main character in any duel. Now enters Yuzu, who does so in episode 2. Furthermore, they had given her duels and moments where she develops her dueling. I don’t know about Akiza but this is not seen in the others. Serena’s duelling seems more consistent but you see how her views on Academia change as she is with the Lancers, and how she forms a bond with the other Lancers.  I’d like to take this time to address about Rin and Ruri being “neglected”. I do not know if it really was necessary to have all counterparts having more even screentime, but I was happy enough if there was just one or two properly developed females. Or maybe some just like Ruri or Rin more. 

4. Synchro arc This was where things were most interesting to me. Yes, it was another tournament, but the situation isn’t as safe for our characters anymore. I enjoyed all of the duels, and don’t consider them a waste of time. When the Lancers were up, I could compare their dueling to season 1. I think Serena and Shun’s had the most difference. I wouldn’t have gotten as attached to all the Lancers if it wasn’t for the Synchro arc. On top of that, Yuzu had continued to demonstrate the fruits of her hard work in dueling.  The Lancers had also struggled with the values of the society in this foreign world. Particularly Yuya, and he had to climb up his way so that he can be heard. I found this rather realistic. I do suspect that other than because he had no name Jack Atlas was more critical of him not being honest to himself. 

@homura-bakura had also made an interesting take on Yuya’s egao, and how that develops throughout the series. You can read it here, and I believe that the Synchro arc had significant influences. 

5. Pendulum summoning Like before, a new series meant making summoning monsters quicker. In a similar manner: - When synchro summon came out, you can special summon a monster without waiting for the polymerization card - When XYZ summon came out, you don’t need to wait for that tuner card to come out.  In this case, you can summon several monsters at a time, no tributing needed either. Oh, and your monsters don’t go to the grave if defeated in battle.  I imagine at the beginning there was perhaps rage about this, but there was encouragement and hype also for the other types of summons. By incorporating the dimension wars and summons, they were able to show a wide variety of duels of different styles. In Arc-V, there were specific duels that could easily show that pendulum summoners could still be utterly destroyed.  

6. The music Kotaro Nakagawa was the one who composed the music, the same one who arranged the music for Code Geass. Obviously I wasn’t let down. 

7. The themes Very early on, we’re shown about there’s something lurking in the background. And we come to know about the tension between the dimensions. I found this clash of ideals between different dimensions/societies rather interesting. It’s not just with the differing views about carding people in the series, but also how to resolve conflict as well. There are a lot of people (mostly from the XYZ dimension that believe in defeating enemies and carding them back is the method, while Yuya and his friends simply want to stop them). The stakes are really high, which realy adds more onto the challenge of how is Yuya going to achieve by “bringing smiles to everyone”? The other theme of course is “the other self”, which is common in all Yugioh series. I found it interesting at first how all four MC counterparts already had physical forms, but they were linked by the same conciousness when they are in a desperate duel, or brought together. 

There’s other things that made me really like it, but those were the main ones. Now in terms of the things that I can’t help but notice was terrible... this is in no particular order. 

1. Action cards and Tag Duels For me this isn’t absolutely bad, it was just something I wasn’t too fond of. I have heard that many Japanese fans were also not happy about how the tag duels were handled? I’m not saying that they were a bad idea, but rather it felt there was more plot armour incorporated at times. This could just be me though... 

2. Animation quality Admittedly I watched the Synchro arc and everything else after finishing Zexal. So... it was disappointing seeing the animation wasn’t as consistent. I mentioned before, I suspect that it seemed likely because of the DSOD being in development at the same time. This honestly saddens me. 

3. Yuya’s personality Yep, I like Yuya’s personality, and I do like some of his flaws incorporated in, but there are some that seem a really strange to me. Namely, when Yuya feels like a bit of a hypocrite to me. From Synchro arc, he begins to tell others the importance of smiles (perhaps he started in the previous tournament but I don’t quite recall as much). While he has good intentions, he hasn’t been doing much of a good job with maintaining his own smile as compared to season 1. Particularly when he goes into berserk mode by Roger tampering with his helmet. I guess you could argue that it was showing that Yuya’s previous method of laughing things off isn’t working, but I find it questionable that they would make him seem like a hypocrite. (Also I guess I just didn’t like this flaw in general, but that’s my own opinion, it just doesn’t sit well with me since I don’t feel like it ever got properly addressed). 

4. Side characters (Part I) - Kaito Tenjo, Edo Phoenix & Jack Atlas I haven’t watched much of Jack Atlas, so I won’t talk about him too much. My issue is not that “Arc-V versions made them OOC”, since if I was to write a fanfiction it’d probably be even worse... In Arc V, they are like alternative selves in a parrallel universe but with the same name. Unfortunately, Kaito and Edo were introduced when there were obvious pacing problems. Edo’s abrupt change to accept that “duels can make you happy” was something of a problem ongoing since early Yugioh, but I felt the need to mention it anyway. (Yes I see this issue at times even in Zexal...). However, I can completely understand the issue with Kaito Tenjo. In the context of ignoring what Zexal Kaito, Arc-V Kaito seemed to be acting OOC. How did he suddenly decide to help Yuya and the others when they were surrounded by the Obelisk force? What made him become more accepting of people from the fusion dimension? The questions were still not answered... I know that these three (and Crow, and Asuka, etc) are to be considered side characters and we shouldn’t be too invested in them, but this is creating a plot hole....

5. Side characters (Part II) - Asuka & Sora Sora was a character we see since the first few episodes of Arc-V. I admit that I might have gotten a tad too excited to see his cute but also scary persona. When he had left the Standard dimension there was an unfinished duel against Yuya left hanging. The next time we see him again in Synchro arc, he seems too agreeable with helping Yuya? I legit thought that he was perhaps faking everything, but by the time we reached the 100 episode it didn’t seem like the case. In which this leaves another question, what made Sora do that? Now with Asuka, I don’t mind her having less screen time as with all of the previous gen characters. However, I just question what was her purpose in the duel against Yuri. Maybe they ran out of time, but I was a bit confused when I saw Yuri holding a card. It was then I realised that the duel didn’t even take place at all on-screen. 

6. The last arc: Episodes 141-148 - Responses from the characters By this time, I had low expectations already, since I had a feeling it would be hard to salvage everything after the dip from episode 100ish. However, I felt that there were a lot of questions that could have been addressed. How did the Lancers feel about Yuya being Zarc? What about Reira? (Do they still think of Reira as being too young?) What made Reiji’s mother suddenly care about Reira a lot more? Shun was obviously devastated about Ruri and Yuto not coming back at first. How the heck did he come to the conclusion “Oh, I should accept the duel with Yuya because it’s alll I have left”?  The story really falls apart here.. Overall, I felt that there were a lot of people becoming happy a tad too quickly, and there was no one questioning Yuya’s identity. I know that duels are more important (and it seems that the japanese audience sees them as just as important as plot), but surely some could have already been incorporated in?

7. The counterparts This isn’t a complaint about how they’re all inside Yuzu and Yuya now. It’s not the happiest ending, since they were the most loved side characters in Arc-V but it is oddly realistic. The problem is that it really doesn’t leave much of an impact. (The closest I can relate to is when Atem left for good in DM, but they had spent episodes building towards that) I’ve mentioned that things were really glossed over already, and once again Yuya seemed to have accepted too quickly when Yuri suddenly was talking to him. On second thought, since when did Yuri become so encouraging?

Final thoughts: 

Did I enjoy Arc-V? Yes. I loved the characters and the music. I was very focused on each duel. However, at the back of my head, my alternative self would always go “HAH....” at the end of several episodes. 

There were many things I don’t think were executed well. Whilst I wasn’t raging or angry, there were a lot of unanswered questions in the end. (I don’t expect them to be answered, since it seems like it’s left to our own interpretation and imagination now). EDIT: Yes, I know it is a kids’ show on card games, but it seems that towards the end it wasn’t getting good reception even in Japan (based on Nico nico video rankings. Whether it was due to trolls I don’t know, but glossing over duels didn’t help). 

Seeing the fanfiction section yesterday, I see that people are going be creating stuff to fill in these gaps we are left with at the end of the series. (Either due to rage, or wanting more out of it). Whatever the case is, I think all readers/viewers should be additionally appreciative of others making something to give you maybe a version that should have you more satisfied with. 

That was a long ramble... thanks for reading, and it was enjoyable being in the Arc-V fandom. 

[gdwessel]

NOAH Just Fine! Nights 2 + 3 - 3/23 & 3/24/2022: Title Match, Surprise Attack from Z-Brats, As Sumo Hall Shows Begin Build; New Japan Cup Weekend Cards For Real This Time; Dragon Gate, GLEAT Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH was back in Korakuen Hall for two shows this week, both of which are on either ABEMA, Wrestle Universe, or both. 

Just Fine! 2022 - 3/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (ABEMA)

Tadasuke [Kongo] d. Kai Fujimura (Fuyuki Special, 6:50)

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] d. Masaaki Mochizuki [Dragon Gate] & Kinya Okada (Tany > Okada, Funky Press, 10:37)

Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki NC NOSAWA Rongai, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (10:33)

Kaito Kiyomiya & HAYATA [STINGER] d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano (Kiyomiya > Yano, Dropkick, 14:17)

Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] d. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura (Suzuki > Inamura, Royal Stretch, 15:34)

Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] NC YO-HEY (10:43)

Kazuyuki Fujita, Naomichi Marufuji, Atsushi Kotoge & Hao v. Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo] (Fujita > Nio, Powerbomb, 16:02)

Go Shiozaki d. Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] (Strongarm Lariat, 17:20)

Does the M’s Alliance exist anymore? I don’t think it does, as Masato Tanaka seems part of Sugiura-gun now. I guess I’m not listing them anymore til I see they are back, but NOAH’s own website seems to think they are done. I dunno. Go Shiozaki gets a big win over Katsuhiko Nakajima, whom he failed to beat at NOAH The New Year; he then challenged Kazuyuki Fujita, who was not originally on this card, for the GHC Heavyweight title, with both men declaring “I Am NOAH.” That match will be on Night 2 of NOAH’s upcoming residency at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan on 4/29 & 4/30/2022. Please, God, let Shiozaki win it.

Two no-contests in the junior matches. HAYATA attacked and bust open Eita with the GHC junior belt, making his challenge, presumably for Sumo Hall. The 6-man between NOAH v. Perros del Mal de Japon went to a no-contest, after three masked men attacked. It turned out to be three members of Dragon Gate’s Z-Brats unit, HYO, SB KENTo and Shun Skywalker, making a challenge to Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki for the first night at Ryogoku, 4/29/2022. Ironically, those three members of Z-Brats were the main instigators for Eita being removed from R.E.D. along with Kaito Ishida, which begat not only Z-Brats, but Ishida’s new unit Gold Class. Surprisingly, Eita was not directly attacked by Z-Brats, but then again, that can happen in DG anytime. (DG were off yesterday too, hence the availability.)

Along with the challenges for Sumo Hall beginning, NOAH announced that IWRG’s Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf (aka El Hijo de Canis Lupus), GCW’s Ninja Mack (aka Kamikaze when he works AAA), Rene Dupree and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. would all be appearing at the events. I already know Bane v. Mack v. Canis Lupus has been booked. Should be a fun one, although I could swear that match may have been done in GCW before?

- 3/24/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Masa Kitamiya, Muhammad Yone [Funky Express], Yoshiki Inamura & Junta Miyawaki d. Masaaki Mochizuki, King Tany [Funky Express], Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano (Inamura > Okada, Shoulder Tackle, 11:44) 

Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Alejandro (La Guitara, 6:13) 

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo] d. Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Hao (Ohara > Kotoge, Muy Bien, 14:25)

Masato Tanaka [Sugiura-gun] d. Daisuke Harada (Sliding D, 13:45)

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] d. NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] (HAYATA > Eita, Headache, 1:44)

Naomichi Marufuji d. Daiki Inaba (Shin Toraou, 17:14)

Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya [Kongo] d. Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya (Kenoh > Sugiura, Rear Naked Choke, 21:04)

GHC National Championship: Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] © d. Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] (Ankle Lock, 8:14) - Funaki succeeds his 2nd defense

Funaki said he wasn’t going to lose to someone who just came back from WWE. Ouch. Kenoh & Nakajima challenged Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki for the GHC heavyweight tag belts, with Kenoh saying NOAH is no playground for old men, who, to be fair, are winning all the belts lately. Tadasuke & Ohara challenged Kotoge/YO-HEY for the junior tag belts; that match happens in Gunma on 4/3/2022, the start of the next tour. I think this is the first time I have seen Yoshiki Inamura get a win himself since I’ve started covering NOAH...

NOAH are done for the month of March, returning with the first night of Real Overture 2022 on 4/3/2022 in Gunma.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

So I didn’t notice until an hour after I hit Post that I completely forgot to post the lineups for this weekend’s New Japan Cup 2022 tour-ending events at Osaka-jo Hall. I also forgot to do the tags on the post, too. 

I may have mentioned in the post previous to that one that my brain may have been mushy goop by the time I posted due to not only finally seeing Gary Numan the night before (which was awesome) but also having a massively major thing going on at my day job; that massively major thing continued into yesterday, and I was so burnt at the end of yesterday I didn’t even watch AEW Dynamite because it seemed like too much of a mental commitment. 

So here are this weekend’s cards. As of right now, the Sunday show has no matches listed beyond the TBD Final.:

- 3/26/2022, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga [GoD], Tanga Loa [GoD], Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe v. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI [SZKG] v. SHO, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask IV v. CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman [#STRONGHEARTS]

YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Will Ospreay & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

New Japan Cup 2022 Semifinal: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 2022 Semifinal: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables]

- 3/27/2022, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall

New Japan Cup 2022 Final: TBD

More TBA

Dragon Gate

The tour resumed today, with another homecoming show, this one for Natural Vibes’ Jacky “Funky” Kamei.

Glorious Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 8 - 3/24/2022, Tottori Sangyo Gymnasium

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Takashi Yoshida, La Estrella & Ishin Iihashi (Minoura > Iihashi, R-301, 11:55)

SB KENTo & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] d. Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] & Ryu Fuda (KENTo > Fuda, SB Shooter, 8:58)

KAI, HYO & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes], U-T [Natural Vibes] & Mondai Ryu (HYO > Ryu, Neko Tamashi, 8:57)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun (Yoshioka > Lun, Frog Splash, 11:23)

Jacky “Funky” Kamei, Kzy, Big Boss Shimizu & Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes] v. YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Kagetora & Ben-K [HIGH-END] (Kamei > Kagetora, Jackyknife, 18:49)

JFK gets his homecoming win. Well so much for my Jason Lee/Ho Ho Lun dream. But hey, maybe it’ll happen.

The tour wraps up this weekend with shows on Saturday and Sunday.

GLEAT held G PROWRESTLING Ver.20 yesterday, and you can see it now on YouTube. It looks like the new unit of Keiichi Sato, Jun Tonsho & Tetsuya Izuchi are known as 60 Seconds.

GLEAT G PROWRESTLING Ver.20 - 3/23/2022, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (YouTube)

KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Hayato Tamura [BULK Orchestra] d. CIMA & Issei Onitsuka [#STRONGHEARTS] (10:59)

Madeline, Michiko Miyagi & Yukari Hosokawa d. Kaho Matsushita, Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yappy (8:53)

Leo Isaka & Yu iizuka d. Masato Kamino & TiiiDA (10:40)

Nobuhiro Shimatani d. Kaz Hayashi (7:09)

Ryuichi Kawakami & Quiet Storm [BULK Orchestra] d. El Lindaman &T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS] (14:10)

Jun Tonsho, Keiichi Sato & Tetsuya Izuchi [60 Seconds] d. Takanori Ito, Minoru Tanaka & Soma Watanabe (19:47)

The new unit gets a win. I am willing to bet the result of the semi-main leads directly to the first defense of the G-REX title.

Busy weekend coming up, between the New Japan Cup finale and STARDOM’s time at Sumo Hall. DDT and Tokyo Joshi return this weekend too. See you Sunday.