Female Wrestling in Manga

A place to talk about our love for the art and artists of Japan, as per their depictions of women's professional wrestling.

Monday, December 11, 2006

"my name is antonio. my question is : there is a golden age in the manga female wrestling (pure wrestling not lesbian)?"

I know we've talked about this in the Yahoo group before, but for those that may have missed the postings (quite a while ago), I'll offer my personal thoughts here as well. Please note the word "personal" ... I'm no authority on this; just conclusions I've formed based on what I've seen.

The earliest manga featuring a female wrestler within a story, at least of those I have in my collection, dates from 1969. While there may be earlier images than that, I've yet to find them. So, let's say we start there as the "beginning" of a time line.

Moving forward into the '70's, there are publications, mostly the weekly-manga type magazine's, which had a few stories that would include wrestling at some point along the way. Here and there, a female character would show up in the story, but for the most part, the story focused on the male wrestlers. At the same time, in real-life Japan, Western-style pro-wrestling, as a spectator sport, was gaining popularity around the country. This was echoed through the artwork of the manga. The more "everyday" readers may have been watching wrestling, the more the writers and artists were likely to use wrestling as a story line vehicle. As the popularity of the women in the sport grew, more and more manga began to feature the "Joshi" wrestlers in larger doses. By the late 70's and though much of the 80's, the women took their place with the men as per having their own stories devoted to them. This is the period when "Red Eagle Maki" and "Beniko" were published.


















Neither of these stories ever saw publication as books unto themselves, but rather, each were given space in issues of a weekly mag. For the fan to buy an issue, 24 makes the full story, it cost around $3 per week ... that's one "book" for $72! To find the original magazines, you have to be in the right place at the right time, and be willing to shell out a LOT of money ... the few copies of "Red Eagle" I have, I found though a private-company auction (I was up at 3AM, my time, for the final hour of the auction to end in Tokyo) : $125 per issue, sold as individual copies, plus commission and postage; I got 6 of 8. Yeah ... compulsive. The set of "Beniko" magazines (same auction; 22 issue set ... for some reason this story never had it's final 2 chapters published!) , and yes, that IS what the auction highlighted the magazines as being, was sold for $2,750. Add in the commission, and that makes $3000 for an unfinished story in it's original magazines! Told you the collectors in Japan bid this stuff up. At 18 pages per issue, that's $7.50 per page! Tell THAT to the next person that gives you a hard time for collecting this stuff! It's an investment!!

Anyway, back to the main question, the 80's saw the publication of at least four 200+ page GORAKU Comic manga, along with many 150+ page stories from other publishers. The Joshi Puroresu shows in the country's arena's were at their most popular during this time, often out-drawing the men's at the box office. Anime shows started featuring the shows heroines watching, and sometimes taking part in, wrestling, as their favorite lady wrestler would compete against her arch foe in the ring. The idea of women being empowered enough to fight their own battles in life, as in the ring, in a country that still has strong sexual stereotypes, called out to the young women watching the shows ... writers, artists, and publishers saw this and responded with manga after manga, many featuring school-age girls that would join their school's wrestling club and try to balance the struggle of being a sedate Japanese girl with the competitive need to win which most people have to some degree. To say that the manga were all geared to the adolescent crowd would be naive, but even in the ones that would feature the more "comely" wrestlers from this time period, they would rarely venture into the bedroom; if so, it was discretely done and male/female. With the onset of the 90's, things began to change.

Most likely due to the upturn of musical artists (Japan's version of MTV, etc) and movie/TV stars as being the role models for the masses, Joshi wrestling in the real world began to lose their fans, many of the operations have gone out of business at this point. As the influence on the streets began to wane, so, too, did the need for the stories from the publishers. Now, having taped out the main vein of the mine, the publishers, artists and writers had to begin to tailor the stories to the niche readers of their manga. To some, the addition of higher sexual themes, lesbian action, degradation of females, hit the right spot. Manga continue to feature wrestling, but very few treat the characters as athletes competing in the hard life of women making their livings in the professional ring, instead, we find them, more and more, in seedy night clubs ... outcasts, a step above prostitutes. For the one or two pages they will be featured, the artwork is great, but that's all there will be; a side note in the story, much like a police show on TV where the detectives need to find the criminal in the bar and there will be two women mud-wrestling in the background. The genre was being handed over to the hentai crowd. Luckily, there are some bright spots on the horizon.

With the publication this past year of the "Rumble Roses: part 1" manga,













along with the manga and anime version of "Fighting Beauty Wulong", maybe the industry has seen that, even without the sex, there are those of us out here that will buy what they put out. It's really up to the male fans in Japan, I suppose, since we outside of Japan don't even make a dent in sales ... if all they will buy is the hentai, then ...

19 Comments:

  • At 12:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    [B]NZBsRus.com[/B]
    No More Idle Downloads With NZB Files You Can Instantly Find High Quality Movies, PC Games, MP3 Albums, Software & Download Them at Fast Rates

    [URL=http://www.nzbsrus.com][B]Newsgroup Search[/B][/URL]

     
  • At 7:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You could easily be making money online in the undercover world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]google blackhat[/URL], You are far from alone if you haven’t heard of it before. Blackhat marketing uses little-known or not-so-known avenues to generate an income online.

     
  • At 9:28 AM, Anonymous xanax said…

    very helpful post, cheers!

     
  • At 10:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hello just dropped by the website play casino games

    layed out article, would like to discover what you come up with next!
    play casino games

     
  • At 9:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    dating clip art http://loveepicentre.com/success_stories.php what was dating like during ww2

     
  • At 5:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    club secrets ebook http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/fr/Artificial-Life/c2618/ ebook download free c# [url=http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/es/Digital-Imaging-in-C-and-the-World-Wide-Web/p100251/]ebook not out of africa[/url] the sisters grimm ebook

     
  • At 6:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    adobe pdf ebook http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/it/Fiumi/c2313/ warren buffett ebook mtorrent [url=http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/fr/Chromophobia/p228341/]binaries ebook[/url] free ebook for excel 2003

     
  • At 4:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    victory christian ebook http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/fr/Mr-and-Miss-Anonymous/p10450/ free ebook files [url=http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/Adaptive-Learning-of-Polynomial-Networks-Genetic-Programming-Backpropagation-and-Bayesian-Methods/p139188/]ebook search resurrecting marx[/url] bursa-buku miliki 3 ebook terbaru gratis

     
  • At 9:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    create pdf ebook http://audiobooksworld.co.uk/es/Programming-Microsoft-ASP-NET-MVC/p224963/ ebook reader palm [url=http://audiobooksworld.co.uk/Xiong-H/m133988/]the big switch nicholas carr ebook[/url] basic ebook

     
  • At 5:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    sj22 free software http://buyoem.co.uk/fr/category-14/Autres?page=4 global economy software by segment [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/category-200-213/Music-Software]sips design software[/url] optimize trading software
    [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/product-36931/OO-DiskRecovery-7-1-German-x64]OO DiskRecovery 7.1 German x64 - Software Store[/url] bluechip software for mac
    [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/it/product-35391/Adobe-Creative-Suite-5-5-Master-Collection-MultiLanguage][img]http://buyoem.co.uk/image/5.gif[/img][/url]

     
  • At 11:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    gr software http://buyoem.co.uk/de/product-37379/Bluefox-iPod-Video-Converter-2-1 supplier of ebooks and software [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/fr/account/login]act software problems[/url] best image capture software
    [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/es/product-35391/Adobe-Creative-Suite-5-5-Master-Collection-MultiLanguage]Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection MultiLanguage - Cheap Legal OEM Software, Software Sale, Download OEM[/url] government software discount
    [url=http://buyoem.co.uk/es/product-36789/Adobe-Flash-Media-Enterprise-Server-4-5-x64][img]http://buyoem.co.uk/image/2.gif[/img][/url]

     
  • At 7:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    breeders assistant software http://buyoemsoftware.co.uk/category-100-110/Internet?page=4 mesi software [url=http://buyoemsoftware.co.uk/fr/product-37244/PicturesToExe-Deluxe-5-5]shareware time check software[/url] addall software
    [url=http://buyoemsoftware.co.uk/fr/information-5/Accord-de-l-utilisateur]Accord de l'utilisateur - Cheap Legal OEM Software, Software Sale, Download OEM[/url] palm free software treo 755
    [url=http://buyoemsoftware.co.uk/de/product-35986/OLfoldersPE-3-2-Multilanguage-x32][img]http://buyoem.co.uk/image/5.gif[/img][/url]

     
  • At 6:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    palm vii software http://buysoftwareonline.co.uk/category-100-106/Server-Software?page=8 best web building software for mac [url=http://buysoftwareonline.co.uk/it/product-37118/Frame-Photo-Editor-2-1]simulator software[/url] sgh a801 software
    [url=http://buysoftwareonline.co.uk/product-36925/XLineSoft-ASPRunner-Professional-7-0]XLineSoft ASPRunner Professional 7.0 - Download OEM, Software Sale, OEM Software[/url] yojimbo software
    [url=http://buysoftwareonline.co.uk/de/product-21405/Itunes-Library-Manager-5-2-Mac][img]http://buyoem.co.uk/image/1.gif[/img][/url]

     
  • At 5:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/categories/skin-care.htm][img]http://onlinemedistore.com/6.jpg[/img][/url]
    albuquerque pharmacy http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/medrol.htm what college to attend in nc for pharmacy [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/flomax.htm]ford pharmacy deerfield[/url]
    buy hydrocodone mexican pharmacy no rx needed http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/mobic.htm jefferson pharmacy philadelphia [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/sinemet.htm]sinemet[/url]
    preckshot pharmacy peoria illinois http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/depakote.htm buy tadalafil cyber pharmacy [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/norvasc.htm]pharmacy online pain pills[/url]
    canada pharmacy technician http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/lozol.htm antique pharmacy book [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/exelon.htm]exelon[/url]

     
  • At 7:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/procardia.htm][img]http://onlinemedistore.com/5.jpg[/img][/url]
    savon pharmacy 30th hilyard http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/metformin.htm pharmacy robberies [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/vantin.htm]cvs pharmacy[/url]
    india pharmacys online http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/sumycin.htm exam for the certification of pharmacy tech [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/precose.htm]precose[/url]
    episcopos pharmacy http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/doxycycline.htm pharmacy continuing education in southern florida in 2008 [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/proscar.htm]brunswick maine wal mart pharmacy and 800[/url]
    pay less pharmacy british columbia http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/relafen.htm pharmacy prescription bupropion budeprion [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/kamagra-oral-jelly.htm]kamagra oral jelly[/url]

     
  • At 3:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    best online dating sites young adults sumer love mp3 dating an egomaniac
    100 free dating in europe http://freeinternetdating.info/socialnetwork/brownes-myspace most popular internet dating services
    dating services for higher net worth the right one dating bingham farms free christan dating site

     
  • At 1:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    conjugal dating http://loveepicentre.com dating in the europe
    dating sites for fat onld women [url=http://loveepicentre.com/articles/]extreme dating uncut[/url] canada truckers dating site
    southern california married dating service [url=http://loveepicentre.com/map/]just say hi dating site[/url] online dating then marriage statistics [url=http://loveepicentre.com/user/abi12/]abi12[/url] cruise gay dating

     
  • At 1:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    no fees no credit cards dating http://loveepicentre.com/ herpes dating for singles
    dating indiana clubs [url=http://loveepicentre.com/taketour/]polygamy dating websites[/url] dating seto kaiba
    dating the book of job [url=http://loveepicentre.com/map/]online adult dating simulation game[/url] dating line illinoise free [url=http://loveepicentre.com/user/perry/]perry[/url] free christian dating services 20

     
  • At 10:35 AM, Blogger Onward said…

    The first picture title is Wakai kizoku tachi

     

Post a Comment

<< Home