I’m glad you enjoyed Utami vs Syuri, and that you were able to understand the commentary and promos! That’s awesome! My friends and I are a little behind on Stardom at the moment, so I haven’t actually watched most of the build-up to the match, though I did watch the title match itself live. I am very aware of the fact that Syuri kissed her, though, ahaha! I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of their feud because it reminded me a bit of El Desperado and Hiromu.
Syuri is one of my favorite wrestlers in Stardom right now, honestly. I think she always does such a fantastic job building each feud in a really unique and compelling way. I don’t know if you know this, but she’s actually really close friends (and tag partners) with Hikaru Shida, which is how I discovered her. They teamed up in Shida’s last independent match in Japan, and I really hope they get to team again someday, in some company…
Naito isn’t one of my favorites either, though I do like him. His story is probably the second wrestling story I heard about (after the Golden Lovers), and it definitely helped get me into NJPW when I first started watching. I totally understand preferring wrestlers who are more hammy and emotional haha! Kenny got me into wrestling, period, and he certainly falls more into that category than the other!
Ah, Mayu and Starlight Kid… I’m sad for them, but at the same time, I was rooting for one of them to go to Oedo Tai, so I’m not too sad about it haha. I think it would be interesting to see Mayu hit rock bottom and have to rethink how she does things, and how Stars as a faction operates. But at the same time, the part of me that loves tag teams is always sad to see a team get torn apart like this. It’ll be fascinating to see what happens to Kid the longer she stays in Oedo Tai. I wonder if she and Mayu will ever be on the same page again.
Regarding the objectifying wrestling merch, (cut for long digression)
I’ve had similar internal conflicts, honestly. But I did end up making my first foray into buying photobooks when Mizuki and Yuka’s photobook came out at the end of last year. I couldn’t resist the Alice in Wonderland theme, or the fact that it was themed around one of my favorite tag teams, haha. Of course, once I bought one thing, that opened the floodgates a little, and I started buying portraits, too 
.
What it ultimately came down to for me was the fact that the portraits and photobooks were tangible reminders from these stories that meant a lot to me. I realized that I really regretted the fact that I didn’t have anything from when Misao was teaming with Sakisama, because that story meant so much to me. Wrestling storytelling moves very slowly, but it’s constantly in motion, so if you don’t hold onto specific moments, it’s so easy for them to get lost to time.
I also wanted the Magical Sugar Rabbits photobook for another reason, which I touch on a bit in this post. 2020 was a really rough year, and there were these three wrestling storylines in autumn that ended up meaning a lot to me. There were times in 2020 when I really hated wrestling, but ultimately it helped get me through an extremely difficult period, and when I think back to that time, I’d rather remember the good instead of the bad. The photobook is just so completely tied into Mizuki and Yuka’s 2020 story for me. Whenever I look at it, I think about those months, and all of those stories.
I actually desperately want to own Axiz’s third (and final?) photobook, despite the fact that I got into their tag team after they’d already broken up. For one thing, it’s incredible to me that not only did the photobook come out a mere week or two before Nakajima betrayed Go and destroyed the team, but the photobook itself subtlety foreshadowed that things were about to end by invoking images associated with the end of summer.
I think that’s what draws me to photobooks. If the photobook itself ties into storylines that meant a lot to me, I will want to own it, haha! I spent a long time considering whether or not I wanted to buy Endo’s nude photobook, as someone who isn’t even into men in general or Endo specifically, but then I realized that every time I thought about even the concept of it, it made me smile, because of the way that that book, too, was woven into Endo and Sasaki’s story at the end of 2020. The photobook almost didn’t get released (in kayfabe, at least) because Sasaki was helping Endo make it (he’s credited as the “nudity producer”), and then, well, Sasaki tried to kick Endo out of Damnation, and then Endo kicked him out instead, and the two of them fought until their title match. But ultimately, they reconciled during the match, then had a Damnation produce show soon after. The photobook was unveiled during that show, as a sign that the two of them had made up.
Long story short, I ended up buying Endo’s nude photobook. I didn’t want to risk passing it up and regretting it a few years from now.
But I do very much understand the concern of not wanting to own sleazy-feeling merchandise! It can be hard sometimes, especially with the history of women’s wrestling, and the way that women are represented in media in general, to see objectifying examples of that in wrestling, too. I have an easier time with objectifying imagery of male wrestlers, since there’s less of a widespread media trend there, but it does sometimes make me uncomfortable as an asexual person to think about just how much of wrestling is automatically sexualized, and how so many wrestlers are objectified in that manner, and there’s often seemingly an expectation for it. It’s one thing if individual wrestlers want to do it, but I don’t like the thought of them being expected or pressured into doing it.
I’m glad that my study log is inspiring you! Your posts here inspire me a lot. I actually bought my first issue of shupro recently, though it will be ages before I get to see it, because it’s getting shipped overseas with some other merch I ordered. I bought the June 9 issue, with the CyberFight Festival cover. I loved that show, and I love the fact that Jun Akiyama brought out Yoshihiko at the end, and Yoshihiko made the cover, too! A bunch of wrestlers were commenting on Yoshihiko’s inclusion on twitter, which made me happy. The DDT and TJPW rosters are both very proud of him. Maki Itoh, though, was upset that Jun brought Yoshihiko out, but Miyu did not bring Itoh out with her haha! There are several articles in that issue that look like a lot of fun, though it’ll probably be a couple years before I’m able to read them. I’m also proud of Miyu for making the cover again two weeks later, though I think I’m going to refrain from buying more issues for now!
I seriously wish there was a way to SRS the openings, because memorizing all the moves without it feels 10x more painful lol. Actually, I should just create a chess thread here on the forums.
Are your energy levels still normal? Since I’m guessing you had to change your routine by quite a lot due to your job.
