Ask John: What Anime Deal With Pro Wrestling?

Question:
I’m a big Japanese wrestling fan. Some of my wrestlers are KENTA, Jun Akiyama, Misawa. I was wondering, besides the Kinnikuman series, are there any other wrestling manga or anime series?

Answer:
Because my area of relative expertise is anime, I’ll have to concentrate on that. I honestly don’t know how common manga about professional wrestling are. I’m also not certain of how many anime about professional wrestling exist, but I can point you in the direction of a few.

Possibly the most famous of all professional wrestling anime series is the classic 1969 television series Tiger Mask, based on the 1968 manga by writer Ikki Kajiwara and artist Naoki Tsuji. True to its name, Tiger Mask was a show about a professional wrestler whose trademark was the tiger mask he wore in the ring. Although rather tame by today’s standards, during the 1970s, Tiger Mask was considered shockingly violent in many parts of the world where the series was exported to. The tiger mask concept expanded beyond anime and manga and actually became a trademark for a number of real life Japanese professional wrestlers. The professional wrestler character “King” in Namco’s Tekken video game franchise also owes his origin to Tiger Mask. Unfortunately, despite being released in Europe, the Tiger Mask anime has never been officially released in America.

The 1986 OAV Wanna-Be’s is marginally memorable for many older anime fans because it featured attractive character designs by Kenichi Sonoda. This 45 minute long OAV about a pair of female pro-wrestlers that had to oppose a genetic experimenting on humans, resulting in a climactic wrestling showdown against a mutated monster. The OAV was released in America in 1993 by Central Park Media. It saw released on VHS and laserdisc, but never DVD. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this title has likewise never been released on DVD in Japan, either.

The 1994 television series Metal Fighter Miku is an underdog story about a small time futuristic female pro-wrestling team with dreams of making it big. The series is widely available on American DVD from Media Blasters.

The 2005 television series Fighting Beauty Wulong straddles a line between martial arts and professional wrestling. The female characters in the series fight in televised tournaments using mixed martial arts that include submission grappling.

Although not specifically a pro wrestling anime, the 2001 Grappler Baki television series, available on American DVD from FUNimation, includes a Japanese pro wrestler character who fights protagonist Baki Hanma. Likewise, the 2003 Air Master television series isn’t strictly about pro wrestling, but in episodes 12-14 protagonist Maki Aikawa dons a female tiger mask and takes part in a particularly bone crushing pro wrestling competition.