Just as a primer, my knowledge of joshi is sorely lacking, I've watched a good amount of it but it's from all over and always just odd matches so I know very little on characters and stories and that whole side of things. That said there's no better time to learn so here we go.
So loading this match up, the thumbnail on YouTube is Akira Hokuto covered in blood, from that alone I could tell this was going to be a great match and yes it did deliver.
From the opening bell Hokuto knocks Kandori to the ground and starts cutting a promo, this continues for a little bit till Kandori fires up and just launches her way into Hokuto, takes her down and locks in an armbar that genuinely seems to break Hokuto's arm. The match pauses while doctors run in and check everything and you immediately clock that this is going to be a savage match, there's still 25 minutes to go and one wrestler is an arm down.
The match evolves in to Kandori working over the arm while Hokuto desperately tries to avoid everything. And there's a real sense of danger, Hokuto keeps getting these comebacks but you just know she can be shut down at any time with one strike to the arm. There's also some real screams from her that feel like a wounded animal screaming for help here too.
Eventually Hokuto mounts a comeback before taking Kandori out the announcer table and trying to hit a piledriver on the announcers' tables, this is a great plan right up until the moment it gets reversed and Kandori hits her own onto the table which does not budge. At all. Hokuto collapses off to the side and the camera zooms in to the crater her head has left on the table. There's another brief pause while she recovers but when she does she's just pouring blood and desperately scrabbling to the ring. When she eventually climbs in she's met with another round of kicks from Kandori before eventually bringing out a counter and taking the fight into the crowd. After a short brawl Kandori is also bleeding with a pretty cool looking blade job but then the camera cuts to Akira with a whole face of blood, and most of her hair stained too, just staggering around the ringside area looking like an actual corpse.
When it eventually gets back into the ring Hokuto is on offence and I love this. She's hitting these big strikes over and over but doesn't have the body strength for it so after each one she fully collapses and has to pull herself back to her feet. It really feels like she's just a ragdoll throwing her whole body into every strike. This keeps going as she gradually build some adrenaline and starts to resemble a living human again before Kandori block a spin kick and just tosses Akira to the floor. She lays in some more strikes then picks Hokuto up into a vertical suplex and walks to the ropes. Now I was fully expecting the usual drop someone stomach first onto the top rope spot but Kandori just drops her all the way over and onto the arena floor, then immediately follows up with a dive.
Then Kandori is back on offence and is just wearing Hokuto down more and more with some vicious grappling before the tide turns again, Hokuto hits a piledriver followed by a spin kick and both women collapse. There's a lot more trading moves from the two women that I don't want to go play-by-play on because this article is already too long. But I just want to comment on how fantastic Akira Hokuto is at selling the various submissions, she genuinely comes across like someone just clawing to stay alive and I bought nearly every one.
This is a match I have just loved watching on an almost visceral level, there's just so much savage fighting from both women yet at no time does it feel like they're just doing spots for the sake of it. You feel them get more and more worn down as they go but their minds are still focused on winning and their hearts on surviving. That felt a lot more cliché than I was expecting but it's late and I'm tired so we're rolling with it.
The match also has another top notch ending sequence, which caught me completely off-guard but makes complete sense. After throwing literally everything at each other both women are completely finished and climbing to their feet, Kandori hits a forearm to knock Hokuto down, who gets back up and hits her own and that's it. After everything it's just this one final simple strike that is the straw that broke the camel's back. It's just so understated and something I feel like I'd normally hate but this one just works. They make that final moment feel so earned.
This match was just an insanely fun time, a must watch to anyone out there.
****3/4
So loading this match up, the thumbnail on YouTube is Akira Hokuto covered in blood, from that alone I could tell this was going to be a great match and yes it did deliver.
From the opening bell Hokuto knocks Kandori to the ground and starts cutting a promo, this continues for a little bit till Kandori fires up and just launches her way into Hokuto, takes her down and locks in an armbar that genuinely seems to break Hokuto's arm. The match pauses while doctors run in and check everything and you immediately clock that this is going to be a savage match, there's still 25 minutes to go and one wrestler is an arm down.
The match evolves in to Kandori working over the arm while Hokuto desperately tries to avoid everything. And there's a real sense of danger, Hokuto keeps getting these comebacks but you just know she can be shut down at any time with one strike to the arm. There's also some real screams from her that feel like a wounded animal screaming for help here too.
Eventually Hokuto mounts a comeback before taking Kandori out the announcer table and trying to hit a piledriver on the announcers' tables, this is a great plan right up until the moment it gets reversed and Kandori hits her own onto the table which does not budge. At all. Hokuto collapses off to the side and the camera zooms in to the crater her head has left on the table. There's another brief pause while she recovers but when she does she's just pouring blood and desperately scrabbling to the ring. When she eventually climbs in she's met with another round of kicks from Kandori before eventually bringing out a counter and taking the fight into the crowd. After a short brawl Kandori is also bleeding with a pretty cool looking blade job but then the camera cuts to Akira with a whole face of blood, and most of her hair stained too, just staggering around the ringside area looking like an actual corpse.
When it eventually gets back into the ring Hokuto is on offence and I love this. She's hitting these big strikes over and over but doesn't have the body strength for it so after each one she fully collapses and has to pull herself back to her feet. It really feels like she's just a ragdoll throwing her whole body into every strike. This keeps going as she gradually build some adrenaline and starts to resemble a living human again before Kandori block a spin kick and just tosses Akira to the floor. She lays in some more strikes then picks Hokuto up into a vertical suplex and walks to the ropes. Now I was fully expecting the usual drop someone stomach first onto the top rope spot but Kandori just drops her all the way over and onto the arena floor, then immediately follows up with a dive.
Then Kandori is back on offence and is just wearing Hokuto down more and more with some vicious grappling before the tide turns again, Hokuto hits a piledriver followed by a spin kick and both women collapse. There's a lot more trading moves from the two women that I don't want to go play-by-play on because this article is already too long. But I just want to comment on how fantastic Akira Hokuto is at selling the various submissions, she genuinely comes across like someone just clawing to stay alive and I bought nearly every one.
This is a match I have just loved watching on an almost visceral level, there's just so much savage fighting from both women yet at no time does it feel like they're just doing spots for the sake of it. You feel them get more and more worn down as they go but their minds are still focused on winning and their hearts on surviving. That felt a lot more cliché than I was expecting but it's late and I'm tired so we're rolling with it.
The match also has another top notch ending sequence, which caught me completely off-guard but makes complete sense. After throwing literally everything at each other both women are completely finished and climbing to their feet, Kandori hits a forearm to knock Hokuto down, who gets back up and hits her own and that's it. After everything it's just this one final simple strike that is the straw that broke the camel's back. It's just so understated and something I feel like I'd normally hate but this one just works. They make that final moment feel so earned.
This match was just an insanely fun time, a must watch to anyone out there.
****3/4