Wanna-Be 's is a 1986 action sports sci-fi wrestling anime OVA directed by Yasuo Hasegawa and written by Toshimichi Suzuki. It features character design work done by manga artist Ken'ichi Sonoda and Yoshiharu Shimizu served as animation director. The voice cast features Eriko Hara, Miki Takahashi, Shūichi Ikeda, Akio Nojima, Eiko Yamada and Urara Takano. It also had metal music by Japanese band Seikima-II and an ending theme by Saori Saitō. Produced by Anime International Company, Wanna Be 's became a cult direct to video release among otakus, particularly because it took advantage of the Japanese wrestling craze of the time.
Miri and Eri are two female wrestlers known as the Wanna-Be's, who fight furiously in the ring against their local foes the Foxy Ladies. However, things get shady when the mysterious Kidou Corporation offers them a chance to better their capabilities. The girls begin to feel some strange and awkward changes in their bodies and uncover the company's nefarious hidden plans.
Considering that this was just a year after Dirty Pair, it's not strange to see a leading pair heavily inspired by them and with similar designs and personalities. The redhead with the short hair embodies a tomboyish attitude and her fiery nature, while the long haired girl with a less arresting color has elements that signal her calm demeanor and more "feminine" personality. The two have some chemistry and enjoy modernity through the futuristic lenses the show sets up, sharing a strong bond and a love for combat. The only difference is that the Wanna Be's don't cause a giant mess everywhere they go.
This OVA is quite awesome from the start, it goes right to the point and gives you the money shots you expect, it really grabs you from the start and never lets go, putting you on a short but very enjoyable roller coaster of wild wrestling action up to the science fiction brawl from the climax with all of it making perfect sense and never feeling out of place. I honestly wasn't expecting the turn it took around the half way mark but it was a very welcome surprise. The versatile genre elements it shuffles really do come together seamlessly.
As you might expect, we also witness some potent wrestling anime action, you can tell the animators and directors took their time and studied the different moves and maneuvers that were common at the time in the sport, having the girls perform them and be victims of them, arriving at some striking poses. The actual direction is also solid as the shots are dynamic, intense, well timed, edited smoothly and with the angles emphasizing the ferocity of the encounters. It's a shame we weren't gifted with even more matches or perhaps more characters in the ring. We have a good variety of bodies and colors in there, but it would have been cool to get more lady matches in there as a way to expand the world because the few that we see kind of make the world seem a bit narrow.
This is a radically deranged and out there anime OVA that mixes both sports fanservice with the imaginative thrills of a sci-fi monster anime of its time quite expertly.
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