Wanna-Be's (1986) Anime OVA Review

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.

Dark Match (2024) Movie Review

Dark Match is a wrestling satanic horror action film written and directed by Lowell Dean, and starring Ayisha Issa, Steven Ogg, Sara Canning, and wrestling star Chris Jericho. The film generated mixed reviews and some scepticism among people who dislike movies that feature WWE stars but eventually it was released to some notoriety in the streaming service Shudder.

In the late eighties, Nicky (Ayisha Issa), known as Miss Behave in the ring and a female wrestler working for a small promotion company named SAW, travels to a weird little village for a private event where dangerous cult members, lead by a former wrestler known as The Prophet, are to attend. Things escalate and the cult members become bloodsthirsty, sacrifices are made hoping to bring the devil to our world and now Nicky, along with a manager who she had a troubled relationship with (Steven Ogg), and other companions, must escape and defeat the devil worshippers.

The film's biggest dealbreaker to me is the fact that it's never really committed to its craziness and potentially delirious storyline and tone, it's all hampered by the fact that everything feels halfway done. I don't know if it's a budget problem but the fight sequences never reach any overblown crescendo or kooky intensity one would expect from the director of films like Wolf Cop, it's all muffled and flavorless.

To add to its imperfections, Miss behave is sidelined for most of runtime since she steps back to let Steven Ogg drive the story for a fair amount of the duration. This is hardly a major flaw as Ogg is very enjoyable to watch but it's all at the expense of the heroine's agency and predominance in the narrative throughline. I really wish it wasn't as timid with its violence and its characters. Someone needed to up the ante and add a deranged energy that could help it.

The retro grindhouse grainy and dirty style with colorful lighting and unclean visuals add a ton of atmosphere and convey the exploitation-like throwback attitude the film wants to portray and be faithful to but it doesn't properly elevate the insanity that a satanic wrestling movie should most likely contain to deliver the goods. No amount of color can save the plain and empty scenarios and sets. Barely any real gore, no sleazy nudity and it hardly rejoices in its filthiness enough to make it stand out in the sea of faux grindhouse flicks out there.

The wrestling ladies and their manic matches are fun and it has a funny ending (that also cops out) but otherwise Dark Match is a highly unremarkable horror/slasher movie that it's probably just a rental or a casual watch if you can stream it for free.

Dirty Pair (1985) Retrospective - Episode 4: The Chase Smells Like Cheesecake and Death

This episode begins with workers fixing the wreck the dirty pair did at their building complex. Kei is watching wrestling while fixing stuff, a recurring thing in the show, which is funny because the series was inspired by women wrestlers. This scene shows Kei's tomboyish personality and Yuri's feminine side, as Yuri comes in with a girly magazine and groceries while Kei watches her sports while doing hard work. They are then called in to a new mission by their boss, not before Yuri announces that she has a date, nobody is amused. 

The mission involves catching a missing cat that was given a muscle fortifier that a company is working on, one that supposedly can make “humans break buildings with their own hands.” The little feline's favorite food is cheesecake, so the girls have to look for her in cake shops. Sounds like every female agent's dream assignment!

An intruder interrupts the briefing, it's the sister of the scientist who is talking to the dirty pair. It turns out his sister is one of the girl wrestlers Kei was watching at the beginning, Lan from the wrestling duo known as The Elegants. 

Truer words were never spoken.

The girls then go to some cake shops and begin to eat. There's a nice little moment of Kei eating a lot of cakes only to worry about her curves and deciding to do exercises right there. A good little character moment. The show is defined by these. Then Kei finds the cat and chases after her throughout the city.

Gotta keep herself in shape.

Eventually they arrive at a fancy hotel where the cat hides. Kei interrupts a newly wed couple and everything makes it seem as if Kei is angry at the guy for breaking her heart but she's really just looking for the little animal, which is funny enough, but after that Yuri comes in following the tracks of the cat and exactly the same thing happens. Poor guy, just after being forgiven by his sweetheart as well. 

A clue of what's to come.

After chasing the pussycat they arrive at a hair bank. The guys attending don't know what the 3WA is, so the protagonists have to force their way into the storage room where the cat is hiding. However, once they get her they are surprised by a train crashing into the room. It is the work of some mobsters who also want the cat. Needles to say, the girls start shooting up bad guys. 

The baddies are under arrest but they manage to escape by playing victims. But it doesn't end there. The girls then have to fight the real villains, Lan herself along with her wrestling partner, Jerry. That's right. The gals Kei was watching and gushing over at the start of the episode. 

The agents and the wrestlers have a fight in a hanging section of a bridge that hasn't been connected to the other parts yet, making the environment tilt and the cars slide around the place while the girls have a battle. Kei eventually defeats Lan and goes after the cat, grabbing her, Yuri then joins them. They end up hanging for their lives but alive and relatively safe. 

We don't see what happens next, we know the girls are fine and the villains are out of sight. We cut to the scientist that gave the gals their mission, we assume Lan and her wrestling partner were arrested. Turns out the dirty pair screwed up and picked up the wrong cat! Who has the real kitty? Oh no, she's with Mughi. Cute. 

An enjoyable episode but one that feels a little too unfocused. I wish Lan and Jerry would get more screen time and perhaps a more prominent role as antagonists because here they just seem like an afterthought, there is also not much in the way of an arc or a lesson for our characters to learn or a thematic idea to fight against, at least not one that's understandable and clear. But overall I think it holds up real well with all the dynamic fights and rapid pace that characterizes the show.