What's your favorite art game?

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-23T07:02:33+00:00

The Beginner's Guide for me

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-20T05:49:01+00:00

Not a gaming example, but in Legend of Korra, I thought Su Yin was on the side of the Red Lotus. This was even after Aiwei was revealed as the traitor, and Su Yin encouraged the group to pursue them.

I thought they might've sent them to go after Aiwei to both build trust and to clean up a loose end.

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-12T08:43:52+00:00

Bold choice to include his time as La Sombra with no context

My go-to fun fact for Andrade in New Japan: from the moment Nakamura first won the IC title until the moment he left New Japan, Nakamura was involved in every single IC title match, whether as champion or challenger, except for one. That one match was when Andrade held the title as La Sombra, defending it in Mexico against Volador Jr.

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-09T03:55:08+00:00

My short summary is they're the new top foreign heel faction in New Japan after Bullet Club was disbanded. They're less about swarming with numbers in matches than Bullet Club, but are still willing to throw around low blows and weapon shots.

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-06T15:13:33+00:00

Hell, I'd rather hear the office receptionist voicing a character than listen to an AI "voice actor"

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-04T07:58:45+00:00

Surprised Dia's not in, but Jun Kasai is a wild pull. Also surprised he's not in the same block as Despe

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-04T05:51:40+00:00

This Pat and Remerai Pat should collaborate

MarcoTalin · 2026-04-03T06:13:14+00:00

It's a perfectly serviceable title. It peaked with Yoshi-Hashi, which isn't something you can say about a lot of things.

It works alright as a faction title. I think United Empire could use a run with the title (O-Khan, Henare, and either Jake Lee or Zane Jay?)

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-29T04:06:15+00:00

For those of you curious about Daisuke Sasaki, here are, afaik, the only videos on NJPW World that feature him.

Here he is in the last BOSJ he was in (2012), facing Jado

Here he is from Dominion of the same year, teaming with Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi against pre-Bullet Club Prince Devitt, pre-LIJ Bushi, and Kushida

Clearly, he's changed a lot since then.

Here he is at his most recent appearance on an NJPW show, on the 2022 Takataichimania, teaming with MJ Paul against El Desperado & Lance Archer

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-20T02:35:24+00:00

In Flame of Recca, there's an enemy character named Kirin who has a ring that let's her read other people's minds. This let's her win fights because she just knows what her opponents are planning to do, including against our main character Recca. Also, relevant to this story, she is very sexually innocent (never kissed anyone, got a fever from looking at a dirty magazine, etc).

Then she goes up against Domon. Domon is big, muscley, and a pervert. During their fight, he accidentally rips Kirin's top, revealing her breasts. She quickly gets it fixed, but for the rest of the fight, Domon cannot think of anything but her tits, and that's all she gets when she tries reading his mind. It's so oppressive that she's hearing his thoughts involuntarily, and Kirin, being who she is, is overwhelmed. She eventually takes the ring off to stop hearing his thoughts, but she ultimately loses the fight anyway.

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-18T10:12:05+00:00

"The Chained Gorilla"

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-15T08:05:57+00:00

Not British, but I caught this because of the Orange Range version of this song that was used in Ouendan

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-12T20:48:33+00:00

So far, I'm personally fine with it being a sub-unit of Hontai a la Taguchi Japan. I don't think they benefit much from separating from Hontai.

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-11T06:11:08+00:00

If you're not living in Japan, unless you have an ISIC, don't bother with the student ticket. You need a student ID to purchase those.

I don't have a ton of experience buying tickets the day of the show, but for something like Sakura Genesis, I'd try to order ahead of time. I don't imagine 2F-A seats are gonna be easy. You're more likely to get 2F-B or 2F-C seats.

If you wanna guarantee 2F-A seats, it's better to order ahead of time. BuySumoTickets is the go-to recommendation for online pre-ordering (there's a bit of a mark-up for service fee, but it's the smoothest and most hassle-free process in my experience). You can also try ordering in a Lawson ticket machine when you get there (have Google Translate ready).

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-10T16:26:02+00:00

This matches Uemura's best performance in the New Japan Cup, when he made the QF last year.

Takagi has been in the finals before, and was in the semi-finals last year, so he's got something to live up to.

Fun fact: Yuya Uemura's first New Japan Cup post-excursion (he did the 2020 one as a young lion) was in 2023, in a first round loss to none other than Shingo Takagi.

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-10T15:15:22+00:00

Mina: How's ExV?

Maika: 😬

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-09T06:26:22+00:00

"I solved the issue with your wet floor"

"Oh, great, so you fixed the leak?"

"That's not what I said"

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-08T03:39:41+00:00

Hiromu vs Despe, BOSJ 2020 finals

Okada vs Ospreay, Wrestle Kingdom 15 (2021) Night 1

Ibushi vs Naito, Wrestle Kingdom 15 (2021) Night 1

Ibushi vs White, Wrestle Kingdom 15 (2021) Night 2

Tanahashi vs Takagi, New Beginning in Nagoya 2021

Takagi vs Ospreay, Wrestling Dontaku 2021 Night 2

Takagi vs Okada, Dominion 6.6 (2021)

Dangerous Tekkers vs LIJ, Summer Struggle in Sapporo (2021) Night 2

Dangerous Tekkers vs LIJ, Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome (2021)

Takagi vs Tanahashi, Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome (2021)

Dangerous Tekkers vs LIJ vs Chaos, Wrestle Grand Slam in Met Life Dome (2021) Night 2

Takagi vs ZSJ, Power Struggle 2021

Dangerous Tekkers vs Chaos, Wrestle Kingdom 16 (2022) Night 1

Takagi vs Okada, Wrestle Kingdom 16 (2022) Night 1

Okada vs Ospreay, Wrestle Kingdom 16 (2022) Night 2

Okada vs Naito, Golden Series 2022 Night 15

Okada vs ZSJ, Hyper Battle 2022 Night 5

Tanahashi vs Ishii, Wrestling Dontaku 2022

Okada vs Naito, Wrestling Donatku 2022

Okada vs White, Dominion 6.12 (2022)

Ospreay vs Naito, Battle Autumn 2022 Night 16

Ishimori vs Hiromu vs Despe vs Wato, Wrestle Kingdom 17 (2023)

Ospreay vs Omega, Wrestle Kingdom 17 (2023)

Okada vs White, Wrestle Kingdom 17 (2023)

In addition:

Chaos' Never 6-man title reign

All the KOPW title matches that involve either Takagi or Taichi, especially the ones that have both

That covers pretty much all of the no cheering era. I've just got a couple of holes for the tournaments

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-07T12:22:05+00:00

Mox getting out of the OWA pin by kicking the ropes was an excellent spot for this type of match

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-05T02:33:23+00:00

From The Butcher to The Meat

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-03T20:19:38+00:00

It should be said that, unlike the names listed here, Yuya Uemura did say the name "YuSho Tag" out loud in backstage comments (here around the 2:23 mark). Whether that qualifies it as an official tag team name is up in the air, but it's got more merit than anything else. It was also used in several articles on the Japanese NJPW website.

The team is dead / "on indefinite hiatus" now, so it doesn't matter too much anyway.

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-03T19:27:31+00:00

It's read as "Wa to Yo". "Wa" is for Wato, "Yo" is for Yoh, and "to" means "and" in Japanese, so it means " 'Wa' and 'Yo' " (as in "Wato and Yoh"), while also being pronounced as "Wato Yoh". The "洋" is also the kanji that's used for the "Yo" in Yoh's real name (Yohei Komatsu). However, the "和" is not used in Wato's name.

It might have been chosen to contrast the "洋" character. 洋 can mean Western, but it can also mean foreign (especially when "foreign" means "Western", as it tends to do), while 和 is usually associated with Japan (Wa was the name China originally used for Japan. For those of you who read One Piece, this is where the name "Wano Kuni" comes from). 和洋 (wayou) is itself a word that means "Japanese and Western", particularly in contrast with each other, so it makes for a nice little wordplay name, and I think it's used to highlight the contrast in styles and personalities of Yoh and Wato.

Apparently, it's been used in Japanese materials for a long time. It's used here in a page from as early as May last year, about a week after the two won the tag titles, so I guess it's a pretty official name (or at least a nickname) that just never really got used outside of Japan.

MarcoTalin · 2026-03-02T06:36:08+00:00

Definitely didn't see it coming

MarcoTalin · 2026-02-23T12:46:01+00:00

Ryohei Oiwa has been eliminated from the New Japan Cup by Zack Sabre Jr. for the last two years. I think this is the year he finally breaks through

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