Month: September 2024

Categories
Art Cards Comics Japan Wrestling

Imagined Reality: The Art of Veronica O’Connell

Psylocke sketch card by Veronica O’Connell

I’ve had a surprisingly difficult time finding the proper words to open this look at the work of a truly special artist. There’s something indescribable that jumps out of Veronica O’Connell’s art and demands attention. So I decided to let the stunning depiction of Psylocke above make the first impression.

Ghost Spider, Spider-Woman, & Silk AP by Veronica O’Connell

I honestly don’t recall when I first saw Veronica’s work, but I do remember being blown away with her versions of Marvel characters and immediately putting her art on my collection list.

There is an incredible balance of realism and the fantastic in her illustrations. Her takes on comic characters simultaneously look like they could step right off into the real world while still feeling appropriately larger than life.

The qualities that initially caught my eye are on full display in the above gorgeous Spider-Women triptych, which is mind boggling. All the art I’ll be showing in this blog is directly drawn on blank trading cards. So each of the three characters shown above (Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Silk) is drawn on a third of a 3.5″ x 2.5″ work area. The detail and impact she’s able to achieve under such conditions is phenomenal.

There is so much style infused into Veronica’s work. Her use of color and lighting is exquisite and a big part of what makes her art so eye catching. It also underlies her emphasis of mood and atmosphere, making the same subjects feel different in different pieces depending on what she’s chosen to convey while retaining their core essence.

I have multiple cards by her of some of my favorite comic heroines, including Psylocke, Emma Frost, and Spider-Gwen, and the contrast between equally captivating depictions of the same character is fascinating to see.

Spider-Gwen PSC by Veronica O’Connell

My discovery of Veronica’s art through her Marvel work eventually led to the great opportunity to get some Personal Sketch Cards (PSCs) done as part of another key subset of my card collection.

I have followed and enjoyed Japanese women’s professional wrestling (joshi wrestling) for over a decade and collect related art in a number of forms. Veronica is the third artist to create PSCs for this collection, along with Juri H. Chinchilla and  Miki Okazaki

Kairi Sane PSC by Veronica O’Connell

Veronica’s renditions of the wrestlers she’s drawn for me are absolutely stunning. She achieves an amazing level of detail, capturing the subtleties of her subjects expressions and doing an exceptional job representing their intricate wrestling gear.

Perhaps most impressive is her ability to create such incredible likenesses on such small workspaces. From a distance these precise works could be mistaken for photographs, while up close the aspects that make the depictions hyper realistic elevate them even further.

Over time I’ve gotten 24 wrestling PSCs from Veronica, featuring a total of 30 wrestlers. Only 8 of those wrestlers had been drawn for me before on PSCs by other artists, meaning 22 of the wrestlers she drew for me were first time subjects for my sketch card collection.

All of the repeats were drawn in different gear and/or with different partners than the other cards I have, and it was a treat to get Veronica’s take on recurring collection subjects like WWE’s Asuka, AEW’s Riho and Hikaru Shida, and Sendai Girl’s DASH Chisako. Likewise awesome was adding in wrestlers I’d been meaning to have drawn like Asuka’s tag partner Kairi Sane and Stardom’s Starlight Kid.

Juria Nagano PSC by Veronica O’Connell

The vast majority of the wrestlers I had drawn for the first time were a large number of roster members and regular guests from two of my favorite promotions.

From Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), Veronica did wonderful cards of now former roster members Juria Nagano and Sakisama (with Mei Saint-Michel), tag teams Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (121000000) and Himawari & Wakana Uehara, long time roster members Mizuki and Yuki Kamifuku (Kamiyu), and the Up Up Girls Hikari Noa, Miu Watanabe, Raku, & Shino Suzuki.

Veronica’s encapsulation of that Up Up Girls lineup is a particularly nice memento for me given the recent departure of my favorite member, Hikari Noa, from both TJPW and the Up Up Girls.

The other big focus among the joshi wrestling cards Veronica’s done for me is a company called Ice Ribbon. One of my most watched promotions, it was a privilege to get Veronica to do related cards for me.

The core IR lineup I got includes brief former roster member Amu Yumesaki, and current roster members featuring second generation wrestler Ibuki Hoshi and impressive newer wrestlers like Tsukina Umino, Mifu Ashida, and Kaho Matsushita.

I was also happy to add former IR regular guests Ram Kaicho (from Triple Six), Saori Anou (now of Stardom), and Tae Honma & Maika Ozaki (SPiCEAP, both freelance), and reigning ICE Cross Infinity Champion YuuRI (from GanPro) to the collection.

As with the comic art, Veronica’s vivd colors, stunning lighting and shading, and delicate touches make all of her wrestler illustrations simply gorgeous. I could not be happier with how they all turned out.

Joshi PSC displays. Art by Veronica O’Connell, Juri Chinchilla, and Miki Okazaki.

I’m extremely thankful to Veronica for all the fantastic art she’s created for me. I hope to continue collecting more in the future.

Asahi PSC by Veronica O’Connell

To wrap up I’d like to talk about a particularly special card Veronica’s done for me, although there is unfortunately tragic news attached to it. Early this year Actwres girl’Z reported a 21 year old member of their roster named Asahi had unexpectedly passed away. Asahi started her career in Ice Ribbon and was a personal favorite of mine. Nicknamed the Sunrise of Hope, she was always a joy to watch and is greatly missed. Veronica’s remembrance piece of Asahi is absolutely breathtaking and a cherished keepsake.

Rest in Peace Asahi.

Categories
Japan Wrestling

Farewell Gatoh Move, Long Live ChocoPro

On August 31, 2024 Emi Sakura’s promotion Gatoh Move held a show at historic Korakuen Hall for the first time in eight years (full show available on YouTube). It was a great show and a huge milestone for the small company that fought tooth and nail to survive and evolve during difficult and turbulent times.

One of their evolutions was the creation of a second promotion/brand, named ChocoPro, during the pandemic. Once performing in front of crowds became possible again Gatoh Move and ChocoPro existed side by side.

After the Korakuen show, Sakura announced that her two brands would officially be merging, to be known only as ChocoPro going forward. As such I wanted to take a quick look back on the significance of the merge, and what separated the brands in the first place.

In 2012 Emi Sakura left a company that she founded called Ice Ribbon (that to this day still running and highly enjoyable), and founded a new joshi (girl/woman) promotion named Gatoh Move.

Likewise built around the idea that wrestling should be fun for both the wrestlers and fans, Gatoh’s general approach to wrestling wowed me when I initially saw them during my first trip to Japan both in ring and in the unique environment of Ichigaya Chocolate Square.

A deep dive into the promotion is beyond the purpose of this post, but check out this retrospective I wrote for their 10 year anniversary highlighting a lot of what I adore about both Gatoh Move and ChocoPro.

As mentioned above ChocoPro was created as a direct response to the difficulties of operating during the pandemic. Sakura didn’t want to just proceed as if they were doing Gatoh Move shows without fans. She approached the idea of streaming empty venue shows as something completely new that should be tailored and targeted as such.

When ChocoPro started there were three key differences to Gatoh Move. First was the absence of an audience in attendance.

Second, all the shows would stream live, where Gatoh shows had been primarily for the attending audience with big shows released on dvd and nothin aired live. This also led to Sakura’s new No Pay Wall strategy of having all their shows and other content airing free on YouTube with a variety of optional support methods.

The third key difference was that while Gatoh Move had always incorporated a lot of guest male wrestlers into their shows and were known for great intergender wrestling, they were still a joshi promotion. The official Gatoh roster was all women, the titles were held by women or intergender teams, and outside of extremely unusual circumstances the main events would always feature a roster member.

While still based largely around the core Gatoh roster, ChocoPro immediately established itself as a fully intergender promotion with a main event of Baliyan Akki vs Minoru Suzuki on the first show. As ChocoPro went on the vacated Super Asia singles title would return as an intergender belt, and likewise the Asia Dream Tag Titles would become open to challenges by male teams.

As pandemic restrictions lifted and live crowds began to be allowed again, the delineation between Gatoh Move and ChocoPro changed.

ChocoPro started running “ChocoPro Peoples” shows, which were still aimed at the streaming audience but had live attendees as well.

When “Gatoh Move” officially returned it was specifically used for the ring shows, and ChocoPro essentially became the name for the Ichigaya shows. All other differences besides the official Gatoh Move roster still being all joshi wrestlers had fallen by the wayside.

So at this point the merge is mostly a symbolic action to make things more straightforward with a single name for the company. While I’m personally quite attached to the Gatoh Move name and sad to see it go ChocoPro is more reflective of what the company has become. The overall impact on the fans is minimal, as the same great people will be presenting the same great wrestling they have been for years.

2019 Gatoh Move roster PSC puzzle by Juri Chinchilla.

So that’s why Gatoh Move/ChocoPro had two names, what the differences originally were, and what they became. Wishing all the best going forward for the newly “combined” ChocoPro.