ChocoPro, formerly Gatoh Move, is a Japanese pro-wrestling company based in Ichigaya Japan. Founded by near 30 year wrestling veteran Emi Sakura, ChocoPro embraces and embodies Sakura’s core belief that wrestling should be fun for both the audience and the wrestlers.
For the last couple of years a ChocoPro themed mobile game has been in development, and today the anticipation came to an end with its release.
Having evolved from a joshi (women’s) wrestling company ChocoPro’s core roster is primarily women, but they are a fully intergender company featuring a number of both men and women wrestlers on every show. As such the ChocoPro wrestlers in this game include both women and men.
ChocoPro Happy Festival is a collection of 9 mini-games each featuring one of ChocoPro’s wrestlers. Wrestlers featured include reigning Super Asia Champion Mei Suruga, Sayaka, Chie Koishikawa, Tokiko Kirihara (Otoki), Sayaka Obihiro (Obi), Emi Sakura, Miya Yotsuba, Baliyan Akki, and DDT Pro’s Masahiro Takahashi (Masa)*. There might also be a special guest appearance lurking about.
Adorable chibi versions of the wrestlers are used on the games. The visuals are gorgeous. The chibis capture the essence of the wrestlers, the backgrounds and details are great, and everything is colorful and vibrant.
The games are straight forward, as expected and appropriate for mini-games, but still amusing and addictive. There’s a nice variety of game types included. Three are side scrollers, two are stop the gauge games, one’s a matching game, two are reaction games, and the last a speed puzzle.
Thematically they’re fantastic. From Mei running along jumping around collecting apples to Sayaka elbowing dummies out of the ring for distance to feeding Her Highness cake and so on each game was clearly carefully designed with great knowledge and respect for the subjects.
Instrumental versions of familiar songs from Gatoh Move and ChocoPro through the years have been adapted to be used for the various menu screens, and each wrestler’s stage features their entrance music. Music is so closely intertwined with a wrestler/promotion’s presentation that it’s inclusion in something like this feels necessary, and was done excellently.
There’s effort and care visible in every aspect of the game. Wonderful little details, like glasses piling up around Masa as you serve him more and more beer during his game or the various levels of happiness or disappointment the wrestler has after the game depending on how you did are great touches. The loading screens during installation are cool profiles of the included wrestlers (which I wish there was a way to view on demand – there’s thankfully no loading screens needed during play after the game’s installed).
Speaking of Masa’s game, it’s likely the reason for the 17+ years old rating this has in the Apple App Store. There’s really nothing else in here beside the alcohol inclusion that would push this above an all ages rating.
The other half of the package here is the rewards system. Choco Points earned in the mini-games can be redeemed for icons and photo tickets. Photo tickets will randomly unlock one of 300 photos. Unlocked photos can be viewed in the photo album, as well as chosen to be featured on home screen. Photos include action and posed shots of ChocoPro wrestlers.
To be honest I’m mostly a console gamer and don’t play/buy mobile games often. So I don’t have much frame of reference on the $12 price point for a mini-game collection of this type. I will say that this is well made and is a wonderful pickup for fans of the company, and for me was definitely worth getting.
It’s really cool to see this game go from concept to fully released, and it turned out great. ChocoPro Happy Festival is a love letter to the company, and an easy recommendation.
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*It would feel like an omission to talk about Masa in this post without mentioning that he is currently out with a major neck injury. He recently was released from ICU and is starting rehabilitation. Wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
So the tagline I used in the title has nothing to do with the version of the Thunderbolts in the movie. But I read the original Thunderbolts comics by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley as they came out so have a soft spot for the original concept and couldn’t resist the callback.
I enjoy the idea of taking secondary, often flawed characters from various stories and putting them together to see how they play off each other in general. And the entire lineup here were interesting in their previous MCU appearances with a lot of potential for fleshing out. Pretty much everyone in the movie was someone I was excited to see more of.
So I went into Thunderbolts with high levels of anticipation. I’m inclined to say it was everything I hoped for, but in actuality it was a good deal more than that.
I expected to love it, and I did. I also got the fun interactions and solid action I wanted. On top of all that though, I got a compelling, character driven story that was engaging from start to finish and made this movie an instant favorite.
No spoilers here but I had figured some things out ahead of time. Both in concept and in plot details. But there were also a couple surprises, as well as some things I expected done in unexpected ways. I really have no complaints about how anything played out.
A couple characters were a touch under utilized, but they still made the most of their roles and in an ensemble movie centered by a few key character journeys a few people were going to have to be supporting cast.
As a big comic reader going back decades I’ve been mostly at least peripherally aware of the characters we’ve seen and the big story beats in play for the previous MCU movies. The way things have been adapted to build naturally from how prior movies went nothing is ever slavish to the source material, but I often have the gist of some important points before I see the movie.
In contrast this was one of the first Marvel movies that prominently featured a character I know next to nothing about. It was interesting having no frame of reference for a change. While I can’t speak on how faithful it was to the source, I liked what the movie did with them.
There are SO many interesting implications of the end credits. Won’t say more, but I’m psyched as to where things go from here.
I ended up seeing this in 3D based on availability as to when I could see the movie. Last 3D movie for me was probably pre-pandemic. It was well done. It didn’t feel like the 3D was constantly calling attention to itself, but at the same time there were moments where the 3D made certain shots breathtaking.
Thunderbolts was fantastic. Well acted, looked great, strong plot, and on and on. If at all interested go see it as soon as you can.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
One more batch of AEW Fight Forever sponsored promotional wrestling matches from Tokyo Game Show 2022 to take a look at. I previously wrote about day one and day two.
This was the last day of the trade fair, so only two matches on tap this time.
Yuka Sakazaki vs Hikari Noa
Hikari’s the only wrestler to appear on all three days. Again it’s a nice treat to have these matches resurface in lieu of her departure from wrestling last year.
Both participants here were TJPW roster, so while Hikari’s other two matches were first time encounters she’s very familiar with today’s opponent. They had faced previously in a handful of singles matches and numerous tag matches.
Yuka was a couple weeks away from her third Princess of Princess Championship reign.
Hikari’s a previous International Princess Champion, which she lost in early 2022. It ended up being the only singles title of her career.
Nice counter wrestling to start. Yuka ends up with the edge but Hikari wipes her out with a dropkick as she celebrates.
Yuka bails to the outside, quickly followed by Hikari. Yuka lands some strikes then takes Hikari sightseeing. Yuka finds some space in front of an exhibit and slams Hikari on floor. She then does some posing in front of a SpongeBob display before throwing Hikari into it.
She drags Hikari through the crowd some more and tries to hide behind a costumed mascot. Hikari hits her with a superkick around the alien anyway.
Yuka negotiates a pause and has the alien shake Hikari’s hand, but whacks the distracted Hikari with his gun. At least she didn’t shoot her I suppose.
After returning the deadly weapon to its owner she takes Hikari back to ringside. They exchange strikes, then Yuka rams Hikari into a ring post. Back in the ring Yuka covers for 2. I adore it when wrestlers go for a pin immediately after a big impact outside. They’re trying to win.
Yuka kicks Hikari in the corner then climbs up to apply a head scissors and leans back outside the ropes. Classic Yuka. Referee counts it and she breaks on 4. She goes up top and does her cartwheel dodge to the apron when Hikari charges. Well, kind of cartwheel dodge. When she does it to the apron it’s sometimes more of a roll with her hands planted on the ropes. Springboard dropkick back into the ring gets 2.
Yuka controls with rolling suplexes, but Hikari floats out of the third. A jumping lariat and her dropkick barrage solidifies her advantage, and a snap mare into a dropkick to back gets 2.
Cobra twist from Hikari. Yuka tries to power to the ropes, so Hikari drops it into a cover for 2. She holds on after the kickout and goes into her rolling cradle for 2.
Staying in position she applies a seated version of the cobra twist. Yuka’s had enough though, stands up despite Hikari’s efforts, and tosses Hikari off. As usual Yuka’s strength is unreal.
Hikari ducks a clothesline and rolls Yuka up with bridge (Japanese leg roll clutch variation) for 2. Her super kick is caught though, and Yuka spins her right into a suplex.
Yuka goes up top in the corner, and has to kick Hikari’s charges away twice. Hikari catches the kick on her third charge though, and brings Yuka down with a super exploder for 2.
The exhausted combatants have an elbow/forearm exchange on their knees. It continues as they rise to their feet, until Yuka eventually wipes Hikari out with one.
Magical Merry Go Round (hammerlock airplane spin into a face buster) attempt is escaped and Hikari hits an exploder, but Yuka responds with Tea Time (scoop suplex).
Now in firm control, Yuka completes the second try at Magical Merry Go Round for the win.
Respect shown by Yuka afterwards, and both speak in the post match interview (for all previous matches it was the winner only cutting a promo).
This was the longest match of the weekend at 12 minutes, which makes sense as it was the only match to do an extended outside the ring portion (there were a couple dives and one announce table DDT on previous days). So yet another aspect of wrestling was shown off here. Fun stuff, and the in ring portions were great. Really cool match overall.
Hikari lost all three of her matches, but given her vastly more experienced opponents that wasn’t unexpected. It was all about the fight she put up, and she did great.
Hagane Shinno vs Michael Nakazawa
I’m quite familiar with Hagane via his matches in Gatoh Move/ChocoPro. Big fan of his, but after my introduction to Nakazawa in the previous batch of these matches I’m not particularly psyched for this.
Hagane had not appeared for AEW prior to this, but would work several matches for Dark a couple months later including a lauded singles against Kenny Omega.
Nakazawa comes out to join the announce desk, seemingly only so his opponent is forced to call him into the ring from there.
Once things get started Nakazawa asks for Hagane’s help putting on a kneepad, then hits him with the microphone when he obliges.
Hagane gets crotched on the ropes, then dragged along them as Nakazawa did to Ueno the previous day. This is apparently called the Hentai Slide. I have no words.
Hagane takes over with a dropkick. Nakazawa bails outside then dodges a slingshot dive attempt. Hagane however adjusts and lands on the apron. He climbs the outside turnbuckles and nails a moonsualt to the floor.
Nakazawa crawls to the stage, but Hagane catches up and suplexes him.
While Hagane is distracted by the ref trying to get them back in the ring Nakazawa uses the entrance tunnels to get behind Hagane for an ambush. He hits hiragana with … a life sized Nakazawa promotional standee. Use whatever’s on hand I guess.
Nakazawa brings the standee into the ring and charges Hagane with it, but Hagane rolls under it and dropkicks it into Nakazawa’s face.
Hagane’s crazy stiff kicks follow, then he goes up top to hit a missile dropkick for 2. A slam on Nakazawa sets up the moonsault, but Nakazawa rolls away Hagane hits canvas.
During a strike exchange Nakazawa takes off his t-shirt. If he does the underwear garbage again I’m out. Yeah his trunks are around his knees again. Pulls them back up and there he goes taking off the under trunks to put on his hand and I’m done. Not interested in watching this stuff again. Once was much more than enough.
Was fine until I gave up at around 6 out of 8 minutes. Nothing like advertising a video game with matches centered around trying to shove used underwear in people’s faces. I wouldn’t have chosen this to end the weekend.
Skipping ahead to the finish Hagane wins with a hanging corner double stomp followed by Rahei (somersault STO rollup). Hagane’s great. Nakazawa’s skills are serviceable but his gimmick sucks.
It was smart to include some comedy in the exhibition matches, but found the choice of it poor. Crowd seemed fine for it though, so mileage will vary.
Over the course of the whole weekend these matches were a great way to promote the game. The participants, styles, etc were all carefully chosen and well presented to be accessible to both prior fans and attendees who might be seeing wrestling for the first time. Everyone worked hard and with the exception of the one aspect I’ve made clear wasn’t to my tastes all three days are easy recommendations.
This event and other shows from numerous promotions (including TJPW, DDT, Sendai Girls, Marigold, and so on) can be viewed with a Wrestle Universe subscription.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Back in 2022 Tokyo Game Show, an annual video game trade fair, featured several AEW sponsored wrestling matches to promote the release of AEW Fight Forever. I previously took a look at day one, and now it’s on to day two.
Konosuke Takeshita vs Chris Brookes
Cool matchup of two of DDT’s cornerstones. Brookes had numerous title reigns at this point but hadn’t ever won the big KO-D Openweight Championship yet. Takeshita had held it a number of times, and had just recently lost it a month prior.
Both these wrestlers faced Christopher Daniels (in separate singles matches) on day one.
The match starts with extended technical grappling including a cool counter where Takeshita powers Chris up while in an armlock to counter, but the latter releases his legs and stands up to prevent any sort of slam. They trade holds until Chris lands a chop and challenges Takeshita to respond in kind. A hard elbow levels Chris and that might not have been the wisest challenge to make.
An awesome moment sees Chris tease an inside out suplex from the apron, then hit a flying cutter into the ring after Takeshita fights out.
Chris works a deathlock for a bit while in control. Takeshita fights to the ropes for a break.
Later with Takeshita back on offense highlights include a wicked slingshot plancha, and a Blue Thunder Powerbomb for 2.
Takeshita goes up top. He’s intercepted by Chris but counters the latter’s superplex attempt and pushes Chris down. Chris pops right back up and hits a butterfly superplex.
Chris’ Praying Mantis Bomb (sitout butterfly piledriver) is escaped with a crazy counter seeing Ueno land on his feet when Chris sits out. A knee strike wipes Chris out.
They link left hands and forearm the hell out of each other with their rights. Takeshita eventually ducks one of Chris’ strikes and grabs a waist lock for a German suplex attempt. Chris counters into a rolling cradle but Takeshita rolls through it for 2.
A fast paced exchange of strikes ends with a big lariat by Takeshita, but the pin is countered into a tight crucifix by Chris for 2.
They go back and forth some more then Chris ducks another lariat, but after rebounding off the ropes he’s nailed with Takeshita’s kneestrike. The 3 is academic.
Handshake afterwards, then Takeshita gives the quick winner promo that’s been standard throughout the weekend.
Chris lost both his matches but looked great and Takeshita felt like a monster beating him clean here. Takeshita will wrestle again in the last match of the day.
A hard fought, exciting match. Again the presentation, participants, and matches have been spot on all around for an event like this.
Riho vs Hikari Noa
My most anticipated match of the whole weekend. Riho was AEW’s first ever Women’s Champion, and was a 16 year vet at age of 25 when this trade fair happened. This was her only match of the event.
Hikari is the only wrestler that had matches on all three days. As I said regarding day one seeing these previously unreleased matches of hers is a treat for me as I’m a huge fan and she has since left wrestling.
On a random note the smoke on the entrances is heavy today, completely blocking the side cam view of some of the wrestlers. It’s just a couple seconds of footage so no big deal, but it’s still a bit weird to see them walk through such a dense cloud.
Squaring up right away, they fight over wrist lock then go right into the standard quick paced counter exchange. Longtime wrestling fans know this when they see it, with rope running, leg sweeps, quick rolling out of covers, and so on. Always a good way to show athleticism though and a crowd pleaser. Can’t think of a better time to use it either, as there’s likely to be a bunch of first time watchers in the audience.
Hikari tries to get an edge of her much more experienced opponent with a number of hair tosses, but Riho counters the third with a cartwheel. A subsequent Riho crossbody is countered at one into a pin, which Riho quickly bridges out of.
Riho ties Hikari in the ropes, then climbs them herself and poses and waves to the audience with her foot in Hikari’s face. She breaks at 3. Riho then settles in for a bit with a deep single leg crab. Hikari struggles hard to claw her way to the ropes for a break.
Creating a bit of space, Hikari deploys her dropkick barrage. For those who haven’t seen this: she throws a number of dropkicks (or super kicks) in as quick succession as possible, sacrificing power for speed. They’re less impactful than carefully measured ones and are sometimes glancing blows, but the point is to overwhelm and wear down her opponent a bit.
Now in control, Hikari goes into her seated rolling cradle for 2.
Hikari rushes a downed Riho in the ropes, and hits a knee to the back. She does it again and gets legswept into Tiger Feint Kick (619) position. The knee was a touch awkward. Looked like Hikari expected Riho to be closer to the ropes (or maybe expected the sweep on the first run). But she adjusted well and it was a really minor thing.
Commentary went with the 619 name, so I guess I’m switching over. Riho nails it, then goes up top. Crossbody gets 2. Riho calls for the end, and her Northern Lights Suplex gets another close 2.
She goes up to the top turnbuckle again, but Hikari dodges the diving double stomp. Hikari’s charge is countered with a schoolboy rollup, and a resulting series of counter rollups for 2 ends with deep cover rollup by Hikari for an even closer 2. Great sequence.
Riho follows Hikari into ropes for a clothesline. Hikari returns the favor with hard dropkick, then follows up with a diving lariat for 2
Hikari’s Blizzard Suplex is fought out of, but she lands super kicks to Riho’s knee then head to keep control. Hikari goes up, but is slow due to exhaustion/damage. Riho meets her on the turnbuckles and after a forearm exchange superplexes Hikari back into the ring.
Riho’s diving double stomp from the top … gets 2.999999. Great shocked face from Riho at her opponent’s resilience. It’s Hikari’s last act of defiance though. Riho nails the Somato (running double kneestrike) and Hikari’s done.
Face paced and fun. In concept this was extremely similar to Hikari’s day one match against Mizunami. She was outmatched and fighting with all she had until she couldn’t anymore. But Riho’s a very different type of skilled vet than the physically imposing powerhouse Mizunami, so it was a quite different encounter.
This was essentially a dream match for me and I’m thrilled that it happened and that I could finally watch it. Shame it was one of the shortest matches of the weekend (I would’ve loved another 5 minutes), but 8 minutes is still solid and what we got was great.
Yuki Ueno vs Michael Nakazawa
Ueno was DDT’s Universal Champion at the time and came out with the belt. Outside of this, his only appearance for AEW was 7 months later on Dark.
Haven’t seen much of him, but he’s one of DDT’s top stars and was a great choice to have make an appearance.
After Ueno’s entrance different music hits, and at the announce table Nakazawa acts surprised. Didn’t catch the banter as I don’t speak much Japanese, but after a bit the crowd encourages him to get in to face Ueno.
He has the ref check him while still holding the mic and chatting. Bell rings with him still commentating as he circles Ueno. He calls for a lockup. Ueno forces him to the ropes and gives a mostly clean break. Nakazawa reverses the second lockup in the ropes and tries a cheap shot, but begs off when it doesn’t work.
Nakazawa calls for a handshake then tries a cheap shot with the mic while calling Ueno a baka (fool), but it’s blocked and he’s wiped out.
He tosses Ueno the mic and hits a super kick with the distraction. He’s now in full heel mode and the mic stuff is done. He works over Ueno in the corner for a bit.
Nakazawa pulls off his polo to reveal a Michael Nakazawa tank top.Then takes off his pants to reveal his trunks. If only he had stopped there. He whips then chokes Ueno with his pants. Once that’s done he elevates Ueno to crotch him on the ropes then slides him along them.
Nakazawa runs to ropes, but holds on to them to foil a Ueno dropkick counter. Eats the next dropkick though. Ueno repeatedly wipes him out with running forearms, then goes on an extended offensive flurry including a flying seated splash in corner, a beautiful overhead German, a plancha to the outside, and a DDT on the announce table.
Back inside, Nakazawa gets his knees up to counter Ueno’s top rope frog splash.
During a forearm exchange Nakazawa takes off his tank top to fire himself up. He eats another shot, lowers his kneepad, eats another shot, then lowers his trucks (he’s wearing another, slimmer pair underneath). The ref stops him from disrobing halfway, leading to another another shot from Ueno and Nakazawa’s now wrestling with his original trucks around his knees. I can’t believe I’m recapping this.
A teardrop suplex puts Ueno down and Nakazawa pulls his trunks up. He then takes off the underneath pair (a leg at a time) and puts them on his hands, then they struggle over whose face what’s essentially worn underwear is going to be shoved into. Of course it’s the ref that takes it as a collateral shot. This is now everything I hate about lowbrow humor in wrestling.
Nakazawa gets a rollup but there’s no ref as he’s still suffering from the underwear to the face. Suplex by Ueno, but he springboards into the trunks to the face. Cover with the trunks still over his face gets 2.
Nakazawa puts the deadly trunks on his knee, but whatever he had planned is countered with a dropkick. Half nelson suplex gets 3 for Ueno.
Objectively the crowd was into this and showing a different style of wrestling was smart. And DDT is known for its mix of comedy and action. Personally though I thought this was a waste of Ueno, showed only a fraction of what he’s capable of, and at 10+ minutes it was a lot of wasted time that could have been given to other matches. Fine for what it was, but what it was is so not for me.
Christopher Daniels & Ryo Mizunami vs Yuka Sakazaki & Konosuke Takeshita
Man if we could get AEW to regularly book Yuka and get over their aversion to intergender matches this dream team could be tearing things up every week. While Yuka was in TJPW at this time and a part time AEW guest, she’s now living in the US and a full time member of the AEW roster.
The wrestling experience in this match is insane. The least experienced participant is Yuka, who was a nine year veteran at the time. The rest range from 10 to 30 years in the business. Four masters of the craft.
The men start. Some fun counter wrestling early, leading to a Daniels cheap shot for a momentary advantage. But when things settle Takeshita hits a backdrop then a leg lariat to take over. Daniels bails to the corner to be comforted by Ryo. Tag to the women.
A counter wrestling exchange is dominated by the powerhouse, with some particularly vicious use of a headlock, but Yuka’s deceptively powerful and it won’t last long until she gives it back.
Fun sequence follows of Mizunami shrugging off Yuka’s shoulder blocks, then wiping out the smaller competitor with her own. Yuka sends Mizunami to her corner though and tags Takeshita. And thank goodness while they’re calling this a “mixed tag” we have proper intergender rules and not the silly meaning mixed tag has in the states (where tagging your partner forces a switch on the other side so men only face men and women only face women).
Takeshita elbows Mizunami in the corner. Yuka comes in for a double suplex, but she’s so much shorter than Takeshita she isn’t really needed and nonchalantly walks out while Takeshita has Ryo up. Then Yuka lands an enzugiri on Mizunami’s head as Takeshita brings her down. Great, creative double team.
Daniels comes in to get plastered with a double rolling elbow. Yuka goes out but gets tagged right back in. Looks like they’ll be minimizing the sections of men versus women, but at least it’s not being overly artificially done. Double axhandle from the top to Miznumai’s arm as Takeshita holds it.
Yuka’s trademark forward snapmare roll into a kick sets up the sliding lariat for 2. She goes up top, but from the apron Daniels grabs her leg to delay and Mizanumi slams her off the top. Mizunami works Yuka over with stomps and strikes. A chin lock into the Camel Clutch keeps Yuka grounded. Great heelish touch as Daniels tries to push the bottom rope out of Yuka’s reach as she goes for a rope break, but she eventually makes it anyway.
Yuka floats out of a bodyslam attempt, but Daniels trips her as she hits the ropes then gets into it with the announcers. Nakazawa on commentary makes a horribly sexist comment of “what’d you do man? I mean she’s just a girl man,” to Daniels. She is, in fact, a multi-time singles and tag champion who has competed numerous times against men during her career and was an equal competitor in this contest (and was 30 years old at the time). The heel move was the illegal person tripping her and had nothing to do with Daniels being a man and Yuka being a woman. Clearly trying to get more heat on Daniels, but that infantilizing bullshit is counter productive.
Mizunami lays in machine gun chops in the corner, but the showy one to end the series is ducked. Yuka fights back but is rocked by more strikes. Mizunami hits ropes and runs into TEA TIME (scoop suplex). Yuka’s crazy strong and that was so smooth despite the size difference.
Both down. Mizunami manages the tag to Daniels before Yuka can get to her own corner. He cuts her off and sends her to a neutral corner. Stopping to taunt Takeshita, he runs into Yuka’s boot when he resumes his charge. Yuka takes him down with a hurricanrana, then ducks a clothesline and rolls into the tag to bring in Takeshita.
Takeshita runs over Daniels numerous times, then nails the Blue Thunder Powerbomb. It gets 2 as Mizunami saves. Daniels uses her as a distraction for a cheap shot on Takeshita, but Yuka comes in with a missile dropkick on Daniels.
Hard Yuka elbows rock Mizunami, but a lariat turns the tide and then Mizunami levels her with a spear. Mizunami goes up top but Yuka meets her there with forearm shots. Superplex attempt is thwarted by Daniels pulling Yuka down. She fights off him off though and stuns him with an enzugiri, then Takeshita launches Miznuami off the turnbuckles at Daniels for an unwilling crossbody.
With Mizunami out on the mat, Yuka goes up for the Magical Magical Girl Splash (that’s not a typo, the double “Magical” indicates this is the version where she does a spinning splash (Twisted Bliss) from the middle of the top rope). Takeshita hits the running knee strike to Daniels a second later and a double pin gets the win (Takeshita and Daniels were still legal so that was theoretically the pin that mattered, but the ref counted both).
Fantastic match. Best of the weekend against solid competition.
Takeshita thanks his opponents for the match and the four shake hands.
Another strong batch of promotional matches, with everything not involving Nakazawa being great. And admittedly even the match I couldn’t stand served a purpose.
This event and other shows from numerous promotions including TJPW, DDT, Sendai Girls, Marigold, and so on can be viewed with a Wrestle Universe subscription.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Porky and Daffy deal with an alien invasion via bubblegum. If you need to know more before deciding whether to see it the movie probably isn’t for you.
Tongue in cheek snark out of the way, this is the first ever full new animation Looney Tunes movie. The others were all either reused skits with new connecting animation or a mix of animation and live action.
If you were unaware the movie is now in theaters you aren’t alone: marketing has been practically non-existent. I was vaguely aware a Looney Tunes movie had been made that was sidelined by Warner Bros’ recent questionable business decisions, but had no idea it had been picked up and released. I stumbled onto it by accident when I happened to have an opportunity to catch a movie and pulled up the listings to see what was playing.
What a lucky break it was. I’m a big fan of classic Looney Tunes and some of the recent reimaginings and was certainly willing to give this a try.
The plot is serviceable, providing a framework for the gags and jokes and structure to support the movie’s length versus the short doses the characters usually are presented in. Porky and Daffy having grown up together and some other changes give narrative flow, and some straightforward yet weighty moral themes carry things along well.
But let’s be honest: while important the story is tertiary at best. Something like Looney Tunes lives or dies on the animation and humor. Both are more than up to par here.
The movie is gorgeous. Vivid, fluid animation (except when purposely not for comedic effect). There are some really clever moments and particularly innovative uses of animation both for aesthetics and to enhance the comedy.
The physical humor and gags were on point and it all got better and better as the movie went on (shoutout to a hilarious job hunting sequence early in the movie though). The spoken jokes were a little hit or miss, and I found the pacing off at times, but no major issues overall.
Most importantly this feels like Looney Tunes, and is a lot of fun. This was clearly made by people who not only get the essence of what Looney Tunes is, but also what it can be when pushed. It’s ridiculous because it’s supposed to be, it did what it was supposed to, and is well worth watching.
This is an excellent movie length Looney Tunes adventure, and I hope anyone who’s even potentially interested checks it out to help it overcome the stumbling blocks put in its way and give WB a reality check on the real viability of making more.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Back in 2022 Tokyo Game Show, an annual video game trade fair, featured several AEW sponsored wrestling matches to promote the release of AEW Fight Forever. The eventual game itself was less than warmly received, but the unique matches had quite a bit of buzz around them from those lucky enough to catch them.
The lineup contained a mix of a few select AEW roster, some Japanese wrestlers who had appeared for AEW, a couple of DDT’s stars and one of TJPW’s top rising stars (at the time). Most of them worked two or more matches through the weekend. There were a total of 9 matches over the three days involving 10 different wrestlers.
These matches were recently put up for streaming on the Wrestle Universe platform (subscription required). They involved a lot of my favorites wrestlers of all time on both the women and men’s sides so I’m thrilled to see them finally shared.
Christopher Daniels vs Chris Brookes
Winner faces Takeshita later in the last match of the day. First of many dream matches in this lineup for me. Been watching Daniels wrestle for well over a decade starting back in ROH, and I’m extremely familiar with Chris via ChocoPro.
Daniels has worked Japan a lot in the past and is part of AEW talent relations, so was a natural choice to be involved in this. Brookes has been DDT roster for years, making this an interesting matchup of two foreigners well established in Japan. All of the other competitors in these matches are Japanese.
Daniels was getting close to 30 years in at the time of these matches. He retired from in-ring competition earlier this year.
On a completely random note, Chris has incredibly awesome entrance music.
Brookes’ size advantage vs Daniels’ experience edge anchored this match. It was all about Daniels picking Chris apart and Chris fighting back with holds and high impact strikes and moves. Solid, straightforward stuff that was exactly what it needed to be as the initial offering to a potentially largely unfamiliar audience.
Ending saw Daniels hide behind the ref when Chris up top and kick ropes to cause an unfortunate landing for Brookes. With Chris crumpled on the mat the Best Moonsault Ever (BME, a triple jump up the corner turnbuckles into a moonsault) was academic for the for win.
By the numbers finish in the best way possible that gave Chris an out and let Daniels proceed to Takeshita.
Daniels teased heel tendencies during the match and went full bore during the post match interview by attacking his translator (Michael Nakazawa) to send a message to Takeshita. Takeshita came out and Daniels bailed, saying they’ll face when he says so. Super efficient way to set up a story for their impending match.
Ryo Mizunami vs Hikari Noa
Such a treat to see these lost Hikari matches. She was a personal favorite who left wrestling last year. The three women’s singles matches across this event are basically her running a gauntlet of several of my other favorites. A rising star in TJPW at the time, these were her first and only AEW affiliated matches. The other women participants had all appeared for AEW before. She starts with the charismatic powerhouse Mizunami.
Mizunami easily overpowered Hikari in the opening lockup, absorbed Hikari’s dropkicks like they were nothing, and wiped her out with several shoulder tackles.
It was made crystal clear that Hikari was fighting an uphill battle here, and her tenaciousness was the story. She fought tooth and nail to even get a hair toss, which took several attempts and stomps to Ryo’s feet to be able to move the much larger competitor.
Mizunami easily reversed a scoop slam, and later when Hikari floated out of another slam attempt by Mizunami the latter simply leveled Hikari with a chop. A Camel Clutch tortured Hikari until she could make the ropes, she took machine gun chops in corner, and so on. At one point was nailed with and STO and Mizunami’s big leg drop for a super close 2.
But Hikari was the best kind of persistent underdog and fought back whenever she got an opening. At one point she countered a corner rush with a dropkick, ducked a Mizunami lariat then hit a flying clothesline, then threw her dropkick barrage at the powerhouse. Later a great rolling cradle got 2. Other close calls for Mizunami came from a sliding rollup with a bridge and a superkick barrage.
Late match Mizunami took a superkick but then fought off a Blizzard Suplex setup and nailed Hikari with a lariat followed by a spear. Hot Limit (Cradle Shock variant) ended it.
Energetic encounter with the outmatched Hikari throwing all she could at Mizunami until she had nothing left. Perfect match for the participants. Fun stuff.
Christopher Daniels vs Konosuke Takeshita
Daniels slaps away handshake offer to remind everyone he went full heel earlier in the day. This is about 6 months before Takeshita’s big heel turn in AEW, and he was 100% pure babyface in this time period. Takeshita started in DDT but now primarily wrestles in AEW, being official roster for both companies (and recently NJPW as well).
Daniels pulled Takeshita’s hair then gloated about taking him down. In turn Takeshita LEVELED Daniels with a slap. Ten seconds in and the battle lines are drawn, the characters clear, and the crowd engaged.
Takeshita got a huge reaction for landing some big shots on Daniels early. He teased an inside out suplex from the apron, but Daniels went to the eyes and proceeded to control for a while. Highlights included a sweet Saito suplex, and mounted punches to *back* of Takeshita’s head in the corner in an unusual and brutal looking spot.
Later a back elbow and a lariat gave Takeshita some daylight, and the pace picked up. Takeshita hit a gorgeous plancha then back in a Blue Thunder Powerbomb got 2.
Daniels dodged Takeshita’s jumping and hit Angel’s Wings… FOR ONE?! Great use of the quick kickout there.
Takeshita fought back with a rolling elbow, but his charge in the corner eats boot. BME gets 2. Having Takehista tough things out and survive the move that put Brookes away earlier is particularly nice layered storytelling for anyone who attended both matches.
A palm strike with Takeshita up top set up a FrankenSteiner attempt by Daniels. But he was pushed off and ate canvas. A jumping knee from the turnbuckles followed, then Takeshita hit another for good measure to get 3.
Formulas are formulas for a reason. Great little feel good, well worked face over heel match. Hottest match of the day.
All three of these matches were a blast and exactly what they should have been for the event. Really impressed with how it was all handled and presented, and at a solid 9-10 minutes of action apiece these were a great way to promote the game and potentially introduce new fans to AEW and wrestling in general. Looking forward to watching the rest.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Match wits with the Riddler as Edward Nygma presents his personal puzzle box for you to solve.
The Riddler: Puzzle Box by Edward Nygma is made by McFarlane Toys, and as such expectedly looks fantastic. The 5-6 inches a side box has great detailing and largely looks like worn/distressed metal rather than the plastic it’s made of. It’s just plain cool to look at and play around with.
Solving puzzle boxes is often made more enticing by including a prize locked within, and the encased prize here is awesome. Solving each of the three sections is rewarded with a piece of a hefty metal “1:1” batarang replica. They went all out with this aspect of the box.
The website description claims the Riddler Box “features 4 challenging Batman themed puzzles.” To be perfectly blunt, this is not even remotely true. These are some of the easiest puzzles imaginable, made more difficult only by so-so implementation. One puzzle is solvable completely by accident. One I solved without the required tool, leaving me confused as to what that tool was for throughout the experience. One puzzle is a tad misleading on when the player should be trying to solve it, which led me to have the right solution but thinking it was wrong because I had to do something else first.
All that said I had a fun time with the box despite its imperfections. The puzzles are conceptually and thematically good even if easy, and I found it all interesting and engaging despite its flaws.
Which brings us to the puzzling aspect of this puzzle box as a purchase. The detail, inherent nature of making a puzzle box with hidden mechanisms, and high quality prize all add to the cost. But with a msrp of $100, which admittedly is entirely reasonable for what it is in total, people are likely to expect more from the actual puzzle box itself.
Now this has been out a while and at it’s currently available price (under $40) it’s *easily* worth it for Batman and/or puzzle box collectors. But to be completely fair with the review I’m not sure I’d have been as happy with it at full retail price.
Overall this is a great collectible containing an equally great collectible as a bonus prize, with an ok puzzle experience attached. Score one for Edward Nigma.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
A senator’s daughter has died mysteriously in prison, and you’re the lucky one in charge of figuring out what happened before giving a press conference to a gaggle of reporters after a long night of investigation.
The Guilty series is a new entry into the ever expanding genre of games that try to capture full fledged mystery investigations in board game form. The short, short version is it’s got the weight of a Detective case in a box closer to the size of the Exit series.
The setting is perfect for this type of game: it’s within a contained area of investigation with believable constraints and reasons for time pressure. The atmosphere is well developed, and the economical descriptions befitting a game confined to cards are on point. The box advertises the game as “immersive,” and I agree wholeheartedly. More than any other mystery game I’ve played that doesn’t use external elements this really felt like conducting an investigation the players are in control of.
The time deck mechanic is really well done. Cards are flipped from a separate deck representing the passage of time as the player chooses which leads to investigate. At different points in the deck game affecting events happen. It presents ongoing pressure and twists without making the game feel too short and is really well implemented.
Guilty thrives via its design and setup. The board that grounds the display and organizes the numerous investigative choices available really helps present the overwhelming options in an accessible manner. The progression of the investigation is completely open. The player is in control, and most uncovered cards/information feel interesting if not always vital.
This game consists of one case, but it’s a DENSE, meaty one. This takes 3-4 hours and as mentioned feels more equivalent to a round of Detective than other stand alone mystery games or even a round of Suspects (which I found weighty and challenging itself, but this is on a different level). That they accomplished this with a system that’s completely contained in the box (ie no internet component like Detective, etc has) is impressive.
There’s an overload of information to sift through throughout, but it’s by no means a negative. The case is compelling and it was extremely engrossing. There are important minute details, so players should be ready to read and observe carefully. However there really wasn’t one key piece of information that derails everything if missed. This has a mix of several visual and textual clues and figuring out how it all comes together is the goal.
Two players is probably the sweet spot for this series. Even for veteran gamers be at peak concentration level when soloing. I overlooked a couple vital points and was a bit off in my solution. That said in was still a blast as a solo experience.
The scoring system is a little odd, but good enough. It’s forgiving in a way I didn’t expect. I didn’t really solve the case (I got twisted around in my own head and picked the wrong killer), but figured out enough of everything else to get best evaluation. I have mixed feelings on that, as on one hand it seems like getting the criminal wrong should be disqualifying but on the other being recognized for solving a majority of the questions and piecing together all the other details is nice. Like I said: a bit odd but still fine.
There were a couple of red herrings I found mildly frustrating, but most of them connect to ancillary things to figure out if you dig enough so it’s not the issue it could be.
Nothing gets destroyed so the game is resettable and can be passed on to other players (the box insert isn’t great for storing the cards once they’ve been unwrapped, but that’s a minor quibble).
Overall this was excellent, and one of the best of this type of game I’ve played. Looking forward to future entries in the series.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
“The toughest thing about a case is never the case.”
Sherlock Holmes who isn’t stumbles into a web of murder and political intrigue in early 20th Century San Fransisco.
I feel like I was peripherally aware of the series Detective Chinatown 1900 reimagines, but I’ve never actually seen any of it. And as this is a new take set in a different time period no prior knowledge is necessary.
The film is a blend of political commentary regarding a period of high racial tension and straight up comedy all tied together with a murder mystery central plot. It sounds like an absurd mix, but the melding of genres is really well done. It descends into complete farce at moments without ever having trouble reestablishing gravitas when the plot or themes need it.
The movie as I saw it in an NYC theater was presented with both English and Chinese subtitles. It’s a Chinese film largely set in San Fransisco and the dialog ends up being roughly half Chinese and half English, with some other languages mixed in. So a vast majority of viewers will need at least one of the sets of subtitles at times.
I’m a regular watcher of foreign films (usually in Japanese), so am used to reading subtitles. But even for me, the speed of the Chinese dialog and the resulting quickness that the subtitles flew by was a bit challenging at times. But key plot information was always presented somewhat slower (as it tended to land during dramatic moments) so I had no trouble following the story overall.
The mystery itself is reasonable and compelling, the humor juxtaposition masterfully done, and the societal commentary and historical aspects well presented and easily accessible even to those unfamiliar with the time period.
As far as criticism goes the film felt a little long in the tooth at times, a couple things strained credulity (beyond the things that were supposed to be absurd), and I’m not certain they completely stuck the landing. But I’m largely nitpicking here.
Overall I found Detective Chinatown 1900 to be a thoroughly engaging and entertaining movie. Definitely worth a watch.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Was lucky enough to be in attendance for a stacked NXT show at the smaller Theater venue within iconic Madison Square Garden.
Due to health constraints/limiting factors towards travel and live events this was my first live wrestling show of any kind in a couple years. Was thrilled to attend and looking forward to seeing Ethan Page and the women’s double title match in particular.
This was a fast paced, breezy watch and I’m going strictly off memory so this’ll be more impressions than any kind of full recap.
1) TNA Tag Team Championship: Matt & Jeff Hardy (c) vs Nathan Fraizer and Faxiom
As always the NYC crowd was over the moon for the Hardy’s, making this a super hot opener. They seem to be in good form, and played the hits while Fraxiom supplied their usual high octane offense. Straight forward, crowd pleasing tag team wrestling.
Which titles were on the line made this a forgone conclusion, but that didn’t detract from the fun.
2) Roxanne Perez vs Jordynne Grace
Standard “put over the next big NXT star on your way out to the main roster” encounter. Roxanne showed great ability to work a body part dissection match, going after Grace’s leg incessantly. Grace sold it well, with it affecting her offense at key moments. Always nice to see psychology done properly. Grace eventually overcame, making this a well done, textbook heel vs face story.
3) NXT Championship: Oba Femi (c) vs Moose
Moose is TNA’s reigning X-Division Champion, so this is the second NXT champ vs TNA champ contest of the night.
Never been much of a fan of Moose to be honest, but he seemed motivated here and played his role well enough. Oba looked like a monster putting him down. This was two big men throwing bombs and showing wild strength, which is exactly what everyone wanted from it. Could have been a touch shorter, but that’s mild criticism at best.
4) NYC Street Fight: Je’Von Evans vs Ethan Page
Page had been a favorite of mine since his Evolve days and was super excited to see him live again.
He’s been tormenting Je’Von for months, ever since he turned from heel to even bigger evil douchebag heel at Je’Von’s expense when Je’Von tried to reach out to a despondent Page and paid for his empathy with a broken jaw.
Had everything the crowd wanted from a street fight, including a couple of big table spots. In a nice callback Ethan got a close two off countering a Je’Von backspring with a hard punch to the injured jaw, which won Page their last encounter.
Ending was suitably insane, as Je’Von hit a cutter on Page with the latter’s head wedged in a chair. This was all about Je’Von getting revenge on the asshole who’s hurt him and beat him at every turn until now, and it hit all the right notes.
5) NXT Women’s Championship/Women’s North American Championship Double Title Match: Giulia (c) vs Stephanie Vaquer (c NA)
Lots of rumors about the possibility of injury or others reasons for this happening so soon. Vaquer just won the NA title last month, and with Wrestlemania weekend and NXT’s big Stand and Deliver show coming up many expected this match to happen then.
To be clear, this was not a unification match. Both were on the line and the winner would hold both titles, but they are still separate titles.
Huge fan of Vaquer, and this was my first time seeing her live.
Last time I saw Giulia wrestle live was a couple lifetimes ago when she was still in Ice Ribbon, so it was downright surreal getting to see her wrestle in MSG.
I’ve heard complaints about the length and pacing from TV viewers, but live this came off great. Yeah it might’ve gotten more time if there wasn’t a hard out on the broadcast, and it was technically the shortest match of the night by a few seconds (I looked that up post show, wouldn’t have guessed it otherwise), but live it was an engaging sprint between two wrestlers just straight up trying to put the other down. If Giulia’s banged up as rumored she still worked a great match here.
I was half expecting Meiko Satomura to come out to challenge the new champ for Stand and Deliver (Meiko was rumored to be in attendance and she has a conspicuous gap in her announced retirement schedule WrestleMania weekend), but it didn’t happen. Show closed with and extended confetti celebration for the new double champ.
Amusing subtle moment happened when the ref clearly had to give Vaquer a heads up to turn around and do some of her celebrating for the crowd. The way the venue is set up when she was celebrating towards the hard cams her back was to 90% of the audience.
Prior to the show I was afraid this card was too packed for two hours and something would get short changed, but instead it was a really well crafted show with everything between 11 and 15 minutes and nothing really feeling too short or too long. Sure the main could have been longer and Giulia and Vaquer certainly have an epic in them, but the sprint we got played well live and was great in its own right. Just a fantastic show to have had the privilege to see live all around.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Derailments of Thought 