I stayed because, in the first episode, Tiger Mask trained by fighting and eating a bear. There's also semi-naked mountain climbing. With bare hands. In the freezing cold. There's a room for training full of old school robots, because of course it has. There's a mysterious evil corporation bent on conquering the world of pro-wrestling, and a fair, preternaturally gifted protagonist looking to avenge his master - and a long lost friend on the same tortuous journey, but he's stoic, got long hair and wears a black mask, so he's cooler. It would be my favorite anime if I was growing up, now I find it so cheesy - but cheese is also the best food, so that's fine.
Shonen anime is a great medium for a pro-wrestling history as both are build around big, outrageous characters (I love Tanahashi having trouble securing his identity behind a mask because his personality is just too big), impossible stunts and muscle-bound physiques. In both mediums, the fights are part of the dramaturgy, a form of narrative and also how connections are made: respect for a fighter turning to friendship, or a rivality deepening. Every in-ring confrontation is when Tiger Mask W is at its best.
The stop-start nature of a wrestling match, with emphasis on facial expression and psychology/narrative, lends itself well to this more economic (i.e. cheaper) animation style. The fights are really fun, but the upscalling of the animation at Tiger Mask's great first fight with Yellow Devil, for instance, or during the War Games episodes, shows the heights this could achieve with a more dedicated focus on the occasional seriousness of the emotions, and how real are the risks of really great wrestling and storytelling.
Loose thoughts:
- There's a tendency, in wrestling related work, to be 'realistic'. I really like that the whole story here is in kayfabe: the fights, the relationships, everything is real. (Which of course it would be. It's anime. But it is really rare.)
- Being in keyfabe, Tiger Mask's heel turn packs a pretty strong emotional punch, having a corruptive effect on his fans and friends. Rather than a change of character (as in real pro-wrestling), it's a big change of trust. It also works as critique of revenge as a source of action.
- Pro-wrestling is used as a spectacle capable of reinvigorating public and civil spaces, something that has at its (visceral and violent) heart a populist power. A modern day coliseum.
- There's a blood feud started over Makabe's favorite sweets, with Kenny Omega heelish eating a strawberry, his face full of sugar.
- An Undertaker-like Terminator as the big boss of a Hell in a Hole (which is a crazy fight gimmick which would be amazing live - without all the death, I mean).
- Naito is just the best.
- What's with the homage to Kota Ibushi at the end? Is it because he was the real-life Tiger Mask W? Or just there is a huge group of Ibushi marks in the production? But also, I mean, who isn't a Ibushi mark?
- The very end makes me excited for a joshi anime now!
