You must never give up … no matter how impossible the odds.
Creative Staff:
Art: Ganmarei
Original Story: Tyataniyou
Producer: Takeo Aoki
Translation: Ko Ransom
Lettering: Taeshi Kamura
What They Say:
It’s claws versus tentacles as monstrous beauties grapple with one another in the global sensation that is monster wrestling! A young Cerberus girl named Tirol dreams of stardom in the squared circle, but can she stand up to all the thirsty predators ready to dominate her into submission? Winning in the ring means walking a fine line between pain and pleasure … and unleashing the beast inside!
Content (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Long ago legendary monsters were summoned to the world and at first they were hostile to the humans inhabiting the land, but eventually, they settled their differences and the two races began to integrate with each other, thus creating unique variations called demi-humans. As time passed and disparities between the groups grew less new possibilities emerged, including an expanding trend which allowed these hybrids to fight amongst themselves and also entertain audiences – this unfolding craze became known as Monster Wrestling or Monwres. And among the predominate groups within this movement is an organization called Bellezza lead by an alluring kraken humanoid named Kayla, whose main purpose within the sport is to lead by example by showing the exhibitions may be vicious but at the same time can also be beautiful. It is with these aesthetics that she has topped the ratings and now prepares to train a new cerberus protégé named Tirol, however, no matter how much she tries to drill these lessons into her they never reached and always ended in failure, including this morning’s practice.
As the team walks down the main street and their fans rave to see their favorite celebrates, it is obvious from Tirol’s pathetic expression what happened as tears run down her face and everyone begins to feel sorry for her, with the public not knowing she once again failed in her debut. But as teammates try to cheer her up by telling failure isn’t the end, Kayla is alerted by a rush of wind coming from above and warns her friends to stand clear just before a massive tail easily shatters the sidewalk. With a sinister cackle the menacing attacker introduces herself, but as the girls question who this disgusting woman is one amongst them knows her name – she is Ajida, the leader of their rival group called World Monwres Entertainment; she wastes no time in announcing her intention as to this cowardly attack, the draconian woman is on a scouting mission to recruit the kraken and offers a ridiculous amount of money as incentive, however Kayla quickly declares she will not abandon her companions or beliefs, especially the young pup who she sees has so much potential. With masochist pleasure the wicked rival wastes no time in retaliating with savage brutality and thrusts a gaping maw at the recruit in question, but without hesitation her mentor valiantly leaps in front of the attack and ends it with a bloody interception. Stunned by the bravery of her teacher Tirol cannot believe what happened but as hopelessness sinks in her primal hellhound fury takes over and urges her to leap into the fray, but if Bellezza’s powerful figurehead could not defeat this monster, what hope does she have in face of certain defeat?
In Summary:
After hearing about this title I initially thought the series would be about normal humans fighting against monsters, perhaps something along the lines of a puroresu manga like Tiger Mask or even the comical Kinnikuman. However once seeing the enticing cover art and reading the full title my understanding quickly changed, pondering this title would be more geared toward Japanese women’s wrestling or joshi puroresu and thus encompassing books like Matsuri Special or in keeping with the suggestive figures approaching something like Keijo!!!!!!!!, and yet once you start flipping through the first pages of this volume, none of those preconceptions are even close to any of those prior titles; if you had to describe this series, the circuitous choice of words would be: a wrestling series with hybrid monster girls wearing severely suggestive fighting tights, but once the fighting begins this title teeters on being soft core hentai complete with tentacles and slime, all with a sprinkling of lewdly angled shots and submission moves that put the girls in various compromising positions.
While writer Tyataniyou does intersperse the story with moments of interpersonal relationships between the girls of Bellezza and show how seriously they take their training to improve and encourage each other when they fail, one cannot deny the main interest of this title would be the highly provocative artwork of mangaka Ganmarei. You cannot turn a page within this book without seeing half naked women due to: suggestive upshots, creative costume openings to provide ample cleavage, submission moves which expose panties/thongs plus ample cheeks and everything else, the cooking trope of wearing nothing but an apron and perhaps most perverted of all … moments when the girls have scenes with their faces resulting in an ahegao expression. Although I can understand when they are in the dormitory and wish to relax and thus wear as little clothes as possible, but does that also have to extend to times when we have moments of bondage and sexual innuendo, complete with tentacles and slime? And speaking of the former, the character Kayla seems to have no shame whatsoever for someone who is half kraken and Ganmarei-sensei takes full advantage of her race by extenuating her legs and perhaps a lack of underwear, allowing for the imagination to wander and wonder if she is wearing anything at all. How can you take a title seriously when a sliver is dedicated to wrestling and the rest is trying to see how far they can push the censors before something pops out from clothes which barely seem painted on. If this will be the trend for this book, then why bother with a narrative at all?
Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls may present an interesting concept of female wrestlers, but one begins to question if either creator is taking the story seriously or just trying to push the envelope of civility before it reaches full on nudity. While I can understand the first volume being a foundation to introduce characters and the animosity between factions, but somewhere along the threadbare pages this premise was lost and began to descend into perversion for humor. Hopefully future books will concentrate more on camaraderie and technique otherwise they may lose their audience due to sacrificing a lackluster narrative for crude jokes and suggestive moments. There are several reasons why this title has Warning – Parental Advisory Explicit Content placed on the front cover, and hopefully this book will not be cast aside due to a producer who does not care for story and more for spectacle.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: January 22, 2019
MSRP: $13.00
