“Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s:” is a mature anime series for those who love wrestling, idol groups and fan service galore. But while the series is no doubt targeted for men who love sexy fan service, the story of an idol-turned-wrestler was quite enjoyable and made the anime series worth watching.
Image courtesy of © ESE/Project SekaiTsuyo Project. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s
ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2013
DURATION: 12 Episodes (300 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), Japanese and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0
COMPANY: FUNimation
RATING: TV MA
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Originally Created by ESE
Directed by Rion Kujo
Series Composition by Kazuho Hyodo
Music by Kayo Konishi, Yukio Kondoo
Character Design by Rin-Sin
Art Director: Minoru Maeda
Anime Production: ARMS
Featuring the following voice talent:
Ayana Taketatsu/Elizabeth Lewis as Sakura Hagiwara
Kana Asumi/Monica Rial as Elena Miyazawa
Chiaki Takahashi/Lydia Mackay as Jackal TÅjÅ
Eri Kitamura/Vanessa DeSilvio as Makoto Kirishima
Haruka Tomatsu/Martha Harms as Rio Kazama
Hisako Kanemoto/Cristina Vee as Moe Fukuoka
Kana Hanazawa/Megan Shipman as Juri Sanada
KyÅko Narumi/Leah Clark as Misaki Toyoda
Miku ItÅ/Didi Duron as YÅ«ho Mochizuki
Rina Satou/Bryn Apprill as Kanae Fujishita
Sora Amamiya/Kristin Sutton as Aika Hayase
Sora Tokui/Elizabeth Evans as Hornet
Sumire Uesaka/Morgan Garrett as Kurea Komiyama
Suzuko Mimori/Anastasia Munoz as Chinatsu Suzumoto
Yuka ÅŒtsubo/Michelle Lee as Nanami Kanno
Ayahi Takagaki/Heather Walker as Yunbo Yamamoto
Fumihiko Tachiki/David Thompson as Seiichi Inoba
Nobuhiko Okamoto/Greg Ayres as Chairman (Sakura Hagiwara Fan Club President)
Yoshiko/Alex Moore as Yoshiko
The eye-popping world of women’s professional wrestling is sweaty, sadistic, and savagely sexy. Famous Japanese pop idol Sakura Hagiwara is better suited for the dance floor than the wrestling ring, but this ravishing songstress is about to put her body to the ultimate test.
When she and fellow idol Elena are assigned to pose as wrestlers for a very special show, a vicious lady brawler by the name of Rio decides to teach the girls a lesson they won’t soon forget. Rio unleashes a flurry of ferocious of attacks on Elena, contorting her divine female form into an array of very naughty positions. Shocked by the blush-inducing beating taken by her friend, Sakura vows to get her heavenly curves ready to rumble and redeem the good name of idols everywhere by becoming a bona fide diva of the pro-wrestling world!
Back in 2013, the anime adaptation of “Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!” produced by ARMS Corporation and directed by Rion Kujo (“Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero”, “Love Doll”) and a screnplay by Kazuho Kyodo (“Mobile Suit Gundam AGE”, “Robot Girls”, “Bakegyamon”) aired on television.
Based on the manga series by ESE and Kiyohito Natsuki, the series was released on Blu-ray + DVD courtesy of FUNimation.
Sakura Hagiwara is the leader and center of the idol group, Sweet Diva.
Having won the center position four straight times, Sakura’s friend and teammate Elena Miyazawa has always been inspired to work harder to someday become center.
As the group becomes popular, the group has received a request to participate in a TV special in which the idols take part in a wrestling match. Sakura enlists herself, which Elena follows.
But as Sakura and Elena head to Berserk Gym, they begin their training and are insulted by wrestler Rio Kazama who tells them that idols should not be in the ring as they are not atheletes. As Elena takes on Rio, Rio easily beats on Elena, prompting Sakura to challenge Rio in a wrestling match for the TV special. The loser will get their hair cut off.
As Sakura and Rio get into the televised wrestling match, she is instantly defeated, humiliated and her long hair is cut.
Disappointed and embarrassed by her loss, she and Sweet Diva are further shamed by Rio. Upset, Sakura issues Rio another challenge for a rematch and will train to be as a wrestler in order to take on Rio in their rematch. This leaves Elena being the temporary leader/center of Sweet Diva.
As idol singer Sakura prepares her training for pro wrestling, she must overcome all the pain and train with all her might in order to prepare for her rematch.
VIDEO:
“Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The animation focuses on closeups and most of the frames are primarily of fan service quality or in relation to wrestling. Character designs are good, shading is well-done. Background art is primarily not utilized as much as they are just solid walls and basic paint jobs, most of the focus by ARMS is Sakura or her rival’s facial expressions during a wrestling match or often showcasing their boobs or crotch area.
Overall, picture quality is vibrant, colorful and saw no major banding or artifact problems during my viewing of the series.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Voice acting for both Japanese and English are done very well. The series pretty much lies on the shoulder of Ayana Taketatsu and Elizabeth Lewis’ shoulders as the character Sakura Hagiwara is put into grueling training sessions and the voice actresses have to showcase their character in intense pain and varying emotional high and lows.
The series is primarily dialogue and music driven but there is good use of ambiance for the audience in the wrestling hall.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s” Blu-ray also comes with the following:
- Episode 01 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Elizabeth Lewis and Martha Harms and also featuring comments from other voice actresses participating on a “FUNimation Fight Night – Wanna Be the Strongest in the World! Round 1”.
- Episode 07 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Leah Clark and Lydia Mackay and also featuring comments from other voice actresses participating on a”FUNimation Fight Night – Wanna Be the Strongest in the World! Round 2″.
- OVA’s – (23:59)Featuring six mature-themed OVA’s.
- Textless Opening Song “Beautiful Dreamer”
- Textless Closing Song “Fan Fanfare!!!”
- U.S. Trailer
EXTRAS:
Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s” come with both the Blu-ray and DVD version of the series.
Back when I was just starting off in college, myself and a group of friends would watch GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).
The wrestling focused on sexy female wrestlers who looked different than the female wrestler shown on other wrestling shows. And as they engaged in wrestling and suffice to say, for college kids, we were captivated each weekend. Suffice to say GLOW, found a way to captivate an audience by combining sex and wrestling.
A lot has changed since then, as the WWE has been focusing on sexy wrestlers but also honing on those with wrestling talent and audiences are still captivated.
Meanwhile, in Japan, variety shows experiment with having popular idols take on pro female wrestlers and interject a mix of comedy, these specials tend to be a big hit among viewers.
Watching the anime series “Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!”, which is an adaptation of ESE’s manga series, he had no doubt has found a way to bring the sexy and wrestling and make a mature series.
The concept is popular in Japan as mentioned, bring popular idols who wrestle against a professional female wrestler or two. But most of the time, they are staged and we actually see the idol on television performing several moves. But “Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!” takes the story into another direction with the idols trying to prove they can take whatever pro female wrestlers can dish.
And sure enough, the idols get their butts kicked. But for Sweet Diva team leader Sakura Hagiwara, having always been the darling of the media and leader/center of Sweet Diva, she had been accustomed to winning, not losing. And now, having felt the embarrassment and shame brought by female wrestler Rio, Sakura announces that she will take a break from being an idol to train as a wrestler until she can beat Rio in their rematch.
And of course, the road to training for Sakura is not going to be easy, as the wrestlers will not give her any special favors. If she’s wanting to be a wrestler, then she’s going to have to deal with all the pain and misery, until she can finally wrestle and take care of herself.
Meanwhile, #2 member of Sweet Diva, Elena, is distraught because she is thrust to the leadership position, when she has depended so much on Sakura for guidance but also inspiration as her rival.
The anime series, while very good (if you enjoy pro wrestling and Japanese idol groups), is mature. There is a lot of nudity and of course, the usual fan service of Sweet Diva girls wanting to feel up on Sakura because she is well-endowed or the numerous closeups focused on a wrestler’s breast or crotch throughout a matchup.
But for those who love fan service, will no doubt get a lot of it in this series and even moreso in the included short OVA’s.
Picture quality is quite vibrant and I saw problems with artifacts or banding. The lossless audio is dialogue and musically-driven but I have to say that the voice acting on both the English and Japanese soundtracks were fantastic. Both Ayana Taketatsu and Elizabeth Lewis do a phenomenal job playing the main protagonist role of Sakura.
The two audio commentaries were far out as the English dub female voice actresses discuss a real fight that took place in their life involving them and some of the stories were quite wild and crazy.
And as mentioned, you get the six short OVA’s and even more nudity is featured.
Overall, “Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!: The Complete Series + OVA’s:” is a mature anime series for those who love wrestling, idol groups and fan service galore. But while the series is no doubt targeted for men who love sexy fan service, the story of an idol-turned-wrestler was quite enjoyable and made the anime series worth watching.
