ChocoPro Roundup: #320 & #321
Makoto Pops Round To Deliver Some Violence & Emi And Masa Battle In The Heat
The image used in these reviews are linked to the Twitter account responsible for them: simply click through to bring up the original post. If you are a photographer whose image I have used here, and you do not grant me permission to reproduce your work, please let me know (Twitter: @FlupkeDiFlupke) and I will remove it. Thanks!
写真家さん、ここにイメージが写すことが許可しなければ聞いて下さって私は大至急除きます (ツイターの @FlupkeDiFlupke です)。ありがとうございます！
Subscribe now!
Subscribe to Marshmallow Bomb for free to receive all our posts direct to your inbox, or donate $5 a month to access the full archive. A portion of every subscription supports Amazon Frontlines, an organisation dedicated to working with Indigenous peoples to defend their way of life, the Amazon rainforest, and our climate future.
Makoto & Sayaka vs Warm Caterpillars (Mei Suruga & Chie Koishikawa), ChocoPro #320 (9/7/23), Gatoh Move
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Makoto in Ichigaya, and her reaction to being swarmed by Mei and Chie was a look at what we’ve been missing. She went full old-timey depiction of someone reacting to a rat running across their kitchen, screaming, waving her arms around and falling over in shock. If there had been a nearby chair, I’m sure she would have ended up perched on top of it, demanding that someone help. It was the perfect response to being confronted by those two goblin children scampering around. Makoto is a consistently underrated wrestler and one of the best tag performers out there, but she’s also hilarious, which makes her an ideal fit for this environment.
Her presence seemed to inspire everyone to hit that bit harder than usual. We know Sayaka likes throwing those stiff forearms, but she and Mei were getting a little nasty during their interactions. Suruga delivered some sneaky kicks to a downed Sayaka that were vicious in their dismissiveness before eating a few hammering blows to the chest in return. I’m not suggesting Gatoh Move morphed into SEAdLINNNG, but with Makoto also launching Mei across the mat with a suplex, it did feel like everyone was drawing on that energy.
And it’s always nice to see a wrestler come in and inspire something a little different. ChocoPro aims for fun, and I would never want them to stop doing so, but now and then, you want to see a bit of lashing out. We got a lot of that in Mei’s recent match with Momoka Hanazono, while Chie brought a more serious edge to her title shot against Hagane, so we know they can do it. However, it’s kept as a special treat, called upon when needed rather than every week, making a match like this feel all the more special because of it.
Masa Takanashi vs Emi Sakura, ChocoPro #321 (11/7/23), Gatoh Move
Somehow it’s been twelve years since Emi Sakura and Masa Takanashi last wrestled one-on-one, with their most recent match taking place in a park in Thailand where they attempted to drum up some attention for the then-nascent Gatoh Move. This time around, the surroundings were only a tad more glamorous as they battled in Ichigaya Chocolate Square on, by all accounts, a sweltering day where most of the crowd were vainly waving fans to try and stave off the heat. It was the kind of warmth you could feel through the screen, the sweat already dripping during entrances, never mind by the end of the match.
And yet, Masa and Emi were extraordinary. This was a match split into two halves. The first saw Sakura attempt to go after Takanashi’s arm, relishing in bullying her long-term second in command, only for Masa to return the favour with ten times more viciousness. This twist was beautifully underlined by the fans who had booed Emi’s attack, switching to boo his, perturbed by his onslaught of twisting and wrenching. But hidden amongst the violence were some genuinely beautiful transitions, as Sakura and Takanashi greedily grabbed the opportunity to show off their wrestling chops, working through a playbook that has come together over years of friendship.
Then, after a quick water break, the second half devolved into a slugfest, the sweat dripping off them as the blows came thick and fast. It drew some breathtaking selling from Emi as she fought off tears from the pain of chopping Masa with her worked-over arm. In contrast, Takanashi largely shrugged off Sakura’s previous work but slipped in a few delicate touches, including grabbing his aching jaw after a Sakura slap, making sure the camera caught the movement, but Emi didn’t. It felt like an attempt to hide an opening, timed perfectly for the rest of the world to pick up on it. Then again, there’s also the chance it was just fucking sore, as Emi felt no need to hold back when driving her palm into her pal’s face.
The final minutes were special, Emi stumbling around, barely able to stand, only to reveal it was a trick to draw Masa in, leading to a frantic closing stretch where both did everything they could think of to bundle the other up. Neither would pull it off, but the whole thing was an immaculate blend of sloppy and desperate, two exhausted wrestlers grasping for ideas even as their bodies struggled to keep up. When the bell finally rang for the time limit, it was with a sigh of relief as they both collapsed back, unable to keep going.
It’s to their credit that, over 400 words later, I’m still thinking of things I should have mentioned. Touches like Mei Suruga getting her Natsuki Taiyo moment, leading to Masa convincing Emi to grab her arms and hold her in place for a superkick, well aware that no matter how many times they do that when teaming as Hyakkin Thunders, it always ends with Emi being the one to eat the boot. It was a match filled with moments of genius, a rare time limit draw that left me wanting more. It better not be another twelve years before we see this again.