An Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for March 2022

It has been almost a year since my last evaluation of Joshi streaming services, so its time to re-visit things and see if they have gotten better or worse. This time I will be evaluating nine Joshi streaming services for the month of March (we lost one from last year), both paid and free options. Nothing illegal here or VPN necessary, all are available to fans around the world by Paypal and/or credit card (or no charge at all). I will only be evaluating one of Ice Ribbon’s streaming services, Ice Ribbon Club, as that one is easier for Western fans to purchase and is more straight-forward with the content offered. Plus only a psychopath would get two different monthly streaming services for the same promotion. The following services will be evaluated (listed by cost):

Service: PURE-J on Youtube
Cost: $9.99
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/PUREJ

Service: Club Ice Ribbon
Cost: $9.99
Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7i9ItxT_BgDa14GkqOy1iQ

Service: Actwres girl’Z Nets
Cost: 1,000 yen
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app

Service: Stardom World
Cost: 920 yen
Website: https://www.stardom-world.com

Service: Wrestle Universe (for Tokyo Joshi Pro)
Cost: 900 yen
Website: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/

Service: NicoPro Nico Channel
Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro

Service: Sendai Girls’ Youtube Channel
Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/sendaigirls

Service: Diana Youtube Channel
Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/dianaofficial/

Service: Gatoh Move Youtube Channel
Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/GatohMove

Individual events that cost extra will not be evaluated – only events available for free or for a monthly subscription charge. The idea is I want to evaluate what is available for a flat monthly price, as for promotions that have PPVs most fans will pick and choose anyway based on a number of factors. Plus that would get expensive if I was buying every PPV. At the end of March (well, early April as some shows may be uploaded at the end of the month), I’ll take a look back at everything that was uploaded and rank the promotion’s services from best to worst. Streaming options will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Overall Quality of Events
• Number of Events and Total Matches Added in March (2022 events only)
• Timeliness of Event Uploads (when the event took place vs. when it was uploaded)
• Value Compared to Cost

There is clearly some objectivity in the first and last criteria, so in my final evaluation I will be sure to expand on how I reached my conclusion so that if a fan of a promotion disagrees, at least they will know the method to my madness. The promotion with the “best” wrestlers may not necessarily be ranked at the top as it just depends on their event upload schedule as that is factored in as well. To be fair to all promotions, some general rules:

• The period for evaluation will be based on the JST time zone. Any events fully added to a streaming service between March 1st and March 31st will be evaluated.
• Only wrestling events will be evaluated, not interviews, talk shows, etc. as I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t fairly evaluate the quality of them.
• Events will not be evaluated and considered as “uploaded” until the entire event is available.
• Individual match uploads will only be evaluated if the entire event is uploaded in March.
• Events heavily clipped/in digest form will not be evaluated.
• If an event from a primarily Joshi promotion is fully uploaded but has some matches that do not have any Joshi wrestlers, only matches with at least one Joshi wrestler will be evaluated. If JTO events are uploaded on NicoPro they will be evaluated as they have a significant Joshi roster.

I know I left off YMZ but they are not my taste and it would be a disservice to the promotion and to their fans if I watched it just to say “this isn’t my taste.” I may not notice the exact day a show is added to a service but I’ll cross reference the promotion’s twitter feed and as long as the information is there I will be sure to calculate the time it took to upload as closely as possible.

By the end of the evaluation, I can’t promise I will be able to watch every event but I will try (and will definitely watch all the “bigger” events). The other criteria I will be able to track regardless so I should have some solid numbers by the end of the month. Hopefully March will be a busy month of Joshi watching!