BIG: Utami Hayashishita MyStar Stardom Photobook Review


Starting in late 2018, Stardom began a new photobook series, called MyStar, with their top wrestlers getting their own smaller photobook all to themselves. Utami Hayashishita was the sixth wrestler to featured, following Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid, Hazuki, Jungle Kyona, and Momo Watanabe. BIG: Utami Hayashishita was released in March 2019.

Full Photobook Details

Title: BIG: Utami Hayashishita from the Stardom MyStar Series
Release: March 2019
Pages: 30
Cost: ¥2,000 (or $20.00)
Where to Buy: Third Party Vendors

As mentioned above, these are smaller (and cheaper) photobooks than Stardom usually puts out, however that does not mean the quality of the photobook is negatively impacted. Stardom at this point has become almost as good at producing photobooks as they are at producing wrestling shows, and the effort put into this photobook shows this. Even though the photobook features a single wrestler, there are still multiple scenes/scenarios presented that fit the personality of the wrestler so its not just random scenes chosen at the whim of the photographer.

The pictures for Utami’s photobook are different than the ones that came before it (besides Momo Watanabe) as they were taken during a visit to Guam. Instead of studio pictures, most of the pictures take place on a beach or other areas outside. Due to the setting, this makes her photobook closer resemble the Bikiniing series, which is not a complaint but is a different path than most of the other books in the MyStar series. This may be my favorite photobook of the series, not only due to my personal bias towards Utami but it feels more special as Utami has less photobook photos available due to just joining Stardom last summer. Even with the beach setting there are still multiple outfits/backdrops presented and there is a good variety of shots. Here is a sample of photos from the photobook: