Bikiniing 2 Stardom Visual Photobook Review

The Bikiniing Visual Book series is one of the most popular Stardom photobooks each year. Beginning in 2012, Stardom has released a Bikiniing Photobook every year, featuring the Stardom wrestlers wearing bikinis or other swimwear (as the name implies). Not all wrestlers participate if this type of photoshoot goes against their wrestling character or personal preferences, however the majority of the wrestlers in the promotion do take part. You can read reviews for more magazine and photobooks on the Joshi Photobook Reviews page.

Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 2 Stardom Visual Book
Release: April 29th, 2013
Pages: 58
Cost: ¥2,750
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

For the 2nd edition of the photobook, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Io Shirai
• Natsumi Showzuki
• Yuzuki Aikawa
• Eri Susa
• Mayu Iwatani
• Kairi Hojo
• Act Yasukawa
• Yui Yokoo
• Dark Angel
• Sumire Yoshino

The primary difference between the first edition and the second edition is Bikiniing 2 only focuses on wrestlers in bikinis. I know that sounds odd to say in a photobook called Bikiniing, but for the first edition some wrestlers were included that for either their wrestling character or personal preference were not wearing beachwear. Bikiniing 2 features less wrestlers, but all follow the theme of the photobook, maybe they got some complaints. All the wrestlers are contracted Stardom wrestlers at the time of production, except for Dark Angel who makes a special appearance.

Early 2013 in Stardom was peak Yuzuki Aikawa time, and that is evident from this photobook as she has more than her fair share of pictures. 13 pages of the photobook feature Aikawa, accounting for over 20% of the pages overall. That left some wrestlers like Kairi Hojo (three pages) and Natsumi Showzuki (four pages) with less than one may expect if they ordered the photobook expecting a more even distribution. There are also no group shots aside from the front and inside cover, as all pictures are solo. Unless you are a big fan of Yuzuki Aikawa, the uneven number of pages per wrestler may be disappointing, but I do think it was a smart move to focus on wrestlers that were more comfortable with wearing beach attire even if it meant less wrestlers were included. Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook: