Full Details

Title: Bikiniing Winter
Release: February 2022
Pages: 68
Size: A4
Cost: ¥4,000
Where to Buy: Various Third Party Vendors (eBay, Buyee, Mercari, etc.)

For this special edition of Bikiniing, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Tam Nakano
• Mina Shirakawa
• Unagi Sayaka
• Mai Sakurai
• Waka Tsukiyama
• Mayu Iwatani
• Lady C
• Momo Watanabe
• AZM
• Utami Hayashishita
• Saya Kamitani
• Giulia
• Syuri
• Maika
• Himeka
• Natsupoi

For the first time since the series launched, Stardom surprised its fans with a “bonus” edition of Bikiniing. This edition did not follow the traditional numbering system as it came out (as the name implies) in the winter, and thus was simply called “Bikiniing Winter.” Even though it isn’t part of the official series, it still is the same size as the regular photobook with the same basic content, so while some may see it as an easy cash-in at least they did not produce an inferior product in the process.

The photobook follows the regular themes of Bikiniing – no wrestlers from Oedo Tai (doesn’t fit the gimmick!) and no one under the age of 18 (a development since Bushiroad took over but an appreciated one). Also, all pictures are of wrestlers in some type of beach-wear, although not necessarily bikinis. Bikiniing Winter is what you’d expect from a Stardom Bikiniing photobook so I’ll take a moment to complain about one aspect – I wish they had just gone full into the gimmick and had the wrestlers in (studio, not real) winter scenes. It would have made it stand out from the other Bikiniing photobooks, they gave themselves an excuse to have unique scenery but for the most part its just standard model posing/backgrounds like most of their other photobooks. A couple of the wrestlers did wear some type of jacket/fur in their photos but that was the extent of it. A missed opportunity to do something a little different from the norm.

Beyond that, the roster for the photobook is strong and every wrestler got at least three photos, plus most wrestlers had multiple outfits so the variety is certainly there. For those that like photobooks featuring the whole roster and not just one wrestler/faction, its hard not to recommend Bikiniing Winter, even if I wish they had leaned more into the “Winter” aspect beyond it just acknowledging when the photobook was released. Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 9 Stardom Visual Book
Release: August 14th, 2020
Pages: 80
Size: A4
Cost: ¥3,000
Where to Buy: Stardom Online Shop or Third Party Vendors (eBay, Buyee, etc.)

For the 9th edition of the photobook, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Maika
• Himeka
• Konami
• Jungle Kyona
• Momo Watanabe
• Utami Hayashishita
• Syuri
• Starlight Kid
• Mayu Iwatani
• Tam Nakano
• AZM
• Giulia

As sure as the sun will rise in the East and set in the West, Stardom will release a Bikiniing book every year. 2020 has been a dumpster fire but that won’t stop them, as once the pandemic slowed in Japan the wrestlers of Stardom were back in the studio for Bikiniing 9. Like in many years in the past, the pictures were taken in a studio and not on an actual beach (or outside at all), making the photobook slightly less interesting but still living up to its name.

All the wrestlers in the photobook were given at least three pictures, with no one wrestler dominating the spread. One interesting aspect is they clearly took a ton more pictures than the photobook would fit. That itself isn’t surprising, but some of the wrestlers clearly made multiple wardrobe changes even though only one photo of some of the ‘secondary’ outfits made the book. I imagine that made for a long day of taking pictures, and who knows how many photos they took to just have three or four chosen. Beyond the photos of each wrestler individually, there are also pictures of the wrestlers all together, and also in their factions.

The cast for the photobook is a good rundown of the biggest wrestlers in the promotion, with the only obvious exclusion being Natsuko Tora. But Oedo Tai doesn’t always participate in Bikiniing since it doesn’t flow with their gimmick, and since Natsu Sumire isn’t a contracted wrestler that may have been why she wasn’t included. Still, all the big stars are here and its sure to be a hit for fans of the promotion. For fans concerned about Stardom using underage wrestlers in their photobooks, AZM is the only wrestler included this year under 18, which she is still a few months away from. So an improvement over past years and its very possible this will be the last year with a wrestler under 18 years old. Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 5 Stardom Visual Book
Release: July 31st, 2016
Cost: ¥2,500
Where to Buy: Third Party Vendors (eBay, Buyee, etc.)

For the 5th edition of the photobook, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Io Shirai
• Mayu Iwatani
• Kairi Hojo
• Jungle Kyona
• Hiromi Mimura
• Toni Storm
• Chelsea
• Shanna
• Yoko Bito

Stardom has gotten into a grove on Bikiniing photobooks by now, as instead of featuring the entire roster and all the gaijins available, they focus on a smaller sample of wrestlers so that more photos of each can be shown. The usual suspects are included in Bikiniing 5, with Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani, and Kairi Hojo all making their annual appearance, but we have some newer faces as well. Yoko Bito returned to Stardom in 2016 and thus made her return to Bikiniing, plus we get newer wrestlers Hiromi Mimura and Jungle Kyona. They are joined by three gaijin this year – Toni Storm, Chelsea, and Shanna. While Toni Storm and Chelsea were regulars in Stardom for a stretch of time, Shanna wasn’t there as long and is the biggest surprise in this year’s edition.

As is generally the case, the photoshoot focused on the wrestlers in swimwear, with multiple outfits for each. No underage wrestlers this year, which is always a plus, and any photobook with Io and Kairi is going to be a hit. Here are a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 4 Stardom Visual Book
Release: July 26th, 2015
Pages: 60
Cost: ¥2,500
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

For the 4th edition of the photobook, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Io Shirai
• Mayu Iwatani
• Kairi Hojo
• Reo Hazuki
• Act Yasukawa
• Haruka Kato
• Chelsea
• Melissa

For Bikiniing 4, the promotion went back towards the direction we saw in the second edition, which means we get a smaller sample of wrestlers but all of which fully participated in the theme of the photobook. What makes this one different is some of the pictures are more… risqué than others as this is the Stardom photobook with the “famous” pictures of Mayu Iwatani and Io Shirai lying in bed with virtually no clothes on at all, with only title belts to cover themselves. This was also the first Bikiniing photobook with a wrestler under the age of 18, as Hazuki was only 17 years old when the photos were taken. For that reason I haven’t included any pictures of Hazuki below, just to make sure I don’t make anyone too uncomfortable reading the review.

Aside from Mayu and Io going a bit beyond what we have seen in the past editions of Bikiniing, the rest of the pictures are more in-line with what you’d expect. All the wrestlers appear in solo shots, with not just Io and Mayu but also Chelsea and Kairi appearing in dual shots as well since they were a tag team at the time. Haruka Kato and Melissa are the ‘surprise’ inclusions, as Kato wasn’t an official roster member and Melissa didn’t do a lot of tours for the promotion, but sometimes it is just a matter of timing. All in all, this is the most memorable Bikiniing photobook up to this point due to the pictures of Mayu and Io, but overall its the quality of pictures you’d expect from Stardom. Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 3 Stardom Visual Book: The Mexican Special
Release: June 1st, 2014
Pages: 60
Cost: ¥2,500
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

For the 3rd edition of the photobook, the following wrestlers were featured:

• Io Shirai
• Kairi Hojo
• Mayu Iwatani
• Yuna Manase
• Dark Angel

For the third version of Bikiniing, Stardom went in a completely different direction. Except for the bikini theme, of course. Instead of having a large percentage of the roster take part, Bikiniing 3 was shot in Mexico with only five wrestlers. Three of the wrestlers were near the top of Stardom in 2014 in Io, Kairi, and Mayu, but Yuna was still in her learning phase (she wouldn’t last in Stardom much longer after this) and Dark Angel was a visiting Gaijin. But even though the photobook featured less wrestlers, they did not sacrifice book size or picture quality in the process.

Another key difference with Bikiniing 3 is it had a lot of group shots, plus of course it gave all the wrestlers more of a chance to be featured. There are a total of 15 pages with multi-shot pictures, showing the wrestlers in various locations including the beach, at the hotel, and traveling the city. If you are a fan of any of these five wrestlers, you’ll likely be satisfied with the photobook, however if you are a collector of the photobooks with a large sample of different wrestlers this is probably one that can be skipped since it had a different theme than any Bikiniing book before or after. Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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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:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing Stardom Visual Book
Release: July 2012
Pages: 58
Cost: ¥2,750
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

As is the tradition for the Bikiniing series, this photobook features the Stardom wrestlers in bikinis or something similar. Nothing in this first edition is overly scandalous and many of the photos aren’t actually taken on a beach/outside but rather in a professional studio. Not all the outfits are revealing, as wrestlers mostly stayed in gimmick if they aren’t the “bikini” type (such as Yoshiko). The following wrestlers were featured:

• Io Shirai
• Nanae Takahashi
• Miho Wakizawa
• Hiroyo Matsumoto
• Yuzuki Aikawa
• Yoko Bito
• Kairi Hojo (Kairi Sane)
• Natsumi Showzuki
• Natsuki Taiyo
• Mayu Iwatani
• Eri Susa
• Haruka Kato
• Act Yasukawa (also as Yuka Yasukawa)
• Yoshiko

As for the pictures, the ‘special’ aspect of this particular photobook is as far as I know this was the only photobook that pictured and labeled Act Yasukawa by her real name. She has pictures in the photobook both as herself and as Act Yasukawa. Otherwise, the pictures are pretty standard for the photobook series, as they include both individual pictures of the wrestlers and some group shots as well. Also to note – Hiroyo Matsumoto only has one picture in the photobook, so if you are a big fan of hers, I wouldn’t recommend buying this photobook just for her even though she rarely participates in these types of photoshoots. Here are some sample pictures from the photobook:

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Full Details

Title: Bikiniing 7 Stardom Visual Book
Release: August 12th, 2018
Pages: 57
Cost: ¥2,000
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

As is the tradition, this photobook features the Stardom wrestlers in bikinis or something similar. Nothing this year is overly scandalous (unlike Bikiniing 4 which had Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani naked in bed together) and the photos aren’t actually taken on a beach but rather in a professional studio. Not all the outfits are revealing, as AZM and Starlight Kid wore more ‘regular’ tops instead of bikinis, so their attire likely just depended on what they felt comfortable posing in and their ages. Here is how many pictures are included for each wrestler:

• Mayu Iwatani – 5
• Saki Kashima – 5
• Tam Nakano – 6
• Starlight Kid – 4 (both with and without her mask, with her hands mostly covering her face)
• Shiki Shibusawa – 6
• Hanan – 2
• Hazuki – 5
• Momo Watanabe – 5
• Konami – 4
• AZM – 3
• Jungle Kyona – 4
• Natsuko Tora – 4
• Utami Hayashishita – 5
• Group Shot – 1

Overall, this is one of the better photobooks Stardom has produced as it focuses on their own roster instead of mixing in Gaijin, which allowed them to have more pictures per wrestler. The only downside is they did not include the outside native talent they use so Kagetsu, Hana Kimura, and Natsu Sumire are not part of the photo spread. Here are some lower res pictures from the photobook to give a better idea of what the book has to offer:

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