At the beginning of February, I decided to do an evaluation of twelve streaming services with joshi wrestling for the month to see which streaming service provides the best value. The goal of the evaluation is to look at recent events added to the streaming services as back catalogs were not considered, as I want to find which service has the best value on a month to month basis. The raw data is listed after the ranking, showing which events were uploaded and when they were uploaded. Most fans will likely disagree with my subjective opinions, such as event and wrestler quality, but the upload stats don’t lie as some streaming services offer a lot more content than others. Here is the criteria I used for the evaluation:

Criteria: 

• Overall Quality of Events
• Number of Events and Total Matches Added in February (2025 events only)
• Timeliness of Event Uploads (when the event took place vs. when it was uploaded)
• Value vs. Cost

Ground Rules:

• Only events available for the flat streaming fee will be counted, not events that cost extra on top of the regular monthly price.
• 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 February.
• Events heavily clipped/in digest form will not be evaluated.
• If an event from a 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.

In the month of February, 53 wrestling events with joshi matches were added to the tracked streaming services. Without further ado, here are my rankings for the best (and worst) joshi streaming services!

1. Wrestle Universe

Promotions: Tokyo Joshi Pro, Sendai Girls’, and Marigold
Website: wrestle-universe.com
Cost: 1,298 Yen a month

Even though Wrestle Universe is the most expensive service, to say it provides the bang for your buck would be an understatement. Over the course of February, Wrestle Universe uploaded 17 events from Joshi promotions and one event with several additional joshi matches. 18 new/current events in 28 days is simply an insane output and above the level we’ve seen from any wrestling streaming service in the past. Of the 18 events, many were shown live and only two were uploaded on a significant delay – 16 shows were added to the service within five days of the show taking place with the majority within three days. On top of that, since Wrestle Universe uploads events from three Joshi promotions, there is a good variety of styles and a lot of wrestlers to fall in love with. This value doesn’t even take into account they also stream NOAH and DDT. At about 60 cents a Joshi show, an absolute great bargain and a must have for fans of women’s wrestling.

2. Stardom World

Promotion: World Wonder Ring Stardom
Website: stardom-world.com
Cost: 920 Yen a month

If you want to get one service with the best wrestling and are strictly focused on quality over quantity, Stardom World may be for you. Stardom uploaded eight events in February which is a very impressive number for one promotion, giving an average cost of about a dollar per show. Many of the events were shown live, and all were uploaded in a timely fashion. Stardom also has PPVs but these numbers don’t consider those, as I am only evaluating the flat cost experience. On a subjective note – I think Stardom has some of the best women’s wrestlers in the world and a very complete roster top to bottom, so you can’t really go wrong with their events from a talent perspective. Even though Wrestle Universe was an easy #1 pick based off their sheer quantity and they do have many talented wrestlers spread across three promotions, Stardom is an equally easy #2 pick based on their upload schedule and the incredibly impressive wrestlers on their roster.

3. Actwres Girls Nets

Promotion: Actwres girl’Z
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app
Cost: 1,000 Yen a month

This ranking surprised me but I think its justified. There is a pretty big drop off from the Top 2 to “the rest” and the next few rankings will come down to wrestling promotion preference, but AgZ impressed me this month. Actwres girl’Z uploaded three events in February, with all three events uploaded three days after they took place which is pretty quick. AgZ doesn’t really do ‘house shows’ so all three events were a decent length and all three had title matches, so these weren’t dojo-style shows. While the promotion’s roster was gutted by Marigold last year, they still have talented wrestlers at the top of the card with young wrestlers that show potential. While it may not be the top-to-bottom quality of other promotions they still put on entertaining events. I wish it was a little cheaper but if they average two or three events of above-average quality per month its still a pretty good deal.

4. ChocoPro Youtube Channel

Promotion: ChocoPro
Website: youtube.com/channel/UC2HtPsU4U7TNSv2mSbPkj0w
Cost: Free

ChocoPro is the hardest promotion to “rank” compared to other promotions. First the positive – it is free! They take donations but no money is required to watch their events. They upload all of their events, nothing extra for their big shows, and events are either shown live or are uploaded within a week. In February, they uploaded six events, one of the highest outputs of any promotion evaluated. Now the negative – ChocoPro isn’t for everyone. Their events are short and most of them take place on a small mat in front of a big wall without ropes. They also tend to have wrestlers that are more style than substance, fun wrestlers but not necessarily highly skilled (aside from Mei Suruga who is great). ChocoPro is a vibe – their events are short and light-hearted, and many fans love them. But they are an acquired taste. Luckily, their shows are free, so it costs nothing to check them out and see if their style of wrestling is for you.

5. PURE-J Youtube Channel

Promotion: PURE-J
Website: PURE-J on Youtube
Cost: $9.99 a month

PURE-J and Ice Ribbon are neck and neck here, but I put PURE-J ahead since they upload all their events and don’t hold their bigger shows for PPV. PURE-J uploaded five events in February, none live but most within four days which comes to a clean $2 per show average. Since they uploaded every show they put on during the month, they range from Dojo shows to bigger events, with one event only having two matches while another had five matches and a defense of their top championship. The output is pretty good, the main issue is that $10 is on the steeper side for a promotion that is one of the lowest in joshi wrestling in terms of popularity and the strength of their roster. if this service was $5 it would be easier to recommend. Still, they have some solid vets and put on some good shows, it just isn’t the quality of the top joshi promotions, you won’t see any “five star matches” here. If you are only getting one streaming service it probably wouldn’t be this one, but if you want to watch something different and a service that averages a show a week, you could do worse.

6. Ice Ribbon Youtube Channel

Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Website: Club Ice Ribbon
Cost: $9.99 a month

Even though I think Ice Ribbon has better wrestlers than PURE-J, the reason I ranked Ice Ribbon’s service below is more based on the business side then the in-ring side. Ice Ribbon uploaded five events in February just like PURE-J did, for a $2 per show average. The issue is that Ice Ribbon only uploads their smaller events to Club Ice Ribbon as they save their bigger events for PPV. I personally have no issue with them also having PPVs, but the problem is the cost of this service as charging $10 for only house show/dojo show quality events is a little steep. Of the shows added in February there were no title matches or “big” singles matches as those were saved for the PPVs. It should be noted that the PPVs are not added to Club Ice Ribbon at a later date but rather to a different streaming service altogether, so on the Youtube subscription they won’t even be available on delay. This business model is a little iffy to me as with this service you will never see their bigger matches like you do for the other promotions on this list. That makes Club Ice Ribbon more for the hardcore Ice Ribbon fans that want to watch small events/track the progress of younger wrestlers. Like PURE-J, if this service was $5 or $6 it would be easier to justify, but paying $10 for only dojo shows is a harder sell.

If you are interested in only seeing the bigger Ice Ribbon events and not seeing their weekly shows (and don’t care if there is a delay), the other Ice Ribbon monthly service is called Ice Ribbon Live PLUS. It is similar to Diana and SEAdLINNNG’s services, where their PPVs are generally added on a one month delay. It is 1,000 yen a month, so to watch all their events you’d be looking at paying about $18 a month total.

7. Everydiana

Promotion: Diana
Website: https://live.www-diana.com/movie
Cost: 990 Yen a month

Everydiana is a “new” type of wrestling service that other promotions use as well. Diana uses a PPV model and later uploads the events one month later to their monthly subscription service, which is fine for catching up but certainly not ideal for those that like to view their joshi wrestling in real time. There are two aspects that kept Diana ranked above SEAdLINNNG (and Ice Ribbon Live PLUS if I had it on the list) – they upload all their shows, and they added more events. Diana uploaded four events in February, all of which were shows that took place in January. They were complete shows however, with one event in particular having six matches with two title matches. Four events for about $8 is a solid value and they put on good shows (they bring in wrestlers from other promotions to fill out the larger events), but the month delay is a tough pill to swallow when other promotions are Live or Near-Live.

8. Evolution Fan Site

Promotion: Pro-Wrestling Evolution
Website: https://evolutionofficialfc.com
Cost: 500 yen

This was a late addition to the list but I am glad it got on here as I want to cover as many promotions as possible. Evolution only puts on one or two shows a month so the streaming service won’t have the number of uploads as others, but they do stream their events live which is a big plus and it only costs about $3.50 a month. If they had more shows they’d be higher on this list as its hard to give a recommendation for a smaller promotion with a low number of shows, but I’ll give them credit for pricing their service appropriately. If they start putting on more events down the road this could be one to keep an eye on, as it is, its really just an add-on service if you were really curious to see what Evolution has to offer.

9. P.P.P. Tokyo Youtube Channel

Promotion: P.P.P. TOKYO
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@PPPTOKYO
Cost: $6.99 a month

Another late addition to this list was P.P.P. TOKYO’s steaming service. P.P.P. TOKYO has both male and female wrestlers so if you are looking for a service just for joshi this one isn’t for you. P.P.P. TOKYO added one event in the month of February, which is the only show they had as they only run once a month (at the most). The good news is the event was streamed live, which is appreciated, but between their roster being on the lower end and the infrequency of their events I wouldn’t recommend it for $7 a month. If down the road they start putting on more shows, that may change, but for now its a skip unless you just have to watch their shows.

10. SEAdLINNNG Movie+

Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Website: https://seadlinnng.com/movie
Cost: 999 Yen a month

SEAdLINNNG Movie+ in a lot of ways is the worst of all worlds. They don’t have many shows (just one in February), they add events a month after they took place, and its more expensive than several other services on this list. While the show quality is on the higher end, until they start running more events there isn’t a way to recommend paying $8 a month to watch one month-old show. If you are a big fan of SEAdLINNNG, you may as well just buy the PPVs as this monthly service as it is now doesn’t provide much value.

11. NicoPro

Promotions: OZ Academy, Triplesix, and other smaller promotions
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro
Cost: 550 yen

NicoPro used to be a fantastic wrestling streaming service. In 2022, I ranked them as the third best service! They used to upload many wrestling events per month at the ~$5 price which was a great value, as even though they weren’t the top promotions there was a lot of variety and talented wrestlers. Unfortunately, they have changed their business model to mostly be PPV-based now. For the 550 yen fee in February, only one event was uploaded with any joshi matches, and it was literally one match. The other events with joshi wrestling uploaded required an additional charge. With the monthly membership, fans get a discount on the PPVs but they still range as costing an additional $10 to $20 per show which goes against what this evaluation is looking for. If you are interested in a flat monthly fee to watch joshi wrestling, NicoPro is no longer that place, as painful as it is to say.

12. Marvelous Youtube Channel

Promotion: Marvelous
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@Marvelous
Cost: $6.99 a month

This one was easy. Marvelous uploaded zero events and has not uploaded any events in nine months. If you want to just give money to Marvelous to offer them support, then go ahead and sign up, but if you are looking for current wrestling shows this is not the service for you. Marvelous has always been hot and cold with uploading events between their old NicoNico Channel and Youtube so maybe one day they will begin again, but until then I’d recommend steering clear.

Conclusion:

This is just a one month snapshot of what the various streaming services have to offer, and while it is ‘fair’ in the sense that all services were tracked the same month, that doesn’t mean the results would be the same in six months. Still, from looking back at past months most of these services follow the same patterns so I am confident this is a good representation. Of course, wrestling itself is very subjective and every promotion has their own fans, you will never find a consensus on what promotion is best in-ring nor should there be one, wrestling is all about variety. For general fans of women’s wrestling I couldn’t recommend Wrestle Universe and Stardom World more, they offer tremendous value to stay subscribed on a month to month basis. Others on this list are probably more for bigger fans of the promotion but you never know what you may love until you give them a try. I hope this list helps you find something new to try, its an exciting time with so much wrestling readily available to stream online and I hope it gets even better in the future!

February 2025 Upload Data:

Service: Wrestle Universe
Promotions: Tokyo Joshi Pro, Sendai Girls’, and Marigold
Website: wrestle-universe.com
Cost: 1,298 Yen a month

Service: Ice Ribbon on Youtube
Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Website: Club Ice Ribbon
Cost: $9.99 a month

Service: PURE-J on Youtube
Promotion: PURE-J
Website: PURE-J on Youtube
Cost: $9.99 a month

Service: Actwres girl’Z Online
Promotion: Actwres girl’Z
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app
Cost: 1,000 Yen a month

The post Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for February 2025 Results appeared first on Joshi City.

It has been almost three years 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 eleven Joshi streaming services for the month of February, 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 is the service that uploads very recent shows and with the most frequency. 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: Wrestle Universe
Promotions: Tokyo Joshi Pro, Sendai Girls’, and Marigold
Website: wrestle-universe.com
Cost: 1,298 Yen a month

Service: Ice Ribbon on Youtube
Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Website: Club Ice Ribbon
Cost: $9.99 a month

Service: PURE-J on Youtube
Promotion: PURE-J
Website: PURE-J on Youtube
Cost: $9.99 a month

Service: Actwres girl’Z Online
Promotion: Actwres girl’Z
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app
Cost: 1,000 Yen a month

Service: SEAdLINNNG Movie+
Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Website: https://seadlinnng.com/movie
Cost: 999 yen

Service: Everydiana
Promotion: Diana
Website: https://live.www-diana.com/movie
Cost: 990 yen

Service: Stardom World
Promotion: World Wonder Ring Stardom
Website: stardom-world.com
Cost: 920 Yen a month

Service: Marvelous on Youtube
Promotion: Marvelous
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@Marvelous
Cost: $6.99 a month

Service: PPPTOKYO on Youtube
Promotion: PPPTOKYO
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@PPPTOKYO
Cost: $6.99 a month

Service: NicoPro
Promotions: OZ Academy, Triplesix, and other smaller promotions
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro
Cost: 550 yen

Service: ChocoPro on Youtube
Promotion: ChocoPro
Website: youtube.com/channel/UC2HtPsU4U7TNSv2mSbPkj0w
Cost: Free

Individual events that cost extra will not be evaluated – only events available for free or for a set 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 February (well, early March 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 February (2025 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 February 1st and February 28th 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 February.
• 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 may not notice the exact day a show is added to a service but I’ll cross reference the promotion’s social media 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 February will be a busy month of Joshi watching!

The post An Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for February 2025 appeared first on Joshi City.

At the beginning of March, I decided to do a running evaluation of nine Joshi streaming services for the month to see which streaming service provides the best value. The goal of the evaluation was to look at recent events added to the streaming services as their back catalogs were not considered, as I wanted to find which service has the best value on a month to month basis. The raw data is after the ranking, showing which events were uploaded, when they were uploaded, and my own grade on the quality of the event. Some fans will likely disagree with my subjective opinions, such as event and wrestler quality, but the facts don’t lie as some streaming services offer a lot more “bang for your buck” than others. Here is the criteria I used for the evaluation:

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

Ground Rules:

• Only events available for the flat streaming fee will be counted, not events that cost extra on top of the regular monthly price.
• 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 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.

In the month of March, 39 joshi wrestling events were uploaded to the tracked streaming services. Without further ado, here are my rankings for the best (and worst) Joshi streaming services!

1. Stardom World

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

For March, this wasn’t very close. Stardom had it all this month – they had two of the best Joshi events period, they had the quantity (nine full events), and a fast turnaround time. They have the best female wrestlers in the world and all of their events (even PPVs, on a slight delay) are added to Stardom World for only $9 a month. Really the only knock on Stardom is they don’t stream events live like some other promotions on this list, but they check every other box. For quality, quantity, and timeliness you couldn’t do much better than Stardom in March.

2. Wrestle Universe (for Tokyo Joshi Pro)

Cost: 900 yen
Website: https://wrestle-universe.com/

There is something to be said about quality over quantity, which is the reason I have Wrestle Universe ranked second. Really, when it came to high end wrestling on Joshi subscription services, Stardom and Tokyo Joshi Pro were the clear winners and that may be a trend that continues for the rest of the year. Tokyo Joshi Pro only added four events in March, but all were streamed live and one of the events was a PPV-quality show that delivered. For $9ish its hard to argue that the value isn’t easily met by the service they provide. Plus you get DDT too, if you are into that sort of thing.

3. NicoPro Nico Channel

Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for NicoPro. They don’t air the best events, and aren’t always timely with uploads. But I love the variety and the lower price at only $5 a month. NicoPro uploaded events from four different promotions in March, which is the only cheap way to see some of the promotions via a legal service as JUST TAP OUT and Oz Academy currently only deal with PPVs for their bigger if they aren’t on NicoPro. The video quality isn’t great… the commentary box is annoying… but hell its $5 for a wide variety of promotions and wrestling styles so I always recommend it. Plus if you watch more than just Joshi, there is even more wrestling events available from other random promotions to get the most out of your money.

4. Gatoh Move Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/GatohMove

Gatoh Move has three major benefits – they are live, frequent, and free. They add a lot of events, but most of them average only two matches so it can be a little misleading when comparing to other promotions. The wrestling style of Gatoh Move will turn off some fans, wrestling on just a mat instead of a ring, but since it is free its hard to really complain. Not generally known for high end matches (partially due to the environment), Gatoh Move events tend to be an easy watch but it certainly isn’t for everyone.

5. Sendai Girls’ Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/sendaigirls

Sendai Girls’ only uploaded two events in March, but both were very good shows and it is free which is a nice benefit. I debated on where to put Sendai Girls’ as they don’t upload very quickly, and there is no telling when they will actually upload shows. But since they don’t currently use a regular alternative method to stream their events, these weren’t low level shows they added as one of them had two title matches. Sendai Girls’ has a better set of wrestlers than many of the promotions that surround it on these rankings, which does help make their shows better. And they use a ring, which is a perk for some. For the low price of free, definitely worth subscribing to so you know when their events pop up.

6. Club Ice Ribbon

Cost: $9.99
Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7i9ItxT_BgDa14GkqOy1iQ

Unlike Wrestle Universe, Ice Ribbon went more for quantity than quality. And they do stream almost all of the events live, which is a big plus, so it is hard to argue that if you are a big Ice Ribbon fan that you don’t get a lot of wrestling for your money. But for the more neutral Joshi fan, even though Ice Ribbon put seven events on their new streaming service in March, none were particularly great. Their bigger events they still save for NicoPro/PPV, so Club Ice Ribbon is more designed if you want to watch house-show style events with mostly inexperienced wrestlers. I thought maybe it was just me but from looking at other thoughts on Twitter, when you leave the Ice Ribbon Stan Bubble there wasn’t a lot of positive reviews. That’s not to say it is *bad* but its a lot of basic wrestling. If you love Ice Ribbon, or enjoy watching young wrestlers slowly hone their craft, this may be worth picking up, but at $10 its a tough sell for secondary-level events.

7. PURE-J on Youtube

Cost: $9.99
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/PUREJ

Even though they are 7th on this list, I still think PURE-J offers a decent value for what they charge. But the fact they charge, which I don’t blame them for doing of course, does slot them below Gatoh Move and Sendai Girls’ for March since those promotions are free to watch. The four PURE-J events in March were all decent, nothing to rock your world but pretty solid. Unlike Ice Ribbon they don’t air live however, and did have half the events. For $10 it may be hard to justify as they simply don’t have the wrestlers that Stardom and Tokyo Joshi Pro have, but I appreciate they are pretty timely with their uploads and average an event a week.

8. Actwres girl’Z Nets

Cost: 1,000 yen
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app

AgZ only is averaging one wrestling event per month since they changed their structure, so this is about all one can realistically expect. For the price, it is hard to recommend as basically you are paying $10 a show and its usually not a great show. All of the best wrestlers in AgZ left, so now they are mostly left with actresses/wrestlers with some being better than others. They have a sizeable back catalogue so it may be worth a month or two subscribing just for that, but for a rolling month to month subscription, AgZ definitely provides the least for the money spent.

9. Diana Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/dianaofficial/

Diana did not upload anything in March and hasn’t uploaded anything in the last few months. They are very hit and miss and go through spurts of uploading events. This was an off month for sure. Since it is free, there is no harm in subscribing, but don’t count on their Youtube channel to give you your wrestling fix.

Conclusion:

Coming up with a ranking based on just one month is both fair as it puts them all on the same level, but also unfair as some promotions can just have a down month. For the paid services, the two best are easy – you can’t go wrong with Stardom World and Wrestle Universe. Ice Ribbon and PURE-J’s paid services are best suited for hardcore fans of the promotions or completionists, as there are better or equal options that are free. Sendai Girls’ and Gatoh Move are easy to recommend as far as free services go if you are into their respective styles. I’ll check again next year to see how the streaming services are going, hopefully we’ll get some new ones so we can watch even more Joshi!

March 2022 Raw Upload Data:

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://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

The post Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for March 2022 Results appeared first on Joshi City.

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!

The post An Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for March 2022 appeared first on Joshi City.

When COVID hit in 2020, one of the side effects was wrestling companies having to figure out new ways to stay in business. Without live crowds, the lack of gate clearly impacted profits, which led to promotions looking for other ways to bring in money. Different promotions went in different directions, but almost all found new ways to make their events available to fans to watch at home since they couldn’t go to the arena. With that in mind, I wanted to quickly give a run down of where you can watch Joshi wrestling this month.

First, I am going to start with the regular streaming services, either on Youtube or via a platform with a flat monthly fee. These were further covered in my recap from April 2021, so check that column out for a lot more details.

Joshi Wrestling Non-PPV Streaming Services

Promotion: PURE-J
Streaming Service: Filmuy
Cost: 1,040 yen
Website: https://filmuy.com/pure-j

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

Promotion: YMZ
Service: Filmuy
Cost: 999 yen
Website: https://filmuy.com/ymz

Promotion: Marvelous
Service: NicoNico
Cost: 990 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/marvelouspro

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

Promotion: Tokyo Joshi Pro
Service: Wrestle Universe
Cost: 900 yen
Website: https://www.ddtpro.com/universe

Promotion: Various
Service: NicoPro NicoNico
Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro

Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Service: NicoNico
Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon

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

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

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

So those are all the services that fans are pretty familiar with, as they have been around for awhile. Now we will dive into which promotions are using the PPV model, and where their PPVs are airing as there are a lot of different options. Most of these services should be available to International fans and most I have used successfully, but it may depend on your credit card settings. Also, some services do have an easier process than others for Western fans.

Joshi Wrestling PPV Options

Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Service: SEAdLINNNG LIVE
Cost (may vary): 3000 Yen
Website: https://seadlinnnglive.com
Upcoming or Available Event(s): July 11th

SEAdLINNNG gets a special mention as the only one with a dedicated website of their own for their PPVs. Just makes it easier to find what you are looking for. SEAdLINNNG offers a live streaming option for their PPVs, and the events are archived afterwards if you missed it live (or want to watch it again). The event will remain available to watch an unlimited number of time for seven days. They don’t have every event available as a PPV but offer one fairly regularly, so if you are a fan of SEAdLINNNG you don’t have to miss their shows. They tend to announce upcoming events on their Twitter account, @SLinnng, in English to make sure International fans are in the loop.

Promotion: Stardom
Service: Pia
Cost (may vary): 4400 Yen
Website: https://w.pia.jp/t/stardom-pls
Upcoming or Available Event(s): None

Stardom, like a couple other promotions we will get to, have both a monthly streaming service and also offer events on live PPV. Every show Stardom provides as a live PPV will be added later to Stardom World, you don’t have to buy their PPVs to watch the show. So if you can’t watch it live, may as well wait a few days and watch it on Stardom World as they only archive the PPV for a couple days after it airs on Pia. Stardom also recently started having English Commentary for their live PPVs, so we’ll see if that trend continues. The easiest way to find out when an event will be on PPV and to get the link to purchase is to follow their twitter account, @we_are_stardom.

Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Service: NicoNico
Cost (may vary): 1000 Yen to 3000 Yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon
Upcoming or Available Event(s): 10th, 14th, 21st, and 28th
*I haven’t personally tested this service yet but I assume it works for International fans*

Ice Ribbon is the first promotion we’ll discuss that airs PPVs on NicoNico (or affiliated website). This is not to be confused with their regular streaming service, even though its the same channel. Their PPVs have two prices, one for those that are members of their monthly streaming service and one for those that aren’t, generally a 500 yen price difference.  They do have PPVs very regularly, so if you are anxious to watch a certain match and don’t want to wait a month for the event to appear on their regular streaming service, its worth keeping an eye on. The easiest way to find out when an event will be on PPV and to get the link to purchase is to follow their English twitter account, @IceRibbon_eng.

Promotion: Actwres girl’Z
Service: KIPz (also NicoPro)
Cost (may vary): 2000 Yen
Website: https://kipz.fun
Upcoming or Available Event(s): June 30th (event is still available for purchase at the time of posting)

Actwres girl’Z also pulls double duty, as they have a monthly flat fee streaming service plus sometimes air PPVs. These also air on NicoNico but for Western fans, I would recommend using KIPz. KIPz is more friendly to foreign fans and is better quality. Events are available for around two weeks if purchased through KIPz after the event has aired, so there is plenty of time to watch if you miss it live. Actwres girl’Z events are randomly shown on PPV, and I wouldn’t consider it a regular occurrence. The easiest way to find out when an event will be on PPV and to get the link to purchase is to follow the NicoPro English twitter account, @nicopro_english.

Promotion: Diana
Service: KIPz (also NicoPro)
Cost (may vary): 2000 Yen
Website: https://kipz.fun
Upcoming or Available Event(s): July 4th (event is still available for purchase at the time of posting)

Diana is another promotion that very occasionally utilizes KIPz to show PPVs, even though the bulk of their events available to watch online are put on Youtube for free. This is far from a regular occurrence and like AgZ, the easiest way to know when one is coming up is to keep an eye on the NicoPro English twitter account, @nicopro_english.

Promotion: Pro Wrestling WAVE
Service: Confetti Web
Cost (may vary): 2500 Yen to 3500 Yen
Website: https://www.confetti-web.com
Upcoming or Available Event(s): None

I recently learned about this one as I don’t keep an eye on WAVE very closely. WAVE airs PPVs on a service called Confetti Web. They also sell tickets to go see WAVE in-person on this site, so its important to only purchase events that list the venue as “Confetti Streaming Theater.” At the moment they don’t have any upcoming events, but most (if not all) of the Catch The WAVE events did air as single events on PPV. Typically, events are available for one week after their live streaming date. Confetti Web is a little more tricky to sign up for as it requires a Japanese address, however my US credit card was accepted as payment. I’m not sure the easiest way to know when things are coming to the Confetti Streaming Theater, although WAVE’s twitter would probably be the best place to watch, @p_w_wave.

Promotion: Marvelous
Service: Passmarket
Cost (may vary): 3000 Yen
Website: https://passmarket.yahoo.co.jp
Upcoming or Available Event(s): July 19th and August 8th

Marvelous has been using Passmarket sporadically over the last year, so it seems to be their preferred PPV provider. They have two upcoming events that online tickets are available for, including KAORU’s retirement show. Unknown if these shows will also be added to their NicoNico channel, and if so how much of a delay there will be. Events are available for one week after their air if you miss the live viewing. Again I am going to recommend Twitter as the easiest way to know about upcoming events (if you don’t have Twitter, just make an account to follow Joshi promotions and of course me), their English Twitter account @marvelousinter sends out information on what events are coming and they provide a link to order.

Promotion: OZ Academy
Service: Mahocast
Cost (may vary): 3000 Yen
Website: https://www.mahocast.com/at/live/1149
Upcoming or Available Event(s): July 11th

OZ Academy streams a fair number of their events on Mahocast. Since OZ Academy doesn’t have a monthly streaming service and doesn’t air as often as other promotions, this is the best way to keep up with their product if you are a fan. The events are available for two weeks after they air, so if you miss it live you can come back and watch it later. Their social media game is a little lackluster so I’d recommend just bookmarking the link I have above as that is the landing page for all their events.

Promotion: Sendai Girls’
Service: Zaiko
Cost (may vary): 3500 Yen
Website: https://sendaigirlspro.zaiko.io
Upcoming or Available Event(s): July 11th
*I haven’t personally tested this service yet but I assume it works for International fans*

Finally, Sendai Girls’ has another method of streaming their shows, this one called Zaiko. Sendai Girls’ has tried a lot of different streaming options in the last few years, so no promises that this one will stick, however they have been using this service for PPVs since last November. Events are available for three days after purchase, so if you miss it live, don’t dilly dally in watching it or you may lose access. Sendai Girls’ appear to have abandoned their English Twitter account, but they do mention upcoming events on their regular Twitter account, @senjo2006.

The post Where to Watch Joshi Wrestling Online – July 2021 Edition appeared first on Joshi City.

At the beginning of April, I decided to do a running evaluation of ten Joshi streaming services for the month to see which streaming service provides the best value. The goal of the evaluation was to look at recent events added to the streaming services as their back catalogs were not considered, as I wanted to find which service has the best value on a month to month basis. The raw data is after the ranking, showing which events were uploaded, when they were uploaded, and my own grade on the quality of the event. Some fans will likely disagree with my subjective opinions, such as event and wrestler quality, but the facts don’t lie as some streaming services offered a lot more “bang for your buck” than others. Here is the criteria I used for the evaluation:

Criteria: 

• Overall Quality of Events
• Number of Events and Total Matches Added in April (2021 events only)
• Timeliness of Event Uploads (when the event took place vs. when it was uploaded)
• Value Compared to Cost

Ground Rules:

• Only events available for the flat streaming fee will be counted, not events that cost extra on top of the regular monthly price.
• 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 April.
• 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.

Without further ado, here are my rankings for the best (and worst) Joshi streaming service!

1. Wrestle Universe (featuring Tokyo Joshi Pro)

Cost: 900 yen
Website: https://www.ddtpro.com/universe

One could flip a coin between Wrestle Universe and Stardom World, but I had to give Wrestle Universe the edge for one big reason – live event streaming. Tokyo Joshi Pro had two big events stream live in April, plus had the new “That’s J-PW” series as well which were one match events featuring English commentary. The current TJPW roster is great with talented wrestlers up and down the card, and they almost always put on a good show. The only knock for Wrestle Universe is the lack of subtitles for promos (which only Stardom World has), but with five full events and six special presentations for English-speaking fans, it was a slam dunk month of April for Tokyo Joshi Pro and an easy recommendation for ~$9 a month.

2. Stardom World

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

If new content is the most important factor for you, Stardom World is your hookup. In April, Stardom uploaded seven full events, with 42 total matches. Stardom does not stream live shows, which is the only bad thing I can say about their service compared to some others on this list. But they do upload very quickly, with most events being fully added within three days, so if you can stay off twitter you can stay spoiler-free. Stardom has fantastic wrestlers, arguably the best in Japan, so match quality isn’t an issue. April was mostly “house shows” as some events were cancelled, but they still provided a lot of content for ~$9. On top of that, Stardom is the only Joshi streaming service that sub-titles their wrestler promos, which makes it a lot easier to follow along with what is happening. Overall, a great service.

3. NicoPro Wrestling Channel

Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro

I’ll go more into Gatoh Move in a second but this was a close decision. The main benefit of NicoPro is the variety of promotions they have deals with to upload. In April, they aired “only” four different Joshi promotions (seven events total), but even that is a big benefit as if you are a newer fan you can experience more styles of wrestling for one low price. NicoPro does offer some events for an extra charge, so I am only counting events that were included in the flat 550 yen price. The wrestling quality can be hit or miss on NicoPro as they tend to air smaller events, and there can be a delay of a week or two being when the event happens and when it airs, but its hard to deny the amount of content included for only around $5.

4. Gatoh Move Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/GatohMove

If someone wanted to argue with me that Gatoh Move should be above NicoPro, I wouldn’t necessarily disagree as they are very close and it comes down to personal wrestling taste. I like NicoPro’s variety and traditional style, but its undeniable that Gatoh Move puts a lot of effort into their Youtube channel and attracting International fans. All ChocoPro events air live, and they have a lot of events – nine in April alone. The events are short, generally three matches each, so they aren’t massive time investments. Gatoh Move isn’t for everyone however and I admit that I have some trouble getting into some of their matches, as they tend to feel long (with lots of shenanigans) and don’t take place in a wrestling ring. Their wrestlers are also for the most part not what most fans would consider highly skilled in-ring (beyond Mei Suruga and Emi Sakura), so their shows are more about personality and atmosphere. Still, the quality of the service they provide can’t be denied and since its *free* it is worth checking out if you haven’t experienced Gatoh Move before.

These are the clear Top Four. It falls off a cliff from here and I wouldn’t recommend any of the paid services below based on April as far as a regular recurring service (maybe subscribing every few months to catch up). But I promised I’d rank them, and rank them I shall.

5. PURE-J on Filmuy

Cost: 1,040 yen
Website: https://filmuy.com/pure-j

PURE-J is the most expensive streaming service on this list. Some months are better than others and April was not a great month for them, with only two events uploaded. I still have them 5th however for a few reasons. One, this is the only way to watch most of their events as they are a little “underground” with no TV deal and just really occasional events on NicoPro. So if you want to watch PURE-J, this is the way. Also, their event on 4/11 was really solid, and they uploaded both events quickly which is their norm. Even with a down month in regards to amount of content and the higher price, I still maintain my subscription on a monthly basis as PURE-J is my jam, and if you like solid fundamental wrestling with no frills you may enjoy it as well.

6. Diana Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/dianaofficial/

Diana only uploaded one event in April, but they still have two things working for them – the service is free, and they stream shows live. Live events in 2021 is such a big perk as its hard to stay spoiler-free these days, so upload speed is important to a lot of fans. Some months obviously have more events uploaded than others but some have none at all, Diana has always done whatever they want to do when they want to do it, its part of their charm. Don’t expect an avalanche of content but its good to keep an eye on them as they have solid wrestlers and put on good events when they get around to showing us.

7. Ice Ribbon Nico Channel

Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon

Ice Ribbon uploaded two events in April for 2021, however both were on a pretty massive time delay due to their event uploading practices. Ice Ribbon’s current business model is based on PPV events, so even with the 550 yen monthly service, to watch live events you’ll have to fork over an extra $10 to $20 per event. After the PPV events end, they will later be added to the service but it can be a month delay. NicoPro in April streamed as many Ice Ribbon events as Ice Ribbon did on their own service, and they uploaded them in a more timely manner to boot. This is probably fine for the diehard fan willing to pay an extra $15 for house show style events, but for everyone else I’d recommend just sticking to NicoPro to watch Ice Ribbon unless you are interested in their (massive) back catalog.

8. Actwres girl’Z Nets

Cost: 1,000 yen
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app

Actwres girl’Z only uploaded one event in April, and the event took place in March, so not a great month for AgZ’s steaming service. NicoPro uploaded more AgZ events in April, and they were more current events as well. Some months are better than others and like PURE-J, if you are a fan of the promotion this is the only way to watch their events without the annoying NicoPro commentary box on the screen. Still, hard to recommend based on their output for April, even though they do have a nice sized catalog for their older events.

The next two services streamed no new full events in April. None. Obviously this isn’t the norm for every month but to be fair to all the services, I am only evaluating based on April. I’ll go more in-depth but just know that the services below may be much higher on a different month if they actually streamed anything.

9. Sendai Girls’ Youtube Channel

Cost: Free
Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/sendaigirls

When it comes to online streaming, few promotions are more frustrating than Sendai Girls’. They first started on Pivot Share, but soon abandoned it. They then were uploading all their events on Youtube for free (and timely) which was great, but stopped. They then announced they were going to IWTV, but that never really blossomed and seems to have been forgotten. Now they are back on Youtube but never got back to their old uploading schedule as they tend to just upload random matches sometimes instead of full events. I am not sure if its due to behind-the-scenes staff changes but they struggle staying committed to an online strategy. Maybe worth checking occasionally, but don’t expect much.

10. Marvelous Wrestling Nico Channel

Cost: 990 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/marvelouspro

It hurts my soul to rank Marvelous this low as I thought when April started I’d be promoting their great service and instead they did nothing at all. Not only no new events, but no old ones either were uploaded in April. They uploaded events really well to start the year so I am not sure what happened this month. Marvelous had this issue on Fresh TV as well – they’d be really on top of uploading events and awesome for months, then would go three months with little to no uploads, then suddenly would be pumping out content again. I am not sure the reason but it doesn’t matter, its hard to recommend a streaming service that costs $10 but doesn’t upload any content. This may be one that is best to check first, sign up for a month to catch up, but cancel before the next billing service. Which is hard for me to say since I love Marvelous, but the fact is I can’t recommend a service that is as inconsistent as Marvelous is.

Conclusion:

Coming up with a ranking based on just one month is both fair as it puts them all on the same level, but also unfair as some promotions can just have a down month. I’d still recommend keeping an eye on all the services I listed, but the “surefire” bets that won’t disappoint when it comes to consistent monthly content are Wrestle Universe, Stardom, NicoPro, and Gatoh Move. While there is no harm in keeping tabs on the free Youtube channels, for the paid services it may just come down to how much you love the promotion and if you want to financially support them even if the content isn’t always there. Thanks for reading! The “raw” data for which events were uploaded is below.

April 2021 Upload Data:

Service: PURE-J on Filmuy
Cost: 1,040 yen
Website: https://filmuy.com/pure-j

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

Service: Marvelous Wrestling Nico Channel
Cost: 990 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/marvelouspro

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.ddtpro.com/universe

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

Service: Ice Ribbon Nico Channel
Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon

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

The post Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for April 2021 Results appeared first on Joshi City.

I haven’t been watching much wrestling lately, as other hobbies have been distracting me and I think the pandemic impacted my overall enjoyment of the shows. To help get me back into it and also to help both long time and new Joshi fans, I decided to evaluate ten Joshi streaming services for the month of April, 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). The following services will be evaluated (listed by cost):

Service: PURE-J on Filmuy
Cost: 1,040 yen
Website: https://filmuy.com/pure-j

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

Service: Marvelous Wrestling Nico Channel
Cost: 990 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/marvelouspro

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.ddtpro.com/universe

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

Service: Ice Ribbon Nico Channel
Cost: 550 yen
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon

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 April (well, early May 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 April (2021 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 timezone. Any events fully added to a streaming service between April 1st and April 30th 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 (mostly pertains to Stardom).
• Individual match uploads will only be evaluated if the entire event is uploaded in April (mostly pertains to Youtube).
• 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 April will be a busy month of Joshi watching!

The post An Evaluation of Joshi Streaming Services for April 2021 appeared first on Joshi City.

NicoPro is a wrestling channel on the popular streaming website NicoNico. It is a channel used by a number of wrestling promotions in Japan all for one price. It has been around for many years, but unfortunately their channel only accepted payments from Japanese credit cards (and other methods only available in Japan), making it nearly impossible for International fans to sign up and use the service. The list of promotions that upload recent events on the channel include Ice Ribbon, SEAdLINNNG, PURE-J, Actwres girl’Z, OZ Academy, Sendai Girls’, Pro Wrestling WAVE, Tokyo Joshi Pro, 2AW, Dove Pro, Michinoku Pro, RDPW, ZERO-1, WRESTLE-1, and more. Promotions do not upload all their events, but with all the promotions combined you are looking at on average from five to seven events streamed per week. Needless to say, it provides a ton of bang for your buck. Please note that none of the links below are affiliated, the goal of this guide is to educate, not make me money. Before I dive into a longer description on how the service works and how to sign up, here are the basics for those that are already ready to go:

Website: NicoNico NicoPro Wrestling Channel
Description: Streaming website for Japanese Pro Wrestling
Link: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro
Price: 550 Yen (billed the first of the month)

Before going into how to sign up, a few notes before you go to the site and start looking around:

• There is no English version of the website. As someone who navigates websites in Japanese all the time, this doesn’t matter to me, but for some it may take adjusting. If you use Chrome, the web page translation tool will suffice to get you around. If you do not use Google or another translate tool, luckily the bulk of promotions use Germanic letters for their name and the dates are just numbers so you should be able to find the event you want either way. But its just something to keep in mind if you do not regularly visit Japanese websites.
• You will need to make a general NicoNico Account first. I’ll go into more details later, but before joining NicoPro, you first have to make a NicoNico account. A NicoNico account is free, it is just the initial setup that then you will use to sign up for any channels you want access to such as NicoPro or any other channels.
• NicoNico Premium will NOT give you access to NicoPro. When you make a NicoNico account, you may see an option to join NicoNico Premium. NicoNico Premium has nothing to do with NicoPro – it will not give you access, a discount, or anything else. So unless you want NicoNico Premium for a completely different reason, do not sign up for it as it is not required for NicoPro.
• Wrestling events on NicoPro are available for only seven days after broadcast. Unlike other subscription services, the events added to NicoPro do have a set shelf life. There will be a live broadcast of the event (note that the events aren’t shown live, but you can watch the “live” broadcast the first time the event airs), and then the event will be archived for seven days. Once those seven days are up, the event is off the service forever. So if a show is available you want to watch, be sure to do it before the event disappears. Each event will say under it when it originally broadcasted, just add seven days to determine when it will be gone. Keep in mind the dates/times are JST so convert them appropriately.
• International fans will need to use Paypal. Yes there are probably crazy workarounds to use your standard credit card, but the vast majority of International wrestling fans will need to use Paypal as the credit card and other payment options will not work. So if you do not have PayPal, you will not be able to sign up.
• NicoPro is a recurring subscription and bills on the 1st of the month. Like most Japanese services, NicoPro will bill you automatically on the first of the month unless you cancel. So if you sign up on the 25th, you’ll pay 550 yen, and then on the 1st of the following month you’ll pay 550 yen. And then every 1st thereafter. If you want to get the most out of your first payment, I’d recommend signing up towards the beginning of the month since you’ll be billed again on the 1st regardless.
• Some individual channels are region blocked. NicoPro is available Worldwide, but some other wrestling channels may block you from watching the videos based on your location. Be sure to test it out first before paying for a different channel, otherwise you may still not be able to use it. The Ice Ribbon channel is also available Worldwide.

I think that is all for general notes, if you are still here and want a step by step guide for signing up for the service, I’ll get into that now. All the steps below are assuming that you want to sign up for NicoPro, and do not have a NicoNico Account. If you do have a NicoNico Account, after Step 1 you can jump to Step 9. To makes things easier to follow along, on some screenshots I’ll have both the original version and what the page looks like in Google Translate. You can click on the images to make them bigger.

How to Sign Up for NicoPro Wrestling Streaming Channel:

Step 1: Go to https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro and click on the yellow “Join the Channel” button (Original and Google Translate versions shown above).

Step 2: First we will need to make a (free) general NicoNico account. To sign up with an email address and not link NicoNico to another account, select “Sign up now.”

Step 3: Type in the email address you want to use to register and click “Proceed.”

Step 4: Nico Pro will send you an email to confirm account creation.

Step 5: Check your email and click the link within the email to activate. We will continue the rest of the process from that link.

Step 6: Once your account is confirmed, just a few more questions need to be filled in. Once done, click “Proceed.”

Step 7: Next we just have to Accept the Terms of Service.

Step 8: And registration is complete! If you are ready to sign up for NicoPro now, click the big green button. If not, you can come back later and do Step 1 before skipping to Step 9.

Step 9: Now that you have a NicoNico account, time to pay for the NicoPro channel. Select Paypal and click “Proceed to membership procedure.” (Original and Google Translate versions shown above)

Step 10: Subscription details will be confirmed, click on the Paypal Button to pay.

Step 11: Now you will be signed into Paypal to continue the process. This is the same process as every other site, once you have paid a confirmation page like the one above will appear and you are good to go! The example picture is for the Ice Ribbon channel, but either way clicking on the Blue Button will bring you back to the channel.

Congratulations, you have now signed up for NicoPro. Don’t forget that it will automatically renew the 1st of the month! Now that you have the service, here is a quick look at how to use it. Please note these screenshots were taken in November of 2019, the events will be different depending on when you are viewing the page. I’ll include both the original and Google Translate versions of both.

How to Use NicoPro

When viewing the NicoPro page, it is broken into five sections. The first section shows the next broadcast. The date and time of the broadcast is listed, on the English translated version you can see how many hours it will be until the broadcast. These shows you can stream live during the initial broadcast. Please note, that like the example above, it may not be a wrestling event as NicoPro also shows press conferences and studio shows.

The second section shows future broadcasts. These are shows that have not aired yet. The date and time of the broadcast is listed, on the English translated version you can see how many days or hours it will be until the broadcast.

The third section is the “time shift” archive of broadcasts that have been shown in the last seven days. These can be viewed at any time. The “broadcast end” date and time shows when the show aired, once seven days has expired, the show will no longer be available. The seven days is based off the JST airing, so be sure to watch the event you want before its gone. Shows can be viewed an unlimited number of times, there are no limitations beyond the seven day expiration date.

The last two sections are an archive of other events, such as interviews, studio shows, etc. that may be more than seven days old. No full events will appear in these sections, but if you understand Japanese there may be something of interest here.

NicoNico Ice Ribbon Channel

If you are also an Ice Ribbon fanatic, you can subscribe to their channel here: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon. Ice Ribbon does not air all of their events but they do not expire, and they have a massive backlog. You can join the Ice Ribbon channel by repeating Step 9 to Step 12 above on their channel page. Here is just a sample of the first page of their video section (Google Translate Version):

How to Cancel a NicoNico Channel Subscription:

Once you sign up for NicoPro Wrestling or any other channel, it will automatically renew (and charge you) the first of the month. If you need to cancel, it can be easily done from within the NicoNico website. Some have mentioned cancelling via Paypal, which probably works too, but Paypal won’t tell you which subscription is which if you have multiple ones so its probably better to just do it from within the NicoNico website. And its easy! For my example I will cancel my subscription to the Ice Ribbon Channel. Please note, if you cancel your subscription, you will immediately lose access to the channel. So wait until close to the end of the month to do it so you get the full use of your subscription.

Step 1: Go to the home page of the channel you want to cancel and scroll to the bottom. There will be a message confirming you subscribe to the channel, and a big button above it to Withdraw from the channel. Click the big To Withdraw button. (Original and Google Translate versions shown above)

Step 2: The next screen will ask why you want to cancel. Select any option and click the big button at the bottom. (Original and Google Translate versions shown above)

Step 3: The next screen will confirm your information. Click the right button to confirm you want to cancel the channel. (Original and Google Translate versions shown above)

Step 4: That’s it! The final screen will just confirm that you have cancelled your channel subscription, you will receive an email as well. (Original and Google Translate versions shown above)

I hope this guide was helpful for signing up to (and potentially cancelling) the NicoPro Channel! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @JoshiPuro!

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