Stardom World Vol. 5 Photobook Details:

Title: Stardom World Vol. 5
Release: January 2020
Cost: ¥3,000
Where to Buy: Stardom Online Shop

If you are going to only buy one Stardom photobook a year, the Stardom World series likely is your best bet as it is by far the largest of their photobooks and features the most wrestlers. Here are the wrestlers featured in Stardom World Vol. 5:

• Mayu Iwatani
• Tam Nakano
• Starlight Kid
• Hana Kimura
• Konami
• Utami Hayashishita
• Natsuko Tora
• Itsuki Hoshino
• Arisa Hoshiki
• Saki Kashima
• Giulia
• Jungle Kyona
• Momo Watanabe
• AZM
• Saya Kamitani
• Saya Iida

Like the photobooks in the past, the majority of Stardom World Vol. 5 has pictures of the wrestlers in casual attire or their ring attire. What is different this year is there are no Gaijin wrestlers at all, not even Jamie Hayter or Bea Priestley who are both regulars with the promotion. Unlike their other photobooks, Stardom World has both pictures and interviews so there is a fair amount of text along with the pictures. If you can read Japanese, that really enhances the value of the photobook. If you don’t know any Japanese (like me), it doesn’t help as much but its hard to complain about added content.

Stardom World Vol. 5 is a full sized photobook (A4) and has a lot more pages than their regular photobooks, so even though there is a lot of text there is still plenty of room for pictures. All the major wrestlers have 5+ pictures in the photobook, and since it is kept tasteful for the most part it won’t offend the more sensitive Stardom viewers. I consider all the Stardom World photobooks a must have, and while I would have liked a Gaijin or two to be in the photobook as well, at least they included all the major native roster members at the time of release which is a plus (Kagetsu is oddly missing, but maybe they knew about her leaving enough in advance to exclude her from the book). Here is a sample of pictures from the photobook:

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Stardom World Vol. 1 Photobook Details:

Title: Stardom World Vol. 1
Release: January 2017
Pages: 126
Cost: ¥3,000
Where to Buy: Sold out from Stardom, currently on sale at Champion Shop

If you are going to only buy one Stardom photobook a year, the Stardom World series likely is your best bet as it is by far the largest of their photobooks and features the most wrestlers. Here are the wrestlers featured in Stardom World Vol. 1:

• Kairi Hojo (aka Kairi Sane)
• Yoko Bito
• Mayu Iwatani
• Io Shirai
• HZK (aka Hazuki)
• Momo Watanabe
• Jungle Kyona
• Hiromi Mimura
• Natsuko Tora
• Arisu Nanase
• Azumi (aka AZM)
• Ruaka
• Kris Wolf
• Toni Storm
• Kay Lee Ray
• Tessa Blanchard
• Santana Garrett
• Chelsea Green
• Owens Twins
• Thunder Rosa
• Holidead
• Taya
• Thea Trinidad (aka Zelina Vega)
• Fuka

Most of the pictures focus on the wrestlers in their wrestling gear or casual attire with a few exceptions, unlike Model Mode and Bikiniing which focuses more towards lingerie and beachwear, respectively. With over 120 pages, even with the interviews and written details there is still plenty of room for pictures, with every wrestler having multiple pictures features. Many pictures are full sized, however some are half-sized pictures with the text around them. For a fan that doesn’t speak Japanese, the photobook may lose some of its appeal as it is a combination information/photobook, but for its reasonable price it doesn’t hinder the photobook from providing plenty of value. Here is a small sample of photos from the photobook:

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When I was first really getting into Japanese wrestling back in 2004, there were very limited options on how to watch it. You could get a DVD a month after the event happened for $10 or hope that someone uploaded the show on yousendit, but this was before Youtube or Google Drive or streaming, so it took a bit more effort (or a lot more money) to stay current with the greatest wrestling on Earth.

Luckily, we are now in 2024 and technology has come a long way. There are options online to watch almost every Joshi promotion, leaving fans with almost too many choices as to watch it all would be very time consuming. All the promotions with paid streaming services accept US credit cards or Paypal (as they accepted mine) but I can’t promise they will take your card as it may have different rules when it comes to International purchases. If you are unable to purchase from any of the sites listed below, contact your bank. None of the links below are “affiliate” links, this page is designed to provide information, not make me money. My focus here is on promotions that have a monthly service, not strictly PPVs.

I am not going to do, in this article, a full guide on how to sign up at each one as that would make this page super long. But if there is a service that I think needs some explaining on how to sign up, I may write a separate guide for those services. Also, since the Yen to US Dollar conversion rate changes daily I am going to just list the price in Yen, however when considering both the cost of the service and the small fee many banks put on international purchases, when budgeting I’d recommend just doing 100 Yen = $1.00 in your head when calculating cost. Without further ado, here are all the official streaming services I could find (both paid and free):

Stardom World

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

Stardom World is my favorite Joshi streaming service for keeping up with events as they happen as Stardom not only uploads the most events per month but they upload every event the promotion has. Stardom World commits to have each weekend event uploaded by the following Friday, and most of the time they keep with that schedule unless they have a lot of shows one weekend or are on vacation. Their catalogue has some gaps for older events, they do occasionally will upload an older show but focus on adding recent events in a timely manner. Stardom World also subtitles most of the wrestler promos in English, making it user-friendly to English speakers. Stardom World occasionally airs events live, but mostly is still an “on demand” service. Some of their bigger events air on PPV, but those events are (usually within a week) added to the Stardom World service at no additional cost.

Wrestle Universe

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

Since the last update, Wrestle Universe has expanded both in price and promotions available for viewing. For a flat fee of 1,298 yen, Wrestle Universe shows not only Tokyo Joshi Pro but also Sendai Girls’ and Marigold. That makes this the best service for fans that want to see a variety of promotions and styles, it is hard to argue that Joshi fans aren’t getting a good bang for their buck to get events from three quality promotions for one cost. Like Stardom, Wrestle Universe does air some bigger events as PPVs for an additional cost, but those shows will be added later to the service for no extra cost. As of this update, the addition of Sendai Girls’ and Marigold are new, hopefully those relationships continue as it makes the service a great deal.

Actwres girl’Z Online

Promotions: Actwres girl’Z
Website: https://actwresgirlz.net/app
Cost: 1,000 Yen a month
Update Frequency: Not frequently

Actwres girl’Z confused many fans two years ago when they announced they were no longer going to be a wrestling promotion as they shifted to theater-style performances, but pretty soon it became clear they were still a wrestling promotion and they continue to regularly put on traditional wrestling events. While they have less events than the bigger promotions, they typically add on average two shows per month. As far as “bang for your buck” its on the lower end, but they have some talented young wrestlers and their events are solid. Its a little expensive for a new fan diving in, but its the only way to watch their full events and is a must for fans of the promotion.

Ice Ribbon on Youtube

Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Website: Club Ice Ribbon
Cost: $9.99 a month
Update Frequency: Frequently

Two years after starting Club Ice Ribbon, it is still plugging along and providing the same quality of service. The video quality on their new service is much better than it was on Nico, and they are and they have been consistent with updates. Club Ice Ribbon’s focus is on their smaller dojo events, but they average uploading at least one show a week. Their bigger events air on PPV and are not added to the service, so this is best for anyone that wants to follow Ice Ribbon week by week. It may still be a service best for their biggest fans as its not cheap and may not include their big events, but for Ice Ribbon die-hards it is a must.

Marvelous on Youtube

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

Marvelous, no matter what service provider they are on, will never be consistent in uploads. That isn’t who they are as a promotion. Sometimes, they upload events the same week they happen. Other times, a month will pass with no uploads. Being a fan of Marvelous requires patience but for $7 a month, its not a bad deal as their events are uploaded in full once they add them. As of the date of this review, they haven’t uploaded in three months which is by far their longest stretch on Youtube, I’ll continue to monitor it and will remove them from this list if it stretches too much longer as at some point a service becomes an ‘archive’ service rather than an active one. Like the other promotions, they also sometimes air PPVs on Pass Market.

PURE-J on Youtube

Promotion: PURE-J
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/PUREJ
Cost: $9.99 a month
Update Frequency: Frequently

Like Ice Ribbon, PURE-J moved their subscription service in early 2022 to Youtube. Their basic service remains the same as it was on Filmuy – regular uploads of virtually all of their events, usually within a week, but no live streaming. PURE-J doesn’t have the high-end wrestling that you find in Stardom or Tokyo Joshi Pro, but the amount of content helps justify the price if you are into the promotion.

Everydiana

Promotion: Diana
Website: https://live.www-diana.com/movie
Cost: 990 yen
Update Frequency: Frequently

To the shock of many fans, Diana randomly created its own online service for their wrestling shows. Since launching the service their updates have been timely, with multiple event uploads per month. They do also have a PPV service tied to it as well, but any events on PPV at a later date will be added to the monthly service, similar to Stardom World and Wrestle Universe. Diana has traditionally been one of the harder Joshi promotions to watch regularly, so its exciting they are airing their events again, hopefully they will continue to do so so their fans can easily access their shows.

SEAdLINNNG Movie+

Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Website: https://seadlinnng.com/movie
Cost: 999 yen
Update Frequency: Not Frequently

For a promotion that only runs once a month, SEAdLINNNG was not discouraged and opened their own streaming service. The bulk of the value here is for the back catalog, as SEAdLINNNG simply doesn’t run many shows. The uploads also are not timely, taking place as long as a month after the event as they still prefer you buy their events on PPV. More of an archive service than anything else, but if you must watch SEAdLINNNG, this is the cheapest way to do so.

NicoPro

Promotions: OZ Academy, Triplesix, and other smaller promotions
Website: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro
Cost: 550 yen
Update Frequency: Not Frequently

NicoPro is back! After several months of the service not being available, it returned in the fall of 2024. While it isn’t as good as it used to be, for a flat fee of 550 yen a month a number of smaller events are uploaded each month. They also have cheaper PPVs (usually 1,000 yen) as well as more expensive events on Zaiko. This service is really only for the most extreme fans, but at least the price is low.

Gatoh Move on Youtube

Promotion: Gatoh Move
Website: youtube.com/channel/UC2HtPsU4U7TNSv2mSbPkj0w
Cost: Free
Update Frequency: Frequently

Gatoh Move offers their wrestling events for free on Youtube, with the option to donate money. They also have a Patreon as well you can sign up for if you want to give the promotion money for their hard work. Gatoh Move has been very active in updating their YouTube channel and is a must-watch for fans of their style of wrestling.

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