Visual Shocks!! (ビジュアルショックス!!) Sakura Mook 70 Review

Of all the photobooks and mooks I have reviewed over the years, this is probably the most unique. Visual Shocks!! not only contains the first ‘gravure’ style pictures of Kana (currently wrestling as Asuka in WWE), but was also shot in a very different style… for better or worse. You can read reviews for more photobooks on the Joshi Photobook Reviews page.

Full Photobook Details

Title: ビジュアルショックス!! (Visual Shocks!! Sexy Queens Shots in Women’s Pro-Wrestling) Sakura Mook 70
Release: June 18th, 2004
Pages: 96
Cost: ¥1,575 (at release in 2004)
Where to Buy: Currently Unavailable

While in 2019 we are used to the Stardom-style of photobooks, this mook (magazine + book, as the name implies it is between the size you’d expect from a magazine and a book) is quite different. To start, the following wrestlers are featured in the mook:

• Kana
• Michiko Omukai
• Mika Nishio
• Mirai
• Sachie Abe
• Emi Tojo

All six wrestlers had about the same number of photos in the mook, and in addition to the wrestler photos there are also about six pages with interviews. The whole mook is in color and full-sized, however it is soft-cover like a magazine. The pictures inside are, I think most would agree, less “appropriate” than the photos seen in the photobooks released today. There is still no nudity (although some may think Michiko Omukai is straddling the line), however there are a lot of “crotch” pictures included for each wrestler. Many zoomed in to ensure that is the only part of the body one could reasonably look at by looking at the photo. These photos may make some uncomfortable, but luckily there are photos for each wrestler that do not follow the crotch-focused theme.

The bigger deal with this mook is it is the first time that Kana was involved in any gravure-style pictures, and the only release of hers before her retirement in 2005. Kana had 12 photos in the book so she is well represented, and its a unique peek back into her past. She was well over 18 at the time of the photobook, as was everyone involved, so no issues there as I know that is a concern for many Western fans. Overall just for that purpose this is a mook I’d recommend tracking down if you are a collector of such things, but just keep in mind that its not something you’d want to leave on the coffee table if company was coming over. Below is a sample of the photos, to keep the website at least somewhat SFW, I did not include the more risque pictures: