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Karate Master
1973 – 1974
Karate Master was an anime series that aired in Japan about… karate. It also depicted American wrestlers and wrestling fans as xenophobic hate mongers. I have no idea whether or not this was supposed to be aimed at kids or adults at the time it came out, but the adult me definitely appreciated it more than 10-year-old me ever would have.
With the new wrestling-themed comic book Ringside coming out this month, and every other wrestling and comic book blog having already conducted an interview with Ringside creative team: Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber, I figured I would take a different approach to celebrate its debut. Instead, I’ll take a look at past notable comic book wrestlers. Here’s hoping Ringside’s new top draw is just as memorable or, at the very least, searchable on Google.
While I’m sure there’s quite a bit of manga and anime based on wrestling, or puroresu, they’re not all easy to come by. Luckily, thanks to my Hulu Plus subscription, I stumbled across the oddly sexually-charged, hard-hitting, competitive world of joshi wrestling that is Wanna be the Strongest in the World. And it was a lot better than I expected.
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