At last, the REVIEW. IS. HERE! “Aa! Ikkenya Puro Resu” (which roughly translates to “Aa! Let’s do pro wrestling”) was pretty under the radar during its release in December of 2004. Albeit, it was an Indies film, so not many people knew about it to begin with. If you’re a fan of Sonin, then chances are that you’ve heard about this movie. The most intriguing aspect of this movie is that it was produced by Soft On Demand—a well known softcore porn company in Japan (famous for their bukkake AV’s, and all that other mumbo jumbo). Thankfully, you won’t be seeing any sex scenes in this movie, but Sonin does give some "fan service", which I'll go into later. “Aa! Ikkenya Puro Resu” definitely caught my attention. I’m a huge fan of Sonin and pro wrestling, so this movie was almost a guaranteed purchase for me. Any movie that contains Sonin and pro wrestling is going to be an instant winner, regardless of how bad it is. So on with the review!

Story
Ishida, ring name “ZERO”, is one of the most popular wrestlers in Japan. One could only wish for fame and fortune like him. However, his life outside the ring is another story: his wife is suffering from a fatal disease that’s turning her into a mermaid (yes, you’ve read that right…a mermaid). A foreigner named Mark Ichijo is seeking revenge, blaming Ishida for killing his brother. Ishida is told that there is a cure for his wife, but the only way he can get the formula is to participate in a grueling wrestling tournament inside a traditional Japanese house. Some of the deadliest pro wrestlers from the world are gathered to eliminate Ishida once and for all. Does Ishida have what it takes to win?

Review
Okay…first off, I’d like to say that the main character, Ishida looks like an idiot. He doesn’t really look like a wrestler, and his rather “tubby” figure doesn’t help him at all. In fact, he annoyed me so much that I almost decided not to take any screen caps of him (you’ll notice that I mostly took screen caps of Sonin). His acting in this movie left much to be desired, and the wrestling moves he pulled off looked rather unimpressive. Before the movie started, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew the movie wouldn’t be ground breaking in any way, but since Sonin was in it, I had my hopes up. This had to be one of the most random movies I’ve ever seen. There were a lot of unnecessary scenes that seemed out of place, and didn’t really add anything to the movie.

Some cuts were poorly done, and the first half of the movie was too dialogue heavy. Since this was labeled as an action movie, I definitely expected to see more action. However, “Aa! Ikkenya Puro Resu” failed to deliver in that department. While some of the wrestling scenes were pretty good, I think they could have been choreographed much better. Some of the fights seemed rushed, and ended up being shorter than I anticipated. I’ve got to admit though, the way Ishida finished off Ichijo in the end was hilarious. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you watch the movie.

So while the wrestling scenes were mediocre at best, the saving grace of this movie is Sonin (you probably saw that coming). Maybe I’m being biased—so sue me! Anyhow, Sonin looked absolutely incredible in her wrestling outfit. Her wrestling scene was by far the best in the movie. She pulled off some very impressive moves, such as the hurracanrana, and Matrix-esque flips. You can tell that she trained hard. Sonin didn’t get enough screen time in this movie--while she did appear fairly often, the movie focused too much on the main character (who I honestly didn’t care about at all). Also, her wrestling scene only lasted 4 minutes at the most. Heck, they should have just made Sonin the main character! I don’t think anyone would have complained. Why was Sonin featured on all of the advertisements? They should have just put that doofus Ishida on the cover. I didn’t expect Sonin to get such a minimal role.

Another gripe that I had about this movie was the gore. A lot of it was unnecessary, such as when Ishida’s wife tore away at her skin, revealing some of her skin tissue. There was another scene where a zombie wrestler tears out his internal organs and chokes Ishida with them. I could have done without that scene. One thing that I might note is what came with the DVD: a pair of Soft on Demand socks. Uhh, thanks SOD. I’m not sure if I’ll ever wear them!

So all in all, only buy the DVD if you’re a huge die hard fan of Sonin and pro wrestling. If you’re not, then you’ll most likely be disappointed. This movie just doesn’t have very much to offer, besides some fairly well done wrestling scenes, and of course, Sonin. She takes off her shirt in one scene (we only get to see her back…good enough!) Even well known Japanese pro wrestler, Masato Tanaka makes a brief cameo in the beginning. Yay! We’re all winners!