I'm a wrestling fan and it's interesting to see Netflix up it's Wrestling content ahead of the arrival of the WWE next year. This Japanese series retells the story of iconic villain Dump Matsumoto and others from her time at the top of the profession, in the late 1980s.
Karuo Matsumoto (Yuriyan Retriever) dreams of becoming a professional wrestler and joins All Japan women's wrestling as a trainee in 1979. She struggles in the ring, as is surpassed by her classmates until she channels her hatred of her father (Takamitsu Nonaka) into a villainess character "Dump" Matsumoto. Wielding a chain, fork or Kendo stick, Dump intimidates fans and officials, breaks all the rules, and leaves her opponents a blood-soaked mess. Hatred of her revitalises All Japan and her rivalry with The Crush Girls remains the stuff of legend.
Though, as I say, I'm a wrestling fan - I can't claim to know that much about the History of wrestling in Japan from around the time I was born. I had heard of Bull Nakano, though from her stint in the WWF more so than anywhere else. So, this was a story I knew very little about but enjoyed immensely. Yuritan Retriever is excellent and shows great range from Matsumoto's early naïve and vulnerable years to the ones as Dump, a character that the show suggests she essentially was living and not just playing for the cameras.
It's interesting to see how Wrestling is portrayed in the series. Almost every match we see is presented as not using 'the script'. I.e. It's a real athletic contest with the result either not pre-determined, or someone refusing to take the instruction and doing what they want. I've tried to do a bit of research, though not come up with much, but I'd suggest that maybe the show is trying to 'print the legend', rather than capture the truth at times though I respect them for doing so.
I watched this in Japanese with subtitles, so can't speak to the dubbing work by amongst others Alexa Bliss. I would say that perhaps the series focused a little too much on life before "Dump" and not quite enough on her time with that alter ego, but that's my only real complaint.
I really liked the series though and would love to see more dramas about wrestling personalities being made, they are often more fascinating characters off screen than on.
