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Kinnikumania 2009 'Real' Pro Wrestling Event Announced

Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: The Toei Animation production company announced on Tuesday that it is hosting Kinnikumania 2009 — an entire "real" professional wrestling event inspired by the Kinnikuman (Ultimate Muscle) anime and manga franchise. Takashi Shimada and Yoshinori Nakai's original manga revolved around a farcical wrestler who fought opponents and evildoers inside and outside the ring. The event will be held at the JCB Hall in Tokyo Dome City on May 29 to mark the 30th anniversary of the manga.

Shimada is chairing the executive committee for the tournament, which Columbia Music Entertainment, Toei Video, Bandai, Bandai Namco Games, and Banpresto are co-sponsoring. Advance tickets will be available in early April — not to readers of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, the original home of the Kinnikuman manga, but to readers of Japan's Weekly Playboy magazine.

The Kinnikuman figures were imported into the United States under the "M.U.S.C.L.E" brand name in the 1980s. Viz Media then released Takashi Shimada and Yoshinori Nakai's Kinnikuman Nisei - Second Generations manga sequel in North America as Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, and 4Kids released the anime version on television. On New Year's Eve last year, fighting celebrity Bob Sapp fought Akihiko Tanaka, a free-style wrestler (pictured at right) who dressed as the Kinniku Mantaro manga character for their mixed martial arts bout.

Source: animeanime.jp

Images © Yudetamago/Kinnikumania 2009 Executive Committee
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