Joshi Spotlight: The Japan Grand Prix 2001- The Finals!

AJW- JAPAN GRAND PRIX (Part 4):
* Back to the Japan Grand Prix! This time things get really harrowing, as there are a ton of people close together in points. This has been a real “Tournament of Upsets”- low-ranked Miho Wakizawa defeated MANAMI TOYOTA, mid-tier Nanae Takahashi has beaten both members of LCO, rising upstart Kumiko Maekawa has drawn with Toyota & beaten champ Kaoru Ito and former ace Yumiko Hotta, and importantly, Momoe Nakanishi has beaten Manami & Hotta and drawn Ito! In other words, the bookers are explaining, in every way they know how, that the audience needs to get ready for the dawning of a new generation. Commentary is obviously informed of this, as one said “Nakanishi has opened the door to a new era” when she defeated Hotta in a “come from behind” victory (eating ass-tons of offense and pulling out a last-ditch win through luck & perseverance- the typical way a junior can beat a senior).

Some interesting results in August see Yumiko Hotta struggle hard, amassing only 9 points overall! Toyota has had some humiliating failures but at least she has 11! Interestingly, the World Champion, Kaoru Ito, is normally kept SUPER STRONG but rather than have her lose flukes, she instead hits three draws- Momoe, Hotta & Mita all take her to the distance. This is probably to “keep her strong” despite not winning a final spot.

The Wrestlers:
Yumiko Hotta: Former Ace and currently a snide martial arts heel. (9 points- d. Fujii, Kayo, Nanae, Wakizawa, draw Ito)
Manami Toyota: Former Ace and about to be reduced in push a LOT. (11 points- d. Kayo, Fujii, Mita, Nanae, Hotta, draw Kumiko)
Mima Shimoda: One half of LCO and a reliable “can pick up sneaky wins or just job” wrestler. (10 points- d. Mita, Kayo, Wakizawa, Manami, Hotta)
Etsuko Mita: One half of LCO with a similar “can win or lose”. Her Death Valley Driver’s been reduced in credibility a lot lately, but she’s also gotten a bigger push as a singles. (12 points- d. Kumiko, Wakizawa, Tomoko, Fujii, Kayo, Momoe, draw Ito)
Kaoru Ito: The current Champion and top star. (15 points- d. Tomoko, Shimoda, Fujii, Noumi, Nanae, Wakizawa, draw: Momoe, Hotta, Mita)
Tomoko Watanabe: Secondary babyface. “2nd tier” star. (12 points- d. Fujii, Hotta, Wakizawa, Manami, Shimoda, Kayo)
Kumiko Maekawa: Martial artist in the 2nd/3rd tier and never quite got the big push… yet. (14 points- d. Ito, Momoe, Shimoda, Tomoko, Hotta, Kayo, draw Manami, Nanae)
Momoe Nakanishi: A pint-sized super-athlete tryhard type with a big following. Currently in the 3rd tier but is a tag champion. (10 points- d. Nanae, Manami, Noumi, Hotta, Fujii, draw: Ito, Wakizawa)
Nanae Takahashi: Momoe’s lesser partner, and a bigger power wrestler. Slowly rising but needs to improve a lot. (8 points- d. Fujii, Mita, Shimoda, Tomoko, draw: Wakizawa, Nanae)
Miho Wakizawa: Try-hard lower ranked wrestler. (9 points- d. Kumiko, Fujii, Noumi, Manami, draw: Nanae)
Kayo Noumi: Lower-ranked wrestler & Wakizawa’s partner. Does great “broken doll” selling but low on the totem pole. (4 points- d. Nanae, Fujii)
Miyuki Fujii: Mega-jobber- “The Eternal Rookie”. (0 points)

AUGUST 17th:
* The final night of the tournament has a lot of people neck and neck- Kaoru Ito’s in the lead with 15 points, Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi both have 14. Close behind them but mathematically eliminated are Etsuko Mita & Tomoko Watanabe with 12 apiece.

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
KUMIKO MAEKAWA (14 points) vs. MIYUKI FUJII (0 points):
* Kumiko has been nearly running the field in this tournament, so Fujii is in deep trouble. “Fujii is from below, so this is probably a sure thing” sez commentary. Kumiko’s in purple; Fujii’s in black.

Fujii’s Jobber Dropkicks are ignored, so she focuses on Kumiko’s bum knee, but Kumiko comes back with kicks & stretching. Kumiko takes her time, very casually adding boots while shoving the referee around, sometimes ending up with her knee snagged, but lands her Pump Kick for two. Kumiko avoids a powerbomb and gets a rope-assisted headlock takeover for two, gets rolled up for a close two, then tries flash-pins and a vertical suplex hold for two. Two big head-kicks wipe her out for our “token fan-clap-inducing kickout” spot, Fujii makes a brief comeback by firing off shots and avoiding the rolling kick for La Majistral… but Kumiko just leverages onto her for the pin at (10:23). Kumiko takes the tournament on points, with 15! She celebrates by slapping the referee around for no reason and standing on him. Someone give this girl the belt!

Rating: *1/2 (funny low-effort match, as Kumiko just spreads the “four-minute stretching” part of old Zenjo Style matches across the full length of the bout, saving cardio and not even bothering with a huge finisher. Fujii didn’t show much fire, mostly getting dominated)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
TOMOKO WATANABE (12 points) vs. NANAE TAKAHASHI (8 points):
* The Tag Team Champions collide! Both have had pretyt mid-tier tournaments, as nearly all of Zenjo’s wrestlers are between 8-12 points. Nanae’s in lavender & Tomoko’s in neon yellow.

Nanae dismisses the pre-match handshake and charges with a HUGE shoulderblock, but Tomoko avoids a tope and gets on the mic to basically say “neither of us is going to win, so why not stop fighting dirty and just have a fun match?”. Nanae now offers a handshake… and immediately whips Tomoko to the ropes, but gets lariated down a bunch. Both do the “Hey look over there!” thing for surprise rollups, then Nanae fires back with shoulderblock spam and clutches & chokes away to wear Tomoko down. Backbreaker & crab work the back, then Nanae finally hits that dive but misses her Vader Bomb, but gets a superplex. She gets flung off the ropes, but charges in for a lariat anyways and THEN hits the Vader Bomb for two, really dominating the match so far. Tomoko dumps her when she tries another one, but Nanae AGAIN comes back with a lariat- Tomoko has to reverse a whip into chairs to get her own lariat, but back in, Nanae catches her with a backdrop driver and goes up- a dead-man’s flying reverse senton eats feet (OUCH) and Tomoko hits a flying Thesz press for two. They absolutely COLLIDE (probz for a shoot) on lariats and Nanae continues to absorb this and fires away, then ducks a lariat and fires off her own for two. But Tomoko lands her own off a whip, only for Nanae to resist being German’d and land two backdrop drivers for two. Flying Reverse Senton gets two. Tomoko lariats out of the NanaRakka (falcon arrow) for two and lands the Screwdriver (backdrop to vertical ligerbomb) for two, but now NANAE does that spot, avoiding the Hellsmasher (high-angle tiger driver) with a lariat & hitting the NanaRakka for two. Tomoko aims for another Screwdriver, but Nanae leverages onto her and holds her down struggling- three (11:23)! Nanae beats Tomoko! The post-match is funny, as Tomoko disses the post handshake, but demands her junior hold the ropes open for her, and THEN they’re all friendly with arms on each other’s shoulders as they leave, drawing a crowd pop.

Wow, this was another great example of the “rising star” phenomenon of this JGP- Tomoko far outranks Nanae in the pecking order but here is getting drilled again and again, being almost unable to get anything going. Repeatedly they show that “Nanae is stronger” despite Tomoko being a legendary Rookieslayer even in years past, defined by big, stiff lariats. Nanae now hits shoulderblocks AND lariats to counter Tomoko, and even absorbs a lot of offense while firing back. I liked the overall story of the “Can you top this?” Lariat War- it’s such an easy, reliable way to score an insta-comeback and both are now pushed as the powerhouses of Zenjo (commentary repeatedly calling them the two strongest in the world), so they make a very interesting, unique match largely out of one move on repeat. This could EASILY be seen as “repetitive/boring” to see such recurring offense, so it’s a testament to their ability (and probably Tomoko’s match construction) that it wasn’t. And the stuff with “repeating each other’s spots” was good, too- each countering the finisher to a lariat then hitting their own finisher and failing. The finish was appropriately “JGP”-ish, as flash-pins are always +10 to effectiveness when in round-robins. They’re basically like clotheslines at the Survivor Series.

Rating: ***1/4 (lots of fun reversals and unpredictable stuff)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
MOMOE NAKANISHI (14 points) vs. MIMA SHIMODA (10 points):
* The two are tied. Can Momoe’s “Veteranslayer” run continue?

Shimoda pounces in desperation and beats Momoe’s ass, and the kid’s comeback is foiled by Kumiko’s cheating from the floor. Momoe comes back during a fight in the stands, hitting a preposterous run-up moonsault off the second level of fan seating and scoring missile kicks in the ring for two. Some frantic counters end up with Shimoda dodging a run-up moonsault and scoring her Flying Ax Kick for two. Momoe escapes a Tiger Suplex and hits a German, but gets tripped up, chaired, and piledriven through a table! Shimoda dumps her in the entrance of the arena and does a dance in the ring to kill time, and a returning Momoe gets tope’d and bitten where a tiny bladejob has occurred. Shimoda wastes MORE time in the stands by doing the old “run them along the upper row” spot and commentary suggests she’s doing this to weaken Momoe so Kumiko can win. Momoe struggles to stand as Shimoda piles up a chair mountain, then Kumiko tosses a chair into her arms so Shimoda can missile kick it into her face ONTO the pile of chairs. Shimoda charges right into a German on the chairs, but Momoe overdoes it and tries her Twisting Rana, getting powerbombed (sorta) on them. Momoe counters the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex) but gets caught in a Tiger Suplex for two, then dodges the Flying Ax Kick, but is tripped up on top and the Death Lake Driver gets… two! Momoe gets a desperation Dragon Suplex, but Shimoda no-sells as Momoe’s bridge fails, and they re-do the spot for a flat kickout (Shimoda just sorta leans over)- Momoe revs herself up, gets leapfrogged trying another Rana, but dodges Orange Mist and hits a German for the struggling pin” at (10:27)- Momoe ties Kumiko! The fans shit themselves at that one.

This was a unique combo of “Shimoda being a savage” and “killing time”, as Shimoda hits all these huge spots, but spends all her time reveling in the carnage and cheering herself on, allowing Momoe plenty of time to recover and justify comebacks. It mostly comes off that she’s cruel. She runs through all her finishers and STILL fails to pin Momoe (pretty rare for a freelancer to do THAT), and still maintains some credibility since a German fits as a “she just got caught” pin, especially as she struggles the whole count and just can’t escape. One fun thing is that both are very good at the “counter a charge” type of counter-wrestling as both typically charge in and do wild swings, enabling the other to duck down and hit Germans, backdrops, etc., keeping the match energetic.

Rating: **1/2 (mostly a lot of crowd brawling to kill time, but some good spots and solid “Momoe is too fighty to quit” stuff)

TAKAKO INOUE vs. KAYO NOUMI (w/ Kiss World): Takako’s rookieslaying of Mika Nishio has been happening a lot lately, but now she’s taking on the more standard-issue “Junior Subordinate” Noumi. This was apparently supposed to be a tag match but Miho Wakizawa is hurt. We’re JIP with the black-clad Takako failing a piledriver and just NAILING Kayo with a huge high kick for two. Wakizawa immediately charges in and puts the boots to an annoyed Takako to blatantly interfere. Kayo tries some flash-pins but gets backfisted for two, doing a great “folded legs” sell on the bump. Nishio actually stops Wacky from interfering this time and a second backfist scores the pin at (1:16 shown). Wacky gets on the mic and challenges the “old ladies” (Takako’s Black Joker stable), and Takako says “We have the most fun fighting you guys”, accepting.

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
YUMIKO HOTTA (9 points) vs. ETSUKO MITA (13 points):
* Oddly, Mita is actually higher up in the standings than Hotta, who was champ like a year ago. The two are stable-mates, Hotta in white & Mita in yellow. Hotta’s carrying that short ladder again.

Mita dodges a leg-kick and immediately goes for her DVD, but Hotta puts her on the floor and tears into her eternally-injured knee bending it over a table and chair-tossing, then throws her LADDER on it. Hotta waits her out to kill time, then Mita pulls out the Stone Cold Stunner of all things, hitting two more for two, but Hotta just starts punching her leg to come back. Well that works. Mita avoids the Tiger Driver and scores Blazing Chops for two, then hits a long figure-four. Mita keeps cranking on it and talking shit to Hotta’s amusement, releasing after two whole minutes after a fan screams out “HOTTAAAAAA!” and draws laughter and a thumbs-up from Hotta, lol. Mita works over the leg with chairs, but Hotta kick-deflects the Blazing Chop and Owenzuigiris her, then fights her into a Tiger Driver for two. Hotta turns the kickout into a jujigatame attempt but can’t complete it, and Mita dumps her to the floor for a brawl in the stands. Mita builds her OWN chair mountain like Shimoda did before, knocking the ref over, then prepares the AVALANCHE Electric Chair Drop onto it, Hotta nope-ing out and Mita settling for a regular one on the pile. More ref abuse and Mita clobbers Hotta down, but gets swatted in the face and chair-shotted, then Hotta takes forever to set up her ladder across two chairs, TIGER DRIVING Mita on it (OW).

Hotta takes forever to capitalize (the ref refuses to count the pin) and gets shoved into the ladder, taking a DVD for two. Mita charges into the rolling kick and the Pyramid Driver (straighjacket ligerbomb)… gets two! Mita shoves out and hits another stunner, then ducks another Owenzuigiri to hit LA MAJISTRAL of all things, getting two, then hits another stunner into a DVD for two! Another DVD gets two and Hotta immediately snaps on a jujigatame, sending Mita desperately scrambling to the ropes. Caribbean Splash (straightjacket super german) gets two. Pyramid Driver… again gets two! Fans are surprised, as am I. Hotta calls it the end and goes for the SHOTEIMANIA, but Mita slides her into a pinning combo, then Hotta shoteis her (sorta- it’s really short range) and hits a third Driver for the pin at (16:47). Post-match, Hotta throws the ladder at Shimoda, Mita shoves the ladder over in frustration, and Hotta chases Shimoda off, suggesting a split in the heel stable.

Well that was interesting! Okay so Hotta was wrestling like she was on quaaludes for most of it, obviously doing the “going long” bit so we had the “wait it out in the ring” time-killer, the “sit in a hold for two minutes and barely act like it hurts” time-killer, and more. Then they pulled off a huge “Tiger Driver on a Ladder” spot and… just kept wrestling another six minutes, then Hotta oddly hits her finisher TWICE, failing to beat the tag wrestler. It comes off sorta like they want to keep Mita strong as a “possible main eventer” (she challenged Ito for the Red Belt earlier in the year) but as it’s just Hotta hitting big move after big move and kickout out of tons of DVDs, it isn’t really helping. Feels sorta like the bookers want her “at the ready” to be a challenger at a moment’s notice so she has to be kept strong, hence all the kickouts. Mita did really well here considering Hotta was in “conserve cardio” mode, screaming in agony in holds, taunting, having good execution, etc. Hotta seemed like she was just sorta checked out.

Rating: *** (turns out pretty well despite Hotta’s lethargy)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
MANAMI TOYOTA (11 points) vs. KAORU ITO (15 points):
* Ito was in the lead until Momoe & Kumiko racked up wins- she’ll need at least a point here to go to the finals.

Toyota attacks before the bell, hitting a plancha to the floor, then does the JB Angels armdrag and works Ito’s injured arm with some nasty shots and stomps, looking good in the process. Ito finally catches her with the snap uranage but Toyota nearly snags her arm from the ground- Ito turns it into a half-crab, then another and a camel clutch. Manami fires back by dropkicking the taped-up shin, then goes into babyface mode by clapping to set up her Muta Lock, then grinding and twisting away on the leg- it’s WEIRD seeing Manami take relish and actually give a shit about doing limbwork in a match. She cheers herself on as she grinds away in the ropes, but Ito finally fights out and hits some stomps and her senton, then her ass attack out of the corner. Toyota’s pop-up dropkick & missile kick get two, but Ito gets a surprise lariat & two uranages for two. A figure-four slows the pace and wears down Manami’s leg, but she scores a Manami Roll for two- Ito dumps her and baseball slides her spine to set up a big tope, but Toyota dodges a stomp off the apron and Germans her on the floor! Manami drags her up to the stands for her old “jump off the entranceway” spot (she’s just a full babyface now, lol), only for Ito to charge up the stairs to knock her down.

Manami lands in this position from the top rope.

Manami gets thrown around the stands for a bit, and in-ring, Ito counters another Manami Roll with a powerbomb. But Manami pops up as soon as Ito hits the top and Ito has to slide out of a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but ends up in the Rolling Cradle for two. A fight up top sees Ito hitting a SUPER Samoan Drop for two. Floatover powerbomb gets two. Toyota rolls away from a Flying Stomp, so Ito charges right into a German, but catches a wild swing and Ligerbombs her for two. A Flying Stomp misses and Ito climbs again, getting dumped so Toyota can do a CANNONBALL plancha, absolutely sledgehammering her tailbone into the floor from the top rope. Jesus. It barely wings Ito, who wisely sells the arm, and a Moonsault gets two in-ring. Ito slips out of another JOCS, Manami dropkicks out her leg again, but Ito catches her charging in with a big lariat- two! Flying Stomp- misses again! Another ankle dropkick! Japanese Ocean Backdrop Hold- two! Manami tries another moonsault, lands on feet, and Ito FINALLY… FINALLY… hits that Flying Stomp! That fails, so she hits two more for two. Manami counters another to the Japanese Ocean Cylcone for two, Ito snags an arm to try and submit her, then lariats her into another Flying Stomp, immediately trying a powerbomb, but Manami kicks her in the gut and DRILLS her with a huge Queen Bee Bomb, I believe debuting her cradle brainbuster move for three (23:12)! Ito fails to win the JGP! Good lord that’s a killer move.

haha where has THIS Toyota been? Oh right- she hated being a heel and really sucked at it so was giving sub-par efforts all year, and suddenly the secret to “having a good Manami match” is letting her do her clapping and cheering and all the big crowd-pleasing spots, and suddenly she has EFFORT in her again! She showed more effort in this match than she has in the rest of 2001 combined. That she & Ito are friendly and have good chemistry helps, as Ito generously sells and sells all match long and lets Manami hit her impressive stuff. And then they know to tease the Flying Stomp twice, which is funny since the move NEVER wins on the first or even second hit anymore, so it builds and builds that move, and then Ito of cousre spams it to kill Manami repeatedly. Both kick out of each other’s finishers, including Manami’s JO Backdrop Hold and the goddamn top-rope Samoan drop, and then Manami invents a NEW move and wallops Ito for the surprise win, defeating the Ace. Just a really high-effort, all-out match that reminds me of the Zenjo of the early ’90s. Right down to the “limbwork is a big deal until they say FUCK IT and go for bombs”, haha.

Rating: ***3/4 (sort of turns into “kick out of everything and hit huge bombs” but WHAT moves! Tons of effort from Manami in particular, who gets to do her full “get my shit in/crowd-pleasing moves” stuff and Ito’s good to sell it all)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX FINALS:
KUMIKO MAEKAWA (16 points) vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI (16 points):
* And so, with Ito failing, she’s stuck at 15 points and Momoe & Kumiko’s miracle runs leave them with 16 apiece, making them co-leaders! But you can’t have a DRAW, so now we have a playoff for the true Champion! Importantly, Momoe just took a bloody shitkicking from Mima Shimoda, while Kumiko got to sleepwalk to an easy win over the Eternal Rookie, meaning Kumiko’s got a huge advantage. And so the two intended representatives of the new generation get maybe the most important match of their lives in the Japan Grand Prix Finals.

Momoe immediately divebombs Kumiko before the bell and cannonballs her off the apron, then hits an Orihara Moonsault. Kumiko goes into chairs, gets suplexed on the floor, then missile kicked in the back, but manages two big head kicks. They slug it out and Momoe ducks the swinging kick, but gets tripped by Shimoda at ringside- she still dumps Kumiko and hits a great run-up plancha, but Shimoda immediately pounces again and throws her around and whips chairs into her. Now Momoe gets whipped into chairs on both sides by Kumiko, but in-ring manages a Run-Up Flip into her Dragon Suplex for a sudden two-count. She tries her Twisting Rana but gets powerbombed by a cocky Maekawa, who follows up with a huge running ax kick that sees Momoe’s cut reopened. Her eyes glaze over, but she gets a sudden slap to stun Kumiko, who pulls off a kick from the ground but ends up eating a run-up moonsault for two. Momoe’s Dragon Suplex is countered with a whiffed backfist, but Kumiko wisely just punts her int the face. Momoe does some GREAT flopping off this, flinging all her limbs around and stumbling, right into Kumiko’s Rolling Kick for two. Momoe tries a rollup, reversed for two, then they get into an elbow/kick war until Momoe dodges another rolling kick and tries a leg submission, but Kumiko just leverages onto her for a close two.

Kumiko tries her sweeping kick, but Momoe ducks and Dragon Suplexes her for two, and a fight up top (looks like a mess-up has them improvising) leads to a Kumiko Superduperplex for two. Momoe avoids a powerbomb and another sorta-miscue sees her elbow out of it and German Kumiko for two. Kumiko now properly backfists out of a Dragon Suplex and lands that Folding Powerbomb for two, Momoe desperately struggling out- then Momoe just SPINS off of Kumiko’s Rolling Kick, the fans freaking out at her last-ditch kickout. Ax Kick to the forehead- two! Another swinging kick misses and Momoe small packages her for two, then climbs and Kumiko ANNIHILATES her with a high kick to the face that sees Momoe tumbling off the top to the floor. A suplex and Ax Kick on the floor work her over some more, and when Momoe counters an Irish whip, she has no answer and eats the Kick of Fear instead. Kumiko hits two more for two, but Momoe gets a run-up sunset flip off another whip. Twisting Rana- no, Kumiko leverages her down for another two! Ax Kick- two! Momoe again counters the sweeping kick, backsliding Kumiko for two and this time dodging the Ax Kick so Kumiko gets hung up in the ropes and gets German’d- she climbs and AGAIN gets kicked in the head, but this time can recover and smashes Kumiko off, then fires off a missile kick to the side of her head. Kumiko still has too much “go” to stop and scores another Rolling Kick for two, and a fading Momoe nonetheless ducks ANOTHER sweep kick for a small package, then ducks two roundhouse kicks one after another (HOLY GOD THE TIMING) and backslides her for two again. Twisting Rana- three (12:28)!! Momoe Nakanishi wins the Japan Grand Prix! A nonplussed Kaoru Ito looks on as Momoe humbly asks for a title shot on Sept. 18th, Ito limping in to accept.

hahah that Momoe can SELL. I’ve never seen someone so good at the “stumble around like it killed you” spot, tumbling down off of bombs, spiralling off of rolling kicks, etc. She just goes all-out with full-body theatrics in a way unlike anyone else in wrestling. I can only be done by a top-level athlete with phenomenal cardio and youth on their side, but it’s spectacular stuff. She’s even good enough to carry her way through some miscues here and there, as they had a couple but her “dazed sell” is so good it acts as a storytelling trick to explain even those. And the match becomes nearly ALL her selling, as Kumiko batters her all over the place and whips her around again and again, countering nearly everything with more kicks as Momoe shows perfect vulnerability and knows how to struggle in a pinfall to make fans think anything could be the end. And since most of her big moves are flash-pins, the fans can still buy that she’d win even though the match is 90% Kumiko domination, as she confidently hacks down Momoe but keeps getting caught as she over-relies on variations of kicks. Momoe in particular acted like she REALLY wanted to win and the match had a billion kickouts, mostly from flash-pins or kicks so you never knew when it was coming. The only real issue is Maekawa doesn’t really have a lot of personality or versatility yet, more or less just spamming kicks and letting Momoe do the entire job of the match, getting it over through selling.

Rating: ***3/4 (a top-tier effort- one of the most frenetic 12-minute matches I’ve ever seen, where nearly anything looked like it could have been a pin)

And so Momoe Nakanishi finally gets “the big push”, winning the Japan Grand Prix, scoring wins over two prior 3WA Champions (Toyota & Hotta), then symbolically defeating another “Next Generation” star (of course Kumiko’s been wrestling since the Dream Slam days, but still). This is as clear a message as you can send to the fans that “your fandom of this wrestler has paid off- she will certainly be a Main Eventer some day”. The final show ends up being a delight, with people usually going all-out to impress and possibly justify future pushes- Manami in particular was going at the same effort level Momoe was.