“Hype! Hyper Misao Produce” Review

By: Jeff Brown

Hype! was a fantastic art-house-style produce show. It’s definitely not your typical wrestling production, but the avant-garde genius of Misao and her choice to make the show a vehicle for the underrated Mahiro Kiryu put this in the running for show of the year. Being in the white mask, she was almost a one-woman Greek chorus. Misao included and featured her friends prominently while being the master of ceremonies, and somehow Shoko Nakajima wrestling Yoshihiko was the most normal thing on the card. Misao was as mischievous as ever as she perhaps drugged Rika Tatsumi and Arisu Endo and ran afoul of the time police in the main event.

ハイパーミサヲプロデュース興行HYPE! ようやくユニバースで見れた！ハイパーミサヲが異能の人だというのが改めてわかる素晴らしい興行でした！

内容はあえて言いません！百聞は一見にしかず、というので是非WRESTLE UNIVERSEで見てほしいですね！https://t.co/jNU9QVnWvD #tjpw #tjpwHYPE pic.twitter.com/A5qjam7lQ1

— 高木三四郎 SanshiroTakagi (@t346fire) May 29, 2023

The main event was the tag match of Mahiro Kiryu and Yuki Aino against Rika Tatsumi and Arisu Endo. Every time Mahiro would be in danger of losing the match, Misao would freeze time and attempt to change the past to improve Mahiro’s odds of winning. Mahiro going through time or dimensions and taking on a Takarazuka Revue gimmick was the kind of dreamlike stuff that is right out of a Cocteau film. She also became an Up Up Girl in place of Hikari Noa, performing songs in the middle of the match. That whole main event and show was Misao’s mind, and she forced Mahiro to go to “zones made of memories and the ruins of human habit,” just like in Orpheus (1950). Mahiro being frustrated with each attempt to help her win the match and opening up about her past struggles in her personal life like Misao before also finding DDT street wrestling was a profound moment of reality seeping into this surreal happening.

高熱の時に見る夢みたいな絵がずっとつづく興行でした#tjpwHYPE pic.twitter.com/2PgTpi7Dp3

— ハイパーミサヲ Hyper Misao (@misao_tjp) May 26, 2023

This was an absolute highlight of Mahiro’s career, which really has been soaring upwards since Grand Princess 23. Behind all the whooshing Dr. Who effects and fun returns of past Misao costumes during the opening battle royal was a deeply touching story of artists finding an outlet for their creativity and coming to terms with their pasts.

Hype! is available on demand via Wrestle Universe.

HOW TO STREAM AND WATCH JAPANESE WRESTLING