ACTRING is everything you love. ARG Sword Edition 03, “Spear of Faith” thoughts and photos.
ACTRING has been one of my favorite things ever since it was announced. Its original faction, Kaguya, spearheaded by the then-retired legend Act Yasukawa, plus one of my favorite members of Actwres girl’Z at the time, Ami Miura. It was the first time we’d see Naho Yamada in the ring, and my first exposure to the music of Marina Hamada. Plus Yumi Agawa, the multi-talented actress and future AWG ring announcer.
Just those names show how special that initial lineup was. And the prologue shows were a blast, A group of ancient samurai crashing an Actwres girl’Z event, the episode actually starts with a scene of Hikari Shimizu defeating Miura. Then the girls of Kaguya recognize Miura as Tokiwa, but Miura is completely confused. Kaguya try to awaken something within Miura. After Tae Honma and Miku Aono explain the rules of pro wrestling to Kaguya, they enter to one of Hamada’s songs, and then they motion to the stage, and Miura emerges, as Tokiwa. A powerful moment. The rest of the show plays out like an alternate-universe Actwres girl’Z show. Mii, Mari, Kakeru Sekiguchi, Hikari Shimizu are all here. The show features Shimizu once again fighting Miura, but with the realization of the power of Kaguya and becoming Tokiwa, she’s able to defeat the person who beat her to start the show. Oh also the main event was Hisen (Act Yasukawa) vs Tae Honma.
And from there, the ARG universe has expanded. A band of space pirates called Sheloll, ninjas who aren’t very good at being ninjas, Hagakure, the short-lived Arisa Hoshiki led faction of humanoid-cyborgs, Red Fragment. There were cyberpunk forest people, TeTra, western bounty hunters, g.e.m., a band of fighter pilots out of a comic book turned real, Sky-Rex. And then even more factions sprung up – the phantom thieves Bijou, the magical girls of Starmagical Project, the other magical girl group Taofasyue, and the crew of disgruntled office workers, Satan The Works Co, Ltd. All of them in search of the three sacred treasures which will grant them a wish. Each faction has a clear reasoning behind their search, Kaguya are trying to save their village from the destruction that occurred in ancient times.
In many ways, it’s a live-action anime. And in other ways, it’s like a JRPG. There’s boss battles, there’s sick music, there’s intense storytelling, and mid-match promos that set the tone. And while it’s all in Japanese, the fact that it’s based on pro-wrestling, makes it pretty easy to piece together, even if you’re unfamiliar with the language. And there are some resources to help fill some gaps when it comes to the characters and the units.
I actually decided to make a trip to Japan simply to see their shows in early March of 2023. And it was an absolute blast. It was the first time Taofasyue would be involved in a proper, in-ring ACTRING show, and it told their origin story. We’d also see Bijou become a powerful force, willing to do anything to steal the sacred treasures. And Hagakure, with its dwindling numbers would try to recruit. It was also one of the last times we’d see these lineups, as many of the talent would leave the promotion a year later, actually making Hagakure’s low membership situation a bit more dire.
But since then, they’ve had time to rebuild, with a new unit, reinforcing existing ones, and creating even more content, including the voice drama that’s available for free on YouTube, which gives even more context to faction members, and the units themselves. And even introduces new characters. Some of these voice actors would also transfer over to in-ring actors.
And that’s how we get to June 1st, 2025. For two performances of the third ARG Sword Edition, “Spear of Faith”. Featuring ARG’s first faction, Kaguya, against the debuting Satan the Works Co, Ltd.
The show’s opening sets the scene, six office workers, fed up with the abuse they face at work, create a plan to capture the three sacred treasures. Their goal is to end toxic workplace conditions, typically associated with “black companies” in Japan – workplaces that take advantage of workers, sometimes in sweatshop-like conditions. These six characters make up Satan The Works Co., Ltd.
The leader of the group is Ryza, played by former Jd’Star champion and long-time theatre director MARU. Tyza is a dependable mother figure for her younger co-workers. One of those younger co-workers is Sylvia, an incredibly intelligent and hardworking employee, her specialty is accounting, and she’s very analytical. Sylvia is played by Nanami Togi. Emilia, who is played by Miho Ishizuka, is the receptionist for the company, but deals with sexual harassment on a daily basis. Bell, played by Erisa Nagai, is a skilled communicator who easily completes sales with her influence. Corne, played by Actwres newcomer Gonbe, is an HR representative. She’s sworn to secrecy on the company’s abusive policies, but she’s had enough – she’s also a total foodie. Then there’s Feel, played by Eriko Shino, she doesn’t get involved in any in-ring stuff, but she’s the secretary, who is expected to do as she is told by her boss.
Their arrival into the ACTRING universe is not met with a grand welcome, as they first encounter the ancient band of Samurai, Kaguya. This leads the two groups to settle things in the ring, and the first contest is Emilia, Bell, and Ryza against the Kaguya Team of Hakuju, a demon who wields a jewel that can manipulate time, played by Ren Kyan (KYANREN), Hinata, an abandoned child raised in Kaguya’s village, played by Toiro Hina, and Tokiwa, the guardian of the village, who is now played by Sakura Nishio. This is the first time Nishio played the role in-ring.
These contests are overseen by the master, today, played by Kaori “Lady Samurai” Kawabuchi – a sword actress, singer, and so, so much more, who has done motion capture for games like NieR: Automata, Bayonetta 2 & 3, and even as Yuffie in the Final Fantasy VII remakes. She is flanked by Fu Shen, played by AWG ring announcer Mizuka Arai to her left, and Fu Yao, played by Ayano Irie. Also part of her entourage is referee Atsushi Ishiguro.
Most of the acting scenes did not allow photography (the lights in the background of these shots were an indicator of whether photos were allowed) – but the discussion between Ryza and Kikyo, the “big sister” to everyone in Kaguya with the ability to manipulate the wind with her fan, played by Yumi Agawa, to set up the next contest was an exception to this.
Then it was time for Corne vs the singing shrine maiden of Kaguya, Momo, played by ANRI. It was back and forth until Corne indulged in her foodie tendencies. Gaining strength from consuming a mid-match snack, she became unstoppable. Momo threw elbows, dropkicks and so much more, to no effect. Momo did not give up however, and the master ended up throwing the match out.
The final contest was a tag match, Sylvia and Ryza against Kaguya’s General, Hisen, the daughter of her village’s head, still played by Act Yasukawa, and Kikyo. The contest was intense, dramatic, and in all senses of the word, awesome. We saw some impressive stuff from Sylvia, especially a counter against Kikyo. Kikyo also showed off her impressive kicks. The second of these shows would actually be Agawa’s final performances with ARG, and she didn’t even consider holding back.
There was a moment where Satan the Works end up in the corner, and Sylvia goes over her iPad with Ryza. The plan is put into action. Ryza nails a headbutt on Hisen while they’re both on the corner. But Hisen pulls herself back up and fights back. The tides turn, and Kaguya score the key to the treasure.
The show closed with both factions in the ring, plus the Master and her crew overseeing everything. There was joy for Kaguya, frustration for Satan The Works. Then, it was time for the curtain call, each faction, the support cast, all took a bow and posed together. In the background was AWG member Nene Arahata, the director of this episode of ACTRING. Some smiles and laughter, as Yasukawa closed the show alongside her long-time friend Yumi Agawa. And right before the show officially ended and the lights went dark, Ryza and Hisen leave together and take one final bow.
“Spear of Faith” was everything that makes ACTRING great. It really does mash up so many different forms of entertainment, the obvious pro-wrestling. Then there’s stuff like Gonbe’s mid-match powerup, straight out of a video game. Dramatic storytelling straight out of anime. On other shows – there’s dancing, and even in some cases, singing. Then there’s the costumes, and seeing your favorite Actwres girl’Z members in different roles. It truly is a combination of everything you probably already love.
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