NJPW

NJPW G1 Climax Day 5 Results (7/18): Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay, Updated Standings

NJPW G1 Climax – Day 5 Results
July 18, 2019
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Undercard Matches

— Jon Moxley & Shota Umino def. Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura

— Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi def. Juice Robinson, Henare & Yota Tsuji

— Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens def. Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita

— Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI

A Block Tournament Matches

— KENTA def. Lance Archer

— EVIL def. SANADA

— Kazuchika Okada def. Bad Luck Fale

— Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Zack Sabre Jr.

— Kota Ibushi def. Will Ospreay

A Block Standings

  • Kazuchika Okada – 6
  • KENTA – 6
  • Lance Archer – 4
  • EVIL – 4
  • Bad Luck Fale – 2
  • Kota Ibushi – 2
  • Will Ospreay – 2
  • SANADA – 2
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2
  • Zack Sabre Jr. – 0

B Block Standings

  • Jon Moxley – 4
  • Tomohiro Ishii – 4
  • Juice Robinson – 4
  • Taichi – 2
  • Toru Yano – 2
  • Hirooki Goto – 2
  • Shingo Takagi – 2
  • Jeff Cobb – 0
  • Tetsuya Naito – 0
  • Jay White – 0

The post NJPW G1 Climax Day 5 Results (7/18): Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay, Updated Standings appeared first on ProWrestling.com.

Will Ospreay Gives Status Update For NJPW G1 Climax 29

Two days ago, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay announced he had a neck injury that was going to keep him out of action on night four of the G1 Climax. Ospreay was scheduled to team up with Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura to face Kota Ibushi, Shota Umino and Jushin Thunder Liger. The match ended… Read More Will Ospreay Gives Status Update For NJPW G1 Climax 29

Will Ospreay Cleared to Return to the Ring Following Injury Scare

As reported, Will Ospreay suffered a neck injury announced on July 15th that caused him to miss the undercard of Monday’s G1 Climax event in Hokkaido, Japan.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling confirmed at the time that the UK star had not suffered any skeletal or nervous issues, and would be undergoing further medical examination.

Luckily the promotion had a three-day break in between tournament dates so Ospreay was able to rest up, and it has been officially confirmed that he is cleared to return to the ring. This means he will not miss Thursday’s (early morning in the U.S.) highly anticipated A Block tournament match against Kota Ibushi.

The post Will Ospreay Cleared to Return to the Ring Following Injury Scare appeared first on ProWrestling.com.

G1 Climax B Block Night 2 Results 7/15

The second night of B Block Action is upon us, featuring matches with Jon Moxley, Jeff Cobb, Tomohiro Ishii and more. But first, the A Block preview tag matches.

Jushin Thunder Liger & Kota Ibushi b. Shota Umino & Yota Tsuji when Ibushi submitted Tsuji with a Half Crab – The usual Stars vs. Young Lions match. This was originally planned to be a six-man involving Will Ospreay, but due to an injury to Will Ospreay it was changed to a standard tag match. The main point to note is Umino was much more aggressive with the referee and his opponents. This may be due to his association with Jon Moxley.

After the match Liger took the mic and said this was his final match in Sapporo. He thanked the fans and bowed to them.

Los Ingobernables De Japon (EVIL, SANADA, & BUSHI) b. Tomoaki Honma, Toa Henare, & Ren Narita when BUSHI pinned Narita with an MX – The heels gained control when Honma missed a Kokeshi headbutt. Henare got the hot tag and ran wild. Narita tagged in and the babyfaces triple teamed Bushi. Their momentum didn’t last long after that because the heels returned the favor on Narita. Honma and Henare were held at bay while Bushi hit the MX on Narita to get the pin.

After the match, Evil & Sanada stared each other down because they will face each other in the next A Block night. When Sanada turned to leave, Evil rushed him and tried a surprise Everything Is Evil. Sanada escaped and tried for a Skull End. The two found themelves at a stalemate, so they left the ring independently.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) b. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KENTA, Mark Connors, & Karl Fredericks when Kanemaru pinned Connors with a Deep Impact DDT – Kenta and Archer traded blows early on. Kenta tried to tag Tanahashi in, but Tanahashi refused. Frederick instead got the tag. The match spilled to the floor shortly afterward. When the match got back in the ring, the heels were dominating Fredericks. When Fredericks reached for the tag, Tanahashi pushed Kenta back so he could get the tag. Sabre locked Tanahashi into a submission hold in the ring while everybody else brawled on the floor. Connors and Kanemaru got the respective double tag and the babyfaces made their comeback. Connors put Kanemaru in a Boston Crab that got broken up by Suzuki. Kanemaru soon hit a Deep Impact DDT on Connors for the pin.

After the match, Sabre continued to put Tanahashi in submission holds. Kenta tried to help Tanahashi to the back but Tanahashi seemingly refused the help.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI of CHAOS b. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens of Bullet Club when Okada pinned Owens with a Rainmaker – The heels naturally took the match to the floor early and pummeled the babyfaces outside the ring. They got the heat on Hashi for several minutes until Okada got the hot tag. While Okada managed to slam fale, he was not able to land the neckbreaker. The heels battled back and tried to cut Okada off. Fale tried a Hand Grenade, but Okada countered with a dropkick. Hashi knocked Fale out of the ring while Okada hit a Rainmaker on Owens to pin him.

TOURNAMENT MATCHES

Shingo Takagi (0-1, 0) p. Toru Yano (1-0, 2) with a Pumping Bomber – Yano wanted to wrestle with his shirt on, while Takagi demanded he take it off. The exact opposite of what happened in Yano’s last match with Naito. When Yano finally started to remove his shirt, Takagi attacked. Yano managed to flip the odds and roll Takagi’s head up in the shirt. Takagi kicked out of a roll-up so Yano walked down to the ramp and sat in a chair like he was taking a countout loss. Takagi went after him and tried to fight him. Yano quickly slammed Takagi to the floor and put several obstacles in his way to get a count-out victory. Takagi still made it in at the count of 19. The match continued in the ring where Yano grabbed a chair. The referee tried to remove the chair when Bushi came out to distract him. While the ref’s back was turned, Takagi got control of the chair and threw it at Yano. He followed up with a Pumping Bomber and pinned Yano right as the referee turned back around.

Juice Robinson (1-0, 2) p. Hirooki Goto (1-0, 2) with Pulp Friction – The two started slow with the feeling out process, but soon picked up when Juice decked Goto with a leg lariat. The match went to the outside, which is a little surprising given both men are babyfaces. Back in the ring, the two went back and forth with the match escalating to bigger moves. Juice went for the Left Hand Of God, only for Goto to literally block with his head. Juice did likewise and then amazingly hit Pulp Friction to get the pin.

Jon Moxley (1-0, 2) p. Jeff Cobb (0-1, 0) with an Elevated DDT – The match was pretty competitive in the opening minites, with Cob using wrestling and power, while Moxley used brawling tactics. Outside the ring, Moxley tried to piledriver Cobb on the stage. Cobb escaped, and the two clotheslined each other to a double-down. The two brawled on the floor, with Moxley breaking the count by getting in and out of the ring. Cobb made a brief comeback, and tried to use a German Suplex to the floor. Moxley escaped and hit an Elevated DDT (Randy Orton style) and got the pin.

NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii (1-0, 2) p. Jay White (0-1, 2) with a Brainbuster – White tried to goad Ishii to come to the floor and face him. Ishii didn’t fall for it and quickly got the match back in the ring. Ishii tossed White around the ring and chased him to the outside. Gedo attacked Ishii from behind, and when Ishii turned around, White rammed him into the post. This gave White control of the match for several minutes. White made the mistake of taunting Ishii as he landed strikes. This only served to anger Ishii and fire him up for a comeback. Ishii landed a massive superplex and landed several strikes. White tried for a desperation Blade Runner that Ishii reversed into a German Suplex. Ishi landed a powerbomb for a near fall. Gedo got on the apron to distract Red Shoes. White again tried a Blade Runner, but Ishii dodged and hit a sliding lariat. Ishii reversed another Blade Runner into a DDT and hit a clothesline for another near fall. After that, Ishii finished off White with a Brainbuster.

Taichi (0-1, 0) p. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito (0-1, 0) with a Last Ride Powerbomb – At first one might wonder why Taichi is in the main event. Well, for what it’s worth, Taichi has challenged for the IC Title before. That said, I probably still would have rather seen Ishii and White in the main event. This match had a lot of stalling since both guys are heels who excel in skullduggery. Taichi tried to goad Naito to come to the floor, while Naito would lay in the ring like he just wanted to get pinned. When Taichi took the bait, Naito tried to roll him up. The match went to the floor where the two brawled around on the outside. Naito grounded Taichi once the match got back in the ring and clamped Taichi in a Full Nelson with his legs. Taichi escaped and battled back with a Backdrop Suplex. taichi grabbed the Iron Fingers he gained from Takeshi Iizuka. Naito dodged the weapon and hit Gloria for a two count. Taichi kicked out and Naito set up a Destino. Taichi escaped and tried to fight back. Naito hit Destino, but Taichi kicked out. Naito tried a second Destino, which got reversed into Black Mephisto. Naito kicked out and tried a flying forearm. Taichi dodged and Naito hit Red Shoes. With Red Shoes down, Kanemaru tried to interfere. Naito fended him off and hit Taichi with a Snow Plow for a visual pinfall. WHen Red Shoes came to, Taichi landed a superkick for a near fall. At the 20 minute mark, Taichi again went for the Iron Fingers. This time, he was able to land the knockout blow. A Last Ride Powerbomb then gave Taichi his first G1 victory.

After the match, Taichi cut a promo, presumably gloating over his victory.

STANDINGS

4 Juice Robinson
4 Jon Moxley
4 Tomohiro Ishii
2 Hirooki Goto
2 Shingo Takagi
2 Taichi
2 Toru Yano
0 Jay White
0 Jeff Cobb
0 Tetsuya Naito

Jon Moxley’s New Groove

Moxley, shown here clutching Jeff Cobb, can spread his wings better in New Japan
Photo Credit: NJPW1972.com

Even back when he was working deathmatches and cultivating a cool Nolan Joker persona without the paint, you could tell Jon Moxley had a certain eccentricity about him. He wasn’t Colt Cabana or Santino Marella, but his capacity for comedy wrestling was present. WWE saw this glimmer as well, but after The Shield broke up, Mox, as Dean Ambrose, was miscast. When Vince McMahon sees that you can make people laugh, he doesn’t recognize that that ability can manifest in different ways other than “doing stupid shit that makes a septuagenarian cokehead sociopath guffaw.” Instead of exploring studio space in cool and exciting ways, Ambrose rolled hot dog carts to the ring, jobbed to exploding television monitors, and went to the doctor to get needles stuck in his ass.

Of course, Moxley/Ambrose wasn’t the only wrestler done dirty by McMahon’s rudimentary understanding of character development. Wrestling, like acting, should have a wide swath of character archetypes, and yet the only ones that McMahon has ever gotten right are “tall übermensch whomst wins all the time” and “rebellious little shit who people like because they hit their boss.” So “Charlie Kelly who likes to hit people with things wrapped in barbed wire” was certainly not a character WWE was ever going to get right. The problem is, what promotion could get it right without allowing the person playing it to have most of the input? The answer is “no promotion,” which is why Mox’s lightly-salted eccentricity is able to shine in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

It’s not to say that Gedo doesn’t have input on him, or that he’s hands-off with most of his characters. I can say with confidence though that Mox name recognition coming in probably allowed him a certain degree of freedom, much in the same way that someone like Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi, or Kazuchika Okada have or had some free reign in their stays with the company. I can’t see Gedo going to Mox and telling him to adopt Shota Umino, call him Shooter, and give him a jacket. But that whole underlying arc definitely feels like something Moxley would do just to riff, to have him break out and maybe give someone like Umino a little boost when he transitions from Young Lion to real boy full-fledged New Japan roster member.

Of course, that’s not the only thing he’s shown in New Japan already in his short tenure there. It’s the little things like blowing a kiss to Miho during his match with Taichi, or proclaiming that he doesn’t know Jeff Cobb or much about him, but that he respects him. These moves are that of someone who takes himself seriously, but not seriously enough that he ends up coming to the ring in a hood and exuding powerful “I study the blade” energy like a certain Aerial Assassin. It also manifests itself in ways that differentiate himself from, say, Toru Yano.

Moxley will still bleed buckets if he has to and make other people bleed buckets; just look at his match with Joey Janela at Fyter Fest, which was probably skinning the surface of what he’s able to do now. The biggest test for him will be his run in All Elite Wrestling. While I think he’ll get freedom there, I also imagine that he’ll be more heavily guided there, as Tony Khan and Cody Rhodes will undoubtedly want to exert more control over talent than Gedo does. Still, no matter how questionable the narrative direction in AEW has been (more on that later), Mox being there gives them a good leg to stand on.

If McMahon observes his competition at all, he should be learning the lesson that he should maybe loosen the reigns up and let his talent do what they want more and less of what he wants them to do. I doubt he will, as he’s probably alternating between overlording RAW and Smackdown with trying to write as many rules for his new XFL that make the players and fans know that they WILL respect the flag. That really only means that as long as he’s like this, wrestlers like Jon Moxley will be better off elsewhere, places that allow him to have more input in what he does in the ring and on the mic.

G1 Climax A Block Night 2 Results 7/14

A Block tournament action enters its second night, headlined by the dream match of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA.

Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, & Yota Tsuji b. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma, & Yuya Uemera when Henare pinned Uemera with a Uranage – Tsuji and Uemera started out, continuing their ongoing feud. Juice and Goto did have a brief clash, but before long Henare was able to hit Uemera with the Uranage to get the pin.

Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita b. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino when Cobb pinned Umino with a Tour Of The Islands – Moxley managed to cut off Cobb and tagged in Umino. Narita and Moxley fought on the outside while Cobb and Umino remained in the ring. Cobb made his comeback and hit Tour Of The Islands on Umino for the pinfall victory.

CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, & YOSHI-HASHI) b. Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens) when Yano pinned Owens with a low blow – Yoshi and Yujiro started out and the match spilled to the outside very quickly. The heels gained control and cut off Hashi. Ishii got the hot tag and cleaned house. White halted Ishii’s momentum with a brainbuster. A double tag to Yano and Owens. Yano took the turnbuckle pad. Yujiro distracted him and Owens got hold of the pad. Yano dodged the striek, and Owens almost hit the referee. Fortunately, the referee covered up and didn’t get hit. But unfortunately for Owens, that gave Yano the opening to hit a low blow and roll him up for a surprise pin.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI) when Suzuki pinned Bushi with a Gotch Piledriver – Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell, with only Taichi and Naito remaining in the ring. With the other two LIJ members out of the floor, Naito was left at the mercy of SG. LIJ regrouped when Bushi got a hot tag. A multi-man brawl broke out after LIJ triple teamed Suzuki. During the melee, Suzuki hit the Gotch Piledriver ob Bushi and pinned him.

Now on to the A Block Tournament matches.

Lance Archer p. Bad Luck Fale with a Claw – Archer dominated early and battled Fale around the ring. Gedo distracted Archer which gave Fale the chance to attack from behind. Back in the ring, Fale worked over Archer, who had the chance to play the smaller agile man role for once. Archer tried to do the Old School rope walk but got superplexed for his effort. Fale tried to do the rope walk himself, expect Archer managed to pull him off the turnbuckle. Jado got up on the apron and was quickly knocked to the outside. Archer hit a spear and a chokeslam on Fale for a two count. Archer quickly followed up with the Claw and got a pin.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay p. SANADA with a Stormbreaker – This was a very athletic heavy match right away, with both men going at a high speed. Sanada tried the Paradise Lock, but Ospreay somehow blocked it. Sanada tried a second time, and this tine succeeded in tying him up in the ropes. Ospreay battled back and knocked Sanada to the floor. Sanada recovered and did the same to Ospreay. The two continued to go back and forth with neither man getting any sustained momentum. Sanada used a Skull End, which Ospreay countered with a Spanish Fly. A very exciting series of reversals and counters saw both men try and reverse each other’s finishing moves. In the end, Ospreay hit the Oscutter/Stormbreaker combo to score the pin.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada p. Zack Sabre Jr. with a Rainmaker – Sabre already made the claim that he will beat Okada and then take a title shot before WrestleKingdom. He does hold a previous pinfall victory over Okada last year. Both men started with holds before Okada tried to speed up the match. Sabre managed to ground Okada and apply a leglock called The Banana Splits (Tra la la la la la la). Okada made his comeback and hit the Savage Elbow. Sabre blocked the Rainmaker and tried t reverse, but got met with a dropkick. Okada tried another Rainmaker, but Sabre dodged again an applied an Octopus Hold. Okada struggled for several minutes but was able to finally get the rope break. Sabre, perhaps in a show of frustration, started landing strikes on Okada. This riled Okada up, who started firing back. Okada hit another dropkick but missed another Rainmaker attempt. Sabre tried several different roll-ups and clutches to no avail. Okada kicked out and finally hit a Rainmaker for the win.

EVIL p. Kota Ibushi with Everything Is Evil – The two went right to exchanging strikes off the bat. Evil won the battle of strikes and began stalking Ibushi for the next several minutes. Ibushi fought back with a flurry of kicks and landed a moonsault, clearly favoring his leg. Evil stopped Ibushi’s offense by crotching him on the top turnbuckle and followed up with a superplex. Ibushi escaped an Everything Is Evil and hit a German Suplex. Evil no-sold it and immediately got to his feet and hit one of his own suplexes. Ibushi also no-sold as well, and slowly got to his feet. Again the two exchange strikes, but this time is was Ibushi who was getting the upper hand. Evil responded by shoving Red Shoes into Ibushi. Evil tried to capitalize by landing more strikes. Ibushi responded by hitting a discus lariat for a near fall. Ibushi signaled for the Kamigoye. Evil countered by catching Ibushi’s leg and reversing into a Scorpion Deathlock. After Ibushi made it to the ropes, Evil tried and missed a top rope senton. Ibushi rallied with two straight Boma Ye knee strikes and tried again for the Kamigoye. Evil again ducked the knee and decked Ibushi with a lariat. Ibushi kicked out of Darkness Falls, but failed to kick out of Everything Is Evil.

KENTA p. Hiroshi Tanahashi with a Go To Sleep – This match not too long ago would have been considered a dream match. Of course KENTA is the former Hideo Itami, who had a less than stellar run in WWE/NXT. Though most of his career was in NOAH, he came to New Japan to compete in the G1. Both men have connections to Katsuyori Shibata, who sat in on Japanese commentary.

The match looked like it was going to start slow and build until Kenta slapped Tanahashi after a rope break. Tanahashi gave back the receipt in response. After another lockup, Tanahashi took Kenta down. However, Kenta kicked Tanahashi during his air guitar taunt, firmly establishing him as the heel. For the next several minutes, Kenta dominated with Tanahashi barely getting a move in. It wasn’t until Kenta went for the GTS that Tanahashi rebounded. He caught Kenta’s leg and reversed into a Dragon Screw. At the 15 minute mark, as battle of strikes broke out. Tanahashi landed a set of three Twist And Shout neckbreakers, and a pair of High Fly Flows. Kenta blocked the second High Fly Flow with his knees and was able to finally hit GTS for the pinfall.

G1 Climax Night 2 (B-Block Opener) Reader’s Digest

Takagi and Robinson set an awfully high bar with the first G1 match of B-block
Photo Credit: NJPW1972.com

Two Reader’s Digests in one day! Wow, what a time to be alive. AXS this week ran the B-block opener on tape delay, and they also cut out the opening tag matches, showing just the G1 tourney matches. If you want to watch the whole thing, check it out on NJ World.

Shingo Takagi vs. Juice Robinson – Right out of the gate, B-block came out guns blazing. Truth be told, the only A-block match from Dallas that I would put among any of the five matches from Saturday’s show would be Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. SANADA. But they started off best foot forward with Takagi against Robinson, which I mark as the best match of the first ten in this tournament. I was lax in hiding my disdain for Takagi when he was part of Dragon Gate’s American envoy for the short-lived DGUSA, but here, he owned the ring aside from Robinson, another guy whose game got better over a period of time. They came out of the blocks on fire like Sweet Dee after Frank botched the arson job for insurance money at Paddy’s. Towards the end when they were just owning each other with lariats and countering in and out of their finishes, it set the bar for the kind of manufactured intensity that you need to make this tournament work. If you seek out one match from the first two shows, make it this one.

Jon Moxley vs. Taichi – The fact that Taichi started the match attacking Moxley in the crowds during his entrance gave me the tinglies from jump. It reminded me so much of the Unicorn match Randy Orton had with Kane at Extreme Rules ’12, which is actually praise if you can believe it. I love garbage brawls, especially when they spill out, or in this case start out, in the crowd, and this was no exception. I loved the touch of Moxley blowing a kiss in mockery of Taichi to his valet, Miho, although I wonder if he’ll be sleeping on the couch when he gets back to the Las Vegas home he shares with Renee Young. Anyway, despite going slightly off the rails somewhere in the second act, it finished strong. I’m excited to get to know Taichi more and so amped to see the rest of Mox’s tournament.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano – This was by far the shortest match of the televised card, but it was all-killer, no-filler. Yano got right to taking off the turnbuckle pads which got Naito to doing the same, and it was a whirlwind of physical comedy until the finish. I’ve only seen a few Yano matches, but I’m convinced that after last week’s tag match and this week, that few are equipped to handle him like Naito is. Yano winning was also a shock, but he always gets some big upset wins here and there. The story is that he’s the “spoiler,” so it’s odd to see him win a match against this high-profile an opponent so early, but I’m sure this will come back to haunt Naito later on. Either way, it was the perfect palate-cleanser between the two big-bomb brawls.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb – I was most looking forward to this match, but outside of a few flashes, they had a hard time getting going. Like I was waiting for them to get into a groove, but their macho posturing with strikes fell flat early on. It’s not to say that they didn’t rebound. The ending stretch run was what I expected from them after they got me good and hot and bothered for BIG HOSS ACTION at the Dallas show. If you distilled that sequence into a whole match, then it probably would have been, far and away, the best on the show. But you can’t just judge one sequence here. Takagi and Robinson kept it up the whole match, but man, give me Cobb and Ishii again where they’re primed and ready to go for the whole frame. That’s all I want.

Jay White vs. Hirooki Goto – Jay White is so good at playing a sniveling little shit that I can see why they put the title on him January 5. Like, when you’re that much of a petulant dickhead that the referee on TWO occasions won’t count your pin and the viewer feels justified in the decision, you’ve made it. I was already in the bag for Goto, because who doesn’t love a fatherly figure with a dope finish, no matter how badly New Japan has fucked his push up in the Okada/late-Tanahashi era? But man, White made it so much easier to cheer for Goto in the moment. He’s so good at the big and the little things. But man, there were two spots in this match that I thought were prime wrestling. One was when they were criss-crossing the ring and White was rope-a-doping Goto trying to go for the lariat, and the other one, connected to that first one, was the build to Goto finally hitting that lariat. It was fulfilling. Again, I was already inclined to root for Bushido Dad, but when he got on the mic and said “The G in G1 stands for GOTO,” fuck it, I’m ready to follow Hirooki Goto to the ends of the goddamn earth.