【Ｆｒｅｅ！スタイルプロレス】山崎宗介 (逆エビ固め)
Free! STYLE PRO-WRESTLING: Sosuke Yamazaki (Boston Crab)

プロレス技:　逆エビ固め
Pro-Wrestling Technique: Boston Crab

漫画 (Manga/Anime): Free!

I hope you will enjoy this piece.

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Manga Pro-Wrestling: https://mangaprowrestling.wordpress.com
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Extra Notes:

One wrestling art idea that I’ve materialized in the past is turning Sosuke Yamazaki from being a swimmer on the anime series Free! to being a wrestler. It worked so well when I made him an amateur wrestler in my past arts. But now, in time for his fictional birthday, I’ve decided to let him transition from being an amateur wrestler to being a professional wrestler. And I’m willing to bet a lot of you have been looking forward to this.

I opted for the Boston Crab, particularly this pose, because I wanted the highlight to be with Sosuke only. The guy he’s locking the hold to is supposed to be Seijuro Mikoshiba (thus the red and orange attire), but I didn’t really think about highlighting the other guy at this point.

As for his gear, I opted for the black and pink scheme based on one of the polo shirts that he wore in the series. I also took some inspiration from real-life wrestler Sammy Guevara, who also used the black and pink scheme in his attire.

Overall, I’m proud with how this piece came out.I hope you guys enjoyed this piece.

Sosuke Yamazaki (Amateur Wrestling – Headlock)

Ｆｒｅｅ！スタイルレスリング：　山崎宗介 (ヘッドロック)
Free! STYLE WRESTLING: Sosuke Yamazaki (Headlock)

プロレス技:　ヘッドロック
Pro-Wrestling Technique: Headlock

漫画 (Manga/Anime): Free!

I hope you will enjoy this piece.

Extra Notes:

I really enjoyed drawing Sosuke Yamazaki as an amateur wrestler. It’s a nice change from the usual pro-wrestler characters that I draw. Plus, with Sosuke’s size and built, I think he’d make a good fit for the amateur wrestling world. And that’s why on his birthday (September 14), I decided to make a special artwork for Sosuke by letting him wrestle for the first time.

Drawing this piece was quite a challenge, mainly because it was the first time I drew a wrestling move with the guys wearing singlets. Still, I’m quite pleased with how the final product turned out.

And in case you were wondering who Sosuke is wrestling against, I had intended the opponent to be Makoto Tachibana. Personally, Makoto comes across to me as being a bit too kind to be an aggressive wrestler, but he does have the height and weight that could match Sosuke’s stats.

As for the headlock…well, I’m not too knowledgeable with amateur wrestling, so I thought a headlock would be a safe move to draw.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this piece.

Sosuke Yamazaki: Freestyle/Amateur Wrestler

Ｆｒｅｅ！スタイルレスリング：　山崎宗介

Free! Style Wrestling: Sosuke Yamazaki

Here is Sosuke Yamazaki from the sports anime series Free! He is dressed as a freestyle/amateur wrestler.

I hope you will enjoy this piece.

Extra Notes:

I’ve really wanted to try drawing Sosuke Yamazaki. I don’t really watch the swimming anime Free! (and I doubt I will ever do so), but I was somewhat intrigued by Sosuke’s character. Most of the characters in Free! tend to look way too “sawft” in my view (to borrow a slang word from NXT’s Colin Cassidy), but Sosuke came out as the outlier among those characters. He came across to me as someone who’d look good in a potential Manga Pro-Wrestling artwork, given his size, his looks, his stature, and heck, even his personality. Heck, even his swimming wear could pass off as wrestling tights, once he gets to put on some boots.

There were just a few problems. Like I said, most of the Free! characters look too “sawft” to actually dress up as pro-wrestlers, so who would Sosuke battle? Someone suggested Makoto, but he looked too innocent to even hurt a fly. Another suggested Seijuro, but again, I don’t know Free! too much. Aside from that, Sosuke does look a little bit “sawft” to look credible as a pro-wrestler.

As such, I opted to draw Sosuke as a different type of wrestler: as a freestyle/amateur wrestler. I did always want to try drawing amateur wrestling, and I think Sosuke is the perfect springboard for me to do so. Aside from that, I also like how this gives me a very nice play of words: Free! Style Wrestling. Get it? 😀

Since I’m posting this in Manga Pro-Wrestling, though, I added another version in the Manga Pro-Wrestling with a pro-wrestling ring as a background. Feel free to tell me which one you think looks better.

Alternative Versions