Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

Manic Dogma · Nov 21, 2022

I cannot in good conscience recommend Kengan Asura. Not really in general, and certainly not to anyone not already deeply immersed in manga/anime as a medium. It touches on a dozen different flavours of problematic, even before you get into how a whole-ass half of the cast are CEOs. Without a guillotine in sight! The fucking nerve of some people!

And yet, of the manga I've read in the last five or so years, it's one of the ones that's stuck out most clearly in my mind. Even more so than its arguably superior sequel, Kengan Omega. One of the few I've gone back to reread several times, even if I skipped some parts and read others through the gaps between my fingers in the moments my eyes weren't rolling so hard they threatened to pop out of my skull.

Why is that?

Well, I already have something of an idea for myself, but by making this ~~horrible mistake~~ Let's Read I hope to explore and maybe go some way toward clarifying those contradictory feelings. For my own benefit as well as yours, and hopefully be some degree of entertaining along the way.

So with that in mind, let's leap right into the first chapter!

Hm. On reflection these early chapters are usually ones I skip when rereading, but…eh, I'm sure it's fine.

The very first panel of the Manga sets a deliberate mood. It is dominated in halves. By the vibrant, twinkling neon sea of a bustling main street, suggesting a tide of noise and lives with the busy slivers of advertisements, lanterns and storefront loiterers on either side. And in the centre of the panel by the unwelcoming maw of a dark alleyway, that nevertheless every line in the panel seems to be guiding the reader toward.

It's simple, but clear. We're moving beyond the surface, into society's pelagian murk.

And we aren't the only ones, someone has been drawn in by its gravity. A small, weedy, japanese salaryman - glasses, poorly shaven chin, receding hairline, the works - unsure whether he peered down the alley of his own will or if his eyes were drawn there. Either way, he finds a scene familiar to anyone who's read a martial arts story before, modern or not. Two men are stood in the Alley. One a giant, "easily over 190cm tall", with muscles so developed that they're clearly visible through his shirt, and scarred hands that speak to experience with bareknuckle slugouts. The other, some guy in a tracksuit and hoodie, a full head shorter than his opponent.

I remember seeing rocks shaped like that guy's face in Wales one time.

We all know the score here. But mister Salaryman doesn't, and is understandably concerned for the younger man. And while he's not concerned, per say, the big guy makes a little speech along similar lines. He points out his various intimidating qualities, notes how obvious they are, and flat out calls the man insane for challenging someone so clearly stronger than him. And, interestingly, notes that the madlad was the one to challenge him. No mugging to prevent, no defense of an menaced innocent or perfunctory revenge, our protagonist(?) just up and picked a fight for no apparent reason.

Tellingly, as the big guy is making his speech, the other guy is hopping in place. Loosening up, barely paying attention.

The young- oh fuck this, until we get his actual name I'm calling him Seaweed - Seaweed says his first words in the manga so far. Basically confirming that, well, yeah. Duh he knows all that, the guy's obviously Yakuza. Obviously big, strong, a fighter. But he wasn't right about everything. And then, uh…

Definitely well adjusted. No damage there, no sirree.

Well, big guy takes that personally. He rips his shirt off, Salaryman waxes lyrical a bit more about how fucking scary he is, and then seaweed pivots to complimenting big guy's physique. It's not even sarcastic either, he's smirking but it seems genuine?

And then big guy throws his torn shirt at seaweed's face. The fight is on.

As introductory fights go to establish a protagonist's chops, it's a really good one. Big guy is far from all talk, he's much faster than he looks and while his actual attacks are linear he pulls more than one dirty trick like the shirt thing. For all that Seaweed dances around his attacks, Big guy is a smart, canny opponent with clear experience in street fights. Really highlighted when he pretends to overextend a punch, stomping on a broken bottle and then kicking the glass at Seaweed.

Yeah, I'd probably react like that as well. How long under the needle was that tattoo?

His followup attack craters the wall. We aren't in high shonen power levels, but this manga's clearly leaning toward a stylised Charles Atlas sort of capacity for property damage.

Seaweed is fine, obviously, the next page he's several feet away from the impact point sardonically noting that he sure wouldn't want to be on the business end of that. As they quip at each other a bit, Salaryman chips in again with his internal monologue, once again reinforcing the importance of size and strength in combat and spinning off into more general musing about how "the soft are overrun by the hard…that's what happens in the real world!"

It's extremely heavy handed, is what I'm saying (much like big guy, ohohohohohoh~).

But then the break for banter is over, as big guy calls out Seaweed for wasting time when he was the one who picked the fight. And he obliges, immediately landing a cross counter that breaks big guy's fucking nose, sending him reeling.

This is where big guy the savvy streetfighter kind of ends. Whether it's frustration with Seaweed's attitude, anger at taking such a clean hit or just Seaweed giving him no opportunity, no more tricks follow. Big guy charges right at him and just takes blow after blow, taunted by Seaweed as he laughs that muscles alone aren't enough. The poor, confused Salaryman finds his perception of them inverting as Seaweed keeps taunting big guy, who's temper finally breaks completely. He throws a massive haymaker and, well…

No joke here, I just really like this panel. He's clearly caught the strike right at its end, as its force is spent, and the two layers of afterimage is a fantastic trick.

This time the overextension wasn't a feint. Seaweed fucking obliterates big guy's arm, dislocating it at the shoulder and elbow, leveraging his opponent's massive strength against him. And then the page afterwards we get a really clear image of what his arm looks like afterwards and I'm not posting that shit. God, arms should not be that shape.

Anyway, big guy insists he isn't done, but the fight's over. Seaweed pulls a finishing barrage, ending in a massive donkey kick into the guy's face, knocking him clean out. After a brief victory smirk, Seaweed wanders off, his face immediately dipping into a bored frown as soon as the fight is unambiguously done. He passes the Salaryman, who's now standing gape-jawed with his office coat hanging half off, and completely blanks him.

That is, until Mr Salaryman about faces, clicks his feet together, arms and back straight like he's addressing a CEO, and tremulously shouts for Seaweed's name.

By his own internal admission it wasn't a conscious act. He's overwhelmed, jittering and consumed, oddly enough, with respect for "this man young enough to be my son." Seaweed looks back, expression unchanged since the fight ended, and gives his name. Tokita Ohma. With a faint light of interest returning to his face, Ohma returns the question. Still frantic and nervous, the Salaryman responds, shouting much too loud, that his name is Yamashita Kazuo. And then…

…we'll come back to how he pronounced Yamashita's name later, put a pin in that.

It's an extremely interesting response. Well, to me it is. To poor Yamashita it's mostly just terrifying. The sheer implication of Ohma's placidly intense question sends him into cold sweats, and his teeth chatter violently. Between that and his chest seizing up with fear, he almost can't speak. Fortunately for him, he does manage to just about squeeze out enough air to say no. Ohma is visibly disappointed, bored once again, and stalks away into the bright city night.

Oh, I wish that were where the chapter ended.

Yamashita flees the scene, once his legs start working again, and over several panels we get a few details about him. He's 56, with a wife and kids. A "real straight shooter"...despite also living for nothing but drinking, gambling and shopping. But it's fine, this'll all be retconned anyway.

And then the next page is him fucking a prostitute. Followed by several pages explaining how it was his "survival instincts", sent into a frenzy by an apparent near death experience.

Fucked if I know! This brief summary of Yamashita's character won't even be relevant going forward, half of it gets fucking retconned in the very next chapter. I'd almost call it early installment weirdness except this won't be the last time we get a really bizarre swerve into what-the-fuck city.

Anyway, then we get one last page of Ohma wandering alone, a single dark figure in the radiance of late evening Tokyo (I assume) and that's the end of the chapter.

Okay, so I definitely remember why I usually skip these early chapters now. That last bit with Yamashita is… what can I even say? Weird? Gross? Kinda exploitative? Maybe just cringe? Cringe seems like a good word, that's definitely my physical reaction to it. We'll be seeing more of Yamashita in the future, and this is the only time we get any reaction like that, thank god, but it's still just a really fucking strange addition.

That…thatness aside, as first chapters go I rate this a firm meh. The action, as will be a theme going forward, was very good (I'll discuss it in more detail in later chapters, which showcase it better). For all barely a word was said about him outside of unfavourably comparing him to the beefcake, we also got a surprising amount of insight into Ohma in pretty subtle and understated ways. And also in some super blatant and slightly offputting ways, but you can reasonably argue that moments like Ohma's "tub of lard" panel do their job by contrasting his quieter, moodier moments. It might be retroactive, but there is something being set up here.

What's less justifiable is the chapter's pacing. Inefficient is the byword of the day.

While the action itself is very well drawn, with clear lines of action and fantastic communication of motion, and doesn't repeat itself the same can't really be said of the rest of the chapter. Did we really need a whole fucking fifth of the chapter dedicated to belabouring the point that the Deva King is a whole ass heaping helping of manmeat? No, it's obvious, we could easily shave that down to like two pages to set it up, and the "that's what happens in the real world" page later on to setup Ohma's following victory. And while I'm not of the opinion that long fights are necessarily bad (which is good for this story, there'll be a lot of them later!) I do feel like there's a number of redundant pages of Ohma dipping and ducking strikes that could have been better spent on something more directly relevant to the plot going forward.

Because yes, this chapter literally only introduces our protagonists. That's it, nothing else about the premise has been established or even gestured toward. For what it is it's fine, it's a fun fight and we have a basic idea of who the absolute mainest characters are, but if I compare it to real powerhouse introductory chapters? Major league openings like those of Bleach, Naruto, and maybe even some that don't subsequently waste the potential of their first entry? It falls desperately short in terms of how much is done with its first 50-odd pages.

So that's the first chapter. Kind of a disappointment, really. But then, as noted, I skip this early stretch for a reason. I'm not sure why it didn't put me off the first time, but…well, it clearly didn't. And I won't be stopping this time, either. I hope you'll stick with me as we find out when this manga starts to pick up steam.

Spear · Nov 21, 2022

I find that in a lot of manga with very good art you can get rid the dialogue or ignore the vast majority and experience the story through pure vibes. Like Ohma being an unhinged fight-freak is absolutely clear from his introduction art, not even the dialogue itself.

Laplace · Nov 21, 2022

pay very close attention the first guy who reveals his whole deal loses first

ironclad law can't change it

thePUNisher · Nov 21, 2022

Laplace said:
pay very close attention the first guy who reveals his whole deal loses first

ironclad law can't change it

Counterpoint: Kuroki

Manic Dogma · Nov 21, 2022

Until I come up with something better, new chapters will go up each Monday and Friday at 3pm GMT.

Manic Dogma · Nov 28, 2022

Last time we left our stalwart heroes, one of them broke a man's arm for no reason and the other got so terrified by successfully completing a civil introduction that he solicited a prostitute. Because that's how fear works.

Ahem, anyway.

Chapter 1 was Asura, and with chapter 2 we're getting the other half of the title. Kengan. Fist Eye, it apparently translates to, which could mean any number of things, up to and including finnish proverbs. But we aren't going to be starting with any fighting this time. Chapter 2 begins in broad daylight in an office of Nogi Publishing. Yamashita Kazuo is getting smugged at by his department manager over not meeting his quota for the month, bent almost double in supplication while the entire rest of the room watches.

God, literally my fucking nightmares.

My mans is really going through it.

The manager, a sharp-faced, sneering young man, muses about how Yamashita promises to do better every month. In the background, the other office workers chatter about what a massive prick he is in…it's not quite sympathy really? More like breakroom gossip. An office camaraderie that our guy isn't part of. The manager pushes the hardest work onto Yamashita, then picks on him when he inevitably fails to deliver, and most of their reaction is just a shrug of the shoulders, a Glad It's Not Me and a "he should really fight back, but we all know he won't."

The fight he saw has clearly stuck with him, though. Yamashita has a brief fantasy panel where he's as big as the Deva King, hoisting the manager by gripping his head like a tomato with his torn office shirt fluttering in a preternatural breeze as his coworkers recoil in fear and awe. He knows better than that, though. He wouldn't be here bowing and scraping if he had that kind of power. Or more importantly, that kind of strength of will.

The whole brief scene is uncomplicated but provides a very clear picture about what Yamashita's work life has been like up to this point. He's frustrated and angry about his treatment, and isolated from his colleagues, but more than that he's defeated. He barely has the energy to daydream of violence against his boss, and even then it's implied to only happen at all because his encounter with Tokita Ohma is fresh in his mind. It's a very straightforward and banal situation, especially contrasted against the fantastical violence of the previous night.

Not fantastical in the sense of fantasy tropes, but more in the sense that the sort of mundane life Yamashita leads that kind of clash of fists and wills is the furthest possible experience. Eh, that's probably not going to be important.

But the lecture doesn't go on much longer. The boss of their office comes in, and for a moment the manager frantically tries to reassure him. But the boss isn't here for him. He's here for Yamashita. Someone wants to have a word with him in private. Immediately.

Have I mentioned I love the expression work in this manga?

The next page is almost a full page spread of the primary Nogi Incorporated building. Not the piddly, crumbling office we started in. Panels follow sweeping through the main entrance, and then into a wide, clean foyer. Up past immaculately kept conference rooms and rest areas adorned with modern art and fresh ferns.

To the CEO's office.

Nogi Hideki, CEO of Nogi Incorporated, greets Yamashita with a coolly civil affect, and predictably Yamashita is shaking like an overstimulated whippet. Wondering what he did, which is a fair question. We know what the relevant event is, only one thing has even happened in this manga so far, but what relevance could a random street fight possibly have to a man this high in society? The answer begins with a non-sequitur.

"What do you think the best method of resolving 'conflict' is?"

As Yamashita stammers Nogi answers his own question, with Violence. To suppress opposing forces directly, simple and direct. Now, for smart folk who understand that capitalism is inherently violent this probably makes sense, but that's not exactly what Nogi means (though in my opinion the story is certainly gesturing in that direction). To fully answer he offers a story.

I do miss the days when merchants only spilled blood in the "dark recesses" of nations.

He talks about a previous era of Japan, and specifically the conflict between merchants to become Shogunate Purveyor. Presumably, referring to the guy the Shogunate would go to first to buy whatever it needed. Obviously this position of respect would be hilariously lucrative, so the merchants did whatever they felt necessary. Coercion, Conspiracy, Assassination, whatever it took. Yamashita muses in his own mind that violence didn't solve the conflict at all, and as if reading his mind Nogi agrees. He goes on to specify that violence can effectively curb conflict, but only when it's regulated.

In the end these chains of regulation that the chaos needed didn't come from the merchants, but from the Shogun. The seventh Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu.

He was 5 at the time.

Appropriately for a child his advice was to "battle it out fair and square." A simple solution. At least, simple as interpreted by the merchants to whom the command was given. The merchants formed a guild through which they could arbitrate conflicts of interest via straightforward trial by combat. Merchants hired fighters who would, with their bare hands, enforce their employer's will on the economy. Nogi notes that some of his ancestors were part of that guild, and that's part of why the Nogi group is where it is today. Nice of the story to acknowledge the power of inherited wealth.

Yamashita is still pretty baffled, even if the audience can probably take a rough stab at where this is going. Nogi notes that the reason he's talking about this is that it isn't just history. That traditional method is still being practised today. Albeit, under a different name.

There it is.

So we have our premise. Corporate sponsored fighters stepping into the ring to fight for the profit and growth of their employer, mediating specific conflicts of interest by an unambiguous yes or no process. It's an interesting one I think, particularly for how loaded a question it is to directly manifest the capitalist jostling for profit and monopoly as actual, physical violence. Especially by proxy. Put a pin in that, we'll come back to it another time.

Nogi admits that Nogi Incorporated is actually scheduled for a match soon. But they've run into a hiccup. The man they hired for the fight has become unable to fight for unrelated reasons, so they've had to look for a replacement. Yamashita, clearly freezing up with fear, tentatively asks - or rather pleads - if Nogi doesn't mean he wants him to fight. This is clearly an absurd notion, the only reason I can imagine it even occurring to Yamashita is the man's clearly overwhelming anxiety problems. It's silly, easily laughed off to quickly reassure the man and move on.

Or at least it should be.

…Hm. Yamashita took him completely off guard. Isn't that an interesting expression?

Anyway, while they were looking for a new fighter, one conveniently volunteered himself. And a familiar figure walks into the room. Tokita Ohma, who recognises Yamashitakazuo. Nogi is pleased to note that they've met before, because he's appointing Yamashita as Ohma's manager. And then he's dismissed, as he's still trying to process what just happened to him.

Interestingly, Ohma is smiling in these pages. Not his full combat smirk, but almost content. Makes me wonder if he conceptualises this sort of meeting as a fight in itself.

After they've left, having been politely and silently in the room the whole time, Nogi's secretary expresses doubt about both the new hire and the old underling. She notes that Ohma was probably the guy who beat Komada (that's Big Guy in chapter 1, to be clear.) The Deva King. Nogi knows that's probably the case, and it's part of why they hired him. Komada's a strong dude, someone who can beat him is, apparently, a good find.

The doubts about Yamashita are harder to dispel - because fucking obviously, the dude's as milquetoast as they come - and Nogi doesn't even try. He brushes off his secretary's concerns completely, in a fashion that I'd probably put down to Nogi personally being a sexist prick if not for…well, we'll get there. For now I'll say it's not just him. The secretary accurately notes in internal monologue that Nogi has no intention of explaining himself, and as the scene transitions outside back to our protagonists she affirms intent to find out just what sort of man Tokita Ohma is. Brushing off Yamashita, I suppose.

Outside Yamashita, wheezing from the effort of keeping up with Ohma's pace, is trying to convince him not to go through with the fight. Fighting like that's a crime, he notes, as well as the fact that they have absolutely no idea what Nogi is doing. Both fair points.

Not a shit was given. Yamashita laments Ohma's implacability, and the chapter ends.

My first thought? Strip out like half of the first chapter, boil this one down a bit and combine them. That's a first chapter worthy of the name.

It doesn't exactly work without the context of the first chapter, and it still has some bloat (as well as hints of future issues to come), but this is much better than chapter 1. We have a sense of the premise now, some idea of what the stakes might be, as well as a much firmer grasp on what the dynamic in our main cast is going to be. We know who's here and we know why they're involved. Or at least we know that those questions are ones we're supposed to have.

And there isn't a weird, sudden sex scene out of nowhere accompanied by bizarre pseudoscience waffling about reproductive instincts. So that's a plus.

Aside from that fucking weirdness, my main critique is how slowly the manga is introducing itself. We may now have names and faces for both of our main characters, a basic idea of the premise and the suggestion of mysteries to come, but it took so long to get here. Not to belabour an example, but in the same fifty-ish pages Bleach's opening chapter managed to…

Have spooky, mood building establishing shots
Establish Ichigo's gruff, kind character, and also his ability to see Ghosts
Introduce ichigo's family and home life, while implying a more complex past to draw on later
Introduce Rukia and the concept of Shinigami
Introduce the gag of Rukia's fuckawful art skills
Introduce and explain the notion of Spiritual Pressure
Build on the pre-existing setting detail of Ghosts to introduce and highlight the threat of Hollows
Have a fight scene and powerup sequence
Hype up how special the MC is, while introducing a complication in the same breath.

In about 80 pages Kengan Asura hasn't managed anything like this sort of narrative efficiency. It still reads well enough, and we have a strong sense of space, but especially in moments like the lecture on the origin of the Kengan Matches its tendency to repeat itself and have long stretches of page empty of meaningful content results in it starting to drag. If I'd been an editor looking over these initial pages, I'd probably have advised swapping around some of the plot details here, even aside from generally cutting down the page count. We could easily have had the fight happen alongside a lecture on what a Kengan Match is, or Komada could have raised the notion as part of his little speech for later clarification by Nogi. There's a lot of empty waffling on the obvious subversion of expectations that everybody who's even tangentially aware of martial arts media saw coming that could have been replaced with…literally anything of actual use. The second chapter is at least less overwhelmingly inefficient than the first. There's a lot less empty panels and repetition, though both are very much still present, and the entire premise of the chapter isn't rooted in trying to make one of the genre's most well-trodden tropes seem shocking.

If nothing else, the art is strong though. Even aside from the Artist's fantastic grasp of motion, the backgrounds are detailed (even when they aren't clearly traced from photographs) and the expression work and body language is fantastic. Yamashita's getting more expressive by the page. There's also a faint gesture toward themes, though I don't know if I can say it's truly anti-capitalist.

All of that's going to be important later.

no. · Nov 28, 2022

Kengan's writing is very hit or miss, but when it lands, it lands incredibly well. Sure, it can be needlessly edgy sometimes, but there is an incredible amount of heart in there, and the characters are genuinely fantastic.

Reveen · Nov 29, 2022

Honestly when it comes to being weirdly problematic but kinda good anyway I'm going to give the point to Baki, mostly because Baki hates the Bush administration.

Manic Dogma · Nov 30, 2022

Fair point, fair point. Counterpoint...

Kengan Asura doesn't make my eyes bleed.

thePUNisher · Nov 30, 2022

Second counterpoint: I'm pretty sure [REDACTED] hasn't sexually assaulted multiple people for the porpuse of showing off how manly he is.

Manic Dogma · Nov 30, 2022

Let's not turn this into an actual argument, please. They're both problematic stories, I was just having some fun roasting Baki's art style.

Reveen · Nov 30, 2022

Manic Dogma said:
Let's not turn this into an actual argument, please. They're both problematic stories, I was just having some fun roasting Baki's art style.

There is something to an art style that shows the human body that rides the line between looking good and looking grotesque. Especially when the show is about those bodies wrecking eachother.

But I think both Baki and Kengan Asura dip into that, Baki just moreso.

Manic Dogma · Nov 30, 2022

To a degree, yeah. My favourite line of thought I've seen regarding Baki's art is that it's the sort of grotesque that can only happen when someone with an extremely deep understanding of human anatomy uses their powers for evil.

Manic Dogma · Dec 2, 2022

We have the Asura, and we have the Kengan, what's chapter 3 going to bring us?

Oddly enough, something pretty sobering.

God in heaven, look at that background.

Chapter 3, starts on a very slow and domestic note. Yamashita introduces himself to us again, his inner monologue brushing against the fourth wall. He's cooking a meal, and a fairly sumptuous looking one at that. Rice, cooked fish, a bowl of vegetables, some kind of soup. As he walks up a flight of stairs he hesitantly insists that his life has been smooth sailing, fulfilling even, before the monologue breaks down and he admits that's naught more than his wish. He places the meal on the floor, before walking back downstairs, glancing back at it mournfully. His eldest son, Kenzo, peeks out of his room like some sort of gloom-shrouded goblin, scooping up the food before vanishing again.

Yamashita isn't sure how long it's been since he's seen his son's face. Or even his precise age, anymore. The boy's shut himself off completely from…everything.

Yamashita returns downstairs.

Look at this Tetsuo-ass looking little shit.

His second son is there. He dropped out of high school last year, and has been a shithead ever since. Yamashita diplomatically phrases it as "rebellious," but as we see the boy he's taking money out of his father's wallet and storming off without a word. Shoving his father away from him as he pisses off with his friends and twenty thousand yen (about 200 dollars, I think?). He's barely ever home, save to take money. "Fell in with the wrong crowd," apparently.

As his youngest son scoots off into the distance Yamashita reminisces. His wife left ten years ago. He doesn't know why. All he has left is one son who refuses to talk to anyone, one who's in a gang, a house without enough room to swing a cat and 15 years of mortgage. His "planned burial site," he calls it.

…

I'm glad these five pages weren't our introduction to Yamashita. It's soul crushing.

The sheer banality is what really sells it, I think. It's not an extravagant sort of tragic backstory, no high drama, just a sad little man watching pieces of his life and soul get ground away one by one by the uncaring millstone of modern life. So absolutely, crushingly alone that all he has is his job. A job that, despite all his fears and anxieties, he clings to like a drowning cat to a log. The start of this chapter is slow, and its quiet, and it makes absolutely clear why Yamashita goes on to do what he does.

I have a lot of praise for Kengan Asura's sense of motion and force in its art, but these five pages are possibly some of the best visual storytelling in the manga. Absolutely incredible work.

Also fuck you for making me feel this.

I don't know whether to be thankful or not, but the tone doesn't carry forward into the subsequent pages, as Yamashita arrives at Ohma's current home and the premise of the manga is reiterated. Underground corporate sport, fighters fighting for things, Kengan Matches, yadda yadda, you get it.

And Ohma turns out to be a fucking cryptid.

Where the hell did he find an abandoned mansion in Tokyo? Square footage is worth more than blood there!

He's squatting in this absolute wreck of a building, so rotten that even Yamashita's noodly limbs cannot be supported by the rotting floorboards. It's still the correct address though, and a strange liquid splattering can be heard through the next room. Where a figure stands covered in blood. Yamashita's fit of screeching fear cannot be contained by the panel lines as he scrambles away, shrieking murder until he recognises the figure as Ohma. He immediately offers to call an ambulance for the younger man, but Ohma notes that it isn't his blood. He's been draining blood from…

A boar the size of a mid-scale delivery van.

Where did-

We haven't even seen so much as a tree, this entire-

The very next page we see this mansion is surrounded by nothing but, and I quote, "Illegally dumped trash" and an empty factory!

Maybe Cryptid is underselling it.

But the story doesn't linger on that absolute chicanery long. Ohma is cooking a shockingly tiny steak from the beast while extremely shirtless, and Yamashita finds it very distracting.

It's fine bro, we all know he's sexy, no need to be shy.

The only answer we get to Yamashita's question is that Ohma killed it, and in response to the question why he did that Ohma says "you gotta kill to live." Which is an interesting perspective for a character to have. It raises a lot of questions about their background, where and how they grew up, what they've been through. Ohma's clearly not sheltered given he's literally squatting in garbage, but what sort of violence, in both scale and density, has he lived through that specifically killing is what must be done to live?

Unfortunately it's not treated as a question to be explored, or a philosophy to be discussed. It's immediately followed by a sweaty, aghast Yamashita thinking about how right he is.

I think the art here is a misstep. Meat is the obvious analogy if you're trying to make the parallel, particularly with Ohma eating a steak a lot like that in the room, but it feels wrong for this character and obscures the point somewhat. I feel like the point would land much harder with Yamashita if we got flashbacks to his life in the office. Highlight how he's suffered under the cutthroat, dehumanising influence of corporate culture, how the rat race as we stumble over each other's broken bodies chasing profit for people who already have more money to their name than we could ever feasibly spend is no less brutal a form of violence committed on us than Ohma committed against that boar.

But that's not the point being made…is it?

It'll get clearer later, but this is part of why I'd hesitate before ever labelling this story anticapitalist. It acknowledges the violence of it as a societal model, if only subconsciously, but there's an edge to the story's attitude that seems to see violence as not just necessary but admirable. A straightforward, noble truth of life. Well, within certain limits. It's almost an inversion of the attitude of Kill Six Billion Demons.

Now that he's finished his meal, Ohma grills Yamashita on why he's here. Is there an emergency? Yamashita denies any such thing, reminding Ohma that he's become his manager, so he's come to see if there's anything he needed, and-

Yamashita is a fucking looney tune, how can you expect subtlety from him

Yeah, he's lying through his teeth. Not maliciously, but out of fear. And I feel like Ohma knows it. Either way he can't really bring himself to care, and tells Yamashita he's free to make himself at home, such as it is. Yamashita demurs, he needs to get to work apparently, but he's cut off by Ohma suddenly asking if he brought company. Yamashita is confused, but we know what's probably up. The plot has come knocking.

Sure enough a be-shoed foot noisily obliterates the front door, and two figures in hoodies come through. The man in the lead noting what a shithole Ohma lives in. Ohma isn't impressed. He asks who the hell they are, and is largely ignored, one of the men snarling to the other that he has this. Don't interfere. And he pulls off his hoodie.

We don't recognise him, and neither does Ohma, but Yamashita does. Ivan Karaev, a kickboxer who's been making headlines. He asks what The Ivan is doing here, and the man himself dismisses it as "just business." Which seems innocuous, cliche even, but the other hooded guy is annoyed at him for letting something slip. There's no time for any other pleasantries though, Ivan's here for keeps, and he lunges at Ohma.

This fight's much more brisk than the last one. Ivan rushes in with alternating left and right hooks, and Ohma's dodging them pretty casually. He's doing the thing again where he internally congratulates his foe on their skills, condescendingly, but this time he gets cut off. Ivan interrupts his offensive with a devastating kick.

It doesn't hit Ohma, but it does slice some of his hair clean off.

A pretty technical explanation! Get used to this, we'll see even more like it later.

A truly overwhelming finishing move, Yamashita almost calls it before he gets told to shut the fuck up. Ohma is, if anything, even more confident now. Like he's seen his opponent's best and judged it not a threat. He dismisses it as useless if it doesn't hit him, and Ivan doesn't take this particularly well. He throws out another one of his deadly kicks. No setup, no preamble, nothing.

Even I could have told him that's a bad move.

Told you it'd be brisk.

Kicks are one of those moves that are devastating in theory, but have to be applied carefully. Not many people will have the skill or timing to bust your fork like that if you try it, but being on one foot is kind of inherently a risky proposition in any kind of fight. And that's without your opponent having already demonstrated he can dodge it. Without knowing it's coming, no less.

This is also an important character moment. Whatever other principles Ohma might have, he isn't above shots below the belt. This probably also means he hasn't attended any kind of modern school of martial arts, since those tend to ban such blows regardless. We haven't seen him fight seriously yet, so who can say how he fights for real, but willingness to go for cheap shots is pretty telling in a lot of ways.

Anyway, the other hooded fellow has been watching. While he isn't blown away, he does think with some amusement that Ivan was outmatched. Ohma asks him if he wants a go too, and you know what? Hoodie kinda does. He notes out loud that Ohma's real fucking good, and steps forward, his fight switch flipped, but stops. Ivan's grabbed his ankle, and crippling ball pain or no he's pissed. He told him not to interfere. Hoodie isn't impressed by the bravado, pointing out that he can't handle Ohma, and it just makes Ivan even madder. How dare you, he says, don't you dare look down on-"

Shit, someone get him a bandaid.

It's not clear what happened. Yamashita's frantic and aghast, even Ohma seems shocked. He identifies the blow as having taken out Ivan's artery, wondering if our mystery man has a knife, and his expression shifts to impressed as Hoodie takes off his hood and introduces himself.

He's Rihito, Ohma's opponent in his upcoming Kengan Match. Apparently he was only here to say hi, and Ivan got the wrong idea, and hopes they'll let him off the hook now he's been…"disciplined."

I'm pretty sure he's dead, dude.

Yamashita doesn't buy it either, speculating internally that he came to rough Ohma up before the match, but Ohma is unbothered, and lets it go. Rihito thanks him for his understanding, and it turns out he was actually here to scout. Ivan was an intentional patsy to measure Ohma's strength. Yet, Rihito was sorely tempted to fight for a second. And that heat boils further still. He swaggers up to Ohma and looms over him. Next week, he says, will be Ohma's Debut match and retirement. He should try not to let it be his funeral too.

And Ohma thinks "You're cute, you better keep me entertained" which is definitely the most heterosexual thing anyone's ever thought about anybody. End chapter.

Okay now we're schmoving!

There's probably some cruft that could be cut out of this chapter, but overall it's much tighter, and a lot of shit got done. We already saw that Yamashita's work life is bad, but now we have a complete picture of the depressing shitshow that is his life. Ohma is still something of a black box, but we have more data points that gesture toward his deal. And as questionable as I found it, we even have something resembling movement toward an overall theme. And even with all that, we have a slick and concise fight scene that builds heat for our first major antagonist.

We've already discussed my potential issues with the story's theming, and otherwise my only problem with the chapter (beside the enigma that is THAT FUCKING BOAR) is Ivan feeling kind of…cheap. He's definitely exactly the sort of character to use for this purpose, an above average talent with a single gimmick for the protagonist to flex on, but the heat he got was very shallow. The technique was pretty flashy, but beyond that he's just "been making headlines." It's just kinda weak, really.

Not much else to say really. The absolute high point was the first few pages, but the rest sustained interest well enough. It's a setup chapter, there isn't going to be much wrapup of note to do.

I do have one last thing, though.

I'm not going to keep up with all of these, but a lot of the chapters of this manga have a character profile at the end. A few basic details about the character, likes, dislikes, height and weight and so on. But more importantly, it comes with commentary by the author on that character, and a few early drafts of what they looked like.

This chapter was Yamashita's. And I got 2 things to note about this. For one, do you remember right at the end of chapter 1, before the…stupid sex thing? How I noted that the details about his family would be retconned?

Yeah, Yamashita Kazuo was initially going to be a one-chapter bit character! That half-assed little character summary he got at the end of chapter 1, which was immediately contradicted by chapter 3, is all he got because it was all he was supposed to be. Everything that happened in chapter 2 and onward is a later addition to flesh out a character that was meant to simply vanish, contributed to in equal parts by the author, editor and fantastic work by the artist. Sandro, the author, notes he thinks that it was the right choice to keep Yamashita around, that he plays off Ohma very well and adds a layer of humanity to the story. And I completely, wholeheartedly agree. It might not be totally clear why yet, and I never anticipated it, but in my opinion Yamashita is one of the best parts of this manga.

And also the initial plans were to use this generic little puke as Ohma's manager, so thank god for Sandro's editor.

no. · Dec 3, 2022

The fact that Kazuo was originally supposed to be a young twink is very funny to me, because with twink!Kazuo I literally can't imagine how the manga does not become gay porn. The whole thing is intentionally homoerotic enough already, and Kazuo, as shown here, is hinted to have repressed bisexual feelings. If him and Ohma were closer in age there is no way he would not eventually be getting his back blown out.

Edit: And yeah everybody, get used to another thing about Kengan: it is extremely gay. The creators are not obliviously writing the most homosexual thing ever put to page the way Keisuke Itagaki is, nor do they consider the gayness an incidental component of their work that just so happens to be there like Hirohito Araki is. These motherfuckers pander and they pander hard.

Manic Dogma · Dec 5, 2022

And so, the day of the Kengan match came…

In an under construction office building. Hm.

Less glitzy than you'd imagine for high stakes corporate deathmatches.

Anyway, Yamashita is wheezing like an overworked St Bernard as Ohma and Rihito eye each other up like the juiciest steaks on the stand. Rihito's on full blast, eyes wider than his grin, and Ohma's smirking again like he was in the first chapter. The air is thick, potential violence gathering and choking Yamashita like the greasy sense of ozone preceding lightning. It's a great page, highlighting how much taller Rihito is without showing anything more than each fighter's face, and painting Ohma's face with a sinister layer of half-shadows. Rihito is leant back as he literally looks down on his foe, and Ohma's leant forward like a stalking cat. So much personality is on display.

And then the next page happens

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge: Difficulty Impossible.

Leaving aside Rihito's arm ornaments for a moment, (we'll get to this manga's weird attitude toward women later) Yoshitake is…an unfortunately common archetype in manga.

We'll see more of that later, and I'll go over it then.

We (thankfully) don't get long to linger on Yoshitake's introduction before being sidetracked into talk of business. This construction site is in fact the Makunouchi building Nogi mentioned last chapter, which these two companies are competing over the rights to. While Nogi and Yoshitake posture at each other, we learn from Yamashita's hazy memory that Yoshitake is in fact a big deal, apparently featuring regularly in news media as "the high-flying up-and-coming hope of the real estate industry."

And from Nogi's secretary, who we now learn is named Akiyama Kaede, we hear the material stakes of this fight.

Get used to it, Yamashita. We're only just getting started.

Specifically, this isn't a construction site. Yet. The building they're in is scheduled to be demolished, and in its place a new skyscraper will be constructed. This Kengan Match is over those construction rights, worth ten billion yen, and will presumably produce much more value for the company which owns the building in the future. This will be a significant swing in the fortunes of whichever company wins.

The two employers shake hands on it, wishing each other the best of luck with perfect civility, and Rihito pauses to trash-talk Ohma while the girl in his arms stares vacantly into the middle distance. Like seriously, she isn't even really looking at…anything, I'm shocked there isn't drool going down her chin because I can only assume she's completely zoned the fuck out. Which is fair enough, honestly. I'd be bored of Rihito by now too.

And she's not the only one. Ohma seems to have zoned out as well over the course of Akiyama's explanation, presumably having realised the fight isn't happening yet, and is looking bored until he registers that Rihito's talking to him and responds by-

Telling him he should probably, and I quote "mate while you still can." Because he won't be "down to fuck for a while."

…what the fuck?

Like, I get the thrust of the threat. He'll beat Rihito so bad he won't even be able to think about doing a sex until his bones knit back together. But why make it in this specific form? Even in character it doesn't make much sense, Ohma so far has been a largely oblivious cryptid, divorced from normal concerns. And not to spoil, but that's going to be his characterisation later too. It's not even really Early Installment Weirdness, it's just a single isolated island of bizarre, sudden "I talk about doing the fuck and am now mature and cool". And that's saying nothing of the doylistic angle, where the whole context of the banter is…well sadly not strange at all, it's perfectly normal objectification.

Did I forget to mention Ohma called Akiyama "woman" earlier, when asking her a question? I think I did, I apologise. She asked him not to, as well.

Oh boy, another entry on the Problems list, so soon after the last. We haven't even begun to hit this manga's issues with women, but I'm sure you all saw it coming. It's a vanishingly rare manga that isn't some level of, if not outright misogynistic, aggressively heternormative.

Kengan Asura is definitely on the misogynistic side.

Rihito notes that he was just trying to psyche Ohma up, and admits it seems like it wasn't necessary. He ambles off as his trophies do their best to stay awake, and Nogi smirkingly asks Ohma if he can trust him.Yamashita is very unnerved by Rihito, even after years of watching combat sports. But Ohma isn't impressed. No, he seems excited, viscerally so, noting some kind of change in Rihito since he saw him. "Finishing touches" that make it worth having let him leave the previous chapter.

And then Yamashita has this absolutely fucking normal reaction.

Come on man, don't make me regret what I said last chapter by turning out to be some redpill fuckhead.

While Yamashita marvels over Ohma hunting the mammoth for his tribe, we get a single page of Yoshitake's thoughts after he left. The "preemptive strike" as he calls it from last chapter was his idea, and he soothes his sense of spite by privately celebrating his coming victory. He has as much confidence in Rihito as Rihito has in Rihito.

Rihito.

Scene change! It's no longer a dingy private corner of the condemned building, we're in a dingy public corner of the condemned building. Or at least, public to the rest of the Kengan Association.

Yes, to Yamashita's shock (as if he's ever in any other state, besides crippling depression) everyone in this room beside the fighters and the referee is a representative of a prestigious business. While Nogi notes that it's "customary" for other Association members to stand witness over a match, the benefits of it to a businessman are pretty clear. It's an extremely good networking opportunity, naturally being a target rich environment for business deals and other negotiations, to say nothing of the opportunities inherent in being there on the ground floor as the winner experiences a massive windfall. But that's not all. The match isn't just business, but also pleasure.

Which means gambling!

This apparently attracts less attention than glitzier arenas. I'm doubtful.

Bets of varying scale, but always at minimum beyond Yamashita's means, fly back and forth as the Association members discuss the odds and lament previous losses. The odds are stacked against Ohma, but we all knew they would be. There's plenty of Watsonian reasons for it. Rihito's fucking huge for one, and even if he's relatively new, this is Ohma's debut. He's a complete unknown who isn't likely to make much of an immediate impression if you don't hear him talk. And Doylistically also we're still building heat for Rihito. And speaking of, Nogi notes to Akiyama that Rihito's match record is 5-0. We don't know precisely how significant that is yet, but a no-loss record is usually nothing to sneeze at, especially from a new player.

Akiyama, in return, asks if it was a good idea not to tell Ohma about Rihito's true weapon. Nogi's reply is simple. This match is a test, if he can't win this then he can't be trusted with the burden of Nogi's ambition.

Now that sounds pretty specific, doesn't it?

But we have no more time for talk. The referee orders the fighters to face off, and take their stances. Ohma begins to hop in place, loosening up. Rihito drops his stance low and wide, like a big cat preparing to pounce.

And then they begin. By doing nothing. Eyeing each other, adjusting stance, shifting weight, considering their options. High level fighters, evenly matched, poised in full knowledge that a single, careless move could spell defeat.

32 seconds after the match begins, they move.

Oh boy, where to start.

Okay, by now I feel like if you need to be told by me that the manga/anime sphere has really fucking weird and offputting attitudes toward…literally anything that isn't a straight dude, then you probably already disagree. And if I only showed you this chapter on its own, you'd be right to doubt. Everything in this chapter either seems incidental, or can easily be more kindly interpreted. Maybe the intent is to make Rihito look like a misogynistic prat, maybe Yoshitake will become a good friend of Yamashita in future, maybe the weird redpill tendencies are something these characters are supposed to grow out of. Maybe there only being one woman in the cast so far with a fucking name is just an unfortunate accident that'll be rectified later.

We're only getting started. I can wait for Kengan Asura to hand me enough rope. Until then, I hope you'll join me in poking fun at the stupidity.

Manic Dogma · Dec 5, 2022

Sorry for the late post, shit completely slipped my mind.

Manic Dogma · Dec 9, 2022

Not even any tape delineating the arena. Brave.

And away we go.

Immediately we get a direct, practical demonstration of each fighter's strengths. Ohma's faster, and he uses his initiative to uncork a sharp right straight, the sort of blow that laid out The Deva King. But this time Ohma's putting his back into it, the panel is a blur of speed lines as his fist fills the space, leaving a little for his confident smirk.

Rihito doesn't give a fuck.

He takes advantage of Ohma's slight overextension with a right hook that Ohma blocks, and neither of them are especially frustrated by the exchange. Notably, Rihito didn't just tank that punch. For one thing his nose is bleeding, but more importantly Akiyama notes that Rihito threw off Ohma's timing by moving into the blow.

One aspect of fighting in melee that isn't immediately obvious or intuitive, is the point in a strike that it actually becomes dangerous. Techniques like punches and kicks, slashes and chops, have several distinct changes. A blow is chambered, then executed, and the maximum force of the blow happens later than either. The apex of a sword's arc, when its tip is moving the fastest, is when its most dangerous. A similar principle applies to an extended fist.

While the way he actually took advantage of it is…unorthodox, this was a pretty technical move, and he immediately followed it up to try and seize the momentum. Rihito's style isn't a traditional martial art, but he isn't a dumb brute. It's the sort of on-the-fly gut level wit that the Sherlock school of fighting couldn't possibly account for.

That said, Ohma isn't a trivial opponent. Over the next page and a half the two men exchange blows and something becomes pretty clear. That first right hook is the closest Rihito has come to a solid hit, and he's losing ground. Getting desperate. As Akiyama asks Nogi who has the advantage in a slugging match, Rihito goes for a thunderous front-kick.

And Ohma leaps right over it.

Note the clear lines of motion. Rihito's face is gonna look like an overripe plum tomorrow morning.

As Nogi notes, Ohma has Rihito pretty well outmatched as a raw Striker. Rihito is strong, no question, but Ohma's speed and poise are overwhelming him. The blow to his chin rattles Rihito's brain, completely fucking his balance. He topples to the floor and Ohma follows up with ruthless, brutal efficiency. Grabbing the larger mans head and absolutely obliterating his nose with his knee.

Maybe "overripe plum" was underselling it.

Ohma mounts him and the outcome is clear. In a direct slugfest between these two strike-focused fighters, Rihito's odds resemble those of an unsecured chocolate bar around my sister's dog.

That is, of course, assuming it stays a slugfest.

As Ohma uses Rihito's face as a stressball, the audience watches aghast. Yamashita celebrates. Ohma himself congratulates Rihito, praising his skill, but he's taken down guys like him before. A lot of them. The fight's gonna end soon if he doesn't do something.

Rihito unleashes his hidden technique. Ohma doesn't get it yet, and neither do we, but he recognises Rihito's arms as dangerous. He disengages from his mount, but not quite quick enough. An eraser-sized chunk of skin is simply gone from the middle of Ohma's chest, and it bleeds like a stuck pig.

The crowd goes wild.

Well, at least it isn't all his blood anymore.

We dip into Yoshitake's stream of thought for a bit, to discuss grip strength. Or rather, the broad category of grip strength, and its component parts. Crush grip, breaking objects with pressure. Support grip, holding and supporting the weight of objects. And Pinch grip, the strength of the fingertips. Rihito's pinch grip is beyond human, we see him Spider-manning his way across and up an overhanging cliff, holding to the rock with nothing but the strength of his fingers. He's superhuman.

All Rihito did was apply this strength to his opponent's flesh. Stripping away flesh and muscle like he's wielding a set of knives.

Ohma correctly notes that this is a known ability of Rihito's by the crowd's reaction, idly noting that Nogi was holding out on him. In a surprising display of humi…okay, a surprising display of something vaguely humility shaped, Rihito admits Ohma has him outmatched in a slugfest. But this isn't a punchout anymore. He's going to shred Ohma into mincemeat.

Yamashita identifies this technique, the Razor's Edge, as what he used on poor Ivan in chapter 3. And then realises that the referee…isn't doing anything. The match continues. Rihito's technique, in all its brutality, is formally approved. He then looks to Ohma.

End chapter.

Well, we're in our first real fight of the manga. A rite of passage that all action stories of this type and medium go through, the first opponent that lasts more than a single chapter, the first foe to seem even for a moment like a peer. But it aint done yet. We've had the twist, we know Rihito's deal, but Ohma's still a blackbox. He can't just be a solid striker, that's not how this shit works.

Short chapter today, so gonna make this a double bill.

Manic Dogma · Dec 9, 2022

In the glowing praise of his friends, sweating furiously in an ecstatic haze of adrenaline and heady exertion, Nakata Ichiro learned something.

The fight continues, but now Ohma is on the ropes. There's a big difference between fighting an unarmed opponent and being attacked with a weapon. A weapon, even a simple knife, provides such easy access to killing blows, even a glancing hit can be debilitating in the long run. Blood loss is a hell of a thing, and can creep up on you nastily.

Rihito has five knives on the end of each arm. And by god, he will cut.

Ohma returns fire with a huge high kick, blowing Rihito off his feet, but loses a chunk of his calf in return. He's taken a hit to his mobility, one of the things that was keeping him ahead of Rihito in striking. But it could have been worse. Rihito congratulates him on keeping his tendon. It's a nice effort.

For a human.

Rihito didn't train his grip strength. The rest, maybe, but not that. He was in a different league from the start. If he put his mind to it, he claims, he could even cut steel. It seems like a nonsequitur when he reveals his given name, but in practice it's one more step in his little showboating lecture.

He goes by Rihito because it's his Hero name. Like the Superheroes of movies, comics and cartoons. He calls himself Rihito, the man that surpasses human reason.

…this is apparently a pun? Not one that translates, I guess.

Nogi and Akiyama aren't impressed. The CEO calls it infantile and Akiyama agrees. She hates this type of guy (I'll be nice for now and assume that isn't meant to be read as about her taste in men, even though it probably is.) Still, she acknowledges the strength of the Razor's edge. She asks if that means Ohma's chances are slim, but Nogi doesn't think so.

We've reached that time in the first fight, folks. The antagonist has had his moment to shine. This was never about making him out to be a serious threat. It was about building heat so the protagonist could be even cooler when we learn why he's the motherfucking protagonist.

A classic shonen sentiment. Usually used more literally, though.

Ohma's already got the Razor's Edge figured out. He was just waiting to see what else Rihito had, and is disappointed to learn the answer is…nothing. Rihito's a one-trick pony.

He approaches Rihito, walking with casual, swaggering confidence. Yamashita's frantic, fearing for Ohma. Yoshitake is still sneeringly confident, under the impression that Ohma's getting desperate. Both of them are still in awe of the Razor's Edge. Understandably so, it's a terrifying ability to have in an unarmed fight.

But Ohma isn't impressed. He ambles right up into Rihito's face, face plastered with a taunting smirk, his posture undaunted even in the face of a man with half a head and like fifty pounds of beef on him. Rihito is indignant, unsettled. It would probably be a cool panel if I hadn't just noticed how comically tiny their feet look.

It's like a Fire Emblem: Awakening screenshot, holy shit.

Rihito forces some fire back into his spirit, noting that Ohma's in his range. And he is, and yet I'm afraid fucks are in short supply. Yamashita's losing his shit, yelling to get some range. Yoshitake is beside himself with glee, demanding Rihito finish him off. Nogi says nothing.

Rihito rears back, raising a hand drenched in Ohma's blood and meat, roaring how he'll tear Ohma limb from gore-soaked limb.

He unleashes the blow with every ounce of power in his prodigious body, and yet Ohma doesn't move.

His hand blurs, splitting the air, surely with a hiss like tearing silk.

It is a blow to separate head from body.

It never lands.

Remember what I said last chapter, about how Rihito interrupted Ohma's first blow? About how strikes, with bare knuckles or a bladed weapon, require not just raw muscle behind them but space to accelerate? And that their maximum potential is only reached within a certain range? Yeah, Razor's Edge is no exception. Sure, Rihito could tear steel apart with his fingers, but he'd need to make a firm grip for that, which would be far too finicky and unwieldy to use in a real fight. So, in order to maximise the power of his fingers, get them to the point where flesh tears like wet paper, he needs space to accelerate them. Both in terms of arm speed, and the final motion of his hand. Like a multi-stage rocket lifting off, interference at any point will send the blow tail-spinning into uselessness.

Rihito undaunted, points out his free hand. He can still destroy him.

Ohma parries that blow too. All he has to do is parry against the back of his hand. As long as Rihito's fingers don't touch him, he can defend himself just fine.

It's a clever, well-seeded turnaround. Ohma has sealed off the Superman's powers.

He asks what Nakata Ichiro the Human will do now. Rihito looks like he's going to bite through his own jaw in sheer, indignant rage.

End chapter…and Volume? Really? The fight isn't even over yet! Okay, I mean I guess it kinda is, Ohma has proven his attentiveness and overcome his foe's gimmick. Early foes like this generally won't have more than a single trick in an action or Martial Arts manga. But still, that's kinda abrupt. It's not even a cliffhanger, really, and It's not a triumphant conclusion. It isn't really anything. We still haven't even seen any of Ohma's real tricks.

This is the poor pacing of the first two chapters coming back to bite Kengan Asura, I guess. If they were compressed down into one chapter, we'd still have another chapter after this to properly conclude the fight and end on something a bit more portentous. On the one hand, kinda sucks that they screwed the pacing like that, the first volume could have been a really complete package. On the other hand HAH. Vindication!

This fight has one more chapter in it. I'll go on a more in depth summary of my thoughts then.

Manic Dogma · Dec 12, 2022

New volume, same fight as before. Let's close this shit out.

Our fighters are locked together, point blank. Ohma is smug, he's sealed away Rihito's strongest weapon, and wants to know what else he's got. Rihito is furious…for a moment.

As I noted last chapter, Rihito has about 50 pounds of beef on Ohma. He's much heavier, and has a much bigger frame to leverage that mass into strength. He isn't wrong that, in such a situation, Ohma is at a decisive disadvantage. There's a reason most combat sports are separated into weight classes.

And indeed he seems to be right. He pushes against Ohma and Ohma is forced back, sliding inexorably across the floor as his arms shake with the strain. Rihito is invigorated, his second wind has come and he's much too himself to not seize upon an opportunity when he sees it. He capitalises, summoning the totality of his strength to push Ohma to the ground.

And then his knee hits the floor.

Forgot you were in a martial arts manga, didn't you?

"Gotcha" ohma sings as he lets his left hand go and kicks Rihito across the face, torquing his entire body to generate enough force this close. This leaves Rihito's left hand free also, and he helpfully informs Rihito of as much. Rihito takes this as Ohma fucking with him, which is possibly the smartest observation Rihito's made this entire arc, because he totally is. Unfortunately he follows it up with the dumb decision of immediately going hell for leather with that free arm, and the obvious happens.

The face of a man who whiffed his jump in, right in front of a Zangief with full meter.

At least now the dumbass registers that Ohma is doing this on purpose. Which might be slightly unfair of me to say, given that apparently most of the audience fails to. We get a few panels of the Kengan Association members watching, slack-jawed and gormless, baffled by events. As far as they're seeing it, Rihito initiates an attack, and then is just on the floor for no reason. Being kicked in the face. I'm not sure what's so surprising about counterattacks, the phrasing says nothing about Ohma's strange technique, but I figure it's probably a translation issue so I'll let it slide. Yoshitake probably won't though, losing his shit in the corner.

Nogi gets what's happening though, as do a few shadowy figures. And, after a second, Rihito actually puts together exactly what's happening. When he initiates an attack Ohma puts in just a slight amount of pressure. A few grams of force at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right place, to put the flow of power just a little off course. And after that, his foe's own strength does the work for him.

Yoshitake completely flips his shit, screaming at Rihito to get back up. Unfortunately, there's a couple of reasons why that's pointless. For one, Rihito landed on his head, and even in a battle anime that's usually enough to throw someone for a loop. Second, Ohma is done flexing, and ends the fight decisively by stomping on Rihito's head. Yamashita is aghast, Nogi is smug, Yoshitake is indignant, Akiyama is indifferent, Rihito is unconscious…

heheheh

Ohma passes Nogi's test, marking his debut into the Kengan matches with an overwhelming victory. And while Yoshitake rants and raves, telling his secretary to fire Rihito despite him otherwise being tremendously successful for them, the rest of the audience are shocked and excited. Rihito was himself a relative newcomer, but he'd been around for enough matches to build mystique, which Ohma has now stolen for himself. The dialogue switches quickly though from general audience responses to two individuals with more specific concerns. They came to scope out Rihito, likely to strategise for future Kengan business opportunities, but are surprised to have found a Dark Horse. One asks the other if they can beat him.

Wakatsuki Takeshi, Affiliated Fighter of Furumi Pharmaceuticals, replies that he thinks he can just barely pull it off. Probably. He gets mildly chastised for his modesty by his employer, Furumi Heihachi, Representative Director of the same. Say hello to our shadowy figures from before.

And they aren't alone in skulking and snooping. An old man with black sclera, accompanied by two rough lads with similar eyes, notes Ohma's technical style and notes they'll probably fight him eventually, wondering which of their clan to pit against him. A wall of beef with Super Japan Pro Wrestling emblazoned boldly across his chest notes that he's a good entertainer, calling direct attention to Ohma's showboating. And a fairly normal looking old man asks…what seems to be the generic Fat Bastard of a certain type of media what he thinks. This Kaburagi fellow seems confident he has a read on Ohma, and just needs to figure out the countermeasure.

Well, we've had toxic masculinity oozing out of our ears this whole arc and a little homophobia for flavour, why not add fatphobia to the docket for next time, I guess.

Anyway, we return to the Nogi faction's corner, where the man himself congratulates the man of the hour for his display of complete dominance. Ohma dismisses the fight, and understandably cuts right to the heart of the issue. What does Nogi want him to do? Predictably, Nogi refuses to tell for now. But, if Ohma's still alive when the time comes, he has high hopes for him.

We get a summary of the match. Nogi group was the victor after 5 minutes and 17 seconds, via a stomp to the head, acquiring the construction rights of the New Makunouchi Building.

So. An entire chapter late, but Kengan Asura has finished its first arc. And it's frankly kind of a microcosm of what's to come. Time for some ending thoughts.

The introductory arc is effectively a compressed, lesser version of the manga as a whole. Fights ranging from competent to great, with surprising moments of emotional honesty and vulnerability, which are surprising exactly because the manga is otherwise such a testosterone loaded bucket of Alpha Male wankery.

In terms of Problems With Manga, that last one is what really stands out at this point. Nobody still reading this needs me to tell them that manga and anime as mediums have issues with giving women important roles beyond being targets of juvenile salivation, and shonen/seinen battle works are among the worst for it. Mostly because anyone who would need me to tell them probably left what they think is a biting, incisive comment on what a lefty beta cuck I am for not understanding the trufacts sigma grind and pissed off to talk about how feminism is responsible for old white men burning the world down around our ears. But that said, the Alpha Male shit is actually a fairly unusual issue for a manga to have. Not unheard of, and plenty of manga have strange, exclusionary attitudes on masculinity and its importance, but as mediums their issues with gender tend toward being either a question of drive and determination, or more directly exploitative and voyeuristic than that. Garbage like My Hero Academia doesn't disrespect women by having its characters directly talk about the fierce, superior nature of the male sex, it just has its characters commit sexual assault and expect the audience to laugh (okay that's not literally all it does, not even close, but MHA and sexism is not the subject of this thread, I was using it to make a point, shut up). And on the other end…there's a scene in Berserk, where Griffith, leader of the Army of the Hawk is talking to Charlotte, princess of Midland. He talks some about the barbaric side of man and how it manifests in his obsession with war, going on to defend it as also a means to acquire and protect important things, a double edged sword. But for men, he notes, there is another important factor. A Dream. A thing you do for yourself, that if offered your whole being can roil and burn and swallow all other dreams. A primal, driving force. Framed wholly and entirely as a male psychology, something the desires of women are too external and fragile to sustain. These two ideas, the attitudes they spring from, are the usual realm of manga's position on manhood.

Kengan Asura isn't just weirdly masculinity praising so far, it's very distinctly demonstrated the specific attitudes of Alpha bullshit. And that's fairly unusual.

In a way, I think this is part of my appreciation for Yamashita. His weedy patheticness makes him sort of a comic relief character, but at the same time when he gets focus he gets a strange degree of genuine respect from the narrative that you'd never expect from a manga this immersed in bullshit Alpha ideology. He isn't the manly man that Ohma and other fighters are, and he isn't the sharply-cut business shrike that Nogi is, but all the same his problems are treated as real and his suffering is framed as valid and sympathetic. He can't punch or intimidate his problems into submission, but as the story goes on we'll see he has a sort of deeply earnest charm that makes friends easily when he's put into a context that doesn't paint associating with him as socially toxic.

This stands in sharp contrast to Ohma who is…honestly just a massive piece of shit at this point. We're still in the very extreme earliest parts of the Manga for now, he'll get better later, but this is frankly part of the reason I always skipped them. Sure, he isn't a mountain of beef, but all the same for now he's the white hot beating heart of the manga's fucked gender attitudes. He's pretty much the Sigma Male archetype, written years before that garbage was invented. His power is in his capacity for violence, he's uninterested in anything beyond refining his capacity to exercise that power, especially the standards and mores of the society he lives in, good or bad. His cryptid behaviour is funny in a vacuum, but in conjunction with his constant wrestling for manly man dominance and the other times the manga shows this kind of primitivist, aggression-worshipping attitude it speaks to something more unsettling underlying the work.

As for the fights…they're competent, but they're very definitely the first fights in a manga. The characters go off model in weird, unproductive ways even in static shots, the faces are often kind of mushy and weird, there's a great sense of weight and motion that just occasionally fucks up, but more importantly there's been no real weight or stakes so far. Which is probably fine, this isn't the sort of Manga to involve immediate mortal peril, but all the same I wonder if we couldn't have had something more involving already with a different choice of antagonist or perhaps tighter pacing to allow space for more complications. None of this is a dealbreaker, the fights are still fun enough to read through if you can bear the alpha-wank (or at least ignore it), and we're very much still in the setup stretch of the manga. This last chapter especially had nice little drops of foreshadowing at the end, unsurprisingly involving what I'm pretty sure are a couple of the author's favourite characters/concepts to work with. But we'll get to that.

In summary…I already really, really cannot blame anyone who couldn't get through that. I know somebody who dropped the manga specifically over the oppressive worship of a myopic ideal of masculinity, and though I know it gets better about that and not too far in? The manga also gets worse about other things. And the story being a general sausagefest, especially in the ring, lingers even to the most recent chapters of the sequel. But at least the fights will get better.

Not for a while yet, though. We've still got at least twelve chapters, and two separate fights, to go yet before this manga really kicks into gear. We'll see how this format holds up over that time, maybe eventually I'll start having to compress things into multi-chapter updates once we get into the longer fights. There's only so many times I can crack jokes over the whole manly men thing to pad out the wordcount, after all.

Until then, thank you for reading, and see you next time.

Revlid · Dec 13, 2022

Manic Dogma said:
And there isn't a weird, sudden sex scene out of nowhere accompanied by bizarre pseudoscience waffling about reproductive instincts. So that's a plus.

Just started reading through this, and I'm enjoying the ride, but I'm going to be stupid enough to step forward and defend the Prostitute Jump Scare on two grounds:

It's actually a very efficient piece of characterisation, albeit one that becomes much more effective once paired with knowledge of Kazuo's wider life (again, an argument for folding together the first two chapters). This is a man utterly repressed and unable to find release, shambling through life while bottling up all his stress and frustration and despair. Yet just witnessing a real fight is enough to leave him painfully erect and send him straight into the bed of a prostitute, not even understanding why he feels driven to do so - not just literally finding release, but doing so in a taboo way that the straightlaced salaryman he usually is would never countenance. It's a very direct metaphor, and also the first time he's actually had sex in fifteen years. For all that he's a scrawny doormat, Kazuo is discovering that he's as much of a fight junkie as this mysterious young man - and is willing to take steps into a shadier world to satisfy that craving. It's not as though this is presented for titillation - the focus is on Kazzy's o-face, which is far from flattering.
If we strip the biological pseudoscience out of Kengan Asura, a solid half of our fighters really ought to just bow out now.

no. · Dec 13, 2022

This early part of Kengan is shaky because it hasn't really found its rhythm yet. It is trying to immerse us into the genuine mental unwellness of most of these fighters, but cannot figure out how to do so without basically agreeing with them. Later on it finds that balance where it gets us to sympathize with these deranged people while still showing that they're not normal.

Manic Dogma · Dec 16, 2022

So, last time in Let's Read Kengan Asura we finished the first distinct arc of the manga, the first Kengan match of the series. Tokita Ohma inflicted catastrophic blunt force trauma on Rihito's head, almost certainly killing him were this not a seinen manga which can only be described as aiming for realism when you qualify it as relative to its peers.

So what's on the docket for chapter 8, as we set up for the next match? Solipsism!

Okay, not exactly. It's been a week since the last chapter, diegetically, and Yamashita Kazuo has been settling back into daily life after that extended fever dream.

We're back with dense backgrounds. Look how oppressive that shit feels.

He's questioning if it was even real, which is honestly fair. If I were exposed to that much concentrated "believes soy makes your balls fall off" energy, I'd probably be wondering if I hadn't had a nightmare after too much late night cheese as well.

Jokes aside, sometimes I wonder if the artist wouldn't be better served writing some kind of slice of life manga about wage slaves. He's incredibly good at creating these phenomenally rich and lived-in backgrounds, and in this chapter is demonstrating superb use of lighting to create a sense of choking…not even claustrophobia, that's too dramatic a word. An unsettlingly banal sense of close smallness. Like Yamashita is a mouse wearily trudging through the tiniest murky burrows of a run down, rotting house. It's a real talent, to convey this sort of intensity of feeling while keeping things so grounded and mundane.

Which makes it the perfect time for a cryptid mode Ohma jumpscare.

Cryptid Ohma is best Ohma.

Yamashita shrieks his tonsils out, collapsing to the floor in a shaking heap, only just keeping himself together enough to ask Ohma what he's even doing here. And more importantly, how he even got in. It's an office building, non-employees can't just walk in, there's security guards and everything.

"Don't worry," he says, nonchalant as an evening stroll. "They'll wake up soon." We get a panel of the guards drooling on the floor.

Yamashita, very fairly, tries to make an issue of it, but his fear of legal consequences washes off Ohma's back without so much as leaving a damp spot. Completely unbothered by such petty things as Breaking and Entering or Assault being crimes, he whisks Yamashita away to…take him out for dinner?

Ngl, that table design is so cool. I wonder if it's a real thing?

Ohma dismisses Yamashita's money concerns, but at least this dismissal comes with an actual reason behind it. The money is on its way, he says, and sure enough on the next page who should arrive but Akiyama Kaede, Nogi's secretary. And sure enough, she has Ohma's Fight Money, his personal reward for winning the match with Rihito. It's almost certainly a pittance compared to the actual value of the victory, we're talking about a hypercapitalist underworld system after all, but the wad he gets is still thick enough that dropping it could break someone's foot.

Akiyama then turns to leave, and Yamashita offers a seat at the table. And for once, looking at a middle aged adult man in a manga asking a young woman if she wants to have dinner with him he is by all accounts very genuine. Not a hint of horn or thirst in his expression or phrasing, just an open offer to eat, have some drinks and get to know each other in a casual context. Akiyama doesn't respond, fixing him with a flat, steely stare, which sees Yamashita trail off. Maybe another time.

Next page Yamashita is absolutely hammered, pouring Akiyama a drink as Ohma obliterates a vast spread of meats and rice. And we get a distinctly voyeuristic view of Akiyama's chest, with Yamashita's clear PoV since the next panel is him leering.

God fucking damn it, man.

The moment doesn't last long, Yamashita is back to his anxious and apologetic self the very next panel, but it's still very weird and uncomfortable. It's a very token moment of overt objectification, which I can't even describe as thoughtless because it gets obliquely called back to only a panel or two later. There's a planned gag here, that just happened to involve treating Akiyama like meat on a rack and a bit of grotesque behaviour from Yamashita.

Anyway, christ, don't expect me to try to call out every instance of sexist framing in this manga or I'll never bloody finish it. If I don't mention it in future, just assume I know its there.

Anyway, the actual ongoing question in this scene is a little more plot focused, calling back to one of the series ongoing mysteries. Amidst a bunch of self-deprecation, Yamashita is still wondering why he was appointed as Ohma's manager. And, well, short of asking Nogi himself Akiyama is the perfect person to ask. But, well.

The callback I mentioned. I would say at least she's clearly not happy with him, but we all know that doesn't mean much.

In the dark as she is on this, she expresses faith in her employer, and his business sense. But since they're asking questions, she has one of her own, which she directs to Ohma. For what reason does he fight in the Kengan Matches?

Ohma is flippant, pausing to swallow his latest mouthful of meat before asking if he needs a reason, which would largely follow his behaviour so far. But Akiyama isn't convinced. 217, she says. A very specific number. Ohma doesn't know what she means, but is kind enough to play along with the theatrics with a "Huh?" Akiyama goes on to note that there are 217 registered fighters in the world's largest MMA promotion, Ultimate Fight. A bit of a generic name, but whatever. On average, an Ultimate Fight registered competitor is will fight 1.6 matches a year. Yamashita is impressed by these numbers, it's a major promotion after all. Nicely setting up Akiyama's actual point.

The Kengan matches have 1205 registered fighters, and each competes an average of 8.5 times per year.

The point is obvious, though she goes on to explain anyway. It's far, far more intense than the public promotion, just going by match numbers alone. But once you take the rules, or lack thereof, of the Kengan matches into account the picture gets much more grim. There are virtually no fouls in the Kengan Matches, no weight classes, no clemency for downed fighters, no gloves and no mercy. Fight after fight in these brutal circumstances, where injury is common, fighters who are forced to retire are not rare. And neither are fighters who die in the ring. They're paid well, but Akiyama notes flat out that she doesn't think it balances out with the harshness of the job.

And Ohma is leaping head first into that storm of his own accord. He's either a massive adrenaline junkie…or he's here for a specific, firm reason. Given his strength, rising to stardom in the public arena would be simplicity itself, there's no normal reason for him to go to this much risk.

Ohma's response…is to note she seems worried about him, and ask if she's wet for him.

I love her expression. A delightful cocktail of disbelief, disdain and exhaustion.

I'm…not even sure this is another moment of manga sexism. The only reaction the comment gets is implicit ridicule. And yet, I don't trust the manga enough to be able to say we're not supposed to sit with Ohma, and think of it as implacable Gamma energy or whatever, even just taking into account what we've seen in this Let's Read so far. And my foreknowledge only gives me even less faith.

Don't worry, they don't date or anything, just…well, we'll get there.

Anyway, Ohma eventually decides to give a straight answer after a comment on her talking too much, and it's pretty much what you might expect. He wants to prove who's the strongest. Anything someone tacks on after that, he claims, is just lies. Akiyama is, thankfully, not impressed. It's a small thing to gamble on, when he might lose his life for it. Ohma's unconcerned. He's never gonna lose, you see.

Sadly, this is where entertainingly unimpressed Akiyama Kaede comes to an end.

A character being so absolutely arrogant that it manifests as a pure, sincere and unshakeable faith in themself isn't a trope I hate. I actually quite like it in fact, I've written characters like that. But that's not quite what Ohma feels like, at least not at this point. The core problem is that nobody really questions him once he opens up like this, he simply declares his truth and people accept it. For a character with that sort of attitude to work (even if it's false, more on that later) you need people to doubt them. And even if/when they prove their arrogance not unfounded they still need characters around them who are willing to call out bullshit or correct things, or just to take the piss out of them. Something to take the edge off the power fantasy, make it feel less like the author is just masturbating into your face. Ohma has nothing like that, not at this point. He's simply correct about everything he bothers to have an opinion on, and noone meaningfully tries to argue him on it.

Thankfully they don't linger on the moment long. Akiyama says he's made himself clear, and notes a desire to see how far he goes. And then we actually get the most interesting moment in this chapter. Because you see…

Our lord and sigma, Tokita Ohma, is a fucking liar.

He has an agenda. Someone he wants to meet. And having a vengeance arc, seeking someone who wronged you to do them a mischief in return, is hardly unique. Almost expected of a manga like this honestly. But it's the fact he lied about it that gives Ohma the first hint of depth he's shown in this entire thing. Because I don't think it's just the other two he's lying to, I'm not sure he's even aware of how much of a driving force finding this person is for him. If you're unconsciously clenching your fist over someone then that's not a passing irritation, you have a deep and abiding grudge.

Obviously we're not finding out who "he" is yet, though. Akiyama gets an alarm jingle from inside her bag, wherefrom she pulls her tablet. And it's good news for Ohma, his next Kengan match is in two days. Yamashita is aghast, it's only been a week since Rihito tore bloody gobbets out of Ohma, that's no time at all to recover from damage. Being a manly man man, Ohma is unbothered, noting that this is an agreeable pace and asking who his next victim is. Akiyama replies that his next opponent will be the Affiliated Fighter of Koyama Mart incorporated, Kaburagi Koji.

Aka. "that one bastard from all the NTR memes"

Even Yamashita is unimpressed. And Ohma agrees, feeling not a hint of danger from the man. Akiyama admonishes the both of them as naive, Kaburagi is not an average middle aged man. Granted, his record is seven wins and nine losses. Middle of the road at best, as the Kengan matches go. But that win/loss ratio is deceptive. The real issue?

Every fighter who's been matched with Kaburagi Koji, win or lose, was incapacitated by the fight.

See you all next time.

Laplace · Dec 16, 2022

Manic Dogma said:
I'm…not even sure this is another moment of manga sexism. The only reaction the comment gets is implicit ridicule. And yet, I don't trust the manga enough to be able to say we're not supposed to sit with Ohma, and think of it as implacable Gamma energy or whatever, even just taking into account what we've seen in this Let's Read so far. And my foreknowledge only gives me even less faith.

I sort of have a feeling that this is Dareomon riffing on generic fightmango sexism tbh. Ohma's less of a character in the early Kengan and more of like a generic cipher for the typical MC for this genre. So he writes these jokes in to take the piss out of it/fanfic-deconstruct it.

Like, compare this with Ohma's reaction to Karla Kure.

Quest · Dec 16, 2022

Manic Dogma said:
I love her expression. A delightful cocktail of disbelief, disdain and exhaustion.

I don't know why, but that expression wierdly reminds me of Vegeta.

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