Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

We begin in the past, on the sunny isle of Okinawa, sixteen years before the Kengan Annihilation tournament. Give or take. The sky is a clear, radiant blue, clouds roll peacefully over the Horizon, and Koroki is only 35 years old. He doesn't even have a proper masterly beard yet. But he's still the same man we know today, if with a decade or so less time in the oven. He's learning a technique, two great clay vessels of sand clutched by the ends of his fingers. A technique said to be as old as the Ryukyu dynasty, developed to counter armed samurai. Helping him with this process is a good friend of his, though we don't get to know the man's identity. Just that he works on the Okinawan US Military base, and he has personal access to fully covering body armour and a rifle. Which is, at this moment, pointed right at Kuroki's center mass.

Just in case the audience forgot what a gun is, the flashback helpfully explains that it fires bullets really fucking fast. Technically 800m/s, the manga claims, but the specific numbers aren't important. The significant part is that dodging after the bullet leaves the barrel is impossible. And this is an important assertion, it's a clear marker of the limits of characters in the setting. It also clarifies the significance of what Kuroki's trying to do. Because that body armour I mentioned completely hides the friend's face, and he has been asked not to tell Kuroki when he's going to shoot.

The room is silent, but for the rhythmic ticking. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Sweat runs down Kuroki's face, craggy even back then.


In this moment Kuroki mastered the secret. A secret he has been refining ever since against the millstone of experience.

…

Okay, let's not beat around the bush, there's an elephant in the room. And it's called holy shit that line of dialogue is so fucking funny and corny. And honestly, I'm not sure I can even tell you why. It's not any comedy inherent to the situation, indeed I rather like it when firearms get humiliated. I think it's something to the phrasing? Possibly the specific use of "Karate master". Alongside Kung fu, Karate is one of the most well known martial arts, which makes reference to it extremely common, which makes it an excellent touchstone for referential comedy and parody. Whenever a character learns a martial art outside of a serious context, it's probably going to be Karate, for the iconic image of the Karateka gi and just how many silly ways it's possible to pronounce the word Karate. And over time that's become the association of overstated proclamations of Karate mastery? Idk, maybe I'm overreading into one weird reaction. Wouldn't be the first time.

Anyway, who's ready for another sickass panel?


Hell yeah. Sorry Rei, but watching you get your shit rocked is a goddamn fireworks display.

But he doesn't care about my enthusiasm for precisely applied beatdowns, he's still asking the question we ended last chapter with. How the hell is Kuroki keeping up? Rei has his own theory. He still doesn't have enough "love." He needs to go harder, run faster, love deeper. Kurayoshi watches on with genuine concern as Rei stabilises his stands and, still bent back almost double, inhales until his lungs are fit to burst.

And when he moves, once again, not a single person present can follow. Not even his own master. Of course, this includes Kuroki. And yet, he parries the blow anyway.

How do you defend yourself from an attack if, once it's been unleashed, there's nothing you can do? Well, that's a blessedly simple question to answer. Though of course…

Simple is not the same thing as easy.


Figure out what your opponent is about to do, and move before they do. This is not a unique move, even to this match, indeed the theory is a very common one. Almost a ubiquitous mark of genuine, well founded skill, in fact.

But there is only one person here who can use it at this level.

Rihito, bless his cotton socks, is just happy that his unwilling master has got his groove back. But the three old men are much more dour, Erioh particularly wondering how deep Kuroki's power goes, and the Inaba patriarch apparently having finally woken the fuck up and started paying attention, going by how wide his eyes are. It's Kaneda who makes the obvious comparison, though. It's exactly the same principle of Foresight as Imai was using. But fully matured and battle-hardened. The mastered pinnacle of Foresight. Title drop!

Now, Kaneda was the first person to actually introduce foresight to the tournament, as some of you might have noted. But just to take a slight tangent, his worked rather differently. Do you all remember the Robert Downy Junior Sherlock? The discombobulate scene where he lays out how the fight is going to go in his head before it starts? That's Kaneda's foresight, a fully formed prediction of a sequence or fight ahead of time, that he then tries to act out, attempting to predict predictions recursing through the match. And he got his shit rocked for it. The kind of Foresight Cosmo and Kuroki use is still prediction reliant, but much more improvisational and fluid, predicting the opponent's next series of moves on the fly, varying the depth of prediction to suit the context. Imai was bad at that kind of adaptation, and his inability to recognise that is what led directly to his loss. Kuroki, however, is not.

That said, Rei is a force of nature in his own right. For the third fight in a row, Kuroki is fighting a specialised killing machine, the sort of fighter you don't get do overs against. Mikazuchi Rei may not be a killer anymore, but as we noted previously his fighting style is still rooted in the principles of assassination. Hit hard and fast, win as quickly as possible, and the Raishin style is good at that. If you don't have an answer then you just Lose, almost immediately. For the third match in a row, Kuroki is faced by an opponent in possession of a Win Button. And in a way, it could be the most dangerous of the three. Rihito was a desperately incomplete fighter, and Kiryu was carried by fancy genius improvisation to an extent that left his fundamentals lacking. Rei has neither problem, really, and managed to hurt Kuroki more severely than either previous opponent. And he's not even shown his best yet. Foiled again, Rei draws even deeper. Goes even faster. Actively tearing his body apart in the process, he vanishes completely.


How do you answer such speed? Like all the most difficult questions, it's easy to overthink. Especially when pausing to do that thinking for even the slightest fraction of a second will get you folded. So Kuroki doesn't overthink it. In fact, he doesn't do much at all.

He calmly, leisurely extends his fist.


Kuroki did not punch Rei, so much as Rei crashed into his fist. In much the way a cheap car crashes into a steel bollard.

Mikazuchi Byo understands exactly what happened. The Raishin style, to achieve its peerless speed, enacts its every motion over the shortest possible distance. Straight lines. Straight lines all day. Just run at your opponent, and punch them in the face. In theory, easy to counter, we've been over this before. But this isn't Niko countering Ohma's Flashing Steel. This is the specialised technique that forms the foundation of a specialised fighting style. It's only ever been in theory. This is the first time someone's been able to grasp the highest speeds of the Raishin style well enough to counter it like that. And the thought is visibly sending beads of sweat down the old master's face.

He calls Kuroki a Monster. And I suppose it's not an unfair suggestion. Something beyond human. It's what Martial Arts are for, after all.

Anyway, Rei, how you doing buddy?


Yeah.

The audience watches in suspense, waiting for Kuroki to decide the match for keeps. It seems like a clear win, and yet the axe does not fall on the Raishin Style's throat. To the surprise of all, as Rei pushes laboriously back to his feet, Kuroki does not capitalise. Even as Rei glares at him, bleeding from the eyes.

What is Kuroki doing?

Well, keep your theories in mind, because as we continue into the next chapter the announcers hype up the drama as Rei rises fully to his feet. Kurayoshi looks, by all visible indicators watching with a flat, disinterested affect. Her…sigh…her "order" has worn off, meaning Rei can no longer surpass his own limits. And probably for the best, since I doubt he could survive much more of that. A rare instance of a supermode actually encountering its drawbacks, but it's not like it's the first time for Kengan Asura.

And oh boy, we get a little explanation. Her orders can…somehow…vary in strength. A powerful order is compared to brainwashing, obliterating all self-preservation but also reducing cognition. Presumably because all the blood is going to their throbbing boner. The precise mechanics of it remain a mystery, but I suppose that's for the best. This shit is already sexist enough without bringing whatever constitutes Sandro's understanding of female Biology into this. Anyway, the point is that Rei got a slightly weaker order to leave his decisionmaking faculties intact. And now he can feel what he did to his body.

His right foot grates, the bones rasping against each other (though the panel is of his left foot? what?) and his ribs are clearly at the very least severely bruised. Enough blood runs down his body that his feet stick to the floor.

And yet, despite lack of breath, Mikazuchi Rei howls.

His strike is blocked. Because of course it is. But something has changed. Gaolang notes it as similar to a boxing parry. But without gloves, and with the addition of Kuroki's tempered, bladelike hands. Each blow he deflects takes a layer of Rei's skin with it. And yet the boy continues. It was clear to everyone watching that, without its speed, the Raishin style was already defeated. And yet, the boy continues still.


Kuroki blocks. He blocks and he blocks and he blocks and he blocks and he just keeps blocking, but the tidal deluge of fists threatens to drown him all the same. And he begins to slide back. Not falter so much, not give ground, but to be pushed back by the overwhelming physical force of so many strikes. Rihito notes that Kuroki is over 20 kilograms heavier than Rei, which means the torque behind this unrelenting rush must be incredible. Byo, for his part, recognises the shift in strategy. Raishin's main suite of arts is useless now, with Rei's bum legs. So instead he rallies the muscles he has left to unleash a torrent of punches, not even aiming for vitals to squeeze out even more blows. And his eyes begin to go blank, as the world dissolves around him. In a process again almost like his initiation ritual, everything important to him begins to fade away. His pride as master of the Raishin Style. Defeating in turn the man who defeated his father. His promise to his beloved Rino. It all vanished, and Rei became unbound by earthly attachment.

In this state of rarified focus, it couldn't possibly escape him that Kuroki's left hand faltered, ever so slightly, in its defense. Falling just a fraction of an inch. Without conscious thought, he moves to turn the fight around.


And for his effort he gets juked and receives the most biblical, tectonic body-shot in the history of mankind. Forevermore his children, their children, and their children on down will be born with the imprint of Kuroki's fist in their gut as this mythic blow reverberates through time and space.

Homeboy got fucked right the hell up, I tells you what. Look at that shockwave.

A full power uppercut right to center mass, perfectly timed to match Rei's own strike. The impact ripples through Rei's viscera to disrupt the heart, exactly as Kuroki planned. The pinnacle of foresight, delivering the perfect finishing blow. Rei doesn't even have time to feel the pain. He passes out on the spot.

We get a rapid series of reaction shots. Rino's face is invisible. Byo's craggy stoicism takes on a haggard, forlorn cast as Inaba and Kure both watch with concern. Nezu is having a fucking day of it, watching the guy who beat him in less than a tenth of a second get folded like discount lawn furniture. Rihito…Rihito looks like he's unsure what to think, actually? He's smiling, but it's kind of vacant, and a bead of sweat courses down his jawline. He seems kind of in shock.

And then Anna Paula calls it. The War in Heaven is over, the Lightning God was defeated by the Devil Lance. Funnily enough, she actually calls it a chilling display, which I suppose is what it might look like from the outside. Like a cat playing with its food. But I don't think that's what it was. Both because of the wide consternation over his decision not to end it after Rei's initial car crash moment, but also because of this panel, at the end of this page.


That…is an astonishingly sad expression to see on the victor. He looks so tired. Perhaps the cycle of violence taking its toll? Or maybe it's something a little deeper set.

In Rei's entry corridor, Kurayoshi's secretaries tremble in fear as the woman herself says Rei's name, face drowned in shadow. End chapter.



And that was match 3-3, the Quarter Finals approach their end. And you know what, while everything that makes it my favourite of this round of the tournament is still there, the whole thing with Kurayoshi's order has put a very sour taste in my mouth. I've already gone on at length about that whole thing and why it sucks, but I'd honestly forgotten what a presence it is within the match, despite being largely superfluous to it. Everything we saw could have just as easily been a product of Rei's deepening devotion, and the resonant similarities between his situation and the initiation rite. What a singularly fucking stupid plot point though, really.

And what hype to contrast it against. This match was simple, and Kuroki's part in it was primarily back-foot defense, but even within those constraints the choreography was still stellar, and absolutely replete with truly peak moments of visual art. It's also been a nice reminder that, Kuroki has in fact been facing escalating odds over his matches. None of them may have had a real shot at winning, but every one of them had moments where it seemed like they could, even if in one of those cases it was more a case of Dramatic Prediction. And, in all those cases, they had means of simply invalidating most opponents. The Ripper has been noted as being comparable to bringing a knife to the fight, and the Rakshasa's Palm is that but even worse, a delete button for most of the cast. And Rei I've talked about this update, the most consistently dangerous of the lot, especially at full speed. It really highlights that the scariest thing about Kuroki is his consistency, there's no chance of him making a misplay you can capitalise on for long. A truly solid defense is an incredibly powerful tool, especially in a single elimination tournament like this. It's also important that Foresight was established in its true form here, there's been shades of it among the best fighters in the tournament already, but in coming matches it's going to take on new significance. Remember kids, when something has already been established, that lets you go even harder with the choreography, with no worry for having to take out a moment to explain what you're doing. Even the most one-sided match can have utility for establishing these things. Like, can you imagine if they'd had to establish Rei's initiation rite in this match? What a pace killer that would have been.

And thematically, well, this is one of the few true Martial Arts Matches in the tournament, a genuine exchange of honed and specialised techniques. And that's a quick way into my heart, in a battle manga like this. As much as I'll gush about the non-sexist elements of this match, it's not the peak of that this manga hits though.

See you next time for the cleanup of match 3-3 and the setup for the last match of the Quarter Finals. Match 3-4.

The Floating Cloud vs the Fang of Metsudo.



Oh, one last thing, as an end of volume chapter, this one contains a few more gag yonkoma. This time they're Rei themed, and are proof that as many things as Sandro fails to understand, he gets why Mikazuchi Rei is funny. Here's my favourites of this batch, but absolutely go check out the rest.