Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

Manic Dogma · Jan 27, 2023

I'm honestly not sure what the hell this venue even is. Housing for a major power line? Whatever it is, I do agree that it's probably good and secure, especially when the referee proclaims to the audience that they are 40 metres underground. So yeah, I don't see unwanted eyes tripping over this shit.

Also Nogi wasn't kidding when he told Ohma and Yamashita these challenger matches are well officiated, this guy looks legit as fuck.

The legit referee then introduces each side of the match. First, the faces we're familiar with, Yamashita Trading Company! With their affiliated fighter, Tokita Ohma. Ohma himself has a funny look on his face, too. None of his normal swaggering arrogance, or feral rage, just a sort of irritable scowl. Focused, but with the edges a little frayed. He still looks pretty fucked up too, his right hand is completely bandaged right up to the forearm, he still has patches covering his slash wounds from Rihito, and there's visible welts and bruises all over his upper body.

To Ohma's right is Akiyama, presumably having been seconded to Yamashita Trading Co. to make sure things go according to plan, and behind the two of them is Yamashita himself. Who looks like his meteoric rise to CEO of his own company has given him the world's worst case of altitude sickness.

I do enjoy the peanut gallery moments in this manga

Yamashita, in abject despair, questions why things had to go this way and we take a little trip into the recent past. Specifically, the immediate aftermath of chapter 19. Everyone's calmed down and taken a seat (except Akiyama, who as a woman is obviously considered part of the furniture) and Nogi is laying out the deal.

The Kengan Association is, as noted, an organisation of CEOs. Business managers, financial moguls, conglomerate board heads, and so on. So in order to have a shot at membership to begin with he needs to own a company, even if the company has no actual assets or product to its name.

Funny how smug a man gets once he no longer has a hand around his throat.

Yamashita, being just a normal bloke in the face of one of his nation's most prominent financial institutions, is getting completely taken for a ride here. His only option is compliance and he knows it.

With the name of the company effectively decided, the next item on the agenda is scheduling the match. There's actually three matches happening soon. One in two days, one in eight days, and another in twelve. Yamashita gives it a good honest think. He dismisses the one in two days immediately, Ohma's gotten his fucking shit wrecked and needs time to heal. With that in mind, he decides that it's probably a good idea to pick-

Someday you'll get to make a decision, Yamashita. Keep at it.

Yamashita protests, Ohma's way too injured for that, but Ohma makes what's possibly the first sensible point to come out of his mouth the whole manga. Admittedly he does it while calling Yamashita a re***d, but y'know. Baby steps. Anyway, he points out that, well, his bones aren't going to be healing in a fortnight. So really it makes no difference, as long as he's healed up in time for the Annihilation tournament.

Personally I'd say that twelve days worth of healing would still help, even if it didn't fully knit bones back together, but whatever. I'll take the wins where I can get them. Either way, Ohma stands up and thrusts his finger into Nogi's face, declaring that he'll be in that tournament no matter what, and Nogi better bring a coffin 'cos he's going to crush him.

Hard cut to the present and Hatsumi Sen quoting the "crush you" bit back at Nogi, who chortlingly comments on how scary it was as he plays office golf. Ohma's a good find, he says, at which point Hatsumi clarifies that's not what he meant. He meant that if Ohma was declaring intent to destroy him then that means Nogi didn't tell them the plan. And Nogi agrees. No, he didn't tell them the plan. But it'll be fine if he tells them after Ohma's won his spot in the tournament.

Is…is the plan meant to not be obvious? I mean, I know Ohma's an idiot and Yamashita's not that quick on the uptake, but you were being pretty overbearing about it and like…how many other motivations could you really have? What other reasons could there be for you to test Ohma like you did?

But then, who am I to question anything that comes out of the mouth of a Sharply Dressed Sigma Male.

Anyway, back to the challenge match. The defending champion is the affiliated fighter of Ushitami Food Services and master of Gadokan Karate, Yokota Masayasu. His Kengan Match record is pretty good, 15 wins to 4 losses. A strong, if unexceptional, positive record. His unofficial match record is 27 wins and 0 losses though, and that's given the president of Ushitami Food Services a surplus of confidence. Some rising star this guy is, he crows, if he's already dropped down to the minor leagues. Slightly hurtful to his fighter, who seems to take it at least a little personally, but it seems like this guy's been at it a while. In fact, the next page we get a little inner monologue on just how much fun he has doing this as basically a pastime. All the lowlife dipshits who come swarming in like minnows if you dangle Association membership in front of them. Something like the Annihilation Tournament is much too dangerous for him, he's going to keep making his way as he likes it. Screwing gullible idiots for cash.

As the defending CEO is quietly monologuing to himself, Yamashita is searching for the handoff point for the challenger's fee. He finds it, but it doesn't exactly make him feel better. That's a hundred million yen he just handed over, if Ohma loses he's up shit creek and the only paddle is his tongue. He turns to look at Ohma, whose back is a patchwork of bruises and abrasions, and wonders. He knows Ohma is strong, but can he fight with those injuries?

As if there was any doubt.

Yeah, Ohma obliterates the guy instantly, caving in half of his face. I mean that literally, there's an aftermath panel showing it that I am not fucking posting here.

There's a moment of silence as the room processes what just happened. Even the referee has to pause and stammer his way to declaring Ohma's victory. The crowd goes wild. The cathartic victory has brought Ohma's smile back, if a little more reserved than usual. And the opposing CEO…

Well, he's a fucking company president, he'll be fine no matter what he actually deserves.

Anyway, we get to Yamashita's reaction. He's shocked, but more his natural state of being shocked than anything special, and notes what an overwhelming victory it was. Akiyama, as is her natural state of being, isn't impressed. She points out who Ohma has fought so far. Rihito, the Superman. Kaburagi Koji, the assassin of fighters. Hells Angel, Sekibayashi Jun, juggernaut of the Kengan Matches. Ohma's managed wins against all of them, every one an exceptional threat in his own way. Masayasu had a solid record, but it was a pretty ordinary positive record. He's pretty normal as Kengan Fighters go. After the people Ohma has beaten, why would a normal fighter be a threat?

It's a nice beat, even if it'd work better in a manga more willing to disrespect its protagonist. Ohma's heat has taken a hit, both in how his win didn't seem to meaningfully hurt Sekibayashi and the following scrap with Hatsumi, but it's not really a big enough one to merit this. Still, even if it doesn't affect Ohma that much it's a good way to retroactively restore heat to the fighters he beat. Yeah he beat them, but in every case he had to work for it at least a little, and they all got meaningful hits in. That Ohma can overwhelm a normal fighter in one blow like this does help sell that someone like Rihito is serious business, even if Ohma still didn't have to work that hard to beat him.

This is when Ohma returns to group with, of all things, an honest compliment to Akiyama. Granted, he's complimenting her for being smart after she talked up his strength, but still. Like I said, baby steps. And then, with an easy smile, he declares to Yamashitakazuo that he "got it for you."

There's been a bunch of instances in this manga where I felt like Yamashita was just way too eager to feel hype for Ohma, where it felt false or forced. Right now, I'm actually kinda feeling the moment. As Akiyama asks Ohma not to call her by her full name, Yamashita just revels in his faith in Ohma, how awesome the man seems to him.

I appreciate how un-flirty this panel looks even with one party entirely shirtless.

With everything resolved, enter the referee, with Yamashita's brand spanking new Association membership card. Or…plate? It's a wooden trapezoid with a large Japanese character engraved into it, which I assume reads Kengan. Or something. It's very unassuming for such an important object, and Yamashita notes as much. Akiyama notes that what's important is it's value, which I notice is not actually a disagreement. Still, she points out that only a handful of people ever become members through means like this, it's not generally something a person can just buy for only a hundred million yen.

For a moment Yamashita freaks out over the idea of a Hundred Million Yen being chump change to these people, but gets cut off halfway as he realises. What about his hundred million yen? Fortunately, he spots his attache case leaning on the edge of the ring, and thank goodness. Sure would suck to be that deep in debt!

He turns to the referee and, in a startling burst of confidence, demands his money back. The referee seems baffled. Good sir, that was the challengers fee. As in, an expense you pay just for the privilege of competing at all. You don't get it back, that's what paying for something is, regardless of the match's outcome.

Weren't you aware of this?

Look, Yamashita, bro. It's fine, the guy who did this to you was rich and also sharply dressed, that makes whatever he does to you not only morally defensible but also good for society. Something something invisible hand of the free market and so on.

But that's not quite the end of the chapter. As Yamashita collapses like a deflating balloon animal, someone's watching the group through a camera attached to an attendee's lapel. And somewhere else, in a room lit only by banks of monitors, a shadowed figure stands abruptly from his chair and erupts into vague, baffled monologue. It can't be, but it looks just like him!

What is he doing here?

End chapter.

You know, I'd genuinely forgotten that Nogi's plan was supposed to be a secret? He's such a barefaced prick about it, I'd figured that he knew Yamashita had no choice but compliance so hiding it was pointless. If nothing else, the intentional lie by omission of what the "challenger's fee" actually means should have tipped them off.

Beyond that, and my irritation at the word r***rd being dropped so casually, there isn't much to follow up on. Solid, fun little chapter affirming Ohma's heat and placing our protagonists where they need to be for the plot moving forwards. Nogi's being a shithead toward Yamashita, but we already knew that's what he's like, and "I don't want to get stripped of all my earthly possessions by crippling debt" is a fair enough motivation for a character.

Oh, and Akiyama was treated with half an ounce of respect. Pretty sad that this is something to be celebrated rather than expected, but that's the manga we're reading.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Jan 30, 2023

Last time in the adventures of Sigma Quantal Man King Great Dipshit (how's that for a deep cut?) and the hapless salaryman, said Salaryman became one of the dreaded elite of Japan's financial sector via illicit gambling endorsed and officiated by Association personnel. And he did this because his boss all but bullied him into it. And now that he's only slightly in debt (by the standards of unreasonably wealthy sociopaths) what's happening in this chapter?

Why, something very strange indeed.

Tokita Ohma is being the supportive straight man.

And it's not just a one-panel thing either. Yamashita rants and sobs for the rest of the page and Ohma continues like this, noting what an awful drunk Yamashita is with deadpan consternation. Akiyama very sensibly already pissed off ages ago, right after the match in fact, which isn't a surprise after the last time the three drank together.

We arrive back at Yamashita's home, 'the mansion of the debt king' as he puts it, and he announces they're going to drink the day away. Continuing the disconcerting trend of Sensible Ohma, he asks if Yamashita hasn't already had enough to drink and Yamashita's response is… that he doesn't have anything left to lose.

Little bleak, given the last time we were here, but sure.

Anyway, they walk through the house and are interrupted by finding Yamashita's younger son in the living room, lounging with his friends. One of whom is a larger lad with the words "Total Obese" on his shirt, keep it classy Kengan Asura, and the other is some lanky fuck with a ridiculous pompadour.

He isn't even surprised. Just sad.

Immediately the friends get up and start shaking Yamashita down for money, insisting on being given a couple hundred thousand yen. They combed the house through and through, you see, but could only find about thirty k. Yasuo does seem to have misgivings about directly threatening his father, but at this point it's too little too late and the friends just shrug him off while Ohma watches the debacle with a bored, faintly confused expression. And indeed, as pompadour begins to intimidate Yamashita (who desperately pleads with the boy that this is a terrible idea), glasses ambles up to Ohma. In an understandable but nevertheless unfortunate display of poor judgement, the lad seems to assume Ohma is a subordinate of Yamashita's.

And promptly begins shaking Ohma down for cash too.

Ohma isn't even mad, is the part that makes this work. Still just bored and vaguely irritated.

In a truly spectacular display of proof that he didn't inherit the brains in the family, Yasuo decides his response to watching a man offhandedly slap his heaviest friend clean across the room without visible effort should definitely be indignant rage. Taking the specific form of asking what he did that for. Ohma's response is to hoist him up by his collar, still looking bored, and slap him around the chops a few more times. Pompadour's fled the building before the spittle hits the floor.

After a moment Ohma pauses and turns to Yamashita.

"Who's this asshole?"

"THAT'S MY SON!"

Quick scene break, and a dip into the house's first aid kit, and we get an explanation from Yasuo and his classy-shirted friend. They used to just be general delinquents, but got it into their heads that things needed to be more intense, so they straight up joined a fucking gang. Now as bottom-rung louts, they're required to hand over a metric shitload of money every month. Ohma confirms that this is a thing, called "protection money". He heard about it in the cinema!

Anyway, recently it's gotten hard for the boys to scrape up enough money for the collections, so they tried to leave the gang and predictably got the shit kicked out of them for it. The leader is some kind of badass, apparently, who beats up anyone who pushes back against his decisions in the slightest. They were understandably too scared to risk get cracked over the head with a bokken, so they just sort of…didn't. Yamashita is admirably even tempered given the circumstances, and gets halfway through calmly advising them to quit ASAP before he gets interrupted by the sound of engines. It sounds like motorbikes. Yamashita is confused. Ohma shows the first sign of interest this whole chapter. The boys are terrified. They're here.

You'd think someone would have called the police by now.

Somewhere in the realm of a hundred thugs, armed to various degrees, waving the flag of Grandia. At their head a walking stereotype asks pompadour kid if that "seaweed head" is the one who fucked him up, and pompadour confirms. The boss of Grandia gets his own title card as he declares bloody vengeance on anyone who'd get in the way of his collections. Very serious stuff, I'm sure. He tells his first mate to psych up the underlings, and we get a…strange couple of pages. He screams at the thugs, asking who's the strongest, who's the greatest, blah blah blah, they scream back GRANDIA, GRANDIA and so on.

Then he points out Ohma and howls to the sky about how this guy, this idiot, is the one who dares fight Grandia. They start screaming for blood, they'll kill him, make him pay, burn his house down, all for Grandia. Ohma points to himself, and Yamashita nods. They do in fact mean him.

First mate informs the boss that morale seems high enough. He nods. It's time to beat the fear of Grandia into this fool.

I love this sort of smash cut so much.

Yeah, these guys couldn't make it even as a jobber in the Kengan matches, of course Ohma was going to thrash them. They make a lot of noise about how they're gonna get back into legitimate work rather than crimes, but Ohma doesn't really care. Yasuo does though, awed and terrified by the display, and not really comforted when Ohma calls him over. And when Ohma asks if Yasuo wants to fight too, well…the resemblance to his father has never been clearer. This manga loves its terrified reaction faces.

He promises to be good from now on, and apologises for the trouble.

Contrast.

Yamashita celebrates how his son has finally broken free from a life of crime, which strikes me as slightly premature. Yes, Ohma beat the shit out of a bunch of guys who were threatening him, but that doesn't necessarily mean much for Yasuo's future choices. Well, whatever, I'm sure Ohma's pleasant smile and well wishes will inspire him into the future.

But more importantly, there's an audience. I mean yes, obviously such a noisy scene probably had onlookers, but more specifically the curtains have been pulled just and so aside in one of the second floor windows of the Yamashita household. The figure within turns away from the window, from a tearfully joyful Yamashita and Ohma, contented now that he's had his daily dose of violence, and turns to his computer.

On his monitor is footage of Ohma's fight against Masayasu. This must be the shadowed figure from last chapter, but it turns out he wasn't looking at Ohma. No, he was shocked by the presence of someone else. Someone who's presence is, granted, much more out of place at a Kengan Match.

His father, Yamashita Kazuo.

I love the art on Yamashita's face here, and how Ohma seems genuinely happy for him.

We get a better look at his monitor. Alongside the video files are a number of folders. All labelled "Kengan things", and marked with various numbers. End chapter.

A relatively uneventful chapter this one, in absolute terms. Mostly a breather chapter before we get back into the weeds of setting up the annihilation tournament. Drop a few gags and a little low-stakes violence. You know, tension relievers. But there was a couple of items of importance. Obviously, we have the reveal of Kenzo's face, and the fact that he's already involved with the Kengan Association. A member, maybe? We'll see. That element's mostly setup to be fulfilled later. The part I'm most interested in is the introduction of a character I enjoy a great deal, who's not really shown his face until this chapter despite technically being with us all along.

Chill Ohma.

I'm sure you've noticed that, over the last 20-ish chapters, that while Ohma might often be rather stoic he's not exactly had any chill. Constantly half-hunched or glaring, stalking through the pages like an intemperate cat, prone during fights to going all bug eyed and shrieking some stupid MRA bullshit at his opponent. Prone during conversation to going on just…baffling tangents. And generally just kind of an insufferable aggro piece of shit.

And then this chapter happens, and suddenly he's being idly supportive. Relaxed, if a little moody. Wearing expressions of quiet happiness at Yamashita's joy. And just…the whole gag with that panel where he's patting Yasuo's shoulder is the contrast between the devastation around them and the pleasant, contented vibes Ohma's giving off. He's not just passively Not Attacking Anyone in that moment, he's actively reaching out and being encouraging, and this after he started the chapter showing some level of concern for Yamashita's drunkenness! After so long following Our Lord and Sigma, he's been fairly well characterised as a wholly uncaring prick, so this shift is…honestly pleasant. My only concern is that I'm maybe not supposed to read it like this. It's honestly possible that Chill Ohma was supposed to be here all along and the writer/artist simply fucked up the ratios, or that it's an intentional change in direction after planning on him being an insufferable prat. But I know that later on, changes in Ohma's persona are part of an arc, and his behaviour in chapter 20 can be considered part of a slow shift in attitude, so…

Anyway, eventually Ohma will be a sufficiently different character for various reasons that in my head I sort of think of him as two different characters. There's Sigma Asshole Ohma, who randomly asks women if they're wet for him and goes psycho face while screaming at people about how dumb they are. And there's Chill Ohma, who still loves to beat people up but is also happy for Yamashita's good fortune and wishes troubled young men luck in their endeavours in self-improvement. After having slapped him a few times.

Chill Ohma is a work in progress, give him time.

Personally, I like to imagine this is an element of a slow, diegetic character shift sparked by the Sekibayashi fight. Yeah Ohma won the match, but that shit was his biggest vibe check so far. Remember the dumb look on his face after Sekibayashi baited him toward the end of chapter 14? Hook, line and fucking sinker. Glorious.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Feb 3, 2023

Welcome one and all to Under Mount Incorporated, a stock and medical engineering conglomerate that on this day celebrates another fine month of capitalist excess. Its CEO, Ohta Masahiko, attributes this success to the efforts of the company's fine employees, which is a fantastic wheeze to push them to burn themselves out making the company ever more profitable. Not that Mr Ohta puts it that way, but we all know what is actually meant. He's a fucking CEO.

…Or is he?

Immediately after the conclusion of his speech we cut to a random staff room where a number of women are getting coffee and having a smoke in short pencil skirts. One, a more world weary lady sat on the counter, bemoans the general staff needing to listen to the CEO's monthly address. "That double", as she calls him, is apparently dreadfully longwinded, and another woman agrees that he just says the same things every month too. A third woman, a distinctly younger looking one with double ponytails, catches on to a particular choice in wording. "Double." She's not sure what they mean, so the older women explain. There's a rumour going around, you see. Most people struggle to believe someone as basic as Ohta could balloon the company up to such staggering success in only ten years, so the theory goes that he's just a figurehead. Someone else runs Under Mount Inc. Pigtails actually recognises this. She's apparently familiar with Ohta's secretary, who claims to have seen him bowing and scraping on the phone. You reckon he was talking to the "Real CEO"?

The other women find it very funny and adorable that she's taking the rumour seriously, while some fucking dweeb stands to the side passive aggressively implying they should be making him some tea right now.

Cut to the CEO's office.

I wonder if our mystery boss had the rumour spread on purpose? It's an easy way to breed scepticism, after all.

That said, it might not be in character for him. Immediately after being called boss he responds, with a weary tone, by reminding Ohta that he is the CEO. And the mystery caller is perfectly content just being his shadow. Ohta though, is surprisingly humble about it. As he puts it, he sees himself as more of a body double. The company, and Ohta himself, wouldn't be anything like where it is now if not for the Real Boss. He really cannot thank Mr Kenzo enough.

That is, Yamashita Kenzo. Yes, that Kenzo.

Helpless and exhausted in the face of Ohta's effusive loyalty, Kenzo lets the subject drop and thanks Ohta for recording the challenger match the previous day. It helped him make an important discovery. Ohta shows a flash of pride at this, dismissing it as no challenge at all. The spectators were all so focused on the match, hooking a little camera into his lapel was trivial. And Kenzo was right, wasn't he? The tournament's announcement has brought all sorts of powerful fighters buzzing to the surface, like smacking a beehive with a stick. After briefly reiterating the wider surprise that Ohma's broken off from the Nogi group (hahah, yes, that is definitely what happened), Ohta expresses that he believes they've gathered enough data. And Kenzo agrees.

Under Mount Incorporated will participate in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament.

Ohta is ecstatic, hollering with fists-clenched enthusiasm that finally the day has come for Kenzo to take centre stage! He immediately starts listing off fighters, as Kenzo protests that that's not actually what he meant, promising to do everything in his power to make Kenzo the chairman of the Kengan Association. When he finally manages to get a word in edgeways, Kenzo says they will not be using any of the company's affiliated fighters, but rather will hire someone else. Ohta is unconcerned, he has unshakeable faith in the Man That Made Him. Who will Under Mount be hiring then, he asks?

Say hello to the writer's pet.

The Kure clan are an original creation of Kengan Asura, and Ohta is frantic with concern at the notion of engaging with them. They're mercenary assassins who work in all theatres of conflict, and have no loyalty to past employers. While on a job they're professionals, but if someone else pays well enough they'll have no compunctions about twisting your head off like a grape.

Kenzo is unbothered. Another way of phrasing it is that their loyalty is for sale, no? Under Mount has the resources to spare, no amount of money is too big an ask, the Kure Clan will be theirs. This doesn't exactly comfort Ohta, but Kenzo moves on regardless to point out that Ohta's made a mistake.

Kenzo has precisely 0 intention of becoming Chairman. That's Ohta's job! He hangs up as Ohta is mid panic attack, informing him he'll send the details later.

Honestly, I rather enjoy Ohta as a character, even if there's some questionable implications to the story's first overweight CEO being a fraud. He's essentially a puppet king, but with absolutely no reservations about the role, and apparently doesn't even have particular investment in staying on his easy life gravy train. Going by how excited he is for Kenzo to announce himself to the world, by all indications Ohta seems flat out loyal and grateful to the young man in the extreme. None of the usual jockeying for social position or seething over a younger man not respecting him as his elder you'd expect from a man in his position in manga, just apparently genuine faith and…almost hero worship. It's kind of refreshing, honestly. He isn't the sort of character who could sustain a headline role, but he'll serve pleasantly enough as an entertaining side character to fill out the tournament's roster.

Anyway, moving on, Kenzo looks contemplatively out of his window. This is for the best, he thinks. He likes the shadows. He likes that he doesn't have to take a step out of his room to seize Japan.

Hard cut to a traditional japanese manor house, that radiates a miasma of dark malice. An old man with black sclerae overlooks a row of men with similar looking eyes, and asks if everyone is in attendance.

Nice Sengoku General spread you got there, gramps.

Funnily enough, it turns out Yoshitake Real Estate has reached out to the Kure as well. Remember him? Rihito's boss? But, the Kure have rules about allowing Clan members to take opposing sides in a conflict, so the old man orders one of the men to call Yoshitake back and turn him down. Courteously, he specifies. They're professionals, after all.

Now, of course, the real question. Who to send…

Idk how they infiltrate anywhere when they're so recognisable.

The hall bristles with the meanest motherfuckers in the world. And the camera skims over the lot of them to focus on an individual standing off to the side, leaning on the frame of an open door. Wearing a hoodie that doesn't quite disguise their breasts and hotpants that cinch tight for just a little muffin top on the thighs, it sure would be a shame if anyone thought this character turning out to be a woman would be a twist.

She grins, her face in shadows. End chapter.

Not much to say, this time. It's a chapter to round out one of the most important things for a tournament arc, and that's a wide and colourful cast of characters. And in Kengan Asura's case, that means introducing the employers of each fighter as well. And this is a pretty good gimmick for a team, I think, even before you introduce the complicating element of the real power behind the throne being Yamashita's son.

Speaking of, this technically functions as a climax to that little mystery, doesn't it? Granted, it was fairly obvious Kenzo was placed somewhere like this in the previous chapter, but the hard confirmation coming in the form of his reveal as another player in the Annihilation Tournament is…something, I guess. I don't know, it's hard to summon a great deal of enthusiasm for this either way. It was a fun enough chapter to read, but it's one of the ones that just glides over your brain without leaving much of an impression. Not ideal, but hardly the worst thing for a chapter to be.

At least Ohta will take centre stage in some of the best gags to come.

See you next time.

Manic Dogma · Feb 6, 2023

Yamashita Kenzo and the Donut Steel clan have entered the ring, what does chapter 23 have in store? A happy Yamashita Kazuo, that's what.

It's a fine late afternoon in sunny tokyo. The sky is clear, the sun is low but still very much in the sky, and Yamashita is leaving work with a smile on his face. It's been some time since he left work this early without some urgent meeting with Nogi or to manage Ohma's bullshit, and he plans to celebrate by relaxing with a beer and some television. It'll be an evening of well deserved rest.

And then his phone rings.

The fucking poster, lol. Continuity!

Turns out, it's the drunk guy from the Sekibayashi match! After he notes that Yamashita immediately recognises him and asks…how the hell did he get this number? Drunk guy, calling Yamashita Kazzy, brushes the question off and asks if he's free. And he is, in fact he just got out of work, so they're going out for drinks! Yamashita's flustered, he protests, it's too sudden! They barely even know each other!

Smash cut to a bar, Dai-uchusakaba if I'm reading the letters right, because obviously Yamashita crumbles under any level of social pressure. It's a nice spot, actually. Not super fancy or anything, but small and cozy, with a low-ish roof, clean surfaces, well dressed waitstaff and a clean, wooden floor. At the bar itself Drunk Guy sits on one of a row of cushioned swivel stools, waving Yamashita over, declaring his surprise at the massive, burnished brass gonads Kazzy is dragging around.

To Yamashita's shock, as Drunk Guy explains, Yamashita's already garnering something of a reputation. Which probably shouldn't be surprising, the Kengan Association is an exclusive club with known membership records and there was a lot of witnesses at the challenge match where Yamashita won his membership. And now, on joining the association, his hat immediately lands into one of the most competitive rings known to man. That sort of gumption gets people talking, especially if they don't know the CEO in question is an unassuming bloke who was all but blackmailed into it. Yamashita's obviously still shocked, I don't know if he could imagine people considering him a big deal if he tried.

Drunk guy then shows apparently rare insight, immediately guessing that Nogi pressured Yamashita into it. Kazzy is as Kazzy does, stammering out "how did you know?", and after insisting Yamashita call him Kenny Drunk Guy explains. He was with the Nogi group for several matches in a row then suddenly went solo, seemed obvious to him that there was something more to it. As Kenny chortles about some mysterious drunk guy thoughts Yamashita muses on this. Makes sense he'd be pretty sharp, he's an Association member, and therefore a highly placed Corporate Executive. He must have a sharp eye for detail.

Oh, but Kenny did miss one thing, and asks to confirm.

Yay large numbers.

Yamashita's brain starts dribbling out of his nose. Five Billion? Well sure, Kenny replies, if it were a no-risk event they'd have loads of rabble trying to get in and making a mess all over the place. Five Billion yen is a good amount to gatekeep this sort of event. A sort of Insect repellent, if you will.

Obviously, Nogi didn't say a word on the subject. We even get a little flashback panel of Nogi, great big smile on his face, encouraging Yamashita to never mind all that. It'll be fine, he'll handle it. Yamashita's head sinks to the bartop with a groan. Nogi got him good. Kenny, who to his credit seems genuinely sympathetic, is shocked to see that Yamashita didn't know. Immediately he starts trying to comfort Yamashita. It'll be fine, he says, if you win you can pay off a five billion debt trivially. Hell, you don't even need to win, just get a few rounds deep and you'll probably be fine… It's not particularly encouraging for a salaryman like Yamashita to hear, really. Such sheer numbers, it's a hard shift to consider them as anything remotely normal or surmountable.

So Yamashita snaps, leaping to his feet with an angry bellow, pouring his shot glass down his throat and startling the shit out of Kenny.

This is a Drunk Yamashita I can get behind.

Yamashita, full of piss, vinegar and liquid courage, crosses his arms and does his best to arrange the weedy framework of matchsticks he calls his body into something imposing. He's made up his mind! From today onward, he'll face the Annihilation tournament as "Yamashita Kazuo, president of Yamashita Trading company." He throws his hands in the air, face a cherry red, and declares the death of "Yamashita Kazuo of Nogi Publishing", and informs Kenny that he's joining him for the Mourning drinks! Hell yeah, Kazzy, Kenny bellows in turn!

It's lovely, seeing people make friends, isn't it?

Anyway, events don't stop there, we still have two thirds of the chapter to go. As the two celebrate their freshly formed friendship, drinking, shouting, telling Nogi Group to rot in hell, jaunty guy friend shit, someone enters the bar. And oh dear, they recognise Yamashita. Who would it be, except Matsui Hiroshi, Yamashita's poorly adjusted bin-kicking supervisor. He sneers, observing that Yamashita's finished up early. Must be a perk of being Nogi's favourite. He then turns his salty eyes on Kenny, noting that you can tell a lot about a man by the people he drinks with, and he looks like a fitting friend for a man like Yamashita. Kenny gives him a wave and a pleasant hello, because he's nice like that.

Then he turns to Yamashita to ask who this loser is, and Yamashita responds that it's his boss. Who's been getting real shirty with him lately, and Yamashita isn't sure why.

Ah, but Mr Boss Man isn't alone. The Director of Nogi Publishing, the rotund and mustachioed fellow who sent Yamashita off to meet Nogi in chapter 2 comes in. He's much more friendly about it, not that that's hard. You see, he's just been golfing with some higher up executives of Ginokuniya Bookstore, and decided to have some drinks with good ol' Matsui there for something of an afterparty. And then he spots Yamashita's drinking buddy, and has a good old friendly chortle and apology. He didn't mean to interrupt Yamashita's-

He stops talking and begins to sweat as the blood vessels stand out in his eyes and the words turn to scrambled noise on his tongue.

Here comes a new challenger!

The spiteful rat-man has his own Yamashita-esque freakout, as Yamashita for once quietly asks Kenny if that's true. The two men, for some reason, cower on the floor in fear as Kenny tries to reassure them. He turns to Yamashita and laments that he…feels like he's Mito Komon. Yamashita, with a friendly smile, disagrees and claims he's more like…Abarenbo shogun. Which Kenny finds flattering. Gimme a minute…

[google-related noises]

Okay right, so Mito Komon refers to a period drama and its protagonist, a nickname for Tokugawa Mitsukuni, a retired Daimyo. Episodes would usually have him and his companions arrive incognito in a place where some injustice is happening, investigate and solve the injustice, and generally end up fighting a bunch of guys at the end. After he's won, Mito Komon reveals his identity, passes judgement on the villains, resolves the loose ends of the plot, then continues his journey. That's that reference.

Abarenbo Shogun, which translates to The Unfettered Shogun, is another period drama about Yoshimune, the eighth tokugawa shogun. Same basic format as Mito Komon, except the protagonist is a still active politician who's conflicts pit him against full on Daimyo and rogue councillors, and the Shogun is portrayed actively as an invincible death machine who basically never loses when it comes to a fight.

So yeah, Kenny compared himself to one Identity Reveal tv character, and Yamashita compared him to a much more impressive and powerful character of the same archetype. Cute character moment, sells that they're clicking as friends and are also nerds over the same kinds of media. I like it! It gives colour to what might otherwise be a sort of bland "oooh he's so much bigger and more important than you thought" moment, and is a fresh W for Yamashita.

That said, hard cut to a while later. Kenny and Kazzy have been hanging out for a while, and over a couple of cigarettes Kenny notes he has an announcement to make to Yamashita. Truth is, he's an investor in this bar, and calls over one of the bartenders. This, he declares, is Himuro Ryo, his fighter for the Kengan Annihilation tournament. He's only had four matches so far, but Kenny has confidence in his skills. And then, with an apology to Yamashita, he declares that he's gonna be winning the Annihilation tournament. But friendship (and alcohol) has done good things for Yamashita's spine, and even if he might feel different later he responds with a smile. He had a feeling it'd end up like this.

The real business successes were the friends we made along the way.

Hard cut. It's night time, elsewhere in the city, an open park. The streetlamps make little puddles of hard reality in the dreamlike dark, drawing in moths and flies seeking stability. Under the light, Ohma shadowboxes. Darting to and fro, fist and foot lashing at speeds that test the limits of human sight, flecks of sweat scattering over the grass. He's been at this for some time.

Panting, he lets himself flop to rest directly under a streetlamp. He's completely recovered from his injuries.

He flashes back again to the craggy faced, shaggy haired old man. His younger self staring in numb shock, at his master's weirdly proportioned hand as blood pools underneath it. This is it, Niko, he thinks. Probably to himself. He'll be borrowing your Niko style one last time. Ohma doesn't look triumphant, he doesn't look stoic or placid or anything. For the first time in the manga he just looks…tired.

And then it turns out he's not alone.

Ohma's first response is, understandably, who the fuck are you. But then his eyes flash wide in recognition. In both of the flashbacks there's been a figure behind the old man, and now it swims into focus. He's young, with a bob cut, but the resemblance is clear. Ohma jackknifes to his feet, snarling at the not-stranger as they perkily note that he does remember them. And yeah, Ohma does, he's that motherfucker's-

He's cut off. The other young man flickers in close, and plants the palm of his hand on Ohma's rippling chest. Ohma's aghast, how could he let the bastard get that close, but the not-stranger is distracted by pectorals. Ohma's muscles, he notes, are much better developed than when last they met. He's been working out.

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge (Impossible)

Ohma, understandably, responds to the sexual harassment by starting to call Kiryu an asshole but is cut off by him. Because Setsuna has one bit of very important information. Kiryu's master? The Man Ohma has been chasing for ten years?

Kiryu killed him.

End chapter.

Well, if I were to come up with a four word summary of this chapter, it'd be "Male Friendship and Continuity." A lot of previously seeded elements came up this chapter, including small gags like Ohma attacking those security guards, and had layers of significance added to them. It's shockingly efficient as this manga goes, and I liked…well, I liked most of it a great deal.

Might as well get the elephant in the room dealt with first, Kiryu Setsuna is back and he's gayer than ever. This scene will continue into next chapter, so I don't want to go on about it overlong, but the issues I had with him in chapter 12 are still a thing now, and even more intense. For fuck's sake, he deadass feels up Ohma's chest, obviously making him profoundly uncomfortable. And while it's not said directly, the coding is very strong. Kiryu Setsuna is gay, and specifically fucking predatory about it. Up close and touchy in a way his target clearly does not appreciate.

I wasn't exaggerating for comic effect when I called it Sexual Harassment, that's just what it is. And this is sadly not unusual behaviour for gay/gay-coded characters. And even sadder…it's going to get much worse, very quickly.

That said, I very much enjoyed the rest of the chapter. Yamashita getting to inadvertently flex his newfound connections on his bullying boss is a very basic sort of satisfaction, but it's made so much richer for me by how it actually does represent significant, subtle developments in Yamashita's character. It's a friend he made by being outspoken, by behaving in ways that don't come naturally to him, and who is in his own way worming Yamashita's shell open. Yamashita didn't just crumple or start bowing and scraping when Kenny's identity came out, he's found someone he's comfortable around, with whom he shares references and interests. It's sweet! And the support sorta takes the edge off Yamashita's precarious economic position.

God, it really has been a series of wins for Yamashita the last couple of chapters, hasn't it? Not to worry, we'll be moving out of this stage of the story very soon, and then the Looney tunes face will return.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Feb 10, 2023

We open on a gravel plain, the man with an outcrop for a face has been driven to his knees, gi tattered and fluttering in the wind and his blood staining the rocks. He pants, sweating and glowering, as his soon-to-be murderer steps up. The only blood marring the young man's taut, chiseled body that which he beat out of his own master. He asks said master for one last selfish favour. Can you give one final word to your student, who has surpassed you?

He died, it would seem, with no regrets.

I honestly like this, as a moment. Antagonists who are absolute, unflinching believers in their own philosophy down to the last moment, unbothered if said philosophy kills them as surely as they've killed so many others. Still terrible people, but as characters on a page? Charismatically terrible, in a way that can be satisfying to watch unfold. A nice moment of villainy, passed down from one bastard to another.

Savour the positive moment, 'cos it's all downhill from here.

We return to the present, and as Ohma squares up Kiryu admits he'd grown sick and tired of waiting. His master said he'd wait for Ohma on the battlefield, but the Kengan matches aren't the only underground combat league. The biggest, certainly, but not the only one. In fact, he and his master had been mainstays in the incredibly imaginatively named "Death Fight." Which, sponsored by people in an unelaborated 'business', actually allows weapons. Well, it did until Kiryu killed all the noteworthy fighters, at least. Then it got rather boring for him. So, because Ohma had blithered off elsewhere regardless, Kiryu decided to transfer to the Kengan Matches.

And here Kiryu's monologue turns into taunting. As a nondiegetic slimy, corrosive aura spills off him he asks Ohma, repeatedly, if he's mad. If he's mad that the man he's been chasing for so long has already been killed. If he's mad so much of his life has been wasted.

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge (Impossible)

And there's that name again. Niko. The Niko style. Ohma's pupils dilate, and we sink back into memory. A clear version of earlier flashbacks. A casually dressed man with long black hair lies dead on the floor, and his murderer tells Ohma that, if he wants revenge, to grow strong. He'll wait for him on the battlefield, to be found when Ohma has attained power. Kiryu promises to see him again someday, privately hoping it'll be as enemies. Ohma's world fades as the two men walk away, leaving only the shapes of his master and his enemies.

Back in the present once more, Ohma's teeth clench, as the name echoes again in his head.

Niko.

Kiryu clearly feels like his speech is having the proper effect. He exhorts Ohma, strike him down, with all of your anger! He ruined your vengeance? Bring all your hatred to bear and let him suffer! But he's interrupted. Ohma tells him not to get the wrong idea. Kiryu's confused, asks him to clarify, and Ohma obliges. He has it all backwards.

Vengeance was never his plan to begin with, Ohma proclaims with a very normal and definitely not manically rationalising expression. Niko, Kiryu's master, they died because they were weak, because they lost.

Highly normalpilled. Definitely not seething and coping.

Kiryu just sort of stares blankly at him for a moment, the sanest thing he's done onscreen so far, and takes a moment to run through Ohma's logic. As the man who killed his master, who killed Ohma's master, surely that makes Kiryu the reigning champion. Going by this new logic, shouldn't it be motivation enough for Ohma to fight him right now anyway? Ohma disagrees. Kiryu's fighting in the Annihilation tournament, right? A fantastic stage has been set up for them, for all the misguided bastards who think themselves the height of strength. He points dramatically at Kiryu and declares that he'll crush him in that tournament, along with all the other so called "strongest"

Kiryu looks at him, wide-eyed. Starts shaking. And then-

Jesus fucking christ, where do I even start.

Not pictured: the implied boner in the bottom half of the page

What the fuck do I say about this that isn't already obvious just from looking at this shoujo-trope laden bullshit? This isn't even fucking coding anymore, this has risen above subtext and is just fucking text. You can't call this queerbaiting, for one because it's so bloody blatant, and for another because maybe Queer-repulsing is just the better word. Because yeah, this is queerness wielded with intent to repulse. The posing, the sweating, the heated breathing, the yandere eyes, it's all constructed with a clear and singular intent. Kiryu Setsuna is not simply an evil madman who happens to be gay, he's an evil madman who's evil madness manifests in queerness.

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge (Impossible).

I'm gonna get some fucking mileage out of that running gag, I tell you right fucking now. Not least because the first panel of the next page is Kiryu ending his little rant by wistfully declaring, with tears in his eyes, that after he's killed Ohma, in the despair of losing him…he'll fucking jizz. Just, all up in his pants. No mincing words or fancy metaphors, just straight up informing Ohma that he will bust a nut over him. The first openly gay character in this manga, folks. Get fucking used to him, he'll be here for a while.

Ohma almost seems to find it funny, declaring Kiryu "impossible", but he still has his fucky starey eyes going so I'm not inclined to believe a word he says about his own feelings right now. In any case Kiryu feels he has no reason to be here anymore, since they've decided on settling this in the tournament, and promises to meet Ohma there. Ohma, crossing his arms and marshalling his face into his patented Lord and Sigma expression, tells him to hang on a sec and demands his name. Which Kiryu Setsuna shares happily, along with a demand of his own. To not forget it's the name of his nemesis. Then he fucks off and we can all breath a sigh of relief. Ohma is left alone in the lamplight. He mutters Kiryu's name to himself a few times. Turning it around in his mouth, contemplating.

And then he kicks the fucking streetlamp almost in half, mangling the metal of it so hard it topples and shatters its bulb on the park walkway.

Still just here to prove he's the strongest, btw. Definitely not holding any grudges or specific murderous intent.

The next page is a sprawling splash of a number of characters, and what they're doing right now. Mostly staring into the camera, though Yamashita's sleeping off that massive bender he went on with Kenny. Kiryu's back with his employer, though she's eyeing him suspiciously. Then, we cut to the sea at night, waves crashing against a harbour under a clouded sky.

Get hype. Chapter end.

Alright so…this is a chapter of two halves. Each of which I have very different feelings about. On the one hand it's the most interesting Ohma's been in the entire story. He's presented with information that completely recontextualises his motivations and then either wilfully lies about his feelings about it or is completely incapable of processing them. In either case rationalising a reaction that better fits how he wants to feel. There's potentially interesting directions that can go, and as of this chapter I struggle to believe it isn't deliberate.

On the other hand, pretty straightforward homophobia.

Here's the thing. Fiction says things. By simple virtue of being the sum of creative decisions made by thinking, political creatures, every piece of fiction communicates beliefs on the nature of people and reality. It doesn't even need to be part of the core theme or premise, simply by existing in a work elements stand as commentary, even more so if that element is unique within its kind. This angle of critique has more or less weight depending on the element at hand. For example, it's hardly much of an issue if the only straight white person in your work is a bloodlusted monster, both of those groups have no shortage of defenders and cultural inertia behind them, straight white people are under no real threat from anybody. It's quite a bit different for other groups, though, who are pushing against the tide of popular opinion.

To be clear, it is not inherently bad or a mistake to have a queer villain in your work of fiction. Even if they're rather horrible. However, you have to be extremely careful about how you use and write that villain, especially if they're the first and/or only queer character in your story. Or better yet, just don't make them the first and/or only one, just to be safe. Tokenism is bad for more reasons than just itself, it makes it extremely easy for a given character to stand as a commentary on an entire group.

We had a discussion of Coding in chapter 12, but this has pretty clearly gone rather beyond that. At best this author openly does not care to practise caution in how he writes marginalised people, and at worst this is actively representative of his feelings on those people. At least, as of the time this chapter was written and drawn.

See you all next time, hopefully you enjoyed this first glimpse of how bad it can get. For a given value of enjoyed.

Manic Dogma · Feb 13, 2023

It's an unusual day, at Nogi publishing.

Gossip runs hyperactive circles around the office. Yamashita has taken vacation time, for no apparent reason, and ten days of it at once! But that's not all. So has the CEO and his secretary. The link is clear, and these men have good reason to doubt coincidence, given Yamashita's recent shenanigans. They theorise that he's on a secret job with the CEO and, given the favour that implies, they make plans to start sucking up to him. Grease the wheels of their own career a bit, you know?

Yamashita's boss, meanwhile, is about to shit a scale model of Paris out of sheer outrage.

Take a deep breath dude, before you pop an artery.

As for Yamashita himself, he's at home, sorting out his affairs. As we join him he's knelt before his eldest son's room, explaining through the door what he's doing. Well, he phrases it as a business trip, which isn't technically a lie. In any case, he's left some money for Kenzo to use if he needs to buy food (which is rather funny, given Kenzo is as rich as Nogi), and notes that Yasuo has actually found legitimate work. In construction, no less. We get a panel of him at work too, a beam of wood over his shoulder and sweat pouring off him in whitewater sheets. He's putting in the hours.

Yamashita leaves, asking Kenzo to give him a call if he needs anything. He'll see him when he gets back.

Kenzo, surprisingly enough, is actually listening. Stood, leant against the other side of the door with a flat, faintly sad look on his face. Then he moves to the window, and watches his father leave. The tournament is beginning. He has Ohta there to send him all the information and footage he needs. He's perfectly placed. It's time to take the nation from his bedroom.

And then, a shift in Japan's economic wind. Directors, CEOs, Top executives of all kinds suddenly vanish for a variety of reasons, a mass simultaneous leave of absence. Hilariously, it's actually noted to play hell with japan's economy, which I do find a little hard to believe. It's just one man from each company, for ten days. Surely their executive staff can keep things ticking day to day for that long.

Either way, it isn't lingered on for long.

Ah yes, that noted ironclad Association Secrecy.

Thousands of people are gathering on these obscure docks, and Yamashita is in awe of the number. Most of them will be audience or retinues though, Akiyama notes that 151 corporations have entered the tournament. This means 151 CEOs, and 151 fighters, and all the support staff that come with that. They aren't here with Nogi though, which presents a question. Why is Akiyama here and not with him? She huffs, and goes on a little rant about her boss not deigning to inform her about something as important as the company's representative fighter, or indeed about the other thing she can tell they're plotting, but still won't discuss with her. It's…reasonable, frankly? Like, she's his secretary, it's her job to know what he's doing and execute on it, and by all indications she's very good at it. Yamashita, and the framing, dismiss it as sulking though. Mark another one up on your microaggression bingo card, friends.

Technically, this is not a public space, being an invitation only event, but with this many people around you could well consider it one. And as such, it's little surprise that the little group is being watched. Specifically by the Koyo Academy group, where Kiryu is making friends with Soryuin's secretary, who points out Ohma. Kiryu confirms that he is indeed Ohma, and asks her opinion.

Taken out of context, this panel is pretty cute.

After a brief round of appreciating how hot Ohma is (which is fair, he's currently Chill Ohma, who's absolutely pretty hot) Soryuin contemplates how strange it is that Nogi would remove Ohma as his company's representative. And then immediately clocks what his strategy is. Then she sees who Nogi's fighter is going to be and apparently nearly bites her cigarette in half. Seems like she has history with Hatsumi Sen, who is currently whinging like a massive baby over Akiyama choosing to travel with Yamashita and Ohma.

"Somehow", eh. You know what you did.

Hatsumi sweats with terror over having to spend the boat trip with "a stuffy old man", and Nogi tries to calm him down. It's a ship, once Anchor is pulled they'll run into each other whether they like it or not. The womanising prick and the condescending prick will just have to put up with each other for a bit. Nogi would have gone on with further placations for his flighty fighter, but he's cut off. Rank upon rank of huge, burly men seem to simply manifest from the sea air, and the man at their head declares that the boarding procedure will now commence.

The CEOs and retinues chatter about it. These are the Bodyguards, Katahara's private army of hand to hand specialists and personal enforcers. Intimidating, to be sure, particularly with their clear discipline. And interestingly, as the business folk make their commentary, both Ohma and Kiryu react to them the exact same way. With a wary, measuring look, like they're calculating their odds against another fighter they can tell is serious business.

But they don't get time to linger on that. The bodyguard raises a piece of blank paper, marked with a japanese character enclosed by a Hexagon. Anyone with this invitation should assemble near the Bodyguards. Soryuin has one, and so does Nogi, but Yamashita does not. With that noted, the lead Bodyguard points those who have an invitation to their destination.

I do enjoy when comics play with panel limits.

We get a brief half page of that happening. It's not everyone, but we get to see a few familiar folks who got special attention, for whatever reason. Shikano and Sekibayashi are there and happy to be so. Nogi and Hatsumi scale the onboarding staircase with oddly wary, hunted expressions. Seisuke and his incredibly illegal fighter follow, the latter in shackles and head hidden (still not telling <3) and Soryuin boards as her secretary and fighter continue to make jolly conversation.

Honestly, it's moments like this that really make me sad that Kiryuin is such a grossly written character. I'd really like to be able to just enjoy these panels, because they really do feel like two people building a nice, platonic friendship on their mutual appreciation for sexy men.

Anyway, returning to our main characters, Yamashita points out that it is, in fact, a pretty big ship. Akiyama clarifies for us that yes, it's obscenely fucking huge. The numbers don't particularly mean anything to me, 380 metres long and 250 thousand tons, but she claims it's the world's biggest passenger ship. Maybe there's a ship nerd in the thread who could let us know if that's just impressively big, or outright ridiculous. Either way, turns out Ohma's never ridden a ship before? Makes sense frankly, he barely seems like he's been in polite society before.

The Bodyguards make some surreptitious communication, and the Lead apologises to the remaining people for the delay, and they'll now begin boarding too. A little snapshot follows of the rest as they bemoan their wait, and express confusion at the invitees getting to board first. One man calls it out as discrimination, which is more accurate than he knows. Because the Bodyguards stop the people as they move forwards. Oh no, not the SS Kengan, you plebs. You'll be boarding the other one.

Or in its official documentation, the SS Tetanus.

Everyone immediately and obviously goes ballistic, including discrimination guy and Yamashita, who goes deathly pale in anticipation of just how seasick he's about to be. Funnily enough, Hatsumi is also losing his shit from the cushy quarters aboard the Kengan. Nogi saw this coming, he notes as he sips on whisky, and Hatsumi presses him for what he's thinking. Nogi notes that it's actually pretty convenient for them. Anything can happen in this tournament, and Akiyama's a professional. It's best for Yamashita if he has as many competent people keeping him corralled as possible.

So yeah, he pissed her off on purpose rather than just…tell her to help Yamashita. Fucking prick.

Anyway, we return to the passengers on the SS Annihilation in a grimy, debris-filled room with a heavy set of iron doors to one side and a two-lane staircase to the other. Yamashita is anxiously awed even by this place, and Akiyama notes how unsettling it is. Ohma though, actually feels more comfortable here, and a little shadow behind him agrees.

Mmmm, look at those background pipes.

Who are you talking to? Yamashita asks Ohma, who blithely points out the short lady with a bob cut who's been following them for a while. Why? She apologises, claiming she missed the chance to introduce herself, so goes ahead and does it now. She's Kushida Rin, here on Nogi's orders to be Yamashit's secretary. Akiyama's placidly surprised, Ohma actually teases Yamashita, yukking up how he's made his way up in the world, and Yamashita himself does as Yamashita does. Get incredibly flustered and then interrupted when he asks what's going on.

So yeah, this is what Nogi meant when he said "as many assistants as possible."

Anyway, the interruption. A Bodyguard is here, and points a hand to each portal. The fighters are to enter the doors, and all other passengers are to ascend the stairs. Ohma immediately obliges, giving Yamashita an idle farewell and wave, and the two secretaries lead the way up. The poor man's about to have an aneurysm, everything's happening too fast for him to process. Ultimately his brain shuts off decisionmaking and he just chases the secretaries, as Ohma ambles toward the steel doors. His gait is casual, hands in pockets, but his eyes are in that high-contrast style that happens when he's focused.

And interestingly, Kushida watches him go with the exact same kind of eyes.

The camera follows Ohma from here as he enters a massive, open room, filled with the other fighters. Dozens of men arrayed loosely in groups and alone, of a fair number of body types.

Sure, bro. Just keep saying that.

We're in it now, folks. End chapter.

A chapter without much of particular impact to say. Akiyama's shift to Yamashita's party will be an ongoing thing from here out, but it's not especially important to the story. The bait-and-switch with the ships was fun at least, but all in all it's another simple transitional chapter. Which isn't to say the basic groundwork for something significant hasn't been laid down. Sure, some people got straight onto the SS Kengan, but a lot of folk got sent to the Annihilation for a reason.

After all, even for a manga, even for a tournament arc, 151 character groups is a bit of a bloated roster. Gonna need to slice that down to something more manageable.

See you next time folks, for some housecleaning.

Manic Dogma · Feb 17, 2023

The SS Annihilation is a scam. Oh, the hull is certainly an intimidatingly rusty pile of imminent tetanus, but now that the wealthy CEOs are inside they find themselves in a space of eminent comfort. It's surely nothing to the amenities aboard the SS Kengan, but this room is still well appointed. Its centerpiece is a massive glass structure in the middle, providing an unobstructed view of all the fighters below. At one end of the room is a podium flanked by statues of classically dressed women and backed by an immense bank of monitors providing different angles on the carnage to come. And both sides of the room are lined with open bars, tables and other comforts.

Yamashita and crew though, are immediately taken with the centerpiece. He and Kushida dart straight up to it and press their faces against the glass, oohing and aahing at the stirring swarm of fighters. Much to Akiyama's chagrin, she insists they stop embarrassing themselves. I'd say it's a little rude, but they're literally leaning into the glass and squishing their noses on it, so whatever.

And then, after a moment's searching, they spot Ohma.

I'd get used to it, Akiyama. You aren't working with professionals here.

With an abrupt yelp, Yamashita realises what Ohma's after. Ohma gave Yamashita his things to hold at the harbour, and somewhere in the mess was a bottle of some sort of drink. Going by the translation notes, a sort of…bottled, cold tea? Doesn't make sense to me, as an englishman, but I don't drink tea of any kind so who am I to judge. Anyway, Yamashita scrambles to take the tea down to Ohma, but Akiyama interjects. As the president of Yamashita Trading company, after a fashion, he has his dignity to maintain. She will take the drink down to Ohma.

…this for some reason prompts Kushida to wonder if Akiyama and Ohma are an item. Yamashita initially claims no, but when Kushida notes she thinks they'd make a cute couple (...why?) he reconsiders in his head. Maybe it is possible? Back in the real world, he stops to wonder why they put the employers and fighters in different rooms. While standing in a room very obviously built to facilitate spectatorship.

Kengan Asura, please, you have got to respect your audience a little more when you decide what's unobvious enough to be considered a twist. Please, for the love of god.

Down in the fighter's room, Ohma necks the entire bottle of tea with nary a pause for breath, thanking Akiyama as a lifesaver. She disinterestedly asks if there's anything else she can do, and if not she's going back up, but Ohma stops her with a question. What does she think of 'this situation?' Because everyone in this manga except Ohma is, for the moment, desperately fucking stupid she looks back at him queryingly. Oh, and Ohma continues to call her Kaede when she expressly asks to be called Miss Akiyama, because of course he does.

And then, very briefly, we cut to the ship's bridge. A seaman approaches the captain, a walking stereotype, and informs him they're ready to leave port. Good, the captain says.

Can you tell this artist loves drawing grizzled older men?

Back to Ohma and Akiyama, Ohma elaborates on what he means. This is a clearly unnatural situation. All the fighters are in one place, there's a glass ceiling to peer through. It's like they're putting on a show. You and I, fair reader, being people with working eyeballs and at least one and a half braincells between us, have already worked out what's happening. But Akiyama, a slave to the poorly set up twist, turns pale with fear as it sinks in. The ship leaves port…

And the doors of the Fighter's area slam shut. The intercom crackles to life immediately after, asking for the attention of Employers and Fighters. This is an announcement to thank both for their patience, and to inform them that the ship has left port.

He may be a stereotype, but he's a well-drawn one.

Yamashita and Akiyama are aghast, nobody said anything about preliminaries. Fortunately, though he obviously cannot hear them, the captain is happy to explain. 151 companies enrolled into the tournament, and 28 of them have already been selected to participate in the final tournament by the Chairman's invitation. 151 is obviously far too many, so the preliminaries have been introduced to cut them down until the five remaining spots in the tournament proper have been filled. And in case you are beginning to worry about padding, this won't be a sub-tourney or anything. It's a Battle Royale. The fighters have until sunrise. If there are more than five fighters left standing by that deadline, everyone will be disqualified. If at any point five fighters remain, the preliminaries end, regardless of the remaining time.

And, he states as Akiyama slams desperately on the entrance doors, until the Preliminaries have ended contact with the fighters for any reason is Prohibited.

As he rattles off a few last formalities we flip back to Yamashita and Kushida's reactions. Yamashita is as Yamashita does, quietly freaking out over the danger Akiyama's in. Kushida though, is making those Ohma Eyes again, noting how grim the situation has become with a sort of distant laissez faire. She gets a panel all to herself for it too, we're definitely expected to clock that there's something off with her.

But we'll have to get to that another time, because Ohma seems broadly aware of the danger too. Not that he particularly cares overmuch, dismissing it as just how the cookie crumbles. Well, just gotta get this shit done, he says, try not to get in my way. At this point Akiyama honest to god smacks him in the back of the head, asking if he's fucking dense. It's great. When he turns around to ask her what the fuck, Akiyama points out that it's 100% his fault that she's trapped here to begin with. And she's right, even taking the tea into account if he hadn't held her up with questions she'd have been well on her way before the doors shut. So, it's his responsibility.

I fucking love these expressions. He's completely taken aback by her nerve.

And then, because there's a point to be made, a couple of roughs immediately jump Ohma. For some reason shrieking about how he's "bringing a chick in here", apparently taking Akiyama's presence as neither of them taking this seriously rather than the cascade of stupidity it was. But, Akiyama's gotten over her initial panic at being trapped, and now neither of them are particularly concerned. Because, well…

Specific techniques now, eh? Starting to feel like a martial art.

Akiyama herself said it. No normal fighter poses a threat to Ohma at this point. As the two men drop like sacks of wet potatoes, not quite able to process how they got clocked, Ohma accedes to Akiyama's demands. Get ready to be protected, your majesty, he says.

Around them other fighters are awed by the display, and loudly debate between themselves. Should they take him out, one asks? He'll be a bitch to handle later, another points out. In agreement, someone or other states the plan. Crush him with numbers. Then…

"TOKITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ohma's confused and slightly irritated, but Akiyama recognises that voice.

Guess who's back, baby.

No, I will not be spelling it fucking "Lihito."

It's Rihito! And he charges in, yelling about how much he's missed Ohma. Idk if I ship it, but he gets interrupted anyway. Some larger fellow with a face covered in stitches demands to know if Rihito's forgotten him, and declares that he's gonna get his revenge for the scars he gave him. Rihito asks who the fuck he is, and then rips his neck open like a tube of yoghurt.

I'm…not even going to question how I'm supposed to believe he survives that. I cannot be arsed anymore.

But it did more than call back to old bits of weirdness. Ohma seems shocked, noting that Rihito slashed that guy from point blank, where he needed a windup when they fought. He's gotten better, much better. And with distraction out of the way, Rihito turns on Ohma with boundless enthusiasm, reiterating how much he's missed him and how it's totally because he's gone through harrowing training to beat him and not his juicy gams.

And then sadly the Rihito In Denial jokes are cut off at the pass, as he's promptly distracted again by Akiyama's presence. Or perhaps hypnotised is a better word. To his credit, his first question is what she's doing here, and she explains. Though I'm less impressed with how several panels track down over Akiyama's body, and his immediate second question is if she's single. And he clearly wasn't listening to a word of her explanation.

Excuse me as I take a moment to wearily sigh. It's always Akiyama this shit happens to, as well.

Anyway, even with his head in the clouds Rihito picks up the general idea of what's happened and comes to a decision.

Without even pause for breath he claps Ohma on the shoulders, insisting on friendliness. Ohma, mildly perturbed, notes he thought Rihito was here to fight him, and Rihito doesn't disagree. But he's decided that he'll get his revenge in the main tournament, and for now he's gonna make sure Ohma gets there and protect Akiyama. Ohma remains baffled and slightly concerned, but Rihito steams on ahead regardless. Together they're a bull on steroids, an invincible force! Ohma dryly asks to be listened to, and gets no answer.

Rihito definitely hasn't been drinking his respect women juice, but at least he's no longer using them as jewellery. Though whether that's by choice or lack of access, I couldn't say.

In any case the other fighters, who've been waiting very politely all this time, recognise their cue and get shirty with the two of them. Apparently sure someone's taking the piss, the cry goes out. Kill them both! And, well, if they'd struggle to overwhelm Ohma on his own…

Rihito's whole deal was that he was another rising star, another prodigal newcomer to the Kengan matches. Not a normal fighter, even as he was then, and by his own admission he's been training like hell since then. Apparently finally having overcome the arrogance born of natural strength. At least to an extent. And just…

Okay, "this guy's on a whole other level!" is just like catnip to me, I'm sorry. My wibbly, juvenile shonen brain is showing, it's just cool and kinda lands right now. Though it helps that it's not just Ohma getting hyped up for once.

But the good times can't go on forever. After punching out some dude with a weird football haircut Rihito stops and cackles about how easy this is, demanding the other contestants show a little spine. And then, one kindly obliges, winding around a surprised Rihito like a goddamn snake. Rihito, snarling, wonders how the hell this git snuck up on him, he didn't sense him at all. Apparently anticipating the question Shimoda Saji, fighter for Greater Asia Airlines, notes Rihito was too distracted by small fry to notice him. And asks if he isn't pushing his luck a little. Rihito actually recognises this guy now, calling him "Beastman Saji", and despite the pressure being put on his throat seems happy that there's someone here with some grit.

Back with Ohma, a scream sounds through the arena, and some of the other fighters are freaking out over some other dude who just will not stop. Stay back! They cry out, but he does not. Without breaking stride he ploughs through them, scattering bodies like autumn leaves before screeching to a halt, only of his own accord. Ohma looks tired already, and Akiyama curious.

PERFECT, the man screams, in english.

Is…is this racist? I'm not sure what to think, but it feels racist.

As the man dances in the background, spouting random english euphemisms, Ohma asks Kaede if that's a fighter. Obviously he is, or he wouldn't be here clapping cheeks like he just did, but Akiyama is hesitant. Apparently based entirely on his demeanour. Ohma just shrugs. He looks entertaining.

Jerry Tyson turns to stare Ohma down, and with a glint of his pearly whites asks, are you my next target? End chapter.

Hoo, crikey, readers. We're getting into it now. This chapter was a mixed bag. The whole thing in the start playing up what the rooms were even for as a mystery was just…sad? Like, it's so unspeakably obvious what that's for, I can only imagine the intent was as some kind of dramatic irony. But the characters involved, some of them at least, are much too smart to not pick up on that so I feel like it falls flat. And on top of that poor Akiyama, the Sexism Nexus, continues to suffer. There are a few moments where she's on top form, but largely she's just kind of a victim here.

On the other hand, take the sexism out and I'd have really enjoyed Rihito's reintroduction. It's a natural fit for this point in the story, and importantly all of the Alpha Struggle Bullshit from their first encounter is absolutely nowhere to be found. Ohma is just the nonplussed straight man to Rihito the large, excitable dog, and it's honestly a pretty fun dynamic. And then, yeah, the panels of the two of them going all dynasty warriors on the other preliminary fighters was just pure indulgence, but it's the fun kind. A good old fashioned "look at these guys, aren't they badass" action beat with good art backing it up and no alpha bullshit or Aggro Ohma dragging it down.

Jerry Tyson…I'm unsure of, frankly. Genuinely. I know I'll like him in future for his role going forward, but this first impression is kinda rough. At best I feel like he's leaning into the stereotype of Americans in manga, big loud and swear-ey, but the specific stereotypey dialect he was swearing in gives me pause.

Well, it's not like he'll be the most racist Black Guy we'll see going forward anyway. I know some of you are excited to get to that one.

See you all next time!

Manic Dogma · Feb 20, 2023

The melee has begun, powerful figures clashing on the slightly poky field of battle as swathes of rich pricks look on in hedonistic amusement. You all know what that means!

Gambling!

Oh, right, and Akiyama is apparently still in mortal peril. I guess. Fortunately at least one person in the Yamashita party has a good sense of what's actually going down, and as such Kushida chivvies Yamashita away, pointing out how unlikely it is that the Association is going to make any exceptions. Frankly, I feel like they probably would have happily made an exception for a CEO, but we'll leave that unsaid I suppose. Anyway, more to the point Kushida reminds Yamashita that Akiyama has Ohma with her, there's nothing to worry about, lets make some bets!

Initially, because he's an anxious sort, Yamashita turns her down. He's an emotionally drained mess right now, and really not in the mood to throw money around. Then he spots the bulletin board and leaps on the distraction. Each entry is clearly a fighter, but they're also accompanied by a number of unclear meaning. Kushida helpfully explains that said number is the total liquid assets that the fighter has won for their company in the Kengan Matches.

The offhanded "or die" is a grimly telling detail.

Now isn't this interesting? Some of you may recall earlier discussion in the thread on just this subject, about how all the fighters shown so far have incredibly bloated win records that test the suspension of disbelief of certain readers. This page all but confirms that, yeah, it's not a natural thing. The Kengan Matches aren't a traditional combat league that tests for and pursues a complete understanding of the combat sport in question, it's a system of trial by combat organised by a swarm of hungry capitalists. If a company is leaning on a fighter's prowess to sustain their wealth and accrue more, then the bean counters aren't going to suffer a fighter who can't deliver the goods. This strongly suggests that the lower tiers of the Kengan Matches are a constant churn of new faces coming in and leaving when they find the general level of the matches too high for them to maintain a strong positive record. And, well, there's no requirement for fighters to regularly face people on par with or better than them. In fact, that's likely very rare, a gamble only taken when a company stands to gain in unique, otherwise irreplicable ways. It's a fundamentally different angle on how a combat league would function.

Of course, this is just as a general rule, there's clearly exceptions. Hatsumi Sen is powerful enough on a good day that he's apparently sometimes worth betting on. Kaburagi's goal wasn't necessarily winning to begin with, and his employer likely saw compensation for his tactics somehow. And hey, if your fighter gets walloped by someone like Sekibayashi Jun or the Fang of Metsudo then that doesn't necessarily suggest they can't win you success elsewhere. That said, even in that context we already have an example of a strong fighter getting fired after a single loss in a fit of pique on his employer's part. That's exactly what happened to Rihito, after all.

Kushida finishes her little lecture by noting a fighter who's been in a lot of matches, but with low assets acquired, is probably a throwaway fighter for low stakes stuff the employer doesn't really care about that much. Yamashita, feeling very educated right now, notes that the low matches/high assets sort sounds a lot like Ohma- and immediately starts panicking again. Kushida asks if he's going to bet, but she goes unheard as Yamashita rushes to check on Ohma and Akiyama.

It's absolute Pandemonium down there, fighters of all styles, all (male) shapes and all sizes beating the everloving piss out of each other. Every moment fighters are getting knocked out as this or that opponent lands a telling blow.

And around Yamashita, other CEOs are feeling the pain too as they watch their fighter go down for the count. One explicitly curses his foul luck, lamenting his five billion yen (lol big number amirite) entrance fee, but a few others seem more philosophical about it. One notes that, well, yeah obviously every fighter here would be strong. They're fighting for entry into the biggest tournament in the business. Another agrees, at this point there's no telling who'll be the last ones standing.

This, though, Yamashita would disagree with.

And then, we get a brief shotgun blast introducing us to each of the people Yamashita picks out as exceptional.

First, several men reel in baffled fear, incapable of understanding the style before them. An effete man dances above them like a crane, bouncing from shoulder to shoulder as his feet crush their dreams and dislocate their jaws.

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge (Impossible)

A half dozen men surround one and charge in screaming his death. They do not see it when it happens, all they know is the world begins to swim before their eyes, and their legs melt out from beneath them. All five men collapse to the floor asking a single question.

What happened?

Of course he works for an oil company.

The man would be unassuming. His dress is workmanlike. His figure is broad, but far from chiseled. But he is a giant, and his fists smite with the weight of mountains. A single blow and the wall of muscle before him is sent hurtling across the room like a broken doll. Undaunted, a challenger approaches behind him, idly appreciating the stranger's strength.

69 420, you say?

Across the room Shimoda Saji, with his 2 win perfect record and assets acquired of 4 billion, 21 million yen still has his perfect, python-like grip on Rihito. You can't hope to turn things around from this position, he says, even as Rihito's eyes bug out and he snarls like a cornered cat.

And then we get to see Ohma's opponent.

…yeah, what Ohma said, the fuck kinda goofy-ass stance is that?

And then we get to see Ohma's current state. Affiliated with Yamashita trading Company. 3 win perfect record. Assets acquired? 15 billion, 414 million.

Kushida finally catches up with Yamashita, complaining that he had her looking all over for him. But he's unbothered. With a confident smile he turns to her. He thinks he has a good idea of which fighters will stand unconquered at the end of this.

And then it turns out the Association doesn't accept bets as pedestrian as ten thousand yen. How plebeian, Kushida thinks.

…anyway, wasn't there a fight scene happening?

Right, yeah, Jerry Tyson.

Whatever his goofy-ass bullshit is, it's clearly taking Ohma completely by surprise. Particularly when, after streaking past him at Mach Fuck, the guy literally screeches to a halt on a penny and is careening back at Ohma within the second. And I do mean literally, he has a little sfx bubble next to him going EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK as he stops!

But Ohma hasn't seen anything yet, Jerry thinks to himself as launches repeatedly at Ohma at speed. Anytime, forever, he chases his enemy down until they're destroyed. That's the spirit of Xing Yi Quan.

Now, any of you with half an ounce of awareness of Chinese martial arts are probably aware that there's no Superman Pose in…any of those. At all, to my knowledge. But not to worry, it's time for a backstory cutaway!

Jerry Tyson was born in Detroit, a city in the US state Michigan, and all through his youth excelled in every sport he tried, particularly track sprinting. And when he was seventeen his family moved to china along with his father's job, where he discovered Chinese Wushu.

At least it isn't a white guy for once, I guess?

At this point however, a question reared its head in the back of his mind. Why animals? In an absolutely majestic display of both hubris and his uncanny ability to completely miss the fucking point, he came to conclusion that the days that animals claimed overwhelming power came to an end with the evolution of humans. Never mind the fact that humans still cannot physically keep up with many animals in terms of strength, speed, agility or resilience, that isn't even how this shit works. You don't just magically become as strong as a lion, you draw lessons from its bearing and motion to optimise a human's physicality for…you know what never fucking mind, we haven't even hit the dumbest part yet. Because when he's done wondering why he's imitating animals that are "weaker" than humans (mmfffffucking not how it works) he comes to the conclusion that what he should be imitating is…weapons. Yeah. Lotta lessons in how to move the human body for greatest effect to be learned from a fucking missile.

…Thinking about it, this might actually be the most bitingly accurate satire of American attitudes toward weapons I've ever seen. Food for thought.

Whatever, seven years later he apparently completed his own form of Xing Yi Quan that draws inspiration from modern weaponry. And the part he's most proud of is the Scud Missile technique. Now, as far as I can tell from a brief skim of the wiki page, the Scud missile is a broad category of ballistic missile. Gigantic fuck-off things that streak down out of the blue and blow you to shit, tactical weapons of linear destructive power. If his technique were just a ridiculously fast charging blow that makes use of his whole body the analogy would work. But according to Jerry Tyson, they can pull hairpin turns when dodged. I wasn't aware tactical ordinance had advanced homing capabilities sharp enough to be used in a dogfight.

Then, just to try to hype this deranged nonsense up some more, a rando decides that he wants to take a crack. Jerry's side is wide open, he says. Which is objectively true! His arms are pointed in front of him in the fucking superman pose! But ol' Jerry just says no. The man bounces off, pinwheeling away with a contrail of his own blood. Jerry is moving at high speeds, and weighs about 100 kilograms he says, attacking him when he's moving is like charging into a big rig in motion.

My…my fucking dude. That might make sense if they hit you from the front, but he was taking a shot at your fucking kidneys. Yeah your forward momentum probably deflects some of the strike's force, but that blow is perpendicular to the direction your stupid ass is moving.

Anyway, Jerry pulls another circle through the crowd, mowing people down, and retargets on Ohma once more. Being, as has hopefully become clear, rather fucking stupid, Jerry takes Ohma ceasing to dodge as him giving up. Only realising right at the last second that maybe the shit he's doing with his hands means something.

Ohma deftly pivots Jerry at the surrounding wall, to the man's shock and his own smug satisfaction. This is, unfortunately, not enough to stop him. Cackling about how Ohma's "more fresh than mama's apple pie" he hops into the air and flips, landing on the wall with his feet. Somehow this does not kill all his momentum, but instead redoubles it, and he launches himself off the wall at speeds enough that he decides he counts as a full metal jacket now.

Fucken, gimme a moment…[googling noises]...alright, a Full Metal Jacket is a kind of ammunition that surrounds the usual heavier, softer lead alloy core with a Jacket of a much harder metal. This allows for higher muzzle velocities, which I guess is where the reference is going here. Makes way more sense than the Scud missile nonsense.

Anyway, his thoughtless ricochet has now put him onto an imminent collision course with Akiyama. Whoopsie doodle!

Apparently now he can't pull those hairpin turns he was doing so handily before, so Akiyama is in mortal peril I guess. It's not the stupidest swerve this fight has taken, actually it's probably the first one that makes full sense and follows from the aesthetic of his technique. But it's come on the heels of so much arbitrary bullshit that all the intended effect is just completely lost on me.

Whatever, it's fine anyway, Ohma's here to save the day.

Is this what Ohma actually flirting looks like?

Akiyama might be distracted from her initial surprise right now, but Jerry sure as hell isn't. While the writers turn what could have been a cute moment into more stupid, sexist bullshit by mishandling the bickering that follows, Jerry sits flat on his ass and wonders how he managed to avoid a collision. And furthermore, how the hell he got knocked back what looks like almost twenty feet when he was charging forward with his full weight.

Ohma, apparently getting bored with bullying Akiyama, turns on Jerry. He doesn't like using this technique, he claims. He thinks its lame, you see. So Jerry had best be careful, because unlike the redirection kata, he doesn't have full control over this one.

And so we see our second technique of the Niko Style. The Adamantine Kata: Indestructible. End chapter.

Oof, that was a long one. I'm not sure why this chapter is suddenly 31 pages long, when most of the previous have been 20-ish pages, but it is what it is. And what it is is another mixed bag. We have the first indication of something that'll be important with Yamashita, that's good. And another solid bit of worldbuilding on the Association itself, courtesy of Kushida. And would you look at all those colourful characters we'll probably see more of later.

And then Jerry Fucking Tyson, jesus christ. You'd think the writer of a martial arts manga would realise that learning an animal-themed martial art isn't like eating its heart to gain its strength, or some other linear buff. It's observing patterns of motion and posture, learning effective angles of attack, incisive philosophies of battle and ways to optimise the impact of human physiology. One could suggest the author does get it, and Jerry is supposed to come off as kind of a doofus, but then why does this demented nonsense get so much of the chapter dedicated to building heat for it? Maybe it's just heat for the Adamantine Kata, idk.

Side note, this chapter gave us a profile page for Kiryu Setsuna. And fucking christ.

Vindication once more. But in a bad way this time. Manga Don't Be Weird About etc etc.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Feb 24, 2023

Coming in hot off the heels of last chapter, Ohma has been forced to pull another technique out of his bag of tricks. The Adamantine Kata: Indestructible. Informatively named, if not particularly evocative. But Ohma isn't really a fan of the style, lame, he calls it, and Akiyama's busy being generally unimpressed with the whole situation. Leaving only poor old Jerry Tyson to sweat anxiously over the implications all on his own.

Then we zoom in on Ohma's eye and find ourselves in another time and place.

I don't think this one's adoptable.

We all recognise this little creature, don't we? Yeah, this is Ohma in his childhood, probably like 8 or 9 years old, living in what looks like an apocalyptic wasteland. And very emphatically failing to stab some poor bloke while gritting his teeth so hard his gums are bleeding.

The knife breaks before his victim's skin does.

Hm, well, victim is the wrong word. The man patiently explains to Ohma that he's never going to beat him like he is now. A ball of feral survivalism and hostility, thoughtlessly raging at the world.

Looks kinda like Hatsumi Sen, doesn't he?

Finally, a face to put to the name. Baby Ohma doesn't take the offer any better than anything else so far, promptly swiping a rock off the grown and hucking it at Niko with a screaming refusal to learn jack shit from him. The rock hits Niko's chest and promptly blows apart into gravel and dust. He compliments Ohma on the hit.

This finally gets through to the boy that shit's real. He watches the fragments scatter to the ground and wonder what the hell's this guy made of. Niko blithely continues to offer training to the human honey badger, but it doesn't go any better this time, and Ohma decides that since his knife and a large rock didn't do the trick, maybe his bare hands will fare better. Not an unwarranted decision given the genre he's in, but he clearly hasn't eaten enough of his kung fu weetabix yet for that to work. Niko advises him not to try it, then blandly stands there with a faintly exhausted look on his face as Ohma does it anyway. Then when Ohma backs off with bleeding knuckles, gives him a good old fashioned I Told You So.

And then a Lecture. This man just does not give a shit that this is roughly equivalent to lecturing a feral cat about 16th Century French Court etiquette, does he? Though I guess it obviously works eventually given the present Ohma, so I'll just shut up.

Niko proceeds to explain why Ohma's hands got fucked up by asking a question. If a ten kilogram block of tofu and a ten kilogram block of iron hit you at the exact same speed, which would hurt more? Ohma's answer is that he'll kill him. What Niko's trying to communicate, he gamely clarifies regardless, is that the harder one hurts more. By way of demonstration, he turns to a nearby wall and tells Ohma to watch closely, before charging it. At the moment of impact…

Like I brought up briefly regarding chapter 10 and the Mosquito's effects, this is a classic battle manga move. Because what Niko is describing here is, technically, a real thing. Though obviously in real life it doesn't have anything like the same effect. Immediately after this panel Niko explains that the fundamentals of the Adamantine Kata involve tensing the muscles in your body with precise timing, turning them into something like armour. And yeah, tensing your muscles does something like that in real life. If someone goes to punch you in the gut, a very good piece of advice is to tense up before impact because it makes it harder for the force to penetrate to your soft, vulnerable organs. It'll still hurt like hell, and there's no chance of you ever destroying rebar-reinforced concrete using it, but it feels right as an escalation for this sort of manga.

We leave the flashback here, with Niko asking Ohma once more if he wants to learn the style and the boy screamingly refusing again, returning to Ohma's unhappy face as he notes to Niko that he'll be borrowing his style again. Which is an interesting way to look at it, I think. Usually a student would take ownership of a style, especially if their master is dead.

Anyway, Ohma charges Jerry, who is baffled by the move. He outweighs Ohma fairly significantly, after all, and has dismissed what happened immediately prior as a miracle, so clearly Ohma will be blown away in a contest of linear strength. Thus, abandoning defense entirely, he leans forward into his Patriot technique. Basically his Scud technique, but he leans deeper into it and pulls his arms back to reduce air resistance, and since Patriots are Surface-to-Air missiles the name also makes a bit more sense. It, he claims, can destroy any opponent.

But we aren't even in the tournament yet, so he's obviously wrong. As he rises from his low charge to drive his chambered fists into Ohma, the younger man does the exact same thing Niko did in the flashback. Except instead of concrete, his clenched muscles hit Jerry's fists.

To much the same effect.

In this moment we dip briefly back into flashback, as Niko further explains Indestructible.

Basically what I said before, but with the added note that it only works on opponents up to a certain weight above you. Which makes sense! If a blow has enough sheer mass and stopping power behind it to throw you off your feet regardless of your stance, then a technique like this isn't going to properly nullify that blow. Only mitigate it, at best. An interesting note for a martial arts battle manga to make.

Anyway, foreshadowing of future relevance of weight classes aside, we leave this flashback with one last bit of unrelated foreshadowing. That when Ohma has mastered all the techniques of each branch, Niko will teach him the Secret Technique of the Niko style. Which raises the question of how that's going to work if Niko's dead, but you bet your ass we're going to see eventually.

Anyway, Jerry tries to summon a second wind and headbutt Ohma, landing his face right onto Ohma's outstretched elbow. This fight is done. Jerry goes down realising that he can't win with his paltry imitations of modern weapons.

Lol, look at this mazinger-ass looking dude.

Yamashita celebrates, as he is wont, vindicated once again by his belief in Ohma's strength. Kushida has her Ohma eyes on again though, impressed by how easily he flexed on Jerry. But corrects herself, perhaps she should have expected that from a fighter Nogi had been scoping out. Or rather, from Tokita Niko's successor.

There's a lot of shit Kushida isn't telling, isn't there?

Anyway, we return quickly to Ohma, who's returned to his habit of complimenting his opponents after he's already put them in no state to receive that compliment. However, he's interrupted by a twinge in his side, which he rubs down with an irritable grimace. He wasn't kidding earlier when he says he tries not to use it. His Adamantine Kata isn't a patch on what Niko demonstrated all that time ago, and as such he still felt a significant amount of the force of Jerry's technique.

He's kicked out of his grumbling by Akiyama, who darts in from offscreen to point something out to him. He turns, initially with his driest face, but his eyes immediately bug out with shock. And far above in the audience floor his surprise is mirrored by Yamashita, who asks how this could possibly be. And then we pull back even further! A bellow of shock rings out across the bridge, from which a seaman sprints down to the captain's quarters, calling the older man from his bed in star-pattern pyjamas.

There are only five fighters remaining. The preliminaries are over.

The captain sweats furiously. It's been only fifteen minutes! This is far too soon! He was hoping to catch a nap!

What kind of Monsters have made it through the preliminaries?

Ohma smirks, eyeing up his future opponents, as the betting announcer sheepishly tells the audience that the preliminaries are over and where to collect their winnings. Yamashita's shock hasn't abated, in fact it's only gotten worse. He's blank-eyed with it, and when Kushida tries to commiserate, she hadn't expected it to end so soon either, he turns on her with an anxious crack of the neck. That's not what he meant.

Goodness me, could the story be implying that Yamashita is actually possessed of some hidden talent? Quietly unassumed reserves of insight? We haven't seen any real reason to believe it so far beyond this one thing. I guess we'll see, hm?

Anyway, we return to the fighter's floor to a few dramatic panels of Ohma staring down four indistinct figures, each surrounded by a powerful aura of strength. But how did they win through the preliminaries, the manga asks. Well, Akiyama Kaede saw the whole thing. And we'll see…next time, because this is where the chapter ends.

I really do wonder why last chapter was so much longer, honestly.

So, there were a couple of important elements going on here. Possibly most importantly the first clear glimpse we've gotten of where Ohma came from, as a person. And it's…not great? For him, I mean, on a writing level it's pretty nice. While it doesn't come close to justifying the Alpha bullshit littering the early story, it does comfortably go some way to explaining why he was such a stalking, snarling thing. It's an old reflex, from growing up in pretty clearly poor, hostile conditions. The sort of conditions where a child can get a knife, and the capacity to gut someone with it on reflex.

We also got our first good look at Tokita Niko. And his resemblance to Hatsumi Sen isn't just in his looks, he's also similarly irreverent and unconcerned with being attacked. All the same, there's a quiet intensity to him in the moments where he bothers to be serious, and he's determined to teach Ohma in a way I can't see Hatsumi being. He's obviously also a post-mortem character, and I like the decision to characterise him like this as part of peeling back the layers of mystery around Ohma, especially how hostile Ohma was to him at first. It takes a flat "My master was killed" revenge angle and adds some interesting spice to it, if only in terms of presentation.

And that aside, well, this was obviously also a chapter built around showcasing the next important tool in Ohma's kit. We got through the whole Kengan Match arc with just Redirection and his transformation, but now the writers seem to have a clearer idea of Ohma's overall fighting style and are trying to build it up as a martial art. A more fantastical one than the ones based on actual irl martial arts, but that's just the nature of the beast.

Oh, and the implication that there's more to Yamashita than an understated, personable charisma. I'll not say more about that here, it'll come up in a more major way soon enough.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Feb 27, 2023

We begin chapter 29 with a brief introduction to Harada Tokujiro. A proper introduction that is, beyond his record and name.

The first panel can be read into for a good deal of his political leanings. What we're told is that he's the "operations captain", whatever that means, of a political organisation known as the Okute Association. What we see is Harada knelt in seiza and full traditional japanese dress formals with a flag hanging behind him, emblazoned with what I assume is his organisation's emblem, and two men knelt at his sides. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm getting strong far right nationalist vibes, particularly when the next panel calls him a hardcore militant, feared by other organisations.

…actually, thinking about it, he's probably actually Yakuza, isn't he? That'd also explain the traditionalist dress and nonspecific use of "organisations."

Regardless, as we come back to the present we see him hopping on the balls of his feet, limber and light, as other fighters around him go cross-eyed with anticipation of his "Hara-toku rush". And indeed, he charges forward, his limbs a coiling tornado of blows flowing one to the next without pause, a whitewater torrent of knuckles.

The waves break upon the island shore, battering the cliff face to little immediate effect. Harada is frustrated, but only for a moment. Again he charges with smiling confidence, chanting his Hara-toku theatre.

Another fight goes on just behind Yoshinari, in which frustration and rage is much more plentiful and persistent. Greater Asia Airline's Shimoda Saji, for all he took Rihito by surprise, is finding that clinching out the win is proving a great deal more difficult than he anticipated. Rihito, despite looking like he's desperately trying to hold in the mother of all farts, is actually managing to shift Saji's grip bit by bit. Saji is baffled and frantic. He actually saw one of Rihito's pre-Ohma matches and had him pegged as an idiot with a single tool on his belt, a great big squeaky truncheon labelled BRUTE FORCE. And you know, he wasn't wrong!

Unfortunately he underestimated just how much brute force Rihito had to bring to bear. The younger man, the instant he gets a single arm free, uses it to cave in Saji's face. And I mean that literally. No I'm not posting the image.

Look at this rapidly dehydrating idiot

But the challenges for Rihito aren't done yet. As he wheezingly tries to catch his breath, a taunt comes from behind. Still fighting as filthily as ever, aren't you Rihito? It's Murder Music's Sawada Keizaburo, the man who'd probably be incredibly hot if only he stopped using an upturned mixing bowl to cut his hair. Hair aside, Rihito doesn't seem to have noticed that he was even there until now, expressing surprise that he's in the preliminaries at all. Sawada returns the question, when the hell did Rihito make his own comeback? Pretty sore behaviour for a loser, he continues, perhaps he ought to put Rihito in his place. Rihito gracefully notes Sawada's silver tongue.

And then calls him a f****t.

Manga Don't Be Weird About Gender Nonconformity Challenge (Impossible).

Sawada understandably goes ballistic, though unfortunately it's pretty clear that he's offended by the implication that he's gay. Which Rihito encourages, inviting Sawada's vengeance with a hearty "just try it, dick gobbler."

I just…for fuck's sake. You were almost likeable for a moment there, Rihito. I was having some amount of fun for a moment there, Kengan Asura. Why you gotta be all…you about this?

Moving on, there's one fight that particularly drew Akiyama's attention. Two men circle another, Ushiroda Takero and Aki Saito, representative fighters for Izumi foodstuffs and Kaoin construction. Both have perfect records, and Total Assets Acquired in the multiple billions of yen. Well known and powerful fighters.

And obviously about to get mulched.

Sure enough, the very next panel is Saito's jaw getting knocked clean loose from his skull by some invisible force. Takero and Akiyama are equally shocked, neither of them saw the motion that did it. But only one of them is smart enough to not immediately charge the man who did it. Persia Petroleum's Hassad.

The Arabian Whirlwind

Akiyama's familiar with him, as might be expected. Hassad holds several claims to fame and a reputation for strikes so fast his opponents are sent to la la land before they even know they've been attacked. Particularly, though, he holds the record for the shortest round in Kengan Match history. Two seconds, start to finish.

He turns, eyeing Akiyama, and this time I actually understand that she shivers in fear. His eyes are cutting. That said, he states clearly that he has no intent to harm her, and compliments 'her companion' on his skill, meaning Ohma. As Akiyama recovers herself he declares that this "Farce" will soon be over, and only the true warriors will remain.

And Hassad's prediction seems a fair enough one. Harada's onslaught has seemingly been ongoing since we turned away from that fight, and is just getting absolutely fucking nowhere. Yoshinari just isn't going down. And then he makes a counterattack of his own.

Just one.

Look at that perspective/stylisation trick in the first panel. I love that shit.

Harada is blasted clean across the room, landing in a pile of unconscious bodies with most of his front teeth missing and a massive hand-shaped welt over his face. The audience flip their shit, Harada's a known mainstay and he just got his fucking clock cleaned by an absolute, unheard-of nobody. Yoshinari's expression doesn't change, giving us no indication of his opinion on the matter. Though interestingly, he does actually cough up a little blood. Harada's assault was actually getting through.

Then Hassad's prediction comes true. That was the last blow struck, seemingly in concert with Ohma's own final blow if his pose in the panel behind Akiyama is any indication. The Intercom system crackles to life and the captain declares the preliminaries officially over, all fighters still standing are to proceed to the upper deck immediately.

I've half a mind to ship you two out of spite. But I don't want to inflict you on the rest of the MLM community.

In the brief peace before the doors open, Ohma and Akiyama scan the other plebs who'll be joining them in the main matches sans invitation. Hassan idly whiles away the seconds. Rihito and Sawada hiss at each other like territorial cats. And Yoshinari squints at the latter two out of the corner of his eye, probably wishing they'd shut up, or piss off, ideally both in either order. I vibe with this man.

Ohma apparently didn't hear the signal to stop, funnily enough. Kaede points out he was too focused on his fight, to the detriment of protecting her, by the way, and Ohma goes Nu-uh, the fight totally isn't actually over, the real fight starts now so he's totally right and not at all owned. Or at least that's my interpretation, the framing very much expects you to take Ohma's verbal dribble of stringy bullshit seriously.

Hard cut, next scene! Kushida has stowed herself away out of sight and hearing with a communicator, and informs Nogi that, as expected, Ohma cleaned house in the preliminaries and is through to the main tournament. He asks for Kushida's impression of him and she notes that, well. He's pretty damn sexy.

She waves off the joke, even though it totally isn't a joke, agreeing that Ohma's strong as hell, just like Nogi said. She thinks he can get pretty far in the tournament. Nogi, with his best stern "I am a powerful manly man" face declares that isn't enough. All he wants is the victory. And there's good reason for that, as Kushida promptly and less than professionally notes. Nogi's the sponsor of this tournament, if he loses he's a whole-ass rainbow of different flavours of fucked. He dryly notes that she doesn't mince words, which gets a laugh out of her, disguised as a disingenuous apology. Oh, she does have one more thing to report though.

Poor Yamashita. Talk about cursed with success.

Kushida, the gadfly, is a bit disappointed with Nogi's reaction. Or lack thereof, rather. Aren't you shocked, she asks? Nogi disagrees that there's any reason to be. This is the man Nogi is banking on, he says, with all the arrogant self-assurance of a rich, middle aged white man. This sort of performance is only to be expected.

Another hard cut, for the last few pages of the chapter. First we get a great panel of the two ships linked together, the SS Annihilation a tiny minnow to the Kengan's whale-like proportions. Our heroes make the transfer, Yamashita sweating the whole way over how fragile the bridge looks, alongside the other preliminary winners. And speaking of, we get our big splash page of them. We've a lot of introductions yet to experience, but these five at least, we know to expect in the fights to come.

The last page is Katahara Metsudo himself, surrounded by his bodyguards, delivering orders to his staff on how the new guests are to be accommodated. He has a good old chuckle to himself over how quickly the preliminaries ended, then turns to his two foremost bodyguards on a whim. Let's go out on deck to meet the new arrivals, he says. We must see for ourselves whether or not these kids are worth fighting…

End chapter.

Well fuck me, that was kind of rough, wasn't it?

In theory the purpose of this chapter is clear. Build heat for the other preliminary contestants. In practice this only really worked out for Yoshinari and Hassad. And it really did work for those two! But then Rihito's heat is undercut by him being a dumbass, exhausting himself escaping a single submission hold, and Sawada's heat just…well the writers didn't even try. They were too busy with their "Haha this man look feminine, therefore gay jokes, there's nothing worse than being called gay, har de har de har, we're as socially aware as a sack of half-dead starfish" thing.

Ugh. At least Yoshinari and Hassad are kind of cool, and Asshole Ohma was a minimal presence. Kushida Rin's a fun character, too, a bitingly friendly figure stood on the edge of the main cast taking the piss out of anyone in range, with clear hidden depths and history.

See you all next time, for another mixed bag.

Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

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