Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

Manic Dogma · Sep 15, 2023

Within the renowned halls of Professional Sumo, Juryo is the second highest division of wrestler, the lesser of the two Sekitori ranks and the first rank at which a wrestler is considered fully employed. Rather than waiting upon their seniors, as Makushita and below are expected to (Hey, you ever wondered where the pokemon Makuhita came from? Now you know) a Juryo is the wrestler who is waited upon, so they can focus the fullness of their efforts and time on refining their technique and building their physique. They are famed professional athletes, as potent in their field as any high profile member of the more widely known and distributed sports.

Incidentally, if you're in the market for another manga with strong tournament arc chops, Hinomaru Zumou is really good. It's how I got familiar with Sumo!

Anyway, back to the actual subject of this let's read, chapter 74 brings us to the splendorous streets of Nakano, Tokyo, and to the front door of a palatial and extremely traditionally japanese estate. Within, a press conference, and a tremendously large fish.

FYI, Yokozuna is the title of the highest ranked Makuuchi wrestler, itself the highest division.

These men are the headliners of an exciting era in Sumo history, within Kengan Asura. An era of twin Yokozuna, each brother of equal strength, with the title flipping between them until apparently people just started calling them both Yokozuna at all times. Ko'ozan and Ryuozan, two lords of the Public Space.

Among the press one fresh faced lad is in awe, encouraged by an older journalist who happily muses on how bright Sumo's future is today. Something occurs to the young man, though. He merrily brings up the third brother of the family, a giant of Sumo in his own right! He's had another sweeping victory in the Juryo division, and is on track for Makuuchi next tournament (psst, a perfect record two tournaments in a row will reliably promote a Juryo like this). The rookie bets they'll have three brothers as Yokozuna before long, eh?

Only then does he notice that the hall has gone dead silent, and everyone's looking at him in horror. The old man he's working under asks if he's gone mad, the third brother is taboo! He about faces, forcing the younger man down into a bow alongside him as he bows to the brother Yokozunas, apologising. Ko'ozan is bothered, but brushes it off, telling the journalists it's fine. He's a rookie, these things happen. Then the eldest brother clears his throat.

Thems some strong words. A little bit No True Scotsman, but the manga's clearly leading up to something here. So we move on, into a flashback, as marked by inked black borders.

We cut to a nighttime cityscape, and the windows of the…seriously? That's it's name? Alright then, the Manly Kickboxing Gym. Inside a man in a yukata decorated with cherry blossoms stands over a groaning battered body, as he's approached by the Gym's headliner. Go-1 Grand Prix's 15th heavyweight champion, Haga Haruki. A chiseled tower of a man. Still not all that big compared to the invader, though. Haga comments on what a mess he made, looking over the lightly mangled members of his gym, and Kiozan is unapologetic. Smirking, he points out that they attacked him first. He's only here to spar. And hey, here's the man himself. Think you can teach some kickboxing, champ?

Haga's unimpressed, recognising him on sight as the Yokozuna's brother. A Failure who's constantly brawling. Kiozan respectfully disagrees. In his opinion his brothers are the failures, Modern Sumo is the failure. And he's going to change Sumo.

Haga scoffs. Save the bullshit for when you're actually on top. Then he makes space, recognising Kiozan's extremely low stance. A traditional, strong position from which to make one of Sumo's deadly initial charges. A technique Haga is familiar with, and knows how to counter. The Sumo's Charge, raging vigor, matches or exceeds professional sprinters in speed, but only for roughly two meters. Which isn't a problem within its context, the sport is designed for its small ring and limiting ruleset, and the techniques of the trade work perfectly well therein. The problem is that he's using it outside that context. In theory. We all know what's about to happen next, this song and dance has happened before a dozen times in the First Round alone. Also Haga gets a brief couple of panels where the manga clarifies he's actually a shithead, just so we don't feel bad for what happens next.

Incidentally, in the Facts With Kengan Asura segment of this chapter, the model for the sprinter is Murobuchi Gozo, which I thought was cute.

Mans got hit by a goddamn truck.

So yeah, Kiozan's charge is different from a normal Sumo Charge. He dismisses Haga as a moron, and his tactics as the sort of clever shit small fry do. I think that's a little unfair, given all the information he had to work with and what's happened every other time Sumo Wrestlers have gotten subjected to MMA rules, but he's not about that reacting normally to things life. He's got an agenda. To Haga's unconscious body he declares that he's already abandoned old sumo in favour of Primal Sumo. It's the Oldest and the newest, and that makes it the strongest. He's invincible.

Okay so that's obviously gibberish, but it raises the interesting question of what Primal Sumo actually is. Which I won't be covering here, that's a reveal for the fight itself.

And speaking of, it's time for Kiozan's entrance, introduced by Sayaka as the Brawler of Professional Sumo. Younger brother of the two Yokozunas, and a hooligan! The Yokozuna of bad behaviour! And to cap it all off, can you believe the audacity of this bitch, he's wearing a Yokozuna's belt!

Fun fact: 7-0 is the exact record a Juryo needs to get no-questions-asked promoted to Makuuchi. Lotta fun sumo references here.

Then we hear that Sekibayashi was actually supposed to be announced first, but at the man's own request they reversed the entrance order. The Showman of the Kengan Matches is pulling something again, and Sayaka asks for just a little of the audience's patience as we cut to Kiozan's changing room. Sakura is honestly adorably proud of Kiozan's belt, the apron of which she designed herself. Magatani isn't sure why she's so self-satisfied, but fuck him, you go girl. Express yourself!

He does bring up a good point next though, that her sister is knocking around and she still hasn't visited her yet. Why not go say hi, when the match is over? She refuses. She'll just get lost again, and then she'll get made fun of by the both of them, she points out with a truly heroic pout. An alumnus of the Roronoa school of navigation, I guess.

Hard cut, to the depths of the Kengan Dome. Kono Haruo staggers through the gloomy corridors, all his remaining earthly belongings on his back and his body strewn with wound-sealing tape, as he openly sobs in despair. He's been fired by his boss and legal father, told not to show his face around him ever again, and in his lowest moment he doesn't even believe he'll be accepted in his home village anymore. Dismissing himself as a wretched pig.

Then, by pure accident, he bumps into someone passing a corner. Rather than bowling them over, as you might expect given his bulk, instead Haruo is the one knocked on his ass. The man offers him a kind hand, and a genuine apology.

When Haruo takes the hand, all 300+ kilograms of him are hoisted up with all the ease of a bag of crisps.

What's the matter, bro? The stranger asks, jovially. Leaving already? You don't wanna miss the next match, why not stick around and watch it before you go?

Wh-who are you, Haruo asks, his despair fading just for a moment in the face of sheer awe.

Oh, I'm noone special, the man replies.

End chapter. And the ninth volume of the tankoubon. It's a little short, but I'm going to leave it here for today. I want to give the next chapter some space to breathe.

See you all next time, for Sekibayashi's first fight of the tournament.

Manic Dogma · Sep 18, 2023

Hot on the heels of chapter 74, Provocation begins with Kiozan Takeru, the brawler of the Sumo Ring, stood in the traditional entry stance of the Yokozuna. Kinda.

Immediately though, we tell him to piss off and pivot to the peanut gallery, where Adam Dudley is still hanging around with Nishihonji and Cosmo. Adam is focused on Kiozan, and wants to know if he's strong, but cosmo is distracted by a great big pair of shrink-wrapped man-tits. Yes indeed, it's Wakatsuki, here to congratulate Cosmo's team on advancing to the second round.

It's okay Adam, we all feel jealous and inadequate in the face of such majesty.

Anyway, there was a match starting, wasn't there? Cosmo clambers onto Wakatsuki's shoulders with a great big smile as his hand seems to caress Wakatsuki's pectorals, but as he does so Wakatsuki remains focused on the arena below. He's rooting for Sekibayashi, as I'm sure most of us are, and Sayaka begins the man's introduction.

It's Pro-wrestling vs Sumo! Two legendary combat spots meeting here on the field of battle to settle things once and for all. And in the name of Pro Wrestling comes an angel of death, risen straight from the infernal heart of hell! Standing 196cm tall, and 141 kilograms, with a Kengan Match record of 57 wins and 1 loss, for Gandai it's the one.

The Only.

SEKIBAYASHI JUN.

And wouldn't you know it, the motherfucker's headgames are already on point. Look at that shit-eating grin, this man is here to make people mad, but in a fun way. Don't like it? Come and stop me! He seems to say. And no matter who you are, you have an opinion on it.

Magatani recognises the game, even as the pulsing vein in his forehead betrays its effectiveness. The Gingko Leaf topknot is a hairstyle generally restricted to Sekitori level Sumo Wrestlers. It's clear, barefaced provocation. He's almost impressed. But oddly, he attributes it to Gandai rather than Sekibayashi and muses on how he never could compete with Magatani when they were fighters, surprised they'd still be fighting as Association Members.

Now that's interesting, isn't it? We've seen fighters who've become Association members before, but mostly only Rihito, who was strong-armed into it by Nogi. These two are legitimate, established names, high enough in the rankings that they got the free pass into the competition. One wonders what the precise process was. Is fighting just that lucrative? Does it open social doors for you to inherit a business, for lack of a better word? The upward mobility is unusual, on the face of it, but then Capitalism has always been about Who You Know and by definition a Kengan Fighter knows some pretty good sources of Eminence Gris.

But then, it can't just be that, since immediately after Magatani's comment we see the Gandai CEO's thoughts on the matter. Shikano Gen muses on how he was in fact just an average fighter. One of the faceless masses we've mostly seen used as punching bags for the big names in this manga. And Magatani, well, he was one of the big names of that Era. A top tier fighter Shikano could never beat. I don't see Shikano wheedling his way into a company this high tier like that, this guy knows the game. But that's not the point he's thinking about. His mind is on Sekibayashi, and how he's a world apart from Shikano's mediocrity. Hell's Angel is a top class fighter, and Shikano's convinced he can fight on even terms with the Fang of Metsudo himself. He means to see it happen, too.

As we return to the fighters themselves, the headgames seem to be working real well. Kiozan is visibly fucking livid and Sekibayashi makes note of it. Hell, he thinks, if this is enough to set you off then you're really not aware of your role as a pro, eh? In his opinion, he ponders as he turns away from the man he's provoked past the point of violence, they're entertainers before they are fighters. Which is an odd perspective for this tournament in particular and the Kengan Matches generally, given that economically significant shit is on the line in these things, but Sekibayashi's an odd guy. This is his core passion and art, so I'll let it slide.

Kiozan won't, though. As the Ref is telling the fighters to take their starting positions, he grabs Sekibayashi by the crown of his skull. And before the match has even officially started lifts him with one hand and throws him head-first into the arena floor. Yanking out Sekibayashi's hair tie while he's at it.

What a letdown, Kiozan grumbles. You fakers need to know your place.

Welp, brawler of the ring indeed, that's some immediate bad behaviour. In a more stringently referee'd tournament this would probably be an immediate disqualification, and indeed the fighters we see aren't impressed. Cosmo has even detached himself from Wakatsuki's shoulders out of sheer outrage at the cheating. Metsudo is just laughing again though, commenting how it's his own fault for dropping his guard, to the agreement of Kure Erioh. With whom he's hanging out again. They're both shitheads, but points for friendship I guess?

Yamashita is aghast, and it's like he's never even watched a Sekibayashi match before. He seems to think that blow took him out, in contrast to what it took for Ohma to win their match. He should know better, but it makes more sense that Kiozan is dismissive. This dipshit was one of the top five fighters? Pathetic, he thinks, the arrogant tosser.

There is, however, something Yamashita has forgotten. And that Kiozan never realised. Even as thick, powerful arms wrap around his midsection, and the back of his head meets the floor at Mach Fuck.

Everyone loves a catchphrase.

We get a full page to appreciate the turnaround. Yamashita remembers what a fool he was to doubt, even a striker like Ohma barely hurt Sekibayashi. And the man himself raises a fist and roars, playing to the crowd who celebrate in return.

By the start of the next page Kiozan has flipped back onto his feet and is speeding like a runaway train at Sekibayashi, who is to some extent taken by surprise. He doesn't go down this time, but he does reel from the impact of Kiozan's head as the Sumo wrestler lectures him. Did he think he was down after one blow? Why didn't you deliver a followup, he asks, the implicit hypocrisy whistling merrily a million miles over his head. More pertinently to the fight though, he asks the core question of the match. Do you think pro wrestling's got a monopoly on taking punishment?

Sumo Wrestlers are sturdier than Pro Wrestlers.

Sekibayashi just grins, even as the blood from his forehead trickles down over his teeth. He celebrates the attempt to build heat. Kiozan would make a great pro wrestler.

I love this man. The charisma it takes to turn a compliment into a calculated insult. And you know, I think I love him more since starting this Let's Read. Slowing down and studying each page, engaging with the love other readers have for him, it's really given me time to appreciate his presentation and artistry, even if I don't vibe super hard with the pro wrestling aesthetic.

End chapter, but not the update.

Chapter 76 begins in a flashback, pivoting back to Sekibayashi's past, for reasons that won't be clear until much later in the fight. Before he was a wrestler, Sekibayashi Junpei was a punk. And that's honestly being diplomatic, the word the manga chooses is brat. A brat who'd never lost a fight, but still a solipsistic child with no self control or meaningful understanding of other people. At 15 he joined Super Japan Pro Wrestling, and on the same day he joined he picked a fight with the chairman, Babadozan Hiroshi. And we get a little sliver of his attitude in the process, grabbing the much taller man by the tie and demanding to know who the fuck he thinks he is.

He asks. Why the chairman. Of the promotion he's asking to join. Thinks he has any authority.

Jesus fucking christ.

Anyway yeah, the guy beats the absolute fucking shit out of him. Completely one sided, for the first time in his life Sekibayashi was completely helpless to…well, the manga says "fight back" but given he was the one who started the fight with his own belligerent, bloated sense of self importance that's not the word I'd use. That said, though I'm not especially impressed, said chairman actually is. Even as he's flicking Sekibayashi's blood off of his fingers he looks down at the boy and comments what a feisty little firecracker they have here.

Look at that shiner. Look at that JAWLINE.

The entire next page is dedicated to hammering into our mind just what a physical hellscape the training that followed was. And, in a way, how complete Sekibayashi's turnaround is. The efforts he's willing to go to once he has it literally beaten into him what a small fish he actually is. Rope climbing of 5 metres, two hundred reps. Three sets of 1000 pushups, and not the casual half-hearted kind, full-throated dips. 1 Hour of bridging (making your body arch and holding it like that without support). And Ten. Thousand. Hindu squats.

As a warmup.

After that, the prospective wrestlers would spar, with no set time limit. They'd just fight and fight until one or both were unable to move, or just straight up passed out. Babadozan and his veterans claimed that this would build the "Tenacious Muscles" a wrestler needed, with even the framing of the nondiegetic narration seeming dubious about the actual logic behind it. And yeah, it seems likely to just cause permanent damage to me. Especially once it's clarified that, since he'd done no prior martial training, Sekibayashi got lumped with twice the normal amount of training. At least they were well fed in the facility, even if they sometimes needed the food pureed and forced down their throats.

Six months go by, of this daily training. Now, in the flashback, we see an evening on which Babadozan invited Sekibayashi to eat with him, seemingly on a whim. Though personally the vibe I get is more that he's scoping out one of the better prospects in the current trainee intake, which we quickly learn has dwindled rapidly. After Babadozan asks Sekibayashi if the training has been hard, the younger man immediately answers that Hell is more the word he'd use, and that there's only four trainees left out of twenty. Which still seems like a lot of people willing to stick it out given the training described, but whatever. Babadozan just laughs, musing that his vets don't fuck around. Sekibayashi must sense that he's being tested somehow though, since he's quick to clarify that he has no intention of giving up. Well, unless he gets fired.

I guess Sekibayashi was one of those delinquents who lashed out essentially for a lack of enclosure enrichment. Directionlessly flailing for a goal or sense of meaning. Still very strange to see the extremely reserved boy he was as a kid, even if you can see some of the man he'll become in his brow and thick, dense hair.

But yeah, as Sekibayashi makes that comment, Babadozan gives him an extremely contemplative look, herculean jawline resting on his fist (I swear to god his design is a reference to someone specific, but I don't know who). That's it, he's got it. From this day forth, the boy will be Hell's Angel, Sekibayashi Jun.

For some reason I can't help reading this guy with a New Yorker accent.

Five days later, Babadozan is dead. Knifed in a backalley.

It really is that abrupt. But then, in a way, it kind of has to be. That kind of bare-faced shock is a valuable tool when you need to get that kind of sense across quickly, and speed is very much of the essence here. This kind of flashback can only take so long before the pacing really starts to creak. And the manga doesn't spend long on the funeral. Just enough to establish that it's happening…and Sekibayashi isn't there. Some of the other wrestlers are mad but Kurachi, the guy in charge of his training, knew Babadozan better than that.

We cut the next page back to the gym in a gloomy half-light, Sekibayashi doing hindu squats in the midst of the silent, unmoving training equipment. Babadozan's words echo in his ears, as drops of liquid pool on the floor around him. If you wanna be a pro wrestler, you can't ever miss a day of training. Even if your parents die. Hell, even if I die. If you show up at my funeral, I'm slamming you in the coffin with me.

Sekibayashi keeps counting up his squats, tears streaming over his face as he visibly struggles to contain sobs of grief.

It's a brief and not terribly nuanced backstory, but it's a clear and concise little character arc that gives some sense of where the Fully Realised Hell's Angel came from. There's a bit of Babadozan in how he presents himself, as well as the taciturn quietness that could well be his default state. I do feel like it should have been longer before Babadozan died, I understand the implications of how much this direction and discipline meant to Sekibayashi, but all the same six months doesn't quite feel like enough. Aside from that, my issues with this backstory are mostly dialogue and presentation stuff, and Kurachi being kind of a non-character.

Oh, and also just how weirdly placed this backstory is. The material will be important later in the fight, but this chapter isn't about that. It's about setting up the dynamic of the fight going forward.

As we return to the present, Sekibayashi is getting beaten back. Kiozan is uncorking an absolutely thunderous assault of open-handed thrusts, and that massive, thick body isn't just for show. The assault is overwhelming even Sekibayashi's legendary fortitude, and once Kiozan presses his head in against the Pro Wrestler's chest there's little the man can do to stop himself getting pushed back. And alongside a magnificent view of Kiozan's meaty thighs, the narration notes the sheer training that goes into a Sumo Wrestler's Legs, and claims that no martial art matches it in terms of sheer lower-body power.

And this is not unfounded, Sumo Wrestling as a combat sport is all about stability and breaking your opponent's stance, a single moment of weakness ending a match. Absolute control over your centre of gravity is a must, and while a lot of wrestlers focus on palm thrusts or technical throws, gaining superior positioning and just deadass lifting your opponent and pitching them off their feet is a noted strategy. And we're talking about men who actively cultivate massive weights here, even taking into account lifting with your legs. To say nothing of the infamous act of Railroading, blasting your opponent back and out of the ring with your initial charge, their feet leaving parallel trails in the sand.

With all that said, it's not long before Kiozan has Sekibayashi pressed against the wall of the arena. In a way it's fortunate they're not working on Sumo rules, or Sekibayashi would have already lost. But they aren't, so he takes advantage of the leverage and Kiozan's stance to lean forward, wrapping his arms around the Sumo Wrestler and attempting to simply lift him off his feet. To then presumably piledrive him or something.

Kiozan doesn't move an inch.

Very cool visual, honestly.

With Sekibayashi's arms occupied, Kiozan begins his true offensive. His next palm strike hits Sekibayashi square in the face, cratering the concrete wall behind him with the back of the Wrestler's head. Sekibayashi wobbles in place, eyes unfocused and a spray of blood raining from his nose. And then Kiozan does a very earnest impression of E Honda's Hundred Hand Slaps, hammering Sekibayashi's head against the wall as he smugly wonders if a "faker" like this can take the slaps.

Sekibayashi retaliates with a massive backhand chop, catching Kiozan bang in the chest with a move that has apparently made even the biggest wrestlers faint. Much like his attempted lift, it does very little to Kiozan, who counters with another palm strike right to Sekibayashi's chin. As the pro wrestler droops in place and one of the announcers questions out loud if he's unconscious, Kiozan monologues to himself internally. Sekibayashi, he thinks, has only been trained to put on a show. Not like Kiozan, not like Sumo. They've been trained to win. A sumo wrestler, trained purely to attain strength, cannot lose to a faker. You and I are different in every way! Yep, he's still on that. Based on this and his commentary in the Sekibayashi character profile, I feel like this is a real bugbear to Sandro.

Kiozan winds up to finish the match, fully intending to decapitate Sekibayashi with his next blow. With every ounce of his weight, he throws one last Palm Strike.

Hell's Angel uses Body Slam! It's Super Effective!

Yes indeed folks, another fighter's gotten completely bamboozled by the Sekibayashi Special, not just once but twice. It didn't even occur to Kiozan that there might be a three dimensional element to the match, despite setting up the circumstances for it himself, and for his trouble he gets fucking flattened by every ounce of Sekibayashi's 141 kilogram body. Between the two of them, they make an amusing person-shaped depression in the arena floor.

But it's not over. Not even close.

Kiozan throws Sekibayashi off him with another Palm thrust and they separate. With his teeth irritably clenched and blood trailing from a busted lip, he insists he didn't feel a thing. He pauses to spit the blood out, and with his brows pinched into the most unholy, shadowy scowl I've ever seen, asks Sekibayashi if he wants to die.

Because he's fucking awesome, Sekibayashi just laughs, and tells him that that's more like it.

In the crowd, suffused with the energy of possibly the most truly even fight so far and the excitement of the performance, Noted Wrestling Enthusiast Yamashita can't contain his excitement. He howls with everything he has, and the entire dome howls with him. The sound of it dominates the last pages of the chapter, a two page spread of both fighters returning to a proper starting stance. As if everything so far has been but a prelude, to heat the blood of everyone involved.

End chapter, in preparation for the fight to get real.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Sep 22, 2023

Chapter 77 opens with the standoff already over, 'cos Sekibayashi Jun hasn't got time for your bullshit. His arm is scything into Kiozan's guard, visibly rattling him as the Sumo Wrestler tenses to absorb the blow, his teeth gritted with effort and pain. And then again. And again. And again and again and again and again he drives Kiozan back with Mongolian Chops. But the pressure cannot last forever, Kiozan isn't a backwoods lightweight, he quickly picks out the rhythm and attacks as Sekibayashi is winding up a chop. A lightning fast pushing slap, right to Sekibayashi's face. It's a brilliantly executed blow, applied with skill and precision.

For all the good that does him.

"I'm sorry sir, we're fresh out of fucks to give today."

Intimidated by his foe's sheer vigor, Kiozan pauses, and Sekibayashi doesn't miss the opportunity to flex a little. Don't just stand there, he commands while rolling his shoulder, before lunging in to clothesline the fucker. We're in the middle of a fight! He bellows, snapping Kiozan out of his fugue. Sekibayashi returns to his chops, but this time Kiozan is meeting him head on, the space between them a chaotic blur of clashing meat. The sound of it fills the dome, neither fighter backing down in the least.

The peanut gallery is in awe, and Adam Dudley is baffled. Wasn't Sekibayashi getting overwhelmed just a bit ago? How is this now so even again? Wakatsuki is ready with a compelling theory. He points out the two men are from very different sports. Sumo wrestling matches ride a knife's edge of victory or defeat with extremely exact and demanding limits. A match is often decided within a few seconds. By contrast, it's not unusual for a much looser and showier Pro Wrestling match to last over an hour.

He certainly looks like he's having more fun, at least.

Cosmo, even if he doesn't have a particular theory, does notice something else though. As Kiozan gains advantage in the strike-off and forces Sekibayashi onto the defensive, he notices something. Wakatsuki muses in awe on what he's seeing. And Kiozan is deeply, viscerally offended.

Sekibayashi isn't guarding a single blow. If you look back over this match and the Ohma match, you'll realise he hasn't guarded a single blow this whole manga. Which is insane. Cosmo is rightfully concerned, but Nishihonji isn't. In fact, he's simply exhorting Cosmo to pay attention. Especially in this moment, there's something Sekibayashi has in spades that Cosmo lacks. He hopes Cosmo figures it out during this match, because if he does, he'll become much, much stronger.

Oh boy, I wonder if this match could possibly be building up to a philosophical point. This is a really strong moment of intersection though, something Cosmo's arc is really good at going forward. He's almost a protagonist in his own right.

Anyway, as Cosmo and the announcers stare in awe, Kiozan finally runs out of steam. Panting and sweating absolute rivers, all he can do is stare, hands held in half hearted readiness as he beholds the brick wall of beef he's been tenderising for like thirty seconds straight.

How tiny he seems, beneath those glutes.

Kiozan is offended. Deeply so. Especially when Sekibayashi taunts him, asking what the matter is. Are you done already? Veins pulsing in his temples fit to pop, Kiozan demands he stop fucking around and guard. Why aren't you guarding? Are you taking the piss? Sekibayashi doesn't lose an inch of his grin as he tells the Sumo wrestler to slow his roll. He's getting this all wrong. Kiozan lashes out before he can finish, but only delays him for a moment. With Kiozan's palm still smushing the flesh of his cheek, Sekibayashi declares that this?

This is his "Pro Wrestling."

Then he immediately lays Kiozan's ass out with a vicious elbow to the face. And the audience goes wild.

Charisma.

As usual, and as might be expected of the Kengan Matches' premier showman, Sekibayashi's performance has stirred the audience to a fever pitch. He is, diegetically, intentionally creating peaks and valleys of tension and it's leading everyone watching by the nose. It probably helps that how impressive the feat he just demonstrated was is clear even to the least technically minded person there. It's one thing to appreciate how unnaturally perfect an exchange of parries were, but just hunkering down and eating a barrage of strikes like sunday brunch without being any the worse for wear? That's immediately clear to anyone as tremendous, from any distance and with any amount of knowledge.

This is Sekibayashi's element. This is what he does.

In a frantic rage, Kiozan dashes back in to try and grapple Sekibayashi, break his invincible demeanour by tossing him to the ground. But this time it's he who finds his foe immovable. Sekibayashi stands above him with arms spread, one more dramatic flourish before he goes in for the kill. You just don't get it, do you kiddo? He asks.

Shikano's eyes boggle. Magatani watches in grim silence. The fighters are shocked, with the exception of Wakatsuki. And Sekibayashi reels, truly this time. Not just giving ground for a runup. Face shadowed with rage, Kiozan expresses how he'd never expected to need to use "My Sumo" on a faker like this.

Sekibayashi falls to his knees, and then flat onto his face, eyes vacant. What just happened, ask the announcers.

Now, I'm sure you lot, my lovely audience, have already grasped what just happened. It's fairly clear from my last screencap. But as we move into the next chapter they try to sustain the mystery over the first page. The announcers are genuinely less surprised that Sekibayashi went down than they are by how it happened. They never thought he'd do that! Tomoko, Koyo Academy's secretary for anyone who's forgotten, questions if that's even legal.

As far as I know, it's not illegal for a Sumo Wrestler to kick. It is generally a really bad idea though. And besides.

Kiozan isn't using Modern Sumo anymore.

The chapter delves into a brief…not quite flashback, but brief step into the past to explore a particular fight in Japan's history. On one side, a man calling himself Nomi-no-Sukune. On the other, a man calling himself Taima-no-kehaya.

Make a note of their physiques, this will be important later.

A little research reveals the Nihon Shoki is one of the oldest extant pieces of Japanese Written history, beginning with the creation myths of the time and then moving forward with what I'm given to understand is a shockingly detailed account of almost thirty emperors worth of history. The accuracy of this isn't for me to confirm or deny, but I'm sure namedropping this work means something to japanese readers, if only in a "I recognise that name" sort of way.

In any case, and pertinently to this match, the winning move was a kick. The match was won by Sukune, who crushed Kehaya's pelvic bone with his foot. The oldest forms of Sumo were a more general Martial Art, and Kiozan has apparently been asking himself since he was a child why Sumo stepped back from these deadlier techniques. Now, the answer should be obvious by now, I hope, even to people who's only exposure to Sumo is this Let's Read. Sumo transformed over time into a sport and shinto ritual, its modern form is neither designed nor intended for real, all out brawls. Probably at least in part because of things like how that first match ended! Kehaya was probably crippled for life, certainly at least his career as a fighter was over. Hell, even in Modern Sumo there's still a risk of serious injury, with such massive men colliding and throwing each other around.

None of this makes Sumo less valid or impressive, to be clear, Sumo Wrestlers are still incredible athletes and the sport takes serious skill and dedication to succeed in. This is arguably what the extremely harsh rules for defeat are for, to heighten and hone that skill ceiling, and preserve some sense of that early tension. Kiozan clearly doesn't see it that way, though. He thinks of it in terms of its utility as a fighting style in true, genuine violence. Which it was obviously never going to live up to, it was never supposed to, but that reality escapes him. So, he had a thought, and he believed it a very profound one.

This wakes Sekibayashi up, just in time for Kiozan to hoist him by his scalp again to inform him that it isn't bedtime yet. He still needs to show him "Real Sumo." Which apparently means holding Sekibayashi in place while he slams repeated hook punches into the Wrestler's face.

Adam Dudley very fairly scoffs. How the hell is this shit Sumo? That's just MMA with airs. Nishihonji disagrees. A high kick like that from point blank, and punches like that, neither can be mastered overnight. He compares Sumo to Pankration as one of the oldest martial arts and, well, if he's using it to this level they've got no place to say otherwise. It's Sumo. Or rather, Ancient Sumo. Slightly weird and circular logic I think, but I don't have to argue against it anyway. Someone else will handle that real soon.

Cosmo's attention is only half on the lecture, he's focused on how Kiozan is spacing Sekibayashi out, how incompatible Pro Wrestling is with that sort of style. It's important that it's Cosmo noting this, btw, keep an eye on that.

Back to the fight itself, after beating quite a lot of shit out of Sekibayashi, Kiozan is swaggering over to him. Disingenuously talking like he's impressed with the Wrestler's resilience. Still not gonna guard? He asks. No? Well, no skin off his chin. Your funeral. Then he slams a kick right into Sekibayashi's kidney, and we get an internal shot of his organs groaning under the force.

And yet. Sekibayashi grins. He isn't going down yet. Haruo watches from the fighter's entrance with baffled awe. Why is he smiling? Isn't he at a complete disadvantage? Isn't he being overwhelmed for real? Is he crazy? And…no, he isn't. We go back to the fight, but this time something's different. The blows are landing…sort of…but they're visibly not penetrating as far. His head rolls with a blow to the cheek, he braces against a low kick. His knee gets a bit fucked up any way but, in his own words, so fucking what.

Then, in his head, he notes something. Kiozan's breath is getting pretty heavy isn't it? He can't blame him though, a Sumo Wrestler physique is specialised for short, intense matches. The techniques in Modern Sumo have been refined over time to cause as little strain as possible on that body type, to improve endurance and reduce the risk of strain injury. And hey, remember when I told you to make a note of the physique of those Ancient Sumo fighters? Yeah, that was not a modern Sumo physique. They were lighter, leaner, naturally leaning more toward endurance. And Sekibayashi notes as much in his head. The Martial Art Kiozan is using is incompatible with his body type. Which means a physique already not exactly built for the long haul is having its endurance tapped out even faster. What are you gonna do next, smartass? Bodybuilding? Weight loss? Endurance training? Can you even really call that Sumo?

Bullshit.

As if sensing the lecture, Kiozan responds to Sekibayashi's attempted offense with an almost berserk rush. But he's hasty, haphazard with it. Sekibayashi catches one of his wrists and says hey. Sumo whelp.

Oh hey look, an explicit theme.

He headbutts Kiozan right in the nose, and as the Sumo wrestler reels he tells him that, well, he's reminded of himself. Kiozan is just like Sekibayashi used to be, before he became a true Pro Wrestler. You. Are. Me.

So does the chapter, and this update end. Check in next time for the thesis statement of Match Seven of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, where the Old Master teaching a lesson through combat isn't a wizened old sage with a beard, but a massive wrestler in his late-30s with dreadlocks.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Sep 25, 2023

Kiozan, howling his hate and frustration to the rafters, charges Sekibayashi again. Just go down already, you old man! He screams, but of course Sekiyabashi will not go down. Sekibayashi goes down when Sekibayashi pleases. And right now he has better shit to do.

Like teach.

Dude's fucking QUICK when he wants to be.

As soon as the first page is over we dip back into flashback space, but rather than an abstract timeslip for the audience's benefit, this time it's diegetically a memory flashing through Sekibayashi's head. Some years ago, four, five or maybe even longer, he isn't sure, the Rokushinkai school of Karate was holding a tournament. A no holds barred open tournament for fighters of other styles to challenge the school's strength. The only thing the tournament banned was eye gouging. This was before MMA, apparently, but rather in the era of something called Vale Tudo. A translation note tells me that it's a precursor to MMA, based in Brazil, and a quick google confirms that much.

Hey, it was where the Gracie family hosted their big challenges. How about that?

Anyway, since Vale Tudo was still popular and MMA hadn't formalised itself into the very specific sort of fighting it sports these days, there was a bunch of fighters of different styles entering, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kung Fu, you name it. There was even someone calling himself a ninja. And of course, such a grand stage could not but attract the showmen of public Martial Arts. In steps the Super Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, with one of their biggest headliners.

and Slightly Younger Sekibayashi

Yeah, this is still before Sekibayashi hit the big time. He's getting there, by his own words, but only close. Not there. And watching Kurachi obliterate people through the first and second rounds inspired him! His conviction that Pro Wrestlers are the strongest people around held firm.

But, in his own words, he didn't know a damn thing.

The next round, Kurachi wasn't fighting a scrub. He was fighting one of the heaviest hitters in the tournament. It seems like Sekibayashi doesn't remember the guy's style, only the showers of blood he knocked out of Kurachi. Who didn't guard a single blow. Right to the very end.

In an alleyway by the building where the tournament was being held Kurachi rests, and Sekibayashi rages. You could have won, he howls, if you'd only guarded yourself! Why did you throw the match? Kurachi repeats the question to himself, shaking his head. No, that's the wrong outlook. There's no guarding in Pro-wrestling, his only option was to take it. Bear that weight. Sekibayashi, to my eyes equal parts offended on Kurachi's behalf and struggling to reconcile his broken conviction, points out that this wasn't pro wrestling. This was an open martial arts tournament. He didn't have to be limited by pro wrestling! Kurachi laboriously pushes himself to his feet, presses a fist into Sekibayashi's chest and, with a smile, asks him a question in turn.

"What's the point in being a pro wrestler if you've lost your faith in pro wrestling?"

…

I used to play Yugioh. Quite a lot, actually. We had a local club where teens like I was back then would gather, decks to hand, and duel for the better part of a saturday afternoon. I was pretty good, too! Had a couple of pretty top tier decks as things went in a casual, local scene. Later on though, I found a particular archetype, the Fabled. A group of Light Element fiends, with ornate armour and little, impish familiars. I loved them. Particularly with some support they'd gotten a while back they were very good at swarming the field and fuelling Synchro plays, but never really broke out into the competitive scene. Sure, if things went well they could create nasty endboards for the time. But their combos were fragile, they struggled to recur resources and had some significant consistency problems.

Particularly in an age where top tier Xyz decks like Wind-ups were coming into their own, playing Fabled wasn't a smart move. And yet. I persevered. I refined my decklist, as best I could with the cards I had access to. I developed my understanding. And though I'd struggle nevertheless, sometimes I'd fucking well win, even against the top tier decks. Because I believed, and pushed that clunky, flawed archetype to the limits of its ability. And in believing, pushing forward with full sincerity, I'd win where sometimes even better decks couldn't.

It's a funny angle to take, for a story like this. Especially in a moment where Sekibayashi is, essentially, the protagonist. The manga isn't presenting Pro Wrestling as actually being practical, or its strengths having hidden depths that make it genuinely better than true, specialised martial arts. As Cosmo noted last time, it's a disadvantage! But it's not without its strengths. And Sekibayashi, as he matured, came to believe sincerely in those strengths. Dedicate himself to them. And in the process elevated them to the point where he can overwhelm Martially Chauvinist "my MMA is so fucking practical you a little bitch" shitwads.

And, well. Fighting at a disadvantage and coming back to take the win anyway is just good drama, no?

By contrast…well. Back in the present Kiozan manages to slip free from the headlock, half from Sekibayashi beginning to lose steam and half from his body being lubricated with sweat and blood. But even if he's tired and battered, to Kiozan's continuing disgusted surprise, Sekibayashi just refuses to go down. Sekibayashi taunts him with it. Do you want to know why I'm not going down, he asks. Kiozan tries to dismiss it. We're in the middle of a fight, shut the fuck up. But as Shikano notes, chatting shit is endemic to pro wrestling, so no. Sekibayashi will not shut up. Instead he'll point out that Kiozan has no core. No sincerity.

"You don't love Sumo at all, do you?"

This clearly isn't totally right. Kiozan wouldn't flip his shit as hard as he does at this if he didn't, on some level, love Sumo. But Sekibayashi is far, far from wrong. Kiozan doesn't believe in Sumo. Of fucking course he doesn't! Look at him, in his fucking kickboxing stance! Look at how easily he gets shaken! He has no centre, no foundation for his mental, nothing to anchor him against the battering tides of Sekibayashi's trash talk.

Of course he isn't managing to overwhelm Sekibayashi, even when by rights the martial art he's using should be something the Pro Wrestler should struggle with. Sekibayashi is used to struggle, he's embraced his art even where it is lacking. By contrast, Kiozan hasn't sought to refine or advance his Sumo, he's abandoned it for quick roads to victory. Adopting stances and techniques without building the foundation they require.

And of course, a weak mental game cracks easily.

Kiozan charges Sekibayashi in a berserk rage. None of the refined slaps or strikes of earlier, he's throwing wild haymakers and gripping Sekibayashi's head and rearing back to headbutt him over and over and over. Back in the entrance corridor, Akiyama Sakura notes how sloppy his attacks are getting to their collective boss. This…isn't good.

Sorry sir, still no fucks in stock. Check in tomorrow, maybe?

Sakura begins to call out to Kiozan, to tell him to calm down, but she's stopped. Magatani doesn't respond to her half-spoken question. He just grins. Everything's apparently going according to plan?

Back in the ring, Kiozan's done headbutting, hammering Sekibayashi with a vicious haymaker. And he makes to follow up with a second one. But Sekibayashi has found his moment to take his turn back. He snakes his arm in under Kiozan's and, one-armed, whips him around and into the floor. Yamashita calls out the attack as…hey, an arm whip, neat. Sekibayashi's put himself back in the fight's driving seat. But he doesn't follow up. Rolling his shoulder, shaking off a sheet or two of sweat, he relaxes a little. Alright, he says, that's enough of that. Wake up, kiddo. Time's up. The CEOs watch in silence as Kiozan rises to his feet, quietly agreeing with Sekibayashi. Yeah, it's about time we ended this. But quiet isn't the same as peaceful, and Sekibayashi's instincts are sharp. He can tell Kiozan hasn't calmed down even a little. No, he's gotten so fucking mad that it's wrapped around into cold, icy murder.

He abandons his high stance, and drops low and wide, into an orthodox Sumo starting stance. And quietly, deliberately informs Sekibayashi that if he won't go down the normal way, Kiozan will just have to kill him. Sekibayashi celebrates the trash talk, but is caught up short when Kiozan adjusts his stance even lower. Right down to the floor, with both fists held parallel to it.

"You're supposed to take all of my attacks…aren't you, Pro Wrestler?"

I don't recall the name of this stance. But it's a real thing. Abandoning all defence and stability for a singularly overwhelming, explosive strike. Getting down that low gives a strong angle of attack on the opponent's center of mass, and coils up the legs and core nice and tight.

And sure enough, the next instant, Kiozan vanishes from sight.

Now, I could be mean, and leave you there. This is enough wordcount for a chapter, if a slightly short one. But I know y'all have been excited for this one, so let's keep going. Make it a real blowout.

Chapter 80 reels back the clock a couple of seconds, as Sekibayashi notes the stance Kiozan is taking. Lowering his center of Gravity as far as it'll go. And then the manga asks the reader a question. Where are the most developed muscles in a Sumo Wrestler's body? Why…of course it is the legs. Not just to support their massive bodies, but also to resist the force of equally massive men, and blow them away in turn. Hell, one of the most powerful maneuvers a Sumo Wrestler can perform, which takes advantage of the huge bellies they develop, is simply lifting their opponent off his feet and pitching him bodily to the ground. And you know how the old saying goes. Lift with your legs, not your back.

And even for a Sumo Wrestler, the narration is eager to tell us, Kiozan's legs are abnormally well developed. He can maintain the speed of a Sumo Charge for far further, and raise it much higher. He's strictly limited to forward motion, but within the range of his charge he's faster than Murobuchi Gozo.

Fucking Bring it on, says Sekibayashi.

Okay, now he gives a fuck.

It is, bar none, the most powerful blow Sekibayashi has ever taken. In this contest the winner was Sumo.

…funny, isn't it, how the instant Kiozan went back to the things he's refined the longest and dedicated himself the most to, he managed to strike a telling blow? Now that's cohesive theming kids, take notes. Shame, though. It's too little, too late. Kiozan collapses to his hands and knees, the grin of triumph rapidly falling from his face. And, well.

He's shaking. It takes him a moment, but he manages to get back to his feet. And when he does, with a huff of triumph, Sekibayashi grins down at Kiozan again. Pro Wrestling's got some pretty bitching defence, huh? He asks, as Kiozan stares bug-eyed, frantically wondering how the fuck he's the one on the ground while Sekibayashi still stands.

Up in the stands, Wakatsuki helpfully explains to the rest of the peanut gallery, and us.

At the moment of impact, Sekibayashi lowered his upper chest. This bumped down Kiozan's head, ever so slightly, so he hit the Pro Wrestler 's chest with the fragile, less cushioned parts of his skull. He's probably suffering through an absolutely vicious concussion right now. And this is a core element of Sekibayashi's style. Ordinary defences, Wakatsuki explains, minimise damage to the user. But Sekibayashi takes blows from angles that break down the opponent's form in ways that damage them. The harder his opponent hits, the more they fuck themselves up in the process as he misaligns their punches and makes them fuck up their wrist. It's not realistic, but it's rooted in real risks of mis-placing or mis-executing a blow.

And it's something that only a Pro-Wrestler is likely to come up with. This is basically the opposite side of the coin from kayfabe, from Selling The Hit. A foundational skill in Pro Wrestling, IRL and here, is taking pretend hits and blows safely. Both for the receiver and the striker. Here Sekibayashi is taking that knowledge and inverting it.

You know, Kiozan was hitting very hard indeed.

Wakatsuki goes on to compare this to Cosmo's zone, directly addressing the boy and clarifying that it's the sort of crazy shit only a defence specialist could pull off. Sekibayashi has mastered the art of Destroying while Defending.

As Cosmo processes this, off to the side, Nishihonji quietly prays Cosmo understands now. He's excellent, a genuine prodigy, but there's a reason his first match lasted so long. He lacked this exact sort of confidence. Unshakeable belief in oneself. Total belief in your passion, your style. Until you can act without thought, but not unthinking. Decisiveness born of complete understanding.

He lacks conviction. Sekibayashi has it in spades.

My fucking god those lines of action.

A power bomb with the combined weight of Sekibayashi and a Sumo Wrestler. Over 300 kilograms total, right to the back of Kiozan's head. By rights that should kill him, but Kengan Fighters are just Built Different. So instead he's merely instantly concussed, and passes out a few seconds later. Sekibayashi congratulates him on being, in the end, a pretty fucking good entertainer. Thanks to Kiozan, he got to end this match in style.

The winner of Match eight is Sekibayashi Jun. As if you ever doubted.

The next page we get a brief summary of the themes of this match from Wakatsuki, just for the people who struggled to keep up. Sekibayashi might be fighting at a constant disadvantage with Pro Wrestling's very specific image and limits, but he dedicates himself to that style with complete confidence, and makes its unique strengths work. Kiozan, by contrast, looked down on his own much more complete style with disdain and started picking up a different martial art without dedicating himself to it either. Halfhearted both ways. This fight did not prove that Pro Wrestling is stronger than Sumo, so much as Sekibayashi's conviction overcame Kiozan's weaker will.

It's a bit trite and flatly delivered, but it's one page, and after reading this match you're probably still on a high. Moving on.

Back with Magatani, the man himself is apparently quite content with his loss, laughing heartily over it. Sakura watches quietly, before revealing herself to be much more incisive than her framing previously suggested. This is exactly what he wanted, isn't it? He doesn't answer her conclusively, smugly deflecting her question, but we get a flashback that essentially confirms it. Kiozan's elder brothers came to Magatani and directly requested this of him. They believe Kiozan has the talent to take Sumo to even greater heights than either of them are capable of, but he's…well, you've seen. They asked Magatani's help to give him a reality check, basically. And he agreed, out of a sense of what seems like fatherly obligation (he's apparently been looking out for them for decades), and didn't really think Kiozan could win the tournament, so this was his tactic. Still, it seems to bug him that it was Gandai specifically who delivered the blow. And we see the rivalry between them was, perhaps, closer than Shikano ever thought.

Hard cut away. Sekibayashi strode proudly away from his victory a colossus, indomitable and poised as an Adonis. Now that he's out of sight of the audience, he's let the Kayfabe drop, and has paused to hack up a great big lungful of blood. Admitting to himself, in the privacy of solitude, how much that fucking hurt. Amusingly, given he's clutching his stomach, it seems like only that big charge is really bothering him. Unfortunately, he's not alone. Someone approaches from behind. Still, he doesn't take it personally. You again? Sekibayashi says, noting that they caught him at a bad time before politely asking they don't tell anyone they saw this. Pros aren't supposed to break Kayfabe, you know, he tells Kono Haruo as the boy stares down in awe and wonder.

He stutters a little, then. The question is on his lips, but he struggles to make himself say it. Struggles to hope. Can he change? Sekibayashi looks on silently, as Haruo's self-loathing spiral plays out in front of him. I'm a piece of shit, Haruo says. He betrayed everyone's expectations, hit rock bottom. Do you think that even I can change, he sobs.

After 6 minutes and 47 seconds, Sekibayashi advances to the second round…and acquires a new pupil. I love this moment. Sekibayashi lives to inspire people, after all, doesn't he?

End chapter.

Holy shit. What more can really be said? This isn't my favourite match of the first round, possibly not even the first bracket, but god damn it might just be the best written. The flashbacks might be a little terse in their delivery, but otherwise fucking hell, what a perfect demonstration how to fucking do a Tournament Fight. This whole match is a tightly delivered little story arc unto itself, with a clear and resonant theme and easily digestible action. It even almost manages to avoid Kengan Asura's habit of bogging down its ideas in flat, stodgy moments of ill-considered exposition. Sekibayashi and Kiozan are clear foils for each other, and their conflict follows naturally, especially with Kiozan's clear tendency toward projection.

This match sold me on Sekibayashi, my first time reading this manga. I'd managed to get through the Ohma fight not really feeling it, but here I believed. What a boldly written character, to take something the author pretty clearly feels strongly about, and hold back from making their schtick just the wanky best…and still manage to make that character convincingly phenomenally good anyway. Without reintroducing a hint of wank. And then, as the cherry on top, using him to elevate and restore life to another character who is otherwise entirely spent. It's honestly impressive how many little relationships and webs of interaction this huge cast is creating, and really works to justify itself.

Beyond that, I think I've said all I need to during the review itself, and this has already become the longest update so far, so I'll let you go.

See you all next time, as we begin setting up for the second bracket.

Manic Dogma · Sep 29, 2023

We begin in a dark space, void of light or definition. An old man, his face divided by a great scar-cross, kneels at the feet of a much younger. He tells his lord that everything is in place. Nikaido Ren congratulates his vassal on a job well done, and declares the time has come. Today will stain the wolf's fangs crimson with blood. Whatever the fuck that means, you gigantic dork.

Next page cuts immediately away to the medical office, where Sawada Keizaburo is receiving some visitors. He's immediately combative, asking Rihito if he's come to mock him before his first match, as Doctor Hanafusa is dragged away from a sleeping patient in the background. Rihito's answer is a question.

Who did this to you.

Togawa almost answers before she's cut off by Sawada, whose pride is getting even further bruised. He wants to know why Rihito asks. Is he going to get satisfaction for him? Who the fuck do you take him for? He rants for a bit longer on the subject, with a quick aside to Togawa, going on at length about…well, essentially projecting. He's responding to any amount of empathy as an attack on his ability to self-determine. Diversity win! Even the femboys are full of Toxic masculinity!

Now, Rihito's eyes have been in shadow this whole time. Being uncharacteristically patient as he gets ranted at. This is where that stops, as his teeth grit and he reaches forward to grab Sawada by his ruffled collar…and completely miss the point.

…friendship? Question mark?

Look at how fucking serious he is, lol. Even if you can say nothing else about Rihito (and there's almost nothing else positive to say) at least he's earnest, I guess. Sawada's faces here are especially funny too, as his sheer shock at Rihito's oblivious stupidity gradually dissolves and he gives up being mad as a bad job. He can at least grant that Rihito is better than Toyo electric, and he isn't wrong about that. Rihito's a thug, but his assholery is at least smaller scale.

Now for some actual burgeoning friendship, as we cut to outside the medical office where Karla and Elena are ambling along, chatting merrily. Specifically Karla's escorting her around between visits to the medical office, and explicitly says she'd rather hang out with her than watch the matches, which is quite cute.

Then she bumps into someone tall, dark and handsome.

The man isn't a wrothful sort, he just condescendingly pats her on the head and tells her to be careful. He does have more words than that for Karla though.

It's a funny question to ask, isn't it, given how animated he's been a lot of the time when we see him. But then, crucially, most of the scenes he's been in previously have directly related to Ohma, either in person or fuckpillow form. This is more like the man he was in the Koyo Academy Fighter trials, half-there and barely paying attention. I appreciate that Karla's instincts pick up on his bullshit like this, noting what an empty motherfucker he is emotionally, rather than going all catty over someone else liking Ohma. I know she doesn't know, but I swear to god in some media people like this can just fucking smell it.

Still sucks that one of the only gay-coded fighters is a venomous yandere who thinks what he feels is something transcendentally beyond love and this justifies everything he does, but we've already been over that. Moving on.

And I hope you have your earplugs in because up next is a full page of Saw Paing. Which is less Saw Paing than it sounds like, because it basically means his broad, ball-swinging stance and jet-engine level screaming is taking up half the page as the mayor of his home village…quitely apologises to him in the background. Huh. I smell shenanigans afoot.

Especially since on the next page the CEO of Ajiro Fisheries, Mr Ajiro himself, is reacting with shock to something Yoshinari has said. Do you mean it? Ajiro asks, and Yoshinari confirms. He's sorry, but he's going to make some trouble. This will be his first and last self indulgence.

Shenanigans indeed. Definitely something going on there, especially given how the two pages are arranged next to each other.

And then we cut to a yankee woman in a sarashi poking sweatily out of a half-removed Not-Donald-Duck costume.

Okay.

Oh my god, there's so many edgelords in here all of a sudden. And why are you fuckers in costume?

I do kind of love this page though, if I'm being completely honest, and for the very obvious and intended reason. The long shadows, the ominous speech bubbles and overwrought spooky bullshit dialogue contrasted against the dead-eyed budget mickey mouse outfit is just very funny all on its own. Especially alongside the insistence on kayfabe.

Next we get another single page burst, this time of Rei and Kurayoshi, giving a brief window into their backstory. Specifically, Rei is reminiscing on how they met. He swept in through the window of her bedroom, ready to drive a piece of sharp metal into her spinal column, she was in bed, their eyes met across the room. Tale as old as time. Rei, his head in Kurayoshi's lap, turns over and promised he'd give his life to protect her, as he wiggles happily on the floor and gives her a great big cuddle.

Kurayoshi's secretaries claim that he ruined a cool line with this behaviour, like a pair of humourless harpies. Fuck you, that shit's cute.

And then the next one-page splash of character goes on to…oh hey it's the assassin guy we've gotten like two or three panels of so far. I wonder if the manga's finally decided to give him some heat-

…is that a fucking Nio statue? Bored into a wall with, as far as I can tell, his bare hands?

Alright, that's uh…that's some fucking implications all of a sudden.

Without going too deep into it, are you familiar with those unbelievably ripped statues of really fuckoff mad guys you'll see in Buddhist temples in media? Often in pairs, flanking something? Yeah, same deal, to my knowledge they're manifestations of a particular Bodhisattva, and particularly relevantly to this scene symbolise a bunch of battle-relevant things including justifying the use of violence to protect important values and such against evil.

Incidentally, among the many things this specific one with the closed mouth (called Ungyo in japanese sources. Yes, this is what Sekiro was referencing with the buff sugar) , one is the notion of Latent Power.

Example of both, from the Tsz Shan Monastery, in Hong Kong. Note the one on the right.

Intentional symbolism? Just drawing on a common, cool visual commonly associated with especially old and enlightened martial artist? Who the fuck knows, but it's gonna be a struggle to keep up my feigned disinterest any longer. What a cool panel.

But the manga doesn't linger, cutting immediately back to the peanut gallery in their upper walkway. Various parties react with shock to the fact Ohma has apparently buggered off to take a nap. The fighters are blase about it. He did just fight his first match, he's gotta be tired. Akiyama grants the idea, but can't help wondering if something's wrong. In the end it turns out neither group is right. Ohma's fine, certainly. But he isn't sleeping.

He's practising image training.

As we drop into his mind, Murobuchi Gozo charges at him at all speed, and Ohma absorbs his sprinting knee strike with the Adamantine Kata. Noting that Murobuchi drops his guard after that technique for the briefest of moments, he imagines a scything high kick knocking Murobuchi's teeth out. Then Adam Dudley fades into view.

Oh hey, welcome back Heightened Reality. It's been a hot minute, hasn't it?

So yeah, this kind of training is an established Trope within martial arts media, and is…sort of rooted in reality? Nothing so extravagant is remotely possible in real life, but as the page notes learning gets ingrained during sleep, and the theory behind it is…verisimilitudinous? At least as I understand it, it doesn't improve muscle memory or actual technique, and relies entirely on the trainee actually having seen shit to practise against, but going over the skillsets and physical properties of potential opponents in this kind of detail definitely helps formulate plans and countermeasures. And that's exactly what we see here, Ohma is going over the demonstrated capacity of different opponents and thinking through how they'll respond to his skills, and how he might counter their countermeasures.

For example, over the next page he uses Weeping Willow to redirect Adam's haymaker…but he knows about Adam's incredible core strength, and thus knows that Adam won't be thrown off balance that easily. So he changes tack, instead twisting Adam's strength against him more directly, and as Adam recoils from his own strength straining against his joints, Ohma capitalises with an Ironbreaker punch.

Optimistic, perhaps. But it's better than nothing, and assuming it works it's still a form of training he can do without tiring himself out. Which is possibly some of the best, most understated execution of Ohma's martial obsession so far. Never let a moment go to waste, always be progressing toward your best, most skilled self. It's good stuff.

But Ohma is not a particularly stable fellow. He's not alone in here.

He looks genuinely frightened, which is rare. But then, I think most of us would be scared if we heard a voice other than our own inside our head.

The shadow condescends some to Ohma after the praise. He can't give full marks on this, training with those chumps doesn't mean shit. But hey, here he is. Ohma's next opponent will be him. And Ohma recognises him. We don't get to see his face, or any features beyond the smile and masculine silhouette. But Ohma definitely knows who he is.

Also god damn Ohma, if this is who I think it is, please for the love of god see a Therapist. End chapter. And volume!

Casual bit of setup this time, lining up the fighters for the next half of the first round. Which I'm thankful for, it's nice to have some easy, breezy stuff to comment on after the goddamn novella the last match was.

Incidentally, after this chapter is the second Street Fighter crossover chapter. Which i will not be commenting on in full, but I will leave you with this. A Metsu Hadoken, as drawn in Kengan Asura's art style.

Fucken sweet.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Oct 2, 2023

[looks at the title]

Well shit, just give the game away immediately, why don't you?

Chapters 82 picks up right where 81 left off, with the ominous shadow (who now has visible long hair by the way) wistfully noting how much Ohma has grown. Ohma isn't as chill about it, and demands to know what the fuck you're doing here-

Yes that's right, it's Tokita Niko, With his dead-anime-mom haircut and legs so defined I can see individual muscles through his baggy pants. Ohma's master, namesake of Ohma's style, and sassy motherfucker. Been a while, hasn't it? He singsongs. But he wouldn't be a protagonist's master if that were all he were here for, and he immediately begins commenting on Ohma's use of Image Training. He's pretty damn good at it, set all the relevant parameters to just about where they are in reality…but it's a fundamentally flawed idea. This isn't gonna make for good training. Ohma's confused, partly by what he means, partly because he was very sure that he'd done some meditative fuckery to stop exactly this sort of shit happening.

Ohma, I don't know how to tell you this, but do you really need to be told that your mental is about as stable as a house foundation made of ice lollies?

Being the teacher he is, Niko is happy to clarify though. He's talking about these two dumbasses Ohma was playing with. As I intimated last chapter, Niko points out that Ohma knows next to nothing about either of them, the smallest possible fraction of their techniques and strategies. The core flaw of this technique is its complete reliance on your existing understanding of the opponent you're meditating on. Hell, even this Niko isn't actually accurate to the real thing.

Lol, I love this guy. No fucking respect.

And, well, yeah. If it were that fucking easy, if you could just meditate on your opponent for a while and completely understand their combat style, fighting at all would be pointless. This sort of thing is a training aid, not a replacement for training. Admittedly I've seen it used that way in other media, but they tend to be ones with a more explicitly supernatural bent. It makes more sense as a thing with more direct impact when you're training your ki in preparation for more involved, Martial Fantasy techniques. All that said, Ohma's response is a short and sweet So What. Are you just here to tell me that? Niko shrugs off the question, and his stylishly tattered cape.

The man you know best is right in front of you, he points out. What better opponent could you ask for?

After a moment of pretty open and vulnerable shock, there's absolutely a part of him still grieving for Niko no matter what he says, he starts shaking with anticipation. Then, with a great big grin, he agrees. You want to get your ass kicked by your own Niko style, he asks? Niko tells him not to write cheques his body can't cash. And then they perform simultaneous fusion techniques, Adamantine and Flame Katas, Flashing Steel Blast.

And Niko blows Ohma the fuck away.

Remember how Niko whined about hating the Adamantine Kata during the preliminaries? Yeah, Niko reams him over this. His Flame Kata is great, but Ohma's Adamantine Kata sucks and always has. And just, can I take a moment to appreciate how nice it is to see Ohma get lumped with some real disrespect and genuine flaws as a fighter? Like, after the first twenty or so chapters, where he was framed pretty completely as this immaculate and untouchable avatar of violence and coolness. Granted it's mostly by people placed as some of the best fighters in the world, and plenty of them are still impressed with him, but we aren't getting so many of the moments where he's just completely beyond reproach. He's getting dunked on! It's funny and endearing! Niko notes how Ohma used this technique against Jerry in the preliminaries and points out how lucky Ohma is that Jerry is weak!

Ohma doesn't take it so well though, flipping back to his feet and uncorking a Flashing Steel: Smash. Niko just sighs and catches it with his bare fucking hand.

Genuinely, I love this shit in martial arts media. There's a tendency in a lot of amateur criticism to overly dilute and flatten these sorts of ideas, and this completely and directly takes that sort of person to task. You know the sort, the brainlets who ask shit like "why don't they just use their best move at the start of every fight, then they'd obviously just win all the time". No! Martial arts from anywhere in the world are complicated things, individual techniques have specific purposes within a fight, contexts where they're strong and situations where they're weak. And hey, you know what's a pretty common situation where the flashiest and most destructive moves are kinda piss? Fucking neutral, where noone's engaged or at any particular advantage or disadvantage, and so probably watching pretty closely for anything you do.

And yeah, this is pretty consistent with Ohma's character so far. He's skilled, but also kind of thuggish in how he uses that skill. When he isn't toying with his food, so to speak, he's going right for the throat in linear bursts of thoughtless aggression. And it's done pretty well for him before the tournament, even against Sekibayashi, but now he's in the big leagues and that shit isn't going to cut it anymore.

Not that Ohma's ever going to take a lecture lying down. For a moment it seems like he's got one over on Niko as a Weeping Willow to the ankle sends the man through the air like an out of control helicopter rotor…and then he smoothly turns the motion into something like a triangle choke on Ohma, a technique of the Water Kata. Bind of Pisces. He calls it a close one, but goes on to point out that Weeping Willow is just meant to throw your opponent off balance. It's a setup move, not a gotcha.

Then we get a neat diagram of the Niko style, and a suggestion of its core principles.

You know, this is kinda interesting to me? Yes the whole arrangement of the martial art, but more specifically which areas of it Ohma is good at. Movement techniques/footwork, and possibly the most subtle and precise of the systems. Not the one for absorbing blows and making him punch harder. That one he in fact explicitly dislikes. Especially for such a testosterone poisoned character, it's an unexpected choice, in a lot of manga the Redirection Kata would be the skillset of a woman. Alongside a lot of extraneous waffling on how she needs to fight like this because women are obviously so helplessly weak and fragile, and then she'll get walloped by a guy anyway because lol imagine actually respecting a woman's capacity for violence. Ludicrous, amirite fellas.

But then, there is something that contradicts this. Niko pauses to note that, well, he doesn't rely so much on Redirection and footwork these days, does he? And Ohma kindly obliges him, exploding into his transformed state. Niko just dryly notes how he always does this when he gets forced into a corner, all but calling him a wimp.

He then notes that, fortunately, Ohma doesn't have any limits right now since this is basically all happening in his imagination. So this is fine. Take out whatever "Advance" you like.

Getting more and more layers of implication about how dangerous this shit is for him, now.

Ohma, as usual, doesn't take being lectured well and just bumrushes Niko like a dumbass, getting clocked across the jaw for his trouble. He's so much faster in this state, capable of such incredible power…and yet if anything Niko is beating the piss out of him even easier than before. Chastising Ohma for relying too much on his Advance, Niko cracks the shit out of Ohma's chin with a leaping knee and, before he can fall, catches him by the goddamn throat.

This is good! This is really good! This is exactly the sort of shit the Kure's Removal needed! Explicit palpable strengths contrasted with meaningful weaknesses that an opponent can play around. You know, a technique that actually has a meaningful back and forth a fight scene can use for texture and tension. And hey, Sandro even hedged his bets with "certain moves" there, which both allows space for some less impactful techniques to see use, and also makes it harder to pin down explicit contradictions in earlier scenes. It might not even be a retcon, I can't say for sure, but if it is then well played.

And hey, just by seeing that earlier chart we can already kind of see how an Ohma with a full mastery of the Niko Style could do much better than he did in canon. Adamantine Kata alone could certainly have helped mitigate most of Sekibayashi's blows, even if the drop kick would have fucked him up. Sekibayashi probably wouldn't have been super vulnerable to the Water system's grapples, but there's probably some way its softening techniques could have been useful.

Oh, and this is when Niko finally explicitly drops the beat that the Advance will, eventually, kill Ohma. Bummer. But that's not the really important detail this chapter drops. No, that comes on the next page. As Niko exhorts Ohma to remember one crucial detail.

The next page is a scratchy, disconnected jumble of half-formed memories.Ohma being approached by a broad figure. Ohma describing something as an advance. The technique's true name, blanked out by a white box. Niko asking who taught Ohma that. Niko dying. A man telling Ohma to use the technique as he likes.

Then introducing himself. His name is blanked out.

Ohma wakes with a scream. Half fury, half some wretched and squirming fear. He scares the living daylights out of Yamashita and Akiyama in the process, who were about to wake him up. Panting and sweating, Ohma acknowledges their presence but is quickly too deep in thought to pay them any further mind.

He completely lost control of his own mind, back there. That's terrifying. And that fear is nothing compared to the anxiety and confusion of realising how much of his own memory is scattered tatters.

End chapter.

This one is deceptively important, for a between-bracket setup chapter. For one thing the base premise is just honestly much more fun than had really clicked for me before. Our definitely psychologically healthy protagonist attempting a mental training technique, only for the memories of his own master to hijack the whole thing and then proceed to spend two thirds of the chapter mercilessly dunking on him. Just absolutely brutal, no-holds-barred ribbing of a sort that really sells that there really was a relationship there.

And on a more serious note, this represents a major change in how Ohma as a character is treated by the narrative. We've already seen the rise of Chill Ohma, and that was great, but before now he's still been mostly presented as basically untouchable. Even when he's been in a bad spot it's been because he's holding back or fighting one of the biggest badasses going. And in both of those cases he still came out on top. This chapter though, was possibly his biggest display so far of genuine vulnerability. His old master didn't just beat the shit out of him, as funny as that was, he also played Ohma emotionally like a fucking fiddle. Every other page getting a rise out of him, and consider what it says that this phantom is from Ohma's own mind. That in a way, this is a reflection of things Ohma knows and feels. That he believes himself to be stupid. And then Niko slams his weaknesses as a fighter. Imagine that! Ohma having serious flaws as a fighter that actually mean something! Can you imagine the Ohma of the first thirty odd chapters being framed with even a slight weakness that doesn't just end up being used to make him look cooler? And he's never been less stoic than this, even before the dream ends and he wakes up covered in fucking sheets of sweat.

Of course, there's also the more direct mechanical and plot related things. This is the closest thing to a full explanation of the Niko style we've gotten so far, laying out Ohma's road forward and his toolset in fights. And finally confirming explicitly that home-boy's got shit to sort out upstairs. He's amnesiac, not as a hook to draw you in but as a gradual revelation thickening the plot with intrigue. Who was that guy? How does he relate to the wider plot, if at all? How is Ohma going to deal with the fights going forward, knowing that his trump card will actually no joke kill him if he doesn't measure himself?

Not much real content here, but it builds tension and mysteries for the story ahead. Not super exciting, but good in its own way and very necessary to add nuance to a character who's broadly been pretty flat. And for once it's without caveats.

See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Oct 6, 2023

Well that's an ominous title.

Oh well, I'm sure it's fine.

(Content Warning: Copious amounts of blood later, coming from places blood oughtn't be coming from.)

Anyway, in the way the manga has gotten fond of recently, this chapter starts a little before the last one ends. Yamashita and Akiyama are approaching Ohma, who seems to have entirely passed out on the side of the corridor. Akiyama tuts at him…and Yamashita decides this is his chance to prank Ohma. Feels kind of out of character for him, but well. It's not like he gets the chance to go through with it.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Speaking of terrifying, god damn. Ohma's legit got those stare-ey "I just woke up from a nightmare" eyes. He quickly settles back down into his normal deadpan though, as Akiyama asks him if he's feeling alright. Ohma, in his usual way, is dismissive. You're blowing this out of proportion, he says. Just in time for his nose to start utterly streaming blood. And I'm not even talking a normal hard nosebleed, I mean literally pouring out of his nose hard enough to splash off his hands. The other two very obviously and understandably panic, that's probably a good sign of internal damage!

And Ohma…brushes it off. The bleeding does stop pretty quickly, so he insists his wounds just got opened a bit. He's fine, he swears. He's just gonna go wash his face, he'll be back for the next match, they should just go back to their seats. Yamashita buys it hook, line and sinker, because he's a professional at lying to himself, but Akiyama is more dubious.

Ohma ambles through the corridor with a bloodstained shirt, looking for all the world like all that happened was a punch to the nose. Like he wasn't lying through his teeth.

Jesus christ, man.

Fortunately, while he's still sufficiently bought into toxic masculinity to lie to Yamashita and Akiyama's faces, Ohma isn't in so deep that he's capable of lying to himself on this. Shit's fucked and he knows it. He knows it must be the Advance. This hasn't happened before, but it's pretty obvious. He begins to speculate on the figure in his dream, and whether that was the guy who taught him the advance, but being the blunt instrument he is he quickly drops the subject. It doesn't matter.Ohma doesn't give a shit what happens to him, as long as he puts Kiryu Setsuna in the dirt first.

It's a weird sort of fatalism…but then what else does Ohma really have to live for at this point? The whole "I just want to prove I'm the strongest" thing, such a symptom of early Ohma, is more and more clearly a lie and beyond fighting Ohma's life is just…empty. I laughed it off as cryptid behaviour at the time, but retroactively the fact he could get by in that dilapidated mansion makes a great deal of sense.

And, as if we needed the point drummed in, Kushida Rin observes him from the shadows with but one comment to make. It's too late for him. The same thing the Doctor said, during Ohma's match.

Will all this doomsaying amount to anything in the end? Who the fuck knows, we have a tournament to get back to. Sayaka thanks the audience for their patience, and declares the official start of the C-block's matches!

As the peanut gallery pops boners over the other Ring Girls, Yamashita and Akiyama arrive back. Kaneda welcomes them, lets them know Kushida wandered off to buy drinks, and asks where Ohma is, but as far as they can see he's fine. And has sensibly chosen to wear a black shirt for the rest of the day.

After a brief pause to introduce C-block's referee, a woman named Anna Paula who the manga is very eager to clarify is the only female ref attached to the Kengan matches for…some reason, Sayaka begins to introduce the fighters for match nine. And first up? The Hot blooded terror of the Kengan matches! He screams! He Roars! This man just fucking loves to shout!

Yoroizuka Saw Paing, the Howling Fighting Spirit, he who is devoid of an inside voice.

We cut to one of the observation boxes, where two of the CEOs are talking. Or, well, one CEO and the Mayor of the village of the Dawn, Saw Paing's employer for this match. Who informs the CEO of Ajiro Fisheries that no, he's not spirited, Saw Paing is just a dumbass. Brutal, but…well, we'll see. But at least part of that attitude might be bitterness. Mr Ajiro asks the Mayor if he knows, and the Mayor says no. He didn't have the heart to tell Saw Paing the central element of complication in this match.

It's been fixed.

Hard cut to Hayami's quarters. This is the other agent he knows he's already gotten through to the second round. Or, well, perhaps the word one of his guardians uses is better. Pawn. A small piece without agency of its own. The other guardian speculates on the reasoning for pitting two of the people Hayami has in his pocket against each other this early, suggesting that it was to conserve the fighters stamina and Hayami agrees. Though he does expect his plans will have to change…for obscure reasons. He muses on how Katahara has changed the rules to make this sort of chicanery easier. Hayami is determined to call the bluff, as it were.

And that's the chapter. But there wasn't all that much content there, so let's go for another one.

Chapter 84 is simply and placidly named. "Fisher." And for all the subject's stoicity, the way the chapter starts is anything but placid.

…Paul Manson feels like a direct reference to something.

Yep, this time we're seeing the rise of an honest to god Folk Hero. Standing 206cm tall and 165 kilograms, the giant of the sea of japan makes his first appearance in the Kengan Matches. For Ajiro Fisheries, it's Karo Yoshinari! With his weird, bumpy head!

And god damn if it isn't an Odd Couple fight. Karo is massive but dead silent, staring across the arena at his foe, who is much smaller but seems to have lung capacity equivalent to the average ocean liner. And is screaming for no reason. Because of course he is. Off in the audience we get some commentary from Gaolang Wongsawat, who we haven't heard from in a while and is surprisingly very certain of Saw Paing's victory.

I feel for you, man.

We get another classic flashback sequence, but this time specifically from the perspective of another fighter. Gaolang thinks back to a village on the border between the nations of Thailand and Myanmar (which I'd always heard called Burma in the past) where he attended an inter-country martial arts thingamajig. He was 15, but befitting a man whose title is The God of War was already essentially unmatched within his own country. This is where he met Saw Paing, who was representing Myanmar…and is a year older than Gaolang? Huh. Maybe it's just that Gaolang is more mature, but I could have sworn he was significantly older.

It's probably that Gaolang is more mature.

Anyway, Saw Paing was already loud as a jet engine at 16, and this was where he decided Gaolang would be his rival, much to the other boy's dismay. Gaolang won…but it was the only match he ever won that wasn't by KO. Clear implications of heat there, but what could it mean specifically, I wonder? Funny thing, we see Saw Paing bleeding from a cut in this flashback that is his only visible scar in the present. Whatever strength this implies, Gaolang's fist clearly still put to the test.

I love Gaolang.

Down in the ring, Saw Paing cracks his knuckles together, promising Gaolang he's going to win and encouraging Karo to get this shit started. And this is where we get the hint that there is actually a roiling sea under that calm surface. In the privacy of his own mind…Karo Yoshinari is seething with spite.

Absolutely noone has any faith in Saw Paing's brain, it's kinda funny.

With that Paula Ann tells the fighters she wants to see a fair fight, and commands them to their positions as Sayaka begins her commentary by calling Jerry Tyson up to the plate. Remember how he was in the preliminaries? Yeah, he got to see Karo Yoshinari close up, and is happy to contribute his experience to lay out what the audience should expect. He talks up Karo's sheer power and resilience, no-selling a powerful contender's attacks before laying him the fuck out with one slap. He doesn't have so much to contribute on Saw Paing's side, but makes some judgements based on relative size and known qualities. The key to this battle, he thinks, is gonna be how well Saw Paing can avoid getting smushed…but it's clear to everyone here that he's probably really biased toward his offense.

Of course, the more pertinent question is…how much is it even going to matter with the match fixed. Paula Ann tells the fighters to take their stances. And the instant the first syllable of "begin" passes her lips Saw Paing is a half-visible blur of motion streaking toward Karo. It's a rush, as anyone with ears would have expected from him. He even screams his philosophy on the subject as he goes, just in case anyone missed it. "He who strikes first wins!"

He doesn't stop. But he does get caught up short. Saw Paing might be an idiot…but he's still smart enough to recognise Karo's stance as weird. Spread low and wide, leant forward, with his right fist raised. Not coiled back in an arc like adam Dudley's killing blow, but like he's holding a spear.

Karo Yoshinari…is not a martial artist. His opponents are generally bigger than humans. The next page is a spread of a massive sperm whale, dwarfing the fisherman and his harpoon. But the man killed the leviathan, and this is the weapon he used to do it.

And it has a fucking sick name.

Imma just say it, I think "Burial" as a word could stand to be used a bit more in weapon and technique names. Anyone else remember Bloodborne's Burial Blade? Dope as fuck, I tell you what.

Oh but wasn't there supposed to be shenanigans here? Saw Paing's boss certainly seems shocked, the mayor startles at the tremendous blow that was just struck against his fighter, and Mr Ajiro just watches with pursed lips. There's no going back now, they're going all in. Fuck Hayami and his bullshit, they have to win.

But they're going to have to try a little harder than that.

These are the thews that survived contact with the knuckles of the God of War. They aren't about to fold that easily. End chapter.

Okay so this is actually an interesting setup for a fight, even if the inner mechanics aren't that complicated. Establish that the match is being fixed. Place the side intended to win in a position of strength anyway with Gaolang's flashback, and further establish that said character is extremely not the sort of person who'd back down regardless. And then have that fixing plan be broken as that side decides they have to win anyway. We'll see why Ajiro Fisheries feels the need to do this soon, but there's already an element of pathos there, and the way this chapter ends is starting the match of with a really firm baseline of desperate peril. Saw Paing, as dumb as he is, is a legitimate badass. Gaolang predicted his victory for a reason. And now the manga has added a bit of depth to Karo's team, and given the audience potential reason to care if they lose.

The second bracket is getting off to a fairly strong start, I think. But we'll have to see if this match can carry this energy forward. See you all next time.

Manic Dogma · Oct 9, 2023

His name is Yoroizuka Saw Paing, and he is punching a man in the fucking face.

This chapter starts hot off the heels of the last one, as Karo reels from Saw Paing's punch. But not so much that he can't immediately plant his feet and return fire. His fist rams straight into Saw Paing's face. A lot of people would have just died on the spot. A lot of fighters would have folded right then and there. Most speedy, fast offensive fighters can't take a blow like that anywhere, let alone the head.

Saw Paing is not most fighters.

Man fucking ate that hit like a light breakfast.

Saw Paing is not a light, offensive fighter. He's an aggressive juggernaut. And his fighting style is not Muay Thai.

Kengan Asura tells us that Lethwei, or Burmese boxing, is the traditional martial art of Myanmar. It's similar to Muay thai in many ways, such as the nature of its blows and the particulars of its throwing techniques. The main crucial difference from which its other differences spread like cracks is that it is practised entirely bare knuckled. Which makes it…difficult to properly guard in an active way. So they just don't fucking bother.

As far as I can tell from brief research this isn't actually accurate, but Lethwei is indeed a real thing practised in Burma, aside from a period where (who fucking else) the british banned its practise. Fun fact, in addition to the previously noted names, it is also called The Art of Nine Limbs. And why is that, you ask? Well, we'll get to it in good time, don't you worry.

Anyway, what we do get immediately is a justification for Saw Paing's obscene resilience, in the form of another session of hyperreality and Facts with Kengan Asura. Because, the manga notes, the human body is not naturally built to endure a fist fight comfortably. And it's true! We'll hurt ourselves doing it even if we win. It's also true that, when subjected to repeated fractures and given time to heal, the bone heals stronger in that area. To an extent.

"The Skeleton becomes so strong that it could be said to belong to a different breed of humanity" might be slightly overselling it, though. Mildly questionable phrasing aside, I'm down.

Saw Paing follows up his counterattack with a kick that damn near folds Karo in half, and very much sends the man to his knees. Then we get an honestly kind of funny cut to the audience where Harada Tokujiro is watching the fight. Remember him? He's the guy Karo fucking steamrolled in the preliminaries, and he's feeling kinda shitty.

Don't worry man, you did better than most of the guys there. At least you lost in a 1v1, and not on the humiliating end of a 5v1.

That said, Saw Paing has no intention of letting an opening like this go, hot blooded shonen guy or not. He rushes in with another brutal scything kick. And hits nothing but air. Karo Yoshinari, somehow, slides under the blow like a fucking limbo bar. And comes up behind Saw Paing. The younger man does handily spin around to correct his facing, but Karo isn't aiming for a traditional blow. He isn't a martial artist, after all.

Saw Paing hurtles across the arena, to the ringing music of crushed bones. Sayaka wonders if he can even get up from that as, back in the observers box, Mr Ajiro apologises profusely to the mayor. If they don't win this tournament, he screams, they're through! We don't get to hear what he means by that yet though, 'cos this chapter's pacing is on a roll and two veterans of the kengan matches have noticed something important. Sekibayashi points out something's up, and Wakatsuki agrees. Karo Yoshinari is more than just a strongman.

That initial strike hit Saw Paing in the spinal cord. Specifically, the stretch of it just at the base of his skull. A hit like that is like a reset button, the brain briefly blacks out. Coincidentally, there's a practise in fishing called Ike Jime, a part of processing the catch where you destroy just such a stretch of the fish's spine. Stops it from flopping about, causing trouble and damaging itself, while leaving the rest of the fish alive for a while. Cruel, but it maintains the freshness of the meat. Karo Yoshinari just performed Ike Jime on a human being, to set him up for the uppercut of a lifetime.

He is a man with no Martial Arts, but he still performed a Masterful Strike. Sick.

Too bad it wasn't Saw Paing's bones that were being crushed, there. Hard cut from the Masterful Strike page, the first panel is Karo staring at his own mangled fist. Sayaka is shocked, pointing out to the audience the destruction. Gaolang is not. He grouses about how reckless Saw Paing is.

If that blow had landed anywhere but the head, this match would be over.

Saw Paing pops back up with blood streaming down his face and a massive grin, to tell Karo just how much that punch hurt. And he's real eager to explain what happened and why. Remember that point earlier about bones and the strengthening thereof? Yeah, basically that.

I'm…pretty sure this is child abuse?

Anyway, questionable treatment of children aside, Saw Paing's pretty proud of his solid steel skull and talks it up for a bit longer, until Karo finally cuts him off. You think you've won already, he asks? With just these injuries, he goes on as he clenches his maimed fist. Don't get so cocky, we're just getting started. And Saw Paing is nothing if not excited. It's a fun dynamic honestly, especially with the context floating around them. If these two men fought at all under normal circumstances it'd be much less bitter.

But we aren't done either, on to chapter 86.

After another promise to Gaolang that they'll fight, Saw Paing is once again the first person to move. But now he's actually playing with a little strategy. For all noone in the room thinks he has a second braincell to rub against the first, he's entirely capable of a feint like the one here, where he lowers his center of mass at the last second to smoothly transition into a sweeping kick right into Karo's knee. And he definitely feels it, even if he hasn't got the same wasted weight issues Haruo has he's still a big fella, and for the second time this match he's brought to his knees. Saw Paing takes a moment to breathe, expression turning serious for the first time this match. Before going completely fucking apeshit.

ORAORAORAORAORAORA-

I guess he's got that emotional runup thing going. Whenever he looks serious, it's actually his brain taking a runup.

The rush is a telling one, and Karo seems largely helpless to shift his position, pushed back further and further across the arena as his beef gets tenderised. Right up until one of the most important moments in the fight.

Saw Paing lands a full-force high kick on Karo Yoshinari's head. Sending the man off balance, and throwing his head toward the ground. It's a vicious, crushing blow.

So hey, y'all notice the title of this chapter?

As Facts With Kengan Asura is quick to clarify, landsickness is a common…not even condition really, just a natural consequence of the human ability to adapt. People who spend a long time on a boat adapt to it, the constant rocking and shaking. They develop sea legs, as the saying goes. But in the process of adopting that as a new norm, the body can forget what it feels like to exist on stable ground. This can result in landsickness, where the body rejects the stillness of soil as unnatural and creates unsteadiness and illness.

Karo Yoshinari has been a fisherman for over 40 years. He's spent the vast majority of that time on the sea. He's got landsickness for days.

When Saw Paing kicked him in the head, it caused some damage. His balance centers were thrown out of whack, as the blow literally dizzied him. It makes the ground seem to rock and roil under his feet.

It's just like returning home.

Is this kinda silly? Yeah, it is.

Is this the least bit realistic? No not really, I'm fairly certain this couldn't actually work, and the balance fuckery from blows to the head doesn't work that way. Also it'd fuck up everything else about how you fight.

Is it close enough that your brain goes "I can believe that"? I'd say so.

Is the above screencap sick as hell? You better fucking believe it.

Also Karo did this on purpose to restore his sea legs, the mad bastard. Imagine letting a top tier practitioner of Lethwei kick you in the fucking head on the belief that it'll give you the advantage, and then it fucking working. And it's worked before, apparently! We're told that in this state, noone he's ever fought has been able to match him, and Jerry dips in to reinforce that notion by directly comparing him to some previous fighters. He has core strength on par with Adam Dudley anyway, and in this state his proprioception and weight control is a match for Sawada Keizaburo. He obviously doesn't have the techniques of either, but he can be thought of as a physical monster in the same class as Haruo…but with much greater self control and tactical wherewithal. Jerry is terrified of him, and honestly I buy it.

Just look at this utter nonsense.

The lashing force of his kick rips open Saw Paing's eyebrow. Looming like an Umibozu he calls Saw Paing a dog of Toyo, and tells him to prepare to sink. Like a keel-broken ship into the abyssal depths. You will all suffer your dues.

I'm not sure how Karo still thinks Saw Paing is consciously on board with the fixing plan, he very obviously only has space for a single thought in his head and that thought is FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. Case in point? His response to this threatening display is to hunker down and scream about how fucking awesome Karo Yoshinari is.

This time Goalang actually credits him with good strategy. Karo outranges him significantly, and is agile enough that a midrange fight isn't viable. Can't beat him by outfighting, so bunker up, run in, and infight on that motherfucker. Give him body shots that he'll feel next week.

Like any decent fightmonkey, Saw Paing is at his most focused in this moment. His drive to win honed to its finest point. He has decided that his next combo will end it. Karo Yoshinari senses this.

Can you tell the artist loves drawing Older Men?

They charge each other…and that's where the chapter ends.

See you next time, for the conclusion of the battle between the Folk Hero, and the Unknowing Villain.

Manic Dogma · Oct 13, 2023

The battle of broken conspiracy kicks back off at speed, Karo Yoshinari and Yoroizuka Saw Paing launching into motion in the same breathless instant. And in that moment of motion before they collide, they have a decision to make. The fight is approaching its conclusion, each knows the other well by now, one wrong move could end your hopes and dreams.

Scratchy inky moment!

I do have a soft spot for moments like this in shonen manga. Manga specifically, that is, it always drags on far too long in an anime. The effect only really lands when it's measured in the space of panels rather than long moments. And it's a good effect! Highlighting the tactical element while there's still time for the fighters to think, highlighting the breadth of options available to them and the uncertainty of their utility, it's great for building tension before a decisive exchange. Not necessarily fight-ending, I've seen this happen more toward the midpoint of fights before, but always right before a moment that decides the balance going forwards for some time.

Fun fact, you can see every step of what follows in the screencap above.

No more time to decide, the fighters act. Saw Paing's first move is a front kick, driving his foot forward right into Karo's gut. But he's braced and tensed. He catches the foot in his hands and hoists his foe above his head, before lashing him into the ground like a misbehaving rug.

He makes to follow up and pound Saw Paing into the concrete, but the boy barely reels. He kicks Karo in the face, forcing him off and springing to his feet with catlike speed. He tries to capitalise on his own blow, but Karo doesn't sell it any harder. He ducks Saw Paing's Straight Punch with fluid grace and wraps his trunk-like arms around Saw Paing's midriff. We get a full-page view of how he's being crushed under the tidal forces of Karo's thews, flanked on either side by sound effects that I can only imagine is the grinding and crackling of bones under stress.

The finishing move, the manga tells us as a deafening crack echoes through the arena, was Karo Yoshinari's Bear Hug.

We get a full page of reactions. Wakatsuki and Sekibayashi watching with grim, stoic respect. The peanut gallery in varying shades of concern. Sayaka and Jerry boggling in shock. The mayor's expression unreadable as Mr Ajiro reels. Hayami smug as balls. A squirt of blood reaches for the arena ceiling.

You were a real man, Saw Paing tells Karo Yoshinari as he walks away. It isn't even cold comfort to the falling hero.

"Our..sea…"

We drift into flashback, Mr Ajiro and Karo are in the head offices of Ajiro Fishery and the hero is outraged. The fishing harbour is to be closed. Toyo wants to build a staff resort on the site of the harbour. Karo points out, in all his rage, how ridiculous that is. This harbour is one of the most prolific in japan, it's the foundation of the entire local economy, if it shuts down this entire stretch of coastline is all but dead! Not quite able to turn and meet his eyes, Mr Ajiro explains that Toyo gave them a deal. Join the Annihilation Tournament as pawns of Toyo, and if you throw your match, the harbour will be left untouched."

Then last night he found an unmarked envelope in his quarters. Inside was a flash drive. And inside that?

Evidence that the planned resort was just a coverup for far more drastic plans. To level the harbour entirely and replace it with another of Toyo's power plants. A lot of it too, wiretapped recordings of negotiation with government officials, reams of documentation. Toyo never intended to make good on a single word, it was all just a double-dip into the pie. That's why they decided to fight on. They're fucked either way, might as well go for the Hail Mary of Chairmanship. It's the only shot they have.

It was the only shot they had.

Saw Paing blithely howls his victory to the heavens, blissfully ignorant of the humanitarian crime he is now party to. He's moving on to the second round.

Back in the observation box, mr Ajiro is still processing what just happened. A mix of horror and terror swirls in his face as his higher brain functions struggle to come to terms with what his lizard brain already knows is an existential threat. The Mayor, as close to a good man as one gets in this place, tells him to run. He'll handle Karo somehow, but Ajiro needs to run, now.

As Ajiro runs, only pausing for a thankful bow, the mayor pauses to think. Even after Karo refused to throw the match, no command came down to stop the match. Hayami is toying with them all, treating his "revolution" like a game. The mayor is, quite understandably, disgusted with him.

Is…is this another facet of Hayami's jealousy of Metsudo rising up to the fore? We've already seen how he covets the man's power, and how he's explicitly patterning his enforcers after Metsudo's bodyguards. With token differences sure, white suits to black and different name, but essentially exactly the same. Better in some nebulous way, presumably because they're his, but practically identical in principle. This could easily be another extension of that same blunt, unimaginative obsession with the only man more powerful than he is in action. Just fucking around with his nigh limitless resources as Metsudo appears to, thoughtlessly emulating his behaviour. In his mind he's already replaced Metsudo, so he does Metsudo things to secure that image emotionally.

I think we need more evidence before we can be sure, but now that the thought has occurred to me it's a very compelling theory.

Anyway, Mr Ajiro doesn't make it that far. He runs into a shadowy placeholder silhouette in the arena corridors that he seems to recognise, calls him out as Toyo's assassin…and the next page is the corridor. Silent but for the echoing announcement of the next matchup, empty but for the slightly bloodstained rope headband Mr Ajiro was never seen without.

So that was match 9, and the first match of the second bracket. And honestly, while it's a bit of a loss of steam after match 8, it's still one of the better matches so far. Real Odd Couple shit, even before you take into account the conspiracy surrounding it.

And let's not skip that element, because it's genuinely an important part of the match's dynamic and flow. Especially given how it develops over the match, and the upset it ends in. The actual conspiracy behind it, Hayami's betrayal, is kind of unwieldy and blunt? But as has repeatedly come up, Unwieldy and blunt are pretty good words for Hayami when he's on his bullshit, so that only hurts this match insofar as I'm wondering why the fuck the government signed off on basically condemning a significant stretch of the japanese coastline to certain economic death.

And speaking of, the pacing. While I'm usually kind of iffy on last minute recountings of motivation like this, in this case it works because…well, it's only a reveal of the details. A twist of the knife, so to speak. It's really obvious from much earlier on in the match that Karo and Ajiro are breaking the deal for that sort of "we're fucked if we don't do this" sort of reason, even if we don't know what's actually gone down. It's obvious, between Ajiro's desperation, Karo's contempt, and the involvement of Hayami. And in that way it's a great rhythm. Establish that shenanigans are actually going down this time and the match is fixed, drop the twist that one side is breaking the deal and going rogue for heartfelt personal reasons, and then once they've been crushed drop the details of what actually went down while we're already feeling the shock of a fight's "good guys", so to speak, losing.

I don't think the rest of the match really keeps up with how shockingly good this little one, two, three punch of reveals is as a structure, particularly since the delivery is kind of flat and we've known basically nobody involved for long enough to really feel that attached. But I can still appreciate it on a technical level, and it's not the only element. The fight itself is surprisingly solid? Like, before I read this for the first time, I would not have expected the pudgy fisherman to get quite this much heat. And I do enjoy how the ending strings you along and fakes you out, they knew exactly what they were doing there. But looking back, for a fight I spent so much time praising I really do feel left rather cold by it, and I think that's largely in two things. The fighters involved just aren't that charismatic, first of all. I like both of them well enough, but they don't particularly stand out among the cast, and while what elements of their fighting style are there are pretty neat they aren't exactly exciting or replete with possibilities. We'll see improvements there for Saw Paing later at least, but for Karo this is it. Second, the fight itself simply wasn't very long, and the few proper exchanges we see didn't have all that much to them, beyond the neat gimmick of Karo's fisherman training applying to…one skill. Which mostly ended up backfiring on him anyway, because of poor target choice. Still, at worst I can merely call this fight a bit standard, boilerplate, it's still much better than a significant portion of the first bracket matches.

If I were given the chance to improve on this though, I think I'd have made this a second round fight rather than a first. It's got a strong emotional idea at its core, but for it to really land we need more time to become attached to the Ajiro fisheries faction especially. This would come with its own set of sub-changes to make Karo work for more than one fight, he's pretty well tapped out after one fight as he is canonically. Personally, I'd lean harder into the whole Folk Hero angle Karo has going, that's an interesting and unique theme that noone else in the manga really has going with a lot of potentially cool shit you could do with it.

Unfortunately, it's going to end up kind of squandered. This is pretty much the last we'll see of Karo for the rest of the manga. Match 9 will remain a pretty good one with some really cool ideas going on, but not really more than the sum of its parts.

See you all next time for the leadup to Match 10.

Manic Dogma · Oct 16, 2023

Chapter 88 begins completely divorced from the ominous way 87 ended, situated in one of the brightly lit, concrete corridors threading through the Kengan Dome. Yamashita is here, grazing on one of the vending machines littering the place, finding himself suddenly joined by Matsuda Tomoko, the secretary for Koyo Academy. They recognise each other, and I wonder when that happened, but more importantly she's joined by a pretty young man Yamashita doesn't recognise.

Yes that's right, it's Chill Kiryu. Much like Chill Ohma, he feels like a very distinct character from his worse self. A sort of narrative orphan left here briefly by the better, less jagged-glass-on-the-brain version of Kengan Asura that must exist in some blessed alternate reality. The snappily dressed queer young adult with a cute friendship with his employer's secretary, who correctly identifies Yamashita's middle aged good boy vibes. Eventually Problematic Kiryu will return, but for now let's enjoy his Chill brother's company.

And speaking of frightful things approaching with grim inevitability, what's that ominous shadow in the background?

FNAF has a lot to answer for.

True to the horror tinged presentation and sudden dark gloom to the corridor, Yamashita and Matsuda's reactions are tinged with shock. As the page goes on and this horrendous rat thing ambles down the corridor, Matsuda particularly goes pale, and rivulets of sweat begin to run down her face as recognition begins to sink its gnarled claws into her soul.

Yeah nevermind, it's a fakeout. The joke is old and worn, but enough of a classic that it gets an idle chuckle out of me. She happily squeals as the person in the mascot costume, seemingly operating on pure muscle memory wordlessly returns the cuddle, loudly expressing her fandom and indeed her ownership of a probably-expensive lifetime pass to Tochigi Destiny Land. Fairly obviously a Disney stand in. This doesn't really strike me as out of character for her, and yet I do find myself side-eying it, particularly in context of the two men in the scene having a sort of dubious and condescending reaction of confusion. There's definitely an angle of infantilisation intended here, for all I personally don't feel like judging people who want to enjoy Disney Land as adults.

On the bright side, Yamashita and Kiryu have a pleasant, civil conversation while that's happening. Yamashita's being hit with a wave of nostalgia, and apparently was born into significantly more money than his career earned him because apparently he used to go to TDL "all the time" in his childhood. Maybe the Tokyo Disney Land is just cheaper than the one I visited as a kid? Either way, with a slightly sad look on his face, Kiryu admits he's not really familiar with the place. Which…well. If you know you know. He pivots away from thinking about his backstory to instead ask if Yamashita thinks the guy in the costume is going to fight, and Yamashita's dismissive. It's a mascot, not a fighter.

Matsuda's been taking a selfie with Mockey while this is happening by the by, it'd be kinda cute if I didn't feel like the manga was trying to tell me to find it weird.

Anyway, at this point a new character turns up on the scene. Another person in a mascot costume, this one a tic-tac shaped riff on Donald Duck, the disney character's sailor outfit reimagined into that whole sailor fuku thing and renamed…honald? At least this one's wearing something on their bottom half. Predictably, Matsuda's a fan of this character as well. Yamashita doesn't remember them, but she's eager to inform him that Honald is Mockey's best friend. Kiryu notes how much she seems to know about them and…

[long, powerfully weary sigh drawn up from the writer's very bones]

Okay, so, to be clear I don't personally have anything against slashfic written and enjoyed by straight women, which Matsuda presumably is. I say this as a bisexual mostly man. There is a lot of complicated discussion surrounding it in terms of objectification of gay men, expression of sexuality through unconventional avenues when conventional ones are closed off or intimidating, and a bunch of other factors, but that generally isn't my field or really within the scope of this project to discuss.

With all that said, this panel is 100% a "Hahah fujoshi, how gross amirite" joke and I am not about it. Look at that flush, the profuse sweating and starey eyes. There is a focused effort in these first few pages to make Tomoko a creepy weirdo and it's a little bit fucked.

Moving on, after a reflexive professional hug of their own, the person in the Honald costume asks Mockey if he's ready. And, for the first time this scene, he speaks.

Psyche! The horror vibes were waiting to ambush you all along!

And before we go on, I just want to take a moment to really drink in how fucking good this full-page spread is, like holy shit. All the contrasting curves and lines in the perspective and the weird angle put the whole thing on this super weird and offputting kilter, and my god the use of foreshortening. You can theoretically tell he's human, but the perspective makes his feet and forearms look fucking massive and unnatural around his tiny torso, an effect only heightened by the mascot costume head which now seems massive and bloated. And it looks even bigger than that, thanks to the sarashi he's wearing on his stomach shortening his visible torso even further. In the details he's clearly just a super tall human, but the immediate, visceral response to the page is to squirm at how the image distorts your perception and it's so. Fucking. Good. Just amazing art, perfectly set up by the few pages we spent getting used to Mockey's presence and the double fake-out. The edgy lines and speech bubbles are just a cherry on top.

Matsuda screams and passes out, but you all knew that was coming. I like that Kiryu takes the time to catch her, at least, even if he immediately starts pondering on how the massive bloke could have fit into the mascot costume once she's safe.

Hard cut to the Kengan Dome's arena, where a fighter's entrance is beginning, heralded by…theme park parade music? Yep, several members of the audience recognise it as "Eccentric Parade", apparently the song played at TDL when they're doing one of those big mascot parades. The arena's screens are even showing a little animation of the main TDL characters doing a little dance. Including, I think, a weird version of Pluto? I say Pluto, 'cos I really hope that funky looking Daschund thing isn't supposed to be Goofy.

Anyway, off the Arena's immediate limits Hatsumi and Soryuin are coincidentally smoking around the same ash bin thing, and the music has Hatsumi coming over all nostalgic. Apparently, when they were dating, he took her to TDL.

…I feel like this panel undersells how gross that is.

They muse for a bit on how they broke up immediately after that, Hatsumi cheated on her because of course he did, and then a moment of awkward silence descends over them. They linger on it. Then Hatsumi leans in to ask a question, and before the words can even pass his lips Soryuin refuses. She isn't going out with him again, even if he were the last man on-

A lanky cryptid passes blithely before their eyes, hunched over to keep its bulbous, cartoon head from scraping against the ceiling.

The two of them silently watch, the soul leaving their eyes as they struggle to process what they're seeing. Hatsumi clarifies he was going to ask if he could borrow a cigarette, what was she saying no to? She denies everything, blushing and refusing to make eye contact. I'd probably be more willing to just enjoy this dynamic if there weren't such a dearth of powerful women in the cast. Two terrible people who're terrible for each other but can't escape the unhealthy attraction.

Anyway, I believe there was a match?

Sayaka's on top form again, stance wide, mic in both hands, hair fluttering in the phantom winds of her own enthusiasm as she lets the hype motherfucking FLOW. Here he comes! The mighty warrior from the land of dreams, the ultimate weapon of Tochigi Destiny Land's first appearance in the Kengan Matches! Behold, a firsthand display of Destiny Magic!

Nezumi translates to rat, btw. Puns!

Holy fucking shit, 221 centimetres? That's significantly more than 7 feet, and once again the art is selling the sheer, sky-raking height of this fucker right to the hilt. It's using similar ideas to the horror-themed reveal of the guy from before, the feet and hands made massive by foreshortening, but in this spread there's a consistent narrowing effect right to the top, giving his whole shape a triangular cast. He isn't hunched over, so the lines of his body going up incorporate the Sarashi rather than clashing with it to shorten his torso. And even the mascot head itself is now almost proportionate to the rest of him, which contrasts with its presentation in previous pages to sell how far away it is from the camera. God, these aren't even action shots, but the art is so good this chapter.

Next page, cut to an observation box where the CEO of TDL, Yumeno Kunihiro, and his massive butt chin are merrily peering down into the arena as they finalise a deal. Yep, it's Hayami again, this time promising infinite free electricity to TDL with no contractual endpoint in return for TDL winning their first match. Which seems absurd, but Hayami is an arrogant tosser who wields his wealth like a two year old child wields a toy hammer, so whatever. I can buy that he'd waste that much money just to fuck over Kurayoshi. And in addition, Mr Kunihiro doesn't have any actual intentions of throwing in with Hayami anyway. Yes indeed, an actual whisper of shenanigans that isn't all on Hayami is happening! We don't get any details, he only notes a connection to a nebulous "them", but it's something! It's even kind of foreshadowing!

Back down in the arena, the crowds are ever so slightly uncomfortable, and we get a little row of reactions shots. Cosmo isn't quite sure he believes what he's seeing. Wakatsuki is grimly focused, as ever. Haruo is in Cosmo's camp, and Sekibayashi just finds it funny. Doctor Hanafusa has to be informed that that's a stuffed mascot head so please don't…

Sayaka, nervous in close range to this creature, informs him that he can't actually fight in costume. But Nezu already knows as much. He just wanted one more moment in the land of dreams, before he has to say farewell. With a deafening crack, his leg moves, and Sayaka flinches away. What just happened? She felt a gust of wind. The guise of Mockey, split in two by some ungodly force, falls away from Nezu's head.

This is the true Nezu Masami. A man who can kick hard and fast enough to cut fabric and framing.

Mr Kunihiro snickers to himself, as he prepares to drop some worldbuilding on us. For you see, while it might be the biggest promotion, the Kengan Matches don't have a monopoly on underground combat sports. The japanese underground is actually riddled with the fuckers, and he drops several of the biggest names. Underground -1, based in east japan. The Armed deathmatches called Death Fight, which are apparently funded by the Yakuza, and seem liable to me to run out of fighters any day now. And a promotion which somehow has even more brutal rules than that, the Slaughter Coliseum. But the third biggest, following the Kengan Matches and Purgatory, is a promotion called Bishamon.

And the reigning champion of Bishamon is Nezu Masami. Mr Kunihiro basically headhunted the headline fighter of another promotion, the strongest fighter in that arena. A biker gang boss in his off hours, who joined the Underground Fighting world at only 18. And a massive Tochigi Destiny Land fan. Yeah, that's why he was in the Mockey suit, part of how the CEO got him onboard was letting Nezu live his dream of being Mockey.

When we become an adult, we let go of childish things. Most of all, the fear of looking childish. You do you my man.

Not that this special interest is given much more respect than Matsuda's. Kunihiro's dismissive treatment of him as a Strong Idiot, and thus a handy tool, is certainly framed as callous but the overall framing of the entire sequence is more in agreement with him than anything else. The contrast between Nezu and his special interest isn't being used for gap moe or endearment, it's a joke. The initial horror tinged comedy could have transitioned into respect and understanding, but instead his attachment is this ridiculous thing his strength is presented in contrast to. Like, how can this ludicrous moron be so strong, the manga asks, laughing.

Fortunately at least one person does seem to agree with me. Without any offhanded dismissal, Nezu's opponent steps into the ring before his intro, complimenting Nezu on that kick. It was sharp, heavy, and quick, says Mikazuchi Rei as he cracks his knuckles. The Lightning god doesn't want to keep his girlfriend waiting.

God, he's so much nicer than Sasuke.

See you all next time.

Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

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