There are people I don't like in the tournament for a number of reasons. Because they're boring, because they're cliche, because they're just extremely weird. But, for all the members of the tournament, there is nobody who I just ... don't want to see fight, like I do Akoya. I've read his fights once, and... I just don't want to see them again.
(Also what he does to one of the most capable women in the tournament is... god it sucks.)
I'll throw my hat onto the "I hate Akoya and not in the fun way" pile, one of the few characters in Kengan I wish had actually died or been forced to permanently retire after losing their fight.
It is, in fact, a deliberate reference to the immortal Jim Carrey in the (incredibly problematic, seen here probably engaging in some kind of sexual harassment) cult-movie-with-90s-male-teenagers comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Oh yeah, his relationship with Hiyama is unspeakably fucked, and I will be commenting on it. On the bright side, I feel like that's the intended reaction, even taking into account the deeply uncomfortable fact she seems to be into it.
I'll throw my hat onto the "I hate Akoya and not in the fun way" pile, one of the few characters in Kengan I wish had actually died or been forced to permanently retire after losing their fight.
Factoid that average police officer completes eight violent beatings per shift incorrect. Average police officer only completes one and a half violent beatings per shit. Akoya Seishu, who completes three hundred and fifty five violent beatings per hour is an outlier and should not have been counted.
Oh yeah, his relationship with Hiyama is unspeakably fucked, and I will be commenting on it. On the bright side, I feel like that's the intended reaction, even taking into account the deeply uncomfortable fact she seems to be into it.
Honestly, I don't read that as her being into that, as more the conditioned response of an abuse victim to her abuser. Like, the fear when Cosmo's boss takes away the radio, it - to me - speaks of someone deeply traumatised and abused by, oh look here, a police officer.
Akoya is to my mind a perfect example of liking the writing but not the character. As a piece of character writing, I quite like Akoya, he's immediately conveyed to the reader as this absolutely insane psychopath who's not afraid to reach for ultraviolence, sorta like if the Punisher was... well, like the Punisher. But as a person, Akoya is still a very unpleasant creature to see; and the writer is not afraid to make use of that.
Sandrovich Yabako's new "Kengan but Girls" manga, STAR: Strike it Rich, dropped its first few chapters today. It's drawn by MAAM, who Sandrovich partners with for Danberu.
As for Akoya, I'd say I'm mixed about him? I don't find his fighting style super compelling and he can get one-note,
especially when Omega straight-up forgets to explain what made him "more dangerous" over the timeskip and instead turns him into a Pokemon shouting JUSTIIIIIIICE
Hm... this doesn't look super bad so far. Leaving aside the fact that most of these female characters look like they're teens still (I literally couldn't tell the ages of the protag and the fighter girl apart) it seems to be specifically building off of the angle that female combat sports have a hard time happening without sexualization going on. Not sure if it's gonna be doing it well, but hey.
I do like the characters so far. The main trio has potential and the fighter girl has cryptid Ohma vibes. Seems worth giving a chance at least
I don't know if I can bring myself to read it, to be honest. From the screenshots I've seen it seems like exactly what I expected from this author in terms of glorifying the traditionally cute and attractive and painting any woman with heft as a hideous moron.
I know for a fact it'll make me so damn mad, and I just don't have the energy for it right now. I need that bile for this project, dagnabbit.
I don't know if I can bring myself to read it, to be honest. From the screenshots I've seen it seems like exactly what I expected from this author in terms of glorifying the traditionally cute and attractive and painting any woman with heft as a hideous moron.
I know for a fact it'll make me so damn mad, and I just don't have the energy for it right now. I need that bile for this project, dagnabbit.
The second match of the Annihilation Tournament commences, it's ACAB man versus Literally The World's Biggest Otaku, and things start off no less explosively than the first.
All of Haruo's phenomenal bulk comes flying at Akoya at terrific speed, and the cop hunkers down for a siege as his CEO begins her work, stylised clockwork ticking away in her head. And Haruo is no less fast when he reaches Akoya. This is no simple momentum, the man's punches slash the air in a scything combination of blows, forcing Akoya to duck and weave even as he maintains his boxing block.
Then he tries to retaliate.
What ho kids, it's fatphobia o'clock.
A lot of hay is made of how absurd this is contrasted against Haruo's physique, but frankly this would be an impressive backflip no matter how much of you is fat. In fact, I'm pretty sure literally noone in the manga so far has demonstrated anything like this kind of agility, the closest was Ohma's flash step against Sekibayashi.
And Haruo isn't even close to done. The instant he lands, the guy fucking L-cancels his landing lag and does this.
Adam Dudley bouncing Cosmo's little body off the arena floor was impressive, don't get me wrong, but this guy is on a whole other level of physicality. Akoya weighs 114 goddamn kilograms, and Haruo just launched his ass at a flat fucking trajectory clean across the arena, with enough force to crater the concrete wall on impact. It's impressive enough that Akoya survives this, but if it weren't for Wakatsuki's display on the ship this would be the most impressive display of strength in the manga so far.
But then, Wakatsuki actually took out his opponent with that blow. Not so here. And unfortunately, the heat gets rather undercut by the next page, which goes out of its way to emphasise how fucking sweaty Haruo is, and give us a little lens into his thoughts right now. Because he's hissing "I want to play video games" under his breath ad nauseam.
Sigh.
Anyway, time for a bit more backstory and a dash of worldbuilding, because Akiyama's heard of this guy before, though his sheer power is still a surprise to her.
Akiyama explains that the gaming industry is one of the most cutthroat, competitive parts of the Kengan Association, where the stakes are high and the best fighters tend to find employment. Which is honestly true to life, by now IRL the gaming industry is one of the biggest in entertainment, having eclipsed movies a good while ago. Anyway, more specifically, she relates a story she once heard about a match over the development rights to an advanced new console, which would incorporate revolutionary new hardware. Which I guess is comparable to the fifth generation of consoles and the fight over CD-Rom tech? Anyway, Akiyama explains that whenever three or more corporations are contesting the same thing, a special Battle Royale is held.
Incidentally, we get a panel of the supposed strongest fighters sent in for this, and it's chock full of references, it's cute.
Looks like Terry Bogard, Ryu with an eyepatch, idk, idk, Heihachi in his youth and…someone from Guilty Gear? Anyway, Haruo smeared the arena walls with a lot of them, he's the strongest fighter in the Gaming Industry by a wide margin.
Back to the actual fight, Haruo's CEO cacklingly commands him to get this over with, and the manchild complies with a guttural yell. Unfortunately for him, the level of competition here isn't that soft, and Akoya is only mildly phased. He grunts, wipes the blood from his mouth and raises his left arm, clenching it until the blood vessels stand out like a roadmap. A vision of a riot officer holding a shield and baton accompany him in that panel, along with what might as well be Akoya's catchphrase. Preposterous.
Then he deflects Haruo's thunderous haymaker with almost casual ease.
This time, among the peanut gallery, it's Gaolang's turn to be the exposition bot and he recognises the art being used as Taiho-jutsu. An MMA style designed by and for the police, specialising in restraining opponents and based on a mix of Japanese kempo, kendo and bojutsu.
Nah, he's a big ol' porkchop.
Despite his excellent start, Haruo's clearly losing ground now, and it breaks his already poor temper. Winding up a second, hilariously telegraphed haymaker, he shrieks and demands to know why Akoya just isn't going down. This time when Akoya deflects, he takes a pound of flesh with him.
The Ripper slices open several weeping cuts along Haruo's arms. That fucking hurts, he howls as he throws a second punch, earning another cut for his trouble. Jerry Tyson calls out the technique as being like Rihito's Razor's Edge but, off in a side room watching the match over a TV monitor, Rihito actually disagrees.
With an oddly serious and academic tone, Rihito explains what Akoya's ripper is doing and how it's different to what his does. Simply put, he rotates his fist, catching his opponent's skin on the hard surface of his knuckles. And at the speed he does it, this opens a cut. Which breaks the skin, but doesn't really go any deeper, and Rihito points out this lack of real damage. He calls it a harassment move, real nasty shit for a real nasty guy.
Ohma just shrugs and walks away. He wants a nap. When Rihito complains, Ohma notes that watching them is a waste of his time. Neither of them, he says, to Rihito's incredulous surprise, are fighting seriously.
Back in the arena more focused fighters are studying the back and forth. Akoya deflects a blow in one beat, then retaliates in the next. Regular as clockwork. Okubo Naoya points out to Kaneda how steady the pattern is, and critiques it as lacking any flair, but Kaneda is distracted. When Okubo asks why, he isn't exactly sure, but feels like Akoya is taking his time.
Funny moment to have a beat like that, isn't it? Akoya's already on the clear advantage, but the manga takes a moment to remind us that he has a plan ready and that it hasn't gone off yet. His cards are still firmly up his sleeve.
The exchanges continue, and after a nasty shot to the face, Haruo uncorks a brutal lariat that launches Akoya a dozen feet away. The man catches himself though, break-falling and rolling to his feet where he skids to a stop, as Haruo clutches the fresh new cut across the back of his hand.
"You're a tough pig alright," Akoya states, in the most hilariously ironic comment in the entire manga.
Haruo loses his shit, rearing up and howling. He's the strongest man in the Himalayas, he screams. He's defeated leopards. Bears and tigers. He's defeated them all. What is a shrimp like Akoya to him?
Unfortunately, what Akoya is? Is a cop. And remember, kids. All cops are bastards.
Hiyama completes her analysis.
Akoya finishes his counter combo with a thunderous palm strike, right to Haruo's left orbital. The part of the skull that holds the eyes. And cracks it. The larger man reels, howling in pain. It's a counter! Sayaka hollers as Akio shrieks in shock.
True to form as a cop, Akoya just. Keeps. Punching.
Shit, what a gorgeously drawn rush. What momentum.
It's a shocking and complete reversal of tactics. Gone is the riot shield, and out has come the shotgun full of beanbag rounds, except it's fully automatic. All out offence, capitalising on…what? Hiyama's clearly giving him signals of some kind, but what kind and to signify what? Well we aren't going to learn for now, because Haruo catches him by the gi, and fires another massive haymaker at him while screaming his hate to the heavens.
He's got him by the clothes, Yamashita yells, surely he can't dodge that now.
Come on man, surely you know better than that by now.
Akoya slips out of his Gi and the punch whistles over his head as he makes an attack of his own, while propped on one hand. A vicious side-kick right to Haruo's knee. Haruo's attacks, he claims, can no longer touch him.
End chapter.
Well now, this is an odd duck, isn't it? Ignoring all the problematic elements for a moment, common wisdom would suggest that putting two David vs Goliath matches in a row would be a mistake. Too much risk of sameyness. And yet, while the rhythms are similar, the actual matches are fundamentally different in tone. While the Goliath of this match is wildly more frightening and preternaturally powerful than the last, he's in much less of a position of strength. After Adam broke that mount he was fully in control of that match until Cosmo landed The Zone, but aside from his initial display of athleticism Haruo has been pretty well dominated this entire chapter, even before Akoya busted out his ace.
And I suppose that's the even bigger difference. Cosmo is protagonist material, through and through, he'd be the main character of this manga in different hands. He's a charming little scamp who can get serious when shit's down to the wire.
Akoya is a fucking madman. His dominance isn't framed as triumphantly overcoming a difference in weight class, its like an exercise in torture. He isn't an underdog making the risky plays that are his only chance of victory. He's taking it slow and safe, putting his opponent off balance with painful disruption tactics until his trump card is in place. David is fully in control here, and Goliath is a whinging child reliant on sheer brute might.
But the fight isn't over yet. And we all know how it goes when you're the first person to unleash your trump card.
With an oddly serious and academic tone, Rihito explains what Akoya's ripper is doing and how it's different to what his does. Simply put, he rotates his fist, catching his opponent's skin on the hard surface of his knuckles. And at the speed he does it, this opens a cut. Which breaks the skin, but doesn't really go any deeper, and Rihito points out this lack of real damage. He calls it a harassment move, real nasty shit for a real nasty guy.
Being fair, it makes sense. If anything could make Rihito, the man obsessed with his superiority from natural gifts, focus up for a second, it'd be someone doing a trick like his. Admittedly, him calling Akoya a 'nasty guy' for using a painful and torturous move is a bit ironic given his own move is just straight up a fucking execution technique.
As for Akoya, I'd say I'm mixed about him? I don't find his fighting style super compelling and he can get one-note,
especially when Omega straight-up forgets to explain what made him "more dangerous" over the timeskip and instead turns him into a Pokemon shouting JUSTIIIIIIICE
shouting kiais make your strikes harder, fool. justice man is invincible. as long as he is on japanese soil yamanto dashi spirit suffuses him and the courts will ignore his conflicts of interests (a life insurance company? yeah sure I'm sure that if you miss a payment Justice Rider won't justice kick your head all the way into hokkaido) and 'I don't know what happened, sir. I tried to restrain him and he started bleeding all over. It's a medical miracle. Stop looking at my knuckles or I may have to restrain you for justice.'
Being fair, it makes sense. If anything could make Rihito, the man obsessed with his superiority from natural gifts, focus up for a second, it'd be someone doing a trick like his. Admittedly, him calling Akoya a 'nasty guy' for using a painful and torturous move is a bit ironic given his own move is just straight up a fucking execution technique.
One of the things I like about the images you picked for Haruo and Akoya's fight is the reappearance of this distortion for massive size that's shown up in Dudley and Sekibaiyashi. I think this is one element of the art that I find ridiculous, but also really good for conveyance.
Stylisation, baybeeeeeeee. Stuff like this is my jam in visual art, imagery that exaggerates and emphasises for effect without feeling constrained by realism.
Stylisation, baybeeeeeeee. Stuff like this is my jam in visual art, imagery that exaggerates and emphasises for effect without feeling constrained by realism.
One of the things Kengan does well as another kind of stylization is the exaggeration of motion - particularly agility as captured by Haruo's backflip here.
Its impressive not only for sheer scale of what's being moved, but the entire sequence from backflip to L-cancel charge is something that illustrates how impossible and belief straining it is in order to pull the reader into the fight. Like, its impressive because of the entire implausible sequence rather than just the individual feats.
Incidentally, I've been informed that this thread has been linked on the kengan scanlation/fan discord and they didn't like my searing hot takes, such as "Capitalism bad." So if this thread ends up getting brigaded, that's why.
Lolwhat, you've barely mentioned capitalism so far, like, we've scratched the outer surface of this gigantic monolith of decadence and this is enough to get them mad?
Incidentally, I've been informed that this thread has been linked on the kengan scanlation/fan discord and they didn't like my searing hot takes, such as "Capitalism bad." So if this thread ends up getting brigaded, that's why.
lmao, how can someone read Kengan and not realize that the creators don't exactly have the rosiest view of rich people? As much as it falls into the "do not do this cool thing" trap, the series is pretty blunt in its assessment of the rich as mostly being psychotic assholes who prey on anyone lower on the rung than them. 90% of the association's members are pretty bad people, whether or not they're pleasant to be around.
lmao, how can someone read Kengan and not realize that the creators don't exactly have the rosiest view of rich people? As much as it falls into the "do not do this cool thing" trap, the series is pretty blunt in its assessment of the rich as mostly being psychotic assholes who prey on anyone lower on the rung than them. 90% of the association's members are pretty bad people, whether or not they're pleasant to be around.
Putting aside what specifically the complaints are because I have no idea what that discord is saying, I'm not entirely sure about that? Like, yeah, a lot of them are assholes, but by the end of Ashura it's not really moreso than the background average of asshole characters to non assholes.
Kuroki's boss is actually just a friend of his and doesn't particularly care about power because he's the most texan man imaginable yet somehow ascribes to native american beliefs, hair dude's boss specifically tries to defy the relationship of assassin and master, Better Sasuke is in a legitimate relationship with Rino and both care for eachother, Katahara goes from a volcano of focus and sheer fucking will who shuts down fighters as anything meaningful to almost a guide for Agito and a slightly insane but overall helpful fellow who wants a challenge, etc etc
