Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura

[Manic Dogma]

He gets a full half a page to himself, framed ominously by a halo of light that leaves his features shadowed. Ohma's alarmed, something twigging his instincts. Wakatsuki is unmoved, silently musing on the surprise. Yamashita struggles to even see through the crowd, which is packed and nailed in place with anxious fear. He does eventually manage to find a spot to peer over, behind a man as short as he is, pale, sweating and babbling.

​

He looks so fragile. Like ancient parchment that might tear if you brush a finger against it too carelessly. Tiny, spindly limbs, neck like a toothpick, he seems wasted away even before you consider he's almost more wrinkle than man. And yet, you can kinda see why he has the effect he does. Even before you consider his job, look at those eyes. Like steel might undersell it.

Oh, and that job? Director of Dainippon Bank. Possibly the most economically powerful man in Japan.

The crowd continues to rubberneck, wondering out loud about the chairman attending a match in person. One enterprising deliverer of foreshadowing asks if this means the "Fang" is here too, but it goes uncommented on. Rather, it finally clicks for Yamashita that they've been calling him Chairman rather than Director, and Wakatsuki clarifies in the next panel. If the Kengan Association Chairman is here, it's not an ordinary match.

And sure enough, Nogi finally turns up, addressing the Chairman directly and thanking him for his attendance. Katahara Metsudo barely acknowledges the thanks, addressing him briefly before noting that it seems like he's found a good fighter. And asking someone behind Ohma if they agree.

And apparently he put on an extra foot of height during his nap. My man eats his weetabix.​

Sekibayashi agrees, Ohma's something alright. He never expected he'd actually lose!

Ohma seethes, as Sekibayashi casually cracks his dislocated fingers back into place and admits defeat. The man's taken barely any real damage. Which fits with how the fight went! He was a tank from the very start, he got hit a lot but generally very shallowly and right onto his protective, slablike muscles. Aside from one or two hits to the jaw he was never hit in any vitals, while Ohma was sent absolutely reeling. And, well, look at how Ohma won. Basically by choking him out. If we assume no brain damage (and the manga certainly seems to) then that's unlikely to cause severe damage to the body. There's a reason most games and so on leverage it as a non-lethal option, even if it's nothing like that simple in real life it's much…cleaner than blunt force trauma.

And, well, he's resetting fingers while talking to someone, apparently without a single jump in tone. I'd probably be miffed if someone flexed on me that hard, too.

Katahara's amused though, if the boy has the one and only Sekibayashi's stamp of approval, he must be serious business. He turns to the crag-faced bald guy from chapter 14, calling him Shikano, and notes that this must settle it. Shikano tersely agrees, admitting defeat to Nogi. And what has his victory won him? Gandai Incorporated will support the Nogi Group's proposal to hold a contest.

For the seat of chairman.

Everyone in the room, even Ohma, twigs onto this. While we haven't seen many Kengan Matches, they're framed as big deals that have outsized economic influence. The Association as a group is in control of massive amounts of wealth, and the Chairman has massive influence over the Association. In a way, it signifies a position of mastery over the entire Japanese economy.

Katahara muses to himself. This is an official process, it takes the endorsement of 50 seated Kengan association members for such a contest to go through. And now, with Gendai Inc's defeat, Nogi has his 50 people. Which means…

He means it metaphorically, I think even holding a sword might break his wrists​

The full power of the chairman's sheer force of personality is unleashed, and even Nogi winces under its pressure. Akiyama is struck dumb by it, her expression almost one of animal panic, more reaction to anything than she's shown in the manga so far. In her head she compares him to a volcano, a supernatural force compressed into human form. Sweating furiously as the manga takes great care to align a panel just right to show how her skirt is now clinging to the contours of her buttocks as her knees knock together and sweat sticks the fabric to her thighs, she realises she can't move an inch.

Classy move to use Akiyama for this, really. Definitely not something Yamashita could have done, we totally needed to make the one woman here out to be fragile while ogling up her panty line.

Moving on, Nogi notes that even past ninety years old Katahara's presence only grows. Verbally, as a single bead of sweat passes down his brow, he claims he's ready. Ready to put an end to the rule of the 58th chairman of the Kengan Association, Katahara Metsudo.

Please, please don't be a pervy old man archetype…​

The Fang comes up again. This time it gets comment. First from the three established fighters in the room. Focus from Wakatsuki and Imai. Sekibayashi notes that the Fang isn't present, which disappoints him. The name seems to have cut the will out from the other Association members, who mumble in awe and apparent defeat. Yamashita's confused, as usual, but he picks up the shift in mood. He asks another guy in the audience, who's startled that he doesn't know, but is amenable to explaining. The Fang of Metsudo is a title for the top fighter in Katahara's employ. And the current Fang?

Is very likely the strongest fighter in the history of the Kengan Matches.

Yamashita goes all rubber-hose animation over this, but gets brought back down to earth by the Fang's record. Or at least, is nailed to the floor by the revelation of an absolutely staggering perfect 157 wins. Not one loss. The nameless schlub expresses doubt that there's a single fighter who can really fight him, before pausing. No, there's one.

The next page flips back to Wakatsuki, face stern, thinking on the Fang. His fists clench, forcing the veins in his hands an arms to stand pronounced. There's history, there.

And so, with that, as Chairman of the Kengan Association, Katahara Metsudo makes his announcement. The Kengan Annihilation Tournament is officially underway.

​

Once again we get a half page of reaction shots. At least Imai is excited, even if Akiyama still seems to be recovering from her earlier shock. Yamashita's face starts sagging like rubber left on an Arizona highway in summer as he processes this, verbally whimpering that Annihilation means death. At which point Katahara demonstrates that 90+ years of life has done nothing to hurt his hearing and confirms that yes, that is indeed what Annihilation means.

Everyone loves a bit of janky fitemanga pseudo-philosophy.​

Be they martial artists, assassins, criminals or worse, Katahara Metsudo doesn't care. He defies them to defeat his fang, and reach the paradise beyond annihilation. This is Nogi's ticket to hell.

Imai Cosmo is immediately pumped. A tournament this big? He wants in on that shit yesterday. Even Wakatsuki's stoic facade cracks, leaning forward as eagerness creeps up his face. Shikano claps Sekibayashi's shoulder, naturally their company will be entering this tournament and he's going to be counting on Sekibayashi. In a display of humility, Sekibayashi questions this. He did just lose, after all, that's why any of this is happening at all.

These guys are clearly bros, and I love it.​

Ohma is struck dumb, until a wild grin crosses his lips and he begins flashing back. This is perfect, he thinks. "He's" not going to miss an event like this. A figure crops up in his mind, a dour-faced old man in a gi with sunken eyes, and an indistinct figure behind him. A younger looking Ohma stares at a body on the floor. In the real world, blood gushes from Ohma's clenched fist.

Ohma's gonna give "him" hell for the last ten years of his life. Still just here to prove he's the strongest, btw.

We get a single panel informing us that the invitation was sent out to all 417 Kengan Association members before the day was out. A page of locations passes. The front gates of a traditional japanese walled estate. The Kouei Boxing Gym. A wooden cottage in an isolated mountain valley. A guard at the steel-barred doors of Sarashikubi Prison. Then a splash page of a single sentence surrounded by lightning, each bolt framing a different shadow-obscured figure doing their thing. A member of the riot police with his shield, a boxer with his gloves, a massive man lifting the back end of a car, a thug pounding someone's face into jelly, someone meditating under a waterfall, and more.

The Rivals maneuver in the shadows, it says. End chapter.


On the face of it, this might seem pretty inefficient at first glance. An entire chapter announcing the next arc? But no. For one, that's not what this is. The Annihilation Tournament isn't just going to be the next arc, it's the entire rest of the manga.

And for another, this was just so much goddamn foreshadowing, and seeding of important elements.

For one we have a pretty clear antagonist. Katahara Metsudo is pretty much the embodiment of this manga's attitudes, and the chapter does a fair bit to build heat for him. He might not be the guy who'll be in the ring, but his sheer hostile energy and massive economic power would suggest on their own that whoever he employs would likely be the best even without the deft one-two punch of heat the Fang gets. It's a neat, if basic, trick. drop the name first earlier on to get the audience questioning, then highlight it in an important moment. His name gets dropped and immediately the room starts to revolve around the fear and awe he generates.

And that's not even it, almost as soon as we get the hit of the Fang's win record, it's used to build heat and mystery for another fighter. Wakatsuki! Who's been hovering in the background for a while now, always implied to be strong, but now in the same moment getting some subtle hype and a grudge match set up for him. We get a real sense of just what a beast Sekibayashi is as he gets up, very obviously less of a mess than Ohma is even if he lost, and he's an established badass for the tournament too. We get a brief glimpse into Ohma's actual motivations, pretty basic looking for now but with enough elements of doubt that it could do something interesting. And then right at the end, a shotgun blast of hints of the people who'll end up in the tournament.

In a way, this is the last chapter of what I'd tentatively call the Kengan Match Arc. But even more than that it's a setup chapter, and so much gets done! No massive swings other than the payoff of the mystery about what Nogi's up to, but a lot of smaller bricks that'll come up later.

This is the end of Kengan Asura's shaky baby steps. The parts of the Manga I never really wanted to read. And the start of the manga that has taken up residence in my brain, rent free.

I was going to do a general overview of these initial chapters, but at this point I feel the reasons behind my usual habit of skipping them are clear. These first chapters aren't without their virtues, but they're dense with incredibly bizarre writing decisions, janky pacing, problematic character choices, and one pretty uninteresting protagonist. Yamashita and the fight scenes are trying to carry these early sections on their own, and by god they crack and shudder under the weight. There's something of a shadow of the hooks stuck in my mind in these chapters, but the real thing is yet to come. So let's check it out, shall we?

Incidentally, this chapter had Sekibayashi's profile and yeah.

​

Vindication.

See you all next time, and hopefully on into the future of this weird, sexist rollercoaster.

 

[BungieONI]

These guys are clearly bros, and I love it.

Click to shrink...

I love these guys, and I am really glad we're going to see more of them in the Annihilation Tournament.

Metsudo wigs me out though. Dude has red flags all up and down his everything.

 

[no.]

Ah yes, there he is. Mr. Capitalism himself.

Metsudo to me represents the series' ambivalence toward its own politics the best. He is portrayed as this absolutely power-mad freak, almost this sort of evil overlord, and the prologue volume puts him in a more sympathetic light. I dunno if that'll be discussed so I won't say too much, but basically he went from being the most exploited person possible to the one doing the exploiting.

It really feels like this is building up to some sort of thematic conclusion but it… kind of doesn't? Katahara's a pretty bad person, sure, but his place in the narrative as the ultimate symbol of society's power structures is never fully explored. As was posited earlier, Kengan can't seem to decide if the exploitation of the planet and the working class by the elite is an injustice, or if it's a cool alpha move, with social dominance being similar to dominance in a fight.

 

[Execute/Dumbo]

Ah yes, there he is. Mr. Capitalism himself.

Metsudo to me represents the series' ambivalence toward its own politics the best. He is portrayed as this absolutely power-mad freak, almost this sort of evil overlord, and the prologue volume puts him in a more sympathetic light. I dunno if that'll be discussed so I won't say too much, but basically he went from being the most exploited person possible to the one doing the exploiting.

It really feels like this is building up to some sort of thematic conclusion but it… kind of doesn't? Katahara's a pretty bad person, sure, but his place in the narrative as the ultimate symbol of society's power structures is never fully explored. As was posited earlier, Kengan can't seem to decide if the exploitation of the planet and the working class by the elite is an injustice, or if it's a cool alpha move, with social dominance being similar to dominance in a fight.

Click to shrink...

I think it comes down to Kengan Asura kind of pivoting on its theme some ways into the manga. Like, it changes focus from the overarching reasons behind the underground blood sports and the powerful corporations, to examining why the fighters do what they do, especially in such a dangerous job. In order to allow this it sort of needs to bring the CEOs down to earth a bit and have them interact more with the fighters as peers, which… we'll see lads with opposing views to Shikano soon enough. Same with Metsudo. While he never quite stops being a full bag of nuts, he does chill out a lot from a particular scene I'm recalling, and it comes with the story moving the perspective away a bit from their overwhelming societal power. In other words, I don't think it's that Kengan Asura can't decide, it just decides it doesn't care.

At least, that's my take on it. We'll see if I'm remembering the later parts of the manga right.

 

[Manic Dogma]

Pawprints in the snow, heavy breathing, the smell of blood. A fox skids to a stop, the rabbit dangling bonelessly from its teeth. It stares into the camera.

Security so maximum they'll even waste bullets on wild animals.​

In case anyone was under any illusions that a tournament like this, run by people like this, was going to be in any way completely above board? Thank you for joining us, you must be new here, capitalism don't work like that.

Deep in the prison's bowels, one of the courtyards has been sealed off for a special occasion. Two of the inmates are sat in its middle, all four limbs cuffed together, and yet still the warden sweats furiously as he observes. Are they really going to make these men fight? There's a man in a suit stood by him, who laughs at the Warden's concerns.

Corrupt politicians in the pockets of capital holders? Egads!​

The warden is confused, apparently still labouring under the belief that people like this have any sort of principles, questioning why someone of this man's status and renown would commit an atrocity like this, as if the economic system he lives in doesn't explicitly reward people willing to commit atrocities like this with status and renown. Takada Seisuke is glad though, his lack of understanding is for the best. Why, if he did understand, well…he'd never be able to turn back.

The warden flinches away from the sudden, malicious pressure he's feeling from the man, continuing the theme of sufficiently wealthy CEOs having power levels they can flex. After a moment Takada lets the intimidating aura drop, brushing it off as a joke (the Warden doesn't buy it, which speaks well for his life expectancy) and turns back to the courtyard. He'd like to get things started. It's not every day you see something like this after all.

Can you imagine how much protein supplement they've stolen?​

With that summary delivered, the Warden cringingly orders the guards down below to remove the prisoner's cuffs, clinging to the mantra of a thousand atrocities. He's only following orders. It's nothing to do with him. Inmate 344 waves the guards off. It isn't necessary, they're already off. Pan down to him pinching the lip of his handcuff and straight up ripping them apart like papier mache. The Warden is horrified, probably at the realisation that the man could have freed himself and run riot any time he liked, and even Takada seems shocked.

With all four cuffs removed, inmate 344 stands, speaking a mantra of his own. Acceptance of the loss of freedom is a form of penance of its own, he says.

​

…Hasn't japan had some issues with domestic terrorism from extremist religious groups in the last few decades? Particularly some gas attacks? I can't speak to the sensitivity of this use of the inspiration, but I doubt it's especially good. On the other hand, it's very vague. Maybe there's enough distance that this isn't completely tasteless? I'd be interested to know what someone more familiar with Japan's zeitgeist thinks.

One guard retrieves the mangled cuffs, only to be interrupted by the other's wheezing gasp. Inmate 51 has already removed his cuffs as well, without a sound and without damaging them. The man in question stretches, twisting his arms and shoulders around, as if about to engage in gymnastics. He's much less intense than the other guy. He'd been reading before this, you see, and would like to get back to his book.

​

For a guy who's presumably been doing the job of running the facility keeping these men contained for however long, the warden is weirdly caught up in the notion of these two mass murderers being in the same room. Takada is less speechless though, and insists the Warden lend him the megaphone he's holding. We don't see whether the Warden handed it over or the CEO took it, but the next page he's already delivering his pitch.

The deal is simple. Crush the man before you. It doesn't matter if he's alive or dead afterwards. In return, the winner will win two special privileges. One is temporary freedom. The other is the right, as he puts it, to destroy people.

Bando is intrigued. He never killed for the fun of it, but his research remains unfinished. He feels motivated to win these rights. And as he notes it, he raises his arm up, back and over his shoulder, until the tip of his fingers touch his back. Startling flexibility.

Nagashima interprets this as God's will. He's being offered freedom, and the right to destroy people? God wills that he destroy the heathens, that he judge them. Then he leans forward into an absolutely comical bow, with both hands cocked upwards like chicken wings.

The warden freaks out, but not with laughter at how silly the man looks. He recognises that the fight's about to start and screams at his men to evacuate the courtyard, get out of the crossfire. They manage it without incident, neither inmate moves. The standoff holds, silently.

I'm sorry, I fucking can't, look at that man. He's trying so hard.​

With the chaff out of the way, the inmates indulge in a little trash talk. Nagashima muses that Bando must be a heathen himself, but Bando disagrees. He's just a piece of shit, much like Nagashima. I enjoy that kind of nihilism in a minor antagonist, as long as he's not framed as correct. Paints a picture of a man who isn't going to be talked out of his antagonism by any normal argument, he already knows what he's doing is evil and, for whatever reason, doesn't care.

The warden's sweat levels are reaching criticality. I think it might be gumming his eyes shut, that's probably not normal. Takada, unmoved, raises the megaphone and calls for them to begin.

Nagashima immediately launches into motion, racing across the courtyard to deliver his devastating spearhand strikes. Bando is motionless. Both men are expressionless.

​

It's over in an instant. The Warden is flat on his ass gibbering with horror, and Takada is wide-eyed with shock after spending the entire chapter with never more than one eye visibly open. This is very unexpected, he says, he never imagined he'd find someone this powerful.

One blow. He won with a single blow. And his foe twitches in a pool of his own blood. Someone screams about how he isn't human, and Takada politely informs the Warden he'll be borrowing him. He passes with flying colours. As the warden shrieks about how he won't be held responsible for whatever happens, the CEO gloats in his head about how this will be the man to represent his interests in the Annihilation tournament. He can reach the fang of Metsudo.

…what? You expect somethi- Oh, right who is "he". You want to know who won.

​

Work it out yourself, kiddywinks! It's not a huge deal, but you can probably work it out based on this chapter so far.

Scene change! We return to the central office building of Nogi Incorporated, the CEO's office specifically. Where Yamashita is freaking the fuck out, nothing unusual, and Akiyama looks genuinely concerned, which is less normal. Ohma and Nogi, are, well…

Ohma, didn't you just break those fingers the other day?​

Nobody addresses Yamashita's questions. Ohma has questions of his own though, demanding to know what the fuck Nogi just said, and Nogi is happy to repeat himself. Nogi Incorporated has no intention of having Tokita Ohma represent them in the Kengan Annihilation tournament. Ohma starts winding up a punch, and Yamashita tries his best to calm them down (yes, both of them, he doesn't immediately pin the man hoisting the other by his throat as the only one with a problem), but Akiyama is just baffled. She'd been under the impression these kengan matches were testing Ohma for his eligibility for the tournament. He won all three matches, how did he still fail?

Cue the door opening. A voice asks if the visitor is interrupting something.

Akiyama goes pale with shock. Nogi looks very smug for a man being strangled, and wheezingly informs Ohma that this will be Nogi Incorporated's fighter for the Annihilation Tournament.

Heheh title drop.​

End chapter!

Well boy howdy, look at that. A chapter of Kengan Asura that actually finishes its business early, with enough time spare to do some setup for the next chapter. I don't know if I could call it efficient, this chapter wasn't exactly dense with content, but we're back into the weeds of full-bore setup chapters. We're here to establish future elements, lay groundwork for future fights, and build the context for the tournament to come. And in that vein this is a fair enough offering. Two fighters have been introduced, along with a mystery box for who the first will be, and we've got a pretty significant twist that's preparing space for plans and chicanery.

And really, that last point is probably the most significant. We have new characters, yes, but more will come. What makes this important, and why I think this chapter is the first of the new setup chapters, is what Takada Seisuke's choice of method means. Rule of law is, at best, a secondary consideration. Even offering freedom for the worst living mass murderers isn't beneath the sort of people who'll be participating in this tournament, as long as it can potentially give them an edge. And that suggests a great many other things will be well within the tolerances of these people.

This won't be just a straightforward tournament. There'll be intrigue and shenanigans outside the ring for our protagonists to endure as well. Or, perhaps, to engage in themselves.

See you all next time.

 

[MobiusOneDT]

Thus we're introduced to I think one of my favorite characters in the manga. Its silly but I like the surfer dude vibe the dub gives the man in the anime.

You've probably already said so, but what do you think of the anime adaptation?

 

[Manic Dogma]

I've heard it's a bad adaptation, but I refuse to watch it and find out for real because every time I see a clip of it my eyes start trying to claw their way out of my skull so they can look at something more pleasant. Like roadkill, or a gangrenous wound.

I'm sure CGI can produce perfectly respectable results for an action anime, but not with that little budget/time/whatever.

 

[Guile]

I dunno if I'd say 'bad.'

The anime clearly put all its love, effort and budget into the fight scenes. And if you're going to do that, Kengan Asura is the story I'd pick to do it.

 

[Manic Dogma]

As an example to us all, Mr Nogi demonstrates that dangling by the throat from an angry psychopath's hand is no excuse to not be polite. With grace, manners, and vision slowly going black from lack of oxygen, he introduces Ohma to…

Scruffy, doe-eyed and kinda dozy looking. Guaranteed to be top tier.​

Yamashita and Akiyama continue to be shocked, from the end of last chapter, but while Yamashita is just generally fretting because it's his base state of being, Akiyama has specific concerns. She's shocked that he's back.

Yeah, there's probably a reason that Nogi has been scrambling looking for other high tier fighters.

Anyway, Hatsumi is in no rush to free his boss, dryly asking if he's in trouble. Nogi tells him to, and I quote, "save me already, idiot." Yeah, evidence is mounting for this guy being an unreliable prick. Still in no rush he looks to Ohma, lazily scratching his head and asks the younger man if he minds the use of force. Ohma, in a spectacular display of thoughtless arrogance, immediately finds his Bullshit reflex triggering and acidically asks if Hatsumi really thinks he can use force against him, our lord and sigma.

Oh my goodness, who could possibly have seen this coming.​

So yeah, Hatsumi outclasses Ohma, at least for now. Granted he's still fucked the hell up from fighting Sekibayashi, but that's still a hell of a distance to cross without Ohma being able to track him.

Nogi drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes after Hatsumi digs his fingers into Ohma's arm, and sits there struggling to catch his breath as Hatsumi admonishes his junior. You're not supposed to harm your employer, really. And, well…he shouldn't be treating his broken arm like that either. Yamashita only just now realises that Ohma's arm, slamming head on with all the force he can muster into the majestic mountain of manmeat that is Sekibayashi, probably broke. Really, the man's lucky it didn't fold up like a concertina.

Not that Ohma particularly cares. He takes Hatsumi's attitude personally and lashes out, throwing a hook with his other arm, snarling like a cornered dog. Hatsumi idly leans out of the way, evading with absolutely minimal motion as he points out that it's not just Ohma's arm. It's his whole body. Ohma has, as the saying goes, gotten fucked the hell up over the course of the three matches so far. Granted, the worst of it was Sekibayashi, but Rihito took some pretty significant chunks out of Ohma for his showboating and Kaburagi did use him as a punching bag for a while. And the manga didn't forget. And, well, now it's really starting to show.

Seethe, mald, cope​

This is an important precedent, going forward. Kengan Asura isn't exactly the most grounded piece of fiction ever, but one thing it's very determined to preserve is the weight of attrition. Characters don't generally just shrug off hits, not forever. Even the heavyweights like Sekibayashi slow down eventually, every bruise and cut adds up. And Ohma is not a heavyweight. Now we're leading up to a massive tournament, by definition a series of fights very close together, much closer than the rest Ohma's gotten between his matches so far. He's going to have to be significantly less reckless if he wants to get anywhere, and he fucking hates hearing it.

Yamashita's calmed down a bit, now that his employer isn't being actively strangled, but his worldview's still getting shaken. Ohma's strength has seemed immovable to him, and now he's completely whiffing everything against a foe who isn't really trying. Akiyama isn't surprised though, if anything she seems...to be cringing. She relates Hatsumi's record to Yamashita and, well.

It's 39 wins, 15 losses. A positive record, but nothing compared to Sekibayashi's. Akiyama, equal parts frustrated and embarrassed on her employer's behalf, notes that Hatsumi is absolutely a first rate fighter. But he has his own behaviour issues that are pretty different from Ohma's. She makes to list a breakdown of his losses, but Hatsumi detects that a woman is talking about him and decides to show off.

…after a fashion.

​

Then he…hugs her. While noting how happy he is to hear she was…worried about him? She goes ballistic, obviously, screaming about how much he's lost the Nogi group with his shenanigans, which he dismisses as in the past and asks her out to dinner. She refuses and he whines about how cold she is all the time.

Excuse me a moment while I sigh. This chapter could probably have been renamed Negging.

Anyway, while Hatsumi harrasses Akiyama to no meaningful consequence, Ohma has been catching his breath and seems to be taking everything pretty personally. We hear a noisy boom from offscreen (as Akiyama tries to pry her way out of Hatsumi's arms, because violation of women's personal space and bodily autonomy is very funny) and see Ohma's gone into his feral supermode. The veins bulge in his face, and there's no grin this time, he's just mad. Hatsumi, expression turning faintly serious for the first time since he stepped onscreen, points out that Ohma started this. So there'll be no hard feelings if he dies.

Then he stops, contemplative, and notes that it probably would be a pain in the ass if he died as Ohma flashes into point blank range with an uppercut. Yamashita's hyped, rooting for the asshole he knows, but it's for nothing. Hatsumi casually pivots behind Ohma, telling him surprise attacks won't help him anymore, before snapping a palm strike right into his face.

To Hatsumi's surprise, Ohma blocks it. He spends a moment studying the form Ohma's in, talking about the speed boost it seems to offer, before shrugging and leaving off the lecture to posture. The two men begin squaring up again before launching into another exchange.

This one seems much more even. They dart back and forth through the office, trading rapid barrages of punches and strikes, until Hatsumi notes that Ohma actually surpasses him in…blows? Given he further notes that he's still not too fast for him to catch, I feel like that was probably just an awkward translation of Hatsumi figuring that Ohma's thrown many more strikes than he is in the same time. A speed thing. In any case, Hatsumi lunges in for another palm strike, but this time Ohma's ready. His broken arm makes contact, but he doesn't truly parry. A slight push at exactly the right moment throws the power of Hatsumi's blow out of control, and the older man's knee hits the floor. Shocked, he realises what Ohma did, just as Ohma's leg comes careening for his face. Akiyama is shocked that Ohma has managed such a clean counter. Yamashita is pumped again, the timing was perfect, he's certain the hit landed. Ohma's kick goes off like a gunshot.

​

Nobody else in the room knows what the fuck he's on about. Ohma obviously does though, and Hatsumi picks up on it. He's still a little confused though. As far as he knew the Niko style was never passed down.

This time when I say Ohma takes it personally, I'm not saying it as a joke. He grabs for Hatsumi's throat and, with the face of a man half an inch from murder, tells Hatsumi to never say Niko's name again. How dare he. How dare he.

Hatsumi recognises that he hit a nerve, but responds to Ohma's rage in kind. His own face drops into stark half-shadow, and he tells Ohma not to keep pushing his luck. You little shit.

Now, finally, Nogi intercedes. Enough, he bellows, and when everyone's shut up he rubs his throat. Hatsumi, being himself, points out that the substitute started it but Nogi ignores him. Instead he turns to Ohma, and declares his decision final. Hatsumi Sen will represent the Nogi group in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. Yamashita is aghast, and even Akiyama isn't sure what Nogi is thinking. Hatsumi is unreliable as hell, how can Nogi trust him with the fate of the company?

Ohma lets his supermode drop. He's still mad though, and tries to tell Nogi he'll kill him, but is interrupted by the man himself.

"No objections" he says, as if this wasn't his plan all along.​

Hatsumi's the only person in the room who gets what he means, and his opinion doesn't matter, so Nogi takes the opportunity to hear the sound of his own voice for a while. Chortling and delighted, Nogi points out that if Ohma wants to get his own place in the Annihilation Tournament he'll need someone's help. And that someone is Yamashita Kazuo.

So, Mr Yamashita…

I love these panels. Nogi's insincere grin and shoujo sparkles, Yamashita slowly processing what Nogi just said and melting into a puddle. Immaculate.​

Akiyama immediately objects that it's…well, impossible. And Nogi agrees, in order to be an Association member there's a level of preexisting wealth and prestige required. However, that's just the legal route. There's always a loophole in business. And the loophole here is a few sharks who rise into the shallows now and then, offering the lesser fish their own set of teeth. Membership in the association is a first rate meal ticket, and there's money to be made in dangling it in front of people by staking it in unofficial Kengan Matches and raking in the challengers fees. Nogi dismisses these people as small fry scraping up pocket change, but it's still an avenue for their goals.

Besides, he says, the matches might be unofficial but the referees are still the official, Association certified staff used in real Kengan Matches. Because of course they are. And honestly, this is a form of outlandish corruption that works for me, unlike the whole cheating thing in the Kaburagi match. It doesn't really hurt the association or its image, since the whole thing is kept in the shadows and the real movers and shakers don't engage in it anyway. In practice it's just a slow churn of new faces at the very bottom of the association, nobody that'll be a threat to established bigtime capitalists.

Besides, the timing of all this is very serendipitous. Coincidentally, there's an unofficial match to happen very shortly (he says while Hatsumi drops a LA:Noir doubt on "coincidentally"). Of course, there is the question of the challenger's fee. Which is 100 million yen. Yamashita freaks out, because he's Yamashta, but Nogi has just the thing to salve his concerns.

This is so bare-faced, I almost respect the hustle.​

With a face like the devil closing in a deal with an especially juicy sinner, Nogi asks Yamashita what it'll be. It's the only way to get Ohma into the tournament, after all. Want to give it a shot?

Already a naturally anxious soul, being put into the hot seat like this breaks Yamashita. His glasses almost slip off his face, such is the volume of sweat he exudes as his brain ties itself in knots thinking about how messed up this situation is, how small he is in the face of it, and how little time he has to think about it.

Funny thing is, Nogi overplayed his hand. Yamashita almost immediately retreats into a flight response, deciding his only hope is to refuse the offer without offending Nogi. Slowly, tremulously, he tells Nogi that he appreciates the offer, but…

​

You know, thinking about it, this is probably part of why Nogi called Hatsumi in rather than just tell Yamashita and Ohma about him. Immediately after answering for Yamashita, Ohma turns to Hatsumi and informs him they'll settle their score in the tournament, to which Hatsumi agrees. Nogi, to Yamashita's horror, encourages them and accepts Ohma's declaration as valid.

Now he's stuck, there's only one hope. Yamashita turns to Ohma and reaches for the words to tell him this is too much, he's just a bottom-rung wageslave, he can't rub shoulders with the sort of titans who'll be populating a tournament like this. He'd be annihilated in an instant, to say nothing of his own financial failings. It's hard for him to say, but this, all this, it's too-

​

Sorry, bro. Your ass is stuck now. End chapter.


Alright, let's check the wordcou- holy shit, over two thousand words before the commentary? Talk about a dense chapter!

And yeah, a lot of shit happened this chapter. First off we're building heat for another fighter, Hatsumi Sen, the floating cloud. Who is notably unreliable, but since Nogi's sticking with him anyway for his main bet, and even Akiyama acknowledges his strength while hating his guts, to say nothing of how well he fits the Lazy Genius archetype…well, he's probably going to be a big player. Almost as big as how massive a piece of shit he is, maybe.

Which leads onto something that's more implication. Nogi's plan to cheat in the tournament. Because surely you didn't think a CEO was going to play this fairly? That other guy looked into getting the worst murderers he could get his hands on, and Nogi is going to try and game the system directly, grabbing as many rolls of the dice as he can. Like, look at this chapter, Yamashita's going to be a hundred million Yen in debt just to start with, and that's explicitly pocket change to these people. He has no choice now that Ohma's pushed him into accepting the deal, or everything he owns is probably forfeit. Yamashita's only hope of getting through this with his life intact is for Nogi to win, even if he doesn't know it yet.

And how about that little hint toward the middle at Ohma's past? It's definitely for the best that we keep getting hints that there's more to Ohma than there seems, 'cos as is he's definitely not super interesting. But now we have a few more hints to go on, that give us more specific questions to ask. What is the Niko style? What other techniques does it have that Ohma hasn't demonstrated yet? Why wasn't it passed down? Who was the previous master? Why is Ohma made so incredibly mad by people talking about it?

Who is Niko?

All that, and in my opinion the Kengan Challenger matches are a natural addition that fleshes out the setting. This is a solid upgrade over previous setup chapters, and it really does feel like the Authors are starting to get a proper grasp on where their story is going and how to effectively get it there.

Of course they're still not great people, as we saw in Hatsumi's treatment of Akiyama, but…well you saw how the first post started. And frankly the worst is yet to come.

See you all next time.

 

[no.]

This dynamic is so good. Ohma genuinely does like Kazuo and enjoy his company, but Kazuo is too scared to speak his mind to Ohma. Ohma bulldozes over Kazuo without even realizing he's doing it, and ends up just thinking they agree on almost everything, which makes him like Kazuo even more. It's a humorous showing of warmth from an otherwise very cocky character, which helps keep him likable even before his backstory reveal and character development.

 

[Execute/Dumbo]

This is an important precedent, going forward. Kengan Asura isn't exactly the most grounded piece of fiction ever, but one thing it's very determined to preserve is the weight of attrition. Characters don't generally just shrug off hits, not forever. Even the heavyweights like Sekibayashi slow down eventually, every bruise and cut adds up.

Click to shrink...

Honestly one of my favourite parts of the story. I'm so used to other fighting manga just sort of brushing off someone's ribcage being obliterated after they had some rejuvenating tea and a nice massage that seeing the fighters be legitimately ground down and have to adapt their tactics for it is great.

Of course they're still not great people, as we saw in Hatsumi's treatment of Akiyama, but…well you saw how the first post started. And frankly the worst is yet to come.

Click to shrink...

Extra: Heroines looms in the distance

 

[Manic Dogma]

Extra: Heroines looms in the distance

Click to shrink...

 

[Manic Dogma]

​

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

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

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

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

I do enjoy the peanut gallery moments in this manga​

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As if there was any doubt.​

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

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

​

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

​

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

Weren't you aware of this?

​

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

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

What is he doing here?

End chapter.


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

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

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

See you all next time.

 

[Manic Dogma]

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

Why, something very strange indeed.

​

Tokita Ohma is being the supportive straight man.

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

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

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

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

He isn't even surprised. Just sad.​

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

And promptly begins shaking Ohma down for cash too.

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

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

After a moment Ohma pauses and turns to Yamashita.

"Who's this asshole?"

"THAT'S MY SON!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love this sort of smash cut so much.​

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

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

Contrast.​

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

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

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

His father, Yamashita Kazuo.

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

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



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

Chill Ohma.

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

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

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

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

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

See you all next time.

 

[BungieONI]

This is a strange turn indeed and I quite like it.

I also feel like there's just. Kengan's actual humor seems to shine way better when its more chill and not up its own ass huffing the Sigma Fite Gas.

 

[no.]

Ohma would never admit it, but he's a pretty maladjusted and traumatized person. Getting something resembling a stable social circle immediately begins chipping away at the veneer of "angry smug fiteman" he's built up over the course of a bleak and violent life. He's honestly a pretty nice guy when he drops the bullshit posturing and lets himself be vulnerable. I do think part of it is the writers getting somewhat less edgy over time, but this is very much an intentional shift. Chill Ohma is very much the real Ohma, and Angry Smug Fiteman Ohma is him in feral survival mode, which he slowly learns to de-escalate from over time.

 

[Kymme]

It is a joyous day indeed to see the first true appearance of Tokita Brohma.

 

[Manic Dogma]

​

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

​

…Or is he?

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

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

Cut to the CEO's office.

​

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

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

That is, Yamashita Kenzo. Yes, that Kenzo.

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

Under Mount Incorporated will participate in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament.

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

​

Say hello to the writer's pet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice Sengoku General spread you got there, gramps.​

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

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

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

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

She grins, her face in shadows. End chapter.



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

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

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

See you next time.

 

[BungieONI]

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

Click to shrink...

You'd think colored contacts. But these folks might be a little too aggro for that just going off vibes.

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

Click to shrink...

Also means we probably get to see Rihito again and that's gonna be funny I hope.

 

[Kymme]

I love these silly donut steel Gracie knockoffs.

 

[Guile]

I kinda love the Kure. Look at that crowd scene- one's black. One's got kind of a sumo vibe. One has her hair up in ojo-sama drill curls. One has a sassy beret. One has the twist towel on his head like he's a sushi chef when he's not killing people. There's a salarywoman and a salaryman and a gym bro with a Freddie Mercury moustache.

All of them standing in silence with blank, black-on-white(?) eyes while this daimyo-looking motherfucker speaks, kneeling, on the other side of the room.

 

[no.]

I kinda love the Kure. Look at that crowd scene- one's black. One's got kind of a sumo vibe. One has her hair up in ojo-sama drill curls. One has a sassy beret. One has the twist towel on his head like he's a sushi chef when he's not killing people. There's a salarywoman and a salaryman and a gym bro with a Freddie Mercury moustache.

All of them standing in silence with blank, black-on-white(?) eyes while this daimyo-looking motherfucker speaks, kneeling, on the other side of the room.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that's the best part. If they were a bunch of ninja weirdos it would be unbelievable and silly, but they're not really presented that way. The vast majority of Kure Clan members are seemingly normal people… who are secretly part-time assassins bred for combat. It almost has this vibe of demonic possession, quietly seeding their influence through the public.

 

[Estro]

I do like the Kure clan, even if they're objectively very silly elements of the setting. Admittedly, there is one character (who has, now, technically appeared in this discussion so I can talk about her) which I do absolutely loathe. Honestly the worst female character in the entire manga and that says something given some of the characters we see.

 

[Kuja]

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

Click to shrink...

"That new guy with the eyes. Really freaky, huh?"
"Eh, people said the same thing about Kakashi from accounting."

 

[Guile]

"That new guy with the eyes. Really freaky, huh?"
"Eh, people said the same thing about Kakashi from accounting."

Click to shrink...

(Kakashi from Accounting is also a Kure assassin.)