- Location
- boundless optimism
Officer, those villages were coming right at him.
There is a missed oppertunity for Daro to have drawn a 4koma where Muteba turns up at a Super Japan Pro Wrestling event as Sekibayashi's ringside buddy.
Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura
- Thread starter Manic Dogma
- Start date
- Discussion Manga
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Muteba canonically resides on a different continent.
But if he's willing to show up in Japan (or some nameless Pacific island, I guess) for a tournament, why not for wrestling?
- Location
- boundless optimism
Muteba is a globe trotting high net worth individual. He works everywhere.
I don't know why he's surprised; it's like he's forgotten who he's fighting.Come on, how else was it going to go?
Of course the Heart Jab only sent Marvelous Seki back to Hell, Muteba still needed to defeat Sekibayashi afterwards.
- Location
- [REDACTED]
This match and his later showings in Omega are why I like Muteba. I just think he's neat.
Peanut-007
Hat or Hair? America decides.
- Location
- Maryland, United States of America
Muteba is so cool. He comes with some bad shit but he's written in a legitimately really interesting way for what could have been a very flat brutal mercenary type character. The man clearly has his own code of sorts even though he's an objectively terrible person and isn't particularly bloodthirsty. We'll get to his next match soon enough and see some more but I really like him.
Sekibayashi though. Se-ki-Bay-ash-i. He's just the fucking best. A guy who has every jobber flag and punches through them with sheer swag and presence to consistently give 10/10 fights. He's simply oozing personality, cool moves, and themes. Probably the best character in the manga, definitely top five.
Marvelous Seki is pretty good to but he doesn't show up for nearly long enough. Fan dark horse but we need some more of him to really tell.
Sekibayashi though. Se-ki-Bay-ash-i. He's just the fucking best. A guy who has every jobber flag and punches through them with sheer swag and presence to consistently give 10/10 fights. He's simply oozing personality, cool moves, and themes. Probably the best character in the manga, definitely top five.
Marvelous Seki is pretty good to but he doesn't show up for nearly long enough. Fan dark horse but we need some more of him to really tell.
Last edited:
The trailer's out for the Baki crossover movie and I'm honestly hyped. It's 2d animated like Baki and there's more fights than just the title characters; Jack vs. Raian and Saw Paing vs. Hanayama are confirmed and the trailer also hinted at Muteba vs. Gaia and Julius vs. Oliva.
Brightflame
Lord of the Dance
- Location
- Inkopolis
Saw Akoya there too
...I hope he gets his ass kicked
...I hope he gets his ass kicked
FourthWall
Love & Destroy
- Location
- Chiraq
Even in defeat, Pro Wrestling is the strongest.
Bless Sekibayashi, and bless the unholy chimera of Rikidozan, Giant Baba, and Antonio Inoki that made him the man he is today.
Bless Sekibayashi, and bless the unholy chimera of Rikidozan, Giant Baba, and Antonio Inoki that made him the man he is today.
Chapter 148 - Nonkilling
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
When we first met Mikazuchi Rei, I made a lot of jokes about how much like Uchiha Sasuke he looked. These jokes almost immediately began to be replaced with jokes about how unlike Sasuke he actually is, when you get down to it. He might be an assassin, but in practice Rei is a tremendous, lovestruck dork more interested in playing parcheesi with his girlfriend than he is killing a man. The manga is riddled with scenes of them just being cute together.
As you might have guessed…this is not the way it's always been. In the past, he was- OW.
OW FUCK GOD DAMN IT SHIT.
This first page is so edgy I cut myself on it. ;-;
Now, I don't think the broad angle is as bad as I'm making it out to be. Killing being something entirely mundane, almost banal, to an assassin is a perfectly valid angle. Hell, it can be a genuinely interesting and fun one! Killing being just a fact of life has been a big part of the best Kure clan related scenes, and a source of a lot of fun humour. This feels different, though, and I think it's because of precisely one step too far taken in the presentation. The narration of the first and third panels, specifically. "Humans are just meatbags filled with blood" would be testing the limits of tone on its own, but the "And shit" just sends it sailing over the edge, I feel. And similarly in the third panel, I'm not wholly sure why but taking it that one extra step into killing being like pissing and shitting makes it read to me like some silly 90s Image Comics shit. Like Rob Liefeld wrote this page.
Now, to be clear, this page isn't a joke. It's entirely serious, because that's how the real gag is supposed to work.
Because sure enough, this is the leadup to his last hit, and the very next page is Kurayoshi Rin. Reclined and resplendent in an incredibly sheer negligee, looking for all the world like she's in a gravure photo shoot rather than relaxing in her own bed. Although, for all the horny artificiality of the moment, there is one detail that I really love. Kurayoshi's actual reaction is to dryly comment on how unlikely it is that she's getting a visitor this late, and ask if Rei is here to kill her. Absolutely matter-of-fact and wholly unafraid and unintimidated, continuing the trend of Kurayoshi somehow being the biggest girlboss going in a running that contains much more traditionally powerful-seeming women. Just absolute queen shit, she does not give a fuck. My delight in the behaviour is mitigated somewhat by the strong implication that Rei popped a boner so hard it rewrote his priorities from the ground up, but you know what I'm just going to take the W.
The flashback hard cuts forward six months, to Rei and Rino playing a card game on her bedroom floor. Old Maid specifically. I dunno shit about it, but they're enjoying themselves and it's cute. At the same time, Kurayoshi's attendants gossip in the corner with each other about what a drastic transformation Rei has undergone, and honestly yeah. Putting a panel of the way he was then, and the way he is now within the flashback, does kind of highlight a pretty funny shift. Because in neither case is he particularly…expressive? His expression is flat in both cases, extremely deadpan, but there's a definite shift in the subtleties of his expression and bearing that speaks to a changed man. In the older assassin state, he's much more like the Rei I was expecting when I first saw him. Tense, unhappy. The current version though reads as more of a mean case of resting bitch face, with much more relaxed body language. And hey, he dresses in colours other than black! Which is all made just a bit funnier by the actual dialogue over these panels being the Attendants discussing how mechanical and emotionless he used to read. If anything I'd say, at neutral, he's more expressionless now, but with more ease to it. A relaxed neutrality.
But we can't just have fun forever, and neither can they. There's business they've been discussing, where personal meets professional. Rino reminds him of it, and without elaborating on the context Rei flatly agrees with the unstated prior points she made. By implication, it related to how their relationship is working. Rei has pretty plainly given up taking assassination contracts since bailing on the one against Rino, but he isn't all the way out. And while it doesn't seem to be putting active strain on their young relationship they do seem to feel like the distance between them is a problem. As the page goes on Rei highlights how, as an assassin, he's buried especially deep in the criminal underworld, just as a matter of lifestyle. And he doesn't feel like he's close to Rino in that space. Though, interestingly, within the visual metaphor used Rino isn't actually above the surface either. As a Kengan Association member (or perhaps more as a Red Light Industry magnate? Unclear) she still exists in the social underworld, just a much more shallow, less pelagic stratum. As such, Rei has a choice to make. And his decision is unhesitating.
He insists she arrange a Kengan Match for him right away. He'll take her to the top.
This is cool! I really like this! Obviously in terms of an actual character motivation it's extremely positive and forward thinking on Rei's part. He isn't wallowing in the dark nature of his previous life, insisting he's tainted or that he'll mark Rino by association, he's identifying a rift between the man he is and the man he wants to be and resolving to mend it. It's the exact opposite of the chapter's first page in mood, it's bright and hopeful and an outright rejection of the kind of edge that usually characterises characters trying to escape an assassin's lifestyle. It's very sincere, too, for a manga that leverages this relationship for humour so often by implying it's shallow compared to the more masculine motivations of much of the cast. And synergising with all this, it's a reminder that Martial Arts are not set entities inscribed immutably in stone, they're living things that change and adapt according to the practitioner's needs and desires. The Raishin Style isn't dying, but being reborn, shifting with the times into something that fits its modern context.
And this is where the flashback ends, stepping immediately into Saw Paing screaming, as he is wont to do, repeating the dialogue gag last chapter ended with. Though this time Rei has his fingers in his ears as he tells Saw Paing to burn out, it's quite cute. And then, introductions! Much more extensive ones than the last couple of matches, including the note that Saw Paing is actually 30 years old. Which honestly came as a surprise to me, especially since that's older than I was when I first read this manga. Someone with that much shonen protagonist energy shouldn't be over 25, it's illegal. It's also noted in this little exposition dump that there aren't any surnames in Myanmar? Which could be true I guess, but I dunno. Anyway, it turns out Yoroizuka is the surname of the Mayor of the village of the dawn, which Saw Paing took for the sake of convenience when operating in Japan. This pivots right into a little bit of foreshadowing for the fight going forwards, as Jerry asks Sayaka if there's any special moves Saw Paing has that he didn't bust out in the first round, and sure enough she's ready with an answer. The most powerful move in Lethwei, she insists, is the headbutt.
This strikes me as kind of questionable, headbutts are…unversatile, to say the least. Lacking in reach, definitionally putting one of your most vital areas at risk by using it as a weapon, and so on. But then this is the same guy who trained his skull into an invincible barrier by letting his dad play it like a drum with a great big hammer, so whatever. I'm not convinced it's true to IRL Lethwei, but for the purposes of a fictional fight it gives him a clear gameplan.
Hell yeah. This is a great element of the second round, that's only going to get more intensely focused as the tournament goes on. Everyone here has won at least one match, which makes hype much easier to sell. And god damn, but I love being sold on a fight between evenly matched top shelf badasses.
And yeah, as we get into Rei's introduction the first thing Sayaka says is that his actual strength is still unknown. Which is true, and very funny. Poor Nezu. That said, Jerry has been doing research on his own time, and while he has no concrete details the Raishin style has turned up enough in history that there's rumours and mythology. Said to have been devised my Takemikazuchi-no-kami, it supposedly grants wielders the ability to move like lightning. And as he notes, that supposition is at least kind of borne out by Rei's performance so far. And yeah, he signs off by noting that there's nothing else going about the details of what they do and how.
So there we are. The Burmese Bareknuckle Brawler and the Assassin of Mysteries are facing off, their introductions have been made, and the referee commands they take their dang stances. She inhales and-
Sweet jesus, look at him go. God, this manga is so fucking good at conveying speed. Is this over already? That looked like another clean hit. And it doesn't get much better for Saw Paing as we move into the next page and, still and indistinct blur of motion, Rei turns on a penny to make for a followup finisher…and almost runs face-first into Saw Paing's foot. He ducks the screaming kick, swaying back and skidding across the floor, nailing his opponent with a mild stare. He knew that hit felt off. Saw Paing was planning to tank it all along.
Rei is already several metres away before Saw Paing's stomp hits the floor, but he's undeterred. About-facing to charge Rei at full volume (as if he has any other setting) right into Rei's next gambit. A technique a lot like one of the Flame Kata moves Ohma used against Inaba, Rei seems to leave a dozen afterimages circling Saw Paing, who for once stops moving with his guard up. After a quick Facts With Kengan Asura panel elaborating on the technique and its function (movement with rapidly shifting tempo, meant to set up for Lightning Flash) Saw Paing roundly decided Fuck It, plants his feet, and screams for Rei to bring it the fuck on.
And he does. Right into the centre of Saw Paing's back.
It does next to nothing. Saw Paing's immediate response is not to fall, bend or hit the floor in pain, but to pivot on his heel and lash out with an elbow. Rei backs off, with a disapproving grunt, as Gaolang comes to a realisation. He was watching the movement of both fighters in that interaction closely, and wonders if Saw Paing has noticed what he's noticed. That Saw Paing is in the advantage here. Can you guess why? Or not guess, I suppose, deduce. It's not that complicated. Saw Paing charges once again, screaming the philosophy he's taking toward this fight out loud. Let them cut your flesh, so you can kick their ass.
I'm not sure that's how the quote goes, but…sure. You go, you funky little punchman. End chapter.
It's funny, so much of the second round so far is dominated by people passively taking hits until they find an opportunity to fight back. I hadn't noticed before, but it's a pretty consistent theme here. And yet, it happens in varied enough forms that, well, as I said I haven't noticed before. Funny how that goes.
Anyway, I'm already vibing pretty hard with this fight, especially in terms of the martial dynamics at play. We already know that Saw Paing is not a slow fighter, dude's fast as fuck, so seeing his position in the match completely invert relative to his first round fight is pretty interesting. Especially since, for all tanking hits might be a theme in this round, the mood and method of it is very different. And yeah, let's not undersell how, while we knew Rei was fast, him forcing other fighters into the slow, passive tank style out of sheer necessity is very cool. Kengan Asura is phenomenal at selling characters as truly exceptional in their specific fields, and it's always fun to see.
Side note, this chapter gives us Muteba Gizenga's profile, and I tell you what it's a funny old thing. Especially seeing the 1.0 version of Muteba, who was a russian mercenary with a completely different look. And the reason he became African? Mr Kobayashi, the manga's editor, expressed how bored he was with russian mercenaries, which are apparently a whole thing in battle manga. For all Muteba's issues, I am kind of glad the change was made, the man we got is charismatic and…yeah, Russian mercs are very overdone. Speaking of problems, the man's fuck machine gag is apparently a riff on Idi Amin, a former president of Uganda? Who apparently had legendary sexual prowess? TIL, I guess.
Also…
Mood, friend. Big mood.
See you all next time.
As you might have guessed…this is not the way it's always been. In the past, he was- OW.
OW FUCK GOD DAMN IT SHIT.
This first page is so edgy I cut myself on it. ;-;
Now, I don't think the broad angle is as bad as I'm making it out to be. Killing being something entirely mundane, almost banal, to an assassin is a perfectly valid angle. Hell, it can be a genuinely interesting and fun one! Killing being just a fact of life has been a big part of the best Kure clan related scenes, and a source of a lot of fun humour. This feels different, though, and I think it's because of precisely one step too far taken in the presentation. The narration of the first and third panels, specifically. "Humans are just meatbags filled with blood" would be testing the limits of tone on its own, but the "And shit" just sends it sailing over the edge, I feel. And similarly in the third panel, I'm not wholly sure why but taking it that one extra step into killing being like pissing and shitting makes it read to me like some silly 90s Image Comics shit. Like Rob Liefeld wrote this page.
Now, to be clear, this page isn't a joke. It's entirely serious, because that's how the real gag is supposed to work.
Because sure enough, this is the leadup to his last hit, and the very next page is Kurayoshi Rin. Reclined and resplendent in an incredibly sheer negligee, looking for all the world like she's in a gravure photo shoot rather than relaxing in her own bed. Although, for all the horny artificiality of the moment, there is one detail that I really love. Kurayoshi's actual reaction is to dryly comment on how unlikely it is that she's getting a visitor this late, and ask if Rei is here to kill her. Absolutely matter-of-fact and wholly unafraid and unintimidated, continuing the trend of Kurayoshi somehow being the biggest girlboss going in a running that contains much more traditionally powerful-seeming women. Just absolute queen shit, she does not give a fuck. My delight in the behaviour is mitigated somewhat by the strong implication that Rei popped a boner so hard it rewrote his priorities from the ground up, but you know what I'm just going to take the W.
The flashback hard cuts forward six months, to Rei and Rino playing a card game on her bedroom floor. Old Maid specifically. I dunno shit about it, but they're enjoying themselves and it's cute. At the same time, Kurayoshi's attendants gossip in the corner with each other about what a drastic transformation Rei has undergone, and honestly yeah. Putting a panel of the way he was then, and the way he is now within the flashback, does kind of highlight a pretty funny shift. Because in neither case is he particularly…expressive? His expression is flat in both cases, extremely deadpan, but there's a definite shift in the subtleties of his expression and bearing that speaks to a changed man. In the older assassin state, he's much more like the Rei I was expecting when I first saw him. Tense, unhappy. The current version though reads as more of a mean case of resting bitch face, with much more relaxed body language. And hey, he dresses in colours other than black! Which is all made just a bit funnier by the actual dialogue over these panels being the Attendants discussing how mechanical and emotionless he used to read. If anything I'd say, at neutral, he's more expressionless now, but with more ease to it. A relaxed neutrality.
But we can't just have fun forever, and neither can they. There's business they've been discussing, where personal meets professional. Rino reminds him of it, and without elaborating on the context Rei flatly agrees with the unstated prior points she made. By implication, it related to how their relationship is working. Rei has pretty plainly given up taking assassination contracts since bailing on the one against Rino, but he isn't all the way out. And while it doesn't seem to be putting active strain on their young relationship they do seem to feel like the distance between them is a problem. As the page goes on Rei highlights how, as an assassin, he's buried especially deep in the criminal underworld, just as a matter of lifestyle. And he doesn't feel like he's close to Rino in that space. Though, interestingly, within the visual metaphor used Rino isn't actually above the surface either. As a Kengan Association member (or perhaps more as a Red Light Industry magnate? Unclear) she still exists in the social underworld, just a much more shallow, less pelagic stratum. As such, Rei has a choice to make. And his decision is unhesitating.
He insists she arrange a Kengan Match for him right away. He'll take her to the top.
This is cool! I really like this! Obviously in terms of an actual character motivation it's extremely positive and forward thinking on Rei's part. He isn't wallowing in the dark nature of his previous life, insisting he's tainted or that he'll mark Rino by association, he's identifying a rift between the man he is and the man he wants to be and resolving to mend it. It's the exact opposite of the chapter's first page in mood, it's bright and hopeful and an outright rejection of the kind of edge that usually characterises characters trying to escape an assassin's lifestyle. It's very sincere, too, for a manga that leverages this relationship for humour so often by implying it's shallow compared to the more masculine motivations of much of the cast. And synergising with all this, it's a reminder that Martial Arts are not set entities inscribed immutably in stone, they're living things that change and adapt according to the practitioner's needs and desires. The Raishin Style isn't dying, but being reborn, shifting with the times into something that fits its modern context.
And this is where the flashback ends, stepping immediately into Saw Paing screaming, as he is wont to do, repeating the dialogue gag last chapter ended with. Though this time Rei has his fingers in his ears as he tells Saw Paing to burn out, it's quite cute. And then, introductions! Much more extensive ones than the last couple of matches, including the note that Saw Paing is actually 30 years old. Which honestly came as a surprise to me, especially since that's older than I was when I first read this manga. Someone with that much shonen protagonist energy shouldn't be over 25, it's illegal. It's also noted in this little exposition dump that there aren't any surnames in Myanmar? Which could be true I guess, but I dunno. Anyway, it turns out Yoroizuka is the surname of the Mayor of the village of the dawn, which Saw Paing took for the sake of convenience when operating in Japan. This pivots right into a little bit of foreshadowing for the fight going forwards, as Jerry asks Sayaka if there's any special moves Saw Paing has that he didn't bust out in the first round, and sure enough she's ready with an answer. The most powerful move in Lethwei, she insists, is the headbutt.
This strikes me as kind of questionable, headbutts are…unversatile, to say the least. Lacking in reach, definitionally putting one of your most vital areas at risk by using it as a weapon, and so on. But then this is the same guy who trained his skull into an invincible barrier by letting his dad play it like a drum with a great big hammer, so whatever. I'm not convinced it's true to IRL Lethwei, but for the purposes of a fictional fight it gives him a clear gameplan.
Hell yeah. This is a great element of the second round, that's only going to get more intensely focused as the tournament goes on. Everyone here has won at least one match, which makes hype much easier to sell. And god damn, but I love being sold on a fight between evenly matched top shelf badasses.
And yeah, as we get into Rei's introduction the first thing Sayaka says is that his actual strength is still unknown. Which is true, and very funny. Poor Nezu. That said, Jerry has been doing research on his own time, and while he has no concrete details the Raishin style has turned up enough in history that there's rumours and mythology. Said to have been devised my Takemikazuchi-no-kami, it supposedly grants wielders the ability to move like lightning. And as he notes, that supposition is at least kind of borne out by Rei's performance so far. And yeah, he signs off by noting that there's nothing else going about the details of what they do and how.
So there we are. The Burmese Bareknuckle Brawler and the Assassin of Mysteries are facing off, their introductions have been made, and the referee commands they take their dang stances. She inhales and-
Sweet jesus, look at him go. God, this manga is so fucking good at conveying speed. Is this over already? That looked like another clean hit. And it doesn't get much better for Saw Paing as we move into the next page and, still and indistinct blur of motion, Rei turns on a penny to make for a followup finisher…and almost runs face-first into Saw Paing's foot. He ducks the screaming kick, swaying back and skidding across the floor, nailing his opponent with a mild stare. He knew that hit felt off. Saw Paing was planning to tank it all along.
Rei is already several metres away before Saw Paing's stomp hits the floor, but he's undeterred. About-facing to charge Rei at full volume (as if he has any other setting) right into Rei's next gambit. A technique a lot like one of the Flame Kata moves Ohma used against Inaba, Rei seems to leave a dozen afterimages circling Saw Paing, who for once stops moving with his guard up. After a quick Facts With Kengan Asura panel elaborating on the technique and its function (movement with rapidly shifting tempo, meant to set up for Lightning Flash) Saw Paing roundly decided Fuck It, plants his feet, and screams for Rei to bring it the fuck on.
And he does. Right into the centre of Saw Paing's back.
It does next to nothing. Saw Paing's immediate response is not to fall, bend or hit the floor in pain, but to pivot on his heel and lash out with an elbow. Rei backs off, with a disapproving grunt, as Gaolang comes to a realisation. He was watching the movement of both fighters in that interaction closely, and wonders if Saw Paing has noticed what he's noticed. That Saw Paing is in the advantage here. Can you guess why? Or not guess, I suppose, deduce. It's not that complicated. Saw Paing charges once again, screaming the philosophy he's taking toward this fight out loud. Let them cut your flesh, so you can kick their ass.
I'm not sure that's how the quote goes, but…sure. You go, you funky little punchman. End chapter.
It's funny, so much of the second round so far is dominated by people passively taking hits until they find an opportunity to fight back. I hadn't noticed before, but it's a pretty consistent theme here. And yet, it happens in varied enough forms that, well, as I said I haven't noticed before. Funny how that goes.
Anyway, I'm already vibing pretty hard with this fight, especially in terms of the martial dynamics at play. We already know that Saw Paing is not a slow fighter, dude's fast as fuck, so seeing his position in the match completely invert relative to his first round fight is pretty interesting. Especially since, for all tanking hits might be a theme in this round, the mood and method of it is very different. And yeah, let's not undersell how, while we knew Rei was fast, him forcing other fighters into the slow, passive tank style out of sheer necessity is very cool. Kengan Asura is phenomenal at selling characters as truly exceptional in their specific fields, and it's always fun to see.
Side note, this chapter gives us Muteba Gizenga's profile, and I tell you what it's a funny old thing. Especially seeing the 1.0 version of Muteba, who was a russian mercenary with a completely different look. And the reason he became African? Mr Kobayashi, the manga's editor, expressed how bored he was with russian mercenaries, which are apparently a whole thing in battle manga. For all Muteba's issues, I am kind of glad the change was made, the man we got is charismatic and…yeah, Russian mercs are very overdone. Speaking of problems, the man's fuck machine gag is apparently a riff on Idi Amin, a former president of Uganda? Who apparently had legendary sexual prowess? TIL, I guess.
Also…
Mood, friend. Big mood.
See you all next time.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
I love how his leading arm, his fist he surely hit Saw Paing with, just becomes a spike of motion, a lance of force hammering into Rei's opponent. His speed here is transformative, turning a fist from something blunt, something heavy (like the punches we saw Seki trade last fight) into a piercing weapon, something that moves through an enemy, instead of just landing on them.
FourthWall
Love & Destroy
- Location
- Chiraq
I don't know about most powerful, but Lethwei's killer app as a combat style is the headbutt. It leads to the style being called the art of 9 limbs, compared to Muay Thai's 8.
Heads are hard even without the anime as fuck limb strengthening technique of taking a Mario hammer to the skull; a headbutt to the nose is incapacitating even if done by an amateur.
Heads are hard even without the anime as fuck limb strengthening technique of taking a Mario hammer to the skull; a headbutt to the nose is incapacitating even if done by an amateur.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Paper cuts are nasty.
Heroes have to get old, but they never have to grow up.
I like the way this contrasts with Rei. Saw Paing is straightforward, reckless brute force; Rei is subtler, faster, and only a Kengan-normal degree of reckless. (And it's not like Saw limits himself to headbutts.)
The trick is, of course, to hit the weak part of your opponent's head with the strong part of yours. And to get close enough to aim that precisely.
Alternatively, the temple. Watching Lethwei, it's wild how little space you need to knock someone unconscious with a shot above the ear.
- Location
- The North
Temple shots scare me. I feel like head injuries are some of the most lethal in martial arts, and you can really only use a headbutt to inflict an injury on your opponent's head. Just generally a very very messy sort of thing.
Also you could probably do something nasty with a shot just under the eye, striking directly on the cheekbone.
Though of course, afaik the whole utility of headbutts at all is that hands are very easy to break, and foreheads less so.
Also you could probably do something nasty with a shot just under the eye, striking directly on the cheekbone.
Though of course, afaik the whole utility of headbutts at all is that hands are very easy to break, and foreheads less so.
- Location
- Leeds
Post nut clarity saves yet another.
I saw an interesting video about this a while ago but having a hard time finding it
I think it was
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whQn1TKyhxg
I'm interested to hear what people with more fight experience than "I stumbled on a youtube video one time" will think on either side.
Kensai
我们都是中国人
- Location
- Hel
Couple of things about headbutts.
They're actually relatively easy to train to be very powerful blows, by virtue of the skull being a massive lump that doesn't deform much on impact, unlike the hands or feet, which have evolved to be flexible and to absorb force. The cranium is, in adults, a single piece of bone that's a lot more rigid. So when it strikes the opponent, a lot more energy gets delivered to the target rather than being wasted in the flexing and compression of the hand like in this classic video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SsBp3Zak_Q&ab_channel=amandestaful
Then there's the broader aspect of power delivery. A lot of martial arts talk goes on about power generation, but generating power isn't all that difficult - if you can jump or run or throw a ball, you can generate enough power to knock somebody's lights out. What's really important is being able to direct all that power efficiently into the target. The main reason why good strikers are able to hit so much harder than someone who's just as strong but hasn't trained striking is that they don't dissipate their power by having the energy leak out through loose structure. They tighten up the striking structure at the moment of impact (or immediately prior) so that the opponent is getting hit by the full mass of their structure. In contrast, someone throwing a sloppy punch will leak power through every joint - fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder. That's a big part of why elbows are generally more powerful than punches - not because you somehow generate more force when you hit with one, but you're reducing the number of leakage points.
So when you throw a headbutt, you alleviate a bunch of those issues. Your skull is hard and it's connected directly to the powertrain of the body through the spine. The spine itself is of course flexible, but by instinct we tense up and brace the head when an impact is incoming - and that bracing is done by a set of very strong muscles. So we effectively get a mace slamming into the target. Especially so when it's relatively intuitive to drop your weight into a headbutt, whereas it's a lot more difficult to direct that same weight into a punch.
It's a lot easier than developing the skill and conditioning to throw a similar punch. You can spend years, even decades, building up to a one-inch punch or a Dempsey dropstep. But the same mechanics can be accessed by nodding quickly.
Of course nothing is really that simple, and there are good reasons that headbutts aren't central to most fighting styles - especially that spring from contexts where weapons may have been involved - but headbutts are very strong blows due to the body mechanics involved.
They're actually relatively easy to train to be very powerful blows, by virtue of the skull being a massive lump that doesn't deform much on impact, unlike the hands or feet, which have evolved to be flexible and to absorb force. The cranium is, in adults, a single piece of bone that's a lot more rigid. So when it strikes the opponent, a lot more energy gets delivered to the target rather than being wasted in the flexing and compression of the hand like in this classic video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SsBp3Zak_Q&ab_channel=amandestaful
Then there's the broader aspect of power delivery. A lot of martial arts talk goes on about power generation, but generating power isn't all that difficult - if you can jump or run or throw a ball, you can generate enough power to knock somebody's lights out. What's really important is being able to direct all that power efficiently into the target. The main reason why good strikers are able to hit so much harder than someone who's just as strong but hasn't trained striking is that they don't dissipate their power by having the energy leak out through loose structure. They tighten up the striking structure at the moment of impact (or immediately prior) so that the opponent is getting hit by the full mass of their structure. In contrast, someone throwing a sloppy punch will leak power through every joint - fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder. That's a big part of why elbows are generally more powerful than punches - not because you somehow generate more force when you hit with one, but you're reducing the number of leakage points.
So when you throw a headbutt, you alleviate a bunch of those issues. Your skull is hard and it's connected directly to the powertrain of the body through the spine. The spine itself is of course flexible, but by instinct we tense up and brace the head when an impact is incoming - and that bracing is done by a set of very strong muscles. So we effectively get a mace slamming into the target. Especially so when it's relatively intuitive to drop your weight into a headbutt, whereas it's a lot more difficult to direct that same weight into a punch.
It's a lot easier than developing the skill and conditioning to throw a similar punch. You can spend years, even decades, building up to a one-inch punch or a Dempsey dropstep. But the same mechanics can be accessed by nodding quickly.
Of course nothing is really that simple, and there are good reasons that headbutts aren't central to most fighting styles - especially that spring from contexts where weapons may have been involved - but headbutts are very strong blows due to the body mechanics involved.
Correct, and another big part of it is how headbutts take away any sort of "safe" positions. If you're clinched chest-to-chest and forehead-to-forehead with someone, it's extremely difficult to actually generate any power; no room to get leverage behind knees, too close for punches or kicks. With headbutts in play, though, you have to be extremely cognizant of positioning or run the risk of getting your soft tissue rearranged because you accidentally gave the guy four inches of space.
Funnily enough, they're probably the most dangerous when there's ground fighting involved. You need to posture up to deliver any meaningful ground-and-pound with punches or elbows but if the guy tries holding you tight to prevent that, you can just crush his nose with your forehead. There's a (possibly apocryphal) quote from Mark Coleman, one of the first truly dominant wrestlers in MMA, that I love: "When I started I used to go off just instincts. Then they took headbutts away so I had to learn some skills."
Funnily enough, they're probably the most dangerous when there's ground fighting involved. You need to posture up to deliver any meaningful ground-and-pound with punches or elbows but if the guy tries holding you tight to prevent that, you can just crush his nose with your forehead. There's a (possibly apocryphal) quote from Mark Coleman, one of the first truly dominant wrestlers in MMA, that I love: "When I started I used to go off just instincts. Then they took headbutts away so I had to learn some skills."
I am totally armchairing here but the biggest impact of a good headbutt is probably its threat. You don't win matches by landing it, opponents lose matches because having to respect headbutts limits their options and thus puts them at a disadvantage far beyond its actual range.
IMO the most natural way to use it in this story would have been if it spectacularly knocked out the inexperienced fisherman and Rei was now impacted by respecting it. Treating is as a regular finisher you hold back until needed is awkward because it just genuinely is not that versatile. An opponent can spend the entire climax of a battle outside of its range entirely by accident, especially if elbows and knees are already providing lots of reasons to not get close.
IMO the most natural way to use it in this story would have been if it spectacularly knocked out the inexperienced fisherman and Rei was now impacted by respecting it. Treating is as a regular finisher you hold back until needed is awkward because it just genuinely is not that versatile. An opponent can spend the entire climax of a battle outside of its range entirely by accident, especially if elbows and knees are already providing lots of reasons to not get close.
Kensai
我们都是中国人
- Location
- Hel
That's just... not true, really. The headbutt isn't some kind of fight finisher like a good throw or submission hold would be - it's another strike, albeit a powerful one, and strikes are rarely "finishers" in that sense. Even a massive uppercut won't one-shot an opponent unless it happens to land cleanly, but any power punch can do that under those circumstances. Most of the time, a striker wins by accumulating damage on their opponent, wearing them down so that they can look for that clean shot or just gradually pound them until they give up.
Where it shines is as a weapon of opportunity, able to inflict damage in circumstances when you're otherwise unable to put pressure on your opponent. Look at the clip @Dark as Silver posted above - a lot of its utility comes from being able to deliver power shots while in the clinch. When you're in the clinch your opponent can tie up your hands, he can nullify your ability to throw knees - but if you can headbutt effectively as well, that's one more thing he has to look out for, and if he doesn't have the ability to do that you're doing significant damage that adds up over the course of the fight. It's especially rough during the mid-late course of a long fight when you usually clinch in order to catch a breather. Denying that to your opponent means he will gas out more quickly.
I mean, of course it can produce a one-shot KO occasionally, but that's true of any power strike. You can find videos of all kinds of ridiculous techniques putting out KOs. My personal favourite example of this kind of tomfoolery is Do Mawashi Kaiten Geri, the leaping wheel kick of Kyokushin Karate, otherwise known as "Rolling Thunder".
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlQNNGnj3tw&ab_channel=RoninKyokushinIKKU
Chapter 149+150 - Kamikaze and Newest
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
Match 2-5 has gotten off to a flying start, and it's not gonna slow down yet.
As Saw Paing proclaims the adage by which he ended the previous chapter, Mikazuchi Rei counter-charges. But he's much too agile to rely solely on the straight lines Saw Paing likes, no this boy zips to one side and streaks in from his opponent's left. Saw Paing sees it coming of course, but much too late to do much about it. He eats the uppercut right to the ribs and powers through it, slashing at Rei with his elbow and slicing off some of Rei's hair, inspiring total awe in…Nezu? You haven't just left already? Dang, where've you been my guy, we haven't seen you in like sixty chapters. Anyway, he points out the same thing we realised last chapter about Saw Paing's tactics in this fight, and praises the strategy as being "manly as fuck." Which is right, I suppose, from a certain point of view. It certainly fits to some extent with Kengan Asura's beliefs about what constitutes masculinity.
Gaolang has a more considered bit of commentary though. Saw Paing isn't just stood there, he's chosen his posture deliberately. Hunched forwards, he's limiting Rei's access to all his juicy bits, and thus the assassin's possible targets. The easiest spot for Rei to hit is Saw Paing's spine, but as we know from match 1-9 Saw Paing's bones are the opposite of a weak spot. A normal attack won't even dent Saw Paing's skeleton.
GIMME SOME MORE Saw Paing howls, confident in his strength.
Gorgeous little sequence this. The thing I really love about it is that, while Rei is clearly completely beyond Saw Paing in mobility, that doesn't make the larger man slow. The man's limbs are a barely perceptible blur when he strikes, and the very next panel after Rei makes his moves Saw Paing is after him with a vengeance. And to return to previous subjects of discussion, the established visual language of the manga helps in this regard. Saw Paing is operating within those established signifiers, by the standards the manga has set thus far he's still damn fast, and the way Rei is drawn is very strongly outside that. His entire body blurs and distorts, stretching and flickering around Saw Paing's much heavier, more material solidity. In a way, he really is like lightning in this fight, visually. It's a really elegant display of artistic skill, like that. One of the harder things to do when writing is write a major gap in ability without making the lesser side seem weak or inept. Harder still is doing it while making the lesser side seem legitimately awesome in their own right. And, well, Kengan Asura's done this a lot already, hasn't it? I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that it could manage it in the specific field of speed.
Moving forward, Rei finally lands what might be a telling blow. A strike right to Saw Paing's face, throwing his head to the side. Of course it doesn't drop him, or even seem to meaningfully daze him, he retaliates just like before. But Rei is confident he's making progress. And honestly yeah, Saw Paing looks significantly worse off than Rei does. He's more bloodied and bruised, and is bleeding heavier. Still, he keeps standing. And that confuses Rei, just a bit. Still, there's a fight ongoing, and when Saw Paing moves to charge, Rei gets back to it. As Saw Paing's hook sails over his head, the lightning god throws a straight…and this time his opponent dodges. Actually dodges, swaying his head back and everything, with a grimace of determination. Everyone is shocked. The Mayor for one, but especially Gaolang, whose expression is alight with it. And, well, yeah. This isn't anything like the Saw Paing we've been told to expect. He actually topples with it too, rolling away from the strike and launching himself out of the way of Rei's followup kick. The younger man frowns, brow visibly creasing. By now the commentators have caught up, and highlight the dodges as Saw Paing sways out of increasingly vicious blows, Rei not even visible on panel for one of them, little more than a ray of light threatening to flense his back open. He pivots on his heel for another blow, another chance at victory. The panel is odd though. Rei is in the middle, blurring as usual, but Saw Paing's posture is off. He isn't poised in evasion or hunched over defensively, he's…he seems to be swaying backwards.
Rei's eyes widen, in shock and understanding.
The entire arena shakes beneath Saw Paing's immortal skull before he looks up at Rei with wild eyes, exhaling a cloud of steam. That's right. Your boy was using motherfucking tactics. Rei immediately picks up on what the game was, his grasp of tactics as quick as his reflexes. The dodges were an intentional bait, provoking Rei to step in deeper and deeper for each hit to try and close it out. And the deeper he goes, the further he extends, the harder it is for him to get the fuck outta dodge when shit gets nasty. If Rei had been even a tiny bit slower on the uptake, the fight would be fucking over. Even Gaolang is impressed. Sort of. Okay, he mostly just supposes Saw Paing has grown, but he emotes so little anyway that I'll take it.
Back down in the arena Saw Paing, the good sport that he is, screams about how fucking cool Rei is. He's shocked he dodged the hammer, and that converts seamlessly into hype for his opponent, and I love that for him. And something I love just as much if not more is Rei's immediate reaction. "You don't need to tell me, I know I'm incredible." Delivered with the flat affect of immaculate self confidence. And I fucking love it. There isn't an insecure bone in this entire arena, these boys are all about this life and by god but they're living it.
That said, the fight isn't even. Remember how Gaolang gave the advantage to Saw Paing? I figure at least some of you have picked up on why by now. Rei's tactics, his entire martial art, is rooted in one idea. Assassination. To murder as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible, assuming a weapon. If the Kengan Matches allowed weapons, if he weren't trying to turn his art into a nonkilling one, the match would be over. As is, it's still anyone's game. Up in the stands we get some input from, of course, Kure Erioh. One of the top authorities on this very dilemma. As he puts it, assassins focus absolutely on the principles of "How to kill"...at the cost of neglecting to learn "How to Defeat". Which isn't an insignificant sacrifice, especially if you ever end up fighting with your bare hands. Now, he does note that this isn't always the case. Obviously Kuroki Gensai can defeat people as easily as breathing, and the Inaba Style has plenty of strong options to disable foes without death. But does Rei? What will the Raishin style do, faced with an opponent it cannot simply blink past, leaving an open artery in its wake?
Rei inhales, and meditatively exhales. A breathing exercise as his stance loosens, and two knuckles extend from his fist. Expression sharp, he informs Saw Paing that he promised the woman he loves he wouldn't kill anyone…so don't die on me.
Confident! Let's see where he's going with that.
But first, Facts With Kengan Asura!
In 1588, under the authority of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the most well known sword hunt edict began. In an effort to solidify the stratification of the Japanese class structure of the time and affirm his authority in the face of potential peasant uprisings and the varying sects of militant monks, he decreed that weapons were to be denied to the common folk. But Samurai could freely bear arms. Now, obviously, assassin clans were unlikely to be Samurai, and while it's possible that they kept private reserves of hidden weapons, they could hardly just wear them while going about their business. So, they needed alternatives. One, at least in the world of Kengan Asura (possibly also in real life, I can't claim to know) was hidden weapons. The visual example used is a small knife hidden inside a false smoking pipe.
Lightning flash is an older form of the Raishin Style, from an era when weapons could be freely worn without raising suspicion. These barehanded forms are more recent specialisations, attempts to evolve with the changing times. Because, as I've noted many times before, Martial Arts are not calcified traditions immune to change, they're living things. And living things adapt, or they fucking perish.
Let's see which one Rei does.
After a quiet moment of squaring up Saw Paing can't wait any more and rushes in, immediately eating a punch to the face. And it's a fucking beaut of a punch, too.
This is the Raishin Style's Sunfire Form, and in principle it's tremendously simple. Precisely applied blows to points of vulnerability in the human body, made in ways specialised to hit each location as deeply as possible. And god, not to be a broken record, but Daromeon sells the sheer speed of all this so hard. As before Rei's body is dissolving into speed blurs, but especially here I want to highlight how his feet are invisible. That's not something that's been done before in Kengan Asura like this, and it helps sell the mobility of the man even while his stance is actually quite planted. It doesn't come off like the blazing, instantaneous shifts in macro position he was making before, but it still feels just as fast across a shorter distance. Like he's making small, flickering adjustments in placement relative to his target to hit these weak points at just the right angle. And hey, there's also the return of a principle from the Goalang match, those impact effects all clustered together look a lot like how match 1-15 communicated the speed of the God of War's jabs. It's all really excellent artistic stuff, we have a near perfect sense of Rei's speed and precise, technical skill.
And it's all for naught. Saw Paing is bleeding, but one panel Rei is glaring confidently into the camera and the next he's getting almost punched in the face. It's between pages too, to heighten the abruptness of the reversal. Rei does block the strike, but between the visible welt, cracking sound effect, and Rei's own eye squinting in pain? We can tell that even blocked he damn well felt that. Rei tests the motion of the arm before Saw Paing charges again, following up a front kick with a haymaker that Rei handily evades, before hammering him with another assault. This one takes up the whole page, Saw Paing in the centre of a radiating panel, Rei's arms invisible in the centre, Saw Paing's face invisible behind all the damn hit sparks. The whole thing surrounded by little cut in patterns of Rei's blows sinking into their targets, visibly deforming his flesh and inflicting intense pain.
And yet. Still he just shrugs it off. A side kick catches Rei in the flank, again he blocks it, again it barely matters. He tries to back off and create some space, and Rino can tell something's up.
I can't take it, Rei thinks, as the camera zooms in on an x-ray view of his arm. The bones of his forearms are already cracked, after two blocks. Rino muses on how Rei's attacks just aren't having their full effect, suggesting the weight difference, but no. Gaolang…dude, can you mind read this is very weird…Gaolang disagrees. Or at least, it's not just the weight difference. Before anything else, this is simply a bad matchup for Rei.
It's an assassin's worst nightmare. An opponent with resilience to match or exceed every deadly thing you're capable of. And it's not even just the up front defensive benefits of Saw Paing's bones, either. Hanafusa steps in to note that it's the opposite extreme to bando's flexibility, with equal or greater defensive application. The sheer strength and rigidity of Saw Paing's bones let them cope better with the stress of his contracting muscles than should be humanly possible. It doesn't make him superhumanly strong, but he can clench them incredibly hard against attacks, which as we saw with Julius in match 2-3 makes for pretty impenetrable armour in this kind of context. Saw Paing isn't coming out unscathed, but he's drastically reducing the impact of every hit. And as we see in a low kick that just and so tags Rei, the reverse is absolutely not true. Even blows Rei successfully blocks are causing serious damage.
Which isn't to say Saw Paing isn't suffering any effects. As he subjects Rei to a ferocious headlong rush, we get a panel of his face. Bloodshot eyes and teeth gritted for dear life, he certainly looks like a man taking precisely applied nerve blows designed to cause crippling pain. It hurts like hell, he thinks, as he powers through the agony. As Rei ducks, dodges and weaves through the storm, Saw Paing acknowledges his strength. Rei is really, ridiculously strong. But, well. Saw Paing is fuelled by that shonen energy right now. He can't afford not to win.
Saw Paing lunches with a knee, and it's too quick for Rei to evade. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, probably hoping to absorb the blow with his joints and be thrown back away from the force.
But no. Saw Paing isn't out of tricks yet.
He takes hold of Rei's arms.
A ray of light descends, the wrathful fist of god.
End chapter. See you all next time.
As Saw Paing proclaims the adage by which he ended the previous chapter, Mikazuchi Rei counter-charges. But he's much too agile to rely solely on the straight lines Saw Paing likes, no this boy zips to one side and streaks in from his opponent's left. Saw Paing sees it coming of course, but much too late to do much about it. He eats the uppercut right to the ribs and powers through it, slashing at Rei with his elbow and slicing off some of Rei's hair, inspiring total awe in…Nezu? You haven't just left already? Dang, where've you been my guy, we haven't seen you in like sixty chapters. Anyway, he points out the same thing we realised last chapter about Saw Paing's tactics in this fight, and praises the strategy as being "manly as fuck." Which is right, I suppose, from a certain point of view. It certainly fits to some extent with Kengan Asura's beliefs about what constitutes masculinity.
Gaolang has a more considered bit of commentary though. Saw Paing isn't just stood there, he's chosen his posture deliberately. Hunched forwards, he's limiting Rei's access to all his juicy bits, and thus the assassin's possible targets. The easiest spot for Rei to hit is Saw Paing's spine, but as we know from match 1-9 Saw Paing's bones are the opposite of a weak spot. A normal attack won't even dent Saw Paing's skeleton.
GIMME SOME MORE Saw Paing howls, confident in his strength.
Gorgeous little sequence this. The thing I really love about it is that, while Rei is clearly completely beyond Saw Paing in mobility, that doesn't make the larger man slow. The man's limbs are a barely perceptible blur when he strikes, and the very next panel after Rei makes his moves Saw Paing is after him with a vengeance. And to return to previous subjects of discussion, the established visual language of the manga helps in this regard. Saw Paing is operating within those established signifiers, by the standards the manga has set thus far he's still damn fast, and the way Rei is drawn is very strongly outside that. His entire body blurs and distorts, stretching and flickering around Saw Paing's much heavier, more material solidity. In a way, he really is like lightning in this fight, visually. It's a really elegant display of artistic skill, like that. One of the harder things to do when writing is write a major gap in ability without making the lesser side seem weak or inept. Harder still is doing it while making the lesser side seem legitimately awesome in their own right. And, well, Kengan Asura's done this a lot already, hasn't it? I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that it could manage it in the specific field of speed.
Moving forward, Rei finally lands what might be a telling blow. A strike right to Saw Paing's face, throwing his head to the side. Of course it doesn't drop him, or even seem to meaningfully daze him, he retaliates just like before. But Rei is confident he's making progress. And honestly yeah, Saw Paing looks significantly worse off than Rei does. He's more bloodied and bruised, and is bleeding heavier. Still, he keeps standing. And that confuses Rei, just a bit. Still, there's a fight ongoing, and when Saw Paing moves to charge, Rei gets back to it. As Saw Paing's hook sails over his head, the lightning god throws a straight…and this time his opponent dodges. Actually dodges, swaying his head back and everything, with a grimace of determination. Everyone is shocked. The Mayor for one, but especially Gaolang, whose expression is alight with it. And, well, yeah. This isn't anything like the Saw Paing we've been told to expect. He actually topples with it too, rolling away from the strike and launching himself out of the way of Rei's followup kick. The younger man frowns, brow visibly creasing. By now the commentators have caught up, and highlight the dodges as Saw Paing sways out of increasingly vicious blows, Rei not even visible on panel for one of them, little more than a ray of light threatening to flense his back open. He pivots on his heel for another blow, another chance at victory. The panel is odd though. Rei is in the middle, blurring as usual, but Saw Paing's posture is off. He isn't poised in evasion or hunched over defensively, he's…he seems to be swaying backwards.
Rei's eyes widen, in shock and understanding.
The entire arena shakes beneath Saw Paing's immortal skull before he looks up at Rei with wild eyes, exhaling a cloud of steam. That's right. Your boy was using motherfucking tactics. Rei immediately picks up on what the game was, his grasp of tactics as quick as his reflexes. The dodges were an intentional bait, provoking Rei to step in deeper and deeper for each hit to try and close it out. And the deeper he goes, the further he extends, the harder it is for him to get the fuck outta dodge when shit gets nasty. If Rei had been even a tiny bit slower on the uptake, the fight would be fucking over. Even Gaolang is impressed. Sort of. Okay, he mostly just supposes Saw Paing has grown, but he emotes so little anyway that I'll take it.
Back down in the arena Saw Paing, the good sport that he is, screams about how fucking cool Rei is. He's shocked he dodged the hammer, and that converts seamlessly into hype for his opponent, and I love that for him. And something I love just as much if not more is Rei's immediate reaction. "You don't need to tell me, I know I'm incredible." Delivered with the flat affect of immaculate self confidence. And I fucking love it. There isn't an insecure bone in this entire arena, these boys are all about this life and by god but they're living it.
That said, the fight isn't even. Remember how Gaolang gave the advantage to Saw Paing? I figure at least some of you have picked up on why by now. Rei's tactics, his entire martial art, is rooted in one idea. Assassination. To murder as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible, assuming a weapon. If the Kengan Matches allowed weapons, if he weren't trying to turn his art into a nonkilling one, the match would be over. As is, it's still anyone's game. Up in the stands we get some input from, of course, Kure Erioh. One of the top authorities on this very dilemma. As he puts it, assassins focus absolutely on the principles of "How to kill"...at the cost of neglecting to learn "How to Defeat". Which isn't an insignificant sacrifice, especially if you ever end up fighting with your bare hands. Now, he does note that this isn't always the case. Obviously Kuroki Gensai can defeat people as easily as breathing, and the Inaba Style has plenty of strong options to disable foes without death. But does Rei? What will the Raishin style do, faced with an opponent it cannot simply blink past, leaving an open artery in its wake?
Rei inhales, and meditatively exhales. A breathing exercise as his stance loosens, and two knuckles extend from his fist. Expression sharp, he informs Saw Paing that he promised the woman he loves he wouldn't kill anyone…so don't die on me.
Confident! Let's see where he's going with that.
But first, Facts With Kengan Asura!
In 1588, under the authority of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the most well known sword hunt edict began. In an effort to solidify the stratification of the Japanese class structure of the time and affirm his authority in the face of potential peasant uprisings and the varying sects of militant monks, he decreed that weapons were to be denied to the common folk. But Samurai could freely bear arms. Now, obviously, assassin clans were unlikely to be Samurai, and while it's possible that they kept private reserves of hidden weapons, they could hardly just wear them while going about their business. So, they needed alternatives. One, at least in the world of Kengan Asura (possibly also in real life, I can't claim to know) was hidden weapons. The visual example used is a small knife hidden inside a false smoking pipe.
Lightning flash is an older form of the Raishin Style, from an era when weapons could be freely worn without raising suspicion. These barehanded forms are more recent specialisations, attempts to evolve with the changing times. Because, as I've noted many times before, Martial Arts are not calcified traditions immune to change, they're living things. And living things adapt, or they fucking perish.
Let's see which one Rei does.
After a quiet moment of squaring up Saw Paing can't wait any more and rushes in, immediately eating a punch to the face. And it's a fucking beaut of a punch, too.
This is the Raishin Style's Sunfire Form, and in principle it's tremendously simple. Precisely applied blows to points of vulnerability in the human body, made in ways specialised to hit each location as deeply as possible. And god, not to be a broken record, but Daromeon sells the sheer speed of all this so hard. As before Rei's body is dissolving into speed blurs, but especially here I want to highlight how his feet are invisible. That's not something that's been done before in Kengan Asura like this, and it helps sell the mobility of the man even while his stance is actually quite planted. It doesn't come off like the blazing, instantaneous shifts in macro position he was making before, but it still feels just as fast across a shorter distance. Like he's making small, flickering adjustments in placement relative to his target to hit these weak points at just the right angle. And hey, there's also the return of a principle from the Goalang match, those impact effects all clustered together look a lot like how match 1-15 communicated the speed of the God of War's jabs. It's all really excellent artistic stuff, we have a near perfect sense of Rei's speed and precise, technical skill.
And it's all for naught. Saw Paing is bleeding, but one panel Rei is glaring confidently into the camera and the next he's getting almost punched in the face. It's between pages too, to heighten the abruptness of the reversal. Rei does block the strike, but between the visible welt, cracking sound effect, and Rei's own eye squinting in pain? We can tell that even blocked he damn well felt that. Rei tests the motion of the arm before Saw Paing charges again, following up a front kick with a haymaker that Rei handily evades, before hammering him with another assault. This one takes up the whole page, Saw Paing in the centre of a radiating panel, Rei's arms invisible in the centre, Saw Paing's face invisible behind all the damn hit sparks. The whole thing surrounded by little cut in patterns of Rei's blows sinking into their targets, visibly deforming his flesh and inflicting intense pain.
And yet. Still he just shrugs it off. A side kick catches Rei in the flank, again he blocks it, again it barely matters. He tries to back off and create some space, and Rino can tell something's up.
I can't take it, Rei thinks, as the camera zooms in on an x-ray view of his arm. The bones of his forearms are already cracked, after two blocks. Rino muses on how Rei's attacks just aren't having their full effect, suggesting the weight difference, but no. Gaolang…dude, can you mind read this is very weird…Gaolang disagrees. Or at least, it's not just the weight difference. Before anything else, this is simply a bad matchup for Rei.
It's an assassin's worst nightmare. An opponent with resilience to match or exceed every deadly thing you're capable of. And it's not even just the up front defensive benefits of Saw Paing's bones, either. Hanafusa steps in to note that it's the opposite extreme to bando's flexibility, with equal or greater defensive application. The sheer strength and rigidity of Saw Paing's bones let them cope better with the stress of his contracting muscles than should be humanly possible. It doesn't make him superhumanly strong, but he can clench them incredibly hard against attacks, which as we saw with Julius in match 2-3 makes for pretty impenetrable armour in this kind of context. Saw Paing isn't coming out unscathed, but he's drastically reducing the impact of every hit. And as we see in a low kick that just and so tags Rei, the reverse is absolutely not true. Even blows Rei successfully blocks are causing serious damage.
Which isn't to say Saw Paing isn't suffering any effects. As he subjects Rei to a ferocious headlong rush, we get a panel of his face. Bloodshot eyes and teeth gritted for dear life, he certainly looks like a man taking precisely applied nerve blows designed to cause crippling pain. It hurts like hell, he thinks, as he powers through the agony. As Rei ducks, dodges and weaves through the storm, Saw Paing acknowledges his strength. Rei is really, ridiculously strong. But, well. Saw Paing is fuelled by that shonen energy right now. He can't afford not to win.
Saw Paing lunches with a knee, and it's too quick for Rei to evade. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, probably hoping to absorb the blow with his joints and be thrown back away from the force.
But no. Saw Paing isn't out of tricks yet.
He takes hold of Rei's arms.
A ray of light descends, the wrathful fist of god.
End chapter. See you all next time.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Tochigi Destinyland didn't pay for his return ticket, so Nezu and Miki have been trying to get a part-time job on the island.
I don't want to pretend I'm an expert, but I know Japan (and other places) tried to confiscate weapons from commoners, and that concealed weapons are a reasonably common tool for assassins. Even if weapons are legal in general, they're often forbidden in the kind of places people worth assassinating live. (And, of course, if the target sees your weapon, it'll be harder to catch them off-guard.)
Well, the wrathful skull. But this god's a bit of a knucklehead, so...
- Location
- Leeds
I thought they'd got the tense wrong in that last pick and it was meant to be "You got Hammer of Burma'ed"