Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura
- Thread starter Manic Dogma
- Start date
- Discussion Manga
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Nezu's agent did some negotiatin', managed to get him a couple lines that were going to go to the extras. He really needs this right now, delinquent characters are a dying breed in manga these days.
Anyhow. We're finally starting to see the parts of Saw Paing that I like. Not only that he can actually do strategy, despite the fact his brain is just two cells constantly hitting each other with hammers to make themselves stronger, but that we can finally start seeing why he managed to go toe to toe with the, let's be honest here, clearly superior Gaolang. Adding to his depths shown in the last update (which I sadly wasn't able to comment on at the time), we also see that Saw Paing has a pretty good understanding of his own strengths and disadvantages, and even the capacity to leverage them against others. He's like a more groudned Luffy or Goku: same shonen energy, but more grounded ways of applying himself in battle.
Also, look at him telling Nezu that he's great as well, this boy has no mean bone in his body. He's so fun.
But we're not done here yet.
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
I think Kengan Ashura gets about as much mileage from speedblitz tactics as it can with Rei. We got to see 'what if precise punch very fast?', now we get to see 'what if many precise punches very fast?', and who knows what strange new punch frontiers it'll take us to next?
Admittedly I joke but this is one of my favourite spreads in the manga entirely because it's 100% my aesthetic. An imperceptibly fast flurry of blows, each and every one precisely targeted for maximum damage. Mwah, perfection.
Admittedly I joke but this is one of my favourite spreads in the manga entirely because it's 100% my aesthetic. An imperceptibly fast flurry of blows, each and every one precisely targeted for maximum damage. Mwah, perfection.
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
Being compared to Saw Paing like this might be the nicest compliment anyone's ever given me. 🥹
Chapter 151 - Thunderclap
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
The arena rings to the numinous gong of bone on bone.
There's a brace of reaction shots after from a lot of very serious faces, but mostly I just wanna say this first panel is an extremely cool use of stylisation. Like, we all know that Saw Paing's headbutt isn't actually generating light, but in that unreality it works as a signifier of the unbelievable power of the blow. Obscuring the figures of both fighters in an unearthly torrent of divine radiance. Light has a lot of associations like that, especially in such a bright, all-consuming wave.
It also helps serve to obscure what's actually going on, preserving the cliffhanger just a little bit longer.
Fucking. Badass. Another instance of an abrupt page-turn shift used to fabulous effect, though perhaps slightly differently than usual. This isn't just one thing being followed by a shock contradiction, it's drawing on a lot of instances of characters staring down into the arena in grim defeat, the sheer weight the Hammer of Burma has been given as a finisher, and Saw Paing's narrative position to guide the reader to a particular conclusion as the cliffhanger's tension peaks. And then contradicts your expectation. Especially given the kind of fighter Rei has been thus far. Even accounting for this being his first fight that's an actual, yknow, fight? He's very obviously framed as reliant on his mobility, on precision and attacking from off angles. He isn't a slugger who goes for the head on exchange of blows. And yet, that seems to be exactly what he's done here. Meet Saw Paing head on, and crush his offense.
In a lot of lesser battle manga, this would be a yawnsome moment. Okay, he's just too powerful so Saw Paing's attack had no effect, big whoop. But we know Kengan Asura is better than that, at least in its choreography (when Raian isn't involved). So what happened? We find out after a single panel of Saw Paing reeling, bloodshot eyes bugging unfocused out of his skull, his jaw crushed into his mouth.
Funny thing about blows, as we noted way back in the first few chapters. They need a moment to get up to speed. And if you can intercept them before they reach the point of maximum effect, you can destroy the blow utterly. And even turn it back on the user. And that's exactly what Rei has done. It's a genuinely great display of skill, precision and quick-thinking, based on real principles of martial arts.
It's unlikely that Rei planned this, noone wants to get grabbed by Saw Paing. But it's exactly the opportunity he needed, something that penetrates his opponent's invincible skull to shake and disrupt his brain. And Rei immediately moves to capitalise. The chapter's title is dropped in the Raishin Style's thunderclap technique, and we get several awesome panels in a row to sell the technique as a force of goddamn nature. First Rei leaning into it, his arms dissolving into nothing, before a panel of a brace of hands in varying positions, calculated for maximum effect like last chapter, before a layered background of white blurs suggesting dozens more of his destructive fists manifesting like a fuckign Jojo rush on a black field. It's sick as hell, and the only reason I'm not posting it is because this early bit is already inundated with screencaps.
This continues into the effect of the blows. Saw Paing's head is tossed around like a speedbag, with speed lines and multiple instances of his head helping suggest the violence of it. And then more panels, every one a different angle of attack, a differently constructed blow, all as Rei resolves to himself to absolutely fucking not let Saw Paing's head stop shaking. For a moment it seems like he's failed, Saw Paing gets him in a bear hug and knocks him over, but bracing himself against the floor Rei kicks him off. Then like a fucking cat he springs to his feet and resumes the beating.
We get another panel of Saw Paing's brain juddering back and forth, deforming and squishing.
This time it's Hatsumi, for some reason, who comes in to be the clarification guy. This is a sound strategy, he says. Not the only one of course, there are exposed organs on the human body that no amount of bone training will protect, but Rei is not Muteba. He hasn't trained in the use of Eye pokes in real combat, and without that training it isn't a good idea. Fingers are relatively fragile, using them like that is risky. But, Rei has an opportunity here to do something much more accessible to him. By rocking Saw Paing's shit like this, with his brain already off kilter, Rei can essentially beat it against Saw Paing's own skull. In the same way that whiplash causes concussions, the brain crushes itself against the inside of your skull with sheer momentum. Now, Rei isn't a sharply stopping car, he's not going to concuss a guy like Saw Paing in one go. But if he can keep this up, he can build up the damage blow by blow.
Not unscathed of course. Saw Paing's better than that. Even with the world spinning around him he manages a brutal elbow strike and cuts Rei's forehead like a knife with a near miss, but the younger man doesn't even flinch. The elbow strike was, unfortunately, an overextension he punishes with efficiency, hooking his arms just so and tossing Saw Paing to the floor. And yet, somehow, even this doesn't stop him. Saw Paing just about manages to catch hold of Rei, pulling him down too as he wonders what the hell is pushing Saw Paing so hard.
It's a fair question. Just look at this guy, he's completely out of character.
As he coughs up blood, we join Saw Paing in his thoughts as he renews his promise. To his father. To his brother. To all his little bros. He tells them not to worry, he'll protect his family to the bitter end. The shonen points continue to rack up.
Rei manages to slip free, of course, the fight can't just end right there. It's more sweat, blood and exhaustion on both sides than skill though, as good a way as any to highlight that the fight is approaching its end. Neither fighter can physically keep this up much longer. Still, they have some fight in them yet to go, and Saw Paing channels it into keeping on top of Rei. Flying at him with a jumping knee strike, then following up with a barrage of kicks. Sound strategy, even when he's not zipping around Mikazuchi is reliant on his legs and much less able to absorb the punishment, but it's not like he's going to take that lying down. Rei retaliates with a crescent moon kick that slams right into Saw Paing's kidneys. No bones in the way there.
Back and forth it goes, even exchanges firing off in rapid succession. I'd almost call it a slugging match if it weren't so poised, but that's not Rei's style. It has to end soon, one way or another. And so we come to the last exchange. Decompressed for maximum tension across several pages. Saw Paing raises his arm, winding up to break Rei's skull with an elbow strike. Rei comes in from underneath, both arms cocked for a full-body blow.
Mikazuchi Rei apologises. But it's not to Rino. It's to Saw Paing. The Lightning God is the one who stayed one step ahead. With one last two-fisted blow to the jaw, the Howling Fighting Spirit finally breaks, a vision of the village of the dawn swimming in his eyes before he collapses face first onto the harsh concrete. End chapter.
So that was match 2-5! And you know what, for all this is another one that sits in a kind of nebulous place in my memory, not particularly standing out, on rereading it for this Let's Read I'm convinced it's one of the better matches in round 2. It leverages the strengths of both combatants amazingly, particularly managing to bring Rei back down to earth as someone the rest of the Roster can meaningfully fight while not defanging him at all. Dude's a scary motherfucker, even when he can't just blitz you with a single shot to the chin. But all the same, his speed doesn't make him invincible, and he's…incomplete in some important ways that'll matter going forward. And it's not like Saw Paing was a slouch either, his immediate gut-level flow is scary enough on its own, but in this match he defied his own well established thick-headedness to leverage real strategy. And not in a particularly character breaking way, his tactics were simple and straightforward, leveraging his own strengths in ways that are difficult to counter. And probably would have actually gotten a lot of people in the tournament who don't have Rei's reaction speeds and mobility. Speaking of, continuing in the tradition of Matches being extremely visually distinct, I feel like Rei's mobility was the clear standout element in terms of visual spectacle. The Hammer of Burma was pretty sweet, but it's not been that long since the earth-shaking display of Match 2-3, and Rei's movement techniques are entirely unique within the tournament in their sharpness and sheer, blinding pace.
This match definitely leaned a bit more on the technical side, too. For all its emotional angle with Saw Paing, reversing the situation of his match in the first round for a fun bit of irony, a lot of this match was the interaction of each fighter's style and properties. They clashed in a really interesting way, even if one had an advantage it wasn't a clean one that made his foe easy to deal with, and that left a lot of space for a back and forth that degenerated messily toward the end. And you know what, another trope I'm real weak to is exactly that. The last stage of a long fight where both parties have spent all their epic techniques and destructive superattacks, and they're reduced to slugging each other with punches and kicks. This isn't quite that, of course, but there's a whisper of that mood here and it's a strong one. We'll be seeing more of it later though, you mark my words.
I will say though, that a thought has occurred to me. Have there been any matches so far where the person with higher motivations won? I'm thinking through the matches so far, in both rounds, and I'm struggling to recall a moment in either where a match involved this kind of internal conflict, where one side was fighting unspoken to protect something or someone, for things that are more personally resonant rather than personal mastery or business, and that person won the match. There was…match 1-3, with Mokichi, and we all remember how that went. Match 1-9, Saw Paing's last match, where he crushed Yoshinari's attempt to protect his coastal village. Nezu was trying to defend Disney Land in 1-10. Rihito wasn't trying to protect anyone or anything, but his struggle was definitely framed in similar kinds of shonen terms, and he got his shit fucking rocked despite a last minute suggestion he might turn it around. Sekibayashi's last stand against Muteba had similar vibes. It used to be a nice subversion, but I'm wondering if this isn't starting to become its own flavour of predictable. If you subvert the common trope every time, then that's not really any more creative than just doing what everyone expects without fail. Not that this is necessarily an issue yet, on reflection there isn't quite that many examples, but it's still pretty consistent whenever an emotional conflict like this has come up. That said, we're what…halfway through the tournament now? Maybe a little less. There's plenty of time yet for this to fall one way or the other, and now that I think about it there's a legit idea in setting up the expectation that dreams will die on this Altar of Capitalism ahead of important matches for the Faces of the tournament in the last few rounds. Is that what Sandro is going for? Is that the shape of what might happen, by intent or improv? Who can say, at this point in the story. But at the very least, I can say we're gonna find out.
See you all next time, as we mop Saw Paing's broken dreams off the arena floor and set up for the next Match. And I tell you what, if the last few haven't been ones that really stuck out in my memory, that's certainly not fucking true of the next one. A match I've been looking forward too for a good while.
Kiryu Setsuna versus Kuroki Gensai is coming. Let's. Fucking. Go.
There's a brace of reaction shots after from a lot of very serious faces, but mostly I just wanna say this first panel is an extremely cool use of stylisation. Like, we all know that Saw Paing's headbutt isn't actually generating light, but in that unreality it works as a signifier of the unbelievable power of the blow. Obscuring the figures of both fighters in an unearthly torrent of divine radiance. Light has a lot of associations like that, especially in such a bright, all-consuming wave.
It also helps serve to obscure what's actually going on, preserving the cliffhanger just a little bit longer.
Fucking. Badass. Another instance of an abrupt page-turn shift used to fabulous effect, though perhaps slightly differently than usual. This isn't just one thing being followed by a shock contradiction, it's drawing on a lot of instances of characters staring down into the arena in grim defeat, the sheer weight the Hammer of Burma has been given as a finisher, and Saw Paing's narrative position to guide the reader to a particular conclusion as the cliffhanger's tension peaks. And then contradicts your expectation. Especially given the kind of fighter Rei has been thus far. Even accounting for this being his first fight that's an actual, yknow, fight? He's very obviously framed as reliant on his mobility, on precision and attacking from off angles. He isn't a slugger who goes for the head on exchange of blows. And yet, that seems to be exactly what he's done here. Meet Saw Paing head on, and crush his offense.
In a lot of lesser battle manga, this would be a yawnsome moment. Okay, he's just too powerful so Saw Paing's attack had no effect, big whoop. But we know Kengan Asura is better than that, at least in its choreography (when Raian isn't involved). So what happened? We find out after a single panel of Saw Paing reeling, bloodshot eyes bugging unfocused out of his skull, his jaw crushed into his mouth.
Funny thing about blows, as we noted way back in the first few chapters. They need a moment to get up to speed. And if you can intercept them before they reach the point of maximum effect, you can destroy the blow utterly. And even turn it back on the user. And that's exactly what Rei has done. It's a genuinely great display of skill, precision and quick-thinking, based on real principles of martial arts.
It's unlikely that Rei planned this, noone wants to get grabbed by Saw Paing. But it's exactly the opportunity he needed, something that penetrates his opponent's invincible skull to shake and disrupt his brain. And Rei immediately moves to capitalise. The chapter's title is dropped in the Raishin Style's thunderclap technique, and we get several awesome panels in a row to sell the technique as a force of goddamn nature. First Rei leaning into it, his arms dissolving into nothing, before a panel of a brace of hands in varying positions, calculated for maximum effect like last chapter, before a layered background of white blurs suggesting dozens more of his destructive fists manifesting like a fuckign Jojo rush on a black field. It's sick as hell, and the only reason I'm not posting it is because this early bit is already inundated with screencaps.
This continues into the effect of the blows. Saw Paing's head is tossed around like a speedbag, with speed lines and multiple instances of his head helping suggest the violence of it. And then more panels, every one a different angle of attack, a differently constructed blow, all as Rei resolves to himself to absolutely fucking not let Saw Paing's head stop shaking. For a moment it seems like he's failed, Saw Paing gets him in a bear hug and knocks him over, but bracing himself against the floor Rei kicks him off. Then like a fucking cat he springs to his feet and resumes the beating.
We get another panel of Saw Paing's brain juddering back and forth, deforming and squishing.
This time it's Hatsumi, for some reason, who comes in to be the clarification guy. This is a sound strategy, he says. Not the only one of course, there are exposed organs on the human body that no amount of bone training will protect, but Rei is not Muteba. He hasn't trained in the use of Eye pokes in real combat, and without that training it isn't a good idea. Fingers are relatively fragile, using them like that is risky. But, Rei has an opportunity here to do something much more accessible to him. By rocking Saw Paing's shit like this, with his brain already off kilter, Rei can essentially beat it against Saw Paing's own skull. In the same way that whiplash causes concussions, the brain crushes itself against the inside of your skull with sheer momentum. Now, Rei isn't a sharply stopping car, he's not going to concuss a guy like Saw Paing in one go. But if he can keep this up, he can build up the damage blow by blow.
Not unscathed of course. Saw Paing's better than that. Even with the world spinning around him he manages a brutal elbow strike and cuts Rei's forehead like a knife with a near miss, but the younger man doesn't even flinch. The elbow strike was, unfortunately, an overextension he punishes with efficiency, hooking his arms just so and tossing Saw Paing to the floor. And yet, somehow, even this doesn't stop him. Saw Paing just about manages to catch hold of Rei, pulling him down too as he wonders what the hell is pushing Saw Paing so hard.
It's a fair question. Just look at this guy, he's completely out of character.
As he coughs up blood, we join Saw Paing in his thoughts as he renews his promise. To his father. To his brother. To all his little bros. He tells them not to worry, he'll protect his family to the bitter end. The shonen points continue to rack up.
Rei manages to slip free, of course, the fight can't just end right there. It's more sweat, blood and exhaustion on both sides than skill though, as good a way as any to highlight that the fight is approaching its end. Neither fighter can physically keep this up much longer. Still, they have some fight in them yet to go, and Saw Paing channels it into keeping on top of Rei. Flying at him with a jumping knee strike, then following up with a barrage of kicks. Sound strategy, even when he's not zipping around Mikazuchi is reliant on his legs and much less able to absorb the punishment, but it's not like he's going to take that lying down. Rei retaliates with a crescent moon kick that slams right into Saw Paing's kidneys. No bones in the way there.
Back and forth it goes, even exchanges firing off in rapid succession. I'd almost call it a slugging match if it weren't so poised, but that's not Rei's style. It has to end soon, one way or another. And so we come to the last exchange. Decompressed for maximum tension across several pages. Saw Paing raises his arm, winding up to break Rei's skull with an elbow strike. Rei comes in from underneath, both arms cocked for a full-body blow.
Mikazuchi Rei apologises. But it's not to Rino. It's to Saw Paing. The Lightning God is the one who stayed one step ahead. With one last two-fisted blow to the jaw, the Howling Fighting Spirit finally breaks, a vision of the village of the dawn swimming in his eyes before he collapses face first onto the harsh concrete. End chapter.
So that was match 2-5! And you know what, for all this is another one that sits in a kind of nebulous place in my memory, not particularly standing out, on rereading it for this Let's Read I'm convinced it's one of the better matches in round 2. It leverages the strengths of both combatants amazingly, particularly managing to bring Rei back down to earth as someone the rest of the Roster can meaningfully fight while not defanging him at all. Dude's a scary motherfucker, even when he can't just blitz you with a single shot to the chin. But all the same, his speed doesn't make him invincible, and he's…incomplete in some important ways that'll matter going forward. And it's not like Saw Paing was a slouch either, his immediate gut-level flow is scary enough on its own, but in this match he defied his own well established thick-headedness to leverage real strategy. And not in a particularly character breaking way, his tactics were simple and straightforward, leveraging his own strengths in ways that are difficult to counter. And probably would have actually gotten a lot of people in the tournament who don't have Rei's reaction speeds and mobility. Speaking of, continuing in the tradition of Matches being extremely visually distinct, I feel like Rei's mobility was the clear standout element in terms of visual spectacle. The Hammer of Burma was pretty sweet, but it's not been that long since the earth-shaking display of Match 2-3, and Rei's movement techniques are entirely unique within the tournament in their sharpness and sheer, blinding pace.
This match definitely leaned a bit more on the technical side, too. For all its emotional angle with Saw Paing, reversing the situation of his match in the first round for a fun bit of irony, a lot of this match was the interaction of each fighter's style and properties. They clashed in a really interesting way, even if one had an advantage it wasn't a clean one that made his foe easy to deal with, and that left a lot of space for a back and forth that degenerated messily toward the end. And you know what, another trope I'm real weak to is exactly that. The last stage of a long fight where both parties have spent all their epic techniques and destructive superattacks, and they're reduced to slugging each other with punches and kicks. This isn't quite that, of course, but there's a whisper of that mood here and it's a strong one. We'll be seeing more of it later though, you mark my words.
I will say though, that a thought has occurred to me. Have there been any matches so far where the person with higher motivations won? I'm thinking through the matches so far, in both rounds, and I'm struggling to recall a moment in either where a match involved this kind of internal conflict, where one side was fighting unspoken to protect something or someone, for things that are more personally resonant rather than personal mastery or business, and that person won the match. There was…match 1-3, with Mokichi, and we all remember how that went. Match 1-9, Saw Paing's last match, where he crushed Yoshinari's attempt to protect his coastal village. Nezu was trying to defend Disney Land in 1-10. Rihito wasn't trying to protect anyone or anything, but his struggle was definitely framed in similar kinds of shonen terms, and he got his shit fucking rocked despite a last minute suggestion he might turn it around. Sekibayashi's last stand against Muteba had similar vibes. It used to be a nice subversion, but I'm wondering if this isn't starting to become its own flavour of predictable. If you subvert the common trope every time, then that's not really any more creative than just doing what everyone expects without fail. Not that this is necessarily an issue yet, on reflection there isn't quite that many examples, but it's still pretty consistent whenever an emotional conflict like this has come up. That said, we're what…halfway through the tournament now? Maybe a little less. There's plenty of time yet for this to fall one way or the other, and now that I think about it there's a legit idea in setting up the expectation that dreams will die on this Altar of Capitalism ahead of important matches for the Faces of the tournament in the last few rounds. Is that what Sandro is going for? Is that the shape of what might happen, by intent or improv? Who can say, at this point in the story. But at the very least, I can say we're gonna find out.
See you all next time, as we mop Saw Paing's broken dreams off the arena floor and set up for the next Match. And I tell you what, if the last few haven't been ones that really stuck out in my memory, that's certainly not fucking true of the next one. A match I've been looking forward too for a good while.
Kiryu Setsuna versus Kuroki Gensai is coming. Let's. Fucking. Go.
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEVMavhbIk8
As promised, the stick fight.
It's kinda fascinating that this page here actually takes a good few seconds to play out in real time while it goes past so fast in the manga.
The next fight has one too.
TheFoxsCloak
Professional Otaku
An excellent breakdown of the fight by the same guy who previously did 1-1, 2-1 and 1-9:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjvX0fC_Iro
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjvX0fC_Iro
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Ah, Saw Paing. What a guy.
I've mentioned before that I really like how Saw Paing is written, so I figure now is about the time I explain my view on the character. And I'll be doing so with two points.
The first is the flashback that preceded this fight: the death of Saw Paing's brother, resulting from his overexertion and damage accrued from fighting in the Kengan matches for the sake of his village. An effort that ended up wasted, as both the man and the village were lost. And so Saw Paing took his brother's place, and they found a new village. Setup for the conflict Saw Paing is about to go through, fighting for his own village, but setup for something else as well.
Consider for a moment what is the virtue this manga considers the most important. Self-improvement, being true to one's chosen path, becoming strong within it. In theory, Saw Paing is the very embodiment of that. He's loud, he's brash, his brain is entirely focused on fighting and becoming stronger for the sake of fighting. He doesn't even have any ill thoughts of his opponent during battle, even when said opponent dodges his best move... until this panel. When his goal takes precedence over even his own nature.
Because this isn't Saw Paing fighting to grow or improve. This is self-destruction, the same Saw Paing's brother went through.
That's why I like him so much. Saw Paing takes the usual fightmonkey hotblooded shonen protag, places him on the position to embody the thing the manga seems to pose as its main virtue, and then explains how, by a single outside act, that exact embodiment goes awry.
Plus, y'know, Saw Paing is a cool guy and an entertaining character. I can appreciate the simple and fun parts too.
Now then, next fight... He returns.
I've mentioned before that I really like how Saw Paing is written, so I figure now is about the time I explain my view on the character. And I'll be doing so with two points.
The first is the flashback that preceded this fight: the death of Saw Paing's brother, resulting from his overexertion and damage accrued from fighting in the Kengan matches for the sake of his village. An effort that ended up wasted, as both the man and the village were lost. And so Saw Paing took his brother's place, and they found a new village. Setup for the conflict Saw Paing is about to go through, fighting for his own village, but setup for something else as well.
It's a fair question. Just look at this guy, he's completely out of character.
Consider for a moment what is the virtue this manga considers the most important. Self-improvement, being true to one's chosen path, becoming strong within it. In theory, Saw Paing is the very embodiment of that. He's loud, he's brash, his brain is entirely focused on fighting and becoming stronger for the sake of fighting. He doesn't even have any ill thoughts of his opponent during battle, even when said opponent dodges his best move... until this panel. When his goal takes precedence over even his own nature.
Because this isn't Saw Paing fighting to grow or improve. This is self-destruction, the same Saw Paing's brother went through.
That's why I like him so much. Saw Paing takes the usual fightmonkey hotblooded shonen protag, places him on the position to embody the thing the manga seems to pose as its main virtue, and then explains how, by a single outside act, that exact embodiment goes awry.
Plus, y'know, Saw Paing is a cool guy and an entertaining character. I can appreciate the simple and fun parts too.
Now then, next fight... He returns.
Last edited:
- Location
- USA
I think what's going on with the framing being the opposite of typical is that the author is trying to resurrect the unpredictability of the protagonist prevailing against the odds. Manga isn't quite on the railroad level of predictability as American movies, but you still expect that either the POV team will win the last tourney or they'll lose at Koshien. No matter how ragtag and underdog the Mighty Ducks might appear, the truth is that their winning streak is unbreakable while the narrative continues, plus or minus an initial loss to set the story up.
Like, shows always act like the little person winning is surprising, and, just by the numbers, it never, ever is. People with the wrong motivations and the more imposing physiques have about the same win rate as gangs of faceless ninjas facing off with samurais that are coughing up blood.
Normal mangas are really kind of up against it in terms of defying this trend. If Darth Vader wins, your manga is over, you know? But KA is a battle manga set in a tournament. It has a truly preposterous number of fights that are about giving flowers to someone who will lose to someone who will lose to someone who will fight Ohma.
Real talk, Yoshinari bigged up Saw Paing, who bigged up Rei. No spoilers, but I can't possibly imagine Rei as Ohma's final opponent. His energy is wildly wrong for that role. So, if that is correct, then he is a sacrifice to cred up someone on the right side, and that person may themselves fed to a character who is just the antag. It is an astounding degree of indirection. An amazing number of multi chapter matches boil down to picking whose head Kiryu is going to twist off.
The author, I think, is getting a second use out of these matches, beyond just bigging up future antags. They are establishing a bleak, mounful tone, to train you, emotionally, to feel like the usual sympathetic characters that most modern media makes you think will win will lose. This should restore the thrill to the heroes defying the odds, since those odds feel 'real' in a way that they usually don't.
Like, shows always act like the little person winning is surprising, and, just by the numbers, it never, ever is. People with the wrong motivations and the more imposing physiques have about the same win rate as gangs of faceless ninjas facing off with samurais that are coughing up blood.
Normal mangas are really kind of up against it in terms of defying this trend. If Darth Vader wins, your manga is over, you know? But KA is a battle manga set in a tournament. It has a truly preposterous number of fights that are about giving flowers to someone who will lose to someone who will lose to someone who will fight Ohma.
Real talk, Yoshinari bigged up Saw Paing, who bigged up Rei. No spoilers, but I can't possibly imagine Rei as Ohma's final opponent. His energy is wildly wrong for that role. So, if that is correct, then he is a sacrifice to cred up someone on the right side, and that person may themselves fed to a character who is just the antag. It is an astounding degree of indirection. An amazing number of multi chapter matches boil down to picking whose head Kiryu is going to twist off.
The author, I think, is getting a second use out of these matches, beyond just bigging up future antags. They are establishing a bleak, mounful tone, to train you, emotionally, to feel like the usual sympathetic characters that most modern media makes you think will win will lose. This should restore the thrill to the heroes defying the odds, since those odds feel 'real' in a way that they usually don't.
WilyMachineKing1
Executive Manager of Limbus Company
- Location
- Reno Nevada
I know that I am probably the only one, but does anyone else hear ominous Latin cheating whenever Kuroki is mentioned or is around?
Saw Paing had basically the same motivation so I call that a wash, but I agree on the overall trend.
I want to give Sandro enough credit to think that this was intentional with the altar of capitalism bit. Realistically, I think he might just be setting up the expectation that the protagonist continuing to protagonist forward with his dreams and drive etc will not actually guarantee him victory unlike how shonen usually handles it. That ties in with what we saw so far with Ohma getting rocked by the Fang and needing to put in legitimate effort to improve, I think.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A few matches had the person with lower motivations lose; Muteba the mercenary versus Meguro the cartoon psycho, Cosmo the twink versus Akoya the cop, Ohma the protagonist versus Raian the unbearable.
But that's not quite the same question, is it?
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
Given Kuroki's beard and general hirsute nature, it might actually be gay (bear) and gay (twink) combat.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Kuroki does possess the Devil Lance.
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
While I understand you might want to repress any hint of his existence as thoroughly as possible, Ohma did win against Raian to save Kazuo's son.
FourthWall
Love & Destroy
- Location
- Chiraq
That's what I call mine.
Rancorious
Continue? Yes or No.
Somewhere, somehow, Keisuke Itagaki burst a blood vessel and doesn't know why.
Rancorious
Continue? Yes or No.
I love Saw but I never even realized the intention behind that conflict. Sandro I kneel.
I imagine either the Demon's Souls theme or the Ash Lake music from Dark Souls.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
If you position yourself near the door when Kuroki is in the ring and keep looking up and down you can get his music to loop the start bit
Peanut-007
Hat or Hair? America decides.
- Location
- Maryland, United States of America
Wakatsuki I'd say. His reasons aren't heroic per se but I do think there's a lot of weight being given to his drive and focus. Focus that pretty directly translate into him winning his match against Julius.
Anyway what I think is most interesting with Rei is that he's actually fighting with a fairly severe handicap thanks to the no-kill rule. The entire basis of his style is rapidly killing with an alpha strike attack. He's able to compensate and his speed doesn't go away but it's less game changing then it would be if he willing to land lethal strikes. Rei's infighting becomes much more impressive in this light. He overcomes Saw Paing at his own specialty in a position that his martial arts aren't really focused on. That's a crazy level of talent. Even holding back I'd say he's a contender for his block at the moment.
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- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly, I'd consider "fighting to get Raian out of the story" a noble cause. It's a shame that Ohma didn't commit to it, though.
Hm...yeah, his victory against Nezu was basically just an ambush where he held back enough to avoid killing the twunk. And Saw Paing is a challenge to that kind of fighter, since guessing how hard you need to hit him to get through his thick skull without pulverizing his frontal lobe against the inside of said skull is pretty much impossible. He probably won't do too well in any fight that's ultimately decided on attrition.
Rancorious
Continue? Yes or No.
They say if you get beat badly enough by him while having a bunch of levels in STR, he'll offer to let you join his Covenant.