- Location
- boundless optimism
Wakatsuki has made the weight cut for Kengan and has spent the time offscreen bulking. He has a very good system. He has eaten two truckloads of protein and has gone cold turkey.
Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura
- Thread starter Manic Dogma
- Start date
- Discussion Manga
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Takemoto's fate is kind of funny because as it goes on, it becomes clear in retrospect that Kengan Ashura is a manga that actually does treat cumulative injuries over time and age and physical condition as genuine factors in a combat. So it would be really interesting to see how it depicts a 80-year old fighter, because by the manga's own internal logic you'd expect him to have a serious uphill battle against his own limitations; the fact that he's defeated here is actually an anti-twist, in that this is what you would expect from a manga that doesn't give old people a total freebie on physical conditioning. But instead he's defeated off-screen after only the most cursory hype build-up. Really feels like a waste of a character.
The set-up of 'mysteries' is also to the manga's strength. The fact that it actually bothers to do "but how did he do that???" and then doesn't answer that question in the same fight, so as to create tension going into later fights, is part of what makes this one of the best mangas around at combat narratives, for all that it is otherwise The Most Problematic Battle Manga Ever Drawn.
The set-up of 'mysteries' is also to the manga's strength. The fact that it actually bothers to do "but how did he do that???" and then doesn't answer that question in the same fight, so as to create tension going into later fights, is part of what makes this one of the best mangas around at combat narratives, for all that it is otherwise The Most Problematic Battle Manga Ever Drawn.
Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He's literally just Sasuke with more coherent motivations, I can't handle it
"I packed your angry eyes, just in case~"
I daresay it hit for bandage boy too. *rimshot followed by booing*
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Rei's head is Sasuke in the front, Naruto in the back.
Poor Bandage Joe. Your Aesthetic was so powerful, and you will be missed. At least until the next masked weirdo comes along.
But then you might need to devote page space to multiple shadowy factions, and who wants to deal with that
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- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
Fun fact, 'Agnostic Front' is a reference to the band by the same name, and the dude's designed after its vocalist. The writer even talked about how he liked the band.
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Chapter 37 - Sudden
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
So, last time the mysterious CEO's band of assassins made their move. One fighter is out of the running already, old Takemoto replaced by a thoroughly chinese assailant. Several more have been confronted by their aspiring replacements. And two defended their titles with aplomb. Imai Cosmo throttled his, Wakatsuki inverted the other's ribcage and mangled a bulkhead with a single right straight. Let's see how this develops.
We open on the aftermath of Inui Machizo's fight with the feral looking dude who approached him. The corridor is in ruins. Several doors shattered, one blasted off its hinges. Several small craters in the wall, blood dripping out of them. Pictures crooked. In the middle, tears drip as a man weeps into his hands.
"I'm so happy," he sobs, straddling the unconscious body of Machizo. Now he can break people all he likes.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
We cut from that…interesting fellow back to the park deck. Rei, forever killing any future potential "lol he's Sasuke" jokes I could make, firmly proves himself nothing like that deadbeat prat by planting himself on hand and knees and apologising to someone. Granted it's for taking 22 seconds to beat the absolute and ungodly piss out of their erstwhile assassin, but still. I don't think any Uchiha in history has ever apologised to a woman.
Kurayoshi insists it's okay, and asks he get up, while smiling with a gentle blush. It's honestly a very cute expression, and I enjoy the suggestion of reciprocated feelings, for all it doesn't last very long. She turns away from Rei a moment later, to the assassin's mangled form.
Peekaboo!
After how the manga treated her on her introduction I didn't think I'd say this, but I actually like this as a beat. Frequently in a manga like this, if a woman is a factor in the plot at all it'll be as some kind of seductress or tricksy planmaker to be handily overcome by the (male) protagonists skill and manly creativity. Kurayoshi Rino though, is confident in her ability to meet the challenges at hand directly, without playing silly buggers.
…Granted, that would mean more if she weren't leaning on the strength of a man to do it. Honestly, I'm just happy she isn't being called a slut.
Our secretive malefactor, in his office, notes that she's seen the camera. Or, at least, anticipated one would be there. His right hand man, the towering wall of meat, asks if she's to be eliminated, but the boss says no. There's no point. After that, setting aside his now-empty tumbler of whiskey, he laments the results of his little scheme. Only two slots claimed! It's tragic. And he paid the idiots handsomely for it, too. Ah, but it's no matter. The footage of the fights will be valuable on its own.
And those two victories mean his company has secured a total of five slots. Six, including their official one.
It's a strong position to be in, for an antagonist. Yes he lost a few slots in this scheme, but the loss of heat for him is made up for in the heat built for the people who kept their slots, who in turn look stronger for the fact that some of the assassins did in fact win. And then the story takes one last stroke to seal the deal, by revealing that this was only one plan of several. Even without those two slots won, this guy would still have more of the tournament on his payroll than Nogi does. It's a simple numbers game, but it has solid implications for where this guy stands relative to the rest of the cast and complicates an otherwise straightforward plot. Metsudo already stood as the Final Boss, as it were, and now there's another factor making a major play.
Moving on, we enter the Casino, where Kushida hands Yamashita a coffee. They both muse on how long "it" is taking. It, in this case, being Akiyama lecturing Rihito and Ohma. The latter looking mostly bored and frustrated, and the former in his undervest and boxers looking rather like the world's beefiest kicked puppy.
Alright, I'll admit it. Unwilling Ladies Man Ohma is fucking funny to me. It'd be much funnier if we didn't have all those extremely weird moments of Alpha bullshit or that one bit of taunting Akiyama with the idea of her having a crush on him in the first stretch of the manga, but here and now his mildly irritated and baffled disinterest honestly kind of lands for me as a joke. I think in large part because it is sort of at his expense, and his discomfort isn't a juvenile "waaaa women paying attention to me" thing. He just didn't really want to be here to begin with, and now people are hanging off him and he broadly understands the notion of sexual attraction in an academic sense but doesn't really get it. The intended angle is almost certainly more something along the lines of how ridiculous it is that this guy doesn't appreciate being showered in female affection and how unfair it is that he gets that attention anyway, but in execution it feels more gently teasing than that. Possibly because of how understated Ohma's reaction is? We'll see in a bit what happens when Ohma's actually uncomfortable, so maybe that's informing my reaction here.
On a similar note, Akiyama's now obvious crush on him is something that hits pretty well on this page in a vacuum, but feels weird in context with earlier moments. The dynamic of Ohma's oblivious disinterest with Akiyama's unwillingness to admit that's what's happening to herself has some potential as a comedy duo, even if I probably wouldn't trust this manga to pull that off even with women it hasn't already objectified as much as Akiyama.
Anyway, Akiyama successfully manages to justify her reaction to multiple women hanging off Ohma by pointing out they could be targeted by enemies at any moment and they should be more careful. It'd be a pretty smooth recovery if she weren't anxiously sweating and also kinda shouty. Kushida, more relaxed and sipping what I'm going to assume is a slush puppy because that's funnier to me, concludes with a mental sigh that these people are much too easy-going. Right before her train of thought is cut off. She's the first to notice Karla approaching. Remember her? She's the jorts lady the manga still thinks we believe is a dude, and Kushida does too. Though at least she recognises "him" as part of the Kure clan, before "he" breaks out into a sprint.
I wonder if she's gonna have to pay for that.
Fortunately, though the boys were distracted, their reflexes are as good as ever and Ohma even remembers to scoop up Akiyama. Only now, with the sound of shattered flooring, does Yamashita notice what's happening, and the entire group stares down Karla as she stands in the crater she made.
Rihito immediately decides she's one of the assassins, a fair assumption, and goes from 0-100mph on the spot, uncorking the Razor's Edge without a second though. Karla isn't having any of it though, easily jumping over the strike and coming down feet-first on Rihito's face, using him as a jumping pad to launch herself at Ohma. The two clash in a flurry of blows and parries as the rest note the beeline "he" took, deciding Ohma was "his" target the whole time. Meanwhile, Ohma isn't super impressed with the fight, throwing out a kick with a dismissive grunt.
Karla then proceeds to use his leg as a springboard, grab him by the skull and try to cave his face in with her knee. Ohma manages to stop the blow, but only by a flat block with his forearm, which has a visible welt left in it afterwards. He steps back from the exchange, wondering what's up with this guy, but this is something else Karla's having nothing of. She flips him the bird, using her middle finger to make a Come On gesture, which predictably gets right into Ohma's head. The man can't turn down a challenge, and as invited he comes to her, complimenting her on her nerve, arm cocked for a charging straight. But it whiffs. She ducks under the blow, pressing right into his chest, balling up his shirt in her hands, leveraging her body weight to yank him off his feet. One failure cascades into the next, Ohma plants his legs and Karla's pull falls short of toppling him. You're just too light, he says, pulling back his fist to punch her right in the face as her right foot hurtles for his head.
Then both stop dead.
Ohma's fist an inch from her nose. Karla's boot an inch from his temple.
Ohma claims he'd have killed her if he hadn't noticed, the manga trying to frame what was clearly a draw as a firm loss for Karla, then tugs away her hood. Revealing the obvious girl to be…A GIRL?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lXdyD2Yzls
Now, with that "revealed" and the fact she's obviously not here to replace him…seriously though, the manga doesn't even raise the possibility she's here to replace him, it's like it doesn't even occur to it that a woman can fight. She just pulverised the flooring, absolutely flexed on Rihito and matched Ohma blow for blow, why are the rampant assassins suddenly a non-factor? The Kengan Matches don't even have weight classes, for fuck's sake, this is not that weird an idea.
Anyway, Ohma asks what the hell she's here for. And, well…
His fucking face.
At no point in this whole manga has Ohma been taken so fucking completely off guard. He is totally bewildered, absolutely baffled, comprehensively bamboozled.
I fucking hate this, but it also fucking kills me with laughter. It's the only woman in the whole manga even implied to be worth anything in a fight, relegated to the comedy breeder. It's yet more sexual harassment being directed at this poor bastard. And the fucking impact it has on Ohma just absolutely slays me anyway. I can't excuse myself at all on this, I can't reconcile it, it's gross and hilarious in equal measure. I'm rolling my eyes in disgust and laughing myself stupid in the same instant.
Funny isn't it, the difference in tone between this and Kiryu's shit? This makes Ohma more blatantly uncomfortable, but the framing and delivery changes the tone completely. The Kiryu harassment is intended to be uncomfortable for the audience, aligning his design and sexuality with the violence he expresses and how far he pushes it. It's paced more broadly across the chapter, with a big burst at the start leading into a consistent predatory tone across the encounter. This is more at Ohma's expense, but not only is it framed more loosely it's paced as a joke. The tension, however weak, built up across the fight scene is released in a massive non-sequitur at the end. So I suppose in that way, it's a combination of a well paced gag and the perfect artistic execution of the punchline reaction frame that produces my immediate surface reaction of laughter.
Get this fucking Red Sonja shit out of my face, and please stop having people come on so strong to Ohma. But I wouldn't mind seeing Ohma get poleaxed like this a couple times more, I guess? Just maybe not because of people saying sexual shit into his face. Yeah, that'd be nice.
Also, that was totally a draw, Mangaka. You can try to frame it as Ohma's clean win all you like, you still drew her foot about to crack his head like a fucking egg. Even if he would have broken her face in return. End chapter.
See you all next time.
We open on the aftermath of Inui Machizo's fight with the feral looking dude who approached him. The corridor is in ruins. Several doors shattered, one blasted off its hinges. Several small craters in the wall, blood dripping out of them. Pictures crooked. In the middle, tears drip as a man weeps into his hands.
"I'm so happy," he sobs, straddling the unconscious body of Machizo. Now he can break people all he likes.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
We cut from that…interesting fellow back to the park deck. Rei, forever killing any future potential "lol he's Sasuke" jokes I could make, firmly proves himself nothing like that deadbeat prat by planting himself on hand and knees and apologising to someone. Granted it's for taking 22 seconds to beat the absolute and ungodly piss out of their erstwhile assassin, but still. I don't think any Uchiha in history has ever apologised to a woman.
Kurayoshi insists it's okay, and asks he get up, while smiling with a gentle blush. It's honestly a very cute expression, and I enjoy the suggestion of reciprocated feelings, for all it doesn't last very long. She turns away from Rei a moment later, to the assassin's mangled form.
Peekaboo!
After how the manga treated her on her introduction I didn't think I'd say this, but I actually like this as a beat. Frequently in a manga like this, if a woman is a factor in the plot at all it'll be as some kind of seductress or tricksy planmaker to be handily overcome by the (male) protagonists skill and manly creativity. Kurayoshi Rino though, is confident in her ability to meet the challenges at hand directly, without playing silly buggers.
…Granted, that would mean more if she weren't leaning on the strength of a man to do it. Honestly, I'm just happy she isn't being called a slut.
Our secretive malefactor, in his office, notes that she's seen the camera. Or, at least, anticipated one would be there. His right hand man, the towering wall of meat, asks if she's to be eliminated, but the boss says no. There's no point. After that, setting aside his now-empty tumbler of whiskey, he laments the results of his little scheme. Only two slots claimed! It's tragic. And he paid the idiots handsomely for it, too. Ah, but it's no matter. The footage of the fights will be valuable on its own.
And those two victories mean his company has secured a total of five slots. Six, including their official one.
It's a strong position to be in, for an antagonist. Yes he lost a few slots in this scheme, but the loss of heat for him is made up for in the heat built for the people who kept their slots, who in turn look stronger for the fact that some of the assassins did in fact win. And then the story takes one last stroke to seal the deal, by revealing that this was only one plan of several. Even without those two slots won, this guy would still have more of the tournament on his payroll than Nogi does. It's a simple numbers game, but it has solid implications for where this guy stands relative to the rest of the cast and complicates an otherwise straightforward plot. Metsudo already stood as the Final Boss, as it were, and now there's another factor making a major play.
Moving on, we enter the Casino, where Kushida hands Yamashita a coffee. They both muse on how long "it" is taking. It, in this case, being Akiyama lecturing Rihito and Ohma. The latter looking mostly bored and frustrated, and the former in his undervest and boxers looking rather like the world's beefiest kicked puppy.
Alright, I'll admit it. Unwilling Ladies Man Ohma is fucking funny to me. It'd be much funnier if we didn't have all those extremely weird moments of Alpha bullshit or that one bit of taunting Akiyama with the idea of her having a crush on him in the first stretch of the manga, but here and now his mildly irritated and baffled disinterest honestly kind of lands for me as a joke. I think in large part because it is sort of at his expense, and his discomfort isn't a juvenile "waaaa women paying attention to me" thing. He just didn't really want to be here to begin with, and now people are hanging off him and he broadly understands the notion of sexual attraction in an academic sense but doesn't really get it. The intended angle is almost certainly more something along the lines of how ridiculous it is that this guy doesn't appreciate being showered in female affection and how unfair it is that he gets that attention anyway, but in execution it feels more gently teasing than that. Possibly because of how understated Ohma's reaction is? We'll see in a bit what happens when Ohma's actually uncomfortable, so maybe that's informing my reaction here.
On a similar note, Akiyama's now obvious crush on him is something that hits pretty well on this page in a vacuum, but feels weird in context with earlier moments. The dynamic of Ohma's oblivious disinterest with Akiyama's unwillingness to admit that's what's happening to herself has some potential as a comedy duo, even if I probably wouldn't trust this manga to pull that off even with women it hasn't already objectified as much as Akiyama.
Anyway, Akiyama successfully manages to justify her reaction to multiple women hanging off Ohma by pointing out they could be targeted by enemies at any moment and they should be more careful. It'd be a pretty smooth recovery if she weren't anxiously sweating and also kinda shouty. Kushida, more relaxed and sipping what I'm going to assume is a slush puppy because that's funnier to me, concludes with a mental sigh that these people are much too easy-going. Right before her train of thought is cut off. She's the first to notice Karla approaching. Remember her? She's the jorts lady the manga still thinks we believe is a dude, and Kushida does too. Though at least she recognises "him" as part of the Kure clan, before "he" breaks out into a sprint.
I wonder if she's gonna have to pay for that.
Fortunately, though the boys were distracted, their reflexes are as good as ever and Ohma even remembers to scoop up Akiyama. Only now, with the sound of shattered flooring, does Yamashita notice what's happening, and the entire group stares down Karla as she stands in the crater she made.
Rihito immediately decides she's one of the assassins, a fair assumption, and goes from 0-100mph on the spot, uncorking the Razor's Edge without a second though. Karla isn't having any of it though, easily jumping over the strike and coming down feet-first on Rihito's face, using him as a jumping pad to launch herself at Ohma. The two clash in a flurry of blows and parries as the rest note the beeline "he" took, deciding Ohma was "his" target the whole time. Meanwhile, Ohma isn't super impressed with the fight, throwing out a kick with a dismissive grunt.
Karla then proceeds to use his leg as a springboard, grab him by the skull and try to cave his face in with her knee. Ohma manages to stop the blow, but only by a flat block with his forearm, which has a visible welt left in it afterwards. He steps back from the exchange, wondering what's up with this guy, but this is something else Karla's having nothing of. She flips him the bird, using her middle finger to make a Come On gesture, which predictably gets right into Ohma's head. The man can't turn down a challenge, and as invited he comes to her, complimenting her on her nerve, arm cocked for a charging straight. But it whiffs. She ducks under the blow, pressing right into his chest, balling up his shirt in her hands, leveraging her body weight to yank him off his feet. One failure cascades into the next, Ohma plants his legs and Karla's pull falls short of toppling him. You're just too light, he says, pulling back his fist to punch her right in the face as her right foot hurtles for his head.
Then both stop dead.
Ohma's fist an inch from her nose. Karla's boot an inch from his temple.
Ohma claims he'd have killed her if he hadn't noticed, the manga trying to frame what was clearly a draw as a firm loss for Karla, then tugs away her hood. Revealing the obvious girl to be…A GIRL?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lXdyD2Yzls
Now, with that "revealed" and the fact she's obviously not here to replace him…seriously though, the manga doesn't even raise the possibility she's here to replace him, it's like it doesn't even occur to it that a woman can fight. She just pulverised the flooring, absolutely flexed on Rihito and matched Ohma blow for blow, why are the rampant assassins suddenly a non-factor? The Kengan Matches don't even have weight classes, for fuck's sake, this is not that weird an idea.
Anyway, Ohma asks what the hell she's here for. And, well…
His fucking face.
At no point in this whole manga has Ohma been taken so fucking completely off guard. He is totally bewildered, absolutely baffled, comprehensively bamboozled.
I fucking hate this, but it also fucking kills me with laughter. It's the only woman in the whole manga even implied to be worth anything in a fight, relegated to the comedy breeder. It's yet more sexual harassment being directed at this poor bastard. And the fucking impact it has on Ohma just absolutely slays me anyway. I can't excuse myself at all on this, I can't reconcile it, it's gross and hilarious in equal measure. I'm rolling my eyes in disgust and laughing myself stupid in the same instant.
Funny isn't it, the difference in tone between this and Kiryu's shit? This makes Ohma more blatantly uncomfortable, but the framing and delivery changes the tone completely. The Kiryu harassment is intended to be uncomfortable for the audience, aligning his design and sexuality with the violence he expresses and how far he pushes it. It's paced more broadly across the chapter, with a big burst at the start leading into a consistent predatory tone across the encounter. This is more at Ohma's expense, but not only is it framed more loosely it's paced as a joke. The tension, however weak, built up across the fight scene is released in a massive non-sequitur at the end. So I suppose in that way, it's a combination of a well paced gag and the perfect artistic execution of the punchline reaction frame that produces my immediate surface reaction of laughter.
Get this fucking Red Sonja shit out of my face, and please stop having people come on so strong to Ohma. But I wouldn't mind seeing Ohma get poleaxed like this a couple times more, I guess? Just maybe not because of people saying sexual shit into his face. Yeah, that'd be nice.
Also, that was totally a draw, Mangaka. You can try to frame it as Ohma's clean win all you like, you still drew her foot about to crack his head like a fucking egg. Even if he would have broken her face in return. End chapter.
See you all next time.
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Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
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NonSequtur
a body
karla is undeniably an exemplar of this manga's hyper-masculine idealization of violence in all of its turning women into accessories for men, and her cheerful forwardness about sexuality doesn't scan like mature self-possession but another sort of infantilization
but she's also a black-eyed assassin with actual visible muscle in the mandatory fanservice scenes who at least gets some heat, even if it never pays off
so i'm conflicted
until i remember she's 16-
but she's also a black-eyed assassin with actual visible muscle in the mandatory fanservice scenes who at least gets some heat, even if it never pays off
so i'm conflicted
until i remember she's 16-
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
Don't worry.
This is like the third worst example of writing women in the manga. We're not at the nadir yet.
That said, as time goes on I'm more and more certain the writers were- and still somewhat are even in Kengan Omega -legitimately unaware of the issues. Like, this part:
I think the manga legitimately feels this is a strong female character, and the 'slut' stuff before was essentially the equivalent of normal trash talk. She just gets too much given to her for me to think (most of) the misogyny is intentional. Same with Karla, I think the idea she'd be a fighter for the tournament legitimately never came up in the writer's heads. I think they gave her as much heat as they felt would be fair and made a funny haha joke. This comes up in her infosheet, iirc, and I dunno if I should talk about that before it comes up, but that's my thoughts.
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
I have no earthly clue what chapter Karla's profile is in, so it's probably far enough away for me to agree and note the specific phrasing they used there without repeating myself too closely when it comes up. That being that if the Annihilation Tournament had a women's division, she'd dominate it. Which is just hilariously thoughtless in a context where weight classes are already out of the window.
There is absolutely no way you can convince me that Karla would be at any more of a physical disadvantage than Cosmo, Sawada or Inaba in the Kengan Matches. Especially given the bullshit people get up to in this manga, and what we later learn about the Kure specifically. The only reason to phrase it like that is an axiomatic, entirely unexamined belief that women can just never compete with men no matter the context.
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- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
Karla has, unironically, been having more heat built around her abilities from her first shadow in a doorframe, to her regular presence as a shadow in several chapters all the way through to now than like... a lot of the top-class fighters in the tournament. The only people who have really beaten it are Cosmo, The Fang, Yandere-Sama, and our dear Tiger. like, this has been going on for several chapters.
and, uh, yeah. nothing more comes of it. this is the peak of physical female ability in Kenganverse. fucking joy.
Also as a side note but everytime we see the Inside I swear we never seen any women in there, which I feel is sort of related (but also probably best discussed much later in this readthrough for the sake of anyone reading along).
and, uh, yeah. nothing more comes of it. this is the peak of physical female ability in Kenganverse. fucking joy.
Also as a side note but everytime we see the Inside I swear we never seen any women in there, which I feel is sort of related (but also probably best discussed much later in this readthrough for the sake of anyone reading along).
Guile
Having a really great time right now
Cosmo's magically-appearing shoulder muscles versus Karla's magical assassin eyes sounds like a fun matchup
Chapter 38 - Clan
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
Far, far away from Tokyo, in a small backwoods city of japan, three young men march through the night shrouded streets, the man at their head clacking two wooden blocks together. A promise of safety to those around him.
As they march, they're casually greeted by two women and thanked for their service watching the streets. One of them even calls them out by the Kure name? I knew the Kure's existence wasn't a secret, but why are they this damn public. Anyway, one of the men thanks the women for their goodwill and wishes them a safe journey home, as the man with the blocks laments how long it's taking. They're not gonna be back in time to watch the night game, of…sport. His other friend is more relaxed about it, they're the ones on duty, this is just how things are.
Another passerby calls out to the world's most public killers for hire. He's a very young, fresh-faced man with bright eyes and a perky smile. He thanks the assassins for their diligence in keeping the streets safe, and expresses just how grateful the police force is for the assistance they're provided every day.
Not even a pause for breath.
The redhead wearily notes that now they gotta clean up, and phones the clan for help, as blondie apologetically unscrews his silencer.
It's a little forced, making the policeman in question a guy who sells drugs to kids. Very basic "what's the worst normal-ish crime I can come up with" stuff. It probably would have sold the Kure as an assassin clan much harder if this guy had been broadly on the up and up (insofar as cops ever are), and this was a hasty, opportunistic shot at someone who had been getting much too close to figuring out the clan's secret assassin tradition or whatnot. Either way, the sheer suddenness of the act, the bored expression on his face, and the purely practical objections the other two Kure make after do a really good job of selling just what they are. They're assassins, blood and death are their main exports, this sort of carnage is tuesday to them.
And to help sell that notion, we cut to a bit after the cleanup to a snack bar, where blondie declares the drinks are on him, as an apology for the trouble. His friends cheer, and make the most of his largesse. Then discussion turns to the plot.
They wonder how it's going, the Tournament. Being clearly low-level mooks of the clan, they probably aren't being told anything, but at least one of them is confident. "Grandfather," the clan's leader is there with them, and blondie notes that the four accompanying the leader really don't need worrying about. They do seem to feel concern for Karla, though. She's still a student, after all, main family or not. Then a shadowy figure in a full dress kimono looms behind them, declaring that they're worrying over nothing.
Even by the standards of the Kure Clan, Karla is a monster.
Sure would be a crying shame if this was the most heat Karla ever got, wouldn't it? Can't wait for her to ever actually get to fight, it'll be so cool, you guys.
Anyway, we immediately cut back to the comedy dimension where Karla is informing Ohma that she wants his babies.
But that's not all! Apparently taking Ohma's dumbstruck silence as confusion over her reasoning, she's happy to explain. Her grandfather told her the duty of the main family is to make strong children, and she clocked Ohma as strong the first time she saw him. And now, only after insisting on being impregnated, she introduces herself. And further insists he become her husband.
Dead silence. For long moments. Across the room, the peanut gallery squints in disbelief. Kushida asks that somebody explain what the hell's going on. It's probably rhetorical, but Rihito answers anyway. It's a proposal…he thinks? Why did she suddenly propose to him, Akiyama asks, and Yamashita echoes the sentiment. He then asks if Karla could possibly explain what she's even on about, but she ignores him completely.
Then the manga takes a moment to clarify that, as confused as Yamashita and the others are, all their bafflement combined and refined doesn't come close to matching the sheer, utter bewilderment that Ohma is experiencing. He fucking stares at Karla, mouth hanging slightly open, rendered gormless by sheer incomprehension, the words she's said spinning through his head like catherine wheels of fractal chaos. Babies? Husband? Him?? With her??? What's she talking about?!?! Karla keeps going, reiterating the same points. Let's make babies, they'll be the strongest warriors the world has ever seen, let's get married! Right now!!!
Then Ohma grabs her under the arms. Hoists her up like a puppy…
And fucking legs it.
My internal conflicts from last chapter continue, because these three panels absolutely fucking murder me. I am in complete hysterics. The extremely measured, deliberate way he puts her down, with her staring back. His fucking face as she asks if something's wrong. His absolute, uncompromisingly serious expression as he about-turns and sprints for the fucking hills. With full, unironic action motion blur and speed lines. It kills me. It kills me stone dead. I am no longer among the living. I am an Ex-person. My ghost is typing this Let's Read now after I laughed myself into the grave.
I went over the problems with all this at the end of chapter 37, you all know the score. And yet, on a purely emotional level, I might be willing to forgive it if the story weren't otherwise already so completely sexist and homophobic.
Anyway, let's all take a moment to appreciate this excellent Kushida expression.
Karla, indignant, shouts at him to wait, but she doesn't get a chance to make chase. Two of the other Kure are here, to tell her she shouldn't be wandering about on her own. Referencing the guys blondie earlier was thinking about, these are Kure Hollis (the slightly shorter one with the shaggy black hair) and Kure Reiichi (the fucking Tank with the short blond hair), who asks what would happen if she got lost. Karla's openly irritable with them, particularly as Reiichi continues to fuss over her, but it's nothing to the squint that Hollis directs at the Peanut gallery. Rihito, for all his stupidity, is well used to expressions of aggression, and he judges that this isn't that. It's more like a predator eyeing up potential prey.
Then Hollis apologises to Akiyama for the trouble. Never let it be said that the Kure are rude unrepentant murderers.
As that's going on, it only now occurs to Karla that she never even asked Ohma's name.
God fucking damn it, now even Rihito's making me laugh. Look at that fucking deadass serious Jotaro Joestar looking face.
Anyway, Karla pauses her chaperones as they are guiding her away, asking the peanut gallery to give Ohma a message for her. That "I'll see you again." Rihito dryly notes that he kinda doubts Ohma is going to want to see her again, and Kushida agrees. This was all probably kind of traumatic for him. You know, I cannot for the life of me tell if they're actually sympathetic or not.
Then Akiyama remembers that they had a boss in here at some point. They should probably find him. And we get a single panel of Yamashita in a random part of the ship where he has, indeed, gotten completely lost chasing Ohma. I'm not sure why he even tried, Ohma is a chiseled pillar of athleticism and Yamashita is a middle aged man with legs like pipe cleaners, but here we are.
We cut to the actual next scene, where Hollis and Reiichi successfully reach the rest of their little cadre, to whom we are properly introduced. The scraggly punk looking dude is Raian, the giant of a man with the moustache is Horio, and the Patriarch of the clan, smiling indulgently at Karla, is Erioh.
Erioh, chortling merrily, asks Karla if she enjoyed her little adventure. She, addressing him as grandpa, begins to hesitantly respond. With ellipsis after ellipsis, surrounded briefly by a miasma of killing intent before it dissolves into shoujo sparkles, Karla informs her grandpa that she has a crush. She might as well have struck him with a poleaxe.
Erioh's face remains in the same bug-eyed expression of shock for three full panels (and that sort of expression is pretty expressive on people with black sclera) before he manages to gather himself and pats her on the head. He's happy to hear it, but they ought to discuss it later. For now, she should go get some food. He sends her off with Reiichi, as Raian cackles about the baby of the group finally discovering boys. Then Erioh orders Hollis to explain, and the shaggy bloke rattles off Ohma's identity. Erioh actually recognises him. Did you remember they were at the Rihito Kengan Match? Well, he certainly does.
And he goes fucking ballistic.
With veins standing out in his facer, and his skin turning an angry shade of red, he screams his fury at Ohma. Ranting about…how Karla is only in high school…and accusing Ohma of seducing her…There's a lot wrong here. Not least the panel of her nude dropped on us earlier in the chapter, and how often she'll get undressed in the chapters to come. Not that this manga was at all classy before, or that manga as a medium is shy about sexualising minors, but god fucking damn it. Raian finds it all very funny, but Hollis and Horio both look on with concern as their Patriarch orders a close eye be kept on Ohma, and should he come near Karla again he is to be annihilated with all prejudice.
Then, still snickering, Raian warns his grandfather.
Demons sleep within the Kure.
And sometimes they are awakened by an overwhelming, objectifying sense of entitlement to the attention of female relatives. End chapter.
Well, that was an emotional rollercoaster. The clear intent of this chapter is to deliver the lowdown on the Kure clan's deal, and it does do that, to an extent. The understated murderousness of the clan is very well communicated, they exist in a world slightly off kilter from normal fighters where death just isn't a big deal and dirty work is the norm. And while I have many objections to the trigger for Erioh's hissy fit, paternal figures getting psychotically angry over the notion of their female relatives dating other men has never been anything but skeevy and controlling, the panels of the crater he made by accident and his cracked face are really evocative images.
And if nothing else, this chapter has proven the artist has strong comedic art chops. Even if I was laughing against my will.
See you all next time.
As they march, they're casually greeted by two women and thanked for their service watching the streets. One of them even calls them out by the Kure name? I knew the Kure's existence wasn't a secret, but why are they this damn public. Anyway, one of the men thanks the women for their goodwill and wishes them a safe journey home, as the man with the blocks laments how long it's taking. They're not gonna be back in time to watch the night game, of…sport. His other friend is more relaxed about it, they're the ones on duty, this is just how things are.
Another passerby calls out to the world's most public killers for hire. He's a very young, fresh-faced man with bright eyes and a perky smile. He thanks the assassins for their diligence in keeping the streets safe, and expresses just how grateful the police force is for the assistance they're provided every day.
Not even a pause for breath.
The redhead wearily notes that now they gotta clean up, and phones the clan for help, as blondie apologetically unscrews his silencer.
It's a little forced, making the policeman in question a guy who sells drugs to kids. Very basic "what's the worst normal-ish crime I can come up with" stuff. It probably would have sold the Kure as an assassin clan much harder if this guy had been broadly on the up and up (insofar as cops ever are), and this was a hasty, opportunistic shot at someone who had been getting much too close to figuring out the clan's secret assassin tradition or whatnot. Either way, the sheer suddenness of the act, the bored expression on his face, and the purely practical objections the other two Kure make after do a really good job of selling just what they are. They're assassins, blood and death are their main exports, this sort of carnage is tuesday to them.
And to help sell that notion, we cut to a bit after the cleanup to a snack bar, where blondie declares the drinks are on him, as an apology for the trouble. His friends cheer, and make the most of his largesse. Then discussion turns to the plot.
They wonder how it's going, the Tournament. Being clearly low-level mooks of the clan, they probably aren't being told anything, but at least one of them is confident. "Grandfather," the clan's leader is there with them, and blondie notes that the four accompanying the leader really don't need worrying about. They do seem to feel concern for Karla, though. She's still a student, after all, main family or not. Then a shadowy figure in a full dress kimono looms behind them, declaring that they're worrying over nothing.
Even by the standards of the Kure Clan, Karla is a monster.
Sure would be a crying shame if this was the most heat Karla ever got, wouldn't it? Can't wait for her to ever actually get to fight, it'll be so cool, you guys.
Anyway, we immediately cut back to the comedy dimension where Karla is informing Ohma that she wants his babies.
But that's not all! Apparently taking Ohma's dumbstruck silence as confusion over her reasoning, she's happy to explain. Her grandfather told her the duty of the main family is to make strong children, and she clocked Ohma as strong the first time she saw him. And now, only after insisting on being impregnated, she introduces herself. And further insists he become her husband.
Dead silence. For long moments. Across the room, the peanut gallery squints in disbelief. Kushida asks that somebody explain what the hell's going on. It's probably rhetorical, but Rihito answers anyway. It's a proposal…he thinks? Why did she suddenly propose to him, Akiyama asks, and Yamashita echoes the sentiment. He then asks if Karla could possibly explain what she's even on about, but she ignores him completely.
Then the manga takes a moment to clarify that, as confused as Yamashita and the others are, all their bafflement combined and refined doesn't come close to matching the sheer, utter bewilderment that Ohma is experiencing. He fucking stares at Karla, mouth hanging slightly open, rendered gormless by sheer incomprehension, the words she's said spinning through his head like catherine wheels of fractal chaos. Babies? Husband? Him?? With her??? What's she talking about?!?! Karla keeps going, reiterating the same points. Let's make babies, they'll be the strongest warriors the world has ever seen, let's get married! Right now!!!
Then Ohma grabs her under the arms. Hoists her up like a puppy…
And fucking legs it.
My internal conflicts from last chapter continue, because these three panels absolutely fucking murder me. I am in complete hysterics. The extremely measured, deliberate way he puts her down, with her staring back. His fucking face as she asks if something's wrong. His absolute, uncompromisingly serious expression as he about-turns and sprints for the fucking hills. With full, unironic action motion blur and speed lines. It kills me. It kills me stone dead. I am no longer among the living. I am an Ex-person. My ghost is typing this Let's Read now after I laughed myself into the grave.
I went over the problems with all this at the end of chapter 37, you all know the score. And yet, on a purely emotional level, I might be willing to forgive it if the story weren't otherwise already so completely sexist and homophobic.
Anyway, let's all take a moment to appreciate this excellent Kushida expression.
Karla, indignant, shouts at him to wait, but she doesn't get a chance to make chase. Two of the other Kure are here, to tell her she shouldn't be wandering about on her own. Referencing the guys blondie earlier was thinking about, these are Kure Hollis (the slightly shorter one with the shaggy black hair) and Kure Reiichi (the fucking Tank with the short blond hair), who asks what would happen if she got lost. Karla's openly irritable with them, particularly as Reiichi continues to fuss over her, but it's nothing to the squint that Hollis directs at the Peanut gallery. Rihito, for all his stupidity, is well used to expressions of aggression, and he judges that this isn't that. It's more like a predator eyeing up potential prey.
Then Hollis apologises to Akiyama for the trouble. Never let it be said that the Kure are rude unrepentant murderers.
As that's going on, it only now occurs to Karla that she never even asked Ohma's name.
God fucking damn it, now even Rihito's making me laugh. Look at that fucking deadass serious Jotaro Joestar looking face.
Anyway, Karla pauses her chaperones as they are guiding her away, asking the peanut gallery to give Ohma a message for her. That "I'll see you again." Rihito dryly notes that he kinda doubts Ohma is going to want to see her again, and Kushida agrees. This was all probably kind of traumatic for him. You know, I cannot for the life of me tell if they're actually sympathetic or not.
Then Akiyama remembers that they had a boss in here at some point. They should probably find him. And we get a single panel of Yamashita in a random part of the ship where he has, indeed, gotten completely lost chasing Ohma. I'm not sure why he even tried, Ohma is a chiseled pillar of athleticism and Yamashita is a middle aged man with legs like pipe cleaners, but here we are.
We cut to the actual next scene, where Hollis and Reiichi successfully reach the rest of their little cadre, to whom we are properly introduced. The scraggly punk looking dude is Raian, the giant of a man with the moustache is Horio, and the Patriarch of the clan, smiling indulgently at Karla, is Erioh.
Erioh, chortling merrily, asks Karla if she enjoyed her little adventure. She, addressing him as grandpa, begins to hesitantly respond. With ellipsis after ellipsis, surrounded briefly by a miasma of killing intent before it dissolves into shoujo sparkles, Karla informs her grandpa that she has a crush. She might as well have struck him with a poleaxe.
Erioh's face remains in the same bug-eyed expression of shock for three full panels (and that sort of expression is pretty expressive on people with black sclera) before he manages to gather himself and pats her on the head. He's happy to hear it, but they ought to discuss it later. For now, she should go get some food. He sends her off with Reiichi, as Raian cackles about the baby of the group finally discovering boys. Then Erioh orders Hollis to explain, and the shaggy bloke rattles off Ohma's identity. Erioh actually recognises him. Did you remember they were at the Rihito Kengan Match? Well, he certainly does.
And he goes fucking ballistic.
With veins standing out in his facer, and his skin turning an angry shade of red, he screams his fury at Ohma. Ranting about…how Karla is only in high school…and accusing Ohma of seducing her…There's a lot wrong here. Not least the panel of her nude dropped on us earlier in the chapter, and how often she'll get undressed in the chapters to come. Not that this manga was at all classy before, or that manga as a medium is shy about sexualising minors, but god fucking damn it. Raian finds it all very funny, but Hollis and Horio both look on with concern as their Patriarch orders a close eye be kept on Ohma, and should he come near Karla again he is to be annihilated with all prejudice.
Then, still snickering, Raian warns his grandfather.
Demons sleep within the Kure.
And sometimes they are awakened by an overwhelming, objectifying sense of entitlement to the attention of female relatives. End chapter.
Well, that was an emotional rollercoaster. The clear intent of this chapter is to deliver the lowdown on the Kure clan's deal, and it does do that, to an extent. The understated murderousness of the clan is very well communicated, they exist in a world slightly off kilter from normal fighters where death just isn't a big deal and dirty work is the norm. And while I have many objections to the trigger for Erioh's hissy fit, paternal figures getting psychotically angry over the notion of their female relatives dating other men has never been anything but skeevy and controlling, the panels of the crater he made by accident and his cracked face are really evocative images.
And if nothing else, this chapter has proven the artist has strong comedic art chops. Even if I was laughing against my will.
See you all next time.
NonSequtur
a body
Sadly this is also the coolest the entire Kure Clan ever is.
Gears
I now make shiity tanks for C&C Generals.
Worst thing is ohma's joke reaction would probably have been funnier if Karla had just asked ohma out on a date or proposed anything more sensible for a teenager crushing on some movie star / older person instead of what they actually went with.
Last edited:
Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The appropriate reaction to this magical-realm nonsense.
Last edited:
Guile
Having a really great time right now
I can't get over how she was introduced in an action panel of the guys ducking aside so she looked the same size as Ohma at least, and then she was doing her proposal where she was wrapped around him.
And then he sets her down and we all realize she's like a foot and a half shorter, and that's a teenager and a grown-ass man.
And then he sets her down and we all realize she's like a foot and a half shorter, and that's a teenager and a grown-ass man.
That is goddamn funny enough that I am completely ignoring Grandpa being extremely gross.
no.
Pink Flamingo Cabal Grand Vizier
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Ah, the Kure Clan. One of the best things in this manga and also one of the worst. There are a lot of really awesome concepts explored with these guys, but the more the story goes on the more they become this strange blight on the worldbuilding. They only get less believable with each arc.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
I love the utter focus on his face as he's running away. This isn't panic, this isn't gut instinct. This is Ohma having calculated what he should be doing in this situation and coming to a conclusion of "become the fastest thing on this goddam boat". It's so good.