Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
This update brought to you slightly late by our sponsor, the overwhelmingly distracting power of Elden Ring's stealth sequel that released last thursday.
Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura
- Thread starter Manic Dogma
- Start date
- Discussion Manga
- Location
- Spain
There is probably an entire second infirmary reserved for the CEO's, currently empty.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Hatsumi's fight is up next!
sweats
Oh boy... Hatsumi's fight is up next...
I have so much to say regarding Hatsumi yet I can't say any of it yet lol
sweats
Oh boy... Hatsumi's fight is up next...
I have so much to say regarding Hatsumi yet I can't say any of it yet lol
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I shoulda bet money on that being the reason
And nobody told Rihito, of course
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Five hundred yen says they expected more of the fighters to die before getting to the infirmary. It's cheaper that way.
More of a Kaiji mindset, I think. Katahara Metsudo has been unconcerned about cost thus far as he uses two whole ass cruise ships to ferry people to his private resort island, this has p consistently been excesses of the uber-rich so far. I choose to bet on thoughtless negligence rather than corner-cutting in this situation.
Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
(~flashback~)
cinematic pottery
Actually I want to linger on this for a few minutes, because this brings full circle something really smart Kengan Asura has done that I wanted to talk about back when it happened, but life events intervened and by the time I had my coherency together we were well past it.
Let's rewind the clock to the meeting of these two so I can talk about one of the anime tropes I find most grating: the Ur So Weak speech.
The Ur So Weak speech is a fightan anime staple. If an anime is about martial arts, beam struggles, mechanized warfare, whatever - if there's combat, the Ur So Weak speech will be deployed at some point in the proceedings. And 999 times out of 1000, I will hate it.
See, the Ur So Weak speech is very simple - a new opponent arrives on the scene and proceeds to toss our protagonist around like an old dishcloth until the action halts and our new enemy gives the hero the classic put-down "you're so weak." It's an easy way to raise the stakes in any fightan or combat based story, a new roadblock that not only stuns the audience by trashing their protag-kun, but inflames their anger by trash-talking them. The problem with the Ur So Weak speech is that while it's very simple, oftentimes it's also very lazy. It's rote. It is, to steal a phrase, a wrestling heel trash-talking the local sports team. It's the shallowest of digs to get under the hero's skin before he rises up and clobbers his naysayer.
Moreover, there's a common hitch I find with the Ur So Weak speech. Namely, few manga or anime writers actually want to portray their hero as fatally flawed - protag-kun is typically well-meaning, enthusiastic about training, hyperfixated on his combat skills. Because of that, the opponent who deploys the Ur So Weak speech often has to tailor it to get around the fact that our hero isn't actually very weak. Meaning the Ur So Weak speech often boils down to things like 1. you don't have my speshul bloodline that enhances my power, 2. you don't know this One Weird Trick that I use to cut enemies down, or often 3. there was a whole new weight class beyond what you knew about that you never had a chance to engage with until now.
(This is actually one reason I found the end of Pokemon season 1 compelling back in the day, because Ash was a lazy and arrogant kid who assumed his special The Power of Friendship would carry him to an easy victory, even in the face of Misty yelling at him to work hard, and got his bell rung as a result. Anyway)
This makes the Ur So Weak speech the equivalent of martial arts rules-lawyering. It ceases to be compelling and becomes a basic-bitch villain moment where "I will now smug at you to eat five minutes of screentime before you have your inevitable Rocky moment."
But Kengan Asura has proved it can be that one in a thousand. Because here, with Rihito and Kuroki, it works. So, why is it compelling here?
Kuroki muses on the blow that just struck him. The boy fights with a slashing attack, hm? It doesn't show on his craggy, terminal case of resting bitch face, but Kuroki is amused. Most entertaining, he says, as his hands deftly sweep the air before him and for the first time this match he descends into a proper ready stance.
Firstly, because the structure of the tournament means Kuroki doesn't show up out of nowhere to fight protag-kun. If the Ur So Weak speech was deployed against Ohma in round one, it would fall flat as any other time no matter how good the resulting fight was, because there's no way our main dude would lose in the first round of a tournament arc.
Secondly, because of who he does deploy it against - Rihito. Rihito is that guy. Although he's not precisely lazy - we get that panel of him doing the thumb push-ups so we know he worked his ass off at the gym - he is that guy using the One Weird Trick to get through his fights. He's arrogant, nicknaming himself The Superman, even though we've seen him lose a fight to Ohma. Kengan Asura brilliantly lets Rihito puff himself up before deploying a concrete wall named Kuroki for him to smash himself against with barely a scratch left.
Speaking of that scratch. I think it must be said, thirdly, although Kuroki's language gets nasty by the end, with stereotypical lines like "you are so far beyond comical, I nearly feel pity for you" and "is the standard for fighters truly this low?" he doesn't start the fight off like that. Instead he starts off holding back, with his brutal repetition of "one time" "two times" three times" "four times" marking every moment Rihito clumsily leaves himself open for retaliation. I don't get obnoxious smug from Kuroki. I genuinely feel the noose tightening around Rihito's neck with the realization he really is out of his weight class. And yet he does mark Kuroki with a slash across the chest. It's not a full turning of the tables, but it is a surprise to the old master that he left an opening big enough for the boy to put one on him. Kuroki drops the kid gloves - and is subsequently disappointed by the predictable result of Rihito getting demolished instantly.
And then Kengan Asura doubles down on doing something smart: Kuroki actually has a scene where he wonders if he was too harsh on the kid.
...how...often do you see that in a fighting anime? I don't have deep analysis here, I just found it a welcome surprise that Sandro had the thought to take the characters in such a direction. Rather than playing up the comedic or adversarial aspects of the Ur So Weak speech, we actually have the Hard Man sipping his drink and reflecting "huh. was I the bad guy there?" It even pulls double duty by opening the door to Kuroki's emotional side prior to his fight with Kiryu so that it doesn't feel like an asspull that Kuroki would carry a grudge over a dead friend or allow Rihito to approach him.
This is really good writing. Really good.
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- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The two aren't mutually exclusive. Thoughtless negligence can manifest in not preparing for an unusually resilient/stubborn crop of fighters.
There's also an Actual Wizard pretending to be a doctor for some reason.
Peanut-007
Hat or Hair? America decides.
- Location
- Maryland, United States of America
They prepared a bed for every fighter but unfortunately Julius is taking up all of them.
- Location
- Leeds
Damn I think I missed the chance for a one of those Muteba sex jokes that never stop being funny.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
As if Muteba has needed a bed in the past
The Curious Fan
Perpetually sleep deprived
The strange part is I think the author agrees with you about the sex thing being a problem because the further you go on the less pronounced the sexual angle gets.
Has he even made any Kiryu is gay therefore ew jokes in Omega?
I could make an awful joke here, but I won't.
Also because "your fundamentals are dogshit" is the kind of thing you really should be getting hammered on if you take on 50 million dollars in debt to compete in corporate deathmatches.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
I don't recall any jokes, but Kiryu's part in Omega is no less fucked, no.
The Curious Fan
Perpetually sleep deprived
Okay I only remember him having a chat with Ohma at a cafe, teaching Ryuki blink and rakhasa's palm to supplement his already murder oriented style (with a brief thought about not being able to fix the fact that this style is ass for tournaments with no kill rules) and trying to kill Niko with Akoya.
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Chapter 159+160 - Revival and Explosion
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
Hmmm. Wonder why that's the title.
Anyway, it's time for a bit of a pivot. Because there was something related to our main characters that went down hard a little bit ago, wasn't there? What's been going on with…
Poor Yasuo. Bro is the one who inherited all of Yamashita's normality, he was not prepared to get dumped into all this shit, especially not after shaping up his act. And holy shit Kenzo, what the fuck did you do to your house? We didn't get to see much of the actual process of the Kure getting inside, since it happened mostly offscreen, but I feel like I have to ask again how in god's green earth you managed to hide the installation of fucking spike pits and rotary saw traps the size of rear tractor tires.
Speaking of Kenzo, Yasuo hears a clatter and is honestly no less shocked to see his older brother than he is to see their house looking like a literal bomb site. Kenzo's stabilised a bit in the hours since the Kure attack, at least. Shirt and hair straightened up and everything. Matter of factly he asks his brother what he's doing here dressed like he is, Yasuo explains the whole work situation, and Kenzo mumbles about hearing something like that from their father. You know, I find myself wondering if Kenzo takes a lot after his mother. He's much prettier than we've seen from his father at any age, taller, more gracile and, in moments like this, much more collected. Not to mention the whole actually a genius thing. I dunno, just a though.
Anyway, a thunderous racket damn near shakes the house down, and Yasuo runs outside to see a tiltrotor descending onto the street. Okay, let's go, Kenzo says as if it ain't no thing. I kind of sympathise when Yasuo halfway flips his shit here, asking who Kenzo even is. I sympathise a little more when Kenzo's only response is to say he's an Ex-shut in as the helicopter's downburst artfully whips his hair about.
Come on man, you know that's not what he was talking about.
Anyway, there was a match about to happen, wasn't there? I wonder how that's going?
Not amazingly, as it happens.
I'm not sure what the strict time constraints are, but Juoh Communications has to be pushing their luck on this. The referee is wondering what the hell is going on, and apparently out of sheer boredom the announcers have started to comment on the lack of anything to comment on. Jerry makes a fun reference to Miyamoto Musashi, and Sayaka takes a similar tact in questioning Hatsumi's mental. She phrases it in terms of staying calm when your opponent could show up at any moment, but honestly the Miyamoto Musashi thing is probably a better comparison. This kind of disrespect could be very detrimental to the temper of a fighter who takes his role and this stage seriously.
Oh who am I kidding, in that case Hatsumi is fine. So fine in fact that we zoom in on Nogi who has a little flashback.
The specific day is unclear, but it's definitely before Ohma and Yamashita's dynamic entrances into the story, because Nogi and Hatsumi are discussing their options to trigger the Annihilation tournament. Or rather, more specifically they still need five more wins in the Kengan Matches to do it, but Hatsumi wants to piss off. And we know it's that early, because Hatsumi's response to Nogi bringing that up is to tell him to use Komada, the Deva King. You know, the guy Ohma flexed on in chapter 1? Though Hatsumi here notes that he's nowhere near the top shelf fighters, he can hold his own against the masses. So yeah, for a normal fighter he was probably a pretty big deal, this manga just pretty exclusively deals with the cream of the crop. You know, as is usual for this sort of thing. Anyway, Nogi tentatively grants the point, as long as Nogi Corp stays away from the heavyweight corporations they can probably scrounge up the wins using Komada. But Hatsumi damn well better have a good reason for this.
Turns out he has actually been thinking on this, if in his idiosyncratic way. Showing surprising self awareness he points out that he's one of the moodiest fuckers going, nothing that's anyone's fault just a fundamental flaw in who he is. And apparently being like that this long he's picked up a sense for what his condition is, and he feels like he's on a downslope. No way he's fighting in something like an Annihilation Tournament in shabby form.
This is probably one of the cooler panels he's ever been in, ngl. I buy the moment of intensity.
Nogi summarises all that as basically Hatsumi wants to do some conditioning, but the man himself disagrees. He just wants to do some R&R, decompress a little. He'll crash with a relative who runs a…ninjutsu dojo? Ninjas still exist in Kengan? That's a fucking out of nowhere swerve to tuck into a between-fight setup chapter like this, even more so given it's not lingered on in the least. Hatsumi moves right on to talking about how he's going to hole up in the mountains and relax. Not train, just taking things slow with a lot of naps and hot meals. Nogi notes that he's talking about his, that is to say, Nogi's, villa in Karuizawa, isn't he. This time he's right on the money and Hatsumi isn't the least bit repentant. He insists Nogi shouldn't worry.
Back in the present, Nogi looks tense all the same, as he muses on having Hatsumi as a fighter. The irresponsible jackass has cost him billions of Yen. But you can't spend that long around someone with picking up some stuff about them. And he knows that, as lackadaisical as Hatsumi might seem, as little of a shit about anything he appears to give?
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Consistently, one of the highest virtues Kengan Asura ascribes to its characters is an aspiration toward being the best at what they do, and recognised as such. And if nothing else, the manga has told us in no uncertain terms that Hatsumi is up there. He's a contender for the strongest.
Also the perspective in this shot is so fucked and it's incredibly funny. Either Nogi is suddenly fifty feet tall, or the audience have shrunk to the size of ants, or there's like thirty metres between the bottom row and the arena wall.
But that's enough of that, because here's the moment you've all been waiting for. An enormous, meaty hand emerges from the opposing corridor, and a parade of shocked reaction shots follows. All except for Hatsumi, who just looks up at his opponent to be with a dry smirk and quips at him. I almost fell asleep, he says.
And who is the giant that will face Hatsumi?
I suppose there's limits the power of even a Literal Fucking Wizard. Or maybe his sorcerous might only extends to saving lives? Anyway, he clarifies in no uncertain terms that the virus should have been untreatable by the medical facilities available. Which, given the shit he's been able to do with them, is not unimpressive. He immediately leaps into speculation, and equally immediate counterarguments. There can't be a hidden medical facility he isn't aware of, there'd be no reason to hide such a thing and Juoh Communications wouldn't have access to it anyway. And the chances of Bando having antibodies to the virus is vanishingly small. In the end, it's the simplest answer he comes to that he decides must be the right one. Some corporations, of course, bring their own medical teams rather than rely on the island's facilities. But they won't be equipped for this either, it's a mean little bastard of a virus, not a case of blunt force trauma. With the exception of one company.
Hard cut. It's another corridor in the Dome's depths, and steel is being bared. Turns out those swords the President of Teito university has been carrying around are actual fucking blades, gleaming and vicious. He's got someone at bladepoint, and he demands an explanation.
Why treat Bando Yohei?
Now, there's a good chance that the answer is incredibly simple and businesslike. The manga has, of course, made a big deal in the past about how cutthroat and amoral the Kengan Association is. It'd be about time we saw a little more of that. And it'd be especially funny for it to come in the form of someone in the medical industry performing…unethical medicine, I guess? Is that a good way of describing it?
Back down in the Arena, Bando blithely twists his joints around and moans about how he isn't used to fighting in matches like this yet, and Hatsumi commiserates. It's a pain in the ass for everyone now, he says, and it isn't even sarcasm. His thoughts are elsewhere though. This wasn't the deal, Bando was supposed to die before he ever got here, for a variety of reasons. The most pertinent one here though, by Hatsumi's own judgement, is that Bando is his worst possible opponent.
Now why might an Aikido master think that about a man who can make balloon animals out of his own joints, I wonder.
The next chapter runs contiguously, starting as the Referee begins to call in the match, and Heihachi (not that one) is being called out. And funnily enough, it turns out I was right. Whether because it was the plan all along or Sandro couldn't think of anything better between weeks, the answer is very simple. Heihachi (not that one) blandly points out he runs a pharmaceutical company, of course he's going to help someone seeking help. Which is utter bullshit, it's a business and thus doesn't help if it's not likely to profit, but that's not Mr President's objection. He calls the sentiment cheap humanism, and rolls out the old "How many more victims could happen" argument. Which isn't a terrible one, but all the same Heihachi (not that one) is unaffected. He insists that a murder here on the island would affect his employer's reputation, and surely there would be countermeasures in place. Which seems to me like it fails to address the actual meat of the President's objection, except insofar as people on this island go. The manga powers on as if it works though, and the president grants the point, but asks what about the fighters. Bando is a killer, not a martial artist, he has no other way to win. Heihachi (not that one) continues to smile. There's nothing to worry about there. His opponent, after all, is The Hatsumi Sen.
Odd little scene, I tell you what. It feels like Sandro had the shape of this twist planned out ahead of time, but couldn't figure out what Furumi Pharmaceuticals' motive would be, so this half-baked nonsense is what we got. There's plenty of arguments one could make against Teito's skulduggery even, you don't need to frame Heihachi (not that one) as a villain for this to work. But no, the manga directionlessly waffles for a page and a half before giving up.
With that over with, the next scene kicks off with Kono Haruo trying to persuade his master to properly rest. Unfortunately, said master is phenomenally stubborn and not a little bit gender essentialist. Sekibayashi is back and he is, and I quote, not taking any sissy naps. 'Cos you know, acknowledging the material limits of your body is for women, I guess. It's fine, he says, he's sturdy. Thankfully the subject shifts quickly, as Hanafusa notes that Sekibayashi's friend seems to be at a disadvantage. I wasn't aware he was friends with Hatsumi, but whatever. Hanafusa rattles off Bando's various physical advantages, concluding that the physical lead is enormous. Sekibayashi doesn't disagree…but he does have a counterpoint. Drawing from his deep well of experience, he calls to mind the one time he fought Hatsumi all out. Since I guess they never fought in the Kengan Matches? Anyway, it was a backstreet brawl, the sort of dumb bullshit with so little meaning he doesn't even remember how it started. The point is that a few minutes in Hatsumi lost his balance. It was only a split second, but Sekibayashi capitalised immediately.
And got laid the fuck out for it.
It was the first time in Sekibayashi's life that he got knocked arse over teakettle so cleanly by someone smaller, and the first time he got pulled in by someone else's act. Muscles? Pah. Flexibility? No big deal. When Hatsumi Sen's on a roll, you have no idea what you're in for.
And so, with the hype speech done, we move on into the actual meat of the match. The Ref rings it in, and Match 2-7 begins with Hatsumi…immediately rushing in. Not unusual as these matches go, but as Wakatsuki cuts in to remind us, unusual for Hatsumi. As we can pick up from his vibe, and saw in round one, he likes to take it a bit slower usually. And then we see something we haven't seen for over a hundred chapters. Remember in…chapter 17, I think? When we first met Bando? As that fight was beginning he did something, assumed a strange looking stance, that we never saw again during his fight with Hanafusa. His arm raised over his shoulder, wound up like he's going for a chop with his whole weight behind it. He takes that stance once again.
And Hatsumi stops dead.
Once again, following this circular movement, he stops at distance. Again Bando falls for the fakeout, rounding on him like a hungry dog, dumbfounded. Wakatsuki is no less confused, zipping around like this doing nothing is just going to tire Hatsumi out. And yeah, by the art he's going like the clappers, flickering to and fro. And he is fucking terrified. We get a near half-page spread just of his face, and he is sweating an entire river, eyes wild and frantic, he looks like a deer with its leg caught in a bear trap. It's possibly the most intense emotion we've seen on him since the manga started. Rather than go into why he might be so scared though, we dip back into the infirmary for a moment. Hanafusa is still confused, and frankly sekibayashi has no answers. He's never been able to get a bead on Hatsumi's thought process. One thing's for certain though. Hatsumi Sen is far too lazy to waste his energy on anything.
This is a fun beat in pretty much anything, honestly. Negative character qualities like that transmuting into momentary heat based on them being too dumb for this, or not a hard enough worker for that, just generally not a good enough person to screw up in a particular way. So if they're doing this or that, then it must be for a specific reason. It's easy to screw up, of course, so let's see how this goes.
It's a good sign that the Manga moves on to the next stage of this sort of process immediately. Bando gets what's going on, even if he doesn't reveal much to the audience. He knows that Hatsumi Sen knows. What does Hatsumi Sen know? Who knows, but it's definitely something to do with that chop stance. Bando plants his feet and stances up, to a little chorus of reaction shots speculating on its meaning. Especially given how static his stance is.
Bando's arm comes down like a ray of light, and gore showers the arena floor. From his eye. Whatever the fuck that was, Hatsumi managed to avoid it, and in ducking around the blow took the chance to damage Bando another way. Fuck with his aim, I suppose. That's not what Jerry is focused on though. No, he's focused on the tremendous boom that accompanied the blow…and the crater in the arena floor where Hatsumi was stood. What the fuck just happened?
Well, the chapter's over, so I guess you'll find out next time. Unless they decide to extemporate for another chapter or two, that could happen.
See you next time, for the contest between specialists in Folding People.
Anyway, it's time for a bit of a pivot. Because there was something related to our main characters that went down hard a little bit ago, wasn't there? What's been going on with…
Poor Yasuo. Bro is the one who inherited all of Yamashita's normality, he was not prepared to get dumped into all this shit, especially not after shaping up his act. And holy shit Kenzo, what the fuck did you do to your house? We didn't get to see much of the actual process of the Kure getting inside, since it happened mostly offscreen, but I feel like I have to ask again how in god's green earth you managed to hide the installation of fucking spike pits and rotary saw traps the size of rear tractor tires.
Speaking of Kenzo, Yasuo hears a clatter and is honestly no less shocked to see his older brother than he is to see their house looking like a literal bomb site. Kenzo's stabilised a bit in the hours since the Kure attack, at least. Shirt and hair straightened up and everything. Matter of factly he asks his brother what he's doing here dressed like he is, Yasuo explains the whole work situation, and Kenzo mumbles about hearing something like that from their father. You know, I find myself wondering if Kenzo takes a lot after his mother. He's much prettier than we've seen from his father at any age, taller, more gracile and, in moments like this, much more collected. Not to mention the whole actually a genius thing. I dunno, just a though.
Anyway, a thunderous racket damn near shakes the house down, and Yasuo runs outside to see a tiltrotor descending onto the street. Okay, let's go, Kenzo says as if it ain't no thing. I kind of sympathise when Yasuo halfway flips his shit here, asking who Kenzo even is. I sympathise a little more when Kenzo's only response is to say he's an Ex-shut in as the helicopter's downburst artfully whips his hair about.
Come on man, you know that's not what he was talking about.
Anyway, there was a match about to happen, wasn't there? I wonder how that's going?
Not amazingly, as it happens.
I'm not sure what the strict time constraints are, but Juoh Communications has to be pushing their luck on this. The referee is wondering what the hell is going on, and apparently out of sheer boredom the announcers have started to comment on the lack of anything to comment on. Jerry makes a fun reference to Miyamoto Musashi, and Sayaka takes a similar tact in questioning Hatsumi's mental. She phrases it in terms of staying calm when your opponent could show up at any moment, but honestly the Miyamoto Musashi thing is probably a better comparison. This kind of disrespect could be very detrimental to the temper of a fighter who takes his role and this stage seriously.
Oh who am I kidding, in that case Hatsumi is fine. So fine in fact that we zoom in on Nogi who has a little flashback.
The specific day is unclear, but it's definitely before Ohma and Yamashita's dynamic entrances into the story, because Nogi and Hatsumi are discussing their options to trigger the Annihilation tournament. Or rather, more specifically they still need five more wins in the Kengan Matches to do it, but Hatsumi wants to piss off. And we know it's that early, because Hatsumi's response to Nogi bringing that up is to tell him to use Komada, the Deva King. You know, the guy Ohma flexed on in chapter 1? Though Hatsumi here notes that he's nowhere near the top shelf fighters, he can hold his own against the masses. So yeah, for a normal fighter he was probably a pretty big deal, this manga just pretty exclusively deals with the cream of the crop. You know, as is usual for this sort of thing. Anyway, Nogi tentatively grants the point, as long as Nogi Corp stays away from the heavyweight corporations they can probably scrounge up the wins using Komada. But Hatsumi damn well better have a good reason for this.
Turns out he has actually been thinking on this, if in his idiosyncratic way. Showing surprising self awareness he points out that he's one of the moodiest fuckers going, nothing that's anyone's fault just a fundamental flaw in who he is. And apparently being like that this long he's picked up a sense for what his condition is, and he feels like he's on a downslope. No way he's fighting in something like an Annihilation Tournament in shabby form.
This is probably one of the cooler panels he's ever been in, ngl. I buy the moment of intensity.
Nogi summarises all that as basically Hatsumi wants to do some conditioning, but the man himself disagrees. He just wants to do some R&R, decompress a little. He'll crash with a relative who runs a…ninjutsu dojo? Ninjas still exist in Kengan? That's a fucking out of nowhere swerve to tuck into a between-fight setup chapter like this, even more so given it's not lingered on in the least. Hatsumi moves right on to talking about how he's going to hole up in the mountains and relax. Not train, just taking things slow with a lot of naps and hot meals. Nogi notes that he's talking about his, that is to say, Nogi's, villa in Karuizawa, isn't he. This time he's right on the money and Hatsumi isn't the least bit repentant. He insists Nogi shouldn't worry.
Back in the present, Nogi looks tense all the same, as he muses on having Hatsumi as a fighter. The irresponsible jackass has cost him billions of Yen. But you can't spend that long around someone with picking up some stuff about them. And he knows that, as lackadaisical as Hatsumi might seem, as little of a shit about anything he appears to give?
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Consistently, one of the highest virtues Kengan Asura ascribes to its characters is an aspiration toward being the best at what they do, and recognised as such. And if nothing else, the manga has told us in no uncertain terms that Hatsumi is up there. He's a contender for the strongest.
Also the perspective in this shot is so fucked and it's incredibly funny. Either Nogi is suddenly fifty feet tall, or the audience have shrunk to the size of ants, or there's like thirty metres between the bottom row and the arena wall.
But that's enough of that, because here's the moment you've all been waiting for. An enormous, meaty hand emerges from the opposing corridor, and a parade of shocked reaction shots follows. All except for Hatsumi, who just looks up at his opponent to be with a dry smirk and quips at him. I almost fell asleep, he says.
And who is the giant that will face Hatsumi?
I suppose there's limits the power of even a Literal Fucking Wizard. Or maybe his sorcerous might only extends to saving lives? Anyway, he clarifies in no uncertain terms that the virus should have been untreatable by the medical facilities available. Which, given the shit he's been able to do with them, is not unimpressive. He immediately leaps into speculation, and equally immediate counterarguments. There can't be a hidden medical facility he isn't aware of, there'd be no reason to hide such a thing and Juoh Communications wouldn't have access to it anyway. And the chances of Bando having antibodies to the virus is vanishingly small. In the end, it's the simplest answer he comes to that he decides must be the right one. Some corporations, of course, bring their own medical teams rather than rely on the island's facilities. But they won't be equipped for this either, it's a mean little bastard of a virus, not a case of blunt force trauma. With the exception of one company.
Hard cut. It's another corridor in the Dome's depths, and steel is being bared. Turns out those swords the President of Teito university has been carrying around are actual fucking blades, gleaming and vicious. He's got someone at bladepoint, and he demands an explanation.
Why treat Bando Yohei?
Now, there's a good chance that the answer is incredibly simple and businesslike. The manga has, of course, made a big deal in the past about how cutthroat and amoral the Kengan Association is. It'd be about time we saw a little more of that. And it'd be especially funny for it to come in the form of someone in the medical industry performing…unethical medicine, I guess? Is that a good way of describing it?
Back down in the Arena, Bando blithely twists his joints around and moans about how he isn't used to fighting in matches like this yet, and Hatsumi commiserates. It's a pain in the ass for everyone now, he says, and it isn't even sarcasm. His thoughts are elsewhere though. This wasn't the deal, Bando was supposed to die before he ever got here, for a variety of reasons. The most pertinent one here though, by Hatsumi's own judgement, is that Bando is his worst possible opponent.
Now why might an Aikido master think that about a man who can make balloon animals out of his own joints, I wonder.
The next chapter runs contiguously, starting as the Referee begins to call in the match, and Heihachi (not that one) is being called out. And funnily enough, it turns out I was right. Whether because it was the plan all along or Sandro couldn't think of anything better between weeks, the answer is very simple. Heihachi (not that one) blandly points out he runs a pharmaceutical company, of course he's going to help someone seeking help. Which is utter bullshit, it's a business and thus doesn't help if it's not likely to profit, but that's not Mr President's objection. He calls the sentiment cheap humanism, and rolls out the old "How many more victims could happen" argument. Which isn't a terrible one, but all the same Heihachi (not that one) is unaffected. He insists that a murder here on the island would affect his employer's reputation, and surely there would be countermeasures in place. Which seems to me like it fails to address the actual meat of the President's objection, except insofar as people on this island go. The manga powers on as if it works though, and the president grants the point, but asks what about the fighters. Bando is a killer, not a martial artist, he has no other way to win. Heihachi (not that one) continues to smile. There's nothing to worry about there. His opponent, after all, is The Hatsumi Sen.
Odd little scene, I tell you what. It feels like Sandro had the shape of this twist planned out ahead of time, but couldn't figure out what Furumi Pharmaceuticals' motive would be, so this half-baked nonsense is what we got. There's plenty of arguments one could make against Teito's skulduggery even, you don't need to frame Heihachi (not that one) as a villain for this to work. But no, the manga directionlessly waffles for a page and a half before giving up.
With that over with, the next scene kicks off with Kono Haruo trying to persuade his master to properly rest. Unfortunately, said master is phenomenally stubborn and not a little bit gender essentialist. Sekibayashi is back and he is, and I quote, not taking any sissy naps. 'Cos you know, acknowledging the material limits of your body is for women, I guess. It's fine, he says, he's sturdy. Thankfully the subject shifts quickly, as Hanafusa notes that Sekibayashi's friend seems to be at a disadvantage. I wasn't aware he was friends with Hatsumi, but whatever. Hanafusa rattles off Bando's various physical advantages, concluding that the physical lead is enormous. Sekibayashi doesn't disagree…but he does have a counterpoint. Drawing from his deep well of experience, he calls to mind the one time he fought Hatsumi all out. Since I guess they never fought in the Kengan Matches? Anyway, it was a backstreet brawl, the sort of dumb bullshit with so little meaning he doesn't even remember how it started. The point is that a few minutes in Hatsumi lost his balance. It was only a split second, but Sekibayashi capitalised immediately.
And got laid the fuck out for it.
It was the first time in Sekibayashi's life that he got knocked arse over teakettle so cleanly by someone smaller, and the first time he got pulled in by someone else's act. Muscles? Pah. Flexibility? No big deal. When Hatsumi Sen's on a roll, you have no idea what you're in for.
And so, with the hype speech done, we move on into the actual meat of the match. The Ref rings it in, and Match 2-7 begins with Hatsumi…immediately rushing in. Not unusual as these matches go, but as Wakatsuki cuts in to remind us, unusual for Hatsumi. As we can pick up from his vibe, and saw in round one, he likes to take it a bit slower usually. And then we see something we haven't seen for over a hundred chapters. Remember in…chapter 17, I think? When we first met Bando? As that fight was beginning he did something, assumed a strange looking stance, that we never saw again during his fight with Hanafusa. His arm raised over his shoulder, wound up like he's going for a chop with his whole weight behind it. He takes that stance once again.
And Hatsumi stops dead.
Once again, following this circular movement, he stops at distance. Again Bando falls for the fakeout, rounding on him like a hungry dog, dumbfounded. Wakatsuki is no less confused, zipping around like this doing nothing is just going to tire Hatsumi out. And yeah, by the art he's going like the clappers, flickering to and fro. And he is fucking terrified. We get a near half-page spread just of his face, and he is sweating an entire river, eyes wild and frantic, he looks like a deer with its leg caught in a bear trap. It's possibly the most intense emotion we've seen on him since the manga started. Rather than go into why he might be so scared though, we dip back into the infirmary for a moment. Hanafusa is still confused, and frankly sekibayashi has no answers. He's never been able to get a bead on Hatsumi's thought process. One thing's for certain though. Hatsumi Sen is far too lazy to waste his energy on anything.
This is a fun beat in pretty much anything, honestly. Negative character qualities like that transmuting into momentary heat based on them being too dumb for this, or not a hard enough worker for that, just generally not a good enough person to screw up in a particular way. So if they're doing this or that, then it must be for a specific reason. It's easy to screw up, of course, so let's see how this goes.
It's a good sign that the Manga moves on to the next stage of this sort of process immediately. Bando gets what's going on, even if he doesn't reveal much to the audience. He knows that Hatsumi Sen knows. What does Hatsumi Sen know? Who knows, but it's definitely something to do with that chop stance. Bando plants his feet and stances up, to a little chorus of reaction shots speculating on its meaning. Especially given how static his stance is.
Bando's arm comes down like a ray of light, and gore showers the arena floor. From his eye. Whatever the fuck that was, Hatsumi managed to avoid it, and in ducking around the blow took the chance to damage Bando another way. Fuck with his aim, I suppose. That's not what Jerry is focused on though. No, he's focused on the tremendous boom that accompanied the blow…and the crater in the arena floor where Hatsumi was stood. What the fuck just happened?
Well, the chapter's over, so I guess you'll find out next time. Unless they decide to extemporate for another chapter or two, that could happen.
See you next time, for the contest between specialists in Folding People.
TheFoxsCloak
Professional Otaku
This is actually another reference to Fist of the Seeker, where said relative, his uncle Hatusmi Ryozo, featured as a self-proclaimed "neo ninja" using a blend of the same family-style Akido Sen uses with his own twists.
He's apparently even better than Sen when it comes to pure Akido, but his commitment to the bit is on par with Seki's because he was so focused on the ninja thing he didn't make it past round 1.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Looks at Omega, sighs in exhasperation
Looks at Omega, sigh- oh wait I made that joke already. But yeah Sandro here demonstrating all of his intrigue-based chop. Yes, chop, singular.
And here we have our second occasion of the substitution rule coming up: as a fakeout. Which honestly, hilarious. Even if it's for a gimmick fighter, I find it incredibly amusing that Sandro has introduced this new rule that would mess with all the intrigue and planning in the tournament, and so far, absolutely nothing's come of it except a performance and a fakeout.
Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Steven Universe went to some unexpected places in life.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I wonder if this will make Hatsumi reflect on how rude it is to show up late (or not at all) to his fights.
Between Inaba Ryo, Mikazuchi Rei, and the entire clan of superhuman assassins which has haunted East Asia since the Tang Period...why are ninjas a surprise?
Hanafusa accidentally used too much medical magic on the poison and turned it into medicine. Bando's even stronger, now that his arthritis has been cured.
Would it have been that hard to say "Juoh Communications paid a premium for our services"?
Anyways, this is another disappointing failure of corporate intrigue. Juoh could have offered a deal to one of the fighters who was already eliminated (many of whom had goals they really wanted to achieve), or someone who survived the preliminary rounds without actually winning, or a third party who wasn't initially in the tournament, like one of the Kure assassins running around. (Not Karla, though, because Sandro doesn't think strong women could survive fighting strong men.) Or there could be some kind of skullduggery between Juoh and Furumi, maybe blackmail over Heihachi (not that one) being whatever the moral opposite of a scapegoat is.
It's also another example of the substitution option only existing in negative space. It's there so we won't expect Bando to return. But he does! The option goes unused yet again. This is less significant, since it's not one of the core things theoretically distinguishing Kengan Ashura from other martial arts manga, but it's still there. In theory, I agree that it's funny, but it still bugs me.
So I actually misremembered, but I thought they'd given the solid reasoning as:
Hatsumi, as established, needs a bunch of fights in a row to get into peak condition
Furumi is an ally of Nogi
Bando is the sort of lethal opponent who'd make Hatsumi shape up in a hurry
Thus, Furumi treated Bando to make sure Hatsumi was fully warmed up for a potential third-round showdown with the Fang and Heihachi was just bullshitting to hide that.
The Curious Fan
Perpetually sleep deprived
Truly, it is a mystery that we will never solve.
Well yeah it had to be outside of the matches since Seki was introduced undefeated IIRC and it's supposed to build heat for Hatsumi.
Rihito finding a buddy is one of the things I can't fault Omega for.
Revlid
blob of bugs
- Location
- England
How is this remotely remarkable given everything else we've seen and know about this setting. It would be stranger if, out of everything, ninjas were the one thing to not make it into the modern day. That would be the out-of-place twist!