Opaline Dreams
Virenina's handler
- Location
- Tei Ura
- Pronouns
- Any
I like his silly eyeliner.
Capitalism ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura
- Thread starter Manic Dogma
- Start date
- Discussion Manga
- Location
- Leeds
Its been a while since moneys come up can we change this thread title to 'Horny Posting Ho!' or does that create the wrong impression?
Opaline Dreams
Virenina's handler
- Location
- Tei Ura
- Pronouns
- Any
Capitalism Ho! We Are All Gaolang's Wife Now
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I can't say that I feel any urges, but: strong, competent, and already good-looking person flashing a confident smile and revealing they're much more passionate than they usually let on? Yeah I get it
Pretty good, I also enjoy 'Gaolang ho! Let's Read Kengan Asura'
- Location
- Georgia
So, if anyone is keeping up with the anime, Netflix just dropped another trailer for the second half of the 2nd season. If you aren't caught up the manga or just along for the ride here, DO NOT WATCH if you care about spoilers.
It literally spoils every fight in the 2nd half of the tournament.
It literally spoils every fight in the 2nd half of the tournament.
- Location
- The North
A confession: Gaolang is not my favorite character in Kengan Ashura.
It's been Agito this whole time, and mostly because of the twist of how his Evolution works, as presented in these chapters. The notion of a character with an expansive, near-limitless understanding of the many movements of martial arts who can over the course of a single fight synthesize that knowledge into a novel style tailor-made to defeat his specific opponent, is just too fucking cool for my brain to handle.
It's like in video games like Dark Souls or Godhand where when you've died once or twice to a tough boss you might to back and respec your character, choose some different equipment or prioritize different moves better suited to the challenge at hand, and you go back in having become a living magic bullet who can defeat their chosen foe in one go. Like, for example, when my partner was playing Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and made it to a boss that her standard deck of moves was unsuited to defeating. So she grinded lower floors for a while until she had every move she needed, then she combined all of those into a deck she dubbed 'The Rikufucker.' It lived up to its name.
Kanoh Agito is a character operating at a level of hyper-reality where he can just do this near-instantly. And the impression that I got comparing this fight to the Fang's fight with Okubo, is that the King of Combat lasted all of like three seconds against his 'antithesis style,' whereas Gaolang is taking those hits and answering back with his own.
This fight is just... incredibly thrilling. I couldn't imagine a better finale to Round 2. Everything we've seen, all 23 fights that came before, have been building up to this creschendo.
And there's still seven matches left.
It's been Agito this whole time, and mostly because of the twist of how his Evolution works, as presented in these chapters. The notion of a character with an expansive, near-limitless understanding of the many movements of martial arts who can over the course of a single fight synthesize that knowledge into a novel style tailor-made to defeat his specific opponent, is just too fucking cool for my brain to handle.
It's like in video games like Dark Souls or Godhand where when you've died once or twice to a tough boss you might to back and respec your character, choose some different equipment or prioritize different moves better suited to the challenge at hand, and you go back in having become a living magic bullet who can defeat their chosen foe in one go. Like, for example, when my partner was playing Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and made it to a boss that her standard deck of moves was unsuited to defeating. So she grinded lower floors for a while until she had every move she needed, then she combined all of those into a deck she dubbed 'The Rikufucker.' It lived up to its name.
Kanoh Agito is a character operating at a level of hyper-reality where he can just do this near-instantly. And the impression that I got comparing this fight to the Fang's fight with Okubo, is that the King of Combat lasted all of like three seconds against his 'antithesis style,' whereas Gaolang is taking those hits and answering back with his own.
This fight is just... incredibly thrilling. I couldn't imagine a better finale to Round 2. Everything we've seen, all 23 fights that came before, have been building up to this creschendo.
And there's still seven matches left.
- Location
- Leeds
Shock, horror! Drive this person from the thread.
Your kind aren't welcome here.
Only Gaolang stans allowed here.
Sweating Nervous GIF - Sweating Nervous Paranoid - Discover & Share GIFs
Click to view the GIF
tenor.com
I dunno if I can say I have a favourite character, as I think it implies more attachment than I actually have for any of them, but if I do it would probably be Yamashita
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
I may have gone briefly feral over Gaolang's smile, but my favourite character in this manga is still Kuroki.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Kuroki is, by a measure of space so large mankind has not yet managed to come up with a name for it, my favorite character in this manga. He also has my favorite fight in this manga, and the two things are very much related.
Gaolang is definitely top five though. I mean look at this fight.
Gaolang is definitely top five though. I mean look at this fight.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Do NOT watch Kengan Asura if you care about Kengan Asura spoilers."
Okay, yeah, it's a trailer and not the actual anime, but still. I have trouble imagining someone who:
- Reads a Let's Read Kengan Asura thread
- Has not decided to pirate the manga to read ahead
- Cares about spoilers
- Would want to watch the Kengan Asura anime
Anyways, my favorite fighter is still Sekibayashi Jun.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I mean hey it's a fair warning, folks might not know what the trailer shows or when the season ends and want to get Manic's version of events first.
- Location
- Leeds
I don't want the trailer to spoil my lets read.
I want to come across Manic melting into a puddle completely unexpectedly. Who knows how many sexy faces that trailer might pre warn me of.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That seems like a silly concern. Lots of sexy faces in manga have been ruined in the anime adaptation, whether due to the artistic constraints of animation or the budget constraints of animation. Is Gaolang even hot in the anime?
The anime seems to be retaining the vibe fairly well, but I don't watch it so I'll let the thread judge.
Opaline Dreams
Virenina's handler
- Location
- Tei Ura
- Pronouns
- Any
The anime seems to be retaining the vibe fairly well, but I don't watch it so I'll let the thread judge.
My god…he's so beautiful
Haha, alright apparently some shit about URLs has tripped me up. Does the below work better?
Opaline Dreams
Virenina's handler
- Location
- Tei Ura
- Pronouns
- Any
Haha, alright apparently some shit about URLs has tripped me up. Does the below work better?
hugh_donnetono
No use to complain
- Location
- Caught Out In The Rain
rereading this thread after reading this fight, one comment in the aftermath of the Gaolang VS Kaneda match stuck out to me.
I will say that this wasn't the one I thought of seeing that comment, though.
And uh, as everyone has noticed, guess we sure did, huh. 😂
I will say that this wasn't the one I thought of seeing that comment, though.
Chapter 168+169 - Death and Taxes, uh, I mean Surpassing
Manic Dogma
This, I can't deny.
- Location
- The far side of tired
- Pronouns
- Whatever
We begin in a river of hands and feet, an unending fluid torrent of breaking force. The Fang of Metsudo, blood streaming down his face, looks down with alarm as one threatens to pierce below his guard, and he retreats. He needs space. The announcers, eager to capitalise on the drama of a twist, cry Muay Thai! Gaolang's Finally unleashed his Muay Thai.
Of course, you've probably read the last chapter. And if you've seen Muay Thai in motion before, or in comic form, you can probably tell.
I won't lie, it's mildly funny to me how similar this is to a trick Okubo pulled on Agito in his last match. Agito stuffed it then, and here it gets stuffed as well. Agito weathers the stuffing better though. Anyway, time for some Facts With Kengan Asura!
It starts with a stark statement. In Muay Thai punches are of little importance. It should probably clarify modern Muay Thai there, since the actual reasoning the manga presents is that they're worth hardly any points in Muay Thai sporting matches. And the relatively recent development of clinches, which apparently somehow disadvantage styles that lean on punches a lot? I can't speak to how accurate to life any of this is, to my knowledge Muay Thai's reputation as the Art of Eight Limbs kind of suggests punches very much are still an important factor. But again, maybe that's more a thing today than the historical art. Either way, it presents a very important distinction.
Gaolang isn't just punching occasionally. They're still the cornerstone of his offence. He's harrying and pinning Agito down with kicks, when the Fang manages to catch one of Gaolang's punches he breaks free with a forward kick right to his gut. And is then right back to raining knuckles. The kicks are a support tool.
As the manga puts it, Gaolang's fighting style is built around his fists.
And using that as a pivot, the chapter dips into Gaolang's past. He was actually headhunted originally by Rama XIII's father, Rama XII. From the fresh age of five fucking years old he was trained in Muay Thai, in the mangas own words combining "unparalleled talent and unparalleled effort", producing what was reputed to be the strongest Muay Thai practitioner of all time. And while that note is very validating for me personally after the rants I went on during his match with Kaneda about the relationship between talent and effort (God, Kaneda really never had a shot) there is still a problem. Those very punches that Muay Thai disdained held it back. If he stuck to the sport of Muay Thai (so hey, maybe it really is an issue with the modern, sporting form) he'd be fine without, but in actual combat? Lacking the quick spacing and offensive toolset offered by punches would be unacceptable. He is his Majesty's sword. Defeat is not an option. So he switched to boxing. We return to the present as Rama does a little sales pitch for Gaolang along this vein, pumping him up even further. By mastering both boxing and Muay Thai, Gaolang positions himself as an unparalleled specialist in striking.
It really is no surprise that he's holding up against The Fang like this, is it? Even leaving aside how Gaolang is his own flavour of monster, he's used to fighting the best the world can offer, and they're all bigger than him. Agito's reach advantage is just tuesday to the God of War.
That said…
He's still not the only monster in the ring. Agito has been fighting at the top of the Kengan Matches for over a hundred matches undefeated. That doesn't happen by accident. He is his own justification. Such is the law of kings.
After a breathless moment of suspense, cards thrown down onto the table hard enough to cut into the wood, Agito is the first to move. With maddening speed he approaches, leaving afterimages in his wake, evading Gaolang's defensive strike. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, he's within Gaolang's reach. Too close for the Flash to be effective, exactly according to Agito's plan. And then Gaolang pivots under his left hook to blast Agito with this fucked up Limbo Dancer Punch. Agito blocks it, but the bruised welt in his hand is clearly visible.
And the hook wasn't the goal anyway. In a moment of completely unspoken strategy, no internal monologue or omniscient narrator commentary, Agito plants his foot on top of Gaolang's. Locking it in place. He was using the high assault to distract from his lower body gambit. And I love it when a manga not just trusts the audience to get that, but also has the artistic and structural chops to make it clear without words.
Agito follows up his successful gambit with a haymaker which Gaolang blocks, but not without costs. He reels back, taking the blow across both his forearms, unable to make the space to avoid the Fang's followup hooks. So of course he does the only thing one can do when pinned down like that. He takes a risk, and attacks.
It's close, but Gaolang is in the running for the best striker in the tournament. He not only lands his hit, but it throws Gaolang off his foot and we're back to the races. He closes back in, and as the clash unfolds we take a step back. Saw Paing is absolutely in awe. He's never seen Gaolang fight like this, which is interesting given he's the person here with the longest history with Gaolang. And just to make sure you get the point of this moment, Kaneda cuts in for a moment. He quietly admonishes himself for not realising. Gaolang never truly fought him seriously at all.
In his head, Gaolang apologises. He wasn't holding back, really, against either of them. He has always fought seriously within the limits of a match. And I do believe him, genuinely. Taking someone seriously isn't the same as going completely to the wire with it, if he'd fought like this against Kaneda he probably would have killed him. And, well, remember how Gaolang responded to Saw Paing's behaviour after his loss? That's not how someone who never took Saw Paing seriously would act, Gaolang was genuinely hurt and disappointed.
Gaolang just isn't treating this as a Match anymore. As demonstrated when he steps in under Agito's right straight, and slashes a weeping gash into the taller man's neck with his elbow.
Moving into chapter 169, Agito actually staggers back for the first time we've seen. Weeping from the neck, as Hatsumi notes with apparent genuine alarm that Gaolang went for the Artery. He really is treating this as an actual, life or death battle, I guess. Not that that's going to intimidate Agito. He catches himself and returns with a haymaker, parrying Gaolang's straight in the process. Neither man is hurt, Gaolang parried the return blow as well. Not deep enough, he muses to himself.
And here, the manga notes, the gap is self evident. Wakatsuki experiences a burst of validation at the same time as Agito and Gaolang clash again. He knew it. And it must be satisfying to see.
Gaolang's assault is unrelenting, he doesn't even need a gambit like planting his foot on Agito's to keep the Fang in place. Blow after blow, Agito blocks them all but it doesn't look like winning. After all, blocking a strike just means getting hit somewhere you can afford to be. But, well. Wakatsuki notes that Gaolang's hitting so hard and fast that Agito has no opportunity to use those moments of limpness he used earlier to diffuse the blows or dodge them. And down in the infirmary, Sekibayashi explains to Hanafusa the actual goal here.
Gaolang is trying to break Agito's bones through the block. The Fang is being forced to stand there and just take the hits of arguably the strongest striker in the tournament. Something could crack at any moment.
And for a moment it seems like something has. Agito's right arm seizes up, and drops limp. Seeing his perfect opportunity, Gaolang comes in with a violent elbow…and gets punched in the goddamn face. For a moment his eyes go blank. Agito's arm flexes back into shape, his muscles tensed powerfully at the moment of impact. Akiyama, for the first time in god knows how many chapters, gets an opportunity to contribute by being the person to recognise it. Of the non-fighters, she's one of the few to see it up close, after all.
Niko Style - Adamantine Kata: Indestructible. There's a throughline here. It's not necessarily that weird for people to know techniques of the same style, but Ohma's Niko Style is sufficiently obscure and esoteric that I can buy it coming off as a bit weird that these apparently unrelated fighters know bits of it.
Still. Gaolang forced Agito to use it. The heat racks up nicely, don't it? But he's not the one on top in this moment. Grinning like a beast, exhaling clouds of thick steam, Agito steps in…and this time it's his turn to get Mcfucking clocked in the mouth. Gaolang sidesteps the Fang's straight and punches him in the actual face, to the shock of basically every veteran fighter watching. Especially Okubo, who is sweating buckets and having a minor flashback to how one blow like the one Gaolang took completely took him out. It's a very fun escalation on the ideas of Okubo's match, and very characteristic of how this match has been going so far. This isn't just a case of fighting someone who so good you have to take them seriously, even though you're technically better. Agito's fighting an actual, honest to god peer in Gaolang. His gambits are getting answered, and he's taking unexpected swerves to the mush in turn. Both of these men are warriors at the absolute top of their game.
Or, well, they were. Now they're both kind of wobbling a little. Getting punched in the head will do that to you. And sure enough we get a brief damage check for both fighters. Agito might have used Indestructible to neutralise a lot of Gaolang's strike, but once again we see the limits of the technique. It can't absorb everything, and Agito is absolutely beat to hell. His muscles and bones are so tenderised that he can't actually leverage his full strength anymore, he's much weaker than he was. Gaolang doesn't have that problem, but he just took a blow to the jaw at full force. His balance is fucked. We're in the final stage of the fight.
Just a little note, a moment like this might seem overly blunt, but it genuinely is important to be clear and it's actually a decent moment for it. The space in the pacing, commenting on each fighter's condition over panels of them panting, helps sell how both fighters are catching their breath. And using this space to deliver detailed exposition on their state that's relevant to the fight going forward is a solid, efficient use of it. Always remember, Show Don't Tell isn't the worst advice, but ultimately you do need to Tell your audience things. Either because they need that Telling to be able to properly parse the Showing, or because there simply isn't time or space to Show. This is the latter, I think, and with that Telling in place Kengan Asura can get right to simply executing on that information.
It's genuinely great execution too. Both men are still throwing bone shaking blows, but every exchange sees them stagger a little bit, and they're constantly wheezing through gritted teeth. They beat and batter each other about, until one crucial moment. Gaolang pivots around a retaliatory punch, he's at Agito's side, he throws a left straight. On some reflex, not active thought, Agito lashes out. It's with his elbow.
Crack. Doesn't he look surprised? I find that interesting.
Gaolang tries to follow this up with a hook to Agito's kidney, but he's falling behind. Agito's own straights fend him off first and he charges after them, teeth gritted in a focus so intense it looks like anger. His punch lands, Gaolang's face distorts. But he rolls with the blow, which skids off his face as his own fist slams into Agito's. After a moment's wheezing the two men clash again, blows firing as fast as ever, until…this. And as much as I'd like to describe it directly, the sheer artistry of the next sequence of panels needs to be seen.
This is Kengan Asura firing on all cylinders. Not a word spoken until after it's already resolved, but we get it. We see Gaolang read Agito's motion and make a prediction, we see him execute on it in a full page spread lovingly rendering the incalculable, mastered force of his choice…and then we see how he chose wrong. The pivot was instantaneous, and we believe it because we've seen it before. It was aimed at Agito last round. Only once it has been executed does the manga pause to remind us, accompanied by Gaolang's eyes widening in horror and a cut in panel of an extremely offended Okubo. Instant switching between blows, throws, locks and holds. This was the strategy used by Okubo Naoya when he faced Agito in the first round.
And you know, there's a world where this wasn't even the end of the match. Gaolang catches himself after getting fucking piledrivered, he rolls to his feet. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, he eats an immediate followup football kick. And god damn, but he's already so full.
Slowly, dramatically, he falls unconscious to the ground. Even slower, Agito's fists fall, and he lets himself relax.
Gaolang Wongsawat was the most powerful foe Agito ever faced. But, today, he couldn't teach the Fang defeat. End chapter.
Kanoh Agito, the Fang of Metsudo, proceeds to the third round.
This is, bar none, the best match so far as a fight. There are others with more immediately compelling dramatic stakes. There are others with more complex relationship dynamics between the competitors. There are others which are plain more novel and unique.
None of that matters. Whether you like it or not, this is what Peak Performance looks like.
What can I even say about it? You've been reading along with me, some of you have read the actual chapters of the manga. No other match so far has presented such an even level of Heat and then executed on it entirely according to expectations that it completely surpasses. I honestly love it even more now than I used to, by going through it methodically page by page to relate it to you guys I appreciate just how deftly constructed the visual pace and flow of the fight is. How many other Manga can possibly be said to have made a fight like this work this well? Two top shelf combatants within the setting, leveraging overwhelming skill and canny judgement to match each other blow for blow without either ever really dropping the ball or looking dumb. An actual peer match between the best of the best that communicates this with the strength of their application in technical exchanges, rather than big blowout laser blasts or air displacement shockwaves. Not that I don't love big collateral damage laden battle manga fights, they're my favourites. But how many writers and artists in this medium can construct fights that sell the sheer martial skill of their characters this hard? It's absolutely awe inspiring, and I say that without hyperbole.
I hope y'all understand just how hard it is to write and choreograph a fight like this, the sheer detailed understanding of martial arts and fight dynamics it takes to make something that can stand so proudly on just the visuals alone. And that's not even all this match has. It's not the most stridently dramatic thing around, but the emotional dynamic of this match is just so incredibly fucking fun. Two people, each at the peak of related but distinct fields, clashing directly and engaging in the emotional back and forth of strutting their shit, pulling out their tricks and then all the stops. Absolutely fantastic.
I encourage all of you to share your favourite fights along these lines, even if they don't have the same top tier technical aspect. Fights between Top Tiers are pretty reliably some of the coolest shit in media, as opportunities for the writer to really flex what their setting is capable of and just have fun spitting up the coolest shit they can imagine.
Genuinely amazing to me how we're now two for two on Agito's matches being amazing climaxes to each round. And you know what? We aren't actually done with the things I love about this match. But that's a discussion for next week, when we see how both participants actually feel about this match.
This, believe it or not, still isn't my favourite match in the series.
Of course, you've probably read the last chapter. And if you've seen Muay Thai in motion before, or in comic form, you can probably tell.
I won't lie, it's mildly funny to me how similar this is to a trick Okubo pulled on Agito in his last match. Agito stuffed it then, and here it gets stuffed as well. Agito weathers the stuffing better though. Anyway, time for some Facts With Kengan Asura!
It starts with a stark statement. In Muay Thai punches are of little importance. It should probably clarify modern Muay Thai there, since the actual reasoning the manga presents is that they're worth hardly any points in Muay Thai sporting matches. And the relatively recent development of clinches, which apparently somehow disadvantage styles that lean on punches a lot? I can't speak to how accurate to life any of this is, to my knowledge Muay Thai's reputation as the Art of Eight Limbs kind of suggests punches very much are still an important factor. But again, maybe that's more a thing today than the historical art. Either way, it presents a very important distinction.
Gaolang isn't just punching occasionally. They're still the cornerstone of his offence. He's harrying and pinning Agito down with kicks, when the Fang manages to catch one of Gaolang's punches he breaks free with a forward kick right to his gut. And is then right back to raining knuckles. The kicks are a support tool.
As the manga puts it, Gaolang's fighting style is built around his fists.
And using that as a pivot, the chapter dips into Gaolang's past. He was actually headhunted originally by Rama XIII's father, Rama XII. From the fresh age of five fucking years old he was trained in Muay Thai, in the mangas own words combining "unparalleled talent and unparalleled effort", producing what was reputed to be the strongest Muay Thai practitioner of all time. And while that note is very validating for me personally after the rants I went on during his match with Kaneda about the relationship between talent and effort (God, Kaneda really never had a shot) there is still a problem. Those very punches that Muay Thai disdained held it back. If he stuck to the sport of Muay Thai (so hey, maybe it really is an issue with the modern, sporting form) he'd be fine without, but in actual combat? Lacking the quick spacing and offensive toolset offered by punches would be unacceptable. He is his Majesty's sword. Defeat is not an option. So he switched to boxing. We return to the present as Rama does a little sales pitch for Gaolang along this vein, pumping him up even further. By mastering both boxing and Muay Thai, Gaolang positions himself as an unparalleled specialist in striking.
It really is no surprise that he's holding up against The Fang like this, is it? Even leaving aside how Gaolang is his own flavour of monster, he's used to fighting the best the world can offer, and they're all bigger than him. Agito's reach advantage is just tuesday to the God of War.
That said…
He's still not the only monster in the ring. Agito has been fighting at the top of the Kengan Matches for over a hundred matches undefeated. That doesn't happen by accident. He is his own justification. Such is the law of kings.
After a breathless moment of suspense, cards thrown down onto the table hard enough to cut into the wood, Agito is the first to move. With maddening speed he approaches, leaving afterimages in his wake, evading Gaolang's defensive strike. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, he's within Gaolang's reach. Too close for the Flash to be effective, exactly according to Agito's plan. And then Gaolang pivots under his left hook to blast Agito with this fucked up Limbo Dancer Punch. Agito blocks it, but the bruised welt in his hand is clearly visible.
And the hook wasn't the goal anyway. In a moment of completely unspoken strategy, no internal monologue or omniscient narrator commentary, Agito plants his foot on top of Gaolang's. Locking it in place. He was using the high assault to distract from his lower body gambit. And I love it when a manga not just trusts the audience to get that, but also has the artistic and structural chops to make it clear without words.
Agito follows up his successful gambit with a haymaker which Gaolang blocks, but not without costs. He reels back, taking the blow across both his forearms, unable to make the space to avoid the Fang's followup hooks. So of course he does the only thing one can do when pinned down like that. He takes a risk, and attacks.
It's close, but Gaolang is in the running for the best striker in the tournament. He not only lands his hit, but it throws Gaolang off his foot and we're back to the races. He closes back in, and as the clash unfolds we take a step back. Saw Paing is absolutely in awe. He's never seen Gaolang fight like this, which is interesting given he's the person here with the longest history with Gaolang. And just to make sure you get the point of this moment, Kaneda cuts in for a moment. He quietly admonishes himself for not realising. Gaolang never truly fought him seriously at all.
In his head, Gaolang apologises. He wasn't holding back, really, against either of them. He has always fought seriously within the limits of a match. And I do believe him, genuinely. Taking someone seriously isn't the same as going completely to the wire with it, if he'd fought like this against Kaneda he probably would have killed him. And, well, remember how Gaolang responded to Saw Paing's behaviour after his loss? That's not how someone who never took Saw Paing seriously would act, Gaolang was genuinely hurt and disappointed.
Gaolang just isn't treating this as a Match anymore. As demonstrated when he steps in under Agito's right straight, and slashes a weeping gash into the taller man's neck with his elbow.
Moving into chapter 169, Agito actually staggers back for the first time we've seen. Weeping from the neck, as Hatsumi notes with apparent genuine alarm that Gaolang went for the Artery. He really is treating this as an actual, life or death battle, I guess. Not that that's going to intimidate Agito. He catches himself and returns with a haymaker, parrying Gaolang's straight in the process. Neither man is hurt, Gaolang parried the return blow as well. Not deep enough, he muses to himself.
And here, the manga notes, the gap is self evident. Wakatsuki experiences a burst of validation at the same time as Agito and Gaolang clash again. He knew it. And it must be satisfying to see.
Gaolang's assault is unrelenting, he doesn't even need a gambit like planting his foot on Agito's to keep the Fang in place. Blow after blow, Agito blocks them all but it doesn't look like winning. After all, blocking a strike just means getting hit somewhere you can afford to be. But, well. Wakatsuki notes that Gaolang's hitting so hard and fast that Agito has no opportunity to use those moments of limpness he used earlier to diffuse the blows or dodge them. And down in the infirmary, Sekibayashi explains to Hanafusa the actual goal here.
Gaolang is trying to break Agito's bones through the block. The Fang is being forced to stand there and just take the hits of arguably the strongest striker in the tournament. Something could crack at any moment.
And for a moment it seems like something has. Agito's right arm seizes up, and drops limp. Seeing his perfect opportunity, Gaolang comes in with a violent elbow…and gets punched in the goddamn face. For a moment his eyes go blank. Agito's arm flexes back into shape, his muscles tensed powerfully at the moment of impact. Akiyama, for the first time in god knows how many chapters, gets an opportunity to contribute by being the person to recognise it. Of the non-fighters, she's one of the few to see it up close, after all.
Niko Style - Adamantine Kata: Indestructible. There's a throughline here. It's not necessarily that weird for people to know techniques of the same style, but Ohma's Niko Style is sufficiently obscure and esoteric that I can buy it coming off as a bit weird that these apparently unrelated fighters know bits of it.
Still. Gaolang forced Agito to use it. The heat racks up nicely, don't it? But he's not the one on top in this moment. Grinning like a beast, exhaling clouds of thick steam, Agito steps in…and this time it's his turn to get Mcfucking clocked in the mouth. Gaolang sidesteps the Fang's straight and punches him in the actual face, to the shock of basically every veteran fighter watching. Especially Okubo, who is sweating buckets and having a minor flashback to how one blow like the one Gaolang took completely took him out. It's a very fun escalation on the ideas of Okubo's match, and very characteristic of how this match has been going so far. This isn't just a case of fighting someone who so good you have to take them seriously, even though you're technically better. Agito's fighting an actual, honest to god peer in Gaolang. His gambits are getting answered, and he's taking unexpected swerves to the mush in turn. Both of these men are warriors at the absolute top of their game.
Or, well, they were. Now they're both kind of wobbling a little. Getting punched in the head will do that to you. And sure enough we get a brief damage check for both fighters. Agito might have used Indestructible to neutralise a lot of Gaolang's strike, but once again we see the limits of the technique. It can't absorb everything, and Agito is absolutely beat to hell. His muscles and bones are so tenderised that he can't actually leverage his full strength anymore, he's much weaker than he was. Gaolang doesn't have that problem, but he just took a blow to the jaw at full force. His balance is fucked. We're in the final stage of the fight.
Just a little note, a moment like this might seem overly blunt, but it genuinely is important to be clear and it's actually a decent moment for it. The space in the pacing, commenting on each fighter's condition over panels of them panting, helps sell how both fighters are catching their breath. And using this space to deliver detailed exposition on their state that's relevant to the fight going forward is a solid, efficient use of it. Always remember, Show Don't Tell isn't the worst advice, but ultimately you do need to Tell your audience things. Either because they need that Telling to be able to properly parse the Showing, or because there simply isn't time or space to Show. This is the latter, I think, and with that Telling in place Kengan Asura can get right to simply executing on that information.
It's genuinely great execution too. Both men are still throwing bone shaking blows, but every exchange sees them stagger a little bit, and they're constantly wheezing through gritted teeth. They beat and batter each other about, until one crucial moment. Gaolang pivots around a retaliatory punch, he's at Agito's side, he throws a left straight. On some reflex, not active thought, Agito lashes out. It's with his elbow.
Crack. Doesn't he look surprised? I find that interesting.
Gaolang tries to follow this up with a hook to Agito's kidney, but he's falling behind. Agito's own straights fend him off first and he charges after them, teeth gritted in a focus so intense it looks like anger. His punch lands, Gaolang's face distorts. But he rolls with the blow, which skids off his face as his own fist slams into Agito's. After a moment's wheezing the two men clash again, blows firing as fast as ever, until…this. And as much as I'd like to describe it directly, the sheer artistry of the next sequence of panels needs to be seen.
This is Kengan Asura firing on all cylinders. Not a word spoken until after it's already resolved, but we get it. We see Gaolang read Agito's motion and make a prediction, we see him execute on it in a full page spread lovingly rendering the incalculable, mastered force of his choice…and then we see how he chose wrong. The pivot was instantaneous, and we believe it because we've seen it before. It was aimed at Agito last round. Only once it has been executed does the manga pause to remind us, accompanied by Gaolang's eyes widening in horror and a cut in panel of an extremely offended Okubo. Instant switching between blows, throws, locks and holds. This was the strategy used by Okubo Naoya when he faced Agito in the first round.
And you know, there's a world where this wasn't even the end of the match. Gaolang catches himself after getting fucking piledrivered, he rolls to his feet. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, he eats an immediate followup football kick. And god damn, but he's already so full.
Slowly, dramatically, he falls unconscious to the ground. Even slower, Agito's fists fall, and he lets himself relax.
Gaolang Wongsawat was the most powerful foe Agito ever faced. But, today, he couldn't teach the Fang defeat. End chapter.
Kanoh Agito, the Fang of Metsudo, proceeds to the third round.
This is, bar none, the best match so far as a fight. There are others with more immediately compelling dramatic stakes. There are others with more complex relationship dynamics between the competitors. There are others which are plain more novel and unique.
None of that matters. Whether you like it or not, this is what Peak Performance looks like.
What can I even say about it? You've been reading along with me, some of you have read the actual chapters of the manga. No other match so far has presented such an even level of Heat and then executed on it entirely according to expectations that it completely surpasses. I honestly love it even more now than I used to, by going through it methodically page by page to relate it to you guys I appreciate just how deftly constructed the visual pace and flow of the fight is. How many other Manga can possibly be said to have made a fight like this work this well? Two top shelf combatants within the setting, leveraging overwhelming skill and canny judgement to match each other blow for blow without either ever really dropping the ball or looking dumb. An actual peer match between the best of the best that communicates this with the strength of their application in technical exchanges, rather than big blowout laser blasts or air displacement shockwaves. Not that I don't love big collateral damage laden battle manga fights, they're my favourites. But how many writers and artists in this medium can construct fights that sell the sheer martial skill of their characters this hard? It's absolutely awe inspiring, and I say that without hyperbole.
I hope y'all understand just how hard it is to write and choreograph a fight like this, the sheer detailed understanding of martial arts and fight dynamics it takes to make something that can stand so proudly on just the visuals alone. And that's not even all this match has. It's not the most stridently dramatic thing around, but the emotional dynamic of this match is just so incredibly fucking fun. Two people, each at the peak of related but distinct fields, clashing directly and engaging in the emotional back and forth of strutting their shit, pulling out their tricks and then all the stops. Absolutely fantastic.
I encourage all of you to share your favourite fights along these lines, even if they don't have the same top tier technical aspect. Fights between Top Tiers are pretty reliably some of the coolest shit in media, as opportunities for the writer to really flex what their setting is capable of and just have fun spitting up the coolest shit they can imagine.
Genuinely amazing to me how we're now two for two on Agito's matches being amazing climaxes to each round. And you know what? We aren't actually done with the things I love about this match. But that's a discussion for next week, when we see how both participants actually feel about this match.
This, believe it or not, still isn't my favourite match in the series.
Mine either, and I'm so fucking excited to get there. Alas, spoilers, but this fight is enough that I hope people now understand why Asura captured such an audience despite the persistent issues with writing characters
Fun fact; this fight is what convinced me to read Hajime no Ippo, because while I know it's nowhere near as high-energy as this, I had to get more manga boxing in my system, and with Gaolang out of the tournament, I certainly couldn't get more of it here. The man left me with a real hunger for more.
- Location
- Georgia
Crack. Doesn't he look surprised? I find that interesting.
It was here where the tides turned. I honestly feel like Gaolong had a good chance of winning if not for this.
Yeah this is easily the best fight of the Round 2. When Kengan Asura is firing on all cylinders, its peak fighting manga. This is a very good example of that.