#manga shamo

[maurinnn]

[asightsodivine]

[busw1ll]

Shamo (軍鶏) - Akio Tanaka

[maurinnnnn]

[myfairgame]

[zoroknowstheshortway]

[uknwwhu]

[aokuro-san]

I don't know why today I was reminded of a manga that, just thinking about it, makes me tremble. No, it's not horror, in the strict sense of the genre, but I could classify it that way because of all the things that happen from the beginning. I mean SHAMO by Izo Hashimoto and Akio Tanaka, a manga that talks about violence in all its forms through the protagonist, Ryo, a boy sent to prison who learns martial arts and evolves into a monster. Is very good! But I also think you have to have the stomach to read it.

[maurinnn]

[asightsodivine]

[busw1ll]

Shamo (軍鶏) - Akio Tanaka

[armoredprincess]

Okay, so, the manga I got my icon from: Hagure Idol Jigokuhen. It starts off as standard fare hentai, contriving for the protagonist to be raped by a horde of pig-ugly men. Whatever, except I'm an options-starved lesbian with a fighting kink, and the protagonist has this whole set of things going on: she wants to be a pop star but sucks at singing, so she pays the bills doing softcore porn. She knows karate because her dad taught her since she was a kid. Clearly a full-blown OC. She's also a dark-skinned Okinawan and it doesn't go unremarked on, so there's a race thing happening that I don't have a grasp of.

She has to beat up 100 men in a row or she gets "raped". The first twist is that she wins. Like, she gets fondled and the whole thing clearly counts as rape either way, but she saves herself what's framed as the profound dishonor of penetration. They introduce a lesbian dom and the protagonist beats her up too.

There's a clear glee in the idea of martial arts prevailing, and it's a fetish for the martial arts themselves but it's also like, an appreciation of the art form, and these factors are married and undivorceable. If you find martial arts sexually appealing you also have to find them aesthetically pleasing and ideologically interesting.

The martial artist's victory gradually overtakes as the primary framing device. It's phyrrhic at first, with the protagonist being so humilliated in such extreme ways (scat and zoophilia cameo) that the victory is basically just prompt revenge. But soon the sheer power of martial arts becomes so prevalent that it edges out the proposition that a martial artist could be threatened by anything other than another martial artist. Cue all-girls tournament arc.

As this is happening, the story begins to center women not just as characters but as subjects of social technology. There's an astonishingly intimate understanding of the relationship women have with their bodies, not just the athletes and sportive sadomasochists, but like, the other members of the protagonist's idol unit, like the girl with an eating disorder who purge-stunts her puberty so she can keep giving childlike appeal in her 20s.

The tournament arc presents a collection of female martial artists, a couple of which don't even have a sex thing going (about fighting or otherwise), and those that do are presented so honestly that it just feels, like, a genuine character with a somewhat skewed kink-psyche, yknow, like any real person. Yes, girl, I agree that women's MMA should also be allowed shirtless, for both feminist and horny reasons.

It's a fascinating development to watch unfold. I don't know if the author transitioned or was a lesbian coming into her own or just independently grew a Woman Respecting Gland, but by the end it's all-women's Baki with a public humilliation thing.

It never stops being hentai, but it's profoundly into the fighting itself even when the characters get naked in the ring. So much so that it finds time to explore the "combat sports vs martial arts" false dichotomy (a factor which would take a whole post on a different blog to explain, but which abounds in traditional martial arts manga - instantly conjures up the extremely macho Shamo, for one).

Apparently there's a movie based on this. No closing statement. Here's a collection of pictures of my favorite character (as pictured in my icon) being a fucking psycho.

[myfairgame]

軍鶏

[o-sachi]

Hello again, Sachi! I was wondering if you could recommend some sports anime or mangas, thank you! i've finished your recommendations (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

-Feesh🐟

Oh wow. All of them? Darn, now I wanna know who u are :((

Anyway! I'll try to make a list with a good amount of reccs lol

Sports AniManga:

Run With the Wind - This show is so close to my heart lol. I've watched the entire thing 3 times already at this point.

Slam Dunk - Genuinely the best sports manga imo. Takehiko Inoue's art is AMAZING and all of the characters (even from rival schools) were so lovable.

Ace of Diamond - I feel like this one has hints of realism in it which makes it more enjoyable. The cast is wonderful and it teaches you a lot about baseball lol.

One Outs - I like how it delves into the psychological aspect of sports, specifically baseball. The MC CARRIES the entire thing. I love this.

Catenaccio - art style is a bit questionable,,,,, but it helped cure my cravings for Blue Lock whenever I'd have to wait for chaps (bit hard to find complete translations of this)

Ao Ashi - also cured my cravings for Blue Lock (sometimes I end up thinking I like this more than Bllk...)

Prince of Stride - Weird pick, I know. But it's different from the rest since it's about parkour ? Idk maybe a unique sport might interest you.

Burning Kabbadi - same as the above, unique sport so it might interest you

Martial Arts/Fighting (kind of like sports?):

Kengan Series - MY FAVORITE OF ALL TIME. I'm probably biased. But like the art is top tier, characters are all interesting, the fights are well-coordinated. Literally everything is to love about it.

Holy Land - I got into this when I was in my boxing phase lol so it was relatable when MC was still learning boxing too. Very realistic!

Hajime no Ippo - it's a classic, but it's long sooooo,,,,,,

Shamo - a bit of a darker series, but enjoyable nonetheless

OUT - All the arcs of this manga are wonderfully written, like none of them miss. It's a bit dark and serious though, but it has some comedy which keeps it interesting lol (gangs and delinquents and stuff)

Bouncer - same author as OUT. tbh only read this because I got too impatient with OUT releases, but Bouncer is really good too especially if you like the fighting genre