History Manga / AllRounderMeguru

Much [[LighterAndSofter lighter]] than the author's previous work, the story is highly realistic, both with regards to the [[ShownTheirWork mixed martial arts]] and the character relationships.

** During the Openweight division of a Ju-Jitsu tournament, Momoko opponent in the semifinal was less skilled... And also 180 cm tall, ''massive'', and informed that Momoko had neglected body conditioning for years. Said opponent shamelessly used her size and conditioning advantage to try and win by exhaustion, and while Momoko's skills carried the day she was too tired to give her best in the finals and lost relatively quickly.

* WeakButSkilled: Momoko: her skills in Judo in Ju-Jitsu are excellent, but she neglected physical conditioning for years and is easily outlasted in tournaments because of it.

* HonorBeforeReason: When Takashi confronts a gang of thugs alone, he enters their den by walking directly through the front door instead of ambushing or sneaking. His reasonimg? "I'm a Karateka."

* ACupAngst: After [[BuxomIsBetter Kaoru Nobeoka]] enters the picture, Maki's insecurity over her own "mosquito bites" slowly starts driving her nuts. [[ClingyJealousGirl It doesn't help]] that her crush Meguru seems to be pretty smitten with the latter...

* CombatPragmatist: Skilled fighters ''will'' take shamelessly advantage of any weakness of their opponents, be it fixation on a certain technique, being too muscular for the sport, or not having the adequate physical conditioning just to mention three. {{Downplayed}} due the presence of rules and very strict referees, but if it's not forbidden the athletes ''will'' do it.

* AccidentalPervert: Not so much accidental as deliberately engineered by a third party, but Meguru's first ever interaction with Maki involves running into her while she's changing in the girls' locker room. [[ArmorPiercingSlap Predictable results]] ensue.

* NakedFirstImpression: Done twice, with two sets of characters. The first time (Meguru and Maki) ends [[ArmorPiercingSlap exactly how you'd expect it to]]. The second one (Yudai and Momoko), on the other hand...

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: This being a very realistic manga, it happens quite often, enough to have [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome/AllRounderMeguru its own page]].

* AmazonianBeauty: Maki, pictured above, has a slender but muscular build. And since this is a fighting sports manga, plenty of the other girls count, such as coach Maria, Kaoru or even Momoko.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:"Yudai, you'll [[TemptingFate hurt yourself]] getting out of a hold[[note]] an armbar[[/note]] like that."]]

* CombatCommentator: For all the shooto matches; unsurprising since it's a spectator sport.

* DeadpanSnarker: Maki, full stop. Gets called out on it at one point, but it's PlayedForLaughs.

* InstantSedation: Used on Takashi's father.

* OperationJealousy: Meguru becomes the Other Guy in one of these.
* PantyShot: Subverted when Kazumasa and Tadashi discover, [[BigNo to their horror]], that most schoolgirls wear gym shorts under their skirts.
-->'''Meguru:''' That's the sound of their lecherous dreams being shattered.
* ParentalAbandonment: Takashi.
* PerpetualSmiler: Maria.

* SayItWithHearts: In a [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall breaking moment]], this actually gets noticed by other characters.

* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Meguru's grandmother.
* SoreLoser: Kiyoshi Ogasawara can really hold a grudge to the point where he wont let go of it till he beats you in a rematch.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Meguru and Takashi.

** Pro rules allows for "ground and pound" (getting on top of an opponent and punching them in the face), something that can quickly get in this territory if the fighter on the bottom can't defend efficiently, at which point the referee ''will'' stop the fight. Watanabe even has a reputation for this, being a former freestyle wrestler with the relative overwhelming strenght and thus having a rather easy time to get in this position.

* BoringYetPractical: Many a fight is decided by one or more "boring" techniques trained through endless repetitions. In particular, Meguru and Yudai benefit ''a lot'' from Maria having them spend hours doing nothing but the basic one-two boxing combo, as the jab and cross have a range advantage over the more powerful hook preferred by most MMA practitioners.

An ongoing series by Endo Hiroki, author of ''Manga/EdenItsAnEndlessWorld''. ''All Rounder Meguru'' is the story of a young Shooto fighter in the amateur circuit, his relationships with his gym and school friends, and his ambitions to reach pro level.

** When facing four knife-wielding thugs, Takashi has been shown to use techniques that ''start'' with [[GroinAttack kicks in the crotch]] and gets progressively more painful and potentially lethal. By the time he was finished, [[spoiler:his yakuza boss uncle had to have someone else take the fall as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he had hurt them so badly he would get jailed for excess of self defense and he wanted Takashi clean]].]]

** Aya, Maki's rival from Osaka, is a nice and ditzy girl. She's also Maki's rival in MMA and the only one who defeated her in a kick-boxing match, and during the All Japan Amateur Shooto Championship she [[spoiler:blocks Maki from behind and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown repeatedly punches her from behind]], the single most brutal technique allowed in amateur rules]]-and when Maki comes back, she does it ''again''. Even her trainer was slightly disturbed...

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Maki is straight, but since she goes to an all-girls school, it's only inevitable that she receives this kind of attention from [[SchoolgirlLesbians certain types]], much to her chagrin.

* RealityEnsues: This being a very realistic manga, it happens quite often, enough to have [[RealityEnsues/AllRounderMeguru its own page]].

* MegaManning: Meguru's specialty, although in a more low key fashion than usual. Justified in that he wanted to be able to master the techniques that were used to defeat him before.

* InsufferableGenius: Mitsuya is a former candidate for the ''Olympic Games'', and has the awesome strength and skills one would expect from such an athlete. He also has a horrible attitude that got him kicked out of the Olympic Games training.

* RealityEnsues: This being a very realistic manga, it happens quite often:
** Before the timeskip, Meguru and Takashi as kids get in a fight with three older kids and find out that [[GoodOldFisticuffs some basic knowledge of karate just isn't enough against untrained opponents that are more numerous, more experienced in fights, and larger to boot]].
*** After the timeskip Takashi discovers that being a good karate-based ''teen amateur'' MMA fighter just isn't enough against an experienced bodyguard with a past as a ''professional'' boxer, especially if one can't defend against hooks at the torso (and Takashi trainining specifically for those gets him through a number of fights), and later the flashback of Takashi's time in an orphanage shows what happened when a teen with some basic knowledge of karate and no body conditioning gets in a fight against a larger opponent.
** Takashi's father used to get in many fights as a teen, and later left his family to have a career as a karateka in Tokyo expecting a cakewalk. His arrogance crumbled when he discovered that Tokyo had karatekas from all around Japan with many stronger than him, and his attitude eventually pushed him to join the Yakuza.
** During the timeskip, [[YouKilledMyFather Takashi trained hard so to be able to kill the man responsible for his father's death]], counting on his yakuza uncle, who wants him as his heir, to be able to confront him as soon as he gets out of jail. [[spoiler:Takashi finds out that his father's killer has been murdered in jail, and it's implied the order came from ''his uncle'', who didn't want his chosen heir to get in jail for murder]].
*** Later Takashi beats up a thug that had got on his uncle's "punishment list" because [[PragmaticEvil his attitude risked to get them in trouble with the law]], and lets the friend hired to capture him take him to his uncle. He later finds out that [[spoiler:the yakuza wanted the thug ''dead'' for resisting the initial attempt at punishing him (why Takashi went to take him down: his friend had been beaten up and captured and was risking to get killed) and had Takashi's friend take the fall so he wouldn't risk jail for the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he gave him, with the friend gladly accepting because while he had little choice but becoming a yakuza Takashi had a brighter future ahead]].
** After being convinced to enter a MMA match, Maki neglects to train in grappling beyond some basic defensive technique, expecting to carry the day anyway thanks to [[HugeSchoolGirl the reach given her by her height]] and her powerful kicks. Her opponent, Kaoru, takes quite some damage but eventually forces her to submit in grappling.
** ''Proper'' dieting to get in a weight class is quite hard. Urasawa's defeat in a match is blamed partly on him failing to lose weight properly, and Meguru gets in the Kanto Tournament because one of the contestants in his weight class couldn't pass the weigh-in due ''getting too muscular''.
** Four untrained and arrogant thugs with knives are no match for a good MMA fighter that isn't pulling any punch, especially if he's smart enough to attack first with no warning. To the thugs' credit, one of them went ''immediately'' for the drawer they were keeping a gun in, but Takashi saw him and broke his hand with a kick first-because he knew perfectly he would have been no match for a gun.
** Getting in an openweight tournament can have someone forced to fight an opponent two or three times their size-and that can close the gap even against a master of technique.
** Proper physical conditioning is extremely important. Momoko, being a genius at Judo and Ju-Jitsu, would often neglect it, and, as Yudai points out before it happens again, she often lost tournaments because she got too tired.
*** On the same, proper physical conditioning takes time. Momoko's defeat for tiredness at the openweight tournament happens ''after'' she starts training properly, but only a few weeks of training didn't give her enough stamina to properly fight five matches in one day (two in a bantamweight tournament, and three in the openweight. The semi-finals opponent being a 1.80 meters giantess who was informed of her poor conditioning and [[CombatPragmatist took advantage of it]] didn't help arriving fresh at the finals).
** While having a favored technique or combo is normal, someone getting fixated with a specific one ends up being prevedible and easily countered by a more rounded opponent, no matter how good they are at said technique. It gets to the point that, while watching the match between Meguru and known "ankles maniac" Masuoka, Kagaya can anticipate that Masuoka will launch his final attack by jumping at Meguru's ankle-and that Meguru will knock him out with a knee strike.

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Maki is straight, but since she goes to an all-girls school, it's only inevitable that she receives this kind of attention from [[SchoolgirlLesbians certain]] [[BiTheWay types]], much to her chagrin.

** Four untrained and arrogant thugs with knives are no match for a good MMA fighter that isn't pulling any punch, especially if he's smart enough to attack first with no warning.

** When facing four knife-wielding thugs, Takashi has been shown to use techniques that ''start'' with [[GroinAttack kicks in the crotch]] and gets progressively more painful and potentially lethal. By the time he was finished, [[spoiler:his yakuza boss uncle had to have someone else take the fall as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he had hurt them so badly he would get jailed for excess of self defense and he wanted Takashi clean]].