History Manga / KenganAshura

* CentralTheme: ''Omega'' has a lot of emphasis placed on deception. It's revealed that [[spoiler: the Kengan Association has been infiltrated by the Worm]] early into the series, which puts all the returning characters on edge. Gaoh's fighting style is an assassination art based on redirection and confusion. A large amount of the [[spoiler: Purgatory fighters]] are planted by [[spoiler: the Worm in an attempt to subvert the grudge match between the two organizations- this includes people with established friendships, such as Lu and Fei.]] Characters like Nicolas Le Banner and Yumigahama Hikaru have backstories where they deceive someone though to be important to them in pursuit of selfish ends, [[spoiler: and "Nicolas" as we know him is actually an impersonator named Jean-Luc]]. All of these examples and more give the series a somewhat paranoid edge, as it can be difficult for the heroic characters to figure out who they can trust.

* AllJustADream: How the bonus ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' crossover chapters ended. Ohma fell asleep playing the video game and it apparently messed with his dreams... [[OrWasItADream or did it]]?

** With ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' in two of the extra chapters.

[[caption-width-right:343:Ohma Tokita, the titular "Ashura".]]

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The series' best fighters are capable of performing superhuman feats such as [[SuperStrength punch through concrete]], [[SuperSpeed react in time to defend against bullets]] and [[SuperToughness withstand blows that would have otherwise killed a normal person]]. However, aside from a few genetic anomalies such as Wakatsuki (born with super dense muscles), Julius (pumps himself with steroids to build muscles) and the Kure Clan (uses genetic breeding to develop stronger fighters), they are all normal humans whose sheer dedication to train themselves and become the strongest allow them to accomplish these incredible feats. Even with the anomalies, their modified [=DNAs=] aren't actually enough to realistically explain the feats they can accomplish (e.g. Julius is able to pull a racing car that's moving to the opposite direction at full speed without the chains he's wrapped in even managing to dig through his skin).

* TakeThat: In chapter 84, as part of Karo Yoshinari's introduction to the ring, one of his feats mentioned is sinking a ship belonging to the environmentalist group "Sea Chepherd" and capturing [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Paul Manson]], an "international terrorist." This is a reference to the real-life Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its founder, Paul Watson. Let's just say that the ''SSCS'' and Japan have some bad blood between them and [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment leave it at that]].

* DubText: The english fan translation effort for the manga takes several liberties regarding certain fighter titles, also the way some characters speak, resulting in flashier names and characters speaking in accents, slangs and profanity more in common with native english media.

* DoYouWantToCopulate: After assaulting him out of nowhere, Karla bluntly asks Ohma to have sex with her (in the middle of the room while other people were present) before adding that she wanted his babies. She does so every time she manages to catch him.

** Karla has a younger brother named Sarla.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: At the end of ''Ashura'', in Chapter 235, Okubo and Gaolang are having a chat after the tournament. In one panel, in the background of their conversation, we see Yoshizawa asking Hanafusa if he has a moment. Nothing else of their conversation is shown. This isn't elaborated on until over fifty chapters into ''Omega'', where it is finally revealed [[spoiler: that Yoshizawa was informing Hanafusa that somebody dropped off a box, a box containing a replacement heart for Ohma, and the reason for his survival.]]

** Sukechi is ''damn'' good at predicting his opponents moves, but he lacks the physical ability to take down individuals in the Kengan matches, and has to resort to sneak attacks to eke out a win. This means that on paper he's a very effective fighter, but in practice his style has its flaws. [[spoiler:When he fights Gaolang, a person who has spent years honing his ''own'' reflexes to make micro-adjustments to his movements when he sees his opponents going to block, he ends up losing.]]

** Gaolang is a boxer who fights in the heavyweight division despite actually being a Cruiserweight. His style of boxing, which emphasizes mobility and rapid strikes, is built for fighting opponents who are usually bigger than him. He proves to be the the Fang's superior in terms of striking and has the upper hand for most of the fight. Nonetheless, against the massive Agito, who outweighs him by 30kg(66lbs), this style of fighting actually becomes a disadvantage because Agito's sheer size ([[MadeOfIron and just being ridiculously tough even for his size]]) lets him power through over twenty clean hits from Gaolang. On the flipside, Gaolang ends up on the ropes after a mere two clean hits and two throws.

** [[spoiler:He takes this to a logical extreme with his fight against Toa in ''Omega''. Even though Toa is a martial artist of comparable size and musculature, in the past two years, Julius managed to gain such control over his muscles that he's effectively invincible to strikes. While Toa could have reasonably adapted to Julius' change in body makeup, Lolong notes that "passivity is the wrong move" as Julius leaps forward and crushes his defenses in an instant. In the end, the only way to beat someone so strong is to never let them get a chance to strike in the first place, but Toa's ego blinded him to this fact and as a result, Julius cuts him down in one blow.]]

** Carlos Medel, a boxer who dropped from heavyweight to bantamweight and is arguably more skilled than Gaolang. Carlos may be more mobile than him, slips his blows easily and land more strikes, but the weight difference means that landing even a jab is enough to hurt Carlos. The size difference is enough that Carlos [[spoiler:abandons fighting with purely boxing and mixes in some kicks of his own. When even that fails Carlos settles for a Ring Out.]]
** As discussed by several fighters on the Kengan Association side, Carlos increasing weight to go from Middleweight to Heavyweight hampered his performance in the ring, his frame was not suited for putting on 30 excess kilos of muscle and thus his striking power peaked far below Heavyweight. At the same time, the sheer weight difference between him now, a Bantamweight at best, fighting Gaolang Wongsawat, a Heavyweight means that while he moves in a higher dimension of speed, even a jab from a heavyweight would hurt him and being fast doesn't mean he's unable to be figured out. Gaolang ends up walking away from the fight with barely a couple of bruises, while Carlos is a beaten mess with a horrifically broken nose in comparison.

** Jurota is an absolutely massive Judoka who was already world-class in his teens and getting thrown by him is every bit as dangerous as you think it would be, ''especially'' on a tiled ring. Which is actually a problem for Jurota. The power of a throw is much harder to regulate than say a punch, so he has to be careful in how he throws his opponent without killing him. Lolong points out the irony of Jurota having become so incredibly powerful that the Purgatory rules are actively holding him back from performing at his best.

** As Lolong points out his "Eye in the sky" technique is not a real TopDownView, it's Naidan's instincts being so good it feels like he can survey from above but he can't really see what is happening behind his back if his opponent is too fast or unpredictable.

Official English Translation: [https://comikey.com/comics/kengan-omega-manga/10/ Comikey]

The following day, Kazuo is summoned by the Nogi Group's CEO, Hideki Nogi, who introduces him to the world of the Kengan matches: a place where wealthy business owners, corporation leaders and merchants hire gladiators to fight in unarmed combat where the winner takes all. With Kazuo being reacquainted with Ohma, the latter of whom has become the Nogi Group's latest fighter, the two's journey into the Kengan world begins.

''Kengan Ashura'' is a manga series written by Yabako Sandrovich and drawn by Daromeon,[[note]]One might recognize his art from ''Ketchup Ninja''[[/note]] beginning publication in 2012 it runs in ''Ura Sunday'', a {{Shounen}} Magazine, published by Shogakukan.

The sequel, ''Kengan Omega'', set 2 years after the original series, began publishing on January 31, 2019.

* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: The Kengan Association members wager enormous sums of money on the outcome of matches as side bets. Most notable is the bet Kazuo accidentally makes with [[BlandNameProduct Penasonic]] CEO Urita Sukizo for 10 percent of his company's stock, which is comes to a total value of ''288 billion yen''.

** Gaolang is a boxer who fights in the heavyweight division despite actually being a Cruiserweight. His style of boxing, which emphasizes mobility and rapid strikes, is built for fighting opponents who are usually bigger than him. Nonetheless, against the massive Agito, who outweighs him by 30kg(66lbs), this style of fighting actually becomes a disadvantage because Agito's sheer size (and just being ridiculously tough even for his size) lets him power through over twenty clean hits from Gaolang. On the flipside, Gaolang ends up on the ropes after a mere two clean hits and two throws.
** By ''Omega'', Cosmo has vastly improved from his appearance in ''Ashura'' and is a prime candidate to represent the Kengan Association in the tournament against Purgatory. [[spoiler:Internal politics within the Association ends up preventing him from representing them, as his employer belongs in Chairman Nogi's faction and accommodating other factions was required.]]
** By ''Omega'', Adam has vastly improved from his appearance in ''Ashura'' and is a prime candidate to represent the Kengan Association in the tournament against Purgatory. [[spoiler: Internal politics within the Association end up preventing him from representing them, as his employer belongs in Chairman Nogi's faction and accommodating other factions was required.]]

** Though Gaolong proves the Fang's superior in terms of hitting, spending the majority of the fight with the upper hand, the considerable difference in physique and Agito's [[MadeOfIron insane endurance even for his size]] leaves him unable to decisively knock Agito out.
** This also plays out with his fight against Carlos Medel, a boxer who dropped from heavyweight to bantamweight and is arguably more skilled than Gaolang. Carlos may be more mobile than him, slip his blows easily and land more strikes, but the weight difference means that landing even a jab is enough to hurt Carlos. The size difference is enough that Carlos [[spoiler:abandons fighting with purely boxing and mixes in some kicks of his own. When even that fails Carlos settle for a Ring Out.]]

** As big as Kengan is, it remains a shady bloodsport that more respectable combat sport association and martial art schools want no involvement in. The Rokushin karate dojo refuses to train active members and Kiozan's black sheep status in sumo circle is because he participates in them.

** Like Carlos he is fighting someone with greater offensive power but not as nimble as him. So when [[spoiler:Rihito]] hits him once with his SignatureMove, The Falcon is not gonna be able to recover without medical intervention and must end the fight fast or he'll lose. Kaneda also mentions that by the weight difference between the two The falcon can't knock out his opponent with one hit.

** Despite being a prodigy, Cosmo is still a kid who got into professional fighting for fun. When he realizes Akoya is actually trying to kill him, he goes into a state of shock and is only barely able to survive.
** In the case of his fighting style and youth, he's able to defeat opponents bigger and stronger than he is. But not without sustaining blows that cause him to collapse after the match is over, and the very nature of how he defeats them means they end up ''far'' less injured than he is.

* ActorAllusion:
** In the English dub, this is not the first time we hear Creator/KaijiTang (Ohma Tokita) voicing a guy which is an expert on kicking ass, [[VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarKensRage except he likes to blow the heads of his opponents with his fists]].
** The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, as this is not the first time we hear Alfredo Gabriel Basurto for the same character as well voicing another guy versed on martial arts, [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness except that last time, he was much fatter, and he was a panda]].
** Also from the Latin American Spanish dub, Masami Nezu, who is a big fan of Mockey Mouse, a parody of WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, is voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr., who is the official dub voice of Mickey. Likewise, Kunihiro Yumeno, the owner of Destiny Land, a parody of Disneyland and Nezu's boss, is voiced by Arturo Mercado, Nezu's voice actor's RealLife father and very famous in Mexico and Latin America for voicing many Disney characters in all his career, mainly [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]], [[Franchise/TheLionKing Simba]] and [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Hamm]].

** In ''Omega'', [[spoiler: Koga steps up to defend Kazuo from some of the Worm's henchmen. Despite managing to win a five-on-one fight against armed opponents, he still takes a massive beating that leaves him crippled. As it turns out, multiple stab wounds and deep lacerations can cripple you not matter how tough you are, and Koga is forced to bow out of the tournament with Ohma as his replacement.]]

** He's an absolutely massive Judoka who was already world-class in his teens and getting thrown by him is every bit as dangerous as you think it would be, ''especially'' on a tiled ring. Which is actually a problem for Jurota. The power of a throw is much harder to regulate than say a punch, so he has to be careful in how he throws his opponent without killing him. Lolong points out the irony of Jurota having become so incredibly powerful that the Purgatory rules are actively holding him back from performing at his best.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: When the Kengan Association is under the thread of being devoured by Purgatory, the previously opposing factions within the group are forced to get over their differences and work together in order to remain afloat. This is exploioted by [[spoiler:Hayami]], who agrees to help Nogi with the stipulation that he gets to become Deputy Chairman if the fighter he sends wins his round.

* RealityEnsues: Despite how over-the-top the series seems at first, it frequently invokes this. The action is less outright fantastical and more an exaggerated version of real combat sports, and thus remains somewhat grounded.
** Haruo is an overweight giant of a man, which comes to bite him in his match when Akoya delivers several focused strikes to Haruo's right knee. Eventually, the injuries take their toll and Haruo's leg starts straining from the sheer weight of his own body.
** Sekibayashi is a human tank who makes up for his unwillingness to block or dodge by being able to soak up an enormous amount of damage. After his win against Kiozan Takeru, he collapses from exhaustion after leaving the stadium.
** Also, no matter how physically tough a fighter like Sekibayashi truly is, he still needs to breathe. [[spoiler:Both Ohma and Muteba managed to knock him out by striking his windpipe and his heart respectively.]]
** Kaneda's Kujin Style is designed for combat in warfare, specifically by disabling an opponent with weapons and armor, then finishing them off as quickly as possible with (what the style assumes the user should have) a knife. This martial art is largely unsuited against the unarmed styles of the other, stronger Kengan fighters and he ends taking a beating before he finally manages to get a hit in.
** Cosmo Imai may be a hard-working young genius with incredible pound-for-pound strength, but he's still a featherweight in an Openweight fighting league. He constantly goes up against opponents who are bigger, stronger and tougher than he is and often just as skilled as well, meaning they have his number in a straight up fist-fight. Thus he uses Jiu-Jitsu, with his personal style having a particular emphasis on chokeholds, allowing him to somewhat negate the disadvantage and bring down his hulking opponents. Nonetheless, the injuries he suffers from the blows they land on him cause him to collapse right after he wins and accumulate over time (a serious problem at the Anihilation Tournament, which has only a day to rest between rounds), while his opponents come out barely injured due to the manner in which he defeated them. Cosmo spends most of the tournament in a wheelchair as a result.
** Cosmo is a 19 year old who entered the tournament simply to ''fight'', not fight to the death. Unfortunately, this tournament has no rules towards killing and allows mercenaries and serial killers to compete. So when [[KnightTemplar Akoya]] bites into Cosmo's leg, the boy starts shaking uncontrollably and fearing for his life. His employer Akira is fully aware of this and states that he doesn't consider himself to be considered a good person for it by any means.
** Gaolang is a boxer who fights in the heavyweight division despite actually being a Cruiserweight. His style of boxing, which emphasizes mobility and rapid strikes, is built for fighting opponents who are usually bigger than him. Nonetheless, against the massive Agito, who outweighs him by 30kg(66lbs), this style of fighting actually becomes a disadvantage because Agito's sheer size (and just being ridiculously tough even for his size) lets him power through over twenty clean hits from Gaolang. On the flipside, Gaolang ends up on the ropes after a mere two clean hits and two throws.
** Purgatory has overtaken the Kengan association because there are rules that protect their fighters, most importantly: if a fighter kills their opponent, they are disqualified and not paid. The promise of a measure of safety attracts more fighters and a greater audience, as not many people actively ''want'' to see a man killed in the ring.
** In ''Omega'', [[spoiler: Koga steps up to defend Kazuo from some of the Worm's henchmen. Despite managing to win a five-on-one fight against armed opponents, he still takes a massive beating that leaves him crippled. As it turns out, multiple stab wounds and deep lacerations can cripple you not matter how tough you are, and Koga is forced to bow out of the tournament with Ohma as his replacement.]]
** Koga is a very talented fighter, and it's heavily implied that he has TheGift for martial arts in the form of his intelligence and reaction speed. He doesn't take long to be educated enough to start being a serious threat in martial arts, but there's one thing he lacks- ''experience.'' It does not matter how much of a savant you are, as a lack of experience means that your well of talent won't get put to good use. [[spoiler: Thus, while Koga is on his way to being a seriously dangerous fighter (possibly on the level of Ohma himself, if Ohma's comments towards him in the hospital are true) his lack of experience means that he can't hope to measure up to any of the real heavyweights in the association. As a result he barely ekes out a win against the guy who's probably the worst fighter in the association, and is forced to bow out of the Purgatory grudge match following his injuries from the above ambush.]]
** As big as Kengan is, it remains a shady bloodsport that more respectable combat sport association and martial art schools want no involvement in. The Rokushin karate dojo refuses to train active members and Kiozan's black sheep status in sumo circle is because he participates in them.
** There is in theory nothing stopping anyone from using "Removal", the Kure and Wu clan bloodline technique of releasing their muscle inhibitor. It's just that this trope will apply to them as unlike the Kure and Wu they aren't bred to have body that can handle the strain.

In May 2015 the series won a poll organized by ''Ura Sunday'' in which the winner would become eligible for getting an Animated Adaptation, ''Kengan Ashura'' got more than 2 million fan votes, winning. The anime adaptation by Larx Entertainment premiered on July 31, 2019 on Netflix.

In May 2015 the series won a poll organized by ''Ura Sunday'' in which the winner would become eligible for getting an Animated Adaptation, ''Kengan Ashura'' got more than 2 million fan votes, winning. The anime adaptation by Creator/StudioHibari premiered on July 31, 2019 on Netflix.

In May 2015 the series won a poll organized by ''Ura Sunday'' in which the winner would become eligible for getting an Animated Adaptation, ''Kengan Ashura'' got more than 2 million fan votes, winning. The anime adaptation premiered on July 31, 2019 on Netflix.

* RatedMForManly: This centers around the titular Kengan tournament, where a bunch of musclebound men beat the shit out of each other in cool and badass ways.

** Cosmo Imai may be a hard-working young genius with incredible pound-for-pound strength, but he's still a middleweight in an association with no weight classes. He constantly goes up against opponents who are bigger, stronger and tougher than he is, meaning they have his number in a straight up fist-fight, thus he uses Jiu-Jitsu, with his personal style having a particular emphasis on chokeholds, allowing him to somewhat negate the disadvantage and bring down his hulking opponents. Nonetheless, the injuries he suffers from the blows they land on him cause him to collapse right after he wins and accumulate over time (a serious problem at the Anihilation Tournament, which has only a day to rest between rounds), while his opponents come out barely injured due to the manner in which he defeated them. Cosmo spends most of the tournament in a wheelchair as a result.

** Dazai Yukio, the head of Teito University, looks exactly like Japanese author Dazai Osamu, and shares the same surname.

** Sekibayashi's wrestling mentor Babadozan Hiroshi had the same impressive physique and distinctive jaw as legendary Japanese professional wrestler Wrestling/AntonioInoki.