Martial Master Asumi: Unedited Audio and Recording Notes

Manga Details

• Author: Kawada

  • Notable people they were an assistant for

    • Ryo Hoshino

      • on Ns'Aoi and/or Ns'Aoi ~THOSE DAYS~

    • Tadatoshi Fujimaki (of Robot x Laserbeam fame)

      • on Kuroko's Basketball

  • Other works

    • Hinomaru Sumo (2014-2019, 28 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)

      • The most popular of a very small handful of sumo manga in Weekly Shonen Jump's history, despite its status as Japan's national sport. Not a massive seller, but enjoyed a significant amount of color pages (like one every 10 chapters, roughly) throughout its run, three light novels, and an anime adaptation from Gonzo. 

• Publishing

  • Run Dates: June 19, 2023 to February 12, 2024

  • Series it replaced

• its spot had been occupied by one-shots beforehand, unclear what series would have counted. I think I’ve used everything else on surrounding titles.

• Series that replaced it

  •  Dear Anemone by Rin Matsui (ongoing)

• Series that started at the same time as it

  • Ice-Head Gill (2 vols, flop, Episode 92)

• Chapters/Volumes: 32 chapters/4 volumes

About the Manga

• Plot

  •  Nito Asumi is a high schooler whose grandpa has dementia. The only time he’s lucid is when he’s teaching Nito sick kung fu moves while confusing him for his brother Kazuro. At school Nito is bullied relentlessly and his friend Yuya says he wants to do MMA so he can fight them off. Nito meets Nao who he immediately develops a crush on cuz she wears glasses and that’s his fetish. Her father also runs the MMA gym where Yuya is planning to go. Nito is dragged there before deciding it’s not for him and as he leaves he’s ambushed by his bullies. Nito then goes crazy mode and fucking wrecks their asses.

  •  Nao sees this happen and demands he join her MMA gym. Soon we find out that Nito’s older brother Kazuro is Kaz-low, a famous MMA fighter who is also a douchebag. Nito hates his brother for abandoning their family. Kazuro beats the shit out of Nito in an impromptu MMA match and tells him to go pro so that they can fight each other again. The fight was filmed and put on YouTube where it goes viral. Nao then wins a tournament allowing her to join a professional promotion. Nito follows up by joining an underground tournament. If Nito wins three matches then he can go pro and he easily wins the first two. The final match is against Taiga, an orphan-turned-fighter from a really shitty and poor gym who pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Nito defeats him by blacking out and going crazy mode on his ass. This makes Nito officially a pro fighter.

  •  It turns out that Nao wants to go pro so she can fight Okome, a prodigy who previously insulted her club and beat the shit out of her in a fight. Nao first has to fight this rich girl who used to be a fencer. She wins and tells Okome she’s coming after her, who flips her off. Next Nito meets a guy at his grandpa’s adult daycare who is an MMA fighter getting ready for what may be his last fight which is actually against Nito GASP. Then Kazuro tells him to win a tournament so they can fight. Flash forward a year and Nito has won the tournament. The manga ends as he steps into the ring with his older brother.

• Characters

  • Nito Asumi

    • MC

    • Is scary babby

    • ULikes a lady with glasses

    • Spams the same move

  • Nao Okiba

    • Legally required female protag

    • Loves MMA

    • Glasses

    • Cute fang alert

    • MMA goblin 

    • I really dislike her design 

  • Grandpa

    • Former MMA fighter 

    • Badass

    • Hardass

    • Kicksass

  • Kazuro

    • Oldest brother 

    • Hot headed

    • Weak should fear the strong

    • Literally pays to beat up people

Why it Failed

• I'm not a fan of the art style it looks halfway to stylized so it all looks kinda uncanny 

• The explanation text is lazy it could have been much more organic

• I really don't know what the plot of this series is as things like the romance and grandpa plot are kinda muddled at the start 

• It just feels so slow paced how is there no MMA matches in the firsr 6 chapters 

• The series tried to have it both ways with the mc is he a novice or a pro at the spot?

• Ultimately this series just didn't know what it wanted to do it really needed an editor to say what is the purpose of this series 

• We don't really learn much about MMA the info is so slow I don't feel im learning much 

• The beat me at the top is so cliche and isn't a fun cliche yet

• Even the fights don't seem well paced or drawn I didn't feel a lot from the MMA fight in chapter 9

• The writing feels super disjointed during the underground arc like I couldn't fully follow his masters conditions and how are they how bffs?

• So much dialogue it slows everything down

• They really barely fight in the first half

• Wow fucking super edgy personality 

• Wow skipping the women's fight so great 

• I don't think there's a point to any of the characters besides the mc and his grandpa

What it Did Well - Brody

• Art is solid, backgrounds!

• I like the slumdog style fights where the mc thinks back to his grandpa teaching him 

• The fierce imagery is really good 

• The sense of moving nowhere when dealing with Grandpa's dementia is a really interesting idea

• Focus on female MMA and shows how they're just as competent 

• The first big fight is actually really interesting 

• I liked the fencing stuff in the womens fight 

• Finally giving a woman's fight respect 

Where it Could Have Gone - Jordan

• Really build the character parts like his other siblings don't seem to matter 

• have it he really struggles with MMA and needs their support 

• Imagine if he still lives with his brother it's about getting away from your abuser and just really dealing with a difficult life situation

• MMA draws on a lot of different things so what if it was about the mc able to make raise money for a caretaker via his fights which would let him live more of his life which gives him inspiration for fighting techniques 

Misc Thoughts

• Why do bad manga always have special move spam

• Is tag team MMA a thing

• Maxy Bee thoughts:

  • Kawada is obviously a pen name, and savvy pro-wrestling fans would have already guessed that it's in tribute to Toshiaki Kawada, the Best Match Machine, one of the four pillars of heaven, and quite possibly the greatest professional wrestler of all time.

  • The fake MMA organizations shown in chapter 9 have real world equivalents. Here’s two I identified:

    • Shugeki’s real world equivalent is Shooto, founded by TIGER MASK (well, the first one) in 1985

    • Cross Impact’s real world equivalent is Pancrase, founded by wrestling legends Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki in 1993. You should watch some old Pancrase, it’s real good!

  • A glasses fetish doesn’t have a traditional latin name, but people with too much time on their one free hand have decided to call themselves spectaphiles.

  • Yes the “Kid Tiger” mask is a reference to Tiger Mask (the wrestling persona and the manga that inspired it). Hence having it worn by Taiga, a guy fighting for his orphanage. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.

  • A knockout with a flying knee in under ten seconds will be familiar to any fans of Jorge Masvidal, who knocked out Ben Askren in 5 seconds with one.

  • The Dropout’s 70 kg and under championship belt is literally just the WWF (now WWE) Hardcore Championship.

  • The flaming eye effect is a visual motif brought over from Kawada’s debut series, Hinomaru Sumo

  • Volume extras include:

    • Character profiles

    • Move explanations (with mini-profiles of those who pioneered them)

    • Explanations from Grandpa about rules and concussions and such.

    • Pointless trivia (i.e. what injuries the bullies got in chapter 1, whether Kazuro is allowed to train at gyms in Japan with his tattoo)

    • Bonus comics (both full page and little gags between chapters)

    • Staff credits (with accompanying cheesecake of the series’ many buff women)

  • At the time of the research deadline the final volume of MMA has not been released in Japan. Make sure to keep an eye on the Shonen Flop discord for any interesting information that it may bring in early May!

Final Verdict

• Six Word summary

  • Community

    • Tucker: Turns out violence IS the answer!

    • Maxybee: Pro wrestling next time please, Kawada-sensei!

    • AuraPaladin: Found its footing far too late

    • Balthasaurus: Third best cancelled series I've read.

    • blahmoomoo: Tragically, feet couldn't save this one (referring to volume 2's cover)

    • Chickenwarlord: Sibling showdown tragically taps out early

    • dackerson: Shonen Jump Knocks Out Another Fighter

    • Diego The Phantom Seer: The King of Fighters could never

    • DL-T: The title is "MMA", get it?

    • duderocks the earthchild stan: Brothers want to punch each other

    • GenericMan: Imagine if this turned into Ranma

    • Glornak Ironspawn: This martial master retired too early

    • GreyPotter 👑 King of Questions: TKO. Victor : shonen jump sports curse

    • Isekai Sensei-Sama 🎙: She Serves Strong Superb Suplexes Swiftly | Martial Master Makes Mincemeat Most Magnificently

    • Kermit The Grog: Tanked Teens Tussle To Take Title | Alt: They took my muscle child away 😭

    • Kpt.Kluless: A New Flop Enters The Ring

    • LassOfTheRedRose: Jump says NO to girls fighting

    • Loser: Great technique but lacking knockout power

    • Luffy0321: Boy grapples with his family’s trauma

    • Meru (Commissions open!): MMA without Heel is bad MMA

    • Portal man: finding romance in mixed martial arts

    • Redblade: Timid Tactician Grapples With Familial Heel

    • Resident Warhammer Nerd: Punching Down is in bad taste

    • Riel: How many concussions does Asumi have?

    • Riley: Making Me Angry, Martial Manga Axed

    • Sbubby: WHY DOESN'T JAPAN LIKE MUSCLE GIRLS???

    • Scott: Shonen jump declares their complete cowardice

    • Spike: Round begin, series end... lights out

    • St. Digizi, the evil sleepy A.I.: A near knockout loses the technical

    • The Laughing Fool: Dante and Vergil as MMA fighters

    • The Wolf The Wood The Trafalgar: ..., 8, 9, 10, and it's out!

    • Watchtower: Fighter's Promising Career Tragically Cut Short 

    • (From an email!) goldjedi64: Slow start equals one hit KO!1337