Martial Master Asumi: Research Notes

Title: 

• Asumi Kakeru アスミカケル

  • Ah-sɯ-mee Kah-keh-rɯ

Author

• Kawada 川田

  • Kah-wah-dah

  • Apparently his pen name comes from Japanese pro wrestler Toshiaki Kawada

Characters

• Asumi, Baku 

• Asumi, Rei

• Asumi, Toyoko

  • Ah-sɯ-mee, Toe-yo-ko

• Asumi, Kazutora

• Asumi, Nito

  • Ah-sɯ-mee, Knee-to

  • Personal name pretty much just means “second son” (“second man/boy”)

• Asumi, Shiryu

• Asumi, Kazuro

• Asumi, Miu

• Fuchida, Yuya

  • Fɯ-chee-dah, Yɯ-yah

• Okiba, Na’o

  • Oh-kee-bah, Nah-oh

  • Remember that Na’o is two syllables and is now pronounced like “now” 

• Okiba, Yoshitoki

  • Oh-kee-bah, Yo-shee-toe-kee

• Ito, Yoji

  • Ee-toe, Yo-jee

• Do’i, Hiroko

  • Dough-ee, Hee-roe-ko

• Shirase, Jin

  • Shee-rah-seh, Jean

• Kozaki, Yuriko

  • Koe-zah-kee, Yɯ-ree-koe

Other

• Ukemi 受身

  • ɯ-keh-mee

  • The art of falling safely in martial arts

• Vale Tudo

  • VAH-lee TOO-doo

  • Portuguese for “anything goes”/”everything’s okay”

  • In Brazilian Portuguese, E at the end of a word is usually an “ee” sound (different in Europe), and an O at the end of a word is usually pronounced like “oo”

MaxyBee

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

    • (Both confirmed in this official tweet)

• Notable people they had as assistants

• none known

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 colour pages (like one every 10 chapters, roughly) throughout its run, three light novels, and an anime adaptation from Gonzo. 

    • The first six chapters are free to read on Manga Plus

    • Watch the anime on Crunchyroll

Publishing Details

Magazine:

• Weekly Shonen Jump

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

Manga Itself / Misc 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 organisations 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

• Chihiro Kunisaki, the inspirational MMA champion and father to Okome, is a significant character from Kawada’s debut series, Hinomaru Sumo. The character is a wrestling reference powerhouse, performing Cena’s Attitude Adjustment in a Hinomaru Sumo OP, having a nickname pinched from Randy Orton, and a design based off of ANOTHER greatest wrestler ever candidate, Satoshi Kojima, including a breathing strip on his nose.

• Ayako Hanagasaki is an ‘ojou’ type character, an upper-class wealthy young woman with ringlet hair and a fancy laugh one would typically do into the back of their hand. OH~HOHOHO. A genuine anime cliche, and one you can read more about on tvtropes or whatever.

• 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)