Kengan Ashura is a 13-year-old martial arts manga series written by Yabako Sandrovich and illustrated by Daromeon that was published on April 18, 2012, and finished on April 9, 2018. It got its own anime adaptation with two seasons on July 31, 2019, on Netflix, premiering the first 12 episodes of the first season, while the second part of the first season was released on October 31 of the same year, releasing episodes 13-24. The final season of the series premiered in September 2023 with 12 episodes within the first part and 16 episodes in the second part, premiering in August 2024, concluding the series.
Summary
Ever since the Edo Period of Japan, arenas in which fighters would compete have existed in many ways around the world. In these arenas, wealthy businessmen and traders/merchants would hire the best fighters to fight in unarmed combat, and whoever wins takes all. These matches would be called “Kengan Matches,” and they’d still be active in modern Japan. One day, in the busy streets of Japan, an ordinary salaryman notices two men going into the dark alley. Upon checking to see what happens, the two men engage in a fight while the salarymen watch and are dumbstruck by the event that he is witnessing. The fighter for the Nogi Group is defeated by the mysterious fighter, and the salaryman asks the fighter for his name. From there, the story of our two main characters begins.
Main Characters
Ohma Tokita: A fighter somewhere in his late 20s, he defeats the fighter for the Nogi Group in a dark alley. He turns himself into the Nogi Group to be the representative fighter for the Kengan Association. Kazuo Yamashita becomes his caretaker/manager as they both dive deeper into the Kengan matches, and later compete in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. He earns the ring name “The Ashura” (which is a type of demon) because of his aggressive fighting style, which is called “The Niko Style”. At first, he comes off as rough, arrogant, and short-tempered, but he becomes a more mature and mellow person as the series progresses.
Kazuo Yamashita: A 56-year-old business salaryman of the Nogi Group (the job he works for). After the encounter with Ohma Tokita, he is assigned to be Ohma’s caretaker and later manager. For him to have Ohma compete in the Kengan matches, he has to be a CEO of a company, so with the help of the CEO of Nogi Group, he has his own company and becomes President of Yamashita Trading Co. Even though he starts as timid and average, the deeper he goes, experiencing the Kengan matches, the more he evolves as a person and grows a deeper bond with Ohma.
What I think about the Series
I’m not a huge fan of anime, but I must say I really enjoyed the series. The fighting scenes were really cool and well-made because they were in CGI, which made the fights feel real or authentic. I really connected well with the two main characters, and I enjoyed that their personalities are polar opposites to each other.
Conclusion
Overall, I would give this anime a 10/10. It made a good impression as my first anime, and if you like MMA, Martial Arts, or fighting, this would be a good series to watch.
