HSDK Battle 520 Released

Miu ruins everything. Literally everything.

I wonder how things will end for Tanaka. I'm sure Kenichi will "save him from the darkness" or whatever.

Tanaka's gonna get murderized by Ogata. He'll need Akisame to save him or something.

I'm still waiting to find out where Rimi's body is.

Not much really happened in this chapter, and it looks like the next one may include a flashback.

Raise your hand if you hate it when @eson makes the first post and doesn't do it the *right* way.

Please, you love it when I make the threads cause it gets your underwear all wet with excitement. Especially when I haven't made one in a while like this one. 

Interesting. Ogata has Tanaka in the palm of his hand it seems. I wonder what would happen if Tanaka did kill Ogata, though? Would be be able to come back to the katsujinken?

I think he'd be able to.

I'm gonna guess Akisame found out that Tanaka has been putting himself through some kind of insane training meant to make him more powerful. He and elder might be worried that Tanaka will become a killing machine.

ok chapter, though i wonder if they are kinda trying to close out on tanaka's character as a whole, to show that satsujinken is never the way or something like that

We can always count on Matsuena to make a new attack for each character

I get the feeling that Tanaka is going to die here. I've always had the feeling that he'd die when he faced Ogata, but the way Akisame is talking really makes it seem like it.

First impression is that the story is consistent in power scale for once. Tanaka is somewhat comparable to Kensei when letting his killing intent go, and Tanaka should be only low-mid master at best, so Ogata should actually be one of the weakest of the OSNF, which makes total sense seeing that he started down the path of martial arts later. He might be valued as an OSNF member for sheer knowledge and also teaching ability, but in pure power he doesn't look to be in the same leagues as Hongo/Agaard, but slightly below, in the Alexander/Diego tier.

Interesting and entertaining chapter.

Meh, was an alright chapter.

I'm glad we got to see the masters of ryozanpaku though, who's hoping Akisame rushes off to find Tanaka?

First of all: I wish my eyes could glow.

Second:

I think he'd be able to.

I would disagree. As soon as you kill someone you will always be a killer. One could try to atone for it but you can never bring back that life.

Third:

First impression is that the story is consistent in power scale for once. Tanaka is somewhat comparable to Kensei when letting his killing intent go, and Tanaka should be only low-mid master at best, so Ogata should actually be one of the weakest of the OSNF, which makes total sense seeing that he started down the path of martial arts later. He might be valued as an OSNF member for sheer knowledge and also teaching ability, but in pure power he doesn't look to be in the same leagues as Hongo/Agaard, but slightly below, in the Alexander/Diego tier.

 

Interesting and entertaining chapter.

I can see what you mean with different tiers among masters like we have Hayato at the top as the uber man followed by people like Kushinada and Jenazad and Miu's father (somewhat of a correlation with age) but as we have seen power is not the only deciding factor. Though in recent chapters we have seen the futility of deciples trying to take on an elite master. Im think we are going to see a lot more of Ogata and being how ominous Akisame is I'm not sure Tanaka's tenacity will succeed against the elite master. Taking age into account it would be evident that Ogata is at the lower end of being an elite master so it could go either way like with the Hongo/Jenazad fight.

Meh, who knows.

ok chapter, though i wonder if they are kinda trying to close out on tanaka's character as a whole, to show that satsujinken is never the way or something like that

Whoa, new @Baby Joe. Welcome to the forums!

Also. I just have to say this.

"What, Akisame?"

So who wants to take bets on him showing up at the fight? He'll save Rimi!

I hope he doesn't show up for this fight. And besides, it sounds like we are getting a flashback for the next chapter. 

@Rimi

Considering that Rimi has been talking for weeks on end on this forum, I think she will be fine.

Seriously, if Rimi dies while Apachai lived, I would rage. It's nothing about the characters themselves, but Rimi's circumstance of death would serve little purpose in deepening the story, while the Apachai death moment back then, if carried to conclusion, would have really added dimensions into the manga.

@Rimi

 

Considering that Rimi has been talking for weeks on end on this forum, I think she will be fine.

 

Seriously, if Rimi dies while Apachai lived, I would rage. It's nothing about the characters themselves, but Rimi's circumstance of death would serve little purpose in deepening the story, while the Apachai death moment back then, if carried to conclusion, would have really added dimensions into the manga.

Exactly! I honestly think death has no meaning in this manga anymore though.

Exactly! I honestly think death has no meaning in this manga anymore though.

Also, Rimi is probably the most stylish and best looking girl of the manga!

Edit: sorry for derailing haha.

Whoa, new @Baby Joe. Welcome to the forums!

 

Also. I just have to say this.

 

"What, Akisame?"

 

So who wants to take bets on him showing up at the fight? He'll save Rimi!

thanks , i feel so welcomed :3

and yea at this point in time akisame is probably gonna go into doctor mode and start saving everyone like a white mage

Exactly! I honestly think death has no meaning in this manga anymore though.

There have been what 2 deaths in this series so far? And only one of them has had any significance. In a manga filled with super beings that killed, you'd think there'd have been more deaths occurring. 

Also, Rimi is probably the most stylish and best looking girl of the manga!

 

Edit: sorry for derailing haha.

No, she isn't.

@Rimi

 

Considering that Rimi has been talking for weeks on end on this forum, I think she will be fine.

 

Seriously, if Rimi dies while Apachai lived, I would rage. It's nothing about the characters themselves, but Rimi's circumstance of death would serve little purpose in deepening the story, while the Apachai death moment back then, if carried to conclusion, would have really added dimensions into the manga.

I made an account just to rebuke this!

Rimi's death is a pivotal moment for a series of characters.  Miu is attached to everyone almost as intensily as Kenichi.  And those who aren't attached to her, are bonded to her through Kenichi.  She was pushed and pushed AND pushed into a situation where she could not suppress her enemy and broke her entire philosophy.  Kenichi has been lucky so far - when he defeated Boris, it was because Boris has some pride about what constitutes a loss.  That same logic would have meant Kenichi would have lost against Sho Kano.  But he never had to fight a villain he couldn't outlast. 

Now, I have to be careful here because Jenazad reaffirmed the underdog story of this manga.  In any situation, a sudden blow can undercut a superior fighter.  We cannot set aside tanaka until the fight is over.  However, of all the villains - Ogata is almost the key villain of this series - more so than Miu's father.  I would like to say that the series could challenge Kenichi with a string of failures - but I can't say that will happen.  I would like to believe that Miu would fall to darkness, and she has had such difficult challenges... but this series has always had an optimistic swim to it.  I don't think the author will commit to something that I can crunch teeth on. 

in fact, while I've been amused by Kenichi's reactions to certain challenges (Like Pollux command for him to give up martial arts and Tirawit's existence) Miu has had almost no luck when it comes to rivals.  It's very interesting, and seeing her pulled in every direction has great potential energy for the story.  She is so deeply connected to Kenichi that her corruption will challenge him to the very core and make him a great hero.   Of course, I've hit this problem several times in the story - where I thought we were getting to Miu's nadir, but she would deflect it.  (Honestly, in a tighter story, I think when Miu was trying to kill Hongo and he saw his pupil and wasn't able to strike her - that was the perfect Rimi death moment - she could have struck him down then.) 

Anyway, Rimi's death is extraordinarily pivotal, and it doesn't have to change the atmosphere entirely.

@Ranemoraken

I do agree with some of what you said. Rimi's death is "relatively powerful" and "doesn't have to change the atmosphere entirely". Apachai's death would instantly push the story into seinen mode.

but I disagree on the "extraordinarily pivotal" part.

I think that Rimi's death is not particularly powerful or necessary because Miu had all the preconditioned to fall into darkness, and she did not fall. After the Tidat arc, where we saw Miu brutalized guerilla fighters, if not killing them outright then critically injuring them. She hit vital points all the time during that arc. Even in the Rimi fight, it's not that Miu killed Rimi. Rimi killed herself. Miu can't stop someone from deliberately inducing internal bleeding any more than she can stop the tide.

Rimi is also not that close to Miu, or to Kenichi, for that matter. If anything there must be a bit of resentment between them all because of Rimi's irrational posessiveness of Ryuto.

I mean, now that the moment had past, Miu is already focusing on something else instead of on that previous fight and where Rimi was. 

Now if Rimi had managed to critically wound Miu and put her into a life and death situation, while sacrificing her own life, that would really put Miu's belief system into serious doubt, because Miu would feel that at the absolute limit of her potential, using katsujinken, she utterly could not win against a death-ready opponent of similar caliber, because being critically injured isn't that far off from death itself, a hairbreadth decided by luck.

But if the author decides to make Miu seriously unnerved after this because of Rimi's death, and become a darker character who will push both herself and Kenichi to mature, then I wouldn't complain either. It does make sense, but only because Miu had been built up as very emotionally immature and prone to shock. (she is very strong-willed, but immature, so the calm and controlled exterior that she has is actually a product of willful effort, not actual understanding of life)

-------

Oh, and a more minor point. I also disagree about the Sho Kano and Kenichi fight. This is different from how Boris conceded defeat because Kenichi choked him unconscious. Kenichi had Boris unconscious and immobilized, so he could have just snapped Boris's neck and be done with it. In the Sho fight, Kenichi was anything but defenseless when he was unconscious. In fact, he actually just dropped all the limiters and fought Kano on equal footings (which must have unnerved Kano a lot, especially if he knows that Kenichi only had about a year worth of martial art practice).

@Darkwing_Duck

Totally agreed... This manga had done the nearly impossible, making me bored of my favorite body type in a girl. "Mostly clothed" girls with more balanced features like Rimi now seem far more beautiful to me. haha.