Kagesada Sugano

Kagesada Sugano
Tenjho Tenge character

Kagesada (Asshat) early in the story.
First appearance Volume 6, Page 147
Created by Oh! great

Kagesada Sugano (菅野 影定 Sugano Kagesada?) is a character in the manga and anime series Tenjho Tenge. He is a member of the Juken Club. He's better known by his nickname, Asshat (manga) or Scum (anime).

Contents

Character outline

Kagesada is an arrogant yet cowardly student at Todo Academy. His freshman year, he was clueless about the nature of the school. He arrogantly thought he could actually win the School's Election Tournament. He was quickly put in his place by a teacher, who scared him into realizing he was a nothing in Todo. During this incident, his teacher "christened" him Asshat (Scum in the anime).[1] The nickname stuck, as he was referred to almost solely by his nickname for the majority of his appearances. After that point he tends to be rather cowardly, running from fights etc. By his senior year, he is highly knowledgeable about the school and the tactics of the Executive Council. He appears to be good friends with Shinichirō Kurei, and Masataka Takayanagi appears to respect and have faith in him as well.

Kagesada is terrified of Mitsuomi Takayanagi, hiding the instant he sees anyone even mildly resembling him. Kagesada is also scared of Shin Natsume, even after his death, causing him to run and hide when he feels something is similar to the time Shin was in school. Kagesada lacked the will to fight for a long time, due to trauma from a life threatening injury suffered when Shin lost it while fighting Mitsuomi. After Shin's death, Kagesada trains significantly. He appeared to be very determined in that training and has become fairly strong. It didn't do him much good as he lacked the will to fight; however, he seems to have found the will to fight recently, even stepping up to claim a series fights for himself. It appears this change in behavior is a result of Souichiro Nagi seemingly inspiring him. Kagesada speculates they fight for the same reason, women's tears drive them to fight.

As he is a founding member of the Juken Club, he has known Maya Natsume longer than anyone else currently in the club. However, given his usual cowardly nature he generally isn't considered one of the "legendary founders" of the club.

Techniques & Abilities

Kagesada is actually not a bad fighter in his senior year. He has been training ever since Shin's death, and has made himself significantly strong as a result. Even Souichiro was impressed with the power of his punch. That said he typically does not fight, electing to run instead. He doesn't use a named style, but it appears to be similar to boxing.

Sugano Bodyguard

Surprisingly enough by his senior year Kagesada has become quite good with women. He literally has an army of women to do his bidding, called the "Sugano Bodyguard". Four of these women appear to have a higher status and are referred to as the "Heavenly Divas".[2] The girls of the Sugano Bodyguard will do anything for Kagesada. They often participate in "contests" to determine who can go on a date with him, such as who can suck a conveniently placed Popsicle down to the stick the fastest. He tends to use his Sugano Bodyguard to fight as opposed to doing it himself.

Techniques

Sugano Bodyguard, Silk Temple Wooden Man Kenpou[3]
A large quantity of women strip to reveal bikinis and swarm the opponent. It is both used to attack and distract as some women hit the opponent and others merely shove their breasts in the opponent's face.

Synopsis

Anime and OVAs

Flashback Arc

Kagesada is rather unimportant in the anime and OVA's appearing only in the flashback arc. As Shin's rampage scared all the other students, he couldn't find 5 members to compete in the Election Tournament. All he had was the remaining Katana members: himself, Bunshichi Tawara, and Mitsuomi. Mitsuomi convinced Maya to join and she was so confident the 4 of them were enough, she beat up Kagesada and forced him to join the club despite the fact he has no fighting talent.

Kagesada may be a coward, but he isn't stupid. He spent the majority of the tournament paranoid and terrified while hanging around Bunshichi (who was ranked number 1 at the time). In typical Bunshichi fashion, he refuses to fight claiming he signed up for the club in name only. He eventually does fight when a group corners him and Kagesada. As the club that attacked them was all girls; Kagesada tried his instant death move (as he calls it), the pretty boy flash (he poses and smiles at them). It fails miserably and Bunshichi smashes the girls’ spears and jokingly threatens to rape them which scares them off.

Kagesada was present for the finals as well where he witnessed Mitsuomi single-handedly defeat 5 of the top ranked fighters in the school in 3 minutes. He was also there when Shin and Mitsuomi fought and witnessed Shin's death. Having seen all these events, and having witnessed Mitsuomi's suppress anyone with power; Kagesada has become terrified of Mitsuomi.

After the flashback arc he is never seen again in the anime or OVA's

Manga

The manga is far more graphic than the anime, although this is edited out of the CMX version. The manga has a large quantity of nudity and sex related material, not present in the anime. It is also contains more blood, and shows more graphic techniques than the anime. The manga has gone far beyond where the anime left off, and Kagesada gets a little more attention later.

F Arc

As the Tournament in the present approaches the Juken Club is searching for more members. Bob Makihara and Souichiro meet the Vice-captain of the club for the first time, Shinichirō, who is confused for an alien by the freshman because of his weird appearance. They find out the Juken club has another inactive member, Kagesada. They go to convince him to step up and help them fight Mitsuomi. They find him surrounded by women and sporting a brand new look. When Souichiro and Bob asked him to come and help, he refuses. They believe he's a coward for being so scared of Mitsuomi, when they know he wants to put a stop to him. He challenges Souichiro to a "fight" that night. When Souichiro arrives with Bob they are confronted with 4 "Heavenly Divas" that are part of Kagesada's "Sugano bodyguard". The 4 strip their clothes and distract Bob by having sex with him.

Souichiro proceeds ahead were he is met with a mob of women, who on Kagesada's command, strip naked and throw themselves at Souichiro. Having dealt with Maya's and her sister Aya Natsume's, endowments, all the divas pale in comparison, Souchiro just continues forward. As he finally gets through, he is punched in the face by Kagesada, who much to Souchiro's surprise, has a significantly powerful punch. Kagesada reminds Souichiro that these dirty tactics are exactly how Mitsuomi controls the school, and he obviously can't handle it. Souichiro over powers the girls holding him down to prove Kagesada wrong. He goes to punch Kagesada, assuming he'd dodge. Kagesada doesn't dodge resulting in him being knocked out a window and he gets injured as a result. Nonetheless, in the end Kagesada agrees to become an active member again.

During this arc, Kagesada is seen training, but is left out for the majority of the important events.

Tournament Arc

As the Tournament finally starts Kagesada is missing. The rest of the Juken club members go searching for him, but when he actually is found, he just runs and hides again. As two groups lost to people that shouldn't have been able to beat them, Kagesada is really freaked out, sensing something is wrong. For whatever reason it reminds him of Shin, and he is not ok with that. He encounters a strange girl, Nokimi Mayutsubo, as he runs away, who is with the captain of the Jujutsu Club. He immediately recognizes something is wrong with the captain of the Jujutsu Club, but the Nokimi insists it's nothing. Kagesada realizes she has been doing something to group leaders to give them powers and seemingly brainwash them. Nokimi references that there are 3 people in Kagesada's group with powers. He knows Aya and Souichiro have powers, but can't figure out the third, initially assuming it to be Masataka. After some "encouragement" from Bunshichi, he realizes that he no longer wants to run away, but actually fight.[4]

As the Juken Club starts its next round, Souichiro starts to step up for the role of "Advance guard". Kagesada runs in and claims that role for himself wanting to be a hero, Souichiro tries to stop him, but Masataka holds him back. Kagesada puts on sparring pads, despite the fact they aren't required. As he gets his face rubbed on the mat in humiliation, Shinichiro comments that it was a mistake, and that matches can't be won on passion alone. Masataka still has faith saying Kagesada has been with the captain (Maya) the longest. It's then revealed Kagesada has been in control the whole time, when he put on the sparring pads he pretended to tie them, but was actually untying them. He wrapped the cords around his opponents neck and has be choking him out.[5] Kagesada wins the match.

It is revealed that Kagesada has been doing some very significant training ever since Shin's death. He fights the remaining members of the Jujutsu club directly, he shows he can not only take hits but deliver very powerful ones himself. The newly brainwashed and physically improved, captain of the Jujutsu Club arrives and Kagesada fights her as well. Given her new enhancements Kagesada doesn't fare well. As he starts to show signs of a potential comeback, the captain breaks Kagesada's right arm at the elbow.

Despite the broken arm, Kagesada continues to fight and is doing fairly well. Aya picks up on a trail of ki leading from the Jujutsu Club's captain to Nokimi and attempts to attack her. However, she is stopped by Hirohiko Myouun Kabane, and Kagesada's fight continues. In the end Kagesada's fight turns out to be a double KO, leading to a win being tallied for both sides. The Juken Club wins the round. After the fight Kagesada is taken to the Kuzunoha Family hospital for surgery. Shinichiro stays with him even though Aya points out many of the former family heads are in the building, so nothing is likely to happen.

References

  1. ^ "Tenjho Tenge" Manga; volume 6 tankōbon (Chapter 38, Page 150).
  2. ^ "Tenjho Tenge" Manga; volume 9 tankōbon (Chapter 56, Page 156).
  3. ^ "Tenjho Tenge" Manga; volume 9 tankōbon (Chapter 56, Page 160-161).
  4. ^ "Tenjho Tenge" Manga; volume 17 tankōbon (Chapter 102, Page 84).
  5. ^ "Tenjho Tenge" Manga; volume 17 tankōbon (Chapter 102, Page 93).