Shamo (manga)

Shamo
Ryo Narushima: in the beginning and after imprisonment
軍鶏
Genre	Adventure, Drama, Psychological
Manga
Written by	Izo Hashimoto
Illustrated by	Akio Tanaka
Published by	Futabasha, Kodansha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Manga Action (1998-2007), Evening (since 2011)
Original run	1998 – ongoing
Volumes	28

Shamo (軍鶏, or gamecock) is a Japanese action manga with a dark theme. It was discontinued in Weekly Manga Action due to creative differences but it is now being serialized in Evening. It tells a story of a boy who killed his parents and turned himself into a cold-blooded martial artist. The manga inspired a Hong Kong film adaptation that was released in 2007. The author announced that SHAMO will return to the pages of EVENING Magazine on July 27, 2011.

Background

Shamo differs significantly from other seinen manga in that the story's protagonist is actually an unrepentant and often unsympathetic criminal. Throughout the manga Ryo Narushima is depicted as being unrepentant for the murder of his parents and is shown committing crimes such as assault and rape. Though capable of redemption (as evidenced by his care-taking of his sister and various small charitable acts shown throughout the manga) ultimately Narushima is a Byronic hero spiraling into darkness, his chances at reform slowly ebbing away as he gives in to more and more of his depraved and brutal tendencies.

A minor theme throughout the manga is society's morally based stratification, how it condemns young criminals like Narushima, and how that condemnation forces Narushima to the fringes of society making his chances of true reform and redemption even more remote.

Various supporting characters within Shamo act as dramatic foils to Narushima, with Naoto Sugawara being the primary example of this. Famous, rich, and beloved for the same abilities that make Narushima a social pariah, Sugawara's presence can be seen as an example of society's cognitive dissonance towards violence. Narushima is reviled for his violent traits, while Sugawara is praised & rewarded for using those same traits in a slightly different context.

This story was inspired by the Kobe child murders of 1997 that a 14-year-old "Boy A" ("Shōnen A") killed and decapitated several children.

Ryo Narushima is modeled after two persons:

• Juvenile delinquency part: The "Youth A".
• Martial art part: Ryu Narushima (成島竜, Narushima Ryū) of Kyokushin. This Karate fighter's name has same pronunciation as the main character's name.

Synopsis

Part 1: The reformatory

Ryo Narushima (成嶋 亮, Narushima Ryō), a talented highschooler who was about to enter Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan, killed his parents before his successful life could begin. The perfect family and perfect life seemed to devour the young boy's restless soul. In a beautiful sunny afternoon when cicadas were singing, he stabbed his father and mother to death with a short knife repeatedly before he came to his senses.

The 16-year-old bookworm murderer was convicted and sent to a reformatory where he was gang raped by other boys. Kenji Kurokawa (黒川健児, Kurokawa Kenji), a jailed man who nearly assassinated Japanese Prime Minister decades ago, was sent to the reformatory to teach the youngsters karate every week. He discovered Ryo's talent and taught him self-defense. Ryo survived. Thanks to a law that protects minors, he was released two years later.

Alone in a city full of crime, he tried to look for his lost sister but ends up mistaking a drug-abusing prostitute for her. Ryo started to fight for his living and used all imaginable dirty tricks to defeat his enemy. He also ambushed gangsters in dark alleys to perfect his fighting skill as well as working as a gigolo.

Part 2: Sugawara

In this part, Ryo fights Naoto Sugawara (菅原 直人, Sugawara Naoto) of the Banryukai (番竜会, Banryūkai) twice. Kurokawa, a cast away from that elite dojo, helps Ryo to become stronger as a way to revenge Kensuke Mochizuki (望月 謙介, Mochizuki Kensuke), his past foe and the current owner of the Banryukai. Banryukai is possibly modeled after the Kyokushin kaikan and Seidokaikan and Mochizuki is possibly modeled after Kazuyoshi Ishii, the founder of Seidokaikan.^{[citation needed]}

Believing that he is the strongest, the "gamecock" starts to take on other good martial artists. A blood-thirsty TV producer notices that this street-fighting young man was the "Youth A" and pushes to have him join "Lethal Fight," a fictional combat arena modeled after Japan's K-1 tournament. Ryo, a dangerous man with an animal instinct who destroyed many good fighters in the ring, one day finds himself facing Thailand's best fighter who was fighting to support his family. Before he is totally defeated, he tries to kick the Thai fighter's neck but the fighter ducks and is hit in the eye and blinded.

Ryo wants to take on Sugawara. However, Sugawara is much taller and heavier than Ryo was so his chance to fight him was remote. As a way to provide incentive, Ryo raped Sugawara's supermodel girlfriend. Sugawara vowed to kill Ryo with his hands in the boxing ring to comfort his woman and agreed to a televised fight at the Tokyo Dome. It was the duel between darkness and brightness. Only this time, Ryo (亮), literally "brightness," stands for the dark side.

Ryo goes through a painful bodybuilding regime where he used steroids to increase his muscle mass and strength. Before the fight began, his left eye became bloody under the non-human torture. He did not care. Bad luck was on Ryo's side. His small body still was no comparison to Sugawara's. However, he rediscovered his long-forgotten left-handedness suppressed by his parents since he was a child minutes before the end of the last round. Then he wildly gave Sugawara countless heavy left punches before Sugawara used his broken right fist to punch him out of consciousness. He survives the lethal fight and was defeated only five seconds before the fight was over. Sugawara fails to kill him in front of the crowd.

Out of anger and frustration, Sugawara invites Ryo to another private fight three months later in an abandoned temple. Sugawara takes several darts and a long wooden stick. Ryo takes a pair of tonfa with him. After a long and brutal duel where Narushima is almost killed, Sugawara is hit in the back of the neck and was hospitalized.

Part 3 : The ballet dancer

It tells a story that Toma Takahara (高原 東馬 Takahara Tōma), a successful male ballet dancer, mysteriously abandoned his dancing career to pursue martial arts. He was trained in judo and sambo.The new books (20, 21) pick up with Ryo fighting in a club in Japan. He still works for money by fighting and male prostitution. Ryo discovers after one fight that his ability has dropped significantly and he decides to start training hard. Ryo enters a karate competition in a mask and is spotted by Mochizuki. Mochizuki offers him money to enter a grappling tournament fighting against Toma. Ryo, desperate for cash accepts and begins training. The first four fights end with two no-contests, two wins by team Toma and one win for the Banryukai. While waited for his turn to fight, Ryo was stabbed by Moemi Funato. However, he still plans to fight.

Ryo and Toma start fighting with Toma at a heavy advantage. However, before he can win a sudden thunderstorm floods the stage. adapting more quickly to this new field Ryo turns the tables. Having so far fought calmly Toma becomes enraged and afraid further playing into Ryo's hands. The damage from the stab wound was too much however and Toma manages to win.

During the aftermath of the fight Mochizuki is replaced as chairman and the Banryukai is split into two factions. After a night of drinking Mochizuki is mugged and killed. Ryo finds out that Kurokawa is dead as well as his ringside doctor. Ryo begins living with his sister and her caretaker.

Part 4: The Devil and The Princess

Ryo meets a girl in a street; her father does not like the idea of Ryo being in touch with his daughter(afraid Ryo might hurt his daughter), so father hires 2 foolish cleaners to get rid of Ryo.

Film

Shamo was made into a movie in 2007.

Court case

The manga was on hold in 2007 due in part to creative differences. Shamo manga artist Akio Tanaka was in a legal battle against Shamo's credited creator, Izô Hashimoto, for 150 million yen (about US$1.4 million) in a copyright lawsuit that opened in June, 2008 in the Tokyo District Court. Tanaka claims that he, and not Hashimoto, had created the story and the character concepts.^[1] In July 18, 2011 Tanaka announced in his Homepage that SHAMO will return to the pages of EVENING on July 27 after a long hiatus, the manga title started being reprinted in wide editions.^[2]

The books

Notes

External links

• Synopsis (2) (Japanese)
• Manga: Shamo (Spanish)