Martial Artist to AV Star

The line between manga and hentai can often become blurred sometimes. Hentai is essentially manga with explicit content; the way I find to differentiate between the two is the lack of storyline in a hentai. Yet you can still have a manga with explicit content; just look at Goblin Slayer whose content at times is offensive. The Japanese are good in that they don't let something so trivial as good taste get in the way of the brutality of life. It can make for good storytelling in manga and allows for some adult type scenarios. Take this title by artist Takatou Rui which tells the story of an 18-year-old martial artist who wants to become a famous singer in the Japanese Entertainment Industry.

Sweep the leg...

The manga called Hagure Idol Jigokuhen plays on the idea of someone wanting to follow in the footsteps of other famous martial arts actors. Yet in this case it's a female which adds to the drama as she becomes a sexual object in the eyes of those who employ her. The artwork is terrific; Rui is responsible for other titles such as Cynthia: The Mission and Devilman G. It's definitely not just a title sketched up for some fanboy to drool over and this first issue is proof of that. There's enough narrative and Karate action here to class this as a manga. Yet there's enough sexual content here to appease those who might be reading for just that.

The Trials of Life

So the story goes like this: Misora Haebaru is an 18-year-old Karate expert who has travelled to Tokyo to try life in the entertainment industry. The main purpose of this is to support her family; noble intentions lead her to being to tricked to work as gravure idol. A gravure idol is a type of glamour model who does magazines and DVDs. Her employers want a come back on her product and demand that she start doing AV Idol work. AV Idol is a Japanese term for "Adult Video Idol" and is similar to a pornstar in the west. In this first issue, she has to fight 100 men who will gang bang her for the video if she loses.

Tall Order

This first issue is crazy but the artwork is top quality making it believable. Director Victor Iba sits on his chair grinning while leaning on a sword in a type of "Big Boss" fashion. He's determined for Misora to lose so has employed a number of martial artists amongst the 100 performers. He doesn't start Misora off with an easy fight either as a blue belt in Jiujitsu goes in for the kill against her. He suffers a cruel fate for his misdemeanours and gets his face crushed by Misora.

Dirty Tactics...

It's all compelling stuff in this first issue and martial arts fans are sure to love it. There are enough UFC references for MMA fans and Karate people will likely enjoy it too. The guys in the gang bang don't realise the reality of the combat until the first guy gets knocked out. It's like a nod to the original UFC where the competitors didn't know if the event was a work similar to pro wrestling. Its sexual content is matched by its violence as some of the panels are brutal. The guy in the picture above gets his front teeth knocked out and his face crushed.

Gravure Model

Misora, realising her grim predicament, requests that if she wins against these 100 guys that she can sing at the end of the video. This is in the hope of getting her voice out there. It's a decent if bizarre story in this first issue but has definitely whetted my appetite for more. I think fans of quality manga will enjoy this and should pick it up. I read it at Kissmanga.com but it appears to be widely available across the web. I give it 3 out of 5 and recommend you find somewhere to read issue one right away.