image description: a digital painting of the factories from pathologic 2. it is rendered with redder hues than seen in game

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Manga Reviews: Shamo

8/10

Shamo is a shonen style fighting manga with very dark undertones. I’ve recently been on a manga binge and Shamo is one of the few long (around 350 chapters) and more importantly, finished manga that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. It focuses on Ryo Narushima, who starts the story as a teen in prison after murdering his parents out of the blue.  In order to survive the horrible depths of incarceration he learns two things – karate and a vicious drive to survive. Once out in the world he makes his way as a criminal, a male prostitute and a fighter, trying to find his missing sister and challenging anyone who stands in his way. He begins to fight in amateur tournaments and makes an enemy of the powerful Banryuu-Kai karate school, starting a violent feud that lasts the entire manga.

Before going into specifically what I like about Shamo, I think I have to talk a little about the genre. Fighting manga is one of the great archetypes of the media, with iconic series like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and the indefatigable One Piece essentially belonging to the same core of fighting manga. But there is a rich diversity there, and Shamo is definitely on the far side of the spectrum. In contrast to the more stereotypical shonen, with their teenage protagonists, easily hateable villains and relentless optimism, Shamo is dark, dank and dirty. Its protagonist is a deeply flawed individual who commits all manner of heinous crimes and receives just as much abuse. The dark tone and often brutal fights result in a much more interesting read than many of the standard power creeping, grandstanding manga of the genre.

What really sets Shamo apart in my opinion is two things – the realism and the art. Shamo is trying to depict a (mostly) realistic world, and its extremely refreshing to see. Even other ‘realistic’ style fighting manga like Kengen Ashura almost instantly break suspension of disbelief with outrageous techniques or tonal whiplash. Shamo really rides the line on these, introducing horrible events alongside small humorous interludes and featuring almost otherworldly martial arts but presented with total seriousness and as much attention to real fighting details as possible. Ryo’s fighting style is karate, but tempered by his viciousness and experience using it to kill people on the streets. Its not some long lost mystical style and he doesn’t learn new techniques every chapter. Hes just really really good at killing people with his hands, and that’s what he does. Aside from the realism of the actual fights, the realism in world building is also exceptional. Ryo’s sordid story goes from prison rape to gang violence to male prostitution to steroid addiction and on and on and on. Its not a happy world but all of it actually happens, and so often these types of manga throw it in for effect but never really address what makes someone into an animalistic beast. Combining the depressing events of Tokyo’s mean streets with the exhilarating combat of professional fighting elevates both – informing the weight of the fights with honest emotional pathos and bringing a physical edge to difficult internal problems.

As a manga, quality of art is essential and this is the other core characteristic that I love about Shamo. The actual faces and figures of the artist are recognizably stylized, but always in proportion and grounded in reality. Each character is easily differentiated, with differing face and body types, clothes and hair. Ryo himself is always fun to see with his shock of dyed blonde hair, cut short for fights and grown out during training. I really liked the little bits of fashion that crept in, with some great 90s/early ‘00s street cool and gangster style on display. Readability of the fights, key in this genre, is excellent and though some of the fights do suffer from pacing issues such as the inevitable mid-fight monologue, I was kept hooked through just about all of the matches. A very strong point is the lovely chapter cover art, as demonstrated by several of the pictures in this review. Izou Hashimoto mixes traditional drawing styles with ink and oil paints to create many interesting and beautiful pieces of artwork that help to keep you interested and break up the chapters.

The series does unfortunately suffer from slowing down somewhat in the second half. Its split into two distinct sections, with the first focusing on Ryo’s feud with Naoto Sugawara and the Banryuu-Kai school, and the second showing the aftermath and consequences of that. The second half is definitely less focused, and the new characters go in odd directions. The Grand Cross tournament and the new foil for Ryo, Toma Takahara was not half as compelling as Sugawara from the first half. It was still satisfying to follow Ryo’s story to the conclusion, but I definitely felt that the first half was stronger on the whole. Another less serious criticism has to come from the shocking content. While I praised it for showing the real, dark side of life, it is unabashedly exploitation. Horrible events are played for sheer shock value and at times for comedy, so some readers should definitely be aware that this material may be disturbing or put them off the manga, but then again that sort of person might not be interested in the first place. Anyway – disclaimer done!

To sum up, Shamo fills a pretty specific niche. It’s a battle manga with your plucky protagonist fighting a series of ever more dangerous opponents in martial combat, except instead of a hopeful good guy your hero is a murdering gigolo with deep, deep issues. The artwork is very solid and tonally its phenomenal at instilling you with the same grimy rage as Ryo. I feel comfortable recommending this manga as a solid read, especially the first half. I would say the second isn’t essential reading if you feel youre drifting away, but its worth a read for sure. Especially given how I’d never seen anyone talk about or mention this manga before I found it, I would say Shamo is a bit of a diamond in the rough of fighting manga.