Ikki Tousen Volume 1 Chapter 3 Review

By Mark Rodriguez

Chapter 3-

The chapter opens with a guy landing a kick on Gakushuu, who easily blocks him with a finger. He then shoves him off, just as easily. He calls for a pair of guys that they're next to try and kick him. One of the guys pretends to not understand and says 'no comprende' in Spanish. Gakushuu tells him to give him a kick, also in Spanish. Both guys run away. 

Gakushuu feels that something is not right. Ever since his run in with Hakufu he feels things have been off kilter. Suddenly he gets a kick in the face that send him flying through a wall. This mysterious female fighter with short hair and an eyepatch.

Meanwhile Shuyu is in the woods near his home, focusing on his technique. He punches the ground and make a huge crater all around him, but he still feels its not good enough. He lacks finesse, something Hakufu has in spades, as well as an amazing body. He tries not think about her since she's related to him. A maid arrives and startles Shuyu. Shuyu asks if Hakufu is still napping, in which the maid responds that she's exhausted. Shuyu says she should be since she fought against the entire student body. He goes to take a bath in the hot springs to relax. 

Just then Hakufu wonders in, completed nude, and is too exhausted to even notice her cousin in the hot strings. She wanders in and soaks in the water as Shuyu is frozen with awkwardness.

Gakushuu confronts the woman and suddenly has a gash across his upper arm. The woman laughs and says if he moves he dies. He has three vital ligaments and 4 joints left to go. Gakushuu asks if Genpou told her what happened. The woman tells him Enjutsu sees all. She states that rank doesn't mean anything if he crosses the line, and she is the line. She asks him if fighting with the new girl was worth the pain to come. 

Hakufu and Shuyu are sitting on their front porch eating watermelon, but Hakufu is so tired her face falls right into her food. Hakufu then notices Shuyu's magamata earring and tries to poke at it. Shuyu thinks she's up to something else and says she just can't poke at him and wishes she didn't grow up looking to attractive. Hakufu is oblivious to all that and asks why his gem is a different color from hers. 

Shuyu explains her gem isn't flawed, the color is tied to their rank and as they rank up they change colors. Shuyu is D-Rank so his gem is pearly, Gakushuu is B-Rank so his is silver, while A-Ranks are gold colored. Hakufu is upset that he ranks higher than her, especially since as kids he was a crybaby and she always had to step in to defend him from bullies. Shuyu says that was ten years ago and he is a respected Toushi now. Haukufu falls asleep during the explanation.

Back to Gyashuu, the woman leaps up and wraps herself around one of his arms. He is confused that he moved and didn't lie and she admits she was lying. As Gyashuu tries to grab her, she jumps behind him. As she does so, it's revealed both of his wrists have been handcuffed to her own. As she is hanging off his back, she not only wraps his own arms around his neck, she is also pressing both feet against the back of his head. She boasts that all she has to do is keep hanging off him until he chokes himself to death. She says he probably wishes she was the new girl instead so she would be the last woman to press herself against him before he died.

After much struggle and trash-talk from this mystery woman, Gyashuu finally dies. The girl says she deserved someone better than him. She wonders if she's get a better fight out of Hakufu. Meanwhile Hakufu has fallen asleep on the toilet as Shuyu complains. Suddenly he gets a bad feeling. He noticed that Gyashuu had died.

My thoughts- 

Here we run into one anime and manga's favorite tropes. The new bad guy making the seemingly very powerful previous bad guy look like a joke to up the stakes. Gyashuu was the first person so far to give Hakufu is a challenge, and now this new girl killed him without breaking a sweat. As we can see, there is some sort of rank order and rules among the Toushis, and it seems the higher ups sent this girl after Gyashuu since he went after 'the wrong one'. 

We also learn a little more about the different colored magatamas (the most we can since the manga is black and white anyway) and the different ranks. Shuyu is D Rank and Gyashuu is B Rank, while Hakufu is still in E Rank.

As for the new girl, oh boy does she ever bring the innuendo to the series. Almost all of her dialogue is sexual in nature, even moreso than Hakufu's. It was almost impossible to get any images of the fight with Gyashuu for this review without her flashing her undergarments. She even finishes herself off in the good way, while she finishes Gyashuu off in the bad way. 

We'll see what happens when this mystery girl goes up against Hakufu. And yes, I know she's Ryomou Shimei, but until the manga itself calls her that, I'm sticking with 'mystery girl'.