Dragons Rioting Vol # 1 Chapter 1 Manga Review

 By Mark Rodriguez

This was an interesting manga I decided to check out back in 2016. Created by Tsuyoshi Watanabe, the story deals with the main character, Rintaro, who has a weird disease that has him risk dying of a heart attack if he gets turned on. He thought he was safe when he signed up to an all-male school... but it turned out to be a mostly all-female school. To top it off, these aren't ordinary schoolgirls, they are deadly fighters known as The Dragons and these three factions are at war with each other. Let's take a look.

The story opens with Rintaro scaling the mountain-side that his new school is located on. He feels safe and has a flashback to when he was six years old. As a kid, Rintaro runs and trips, accidentally spilling his ice cream all over a woman's chest. His father rushes over and tells his son to apologize, but he is surprised to see Rintaro on the ground clutching his chest in pain.

At the doctor's office, the nurse explains that Rintaro has a rare condition that will cause him a deadly heart attack if he gets worked up towards the opposite sex. He can live a normal life as long as he can keep his feelings under control. His father realizes that he will have to live without women, but he will guide him on the right path.

The martial artist dad takes Rintaro to the deepest woods of Mt. Fuji where he once trained himself. He tells him that he will train in the art of clearing his mind of mundane thoughts and also keeping it undisturbed from impure ones. Rintaro starts his training, involving maintaining his balance on thin pillars and lifting boulders. His dad tells him that his true mastery will be when he deals with every day life.

During the following ten years, Rintaro learned martial arts techniques to be able to skillfully zip past schoolgirls while avoiding any sort of contact. His father says that he has mastered the style of Blue Moon Reflected on a Lake. He tells Rintaro to not rest his laurels as he will be enrolling in high school soon. Rintaro feels safe since it's an all-boys school.

We return to modern day as Rintaro admires his new school, Nangokuren High School and runs into two students named Kosuke and Tamao. The guys seem very excited to check out the new students, so Rintaro thinks they're into guys. Rintaro runs ahead and sees two tough looking schoolgirls facing off as their respective teammates watch. Rintaro is confused and paralyzed and Kosuke and Tamao pull him out of there. They explain that while Nangokuren sounds like the name of an all-boy school it's actually a former all-girl school that recently went co-ed. The school is 99% percent women. Rintaro is horrified and thinks about transferring out of there. Kosuke and Tamao point out that the girls are finally having their showdown.

The girls are ready to fight, one fights to defend the students while the other says the strong exist to devour the weak. The girls trade punches and one of them leaps in with a spinning kick to the face. The meaner girl catches her foot however and swings her down, ready to punch her with her brass knuckles. The heroic girl flips out of the way to avoid the devastating punch, and both girls continue to trade blows with impressive speed.

Tamao says the women are evenly matched, but Rintaro points out that the dark haired girl has only been using her left arm through the entire fight and she is not out of breath like her opponent is. Kosuke explains that the first rule of Nangokuren is that strong prey on the weak, and right now there are three warring factions. They consist of Kyoka from the third year (the mean girl), Ayane from the first year (her opponent) and a third one, Rino from the second year. They are so fierce that they are called The Dragons. Ayane is the Dragon of the Flashing Star, Kyoka is the Dragon of the Gleaming Light and Rino is the Dragon of the Storming Jade. While originally the battle was between Kyoka and Rino, Ayane has become a contender, which made the Dragons become three.

Kyoka asks Ayane if that's all she's got, and Ayane unleashes a series of spinning kicks called the Rapid Flashing Dragon Fierce, which Kosuke calls her finishing move. Kyoka clenches her fist and punches her with the Crushing Strength of Violent Supremacy. The punch tears up some of Ayane's clothes and sends her flying back, crashing through a wall. Rintaro is quick to shield his eyes with a large chunk of debris.

Ayane's teammates rush to protect her, and Kyoka's gang rush in as well. It looks like all the girls are going to get in an all-out battle royale and Rintaro has to get the hell out of there. Rintaro rushes right in the middle of Kyoka and Ayane's fight and sees both women. He desperately slams his hands onto the ground and uses a technique called Way of the Tiger's Jaw- Boulder Shattering Roar of Ruin. This makes two walls burst from the ground, separating the girls and keeping him safe in the middle. Kyoka is impressed by the move and leaves for now.

Ayane glares at Rintaro... and suddenly gets on the ground and asks him if she can be his student. Rintaro backflips away from her in fright, due to her battle damaged outfit. Rino is watching from the bannister.

My Opinions-

I ran into this series a few years back when I was in the mood for something similar to Ikki Tousen, but not mainstream. I don't know how my buddy Fish Hunter discovered Ikki Tousen but I wanted to discover my own series, and I found this one while browsing Robert's Anime Corner. Well, I guess not every manga series can make it big, it's been only a few years and already the books are out of print. It also seems there was never an anime series made (so far) based on the series. It seems there are only nine volumes and so far I have up to four. I'll be trying to get the rest before they start becoming rare and start soaring up in outrageous prices.

The first chapter did a good job with the set up, showing off Rintaro's disease and the training he went through to control it. The chapter also doesn't waste too much time getting into the action, as we see both Ayane and Kyoka fight it out with crazy martial arts techniques with ridiculously long names, and fanservice of course. We get to meet two of the Dragons, while we still hear a little about a mysterious third. We end with Ayane wanting to train under Rintaro while the poor boy can barely look at her without triggering his condition. 

So far, there's a good set up, good martial arts action, and an interesting overall premise. The art style is also good, which helps for the fighting. There might be a little too much fanservice for the tastes of some people, but the manga doesn't hide the fact that it's a fanservice fighting series, like Ikki Tousen. After all, the entire premise of the story is, don't get aroused or die. 

It's too bad this would never get an anime series. Maybe someday someone will look back and decide it's worth giving it a shot.