Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez Hakufu Sonsaku has unleashed her fighting spirit and the higher ups at Nanyo Academy are beginning to take notice. A deadly woman wearing an eyepatch has now crossed paths with her and wants to test her skills in battle. But before we get into that, let's go back in the past and learn more about the Magatama and Toushis. Chapter 0 This story goes back to China near the end of the Gen Era. A man calls out to Chou Shisei and tells him to give up the seal and the Magatama Gem under Imperial Order. Shisei taunts the man for calling himself Emperor and quickly loses his head to the Emperor's sword. Shisei's head continues to talk and tells the Emperor that he will never be able to contain the aggression within the gem. The Magatama was lost to China and discovered in Japan during the Sengoku Era.  We cut to a modern time where a guy with spiky hair and tanned girl beat up on everybody, both of them being Toushis. After the fight they realized they lost their fr...

 By Mark Rodriguez Hakufu Sonsaku starts her new life at Nanyo Academy as she learns more about being a Toushi. There is a heiharchy at the school based on rank and strength. After several fights, Hakufu faced a large student named Gyashuu who finally posed a challenge to her. He was later killed by a mysterious woman with an eyepatch who has now set her sights on Hakufu. The chapter opens with a mysterious fighter, surrounded by the guys he just defeated getting a message on his phone that targets Hakufu Sonsaku at 8AM.  Meanwhile Hakufu is upset because she overslept on the first day of the new school since Shuyu also overslept. She's angry this will give her a bad first impression to everyone. Shuyu tells her to stop complaining and to stay away from Gukushu. Hakufu says she'll try since they still have a debt to settle and goes on a tirade. She then catches Shuyu checking her out. Hakufu kicks him and sends him falling on his face for staring.  Meanwhile Genpou is rel...

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. ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Last time, we met Hakufu, a martial artist who, while trained by her mother, was told to never actually engage in a fight. Yearning to fight, Hakufu finally got her chance when she challenged by a fighter named Han You. With her fighting spirit awaked, Hakufu's mother gave her a family gem called the magatama, and she must now head towards Tokyo to face her destiny. What awaits her there? The second chapter opens in Tokyo as Hakufu is in front of the Nanyo Academy with the slogan 'Enhance Yourself, Desecrate Others'. She feels this is something she can deal with. As she sees other guys, she sees they all wear the magamata earrings and is excited.  Elsewhere a kid walking down the block with his bagged sandwich and accidentally runs into an apparent couple making out. He tries to run away before they think he was peeping, but the guy says the girl 'puts out for everyone' and offers to let him kiss her too.  Meanwhile Hakufu is already whupping ass ...

 By Mark Rodriguez I first found out this sexy martial arts series from my good friend The Fish Hunter, who would collect the manga series as a hobby. While Tokyopop brought it over as 'Battle Vixens' the real series was called Ikki Tousen which follows several female schoolgirl fighters on all sorts of adventures. The original manga started in April of 2000 in Japan, with the anime version coming out in 2003. While the manga series had 24 volumes total, only 15 of those were brought over to the states. I'm not sure if it was due to lack of sales, or Tokyopop just lost interest. Also, unlike other series like say, Dragonball, Death Note or Bleach, where you can still find new copies of their manga due to various reprints and re-releases, Ikki Tousen was never reprinted in the states as a collection or anything after volume 15 was done. It took me a while to find some of them so I'll be reviewing the most I can if I can find all 15 volumes as long as they don't go fo...