| Title: | Ring ni Kakero 1 - Nichibei Kessen Hen - |
| Episode: | 1: Under the Banner of the Pledge |
| Synopsis | |
| A mysterious caped man bursts into a Yakuza club and makes mincemeat of the proprietors with his bare fists. The strange man was "Mr Shaft", who earns the gratitude of Don Juliano, who is both the Italian Junior Boxing Champion and a mafia kingpin. Shaft is given the job of recruiting the boxers for the American Representative Team, which will be visiting Japan soon. Accomplished boxer Takane Ryuji is relaxing with friends when his friendly rival Kenzaki warns them not to be overconfident about the upcoming match with the American team. Meanwhile, from death row at an American prison (Alcatraz?) Mr Shaft selects the first member of the "American Ultimate Killer Team", namely human behemoth "Monster Jail". Jail freely admits to having killed 15, perhaps 16 people. "Okay then", Shaft replies, "I'll have you kill five more, maybe"... | |
| Comments | |
| Somehow the violence seems hard to take seriously, perhaps because it's hard to take the show as a whole seriously. Besides the absurd misconceptions/exaggerations about America, another amusing element is the fantastic punching techniques, like Ryuji's "Boomerang". The way it can summon hurricane-like winds reminds me of swordplay techniques from shows like Ruroni Kenshin. Though some Americans might be offended, I can't help liking the outlandish, off-the-wall style of this show. Uh... 'turns out this is in fact episode TWO... Sorry 'bout that... | |
