Tag Archives: hideki arai

Rin

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Rin

The sequel series to Sugar. It continues to follow the exploits of genius boxer Rin Ishikawa.

This is a fascinating character study of human behavior as Rin has reached superhuman status, toying with his opponent that he wins the championship from. He mocks others openly because they have no understanding of the world he sees from his talent. He’s contrasted by the serious Tachikawa, a ex-criminal who’s attained his own championship through grit and determination. After Rin sucker punches Tachikawa he challenges him to fight in the ring. While Tachikawa begins to lose himself to prepare for their match Rin’s world is rocked when his childhood sweetheart rejects him for his heinous behavior. Rin falls into a dark spiral filled with brothel visits until he hits rock bottom. Ultimately, he finds Tachikawa’s intense animosity in the ring to be better than any sexual gratification he could ever hope to achieve.

Hideki Arai is a master of crafting charismatic characters and Rin is one of his best. It’s intense and very adult but that’s what I loved about this.

~dakazu

Sugar 

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Sugar

Sugar 

A manga about a young man who discovers his natural talent for boxing and his journey to become a professional boxer.

I really, really like this manga. It might be my favorite Hideki Arai book and the reason I got into Arai in the first place.

At it’s core it’s a sports manga but Arai fills it to the brim with a complete cast of wild characters that get into some very adult situations. It gives it a completely different feel than something like Hajime no Ippo. At the center is the protagonist Rin Ishikawa. 

Rin is a fascinating individual. He takes life in stride and is constantly joking around without taking things too seriously. The story follows him as he slowly begins to change his perspective about fighting and by the end he’s completely morphed into a literal dynamo inside the ring. On the way he stumbles and ends up in crazy situations but that just makes his journey that much greater.

~dakazu

Kiichi VS

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Kiichi VS

The sequel series to Kiichi!!.

After reading the previous series I was interested to see where Hideki Arai would take the story. I was a little disappointed to find that he’d setup the main character as another charismatic leader because he ended up doing that before with The World Is Mine. The journey Kiichi takes to his final moments were well done but ultimately sad. The point Arai makes is that changing the public and the world is too difficult with just doing the right thing and that shows with this book.

I enjoy Arai’s works and always find that they have something interesting to say. This one is no exception.

~dakazu

Kiichi!!

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Kiichi!!

A manga about the strange fate and eccentric life of a boy named Kiichi.

We’ve discussed this series on a recent episode.

I’m a big fan of Hideki Arai’s manga as he has a penchant for creating and drawing characters who are very human-like in their flaws and dysfunction. He also doesn’t shy away from very adult topic that make his seinen series stand out to me in the same way Jiro Matsumoto’s manga do as well.

Initially I thought Kiichi! was Arai’s take on a child with special needs so I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t the case when the story follows the boy though his childhood. It goes into some really strange places and ultimately ends up with Kiichi fighting against government corruption to protect a friend. The series has a follow up called Kiichi VS that concludes the life of the character.

~dakazu