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リアルバウトハイスクール [Real Bout High School] #1
Samurai Girl Real Bout High School, Vol. 01
At Real Bout High School, teachers don't break up fights, they grade them In a school where martial arts are the standard curriculum, Ryoko is kicking butt and taking names. The Real Bout manga spawned the hit anime series. With elements similar to The Matrix, Charlie's Angels, and Tomb Raider, Real Bout combines martial arts with a strong female lead--the perfect recipe for today's teen audience.
200 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1999
1 person is currently reading
210 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 17, 2023
I FINALLY FOUND IT. HOLY SHIT I WAS OBSESSED WITH THIS MANGA. The year ago in my hot girl era, I discovered this train wreck when I was suffering from the internet. And then boom! This popped up. And my tiny monkey brain went "Well, I have no time to watch the anime." so I read the manga in its entirety and do not regret it. It retcons everything, the plot is a mess, the romance comes out of nowhere-
I DON'T CARE. It was the most fun I had with comedy and action. God, I wish it continued after the finale. But it's fine, it will forever be in my heart...
SO I'M GONNA REREAD THIS TO SEE IF IT LIVED UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS. Which I am positive it won't.
I DON'T CARE. It was the most fun I had with comedy and action. God, I wish it continued after the finale. But it's fine, it will forever be in my heart...
SO I'M GONNA REREAD THIS TO SEE IF IT LIVED UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS. Which I am positive it won't.
October 31, 2019
I am not sure what I think of this yet. The art is okay but not my favorite. The fight scenes felt a bit vague at times. I want more in an action manga. And I don't mean more boob shots! Yep, this has a lot of large busts and short skirts. I like Ryoko's character. She seems to have some depth that I want to get into more. Shizuma I am not sure of yet. He is a strange one. The principal is nuts! But what can you expect in a school that specializes in fight clubs? Curious where this series goes.
April 24, 2014
Hm, my first review here! :)
I first watched the anime series that was inspired by the Samurai Girl series of manga...watching it made me want to read the books, and I still have them years later! The 13-episode series was set in an eccentric alternate universe (no way at ALL this could ever happen in the real world!), specifically in Japan's Daimon High, where students' knuckle-dusting skills are tested as much as their knowledge of reading, writing and you-know-the-rest! It was like aspects of feudal Japan survived into the modern day, where disputes between students were settled not by duels, but by heavily promoted K-Fights (the 'K' is for kenka, which translates in English as 'street-fight') and had the full sanction and approval of the principal! It was one of the wildest anime I had ever seen...the first four episodes alone I count as favorites alongside Ghost in the Shell, Akira and the first volume of the anime Burst Angel.
Enough about the series, though, except that it was meant to be a sequel to the manga of SAMURAI GIRL, which is what you really need to know about! It was a sequel in name only, though, because it retconns some important details and made like other important things in the manga never even happened. (For one thing, in Volume One, Principal Todo created the K-Fight with a little inspiration from Shizuma Kusanagi, but in the anime it describes someone ELSE as the creator!) Just think the difference between the original anime GHOST IN THE SHELL and its reimagining STAND ALONE COMPLEX! In short if you watched the anime, you haven't been spoiled on its inspiration!
In Volume One, 'eccentric' or just plain INSANE can best describe Daimon High School, where school spirit and rivalries between clubs are expressed in frequent martial arts tournaments...the administration of the school, led by Principal Takodo Todo, actually encourages the dust-ups! Yeah, it's just like real high school, only intensified. The title character herself, 16-year-old Sophomore Ryoko Mitsurugi, should feel right at home here. 5 feet and 9 inches tall(!), Ryoko is not only the most popular girl in school, she might be its best fighter; she's known as the samurai idol for her amazing Kendo ability...she always carries around a wooden sword, and yep, she often has cause to use it! Still and all, she's a typical girl on the rough road of maturing into a lady. She has her fair share of incecurities, is painfully self-conscious, yet is sure that one day she hopes to become 'a great woman'.
The story opens as Ryoko does battle off-campus with a street gang, the Vipers, to protect herself and her best friend, the nerdy but supercute Hitomi. By chance, a crude-mannered, seemingly homeless, and very hungry teenage boy intervenes; in return for giving him something to eat, he shows he's really a diamond in the rough when it comes to martial arts skill...Ryoko leaves him to wipe out the remaining Vipers. One week later, Ryoko sees the boy during one of Daimon High's frequent festivals. His name is Shizuma Kusanagi and it turns out he wants to challenge anyone and everyone. Including Ryoko! Things aren't helped at all when he's accepted as a transfer student and he inspires Principal Todo to create the K-Fight system, in which disputes between parties at the school are settled...well, in a fight!
Of course, none of this stuff could EVER really happen...but it's fun to read as the samurai idol Ryoko not only has to contend with her rival Shizuma, she has to deal with her own insecurites and a potent crush she has on Tatsuya, who leads the Kendo Club and taught her most everything she knows. Another foe is her bitter competition for Tatsuya's affections: Azumi Kiribayashi, who is a deadly martial artist in her own right! But things go from strange to potentially chaotic when a student challenges a teacher to a K-Fight...I can't say anymore without spoiling it, except it leads directly into Volume Two!
I love anime and manga at their best as amazing artforms and unique brands of storytelling that are unlike anything you'll find anywhere else. SAMURAI GIRL is awesome, but it falls just short of classic, especially as you work your way through the volumes. Reiji Saiga's concepts are honestly inspired and he keeps the pace brisk and heady, and Sora Inoue's art is an excellent example of the Bishoujo (pretty girls) form. There's some things you might not be comfortable with, like the fact most of the girls in this story are under the age of 18; thankfully they aren't objectified (too much!), and from all of the volumes I recall only a single hint of nudity on one page. It bothered me a little that one of the supporting cast, Daisaku, is an unapologetic stalker who loves to take pictures of Ryoko...especially when she doesn't know it!
Just remember these four important words: DON'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! As long as you keep that in mind, Vol. 1 of SAMURAI GIRL makes for a truly fun romp. Heck, in some ways you might wish your high school was more like this!
I first watched the anime series that was inspired by the Samurai Girl series of manga...watching it made me want to read the books, and I still have them years later! The 13-episode series was set in an eccentric alternate universe (no way at ALL this could ever happen in the real world!), specifically in Japan's Daimon High, where students' knuckle-dusting skills are tested as much as their knowledge of reading, writing and you-know-the-rest! It was like aspects of feudal Japan survived into the modern day, where disputes between students were settled not by duels, but by heavily promoted K-Fights (the 'K' is for kenka, which translates in English as 'street-fight') and had the full sanction and approval of the principal! It was one of the wildest anime I had ever seen...the first four episodes alone I count as favorites alongside Ghost in the Shell, Akira and the first volume of the anime Burst Angel.
Enough about the series, though, except that it was meant to be a sequel to the manga of SAMURAI GIRL, which is what you really need to know about! It was a sequel in name only, though, because it retconns some important details and made like other important things in the manga never even happened. (For one thing, in Volume One, Principal Todo created the K-Fight with a little inspiration from Shizuma Kusanagi, but in the anime it describes someone ELSE as the creator!) Just think the difference between the original anime GHOST IN THE SHELL and its reimagining STAND ALONE COMPLEX! In short if you watched the anime, you haven't been spoiled on its inspiration!
In Volume One, 'eccentric' or just plain INSANE can best describe Daimon High School, where school spirit and rivalries between clubs are expressed in frequent martial arts tournaments...the administration of the school, led by Principal Takodo Todo, actually encourages the dust-ups! Yeah, it's just like real high school, only intensified. The title character herself, 16-year-old Sophomore Ryoko Mitsurugi, should feel right at home here. 5 feet and 9 inches tall(!), Ryoko is not only the most popular girl in school, she might be its best fighter; she's known as the samurai idol for her amazing Kendo ability...she always carries around a wooden sword, and yep, she often has cause to use it! Still and all, she's a typical girl on the rough road of maturing into a lady. She has her fair share of incecurities, is painfully self-conscious, yet is sure that one day she hopes to become 'a great woman'.
The story opens as Ryoko does battle off-campus with a street gang, the Vipers, to protect herself and her best friend, the nerdy but supercute Hitomi. By chance, a crude-mannered, seemingly homeless, and very hungry teenage boy intervenes; in return for giving him something to eat, he shows he's really a diamond in the rough when it comes to martial arts skill...Ryoko leaves him to wipe out the remaining Vipers. One week later, Ryoko sees the boy during one of Daimon High's frequent festivals. His name is Shizuma Kusanagi and it turns out he wants to challenge anyone and everyone. Including Ryoko! Things aren't helped at all when he's accepted as a transfer student and he inspires Principal Todo to create the K-Fight system, in which disputes between parties at the school are settled...well, in a fight!
Of course, none of this stuff could EVER really happen...but it's fun to read as the samurai idol Ryoko not only has to contend with her rival Shizuma, she has to deal with her own insecurites and a potent crush she has on Tatsuya, who leads the Kendo Club and taught her most everything she knows. Another foe is her bitter competition for Tatsuya's affections: Azumi Kiribayashi, who is a deadly martial artist in her own right! But things go from strange to potentially chaotic when a student challenges a teacher to a K-Fight...I can't say anymore without spoiling it, except it leads directly into Volume Two!
I love anime and manga at their best as amazing artforms and unique brands of storytelling that are unlike anything you'll find anywhere else. SAMURAI GIRL is awesome, but it falls just short of classic, especially as you work your way through the volumes. Reiji Saiga's concepts are honestly inspired and he keeps the pace brisk and heady, and Sora Inoue's art is an excellent example of the Bishoujo (pretty girls) form. There's some things you might not be comfortable with, like the fact most of the girls in this story are under the age of 18; thankfully they aren't objectified (too much!), and from all of the volumes I recall only a single hint of nudity on one page. It bothered me a little that one of the supporting cast, Daisaku, is an unapologetic stalker who loves to take pictures of Ryoko...especially when she doesn't know it!
Just remember these four important words: DON'T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! As long as you keep that in mind, Vol. 1 of SAMURAI GIRL makes for a truly fun romp. Heck, in some ways you might wish your high school was more like this!
November 26, 2023
Weird yet fun and interesting
I used to read these back in high school. I saw they were on kindle and decided to buy the whole six part story. It's still pretty weird and no where as good as most anime I watch or read, but in a weird way it's a cool story.
I used to read these back in high school. I saw they were on kindle and decided to buy the whole six part story. It's still pretty weird and no where as good as most anime I watch or read, but in a weird way it's a cool story.
August 13, 2019
ARITHMANCY
A: a book that ends on an even page number
(I enjoyed it but I'm much more into Shoujo manga)
A: a book that ends on an even page number
(I enjoyed it but I'm much more into Shoujo manga)
August 29, 2020
Honestly really fun, in an over the top and ridiculous way. Not without it's faults and problems of course (it's still a manga from the 00's), but surprisingly, it did have some dept to it.
February 1, 2016
Há alguns anos atrás, eu assisti o animê Samurai Girl e achei bem legal, então decidi comprar o mangá. Mas não sei por que eu nunca tinha lido ele. Aí hoje decidi dar uma chance, e achei bem bonzinho.
Como é um mangá em que a personagem principal é uma lutadora, o desenho às vezes pode confundir, por querer passar a sensação de movimento (não sei explicar, mas foi uma coisa que me atrapalhou).
O mangá é bem curtinho, então nesse primeiro volume não dá para ter muita ideia de qual a proposta mesmo da história. É mais para apresentar as personagens, mesmo. E o final deixou uma pontinha de mistério, fazendo eu querer ler o próximo volume logo.
Gostei, vou continuar a série. :)
Como é um mangá em que a personagem principal é uma lutadora, o desenho às vezes pode confundir, por querer passar a sensação de movimento (não sei explicar, mas foi uma coisa que me atrapalhou).
O mangá é bem curtinho, então nesse primeiro volume não dá para ter muita ideia de qual a proposta mesmo da história. É mais para apresentar as personagens, mesmo. E o final deixou uma pontinha de mistério, fazendo eu querer ler o próximo volume logo.
Gostei, vou continuar a série. :)
August 2, 2013
I started out not really liking this story very much, but somehow by the end of the it I was attached to the characters enough that I wanted to see what happened. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those series that I end up giving four stars to as I continue to read it. It seems jumbled at first, but wade through that and you'll start getting to the good stuff.
January 19, 2024
Well... the art’s alright but mostly it’s hard to tell what’s going on and the story’s just not there... so yeah. I do not remember what kept me reading past this volume while I was in junior high but I probably won’t reread the rest now.
June 27, 2020
Very fun and funny. Good clear action scenes. Likeable characters. Slightly over the top plot but it works.
April 11, 2017
Teachers and students vie for top position at a high school wherein martial arts fighting is permitted and encouraged. The titular Samurai Girl is cute and engaging and the cast of supporting characters is fun. I would read more of this series.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews