Historical Samurai Combat. No Plot Armor. Pure Brutality | Manga Monday

Welcome to Manga Monday!

This week we're diving into Tenkaichi - The Greatest Warrior Under the Rising Sun, written by Yosuke Nakamaru and illustrated by Kyotaro Azuma, an alternate history martial arts manga that asks one question: what if Oda Nobunaga unified Japan, found out he was dying, and decided the most entertaining way to choose his successor was a sixteen fighter death tournament featuring the greatest warriors in Japanese history?

Miyamoto Musashi at sixteen years old. Honda Tadakatsu, the general who never took a wound. A blind swordsman. A kunoichi wielding an oversized fuma shuriken. Every fight is anything goes, death is encouraged, and the art goes so absurdly hard on every single panel that you'll forget to breathe. It's Record of Ragnarok meets Sengoku era Japan, except every fighter actually existed in some form, reimagined here as absolute monsters. An anime adaptation has been announced. If you want beautiful people doing terrible things to each other with historically inspired martial arts, this one delivers.

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