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Title: Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parent's will most definetly want to preview this book before letting their kids read this. Because even though Viz has taken out all of the nudity in this book, the series still contains graphic violence (one scene shows a guy getting his head kicked off), crude humor and language, and plently of jokes that would even make the Farley Brothers blush. Fans of action and comedy are sure to love this series, as this book contains both in droves of spades. I doubt too many women will be able to read this series and be able to appreciate it, as this series was made with men in mind. People who are interested in this title need to keep in mind that this series IS censored, and if you would like to see this series released uncut, then go here to see how you can contact Viz about this issue. |
My initial reaction to "Ultimate Muscle" went something like "What the heck is this?!" I'm sorry, but the cover, the characters designs, the weird name, and the fact that this was written by a guy with the unfortunate name of Yudetamago didn't make for very good first impressions. Indeed, on the surface "Ultimate Muscle" looks like it's going to be nothing more then a very stupid and silly series. However when you start to read the book, you realize that "Ultimate Muscle" is all that and much more. In a very bizzare and strange way, "Ultimate Muscle" represents everything that made wreastling good, and in a very strange way, "Ultimate Muscle" also represents everything that made wreastling corny and terrible. This is the type of series that could have no real story and get away with it, but we get one anyway, just so that the characters have something to do in this book if anything. The story (if you'll bear with me) is about two planets that live, breath, and worship wreastling. The planet the readers are supposed to root for is Planet Muscle (no joke), where we meet the planet's ruler King Muscle, who was once a very powerful wreastler (said to be the greatest even), but is now no more then an mere old man who pulls his back out on a daily basis. Then one day, King Muscle's advisor tells him that a group of wreastling terrorists known as the DMP (get it?) are plotting to overthrow Earth and Planet Muscle.
This is bad news to King Muscle since the Muscle Leauge he formed 28 years ago have long since hung up their capes, and since there has been nothing but peace for 28 years no one bothered to train their kids, and the young wreastlers are ultimately unprepared to fight off these new terrorists. Well King Muscle puts into motion a new tourniment to train the young people of Planet Muscle, but he is disapointed to discover that his own son, Mantaro Muscle (sometimes nicknamed Kid Muscle in this book), doesn't want anything to do with wreastling. To him wreastling is a big waste of time, and he would rather focus his energies on a carreer that's more worthwhile...like becoming a lawyer. However Mantaro is forced to train along side everyone else, because whenever Mantaro gets angry, he buff's up, get's taller and stronger, and then he turns into the Hulk! Okay, so that last part was a lie, but he DOES become extremely strong and super agile when he gets angry! So as far as everyone is concerned, Mantaro has no choice but to come along as they NEED him if they are to win the war against the DMP! As you can tell, the story is not the reason to read this series, as the story resembles the second season of "Power Rangers" more then a great work of literature. No, the reason you should read "Ultimate Muscle" is because it's extremely funny!
This book (like the recent movie "Anchorman") doesn't have a serious bone in it's body, and if there is a serious scene, it exists for the sole purpose of becoming funny several panels later. From the character names (Ramen Man, Dik Dik Man), to the silly moves that get performed, to the wacked character designs, this is about as silly as manga gets these days. Another thing about "Ultimate Muscle" that might catch people's attaintion is the fact that this is the first manga that is being released under the "Shounen Jump Advanced" lable. So what is "Shounen Jump Advanced" you ask? Well, "Shouen Jump Advanced" is the new lable for Viz's more "mature" SJ titles. "Ultimate Muscle" made a very brief apperance in the "Shounen Jump" magazine, but Viz knew that the violent content and humor just simply wasn't made to be read by kids, so Viz decided to create the SJA line for their more mature SJ titles. However what seperates this from the other SJ titles is a little questionable. I say this for a couple of reasons. One is that one of Viz's other SJ titles, "Rurouni Kenshin," is also slapped with an OT rating on the back of the book, yet that has been released under the normal SJ banner, even though it is clearly more mature then most of the regular SJ titles. Another thing that is seriously questionable is how Viz handled the content in this book.
While it is true that most of the violence, potty humor, and jokes that involve crude and risgue language are kept intact, it appears that Viz has decided to remove all of the commical nudity from the book. You see, it should be noted that "Ultimate Muscle" was published in "Playboy Magazine Japan," and that the series was obviously not created with kids in mind. Now compared to what you can see in Playboy these days, unedited "Ultimate Muscle" was still a bit tame in comparison, but Yudetamago took advantage of his freedom with the magazine and made sure that most of the jokes, fights, and characters were as adult as possible, and this included using nudity in comic events. What's even more funny is that in Viz's translation of this book many of the characters will point out that a character is naked, but when the character is actually seen in the book, he will always have a (very poorly drawn) pair of underwear on or something. If the characters can say that a character is naked (thus pointing out where the censorship is), then why did they bother to censor the book in the first place? I don't get it. So yes, the book is censored, and because this book is being published under the "Shounen Jump Advance" lable so that Viz can make clear that this series is for a more adult audience, then there was no reason for the nudity to be covered up (especially when you consider how much other offensive material made it in the book intact).
In fact, the only advantage that "Shounen Jump Advance" seems to have at the preasent time is that the book is 230 pages long, which is about 30 pages longer then the standerd manga released by Viz. What's even better is that Viz upped the amount of pages in this book but kept the SJ price tag of $7.95, which is $2 cheaper then your standerd manga, which gives this book a serious edge over other books if people are on a budget. Oh, and the slogan has also changed to "The World's Most Cutting-Edge Manga" from "The World's Most Popular Manga (personally, I'm wondering why they even bothered to change the slogan)." And the sad thing about this is the series IS worth getting, and it IS worth checking out because it is so incredibly funny, but I just can't fully recomend it because of the unneeded censorship! I'm going to have to hold out on buying the rest of this series for time being until Viz gets the message that unnessicary censorship like this is not okay. I won't tell you whether to buy this or not, because maybe to some people the censoring of the nudity isn't that big of a deal (and I have at least one friend who won't buy comics with nudity in them, so I know he'll at least be happy), but just keep all this in mind when it comes time to decide whether you want to buy the book or not. In the end, "Ultimate Muscle" is one of the most bizzare, funny, and unexpected titles I've read this year, yet on the other hand the treatment of the series is a complete disapointment. Buyer beware.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -