Best of Saruwatari Tetsuya Series

Best of Saruwatari Tetsuya 猿渡哲也

Riki-Oh (力王)

written by Takajo Masahiko 鷹匠政彦
12 volumes

In the late 1990s, society is descending into ecological collapse and totalitarianism. Most jails are run by corporations. Saiga Rikioh, 21, finds himself in jail after taking out a yakuza leader (who killed his girlfriend) - but he has studied Chinese internal martial arts, taught to him by one of Chiang Kai-shek's former bodyguards. Rikioh has a hexagram scar on his left hand, and his brother Nachi has a swastika scar. They were the selected offspring of experiments conducted on a Jewish enclave of Manchuria (established by the Japanese in WWII). Anyway, the story goes on for another 10 or so volumes, concluding at the South Pole, where Rikioh fights his father in the battle of Armageddon.

Unquestionably Saruwatari's best manga, definitely a violence/action manga classic, made into OAVs and a category III Hong Kong film, The Story of Ricky (both terrible). The story is fairly mature and thought-provoking, at least compared to other manga in the genre. Takajo Masahiko, the author, has written other strong martial arts-based manga, Hong Lang 紅狼 and Lapis Lazuli 瑠璃, both on Young Sunday.

Extreme Violence