[Meeting…] Kinnikuman (Muslim)

If we think about the stereotype of a superhero, a muscular guy dressed in colors with a symbol on his chest, with a cape and his underwear untucked, will come to mind. In the same way if we think of a standard manga hero we will find a very dumb guy, who eats a lot, befriends his enemies and somehow turns out to be stronger than anyone.

And what would happen if we combined a little of both? Well, we would get a series of Japanese superheroes and we would be watching Kinnikuman (Musculman for those of us who were able to enjoy it in Catalonia and the Valencian Community, many years ago).

Musculman More of the same?

This series is based on an attempt to make a parody of superheroes (American and Japanese) and wrestling (two very popular things at the time) and without realizing it, it ended up becoming something epic that shone with its own light.

The story became more complicated, the characters increased and the combats became increasingly cruder and more intense, fortunately the parody was always present and that was thanks to the protagonist: Kinnikuman, the Muscle Man, also known as Suguru.

Suguru Kinniku He is the son of the King of the planet Muscle, but when he is a baby his father mistakes him for a pig and loses him., so you end up growing up in Japan without knowing anything about your true origin. Years later his family reunites with him, just at the moment when he saves Japan from its worst enemy, a skeleton just as idiotic as him called Kinkotsuman (also known as Decta Cubitus or Skullduggery).

Suguru thus embarks on a series of competitions, Olympics and fights against various enemies, some of whom will end up being his most beloved allies and this hero knows that despite being the strongest, he is worthless without his friends. The power of friendship has been used on many occasions as something recurring in this type of series, but in Musculman it is a real power, not a mere cliché, as demonstrated on more than one occasion.

There will be many rivals that this character will face during the competitions, such as the Olympic champion, a very strict and serious upper-class guy called Robin Mask, or the American superhero Terryman, who will start the series as a selfish and mean-spirited guy, and then progressively become a much kinder character, ending up being Suguru's best friend. There are many secondary characters who become main characters as the series progresses, such as Ramenman, Buffaloman, Warsman, Broken Jr or Geronimo, however, if there is a hero who helped Suguru overcome his fears, it was Prince Kamehame, who trained him hard to make him an invincible fighter and did not hesitate to fight alongside his student, despite his advanced age.

The role of some of these characters gradually increased in the series, as not only did we see them fight against Kinnikuman in incredible combats (such as the epic and bloody combat between Warsman and Kinnikuman) but we also saw them fight alone and improve their attacks, thanks to some parts of the series where everyone had the opportunity to fight (such as the legendary pairs tournaments), making it clear that the creators of the series knew the potential of the other characters and did not want to leave them completely behind. side.

The focus of the jokes in this series is usually Suguru himself, (although in the anime he shares it with Kinkotsuman) and let's not forget that the prince of the planet Muscle is basically like a little child, in the best and worst sense, as parodied with his appearance in the manga. Kochi Kame, where he is treated like a lost child. Fortunately, he has as an inseparable companion the small but intelligent Alexandria Meat who will help him, advise him and try to reduce the number of times Suguru makes a fool of himself in public (which is tremendously difficult).

Once convinced that we must fight (or that there is no escape from combat), Kinnikuman takes out his incredible arsenal of techniques (some more effective than others) and faces a whole host of strange characters, such as a cassette-man, a dock-man, a tea-cup man, a toilet-man or a villain made of planets, and many of the characters are tremendously imaginative and strange, which is not surprising if we know that some of them were created by fans of the series.

A chip off the old block

Musculman was a success in his time and many people remembered him fondly when a continuation of the story starring his son, Mantaro Kinniku, was announced. After the manga, it didn't take long for the anime to appear, telling us what had happened to Earth's superheroes (now in their forties) and how the new generation of heroes took their first steps with conditions and attitudes very different from those of their parents.

I admit that the idea of ​​a continuation scared me at first, there are many series that have taken advantage of memory to release low quality continuations, however when I started watching the Mantaro series I realized that it followed the style of the old one and that was very good.

Mantaro has the defects of his father (lazy, cowardly, stupid, gluttonous) with the handicap that on top of that he has been raised in the palace of King Kinniku, so that he will be somewhat more repellent and less honorable than his father was in his time.  As the series progresses, Mantaro will have to learn many things that his father already knew (or did out of pure kindness or stupidity), among them the aforementioned power of friendship, which is one of the keys to being able to unleash the Muscle power that his entire family has. Once again Alexandria Meat will be the key so that Mantaro does not act stupid more than necessary and goes on the right path, although this time he will receive some help from Suguru's former companions, who will try to turn Mantaro into someone as strong as his father.

Conclusion and recommendations

Although Kinnikuman represents a style of characters that we have seen in many manga and anime, he endears himself to his utter stupidity and the kindness of his actions. What differentiates Suguru from other similar anime characters is that he ends up showing a more human side (despite not being one) if only for the sake of humor, as he shows his fears and insecurities in a very natural way.

Where other anime heroes would say "what a stronger rival I want to fight him, even if I die trying." Musculman looks at him and says..."ugh... this guy is very strong, I won't be able to beat him" he gets scared and tries to avoid his responsibilities like anyone would do. Who wouldn't try to flee from a fight against a murderous fighter who has killed his rival and eaten him? As the series progresses and thanks to his friends, Musculman becomes much more responsible, he is still an idiot, but now he knows that if something has to be done, it will be done, especially knowing that his former rivals, now friends, are with him.

As a recommendation I can only focus on the manga and the series Kinnikuman, as well as in his son's manga and series Kinnikuman: The New Generation. In both cases, the television series and the manga are not identical and have their own stories, despite having the main story as a link, which is the same.