[Meeting…] Ramenman (Menja-noodles)

A long time ago, in this same section I told you about a character called Kinnikuman (Muslim) which turned out to be a parody of American and Japanese superheroes and whose series was based on wrestling matches and superhero Olympics.

In the latter, representatives from almost everyone in the world used to appear, who were usually strange things (like a Rubik's cube man or a teacup man) or a living representation of many clichés of their country (something that today could be considered racist, but which for me is still a humorous and effective representation of the country in question). That said, you won't be surprised that one of the American heroes (Terryman) is a blonde cowboy with blue eyes and has stars on his outfit, that the Spanish (Buffaloman) has horns and charges like a bull or that the German (Broken Jr) wears German military attire (swastika included). However, on this occasion I am not going to talk about any of them, since as you have seen I am going to focus on the superhero who represented China in the Superhero Olympics, Ramenman (known as Menja-noodles, according to the Catalan dubbing of the anime).

China's brutal superhero

The name of this character is linked to his favorite food (Ramen) and his appearance also obeys a series of established stereotypes, his face is long, his eyes are two little stripes (which suggests that he almost always keeps them closed, because when he is surprised he opens them) and the only details on his head are an elongated mustache and his ponytail, which give him a rather topical Chinese appearance, which is accentuated by his traditional clothing (sometimes adorned with dragons). We can't blame the creators of Kinnikuman for having made a “racist” design because they encouraged their followers to send them drawings of characters to use in the series and Ramenman was one of them, the creator of its concept being Tsutomu Komiya from Saitama Prefecture.

The authors of the series once said that Ramenman was created as a single-use character, but his popularity increased so quickly that they decided to include him in the group of heroes, thus giving him more prominence, something that the public appreciated.

In the Kinnikuman series there are many types of superheroes, and not all of them act the way Superman would. In fact, many of them act in a manner more worthy of villains, even though they are still considered heroes. In his first appearance in the series, Ramenman was considered a Zangyaku Chojin (Brutal Superhero) because despite being a hero, he killed his rivals without thinking too much about it, as Olympic spectators discovered when he saw him kill the Nazi superhero, Brokenman. However, Ramenman's brutality suddenly decreased as he became friends with Kinnikuman, thus becoming a Seigi Chojin (Superhero of justice) also gaining the sympathy of the public, since until then he was feared by a large part of them (despite the fact that he demonstrated on more than one occasion that he was not as evil as they painted him).

This fighter stood out from the others not only in his way of fighting (which was more similar to Kung Fu than to the wrestling that most heroes practiced) but also in his personality, because as the series progressed he was shown as a thoughtful, strategist and very wise fighter both inside and outside the ring (in fact, according to his technical sheet, his favorite book is “The art of war” by Sun Tzu).

Despite knowing more than a thousand different attacks and being an extraordinary fighter, Ramenman suffered a serious injury while fighting in the Olympics against the Russian superhero Warsman, who dug his claws into his head, damaging his brain, leaving the Chinese superhero in a vegetative state., after which he was forced to retire from the world of fighting and return to China.

In his native country he found mountains whose air was so pure that it could heal even the most serious wounds, which restored his vitality. Unfortunately, if he left that area, his body would return to paralysis so that he would have to spend the rest of his life there, a situation that this fighter quickly accepted. However, Ramenman discovered that his former colleagues were in a life or death situation and our character had to find an alternative to help them., which he found thanks to the help of Doctor Bombe, who made him a mask using the bark of the trees that created the healing air of the mountains. After putting on that mask, Ramenman adopted the personality of Mongolman (Mongol) to be able to help his teammates, a personality he used until he lost the mask in the pairs tournament, in which he participated with the Spanish superhero Buffaloman, with whom he formed the “Team of 20 Million Power.”

The Origin of Ramenman

The popularity of this fighter led to starring Tatakae! Ramenman, a new manga and animated series that allowed us to get to know the Chinese superhero a little better, as it began by telling us his origin, when some bandits looted his village and killed his father, after which Ramenman decided to learn Chojin Kung-Fu with his teacher Chen, who saved his life after the attack by the bandits.

Years later, Ramenman completed his training and obtained the scroll with the 102 dragon techniques, after which he decided to undertake a journey throughout China, during which he soon met his student, a small orphan boy named Shumay.

In this series we see a Ramenman who makes some rookie mistakes and learns many incredible techniques, some of which would become famous in the Superhero Olympics.. During his journey Ramenman will have to deal with other martial arts masters who seek to defeat him to gain popularity and will face fearsome and cruel villains, one of the most persevering being Jewel King, who will resort to all possible tricks to kill the Chinese superhero.

Conclusion and recommendations

Ramenman was always one of my favorite characters in Kinnikuman, may not have been a brilliant character initially, but his personality became defined as the series progressed and he reached maturity when he assumed the identity of Mongolman. His role as the “brain of the team” and his knowledge of Chinese martial arts led him to end up being one of the teachers of the new superheroes in the sequel to Kinnikuman (Kinnikuman Nisei, also known as Ultimate Muscle either Muslim The new generation) paper that fits like a glove.

Las recomendaciones con este personaje son bastante obvias y se limitan al manga y la serie de Kinnikuman (que lamentablemente en España solo se pueden encontrar en catalán, pero que podéis encontrar en inglés e incluso en español latino gracias a Internet) y su propio manga y serie Tatakae! Ramenman, los cuales no han salido de Japón oficialmente, aunque en Internet podéis encontrar la serie subtitulada al inglés.

Si no sabéis catalán, inglés, ni japonés, quizás lo más recomendable será que le echéis un vistazo al anime de Musculman la nueva generación, que si se emitió en español y es muy fácil de encontrar en Internet.

Y si ya conocéis todo sobre este personaje y la obra de la cual proviene, permitidme que os recomiende Kinnikuman Ni-sei Kyuukyoku Choujin Tag Hen, donde los creadores de la serie dan a los fans lo que pedían: combates entre personajes de ambas generaciones de la serie, pero con los luchadores originales sin envejecer, algo que hasta hace poco solo se podía hacer jugando a los videojuegos de Kinnikuman.