Golosseum (rank 4)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 6/6 (Complete), In Print
Seinen
Genre: Absurdist Comedy, Fighting, Sports (Wrestling), Martial Arts, Political Satire, Scifi

Summary: The world has changed with the invention of a high tech bracelet, called the Peacemaker. It surrounds the wearer with a air permeable force field that prevents all conventional weapons and chemical weapons and viruses from harming the wearer. As a result the only way to harm a Peacemaker-equipped fighter is through hand to hand combat, like wrestling or martial arts. The fate of the world now rests in the hands of the most powerful fighters!

The source of this technology is unknown but came to Earth transcribed onto 3 Golden Records. The Russians, under President for Life Vladimir Putin Vladislav Putinov, were the first to get their hands on the first two records, which contained the secrets of the Peacemakers and the second contained the secret of human body modifications to create super-powered hulks. Then other countries stole or bartered for this new technology. No one knows what the contents of the 3rd Record contain, but sure it will change the world, Putin sends his forces after it, while the Japanese and the Americans try to prevent the disk from being stolen.

Review: The main plot centers around the coming showdown between the Russians, led by Putin and his soldiers, and the immortal “Mad Monk” Rasputin, who stole the 3rd Golden Record and defected to Japan. Rasputin, who can see the world’s potential futures, has determined the world will fall into ruin if Putin gets the 3rd Record. As such he starts by gathering some of the best fighters of the world, starting with Ryuzo Hijikata known as “the Grim Reaper” and Sasha Goundarenko, “the White Witch.” But also soon recruits some more recognizable names, including Bruce Lee. The Japanese Prime Minister is based on Wrestler Antonio Inoki. On the American side there’s also Hulk Hogan and Big Van Vader. (but all with fake names to avoid being sued) and many more I didn’t recognize.

At first glance this might look like a fighting manga, and while it does have many fights, at heart, it’s an absurdist comedy. Which is to say that it’s a comedy based on how ridiculous it can get. And it constantly tries to get more ridiculous. In the beginning the comedy is so understated, that honestly, I wasn’t even sure it was a comedy at all. Initially, it was so straight-faced and serious that I thought the ridiculousness of it was all just an excuse for the mangaka to have his favorite wrestlers and martial artists and his two main original characters fight each other.

But somewhere around volume 3 or so, when the mangaka unleashed the comedy plotline of Putin trying to train animals wearing Peacemakers into being his war mounts, well, that was just hilarious. If watching shirtless, muscleman Putin riding a Shark into battle against a Giant Squid doesn’t sound funny to you, then this probably isn’t something you will enjoy. There is quite a lot of political satire making fun of Putin as his publicity photos show him as a super macho guy, shirtless, and often riding something. There’s a lot more other ridiculousness too, like the American forces riding Segways into battle against a force of shirtless Russian Cossacks.  

Anyway if you read this manga like a regular fighting manga, then it is incredibly dumb and comes off as really stupid. But if you can read the ridiculousness of it as what it is, a parody, then it’s pretty funny. That being said, for a comedy, the series made the odd decision to have hyper violent and ultra realistic gore, as well as the death of random innocents which I totally get is going to be a turn off for some readers. And the two main characters Ryuzo and Sasha were pretty bland too, I would have scrapped them and made Bruce Lee or Samart Payakaroon the main character, they were both way more interesting.

The main thing I did dislike though, was the ending. For a series that revels in violence, it ends with an oddly out of place anti-war message. On top of that, somehow even though Putin was the villain to the very end, somehow he comes off as being a good guy because he reveals his desire is to keep the Peacemakers forever and wipe out all chance of nuclear war. He still was going to take over the world though.

Recommended: TLDR; If you want to read the combination of an absurdist comedy and part political satire that is also a tribute to famous wrestlers and a few famous martial artists, then this was pretty funny. But also really violent.

Age Rating: R: A lot of decapitations and other ultra violent deaths and gore. Also some very violent animal deaths, a tiger, a few bears and some horses.