Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa
The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa!

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“At the crossroad in my life, I didn't know which way to go. I just mindlessly choose a random direction... then, after regretting my decision I tried to retrace my steps. However, without even realizing it the sun had already set.”
-Kurosawa

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa, or Legend of the Strongest Man Kurosawa (not to be mistaken for Onanie Master Kurosawa) is a masterful tragic comedy manga written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the original creator of well-known works such as Kaiji, Ten, and Akagi, which tells the magnificent tale of a middle age man going ... through a midlife crisis, named Kurosawa.

When it came to life Kurosawa was dealt a bad hand, he was born with appalling looks, an enormous chin as well as an unsightly, crooked nose. Throughout his life Kurosawa made one bad decision after another, leading him to become an emotionally unstable, lonely, and unpopular middle aged construction worker with no friends or family. Kurosawa's legend begins when none of his coworkers remember that it is his 44th birthday. Kurosawa drowns his sorrows in booze and curses his fate until he has an epiphany. After 44 years of cheering for others Kurosawa wants to be able to applaud his own achievements, make friends, and find love.

After Kurosawa and his conflict are introduced the manga places its focus on Kurosawa attempting to become popular at his work place and collecting the remnants of his youth by pursuing various ambitions. Unfortunately, due to Kurosawa's socially awkward nature he makes very little progress to achieving his goals and his many attempts at recognition end in him only becoming loathed and rejected by his peers. Eventually through his antics Kurosawa begins to make some progress and gains respect from others, however in order to truly achieve his goals he must overcome his most tragic flaw, his age. Kurosawa's tragic flaw is what separates him and his story from that of others, in manga such as Welcome to the NHK, and Watamote the characters face similar problems to Kurosawa in the sense that they too are in some way socially awkward and are at times rejected by their peers, but unlike Kurosawa these characters have their whole life ahead of them, while Kurosawa is at the end of his rope.

In order to reach his goals Kurosawa must fight social norms and stand up against oppression from those who resent him, with nothing but his bare hands and strong will. Through his journey Kurosawa evolves from a depressed social misfit into something much more, an admirable man willing to face his problems head on with an assertive and fearless attitude. Due to his eventual fearlessness the manga draws a parallel between Kurosawa and samurai, when push comes to shove both are willing to fight to the death for what they believe. Kurosawa's gradual progression as a person is enduring to say the least and invokes very strong emotions from the reader, giving them a reason to root for Kurosawa in spite of his flaws as a person.

Speaking of flaws, Kurosawa is a very flawed human being, he constantly gets drunk, gets into fits of rage, has lustful fantasies, and gets into fights. These short comings only add a layer of complexity to Kurosawa's character, making him vulnerable despite his muscular body. Kurosawa drinks to run away from his problems, he gets into fits of rage because he can't properly communicate with others, he has lustful fantasies because he is a 44 year old man who has not been in a romantic relationship, and he gets into fights with punks because they pick on the weak, something that Kurosawa can't stand.

Through it's masterful storytelling Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa manages to blend elements of comedy and tragedy effortlessly as the manga constantly throws around jokes that revolve around Kurosawa's condition as well as his attempts at popularity, normally adding humor to a work like this would not bear fruitful results and disengage the reader, but in the case of Kurosawa the comedy not only fails to take anything away from the emotional aspects of the story, but also offers a large dose of wit and personality to the work as a whole.

As I previously mentioned Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa was written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, and from a visual standpoint he did a fantastic job, Nobuyuki Fukumoto has a very distinct art style and if you have read or watched any of his other works you should be very familiar with what I'm referring to. Fukumoto's characters are typically very unattractive with distinct features such as large noses and long faces. This art style strongly resonates with Kurosawa's story more so than any of Fukumoto's other works as Kurosawa as a character embodies Fukumoto's visual style. Just like in his other works Fukumoto does at times break away from this style when either presenting a visual metaphor or making a joke, these scenes in which the art style changes a bit are a breath of fresh air and at times even add to the comical elements.

Nobuyuki Fukumoto is also well known for his ability to evoke heavy emotions through his character monologues, In Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa Fukumoto delivers some of his most powerful speeches, filling panel after panel with the raw and passionate feeling of Kurosawa. These monologues are one of the strongest points of this manga and bring Kurosawa's struggle down to a personal level, it’s very clear to the reader that Fukumoto could strongly relate to Kurosawa and perhaps went through some of the experiences he did.

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa is one of the most powerful and inspirational manga I have ever read and is my favorite work of fiction, so there is a level of bias behind some of my words, but in spite of that I feel as though Kurosawa is masterful in almost every way and deserves more praise than it gets.

UPDATED: 4/26/2015 after first reread

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa is an outstanding manga by Nokuyuki Fukumoto of Kaiji and Akagi fame, telling a story about a man named Kurosawa and his quest to find his place in the world. Throughout its 70 something chapters it gives some of the most touching and bizarre moments, all revolving around the titular strongest man. I begin the review by saying that this Legend of the Strongest Man is one of the best manga I've ever read.

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa, or as its known in English as The Legend of the Strongest Man Kurosawa, tells the story of Mr. Kurosawa, a 44 year old single, overweight ... man who has been working the majority of his life as a construction worker. One day while feigning interest in a soccer game with coworkers, Kurosawa has an epiphany that people should be able to cheer for their own success, not just that of other people, which he finds he has been unable to do. Depressed over his underachievement throughout his life and depressed simply about being depressed, Kurosawa sets it upon himself to find his success, though he does not know exactly how to do so himself. He begins his journey by attempting to make friends with the coworkers at work, yet his forced attempts only bring about disastrously cringe worthy consequences. From there on, Kurosawa finds himself in one bizarre situation after another, all while trying to find his place in the world. While I don't want to spoil the story, I can say that Kurosawa's adventure covers everything from finding a new philosophy in life, to achieving his own personal success, to an all out war with the young punks in the area.

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa's story is a myriad of genres, although most notably is drama and comedy, and both affect the plot. Underneath it however is a story packed with realistic expectations and doubts, with some of the best development of its main character, Kurosawa. Kurosawa himself is fantastic, he is, unlike many protagonists, extremely stupidly normal. Kurosawa has nothing special about him at all, literally, he is overweight, not very good to look at, and has no talents or quirks about him. He is a complete anti-thesis to a myriad of other manga protagonists, for better or worse. Of course, whether or not this necessarily makes his character superior, doesn't matter because he is a fantastic character beyond that. Kurosawa's personality has no real abnormalities to it, in fact his simple desires to make friends among other things, are boring objectives! Yet his unwavering determination throughout all of the depressing circumstances drive this manga to never before seen locations. The story of Kuroawa is unique, unique because it takes things that are taken for granted not just in other manga but in real life as well, and puts them to measure. Kurosawa is a depressing character, because he is depressed himself. Depressed that he has barely any money, no success, no family. But he sets himself to change it all, and it is a fantastic quest indeed. Development of Kurosawa in this manga is of course exceptional. Character development is to put it simply, a flimsy and especially subjective standard, but Kurosawa's changes are both noticeable and real. They are very real, they feel natural to an amazing degree. Kurosawa comes to his own realizations in his life, and about his circumstances, something that becomes admirable through the manga pages themselves and into the hearts and mind of the reader. For this and among other things, he is just extremely likable, this is the first thing that comes to mind when reading his exploits. He is just fantastic, and a perfect lead to the story. There are of course, some other characters, but none of them share the same length of development as Kurosawa. Kurosawa's journey is for the most part solitary, and thus he is the star of all events one way or another. Through this great story we are able to see all the facets of his personality, and the rigors of his quest. The realism of it all, and I use this term with good measure, is very noticeable. To put it in more detail, Kurosawa takes the little things other manga may touch on, like people's place in society and zooms on it completely. It is never pretentious in the slightest, in fact it is so dramatically crazy on something so seemingly insignificant that it can be called the opposite of pretentious. Kurosawa doesn't preach, he shows his resolve through his blood and samurai spirit, his fear and emotions run through the reader. One cannot help but cheer the pitiful Kurosawa on, with his good meaning nature and admirable conclusions, he reaches a synergy with the reader and the story that many manga can only dream of, same genre or not. Kurosawa learns his lessons through vigor, and is far from perfect. If he makes a mistake and reaches a conclusion, he will make the mistake again! And yet even a third time, Kurosawa is a fool, but that is why he is fantastic. It's so difficult to express just how written the entire thing is. Beyond the story itself, there is also alot of comedy, however its not quite the goofball shenigans that the premise may at times suggest. Unlike a manga like Watamote, which Kurosawa has mutual circumstances with in the beginning, Kurosawa has conclusion to its facets. If one said that Watamote was a monster of the week type of comedy when it came to social situations, Kurosawa would be the Illiad of them. But most importantly, this does not drive the entire manga, it reaches conclusions. These conclusions are the driving part of the story, they are pivots to keep the momentum. More on the comedy though, this manga is truly hilarious. Frequently I found a smile on my face of the bizarre situations that occurred to Kurosawa, linked to a haphazard decision. There are times when you can just laugh at it, its great. It mostly comes from how likable Kurosawa is as a character, in addition to the situations he comes into. It just all works out very well. The themes of this manga frequesntly deal with place in society, something that this manga shares with Fukomoto's many gambling works. But with this theme comes real conclusiveness, an ending and meaning that is unparalleled. There is weight to this manga, it is not to be underestimated for any reason. If I hear how someone doesn't read this because of the art style, I want to kill them and flush them down the toilet, please don't let that stop you from reading this. This is a personal 10/10 and something I would recommend to any fan of any kind of genre of manga. It is a fantastic outlook on aspects of depression in life and real situations. It is hilarious, touching, and at times, tragic. The determination of this Strongest Man knows no bounds, and neither does the excellence of it's manga. I implore you to read it.

STORY: 4

Kurokawa is an average worker who feels he has not accomplished anything in his life. He is grumpy, awkward, envious and shy. His story is a succession of painful moments as he fails at being respected, attracting women or making friends. And the rest is frustration as he keeps comparing himself to others or his idea a what a great man is.
That is, until the moment he gets to use violence!

The whole story supports the character's new-found use of violence to 'take your fate into your own hands' and celebrates his 'putting your life on the line' to the point of kitsch.
The story ... is a succession of ridiculous scenes where male interactions are conditioned by the perceived violence of Kurosawa: aggression, emotion, fear, respect.. The reactions of the ordinary Japanese men depicted (no care is given to women save for one granny) are so primitive it feels like watching a documentary about the social life of apes.

ART: 5

The art is very old-school and stiff but it's still pleasant. That touch of 80s-90s is serving the story with faces that are easy to remember and a dated flavor that is in line with the 'primitive' feelings exposed in the manga.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4

A man can get respect though violence and our hero, once he has stepped in this direction, is compared with a Samourai, a warrior, and the manga shows that it is an admirable thing.
For example, a moment of glory comes when Kurokawa announces that he is going to fight school delinquents in the middle of a restaurant. Then, all the patrons are moved (!) by his resolution and follow him the next day to assist to the fight. During the fight, the spectacle of violence fascinates the (vastly male) audience and moves them to tears. Let's stop here to describe the scene: a crowd is moved by a grown-up taking the risk to kill a kid with a steal pipe.
How nice, after his fight the hero gets a confidence boost and becomes appreciated by his coworkers, starting the ‘legend’ of the strong man Kurosawa.

Politically our hero becomes a rebel. Against the system? Not really. In a typical masculinist fashion, Kurosawa only fights because he feels he does not have the place he deserves in society. He cannot, however, think of changing the system neither by himself or collectively (he gets some followers after enough display of violence).

FEMINISM: 4

For a change we have some old-school masculinism here which made me wonder when that title was published (2003 to 2006, surprising!). We have a man who is suffering because he is not doing great things like real men do. We watch him spending a lot of time being frustrated and unable to express his emotions correctly, instead he does his best at acting like a man: not communicating openly (until he's drunk at least), making terrible decisions to save face and engaging in violence.

Poor Kurosawa has never done it for real, 'for real' means that he has never had sex without paying a woman. The empathy is only for him and not for the sex workers. As in too many manga, men participating in the prostitution industry is too natural to even be questioned.

Empathy again for the poor Kurosawa who is a victim of temptation: just going to a swimming pool he gets so excited that he sexually assaults the women in the pool. Zero thought is given to the women who got his head bumping into their vaginas. And fortunately for Kurosawa, the rich delinquent that recognizes him as 'the real deal' helps him avoid being taken to the police. He even lectures his female friends that were rightfully disgusted by Kurosawa's behavior.

CONCLUSION: 4

All the guys are crying in this work, it's the first time I read a manga with that many male tears. That should be a good thing, suggesting that the male characters are more compassionate, empathic or emotional than usual (which are great reasons to cry). Alas, the tears here mostly come from envy ('why am I not successful?'), loneliness ('I want to be recognized and respected!') and fascination for violence ('Seeing you putting your life on the line when fighting with punks moved me to tears bro!').

Kurosawa is a character with the maturity of a baby (he is seen having tantrums on the floor a few times like a kid) who suffers because of toxic masculinity. While the manga is trying to show how tough men have it, this title is mostly (rather involuntarily) showing how patriarchy can make men selfish, dangerous and pathetic.