How deliciously satisfying. It's a special kind of bliss to see people defeated by their own egos.

I'll just copy paste my batoto comment

Well with the handicaps and rules this actually became a realistic fight, I still hate Aki, she is still not getting any warning whatsoever (water under the bridge my ass) but I'm happy with this, now we can move on!!

Hamster has some incredible good reflexes and she's also clever... Still, those punches won't work! I wonder how she will fight.

Seriously what the hell is wrong with Aki? Hanaka very clearly wants to get stronger but she has no confidence because she's new to this. That has absolutely shit all to do with her determination. And shitting one someone who's new to a skill for somehow not being good enough is one of the shittiest things you can do.

I said in Batoto before it recently imploded that if it was my martial arts (or, really, anything else) club, she would have already been gone before any of this could happen. What, three people she'd already intimidated into leaving?! If she wants to have moronic bullshit rules about who gets to learn and who doesn't, she can start her own club. If she's going to be in MY club, she treats everyone with respect or the door is over there.

I remember reading an article where someone tallied all the winning conditions of each weight class in the major BJJ tournaments, and found that lower weight classes were much more prone to scrambles. That is, positions were kept for a very short amount of time. This is because smaller people are more agile, and are pound-for-pound stronger as they can lift proportionally more of their body weight. No-gi is also a lot more slippery than gi.

But it's still surprising that Hana could instinctively use the hitchhiker escape without being caught in an inverse armbar or triangle however. Especially against an opponent of Aki's caliber.

To be fair I'd figure it's quite a bit harder to apply stuff with one arm. Even aside from the other arm not being available to use, the fact that you're used to having it would throw you off.

It is true that smaller people can be really squirmy. I remember taking Jiu Jitsu and there was this one guy, youngest in the class, a wiry little adolescent . . . doing the ground fighting stuff he had no chance of beating me, or most of the rest of us--just not strong enough. But he was almost impossible to immobilize; you couldn't make the guy tap out, he was just constantly squirming free and also very flexible so pressure that would force most people to tap still left him with some play to escape. And he never gave up. I was kind of the same when I was his age, actually.

last edited at Jan 18, 2018 3:13AM

"I'll also treat today's incident as water under the bridge."

NO! Manager! What the fuck! Do your fucking job and just expel her already, you fucking moron! Just how much water under the bridge it takes?? Especially since there are NO signs she is prepared to work on her attitude after this.

Seriously what the hell is wrong with Aki? Hanaka very clearly wants to get stronger but she has no confidence because she's new to this. That has absolutely shit all to do with her determination. And shitting one someone who's new to a skill for somehow not being good enough is one of the shittiest things you can do.

I said in Batoto before it recently imploded that if it was my martial arts (or, really, anything else) club, she would have already been gone before any of this could happen. What, three people she'd already intimidated into leaving?! If she wants to have moronic bullshit rules about who gets to learn and who doesn't, she can start her own club. If she's going to be in MY club, she treats everyone with respect or the door is over there.

To be fair to the mangaka, the reason this was done was to introduce a new character and to add tension between her and Hanaka. I agree with you wholeheartedly that at any martial arts club someone who behaves like Aki would quickly be kicked out. But I think the story does ask us to suspend a little bit of disbelief. And considering how much I'm enjoying this series (I didn't think I would at first!) I'm very willing to do this. To really ruin it for me the story would have to get dumb. And it hasn't. At all. I really like the characters, I like the plot line of a wimpy shrimp of a girl who happens to have skills she didn't know she possessed. I like the fights so far. And I even like Aki as an obstacle on Hanaka's quest for strength.

One other thing that occurred to me about Aki.... I think there's a personal story that explains Aki's bizarre behavior that we'll hear eventually. I don't know of this for sure, of course. But it does seem like something that the mangaka will tell us about at a later date.

I doubt there's any kind of story that justifies dislocating someone's arm and suffocating a newbie, breaking the rules of the sport she says to respect so much, despite of her past we must accept that she's just a bad person.

Who else thought that this part was cute? she doesn't look menacing at all TwT

Who else thought that this part was cute? she doesn't look menacing at all TwT

I think that's one of my favorite things about the art thus far, particularly of Hana - there's no effort to make her look surprisingly menacing or anything of the sort you'd commonly see in those kinds of situations. Instead, she very much looks inexperienced throughout, oftentimes still scared. Even in the moments she does look determined, she never crosses the line of looking out of character, if that makes sense.

I really appreciate that.

last edited at Jan 18, 2018 2:32PM

One other thing that occurred to me about Aki.... I think there's a personal story that explains Aki's bizarre behavior that we'll hear eventually. I don't know of this for sure, of course. But it does seem like something that the mangaka will tell us about at a later date.

It seems like that because it is an old and tired thread, walked over so many times before. You get a horrible character to create tension, then said character gets an anguished backstory that explains how they got to be like that. Does not alter the fact this girl is a complete asshole, willingly endangers the physical well-being of others with no justification whatsoever, and her downright toxic attitude is ruining the reputation of the entire gym. Though, at this point I am more pissed at Hokota. What does the asshole have to do to finally get banned, kill someone??

Purple Library Guy posted:

I said in Batoto before it recently imploded that if it was my martial arts (or, really, anything else) club, she would have already been gone before any of this could happen. What, three people she'd already intimidated into leaving?! If she wants to have moronic bullshit rules about who gets to learn and who doesn't, she can start her own club. If she's going to be in MY club, she treats everyone with respect or the door is over there.

Agreed. It was good to see Aki get her comeuppance though, even if she tried to be a sore loser and squirm out of it in the end.

Seeing you speaking of Batoto (+that announcement in the chapter) made me think:
Scanlators are looking at a disaster stemming from someone else owning the distribution/picture hosting and decide that in light of that they are going to use another site that suffers from same problem? Use it exclusively, with no other way to read/DL their releases?
For how long do they think Facebook is going to allow scanlation hosting? They are clearly violating copyright and it's just a matter of someone reporting it.

I was surprised Aki held back and surprised the hamster had more going on than her dodges. Hamster's courage in not tapping out was a little foolhardy. I think Aki is just the dedicated plot antagonist. I do still think Hana will "redeem" her somehow, though. And my #1 wish is still that Hana gets together with her admired girl.

LexXxich posted:

Seeing you speaking of Batoto (+that announcement in the chapter) made me think:
Scanlators are looking at a disaster stemming from someone else owning the distribution/picture hosting and decide that in light of that they are going to use another site that suffers from same problem? Use it exclusively, with no other way to read/DL their releases?
For how long do they think Facebook is going to allow scanlation hosting? They are clearly violating copyright and it's just a matter of someone reporting it.

Facebook is a really bad choice, poor quality and forces you to create an account with detailed information... There are a LOT of alternatives and bots that create even more.

Some fansubs are choosing imgur galleries.

I started my workout routine and yeah, I can do 3 sets of 15 push ups(mixed with other stuff) but I can't do 30 push up in one go, that's really amazing, my arms start to shake after 15, once again I'm ashamed and my respect for Hana has increased.

Yyeeeeah..I think I'll start skimming the next few chapters before reading them and completely skip any time this new character shows up.

This villan is so fucking stupid, annoying and ridicously cliché that i'm thinking of dropping it, especially if she keep do these close up.
I never felt tired of a villan this fast.

Serenata posted:

I started my workout routine and yeah, I can do 3 sets of 15 push ups(mixed with other stuff) but I can't do 30 push up in one go, that's really amazing, my arms start to shake after 15, once again I'm ashamed and my respect for Hana has increased.

Is 30 really all that hard? This is a legitimate question because I barely get any exercise anymore (sitting at a computer for most of the day is probably not terribly healthy, lol) but while it's difficult to pull off a whole 30 I can still do it.

I guess making an arc with an asshole (Aki) and then (immediately after) coming up with an even worse (borderline cartoon villain) asshole wasn't a really good idea.

Edit: For me it is, Alice, I just tested and yeah I can do it but now I can't do the others exercises without having to sit to catch my breath... I'm not fat at all, maybe I'm just really weak ._.) I don't deserve my avatar

last edited at Feb 3, 2018 7:49PM

I agree the villain is boring. But I hope the satisfaction will be even stronger when Hana destroys her!

Well this got bad-ish, I was hoping for a new series after Teppu ended but after the villain being so cartoonishly evil and the way her "friends" forced her to do something at the time she didn't want to do (leading to this ass pull to justify her doing it) I'm done I'll checked it out later on.

last edited at Feb 3, 2018 9:55PM

GeneralJ posted:

Edit: For me it is, Alice, I just tested and yeah I can do it but now I can't do the others exercises without having to sit to catch my breath... I'm not fat at all, maybe I'm just really weak ._.) I don't deserve my avatar

Don't say that, push ups (or any kind of exercise tbh) can be really hard for some reason, some years ago I use to work out a lot and I have to tell you, while I could pick a lot of weight in back and leg exercises (after a few moths I was already using machines to their maximum capacity) I was never really good at biceps work out or with the bench press.

What I'm trying to say is that you just need to take things slow, with time your buddy will start to adapt and you can work it a little harder and maybe be like the girl in your avatar XD. It is already awesome that you have the disposition to work out, keep doing your best and I'm rooting for you friend

Now about this chapter...this new character is really anoing, she could be a horrible person and a interesting character, but she just isn't. :(

Thank you T-T yeah I will try my best at my own pace!! I don't want to look like my elf hahaha I just feel like, I could gain some confidence doing it and look a little healthier.

Speaking about victory in the next match, I doubt that Hana could lose... It would be really anticlimactic unless the author handles it really well, but anyway in the case she wins I don't know if I will accept anything less than a broken nose... I don't want to hear "That was a good match, about what I said before and all the bullying well... That's water under the bridge now, cya"

So I'm guessing Aki will help Hana focus on her ground game so that she can eventually beat this new girl. Yay friendship incoming!

Fighting MMA in a ring vs fighting kickboxing in a ring is a lot different. Since the ring is small it concentrates the two fighters and forces close engagements, especially in the corner. It makes clinching and takedowns a lot easier. On the other hand, a kickboxer fairs no better in a cage, as they would have very little experience with the environment.

The new girl is working on her takedown defense, and Hana's takedowns are nothing special. I predict that Hana will get hit with a ton of jabs, force a takedown but be unable to follow through. Hana will then pull guard, bringing the fight to the ground but putting herself at a severe disadvantage. However, Aki's teachings will let her submit the new girl from guard with an armbar. I would have loved for Hana to pull single leg x guard like the Flowers Champion, because leg locks are so cool. But given the experience of those around Hana it's likely she will pull full guard.

I'm glad one of my favorite fighters was mentioned in this chapter: Mirko Cro Cop! Mirko was an absolute treat to watch every time, because his striking was so polished, and his fights would always end with a high kick knockout 7 out of 10 times. If the greatest MMA fighter of all time (Fedor) had not been the champion at the time, Mirko would have been the champion.

last edited at Feb 3, 2018 10:53PM

So was the old friend expelled from the school she was going to to go learn nursing? That's pretty dark either way, and the tournament can't fix that.

last edited at Feb 4, 2018 12:32AM

I only have one word : lol.