Evil Heart - Japanese Aikido Manga!

I haven't heard any mention of it, so I thought I would see if anyone else out there has read this 4 volume series of a Japanese language manga called Evil Heart. It is - to my knowledge - the first manga that has Aikido as its main theme.It is a great story, wonderfully written and drawn by Taketomi Tomo. It is about a young boy - Ume - a junior high school student - who has a very hard time controlling his aggression. He comes from an abusive family environment, and has serious problems with his rage.

An added twist is that the second main character apart from the boy is the Aikido teacher at his school. He is the English teacher, a Canadian called Daniel, who also teaches Aikido. It is great that the hero of the story is a foreign Aikido teacher!

The story represents Aikido very nicely. The techniques shown are very clear and well depicted. Much of the inner workings and philosophy of Aikido is represented as well. This is actually the whole focus of the series: how Ume is taught Aikido by Daniel in order to teach him how to avoid the fights that are so out of control that Daniel fears that Ume will either get killed himself or end up killing someone.
I really hope that the series gets translated into English, I think it would be of great interest for the international aikido community.

Please let me know if there are others out there that have read this series, and tell me your thoughts.

In Aiki,

Ethan Weisgard

neat idea...can't read japanese, and not really familiar with manga in general (probably a good thing ) but if it does make it into english, let us know!

Best,
Ron

yes thanks for heads up, ethan. i, myself is a big fan of manga, especially samurai-themed ones. so, yes, if in english one day, i would love to know where to get a copy.

cool!! It's a long time from now when I'll read Japanese, but I'll remember the name until then, thanks!

The manga is being published in France these days.

Did anyone make any fan subs yet online?

This looks awesome! I'm going straight to the comic store asap!

Holy crap! Where can you get these? Please tell me where?

Duy,

You can order them through amazon.com

Evil Heart 1 by Young Jump Comics
By Tomo Taketomi
ISBN4-08-876824-8

Evil Heart 2
ISBN4-08-876825-6

Evil Heart 3
ISBN4-08-876883-3

There is a number 4 out now, it has another name apart from Evil Heart 4, I think it is called Kihen.

In Aiki,

Ethan Weisgard

Where can I get it?

They've got it on Japanese Amazon here

Carl

the thing is... I cant read Jap

There is also Korean version. I'll try to read it. By the way, there are some aikidoka in japanese manga. In Monster, Kakeru, Grapler Baki, and etc..

If you like fighting manga, I recommend 'Shamo' by Tanaka Akio.
(http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ga.php?id=7470)

ps. Nice to meet you again Raul. he he.

Jaemin Yu wrote: There is also Korean version. I'll try to read it. By the way, there are some aikidoka in japanese manga. In Monster, Kakeru, Grapler Baki, and etc..

Grappler Baki is just an all around great fighting manga/anime. I really only read the first manga and then switched over to the anime out of pure availability and laziness! I love the Iaido guy, but don't really remember an Aikidoka, although I just started the second series, so I guess he / she is in there..

Wow, aikido manga!

Presumably you can find it in places like Book Off?

Andrew Hanson wrote: Grappler Baki is just an all around great fighting manga/anime. I really only read the first manga and then switched over to the anime out of pure availability and laziness! I love the Iaido guy, but don't really remember an Aikidoka, although I just started the second series, so I guess he / she is in there..

During the tournament, one old jujitsu-ka appeared. Shioda Gozo must be the model of the character.

Jaemin

Jaemin Yu wrote: During the tournament, one old jujitsu-ka appeared. Shioda Gozo must be the model of the character. Jaemin

Oh ok! I know who you are talking about. Baki wanted to train with him also. Yeah I couldn't tell if he was Aikido or Jujitsu, great show none the less!

--Drew

Apparently it's available in French as well. I guess I can see that, I think Aikido is really popular in France.

http://www.amazon.fr/Evil-Heart-1-To.../dp/2505000115

Cheers

Anthony

From what I see on a japanese site, it was released on 7-19-2005. You'd think if it was going to be released in English they already would have. I won't hold my breath for a translation. Interesting story though.

The main character of Evil Heart, the way he's drawn reminds me a lot of Tetsuo Shima from the Aikira series.

-Anthony

Sorry for posting so much. That dang 15 minute time limit to edit.

You can read the manga at the following japanese site. Looks like they scanned it. I don't know if the entire manga is scanned. I just looked at the first couple pages.

http://www.s-manga.net/title/evilheart.html

It's not about Evil Heart, nor about Aikido, but a shameless off topic plug for my wife's book that has just been published in Japan, and released this very week. If any of you Japanese readers out there fancy something to read.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_ss_...Go.x=18&Go.y=8

Many of my younger students are way in to Manga. One of them draws characters all the time and is deeply into it.
She and her brother both are reading Full Metal Alchemy. I read it and found the alchemical allusions to be very 'O'Sensei'. This is currently in English and can also be enjoyed in Anime' on T.V.

jen

Anthony Towsley wrote: The main character of Evil Heart, the way he's drawn reminds me a lot of Tetsuo Shima from the Aikira series. -Anthony

Yeah he does! Another great Anime, but don't get me started, its my little secret obsession!

I have just gotten hold of the fourth volume - called "Ki Hen." It looks just as good as the first three, though I have just started working my way through it.
I showed the book to Isoyama Sensei recently, and he was very happy to see that Aikido is being presented to a larger audience. He was also pleased that the spiritual sides of Aikido are being emphasized in the stories.
I sincerely hope that all these volumes get translated into English - they are great books, and they paint a very good picture of our beautiful martial art.

In Aiki,

Ethan Weisgard

I'd just like to say thanks again to Ethan Weisgard for bringing this to our attention. I hope I get to thank you in person someday. I've heard nothing but good things about you in Iwama and from your students who have come over to train.

This series was truly a pleasure to read. From the Japan side of things, I found issue 4 "Ki-hen" first on the shelves, so I had to restrain myself from reading it until I got the others which came out a while ago. Fortunately, I am extremely good at not-reading-Japanese, although I couldn't help but glance at the nice pictures.

Kihen was easy enough to find in the manga section of most bookstores (just scan for Young Jump's "YJ" on the spines and the romaji title usually stands out among the kanji). I got the others from Amazon Japan (They ship overseas too) Within Japan, my only problem was never being in when they tried to deliver, but eventually I got them to drop the package off with my landlady.

Reading the books themselves was a pleasure. With regards to the language, I'd say that if you're in the upper part of the void between level's 3 and 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, you'll get by. I think I'm around 2kyu JLPT (but don't fancy the test this year -- we'll see) and found that I knew enough of the kanji, grammar and slang to get through without too much stopping. There were parts where I really needed to check my dictionary, but I was getting carried along by the story too much to stop and just ploughed on with the gist. It was probably the most frustrating thing about reading them, but it means that now I'm enjoying reading them again, this time with a little more patience.

As for the story and artwork, I thought all four books were marvellous. It was really compelling reading and I agree that the way Aikido is represented is excellent. I've studied design and in my opinion the artwork is superb, combining good composition with meticulous attention to details -- you get panels with nice and simple lines contrasted with close-ups on gestures from characters' hands or rain falling in puddles. It's all put together really well.

My only desperate question: will there be anymore? It can't end with kihen!