Most people will know Riki-Oh from the early nineties flick that has garnered quite the cult following, especially after some of the ridiculously over-the-top fight scenes appeared on the internet years ago. Since then, I only ever hear about the movie, never about the manga on which it is based. So I strapped myself in for a testosterone laden 75-chapter romp, and boy was I in for a surprise.

Most people drop Riki-Oh after the first ten or fifteen chapters because the story goes from crazy to fucking insane. Riki-Oh begins as what appears to be a prison drama, where our titular character is a huge badass who kills those who hurt the innocent, in turn pissing off the warden and those the warden keeps as subordinates. Riki-Oh is in search of his brother, Nachi, who bears a swastika on his hand. Riki-Oh has the Star of David on his and together the brothers are known as the Brothers of Destruction.

Anyway, the prison thing doesn’t go anywhere and Riki-Oh finds his brother at a secret nuclear base where lots of fighting ensues. This is followed by Riki-Oh searching for his father and learning more about his mother. And then finding his father and beating a bunch of people up…so on and so forth.

The story is, let’s face it, stupid. It gets stupider the closer you get to the end with random Nazis, random undead guys, and even an appearance from an out-of-place science fiction idea that shows up in chapter 74 when none of the other chapters ever established any sort of science fiction anything.

I can see why people quit because the beginning is self contained and feels like it will keep being a prison drama of some sort. Once Riki-Oh gets out, things fall apart and those not in the market for a plot that is almost more ridiculous than the deaths of the enemies will want out.

That said, I don’t think Riki-Oh cares and that’s what made it so enjoyable for me. It’s one of those eighties manly-man manga where the plot comes second to huge dudes saying cool things and then proceeding to turn people to bloody puddles with their fists. Riki-Oh has some of the best frames of idiotic violence I’ve ever seen in all my years of reading manga (which I’ll be posting at the end of this review). If nothing else, you’ll find yourself reading this just to see how someone dies in the next chapter.

The art is also really good. Every frame is detailed just enough to bring a very nice realness to it all.

I know this review is short, but I can’t say too much about Riki-Oh because there isn’t much here. The plot is absolutely batshit. By the end there’s all this religious symbolism being thrown around and an idea about killing all humans to become a one true God. It’s a convoluted mess of “DOOOWHAAAA?” moments that compound to create an endearingly strange and exceptionally violent experience. The characters are all weak, the art is fantastic (as is the violence), but other than that, there’s nothing.

It’s not refined in the least, nor is it technically good, but Riki-Oh is the kind of dumbass fun you ask for on a boring winter day. For me, this is appealing for a very niche crowd and that crowd will gobble it up. So if you didn’t find Fist of the North Star or Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to be your thing, you’d be best skipping this one. But if you did, this is even more ridiculous than . And I can’t believe I just said that.