Gamaran

Gamaran (我間乱, Gamaran) is a shonen manga written by Yosuke Nakamaru and set in ancient Japan.

Long ago, there was the region of Unabara, also known as "The Demons' Lair", because many powerful warriors hailed from here, as well as countless martial arts of any kind. In order to choose a worthy ruler amongs his many sons, the Daimyo of Unabara Naomasa Washizu decides to start the great Unabara Tournament: each of his sons will hire a "Ryuu" (School) whose warriors will fight for their master in order to make them Daimyo and find out once and for all which style is the strongest.

The story focus on Naoyoshi, bastard son of the Daimyo who wants to clear his name (his mother wasn't a noble). Looking for the powerful swordsman Jinsuke Kurogane, the "Killer of a Thousand Men" he ends up hiring his son Gama, the young but skilled swordsman of the Ogame Ryuu. Along with allies and foes, Gama will fight his way to the top in order to make Naoyoshi the new Daimyo and show the world the might of the Ogame Ryuu.

The manga is very recent, and only a few volumes are currently avaible in Europe. It features a good, clean art along with amazing fighting scenes avoiding some clichés typical of shounen manga.

The Character Sheet is currently in progress.

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Gama contains examples of:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Zigzagged. While usually Gama's swords are deadly, he fails to cut armors or steel weapons at the first try.
• Aloof Big Brother: Iori is basically this one to Gama (note that they're not blood-related).
• An Axe to Grind: Agon and Hakuryu, from an unknown Ryuu. Shin actually point out how defending from such a weapon is dangerous.
• Armor Is Useless: Averted: steel plates and chainmails can block a katana. At first....
• Authority Equals Asskicking: In the Ryuu. The Daimyo tries to invoke Asskicking Equals Authority with the tournament.
• The Archer: The Nakaizumi Ryuu.
• Badass: Lots of them, on both sides.
  • Handicapped Badass: Sakon Daimaru, who's left mentally retarded after the Training From Hell organized by his brother Ryuugo.
  • Badass Grandpa: Gensai Kizaki of the Kannari Ryuu, one of the strongest warriors of Unabara.
• Bald of Awesome: Gama's master Kamedanbo. It has a cute turtle on the top.
• Bald of Evil: Muraku Matsumoto, leader of the Kasanemanji Ryuu.
• Berserk Button: Don't call Senka "Pig".
• BFS: Zenmaru's secret weapon, the Mystery Sword Kutaragi Sadanaga is a giant, heavy katana. Shingo Mido of the Myojin Ryuu wields Onidachi (Demon Splitter), a spear with a ten feet long handle and 3 feet long blade.
• Big Bad: It's easy to see the Daimyo as one with the sinister-looking Nachi as his Dragon. Maybe Jinsuke as well.
• Big Damn Heroes: Zenmaru saves Naoyoshi from an assassin. Later, Gama pop up just in time to save Zenmaru from Jaki.
• Blade on a Stick: Several Ryuu use spears of various kinds as their Weapon of Choice, including the Myojin Ryuu and Ganen Ryuu. The first Ryuu faced by Gama was the Tengen Ryuu of Baian Maki, a master in the use of the naginata. Later they fight the "Four Divine Spears" of the Myojin Ryuu, who all wields special spears.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Zenmaru Ichinose, member of the Ogame Ryuu.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Gama appears as this at first.
• Breakable Weapons: Gama break his longsword at least twice (once against Baian and another time against Sakon).
• Bullying a Dragon: The Hyuga Brothers at the beginning doesn't take Gama seriously and mock him. Cue to Curb Stomp Battle.
• Butt Monkey: Zenmaru, who's often compared to a monkey.
• Calling Your Attacks: Averted! At least, the characters don't scream the name of their current attack, but it does appear around them while they're performing it for the audience's benefit. Basically is more like "Thinking Your Attacks".
• Chain Pain: Kotaro's secret weapon is Mitsuboshi (three stars), a set of three chains connected together.
• Combat Pragmatist: Many characters, even Gama himself.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Gama dealing with the low-level opponents results in this. Also Iori vs Gama (Iori wins) and Zenmaru and Shin vs Agon and Hakuryu.
• Curtains Match the Window: Zennosuke has red hair and red eyes.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Naoyoshi, as his mother wasn't a noble.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Many Ryuu have something of this effect.
• The Determinator: Gama vs the Nakaizumi Ryuu.
• Diagonal Cut: The typical result of a fight against a member of the Ogame Ryuu.
• Dual-Wielding: Averted by the Ogame Ryuu: they do carry around two sword, but only use one of them at time. Agon and Hakuryu dual wields axes.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ranmaru Itou and Kosaburo Hyuga stands out.
• Elemental Powers: Sort of: the techniques of the Ogame Ryuu are divided in five "forms": Thunder, Flame, Earth, Water and Sky. However they're just referring to the sword style, and have nothing of magical at all.
• Epic Flail: The Kasanemanji Ryuu specialize in the use of Kusarigama (chain and sickle). Specifically, Jaki's secret weapon looks a lot like a flail.
• Everything's Better with Spinning: The Kosen attack, which turns the sword into a veritable drill.
• Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Ryuu involved in "foreign martial styles" are mentioned. They seems to involve a fencing style and users of chinese weaponry.
• Eye Scream: Gama does this to Junnosuke and (almost) Baian of the Tengen Ryuu. Muraku is seen doing this to the Tamagakushi Mooks.
• Family Theme Naming: Naosada Washizu, the Daimyo of Unabara, has about 30 sons. All of them have a name starting with Nao. (Naoyoshi, Naoshizu, Naoie and so on).
• Fiery Redhead: Zenmaru.
• Five-Man Band: From volume 4:
  • The Hero: Gama
  • The Lancer: Shin
  • The Big Guy: Zenmaru
  • The Smart Guy: Both Shin and Naoyoshi
  • The Chick: Naoyoshi, though he doesn't fight himself.
• Flash Step: The Third Technique of the Thunder Form, Narukami (Thunder God) involves this. It's also a One-Hit Kill according to Iori. Is actually about moving out of the opponent sight.
• For the Evulz: Many warriors likes to kill or maim their opponents for trivial matters, including Baian, Junnosuke and Gensai.
• Gag Nose: Arata Nakaizumi, the leader of the Nakaizumi Ryuu.
• Gonk: Several people, most notably Jaki and Agon.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Naomasa Washizu has a badly-stitched scar on his scalp. Nachi has a strange line on the left side of his face, but it's unknown if it's actually a wound or some sort of skin disease.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ryuugo Daimaru is killed by his own brother/living weapon Sakon.
• Idiot Hero: Subverted by Gama, who's quite smart despite being fourteen years old.
• In-Series Nickname: "My name is Shinnojo Sakura, but everyone calls me Shin".
• It's Personal: Gama means to kill his father with his own hands.
• Jerkass: Many of the warriors of Unabara. Also Naoyoshi's brothers.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Sometimes averted.
• Kid Samurai: Gama.
• Knight of Cerebus: Iori Sengoku is a weird example of a Knight of Cerebus Mentor.
• Lightning Bruiser: Gama. Fittingly, his preferred style is the Ikazuchi Kata (Lightning Form), which focus on speed.
• Made of Iron: Gama.
• Master Swordsman: Gama is quite skilled, but Iori and Jinsuke are far more powerful.
• Mismatched Eyes: Jaki. One of his eyes is normal, the other one has black sclera and white iris.
• Missing Mom: Gama's.
• Ms. Fanservice: Senka.
• Multicolored Hair: Nachi: the right half of his hair is white, the other half is black.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Jinsuke Kurogane. KILLER OF A THOUSAND MEN. The "Five Dragons" (five strongest Ryuu) of Unabara counts as a In-Universe example.
• Ninja: Some Ryuu practice Ninjustsu, namely the Mugen Ryuu, Jouchi Ryuu and the Tamagakushi Ryuu. The last one also averts the Highly-Visible Ninja stereotype and actually use realistic ninja techniques.
• Oh Crap: Given the nature of the series, this happen often. In Chapter 28 all the sons of the Daimyo have one when they found out that in order to win the second part of the tournament the winner must bring the head of one of them to the castle.
• Old Master: Kamedanbo Oizumi, master of the Ogame Ryuu's dojo.
• One-Man Army: Many of the most powerful warriors of Unabara are this.
• Orochi: Jaki and Kotaro's combo attack. It involves hitting a target with their flails from opposite directions.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Usually the members of a Ryuu, ranging from two to four or five members.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Zenmaru and Shinnojo.
• Sadist Teacher: Iori is noted for being very skilled but also very brutal.
• Samurai: Many characters.
• Shout-Out: The Kyosen Ryuu use a martial art that can damage internal organs and cause a painful death. Hokuto, anyone?
  • Furthermore Gama share his surname (and role) with Yaiba (Though is written with different kanji).
• Sinister Scythe: Another use of the weapons of the Kasanemanji Ryuu.
• Slasher Smile: Jinsuke, as shown in a image.
• Smug Snake: Naosada the tenth son of the Daimyo. Most of the other sons balance between this and Dirty Coward.
• The Smurfette Principle: Senka is the only female character so far. If you really want to stretch, there's also Naoyoshi's mother, who's still The Faceless.
• Sore Loser: Ryuugo Daimaru.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: The Tamagakushi Ryuu employ shuriken, kunai and shortswords in battle.
• Ted Baxter: The Hyuga brothers at the beginning. Also many members of the Kyosen Ryuu and Tengen Ryuu.
• Theme Naming: All the Daimyo's sons have a name starting with Nao-.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Zenmaru kills an assassin by throwing his shortsword at him. Later Agon tries to do the same with his "Tomahawk" attack, but fails.
• Tournament Arc: For now it seems to be a whole manga about it.
  • It ends in chapter 69 when the Muhou school takes over Unabara.
• Turtle Power: Ogame Ryuu means "Great Turtle School", and the Turtle it's his symbol.
• The Unfavorite: Naoyoshi.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Baian Maki and Ryuugo Daimaru.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Senka.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Gama has dark blue/purplish hair.
• You Have Failed Me: Ryuugo to Sakon. It costs him his neck.