Garoden (TANIGUCHI Jiro)

Garouden is the story of a muscular man named Bunshichi Tanba who trained hard for five years to get his revenge on Kajiwara, the only man to have defeated him in a fight.

After waking up, Mikado Shuhei found himself locked in a cage in a mysterious medical facility. Without his memories Shuhei now has to fight against beasts who can speak like humans. A woman calling herself Akashi Maya then rescued him from this predicament. Super fiction action! --- **Links:** - [Original Novels (on Amazon.co.jp)](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07G4H25L2)

(from MangaUpdates): In a small Nepalese shop, Makoto Fukamachi, photographer for a Japanese expedition to conquer Mt. Everest, stumbles across a camera which may well be that of George Mallory, the celebrated mountain climber who was the first to attempt conquering Everest. Mallory disappeared along with Andrew Irvine during the course of their ascent in 1924, without leaving any indication of whether they reached the summit or not. So, what if it was only on their return trip that they had their fatal accident? Based on the Baku Yumemakura novel of the same name. --- - **Won the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award in 2001**

Where the warrior Amon arrives from the moon to cleanse the city of Heian of its demonic taint.

Yorozu Genkurou, wandering warrior, possesses a huge sword which makes him redoubtable to his enemies. While he crosses a dark forest, he suddenly sees the fall of what looks very much like a spaceship. Since, he is constantly being attacked by strange ninjas and ambitious fighters. Indeed, he will soon realize that his assailants are nothing else than aliens landed on Earth to find 3 artifacts made of Orichalcum, an alien substance with powerful mystical virtues. And one of the artifacts is the sword he wields. The hunt begins.

A tale of obsessive love and constant pursuit, told over a 1000 years. Escaping from a brother who had just ascended the throne, Yoshitsune, along with his servant, comes across a house in the middle of a desolate mountain. Oddly enough, only a young woman lives there, who seems to possess a very dark and ominous past. This long journey of more than a thousand years focuses on our main protagonist Kurou. It can be somewhat confusing at the beginning, but once you understand the plot this story can be quite entertaining. The main thrust of the story goes like this: Kurou meets a beautiful woman by the name of Kuromitsu, and begins a relationship which transcends life and memory. Kurozuka tells the tale of a journey undertaken by immortals, and those who chase after immortality. The majority of this story takes place many centuries in the future, after Kurou has been separated from Kuromitsu. Having lost almost all of his memories, Kurou seeks to understand why he cannot die, to rediscover his identity, and to find the woman that haunts his dreams.

Maeda Mitsuyo, the greatest judoka, and grandmaster of Brazilian jiu-jitsu had a tiny problem. A no good punk has been beating the students of the Kodokan judo school. To catch him, he prepares a trap to ambush him in the middle of the night. That’s when he would meet the man that will go down in the past of history as the strongest man he fought. The ancestor of the fierce Bunshichi Tanba!!! The Meiji era, when the samurais were just a thing of the past, was the era when the strongest men thrived. Another strongest fighting legend is about to be written once again.

What does it mean to be strong? What attracts men to fight in hand to hand combat? These and many other questions are explained and detailed in Garouden, a novel series by Yumemakura Baku (illustrated by celebrity manga author Itagaki Keisuke). Fighting expert Bunshichi Tanba enjoys defeating TV fighting champions and celebrities on the street, until he stumbles upon the underground wrestling club known as FAW (Federation of Amateur Wrestling), and unfortunately he is defeated by one of the underdogs of the wrestling world. He forces himself to improve and looks for a rematch. Years later, he returns better than ever, and his fights attract the attention of the two "monsters" of the fighting world who are in constant competition, Makoto "the Great" Tatsumi, owner of the FAW and possessing a power and charisma unrivaled in the ring, and "the Demon of Karate" Matsuo Shozan, owner of the best Karate schools in Japan and possessing a power and speed that's almost godlike. Both will try to recruit Tanba to their own side, and Tanba will experience a wold of fighting like he has never seen, with friends and rivals everywhere, and he will have to step up to the many challenges that confront him. Features other martial arts characters from his other fighting novel series, The Gate of the Lions. Currently the best "serious" martial arts manga title in Japan, this is another of Baku's masterpieces that, unlike his other fantasy epic titles, has surprising realism in its deep exploration of martial arts and those who use it.