Naki no Ryuu Chapter 18

The battle between Ryuu and Ishikawa continues in a long overdue chapter.

Thanks to Penchan for the excellent cleans and typesetting on a very intensive chapter.
Edit: Also thanks to Penchan for QCing. A line where I mistranslated "right hand" as "left hand" has been fixed.

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Also, you may know that our good friend Chuck has translated 2 more chapters of Legendary Gambler Tetsuya, which you can read on online reader sites.



Today's chapter is brought to you by the heavenly general Catura. Also known as Shotora in Japanese, it represents the zodiac symbol of the dog.

This chapter was actually very interesting for a number of reasons. For one, it's almost entirely narrated from the perspective of Hiramatsu Osamu, one of Ishikawa's aides. Initially it seems kind of strange, but at the same time the series isn't presented in the viewpoint of any main characters in the first place. The fact that the narration is generally somewhat dry and even detached lends it a matter-of-fact view of very violent and dramatic events.
When we first started this series, Penchan said that it reminded him of the yakuza movie series Battles Without Honor and Humanity, which was revolutionary in its portrayal of the yakuza as neither honorable nor necessarily evil, in contrast to how older yakuza movies glorified them as almost chivalrous. I haven't seen the movies yet, but it sounds like Naki no Ryuu was highly influenced by the series.

Anyways, the other thing I noticed in particular was the introduction of yet another one of Naki no Ryuu's iconic scenes: Ryuu's ability to dodge the most massive of his opponent's hands. At first glance the single drawn game doesn't seem too special, but Ryuu was waiting on the 5-pin and 2-sou, both Kitajima and Ishikawa's winning tiles, respectively. It does draw a parallel with Ryuu's match against Kai, and it's definitely an ability that seems to be obscured under all of his ridiculous calling and crazy hands.

And just like the Sopranos, the chapter ends with a sudden shift to black. What will happen now? Fortunately, this series doesn't end here, unlike the aforementioned TV series. Funnily enough, that series was also about the mafia, just the Italian one instead of the Japanese yakuza. I haven't watched The Sopranos either, so it looks like I have a few new additions to my to-watch list...