This manga is about to turn into Pokemon with Akira going around to collect the rest of the 108 heroes.
The original story this is based on is Shui Hu Chuan (水浒传) or Water Margin by Shi Nai'an, although some have suspected that Shi is a fictional character and the more historically verifiable Luo Guanzhong, the supposed editor and compiler of the text, was the real author. It's also sometimes known as "All Men are Brothers", "Outlaws of the Marsh" and "Bandit Kings of Ancient China". It isn't just a preexisting story; it's one of the Four Great Literary Works of Chinese civilization, along with Romance of the Three Kingdoms (also by Luo Guanzhong), Journey to the West (by Wu Cheng'en), and Dream of the Red Chamber (by Cao Xueqin). If you read Water Margin after reading RTK, you'll feel like it's a sort of sequel but with the heroic feats dialed up to 11. Many of the characters are actually rehashes of the more popular RTK characters but this time allowed to perform feats bordering on the superhuman unbounded by the historicity of RTK. Guan Sheng is Guan Yu on steroids, Lv Fang is a Lv Bu cosplayer, Wu Yong is basically a more unscrupulous Kong Ming, and so on. They even have their own Five Tiger Generals. It's like Luo Guanzhong wrote a fanfiction of his own original work.
The Water Margin characters who already appeared as of chapter 10:
- Ryouzanpaku = Liangshan Marsh, the place where the 108 heroes set up their base.
- Shishin = Shi Jin, "Nine-dragon tattoo", the first hero mentioned in the story.
- Akira = Soukou = Song Jiang, "Protector of Justice", leader of the 108 heroes.
- Kousonshou = Gongsun Sheng, "Dragon in the Clouds", Daoist strategist and second of the two strategists of Liangshan.
- Riki = Li Kui, "Black Whirlwind", the most infamous of the 108 for his brutality and recklessness but actually more famous for his filial piety thanks to the side story Li Kui Fetching His Mother.
- Rinchuu = Lin Chong, "Panther Head", the imperial military instructor who was forced into a life of banditry.
- Rotatsu = Lu Zhishen, "Flowery Monk", also Sagacious the fighting monk.
- Koushin = Hong Xin, the guy who started it all. While technically a character, he's really just there to release the 108 Evil Stars.
- Koukyuu = Gao Qiu, the villain.
I laughed my ass off when Lin Chong appeared as an actual panther man. Now I want to see how they'll do the "Blue-faced Beast" Yang Zhi, and I hope they'll make "Striking Hawk" Li Ying an actual birdman. Also, Xiang Zhong better be eight-armed for real. So many possibilities!
Poor Bai Sheng and Shi Qian might not like the literal treatment, though.
The original story this is based on is Shui Hu Chuan (水浒传) or Water Margin by Shi Nai'an, although some have suspected that Shi is a fictional character and the more historically verifiable Luo Guanzhong, the supposed editor and compiler of the text, was the real author. It's also sometimes known as "All Men are Brothers", "Outlaws of the Marsh" and "Bandit Kings of Ancient China". It isn't just a preexisting story; it's one of the Four Great Literary Works of Chinese civilization, along with Romance of the Three Kingdoms (also by Luo Guanzhong), Journey to the West (by Wu Cheng'en), and Dream of the Red Chamber (by Cao Xueqin). If you read Water Margin after reading RTK, you'll feel like it's a sort of sequel but with the heroic feats dialed up to 11. Many of the characters are actually rehashes of the more popular RTK characters but this time allowed to perform feats bordering on the superhuman unbounded by the historicity of RTK. Guan Sheng is Guan Yu on steroids, Lv Fang is a Lv Bu cosplayer, Wu Yong is basically a more unscrupulous Kong Ming, and so on. They even have their own Five Tiger Generals. It's like Luo Guanzhong wrote a fanfiction of his own original work.
The Water Margin characters who already appeared as of chapter 10:
- Ryouzanpaku = Liangshan Marsh, the place where the 108 heroes set up their base.
- Shishin = Shi Jin, "Nine-dragon tattoo", the first hero mentioned in the story.
- Akira = Soukou = Song Jiang, "Protector of Justice", leader of the 108 heroes.
- Kousonshou = Gongsun Sheng, "Dragon in the Clouds", Daoist strategist and second of the two strategists of Liangshan.
- Riki = Li Kui, "Black Whirlwind", the most infamous of the 108 for his brutality and recklessness but actually more famous for his filial piety thanks to the side story Li Kui Fetching His Mother.
- Rinchuu = Lin Chong, "Panther Head", the imperial military instructor who was forced into a life of banditry.
- Rotatsu = Lu Zhishen, "Flowery Monk", also Sagacious the fighting monk.
- Koushin = Hong Xin, the guy who started it all. While technically a character, he's really just there to release the 108 Evil Stars.
- Koukyuu = Gao Qiu, the villain.
I laughed my ass off when Lin Chong appeared as an actual panther man. Now I want to see how they'll do the "Blue-faced Beast" Yang Zhi, and I hope they'll make "Striking Hawk" Li Ying an actual birdman. Also, Xiang Zhong better be eight-armed for real. So many possibilities!
Poor Bai Sheng and Shi Qian might not like the literal treatment, though.
