Nikaidou Hell Golf - Vol. 3 Ch. 26 - Turbulence

[keatsta]

starting to feel like this will track Nikaidou's entire life, ending with him on his actual deathbed, frustrated, lonely, still having not passed stage two of the test. a uniquely brutal and devastating series, not just for FKMT, but in manga as a whole. sort of an anti-version of the ending of Ten

 

[chinchiro_addict]

Seeing the one who got away get married while you're still hard-stuck in life is no bueno. I'm so glad I don't have social media.
Everyone's shitting on Nikaidou for being a bad person, whereas I can somewhat respect his game where he's sacrificing everything from love to morals to be the best. I assume this is a common story for people who try to go pro/competitive in sports. We see the happy endings but the stories of the people who never make it get pushed away to the curb and ignored.
Fukumoto excels in the stories where people experience the highs and lows, and paints human desperation in very vivid fashion. Manga in general gives and gives, it never leaves you at a net-loss. This stuff is important as well.

 

[BlackHarrier]

This is genuinely the most depressing FKMT story I've ever read. These manga usually have an element of hope within them, but it feels like there is truly no way to save Nikaidou from himself. Even Kaiji, at his lowest of lows, was able to use the opportunities life gave him.

I've not read the author's other works so I can't really comment on them (though I'm aware of his reputation for hard-hitting tragicomedy), but this story at least seems more of a character study than anything else, contending itself to simply observe how the protagonist responds to situations that he's either put himself into or simply just terrible luck.

he could just become a teacher to finance his tests, it's what many pros do

@gustavonerdz @jesuscristo I was thinking back to chapter 9 myself, and given just how tight his situation was (and just how much time he no doubt would've had to reflect on it) I thought there must've been some good reason why he didn't do just that, I have a hard time seeing how this author in particular wouldn't have taken this into consideration. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the author supplies yet another twisted motive on Nikaidou's part by way of explanation here

 

[gustavonerdz]

yeah it's clear to me that his work at oubu is both way more time consuming and pays very poorly compared to being a golf coach. You can get a coach certificate without being in the PGA and still make hundreds of dollars per lesson, and in japan with the right contacts it might be even more expensive. He would have both more time to practice and a real career while going pro.

 

[z99]

In Kaiji we witness his despair, in Hell Golf we witness our own. This is my favorite FKMT work since the first Kuwasawa manga.

 

[Snowmanne]

I've not read the author's other works so I can't really comment on them (though I'm aware of his reputation for hard-hitting tragicomedy), but this story at least seems more of a character study than anything else, contending itself to simply observe how the protagonist responds to situations that he's either put himself into or simply just terrible luck.

Characters being stuck in difficult situations that are partially of their own doing is a common trope in FKMT's manga. However, usually, the problem is life threatening or extremely hard to escape, and so the protagonists find some way to overcome the problem and even learn (or try to) from the mistakes that led them to the situation.
But this isn't the case here. Nikaidou isn't being forced to do all of this, he doesn't have the mafia chasing him for money like Kaiji, and he isn't completely alone in the world like Kurosawa. Not only can he quit this futile quest at any time with little to no repercussions, life constantly gives him graceful ways out on a silver platter. But he just keeps going head first into his problems.

 

[rckvnka]

Bro, this is so depressing, ngl. Maybe that's the whole idea about this series, depression.

Thanks a lot for the update!

 

[nonsensefakename]

This was the most hilarious chapter so far with Nikaidou wasting old people's cruiseship savings over and over, that lowered my guard... Then came the most soul crushing reveal, what a damn shame but he clearly deserves it and it was gonna happen eventually, now he's really in deep and he's got nowhere to turn to, this will only become more unhealthy from now on.