A Look Into Sports Anime: Ultimate Muscle/Kinnikuman Nisei
8Otherwise known in Japan as: Kinnikuman Nisei: Legendary Chojins vs. New Generation Chojins.
History and Backstory goes like this:
The manga was created in 1979 by anime artistic team Yudetamago (Nakai Yoshinori and Takashi Shimada) while they were still in high school.
Kinnikuman Nisei was first published in the Japanese men's magazine Weekly Playboy, aimed at the now grown-up fans of the original. Another manga aimed at children called Kinnikuman II-Sei: All ChΕjin Dai Shingeki was published in V-Jump. The anime was first broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo on January 1, 2002 for 51 episodes until its cancellation on December 25. The anime was broadcast in the United States in 2002 on the Fox Box (now known as 4Kids TV). The anime was more popular in the United States than Japan and is one of the few anime that had a second season made especially for the American market. Although the series ended afterward, the second season of Ultimate Muscle, titled Kinnikuman Second Generations Ultimate Muscle began airing in Japan on April 7, 2004 on TV Tokyo, but only 13 episodes were shown. The series resumed on January 4, 2006 as Kinnikuman Second Generations Ultimate Muscle 2. There are a total of 77 episodes of Ultimate Muscle and two movies based on the TV series. According to the forward for volume 25 of the manga, the 4Kids version of Kinnikuman Nisei aired in Japan, too.
The manga began being published in English by VIZ Media in December 2003. It was originally published in Japan by Shueisha.
The story is about Mantaro Muscle a.k.a. Kid Muscle (Mantaro Kinniku in the Japanese version), the spoiled son of the superhero wrestler King Muscle (Kinnikuman in the Japanese version). Mantaro comes from Muscle Planet. His family history is dedicated to wrestling. Mantaro's father, Suguru Muscle (a.k.a. Kinnikuman/King Muscle), had entered almost every tournament to become a champion. But after 28 years of peace, the Seigi Choujins' (Muscle League) old time enemies regrouped and formed the dMp (Demon Manufacturing Plant, although this is never mentioned in the English dub. There, it is simply referred to as Destruction, Mayhem & Pain) and crashed landed at Mount Fuji. Time and the years without evil to fight have taken their toll on the old Muscle League, who are overwhelmed by these youthful and well-trained fighters. Realizing that they have lost their edge, the Seigi Chojin reopen the Hercules Factory, the training school for superheroes, and begin training a new generation of heroes to take on the dMp. Although unwilling, Mantaro (Kid Muscle) is one of the young heroes who takes part and ultimately defeats his father to prove his worthiness to graduate. He and the other new Seigi Choujin fight and defeat several members of the dMp and meet Kevin Mask, who quits the organization after seeing that they lack honor. They also battle Sunshine and his pupils, who destroy the dMp after developing a rekindled respect for the fighting spirit of the Seigi Choujins.
The manga continues with the New Generation Replacement Tournament, Mantaro's challenge to master his inherited potential (referred to as "Kajiba no Kuso Chikara" or "Burning Inner Strength", also called "The Fire"), the return of the Chojin Olympics, a fight against a group of evil villains called the Demon Seed, a small back story for Robin Mask and currently a Tag Team Tournament taking place in the past. While the manga opens as a fairly lighthearted and humorous (if violent) story, the later arcs - the No Respect and Demon Seed sagas in particular - take on a significantly darker flair, frequently dealing with issues of severe psychological trauma.
The game picks up on the series quite well. The voice actors are straight from old anime of the same title. It has its share of craziness but you have to admit, if you enjoy a good, off the wall anime game. You can look for this on GC, PS2 and other various consoles. Your best bet is to pick up a copy on PS2 and GC and try it for yourself.