Teppu

I’ve been thinking about Teppu quite a bit since I read it a few weeks ago. At its core, it's really just a solid, grounded martial arts manga whose production was derailed by external factors, and I desperately wish it had gotten a longer publication run. It's written from the perspective of Natsuo, one of those kinda insufferable genetic freaks that seem to be good at everything without really trying, that most of us have met at some point in our lives. Rather than being written like your typical shonen protagonist, either gifted in a way that’s brushed over artificially for them to remain an underdog, or the opposite who spends massive amounts of time training despite their disadvantages, and against all odds manages to win, we get this arrogant, sadistic shitheel that’s written like a third-string antagonist from a martial arts shonen that, by the end of that media, becomes semi-good inconsistent cast member (at best). Her core motivation for the entire manga is genuine spite towards Yuzuko, a character who, by all intents and purposes IS the happy, motivated, and fulfilled protagonist of a more stereotypical shonen. What keeps it from feeling like “baby’s first character role inversion” is the way Natsuo develops through this backdrop of the budding women’s MMA scene, with the progression almost feeling like slowly winning you over, not to really wanting her to win, but to lose for the ultimate growth of her character rather than out of getting what’s coming to her (which she does also deserve).

I think we see so many stories of hardworking, underdog protagonists in series that are supposed to act as inspirations or statements about the strength of willpower that fatigue has set in for a lot of people. It becomes harder to relate to these characters, and increasingly easy to see many of them as blank self-inserts for children or wish-fulfillment characters for many writers if not handled with a delicate hand. I think this feeling is a large contributor to why so many people desire to read and write stories where the lead is some fucked up antihero or inversion of classic norms. Unfortunately, too often this stems from a misunderstanding of what is needed to make these characters exist beyond the sake of inversion for inversion’s sake, with many resulting in 1. A generic protagonist with a different shade of paint, or 2. An edgelord you can’t take seriously, both as a character and from an overarching writing perspective. I say this, but I myself don’t feel articulate or educated enough to really put a finger on why I feel Natsuo works, especially since she’s so comically antagonistic. I think it’s the portrayal of her bizarre, sadistic spite towards Yuzuko and people like her that grazes at a perspective that I feel a lot of manga I’ve personally read kinda fail to address realistically, either boiling it down way too simply to a hatred for others' success in an excessive fashion, or overly justified to the point of trying to redeem a character unnecessarily.

Long story short, I like Natsuo a lot. She’s this malicious, sadistic genetic nepo-baby who can do anything they want and has the audacity to not only be cocky, but also to complain about it like a rich child lamenting being bored with the world at their fingertips. The only time she expresses genuine joy to those around her is when she’s dragging people down to her level or painting herself in social corners just to feel something. When you do get to understand her better, it doesn’t feel like a justification; it just IS. Something about it and her spite-powered journey resonated with me almost seamlessly, way more so than series I’ve read that have spent 4x the chapter count with a much more explicit intent to do so.

That being said, the art is also great, and I really enjoyed the more practical, non-anime martial arts breakdowns as they go on, but those are much more straightforward and not as fun to talk about. Looking at this again, I didn’t even mention Sanae, whose relationship with Natsuo is the real highlight of the series, but that would probably take another 2200 characters. This wasn’t even really a review now that I read it back, more of a rant about Natsuo, but I liked it enough that I’m buying the volumes to fill my shelves already.