It's an average summer day, and New Transfer Student Noboru Takizawa is walking to his new school, eager to capitalize on the joyous "spring of youth" that high school allows him.
Then he takes one foot on the property and steps on a landmine. The next thing he knows, Takizawa is in a fight for his life with the insane hall monitor. Then after that he's roped into a volleyball game that ends up lasting several days (and with most of the court knocked out), and then he transfers schools into a school that uses a sensually-voiced mind-control device to pacify it's belligerent student body...
You get the idea.
Blazing Transfer Student (炎の転校生, Honō no Tenkōsei) is a comedy-action-sports manga by Kazuhiko Shimamoto, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1983 to 1985. The basic premise follows that of Hot-Blooded protagonist Takizawa as he is sent to schools with insane rules and or/evil faculty by his father, an agent of the Secret Board of Education. Using the power of his fists, a noble heart and some quick wit Takizawa sets out to make the school right again before being inevitably sent to the next. Accompanying him is Love Interest Yukari and rival for her affections Ibuki, who follow Takizawa from school to school (Yukari because she loves him, Ibuki because he wants Yukari for himself.) What follows is an extremely over the top parody of Shonen cliches of everything from Calling Your Attacks to Talking Is a Free Action. Despite this, the story is also a somewhat heartfelt examination of the importance of a proper education in a teenagers' life, and how treating them with the respect they deserve will allow them to become better people when they grow up.
A sequel series titled Blazing Transfer Students (or: Blazing Transfer Student Reborn) debuted on Netflix in 2017. It features the Japanese Boy Band Johnny's WEST in the role of the Seven Kakerus- seven transfer students embodying different shonen archetypes all named Kakeru. Together, they combat injustice in the form of taking up the mantle of the Blazing Transfer Student to rid Japanese schools of bureaucratic evil. The series is much lighter in tone and has less pronounced violence, as well as featuring a rotating Ensemble Cast that changes each episode. Ostensible main character Shigeoka isn't even the focus of the show every episode, allowing each of the cast to get some of the spotlight. It is available on Netflix.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU: BLAZING TV TROPES!!!
- Shout-Out: The Takizawa Kick is obviously one to the Rider Kick from Kamen Rider. See also Mask X, who is Takizawa's dad in a crappy Kamen Rider knockoff costume.
- In Reborn, Tokita is very clearly influenced by JoJo protagonist Josuke Higashikata, from the hair to the association with the colour pink.
- The dynamic of Ryuko and Satsuki is essentially a hyped up version of Takizawa and Ibuki’s relationship, which makes sense considering that this series is a direct inspiration for that one.
- '80s Hair: Well, it was the 80's at the time of writing. Just look at Takizawa!
◊ - Beyond the Impossible: The track teacher seems to believe that Takizawa did his laps in the gym in 0 seconds. It's later revealed the teacher just forgot to set the watch.
- Boring, but Practical: The National Railway Punch is basically a two-hit combo, but due to the force of the impact it can be seriously dangerous.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Commonly done for comedic effect. One notable example of this is a commercial break that occurs inside the manga to advertise the very book it's in. It even repeats the panels just before the break, mirroring how TV does the same type of thing to remind audiences of what is about to transpire.
- Calling Your Attacks: Spoofed during Takizawa's boxing re-match with Jonouchi, after Jonouchi has used their school's "Survival of the Fittest" rule to claim Yukari as his girlfriend. In the initial match Jonouchi used his "Insect-Squashing Punch" to knock the Takizawa out. Later, when Takizawa is preparing for a Rocky Training Montage his stuff gets run over by a train, inspiring him to create a new attack for the rematch and prepares to demolish his rival with his "Takizawa Kokugen (Railway) Punch", only to be promptly K.O'd by the "Sacchu (Insect-Squashing) Punch" again because it takes less time to say. Yukari, looking for a way to help Takizawa win, tells Jonouchi she is dissatisfied by the name "Insect-Killing Punch" and convinces him to rename it the "Jonouchi Koichi Killer Golden Victory Finisher". Jonouchi goes into the next exchange of punches with tears pouring down his face because he knows he'll be clobbered before he can finish saying it.Announcer: Jonouchi's punch was faster... just as much as his special move's name was shorter!!
- Freudian Excuse: Ibuki doesn't really love Yukari on a level deeper than physical attraction. He just wants to prove to himself that he's better than his deadbeat father, who abandoned him and his mother when he was little, by trying to be faithful to the first woman he thinks is pretty.
- The Hero: Takizawa is a heroic, kindhearted boy who embodies several classic anime tropes for this archetype, right down to the Kamen Rider inspired headband/Scarf of Asskicking.
- Hidden Depths: Exploited by the Inverse Board of Education. They make Black Takizawa act like a villain, before giving him Pet the Dog moments, knowing that people would look past his previous actions. Takizawa tries to get his popularity back by admitting to misdemeanors, only for the students to only see his faults.
- The Rival: Ibuki is the one constant threat throughout the series, but he’s not actively out to cause harm to others... Just Takizawa. In addition, Ibuki might be a Trope Codifier for several Rival tropes, including inverted colour schemes, height differences, and having similar fighting styles to the protagonist.
- Hot-Blooded: Like you wouldn't believe. Not a chapter goes by where someone doesn't launch an insane attack or pull some crazy feat of skill or endurance. It says something when two highschool students locked in a brutal volleyball-based duel that goes on for days at a time is one of the earliest examples of this.
- Parody: The series ruthlessly tears apart then-common (and, as a matter of fact, still common) Shonen cliches and makes them the subject of jokes. For example, why is Takizawa so bad at volleyball? He just closes his eyes when the ball comes close to him out of fear, making him think the ball is invisible. How does Takizawa counter Ibuki's Signature Move of a brutal volleyball spike? By simply moving out of the way. Everyone nearby lampshades this series of events, calling Takizawa's strategy "boring".
- Signature Move: The National Railway Punch, which punches with the strength of the National Railway. This technique is later passed down to the Kakerus of the sequel series who each can do their own version of the move, though there it seems to be some form of Hand Blast rather than a brutal one-two punch.
- Parodied with Dark Shooting Star, which wasn't even a move when it was named. The fight between Ibuki's villainous father and Takizawa's father ended prematurely because the building collapsed, leaving Takizawa's father badly injured. Ibuki's father knew how uncool it was to win by coincidence, and announced to Takizawa that it was his Dark Shooting Star technique... which he then had to create to live up to its fearsome reputation.
- Academy of Adventure: Hanebi Highschool is headed by Takizawa himself, and trains people to become Blazing Transfer Students to fight evil within the Japanese education system.
- The Charmer: Kariyama convinces Shineguji's mom that's she's beautiful and causes her to fall in love with him in under two minutes.
- Eagle Land: According to Nakama, America is full of zombies. The American friend he calls is a zombie-fighting soldier sitting next to an American flag with the Star-Spangled Banner playing in the background.
- Ensemble Cast: The main cast are the seven Kakerus and Hikari.
- First-Episode Twist: The principal is really Takizawa from the original manga. Really from the original manga—it's essentially a six-foot action figure.
- Hidden Depths: Each of the main characters has a few secrets about themselves that seem at odds with their personality. For example, tough guy punk Kotaki apparently has a perfect attendance record, while Hamada rigorously follows the rules, even refusing to run in the halls during a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Host Club: In "Forbidden Service!!", Baron Tojou is revealed to be runnig his high school as a host club for rich older women.
- Knight Templar: The principal in "Total Z!!" has no problem feeding students curry that turns them into zombies because the high grades are more important.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator is quite a Deadpan Snarker.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Principal Takizawa is killed by a package bomb in episode seven. He's quite breezy about it when the Kakerus discover him blown to plastic smithereens and casually requests that they avenge him.
- Planet of Steves: All of the transfer students' given names are Kakeru. Takizawa's long-lost son is named that.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Parodied with Shigeoka, who has completely average stats in everything.
- Sequel Hook: The last episode has the seven Kakerus leaving Hanebi seemingly forever since Takizawa's son is back. But the narrator reveals that Takizawa's son left for his island again and the seven Kakerus were called back only three days later.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Principal Takizawa's being a huge plastic action figure is not remarked on at all after the first episode, nor are his strange abilities. Until the finale, when he turns into an actual human being.
