Maeda Taison is about to punch you.
Rokudenashi Blues ("Good-for-Nothing Blues") is a Shōnen manga by Masanori Morita (author of Rookies and assistant on Fist of the North Star), which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1988 to 1997 and was compiled into 42 volumes.
The story centers on the high school career of one Maeda Taison. However, Maeda isn't just any old ordinary high school student, or even an ordinary delinquent: He dreams of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world (even though he doesn't know the rules of boxing.) He knows street fighting though, and he uses those skills to protect his friends, help out his rivals, and generally rule Teiken High School - even though he's just a freshman. Along with his friends Katsuji, Yoneji, and... too many people to name. 42 volumes of fistfighting, blood, comedy, drama, and general awesomeness follow.
A classic in Japan, but altogether unknown in the west (except in France, under the title "Racaille Blues".) Made into two live-action movies, two anime movies, and a J-Drama.
This show provides examples of:
- Accent Relapse: Maeda does a variation on this, where he slips back into his original Kansai accent when he gets mad. Said Kansai accent was changed in the scanlations to some sort of New York/New Jersey accent.
- Art Evolution: Changes from an odd combination of photorealism and bizarre anime-style facial expressions (especially for the female faces) to a more stylized and coherent but still detailed style.
- Badass Crew:
- Maeda, Katsuji, and Yoneji. They stop a Mob War between two rival delinquent gangs by themselves. And that's just the beginning.
- The Tokyo Shitenou are made of the four strongest delinquents in Tokyo and managed to single-handedly defeat 150 delinquents from a rival school from Osaka.
- Beta Couple: Katsuji and Kazumi, Seikichi and Mafuyu, Yoneji and Sayuri, etc. Many supporting characters ends up in a relationship in this manga.
- The Big Guy: Wajima. He still goes down like a chump most of the time.
- Blood from the Mouth: Justified. Being punched/kicked in the face will do that. Also the blood tends to come from other places too.
- Blind Without 'Em: Fujio can't see without his glasses, and frequently loses his contacts. Played for Laughs.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Especially impressive considering all the characters are of similar builds and dress similarly, and Morita's realistic art style.
- Catchphrase: "That's Kondou-sensei!"
- Clark Kenting: Maeda's idea of laying low is putting on a pair of giant sunglasses. Strangely enough, it actually works.
- Cool Bike: Super Express Leonard/Chavez/Neo Chavez, in Maeda's eyes.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Everyone gets in on this one. Maeda in particular gets the shit beaten out of him just as much as he beats the shit out of other people.
- Defeat Means Friendship:
- Subverted. The cheer squad tries to cash in on this when Maeda takes down Wajima, but they don't earn it until the end of the first arc, when both the cheer squad and the boxing club accept Maeda as a leader. A lot of characters actually met Maeda as rivals or enemies, before being defeated by him and eventually becoming friends or at least, formed a grudging respect towards him.
- The Tokyo Shitenou (Four Heavenly Kings), the four strongest delinquents in Tokyo, first met as enemy. All of them usually have some beef with Maeda for some reason before being defeated by him. During one of the later arc, when delinquents from a school in Osaka attack their friends, they join forces and fight together.
- Delinquents: Nearly everyone was a delinquent at some point.
- Delinquent Hair: Almost the entire cast. Notably the focus of one episode, when Ioka makes them all temporarily straighten/otherwise make their hair normal.
- Drunk with Power: Koheiji, temporarily, when he defeats Maeda and becomes the leader of the school.
- Evil Teacher: Ioka. The man carries around a bamboo sword to smack his students with.
- Four Is Death: The Tokyo Shitenou, the four strongest delinquents in Tokyo comprising of Maeda, Onizuka of Shibuya, Yakushiji of Asakusa and Kasai of Ikebukuro.
- Good Is Not Nice: Maeda tends to be his meanest when he's trying to help someone. Often on purpose.
- Live-Action Adaptation: Two movies in the 1990s, and a recent J-Drama.
- Mob War: The focus of the first arc (between the boxing club and the cheer squad) and eventually much of the series.
- Mooks: Katsuji and Yoneji are a rare example of the hero having mooks. The villains also have their own mooks, of course.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Kazumi tries to be all "LOOK I BROUGHT THE CHEER SQUAD TO HELP CAUSE THE BOXING CLUB WAS BEATING YOU TWO UP!" Oh, wait, you were taking the abuse because you didn't want them to fight the cheer squad? Ooops...
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Teiken first years Hiroto Ohba and Masatoshi Ebihara have character designs modeled on The Blue Hearts' singer and guitarist... Hiroto Komoto and Masatoshi Mashina.
- Rivals Team Up: Maeda and Sakamoto team up to rescue Maeda's little brother Youkou in the Kansai arc.
- Sailor Fuku: One of Maeda's favorite things, and it actually kicks off the plot, as that's the reason Maeda goes to Teiken High. Subverted when it turns out Teiken recently switched to blazers.
- Shout-Out: Many of the chapter and volume titles are references to the author's favorite songs. Maeda's name is a shout out to both pro wrestler Akira Maeda and boxer Mike Tyson.
- Spartan Sibling: Maeda's older brother Fujio. He tends to range from not caring about Maeda to beating the crap out of Maeda. However, he has been shown to have Big Brother Instinct when it counts.
- Speech Impediment: Maeda stutters when he's angry. You don't want to hear him stutter.
- True Companions: The core cast, both delinquents and their girlfriends.
