After the end of WWII, Tokyo became a land ruled by violence, where brute strength was the only way to gain power and influence. To control said violence, figureheads were appointed to represent each of the rail stations of Tokyo's Yamamoto Line in one-on-one duels. These figureheads were called Yojimbo, and the tournament where they fought over Tokyo was called the 'Tokyo Loop Line Duels'. After the U.S withdrew from Japan, these duels came to an end, and balance was kept for over 50 years.
Homever, in the year of 2020, a new loop line station is being built, which is estimated to generate a profit of over 2 trillion yen. Everyone wants a piece of that pie, which raises tension amongst the other stations of the Yamamoto line. To avoid a large conflict, the government calls for a new Tokyo Loop Line Duels, where the new Yojimbo will fight for concessions over the new station. Amongst them is Koinosuke Yasuda, the Yojimbo of the Kanda Station, who's ready to give his all to protect his town. Homever, there seems to be more at stake in this tournament than just profits…
Tokyo Duel is written and Illustrated by Toshiyaki Yamada and has been published by Coamix in Comic Zenon since August 14, 2020.
Compare it to other series with brutal fights in a tournament format, like Kengan Ashura and Record of Ragnarok, the latter of which is published in the same magazine.
Tokyo Duel provides examples of:
- A Boy And His Dog: Ugen Togi, the Yojimbo of Shibuya, and his dog Nueve are this. In reality it's more of "A Dog And His Boy", because Nueve is the real "master" in the relationship and the real Yojimbo of Shibuya, while Ugen is his bodyguard.
- Audience Surrogate: Araumi Shintarou, Koinosuke's friend, serves this role in the series. He's just a normal guy amidst a cast full of blood knights. He's mainly there to react to all the insane techniques the fighters will use during the duels.
- Animal Motifs: Okuma Nekoshi has an obsession with Pandas, specifically the panda of Ueno's zoo, who he addresses as “Lord Panda”. He has gone so far as shaving his hair to look like panda ears and tattooed his face to emulate the black patches pandas have around their eyes.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Many of the Yojimbo are very handsome men.
- Chef of Iron: Mugikura Joe, the Yojimbo of Ebisu, is named “The Chef of Bloodshed” for a good reason. He's just as skilled as a cook as he is as a fighter, being able to predict his opponent's next moves and react in time to deliver a powerful counter attack.
- Defeat Means Friendship: A common occurrence in the series, despite how brutal the fights can get. In chapter 59 we see the fighters, both winners and losers, intermingling with each other and showing no signs of bad blood among them.
- Dual Wielding: Koinosuke fights with two bachi (japanese drum sticks) called Shinryuu no Kourin (Steel Scales of Shenlong).
- Flashback: Each duel has at least one for each of the fighters, showing their origins and motivations.
- Hard Head: Kaieda's headbutt is strong enough to break buildings, yet he barely seems to suffer any damage from it.
- Nice Guy: Koinosuke is genially friendly to his opponents, with the exception of the asshole ones. His reason for fighting in the tokyo loop line duels is to protect his neighborhood of Kanda, because of how much he loves it and its people.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Kojunin Shizuku is the youngest of the fighters, being only 13 years old and 147 cm tall, but he's a Child Prodigy who's just as strong as the other fighters, having mastered his family sword style and become the head of said family despite his young age.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Akimoto Takushi is this. He's introduced as Koinosuke's best friend right before his first match where he's killed by Shiki Zouto. This marks the first time a duel ends in murder and serves to show how dangerous his opponent is.
- Saving The Town: This is Koinosuke’s main motivation for winning in the tournament. Each time a Yojimbo loses a duel, he has to pay 500 billion yen to his opponent, or something of equal value. Kanda, his town, doesn't have that kind of money and the only thing with enough value to pay the loss would be the Kanda Station, which would basically mean forfeiting the entire town.
- Single-Stroke Battle: The Fourth duel in round one is one of these, ending after a single strike from Shizuku. It holds the record for the quickest match, lasting only two seconds.
- Tournament Arc: The premise of the series. Fighters called Yojimbo, each representing one of the 29 railway stations in Tokyo's Yamanote line, must fight in a tournament due to the opening of a new station that promises to make a large profit, and the winner of the tournament will take a large part of said profit.
- Use Your Head: The fighting style of Kaieda Kaoru. He launches himself headfirst in the direction of his opponent with enough force to crush them.
- World of Muscle Men: Fitting for a fighting series, almost all the characters in manga are men with well toned muscles.
