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Nightmare Fuel / Kinnikuman

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Being a cyborg is not all that it's cracked up to be.
As expected from a wrestling manga, when the violence gets bad in this series, it tends to get really bad. Despite that, there's a surprising amount of generally scary things and some And I Must Scream fates for any poor soul who happens to be on the losing end of a match.
  • A side-effect of the cartoony art and extremely gory violence is that any time the series features a particularly vicious move, you can just feel it. Someone's getting torn open, or impaled, or twisted until their spine breaks? Ow. And keep in mind that, in this series, this kind of thing is just ordinary wrestling.
  • The match between Mr. Khamen and Brocken Jr. when Mr. Khamen uses his finishing move on the referee, by accident. Mr. Khamen's special involves wrapping the opponent in cloth and then mummifying them by sucking out all the water in their body until they become a dried husk. It doesn't really help that he overdid it; he sucked up so much moisture of the victim that he even sucked up his skin. It's so disturbing and unsettling that it makes many a reader really wonder how Mr. Khamen wasn't the Big Bad of that arc. note 
    • The worst part? Mr. Khamen was a Devil Choujin, meaning he was banished for killing too many opponents, implying he had done this countless times before.
  • Springman killing Wolfman with his Devil Slinky technique, namely due to how he squeezes Wolfman until his body is literally crushed into seperate pieces.
  • Brockenman vs. Ramenman is rather unsettling, made even worse by the fact that this match happened before Cerebus Syndrome kicked in. It's pretty easy to doubt that any child who read that when it came out in The '70s fell asleep easy that night. It's also incredibly unsettling because of Ramenman's future portrayal of as a noble and wise martial artist, so it's hard to swallow knowing he was once like this.
    • In a case of Gone Horribly Right, the anime tries to tone the match down, and as a result, we get this thing. Granted, it's less violent, but no less nightmarish. In fact, by way of Fridge Horror it's even worse, considering that Ramenman ate a human being. There's something just bone-chillingly disturbing to see what used to be a Choujin being reduced to noodles and served as food, carried off in a stretcher as bowls of ramen a few scenes later. Bonus points if you're eating ramen noodles while you're watching the video.
      • His match against Kinnikuman in the anime is no better either. As it begins, he's breathing heavily through his mouth, has an evil glint in his eyes and he's laughing. In short, they made it look like Kin was going up against someone who should be in a straitjacket rather than in a wrestling ring.
  • In the anime, surprisingly we have Kinnikuman's match against Curry Cook. While you think that Kin's just being a coward as usual when he tries to escape the ring enclosed in a steel cage, but then we get a good look at Curry Cook... and let's just say that the anime did a really good job of showing how scary someone should be if they kill opponents for fun in a sport. You honestly can't blame Kin for being scared out of his mind, especially after witnessing Ramenman kill his opponent in the first match.
  • Speaking of Ramenman, you want to know what becomes of him in the next Choujin Olympics? It's not pretty. His brain gets pierced by Warsman's bear claws, reducing him to a vegetative state.
  • The final of the 21st Choujin Olympics gives us a good example of Body Horror, where due to match regulations, Warsman has to remove his mask after losing, as shown at the top of the page. Yeah, we're pretty sure that Harabote must be kicking himself for making up that rule.
  • The leader of the Akuma Choujin, Akuma Shougun himself counts as this, due to the menacing armor he wears, and he's not only incredibly strong, but intelligent as well, as he spends a good time in his match with Kinnikuman casually defending and countering everything he throws against him, starting with him countering his attempt at the Kinniku Driver by just simply closing his legs together. Plus, there's his Hell's Nine Point Seal, which is him attacking you with a series of moves that systematically render you helpless through targeting various areas of your body, making you more and more helpless until you can't fight back at all.
  • Kendaman and Screw Kid drilling through the stomachs of Brocken Jr. and Rikishiman, complete with blood violently splattering everywhere and the two unfortunate Seigi Choujin screaming in agony. The designs of Screw Kid and Kendaman themselves can also count as this, given how the upper half of Screw Kid's face is replaced with an appropriately sized screw, and Kendaman usually has his head taken off of the nub that it's placed on, which manages to plunge him DEEP into the Uncanny Valley when in motion in the anime.
    • Screw Kids initial design was arguably worse, as instead of simply having the upper half of his face replaced with a screw, his entire neck and head were replaced by one giant screw, making him look less like a screw-themed wrestler, and more like something that wouldn't be out of place in a Surreal Horror film.
  • In the Throne Arc, we have the origins of Parthenon, a Choujin from Greece, which consisted of the young men that built him being honored by being entombed alive in his pillars. Worst of all, Parthenon can dissolve his pillars and regenerate them in order to trap opponents inside of them as an attack, knowing that those pillars are filled with methane and other gases given of from the decaying bodies, ensuring a slow, painful death for the opponent if they can't get out.
  • Warsman returning to his former Brutal Choujin self in his fight with The Vice. Namely the way he fights against him, as he starts out by drilling through the top of The Vice's head, and then deliberately lets him get him in a Romero Special so he can use his Wars Leg Breaker while sadistically yelling for The Vice to scream and cry in agony while laughing and telling him his cries are like music to his ears, he also then follows this up by grabbing hold of his vice and then throwing him with a Double Arm Suplex, which results in the vice getting torn off, making it feel less like Warsman is trying to fight The Vice and more like he's deliberately murdering him in the slowest most sadistic fashion possible.
  • "Crazed Robin Mask". During the 20th Choujin Olympics Finals, Robin cracks his mask against a ringpost, causing him to bleed profusely. The panel of him glaring at Kinnikuman, declaring his intent to kill, as blood pours out from under the mask kills any remaining vestige of the "superhero parody" stretch of the series. Shortly after this, Robin goes berserk.
  • The Most Evil Combo in the Universe literally dismembering Black Shadow, starting by tearing his arms off.
  • Peekaboo. As if it wasn't unsettling enough that he is a Choujin with hands on his stomach and covering his face in the eponymous gesture, dressed like a baby, his actual baby face falls perfectly into Uncanny Valley. To top it all off, he has another face in his stomach.
    • The state he lives in can also count as this, given how Strong the Budo constantly regresses his mind to that of an infant, just because of his ability to learn at rapid speeds wearing out when he reaches the mental age of an adult, and he's been doing this for who knows how long...
  • The Arrogant Spark. Silverman's Finishing Move and the reason why he wanted to rework it into the Muscle Spark. When Silverman used it on Psychoman, the first half of the move is similar to the Muscle Spark with the exception of Silverman twisting the arms of Psychoman and using them to choke him out while the latter's leg is pulled even harder! When the second half of the move is performed, Psychoman's head wobbles painfully while the air gets cutoff from being thrown down fast since his body isn't curled. As the move finally connects, Psychoman gets slammed chin, chest, and arms first into the ring. Psychoman vomits blood onto Silverman while his battered body reverts back to position in horrifying manner. He only survived because the move was performed on the crater that softened the blow. Still, it's truly the move that is meant to KILL the opponent.
    • It popped up again when Nemesis uses the same attack on Kinnikuman AFTER seeing it once instead of the Muscle Spark! It's already horrifying to have it performed on the protagonist and that it could possibly kill him. When it looked like Kinnikuman got killed from it, in the twist that Nemesis suffers heavy damage from USING it and that Suguru is Not Quite Dead. Arrogant Spark isn't just a move for murder, it's also Awesome, but Impractical since it is a double-edged move that took Silverman centuries to master.
  • Say, remember Satan who was the one who founded the Devil Choujin? Well guess what? He's back and he's brought an army with him... With the return of The Omegaman! Well, Dexia's brother Aristera.
  • Satan has finally revealed himself to the Justice Choujin and would have killed them all if it weren't for Justiceman coming to save them.
  • Near the end of the True Devils/Six Spears Arc, The Reveal the true threat against the lives of all Choujin coming wasn't Satan who was merely taking advantage of the situation was actually none other than the Choujin Gods themselves led by God of Harmony who wants to exterminate every other Choujin. His plan is so heinous that the pieces for the device needed to happen are protected by not only The Man but also the Five Evil Gods who are against the annihilation of all Choujin!
  • As Kinnikuman is well-aware when he is told along with everyone else, that they are told by The Man that they must fight the Gods themselves who will descend from Heaven like The Man has done! Not only are they as strong as The Man, but the God Of Harmony's faction is the strongest of said Choujin Gods! As the arc ends, the Fated Princes that fought against the Six Spears that survived have sensed the arrival of the descended Gods! Super Phoenix says it best on how dire the situation is.
    • He's not kidding about that as the arrival of said threats are all twelve of the descended Choujin Gods led by God of Harmony!
    God of Harmony: Here we have descended... To bring the beginning of the end.
  • The newest arc begins with the descended Choujin Gods now known as Super Gods or Choushin, immediately go after Big Body for the piece possessed by the God of Strength! Even when three of Big Body's team arrived to rescue them, the God of Commandments descended as Rampageman shows the power of a Choushin by decimating all three of them quicker than Mammothman did!!

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