Kick no Oni (キックの鬼ー, Kikku no Oni, lit. Kick Demon), also known as The Demon of Kickboxing, is a manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Kentaro Nakajou. It was based on the life of the kickboxer Tadashi Sawamura.[2]
History
Written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Kentaro Nakajou, the manga was published in 1969 in the magazine Shōnen King. It received an anime television series in 1970 that ran until 1971 by Toei Animation.[3] Ikki Kajiwara is known for his other sports manga, one of them, Ashita no Joe, is illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba and was published between 1968 and 1973 in Weekly Shōnen Magazine.[4] The staff at Toei found it easier to animate Oni after gaining experience with physical contact sports anime Tiger Mask (also written by Kajiwara).[5]
In this series, Tadashi Sawamura, was an arrogant karate fighter who was defeated by a kickboxer, leaving Sawamura in a mild coma. Once in the hospital and recovering from the coma, his opponent's kickboxing trainer Noguchi, came to his hospital room and convinced Sawamura to become a kickboxer. To which after some rigorous training, he learned a devastating finishing move: "The Jumping Vacuum Knee" (Shinku tobi hiza geri).[7]
^Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy (2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN9781611729092.
^Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy (2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. 9781611729092.
