Like Byakuren and Toramaru's entrance into the arena. This will be exciting to see the match.

Now I'm kind of curious as to why others are suited up.

Taldein said:
Now I'm kind of curious as to why others are suited up.

Hhm......... What if this match isn't actually just against Lotus Star White Tiger? What if Team Moriya actually has to go up against all the defeated teams in rotation or in a giant pile up?

dont tease me like that! supatenko mkII, that's will awesome

That last panel is all kinds of awesome too. Both Byakuren and Shou look pretty cool there.

Brace for plot twists.

Not sure what's going on in the second panel, but a cheerleader Yukari is fine too.

But you know, I hope they won't try their luck again as the remaining teams are strong and/or packs plot armor. Though it seems Ran and Chen are appreciating they're not in it anymore.

Anyone else think that if the first match was with Mystic Beast Type II with Yukari as the second, that she would easily destroy anyone else who dared to fight Ran and Chen?

Considering they draw their strength from Yukari as well, and Chen draws strength from Ran? Not to mention Yukari's control of Gaps.

Rinotheuke said:
Anyone else think that if the first match was with Mystic Beast Type II with Yukari as the second, that she would easily destroy anyone else who dared to fight Ran and Chen?

Considering they draw their strength from Yukari as well, and Chen draws strength from Ran? Not to mention Yukari's control of Gaps.

Their proximity to Yukari along would have tripled Ran's power, and doubled Chen's. They wouldn't need her unless it's an unwinnable fight.

They still would have ran into problems as I remember with Yukari funneling power into Ran, she still had trouble with Yuugi (while she was actually doing damage... she was also damaging herself in the process even worse)

Maybe if those two trained competently instead of taking it lightly things may have been different. It didn't help that they were both magic-leaning youkai as opposed to physical(Oni, vampires, Tengu are some examples)

Still baffles me why Reisen and Youmu were so underwhelming despite their intense training. Sure their foes were strong but the magicians easily put up far more of a fight.

undead group? does that refer to Remi or the immortals?

Guessing if one of the other teams had gotten that rope Ran and Chen would have been the practice team instead.

Mastine said:
undead group? does that refer to Remi or the immortals?

It can only be the Immortals, as Kaguya submitted the same plot as Sanae, and it appears that the "extra match" is that. Red 75% didn't have any intent to fight an extra match to keep things fair... they seem to be pretty apathetic faces... not doing much beyond not being heels, rather than really working the crowd to establish it.

Rinotheuke said:

Considering they draw their strength from Yukari as well, and Chen draws strength from Ran? Not to mention Yukari's control of Gaps.

Hasn't it already been established that the ability to channel their powers through their familiars would be drastically reduced while in the ring? The same reason why participants can't use danmaku.

Kernel said:
Red 75% didn't have any intent to fight an extra match to keep things fair... they seem to be pretty apathetic faces... not doing much beyond not being heels, rather than really working the crowd to establish it.

Which pretty much sums up the reasons for some readers to dislike their team. This is sports entertainment after all, the least they could do is make some effort of acknowledging the crowd. It's like the author of this series is characterizing them this way to make a point...

I wonder if the author will get Shou to do some (Sagat) Muay Thai(kickboxing)? I'd love to see Shou do a Tiger Uppercut!

FartFromTheHeart said:
I wonder if the author will get Shou to do some (Sagat) Muay Thai(kickboxing)? I'd love to see Shou do a Tiger Uppercut!

Shou is very much in the vein of Tiger Mask rather than Sagat, as she proved in the previous match.

Kernel said:
It can only be the Immortals, as Kaguya submitted the same plot as Sanae, and it appears that the "extra match" is that. Red 75% didn't have any intent to fight an extra match to keep things fair... they seem to be pretty apathetic faces... not doing much beyond not being heels, rather than really working the crowd to establish it.

Red 75 is face/heal. Remilia has been on the receiving end of the dirtiest foul play of the tournament in stride and praised her opponents' determination; protected defenseless opponents from her own rampaging partner; and shown concern for the well being of other teams outside the ring. Meanwhile Reimu promised to make sure her best friend lost pathetically and exploited her naive partner (and the Taoists) for free labor.

Which makes her just a face. Exploiting her partner back at the shrine doesn't change anything... that's not part of the ring persona.

Kernel said:
Which makes her just a face. Exploiting her partner back at the shrine doesn't change anything... that's not part of the ring persona.

Reimu's barely a face, she just hasn't done anything to really cross over.

If any time is a mix, it'd be the Moriya team as while Suwako got worse, Sanae got better, abandoning some of the tricks she tried in the first match.

Kernel said:
Which makes her just a face. Exploiting her partner back at the shrine doesn't change anything... that's not part of the ring persona.

By that logic Hourai is a face team as well.

The real audience for this spectacle isn't the crowd in the story, it's the reader; everything the characters do is fair game. Keep in mind, wrestling broadcasts show supposedly "behind the scenes" action, much like Tag Dream's between matches sections.

Pumpkin_Eater said:
By that logic Hourai is a face team as well.

Yes, they are. Kaguya has maintained tight control of her image, plus they fought a heel team in the last round. Kaguya did seem to be intrigued with heeling after that, but until she has a face-heel turn, she's still a face.

You're getting confused with the dramatic irony. It doesn't matter what we know... the teams are face or heel based on how their wrestling character is perceived and played for the audience in the world of the strip. What we know includes the motivation of the actors playing those characters, which can tell us things about where the strip's story might go. But that's about the actors, not the wrestling characters they're playing... you can have an evil person playing a face or a good person playing a heel. You wouldn't associate everything a real life wrestler does in the ring with who they are as a person, and you should compartmentalize the characters in this story the same way.

And sure, wrestling shows will use "behind the scenes" action... but that's all scripted and intended for presentation. Things we see in the breaks between rounds are very much not that. If they were, the teams would have spent much of the time holding interviews and trash talking the other teams on this stuff. But what we saw was the characters acting in camera.

I'd love to see a full body shot of Yukari's outfit here.