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is a Japanese action manga series written by Izo Hashimoto and illustrated by Akio Tanaka. It was started to be serialized in ''Weekly Manga Action'' in 1998 and moved to ''Evening'' in 2004. It was discontinued in 2007 due to creative differences but returned in 2011 and ended in 2015. It tells a story of a boy who killed his parents and turned himself into a cold-blooded martial artist. The manga inspired a Hong Kong film adaptation that was released in 2007. ==Background== ''Shamo'' differs significantly from other seinen manga in that the story's protagonist is actually an unrepentant and often unsympathetic criminal. Throughout the manga Ryo Narushima is depicted as being unrepentant for the murder of his parents (who are later implied to have been physically abusive towards Ryo and overly-controlling of his life) and is shown committing crimes such as assault and rape for the sake of making himself stronger. Though capable of redemption (as evidenced by his care-taking of his sister and various small charitable acts shown throughout the manga) ultimately Narushima is a Byronic hero spiraling into darkness, his chances at reform slowly ebbing away as he gives in to more and more of his depraved and brutal tendencies. However, Ryo seems to genuinely care for those close to him, and will not hesitate to help them if they are in trouble. He is also shown to have fallen in love with Yan, the granddaughter of the master he studied under while he lived in China and was crushed by her suicide, which made him hellbent on killing the man who drove her to it. A minor theme throughout the manga is society's morally-based stratification, how it condemns young criminals like Narushima, and how that condemnation forces Narushima to the fringes of society making his chances of true reform and redemption even more remote. Various supporting characters within Shamo act as dramatic foils to Narushima, with Naoto Sugawara being the primary example of this. Famous, rich, and beloved for the same abilities that make Narushima a social pariah, Sugawara's presence can be seen as an example of society's cognitive dissonance towards violence. Narushima is reviled for his violent traits, while Sugawara is praised & rewarded for using those same traits in a slightly different context. This is part of the recurring theme of "traditional vs. modern karate" in which Ryo (who uses traditional karate meant for combat and self-defense) and the various elder members of Banryukai find themselves hopelessly lost in a world where such karate is scorned in favor of modern sport karate, to the point where Resshin, the man who founded Banryukai along with his late brother, contemplates suicide due to his despair at living in a country of "declawed men" where the style he and his brother used to survive the Second World War has been hopelessly defiled by modern ideals. This story was inspired by the Kobe child murders of 1997 that a 14-year-old "Boy A" ("Shōnen A") killed and decapitated several children. Ryo Narushima is modeled after two persons: * Juvenile delinquency part: The "Boy A". * Martial art part: of Kyokushin. This Karate fighter's name has same pronunciation as the main character's name. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shamo (manga)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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