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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1148 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 8, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I would recommend sticking with Baki. It's the best fighting manga, way better than Ashura, with some amazing fights. But like you said, it's a shounen, it's meant for teenage boys, it's not meant to be realistic.

Also if you do read it, start with the original Grappler Baki (1991) which is more grounded than than later ones.

Otherwise if you want realistic martial arts manga, the best one I know is All-Rounder Meguru, which is about MMA.

There's also Asumi Kakeru which is also MMA, and quite close to All-Rounder Meguru. The author also has another manga about Sumo.

I love fighting manga and martial arts, and so I've read basically everything translated, but if you're looking for something realistic for a HEMA practitioner, you're not going to find much. Either try lowering your standards, or just skipping manga. Besides All-Rounder Meguru.

Maybe try Vagabond, which is a manga about Musashi, but it's not finished, what is there is really good though, but again, I don't know how realistic the fights are.

Yeah, skipping Manga seems to be the reasonable choice. Maybe I'll look into the others you mentioned at a later point in time, but for now I think I'm good.

Maybe try Vagabond, which is a manga about Musashi, but it's not finished, what is there is really good though, but again, I don't know how realistic the fights are.

I looked into it before, but it seemed to just be a manga version of Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi, which I read, so it didn't seem to offer much additional value.

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