A New (Idiot) Challenger Arrives!

And then he went to jail. After Riku punched him across the village square. One of those two statements is true.

At the start of volume 2 of Steel Fist Riku, Jyutaroh Nishino decides to introduce a rival for Riku. Chikara shows up wanting to avenge a defeat Riku's father dealt Chikara's grandfather years ago, but her father's out of town. So he fights Riku instead, and makes an ass out of himself by insisting she's a dude and engaging in inappropriate grabbing.

The next chapter involves Riku and Chikara grudgingly working together to catch someone attacking couples in the park. When the chapter after that starts with both of them signing on as security for a wealthy snack food entrepreneur, it looks as though Jyutaroh's going to settle into a basic engine of them bickering but ultimately getting the job done.

Instead, the thieves crush Riku and Chikara pretty easily. What's more, one of the thieves - the tall, thin obnoxiously smirking type who wears sunglasses all the time - has the same ability to turn a limb metal like Riku, but won't tell her anything about her origins. Though she at least succeeded in recovering an important heirloom for the snack king, the loss pushes Riku to demand more training from her dad on his return, so she can get strong enough to force answers out of the guy.

When her father remains unable to fight Riku without her wearing the chest wrappings that inhibit her breathing, he sends her to his old teacher. I still struggle to see a difference in how Jyutaroh draws Riku's chest whether she's supposed to be wearing the wrappings or not. Pretty much have to go by whether the other characters are making references to her boobs.

When Chikara shows up looking for a fight, Pops sends him along, too. The end of the volume is the two fighters encountering the old master. Jyutaroh goes with a rather sadistic old woman as the master, rather than some perverted old man, which is something at least. He draws her with big eyes that could look innocent, but rounds or shapes them so that, combined with a Looney Tunes-worthy wide grin, she gives off a gleefully malevolent air.

Overall, the title doesn't entirely abandon the "case of the week" aspect, even as it gives Riku a consistent rival who isn't too incapacitated by her chest to fight, and offers the possibility of an answer to Riku's origin. I don't know that where she came from or why her arm can turn to steel was really weighing on my mind - the explanation that their world has "demi-humans" with strange abilities was enough - it's clearly something Riku wants to know.