All-Rounder Meguru vol. 13

What about vol. 12?  It was notable for the trip Meguru takes with members of his and several other gyms to the Tohoku region to help with cleanup from the (then recent) earthquake and for some friendly competition.  It’s a nice diversion that also sees the series at its goofiest and most slapsticky. While Maki’s crush on Meguru gives mangaka Hiroki Endo plenty of license to engage in a variety of romantic, comedic, and fanservice-y tropes, it isn’t until the dinner that things go distractingly over-the-top between the men and the women.  Fortunately there’s some decent fighting, and even a bit of sparring between Meguru and his (former?) friend Takashi in the back half to bring things back down to Earth.

It also leaves off with Meguru meeting up with someone who has been completely MIA in the series up to this point:  His dad. We find out why in vol. 13. Not only is he the black sheep of the family, he’s also kind of an awful person too.  While Meguru spells it out for us in his internal monologue as he and his dad meet up with his sister and grandmother to visit his mother’s grave, it takes a turn as we get a full-on flashback to the title character’s junior high days.  We learn about how circumstances involving his sister led him to the door of Fighter’s Brew and shooto in general. This is backstory that’s unspooled well enough, and something that arguably should’ve been delivered sooner in this title’s run.

Endo then shifts gears to focus on Meguru’s training for and entry into the All-Japan Amateur Shooto Championship.  Really, it’s a little of the former and lot of the latter as his first match is against a fighter who is light on his feet and able to stay out of the protagonist’s reach.  It’s a solid fight by the title’s standards, even if the story beats of the fight are quite familiar at this point — right down to the volume-ending cliffhanger. Still, that this is a “championship” tournament, and this could mean that “Meguru” heading into the final arc of its 19-volume run.  Six volumes may seem like a lot for one tournament, but there’s sports-manga precedent for that.  Best of luck to Endo if he’s trying to top that particular bar.