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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 07 April 2006 00:00 |
 Another week, another fighting show, this time Fighting Beauty Woolong, featuring kenpo expert and all-around cutie Mao Lan. That explains the "Fighting Beauty" part of the title, anyway. With the burden of family history on her shoulders, a mystery to unravel regarding her parents and a rival family looking to steal her thunder, what's a girl to do but fight her way to victory?
1 - Burden of the Invincible Sign!
At first glance, Mao Lan is a fairly typical 17-year-old - very attractive, a bit on the shy side, enjoys karaoke. Don't believe the first glance, though - under the cute exterior she's a lethal kenpo fighter, one of a long line in her family, and since her family seems to attract the lunatic fringe (just trying to learn the Mao style the hard way, of course) she gets plenty of opportunities to sharpen her skills. When classmate Masao Ooba sees the wayshe's able to deal with troublemakers, he quickly decides he wants Mao to teach him her skills...
Ooba's not the only new trainee, either - there's also Xao Linshen, who we first see as a cocky young girl wanting to take Mao on, and next seen in a rather beat-up state asking her grandfather for help. She has a problem with the way her sister is using the Xao family style for financial gain (she's a prize-fighter) and wants to learn the Mao style so she can beat her. How she'll react to Mao taking part in the same prize tournament as her sister remains to be seen, but I'd be surprised if it was good.
The whole setup is really an excuse for an endless stream of fighting contests. There's a certain amount of fanservice here - Mao's usually in a short skirt - but it's nothing like on the scale of Ikkitousen, which was a definite relief. The premise could get boring real quick, though, without some real reason for all the fighting being added - family honour and teach big sis a lesson really don't rate with me as reasons to get medieval. The fights so far are short, at least - but once again this is a series I really couldn't work up much enthusiasm for. I'm just not a huge fan of fighting series, and this one doesn't have enough about it to make it stand out enough for me to want to follow it. Pass. |
