Greetings, Splendid Seven devotees and martial arts aficionados! Antoni here with another written entry focusing on Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran specialising in the martial arts they do, especially for tournaments, demonstrations, and kicking a whole lot of demon, monster, and villain butt. What more can I say other than I love it when these seven Yokai martial artists band together as a powerful family to not only demonstrate their brutal yet awesome moves but also live with honour, integrity, truth, respect, cooperation, dedication, and discipline as martial artists and as people. Picture yourselves in a huge arena where a martial arts demonstration is about to take place. You see seven martial artists in the forms of Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran entering the arena as fierce and determined as ever to show that they are the greatest Yokai martial artists Japan and the world has ever seen. Sesshoumaru breaks twenty-five cement blocks on top of each other with his bare fists. Shuran charges through a concrete wall using his whole body as if though he were the world’s most powerful wrecking ball. Inuyasha breaks thirty huge ice blocks aligned at each other with his bare fists, bare shins, and bare feet. Hakkaku effortlessly shin kicks tall wooden poles made of oak. Ginta speedily knee strikes tall wooden poles made of ebony. Ayame unleashes punches and kicks towards various metallic tiles, thus breaking them. Shunran goes zero gravity with her kicks and tricking towards wooden boards and ceramic tiles, thus breaking them too. After that display of superhuman power, their greatest challenge is to overcome opponents larger than them in the fastest time possible. It may have been gruelling, but all seven Yokai martial artists come out on top. This would definitely be the greatest sight to behold and one that would live on in martial arts history. Ever since I have been making various written entries revolving around The Splendid Seven, their chosen martial arts, and the various fighting game mentors I have in store for them, I have been further assessing the possibilities of their fighting styles all thanks to the video games I used to play as a young lad ranging from Street Fighter to Tekken to King of Fighters to even Mortal Kombat as well as watching Let’s Plays of a Karate-focused video game called Karate Master Knock Down Blow. This has additionally extended nicely to watching a fair number of martial arts documentaries, shows, and media instalments which have further sparked my interest in making The Splendid Seven be a sturdy family of Yokai martial artists who live with integrity and honour. Considering that I assigned them various mentors from some of the fighting games I used to play as a child, it is also my way of further expanding their martial arts skills and even have some surprisingly genuine connections to their mentors. With that said, let us get to the individual Yokai martial artists. Leaning towards the tradition, the discipline, and the honour side of the martial arts is Sesshoumaru a Karateka whose specific styles are Shotokan, Shito-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, Shorin-Ryu, Shorei-Ryu, Motobu-Ryu, and Uechi-Ryu. Aside from Karate, he also has a sturdy background in Marine Corps Martial Arts, Brazilian Jujitsu, Japanese Jujitsu, Taekwondo, Mixed Martial Arts, Judo, and Shootfighting. Sesshoumaru’s clean and focused attacks are characterised by lethal jabs, uppercuts, roundhouse kicks, and axe kicks to the face, head, gut area, and ribcage among many other body parts, strangulating chokeholds that see his opponents gasping for air, bludgeoning takedowns, quick reaction time to what his opponents would deliver at him, and high doses of stamina which have seen him emerge as the victor. There is also a military code that he abides by when it comes to not attacking unless somebody is brazen enough to provoke him. He even takes after Gouken’s discipline of the martial arts code, Ryu’s ambition to become a more powerful warrior, T. Hawk’s strong and silent calmness before the storm of battle, and Kazuya Mishima’s relentlessness to emerge as the victor to the point where Sesshoumaru considers Gouken, T. Hawk, Ryu, and Kazuya to be his most favourite mentors of all time. Sesshoumaru truly does make Karate, Taekwondo, and Jujitsu a way of life whether he does his daily katas, spars with his younger brother Inuyasha and with their father Toga the Dog General on a daily basis or uses his martial arts skills to take his enemies down. Being large and in charge complete with brute strength, loads of raw power, and earth-shattering takedowns is Shuran a wrestler whose focus is on American and British Professional Wrestling, Sumo Wrestling, Ssireum, Turkish Oil Wrestling, Pehlwani, and Malla-yuddha. He is also an ace in Sambo and Vale Tudo, thus demonstrating that he is more than just a grappler, as his ground and pound attacks, palm strikes, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and punches can cause collateral damage to his opponents. While Shuran’s punches, palm strikes, elbow strikes, knee strikes, and ground and pound attacks can physically and psychologically damage his opponents, his grappling skills remain unparalleled. As Shuran is the biggest and the tallest member of The Splendid Seven, his specialties of pile drivers, chokeholds, arm bars, Full Nelsons, up his sleeves such as hammerfists to the temple, straight punches between the eyes and to the solar plexus, elbow strikes, knee strikes, and kicks, not just grapples such as Full Nelsons, arm bars, chokeholds, takedowns, and foot sweeps deriving from Brazilian Jujitsu. Inuyasha draws inspiration afrom Akuma’s lethal ferociousness, es of inspiration for emerging on top of his game thanks to E. Honda’s dignity, Zangief’s toughness, Blanka’s resilience, and Ganryu’s formidability. Shuran’s brute strength and power may make him bear a champion’s mindset, but it is his unwavering will to never surrender that makes him a truly aspirational grappler let alone wrestler. Showing every monster, foe, and demon what he has got in terms of stamina, super strength, muscular power, and relentless confidence is…
Articles by Antoni Matteo Garcia
Hey, everybody. Antoni here. I have just hit a new DeviantArt milestone, as I have reached exactly 700 watchers. Since I hit this number of watchers, I thought I would increase the number of favourite pieces of fan art to thirty-five, as 700 is also divisible by that number, and I love to go slightly further than the norm. I not only want to dedicate my gratitude to all of my 700 watchers on DeviantArt but also to FinsFlipper, Teracles, Ares-the-war-god, JungleCaptor, Sonion, Geioji, FabioRosado, Verona7881, LorDeimos, Mavelle-Ealenyr, crows-blade, Lyroa, WildGirl91, FemaleNerd451, Atara-parakitty, Kabolki, Leonidafremov, MyBurningEyes, AwesomeBlossomPossum, Halfa-Sleep, Spongey444, Crystalstone, LaceyPowerPuffGirl, JeanneWu, DarthxErik, mehlikescookiesXD, itsKayI, shadowpiratemonkey7, ROCuevas, Zeiyuu, Buddyjack91, Klaustrofovia, NinSega, Goomuin, Fistron, Keili14, HeSerpenty, Takeuchi15, Popokino, RyantheLionKing, Jokeraf20, Soniclifetime, SweetFantasyDreams, NostalgicChills, Bambysocute, KaumiThomason, AniChap, Layerth, jpbelow, Asurama, tejedora, LMPandora, MSKM2001, transformerfan417, xiRedKarrieix, JennyGirlArt, TenchuuYoukai, StrayF0rk, CINNAMON-STITCH, Queen-Zelda, Nekonym, TempestsEye, LunaTopaz, jstq, IvoryMoonchild, Detective88, Tito-Mosquito, Reenigrl, shakespearemelody, Noxeri, AngelDearest, MandyButtercup, TheRealKingSusiePen, Amity-Hsu, PROLion3, JiggzODonnell, and TheSuperSaiyan10 who celebrated their birthdays ranging from two weeks ago until today. So, I wish you a lot of love and joy on your special days and in your lives as artists and as people. Words cannot begin to describe how blessed, grateful, and elated I am to have reached a new DeviantArt milestone, reaching 700 DeviantArt watchers. For that, I am using this opportunity to share with you my collage of thirty-five of my most favourite drawings I have done thus far, which represents the gist of what I specialise in. Whether I produce content relating to The Splendid Seven, The Animated Jungle Brothers, The Comic Jungle Brothers or RobRae’s and Zutara’s Double Dates among others, I have always been ready to pump out content for all of you wonderful people. The Splendid Seven started out with my immense love for Inuyasha’s and Ayame’s passionate, intimate, sexy, and gorgeous love as a mighty power couple and for Ginta’s and Shunran’s lovable, adorable, beautiful, and calming romance as a lovely power couple and flourished into my fascination with Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran as a close-knit, united, and strong family of Yokai warriors. I always perceived them as a well-balanced group combining Sesshoumaru’s stern warrior mindset and lethal combat prowess, Shuran’s brute strength and potent determination, Inuyasha’s fierce courage and muscular formidability, Hakkaku’s relentless speed and quick reflexes, Ginta’s accurate timing and sheer willpower, Ayame’s fearless determination and staunch valour, and Shunran’s hearty warmth and shining genuineness, considering all of these traits constitute the hallmark of their great awesomeness as a family. The possibilities I have for these seven Yokai warriors are indubitably endless and rich whether I have them as rambunctious young children, slightly older children being in a 90s setting with Roc Emerson as their teacher, older children furthering their training in the martial arts with a Jason David Frank expy in Sensei Jason, the Mighty Morphin Inurangers which is The Splendid Seven version of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Jungle Warlords or involved in various martial arts tournaments, which the latter is starting to become my most favourite idea for them. With the idea of Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Inuyasha, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran involved in martial arts tournaments as a powerful team of Yokai martial artists, I could configure the fighting styles I have for them, with Sesshoumaru being a Shotokan Karateka who incorporates Jujitsu and Hapkido, Shuran being a Sambo and Vale Tudo practitioner/Sumo wrestler, Inuyasha being a Kyokushin Karateka who incorporates Judo and Taekwondo, Hakkaku being a Muay Thai/Pradal Serey practitioner, Ginta being a Lethwei/Sanda practitioner, Ayame being a Kickboxer and Koppojutsu practitioner, and Shunran being a Capoeira and Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner. This is especially considering that I have been a huge player of Tekken, King of Fighter, and Street Fighter as a child, and I thought it would be a great pleasure to incorporate specific characters from these games to be their mentors. Moreover, it would be a pleasure to have their progeny just as involved in the martial arts as they are. I would even be so happy to have The Splendid Seven have crossover friendships with Jin Kazama, Hwoarang, Steve Fox, Baki Hanma, Ryoma Sakamoto, Takeshi Sendo, Kiichi “Kiibo” Miyazawa, Ichise, Ippo Makunouchi, Kiba, Megumi Minami, Ran, Kaoru Ichinose, and Cheza among others, and I would be totally ecstatic to have them together. The love I have for this group of seven Yokai warriors with attitude, guts, and stamina knows no bounds, and I am really happy to make them the cornerstone of my content. What happens when you combine George of the Jungle, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli? You have the strongest quartet of handsome jungle brothers in not only all of Africa but also the entire world. Having a strong father like Chief Keewazi to make them grow into the powerful warriors that they are is also great, plus having a leopardman brother such as Kaj, a lion brother such as Simba, a lion father such as Mufasa, and a caveman training buddy in Grunch would make their growth as warriors fully realised, considering how they can use their magnificent muscles, iron claws, and steel fangs to defeat their enemies in feral glory. Even better is when Basuli and Tarzan are happily married to their favourite Greek demigod of all time Hercules as well as having Namontack and Kocoum also as their husbands, while George and Maugli are respectively married to Namontack and Kocoum as well as having Hercules be their loving husband too. It is not just bulging muscles, sharp fangs, iron claws, radical wrestling moves, and furious fists that define George, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli as brothers but also the filial love they have for their father Chief Keewazi and, most of all, the romantically intimate love they have for Hercules, Namontack, and Kocoum. In fact, I would even love to George, Basuli, Tarzan, and Maugli in jungle mixed martial arts attire, especially considering that their fighting styles are a combination of Pankration, wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, Kapu Kuialua,…
Which Splendid Seven member could give you the best pieces of martial arts advice in punching, kicking, and grappling? A. Sesshoumaru B. Shuran C. Inuyasha D. Hakkaku E. Ginta F. Ayame G. Shunran H. All seven of them!
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Shunran to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. Elena (Street Fighter) B. Ibuki (Street Fighter) C. Karin Kanzuki (Street Fighter) D. Anna Williams (Tekken) E. Michelle Chang (Tekken) F. Athena Asamiya (King of Fighters) G. Li Xiangfei (King of Fighters)
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Ayame to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. Chun-Li (Street Fighter) B. Cammy White (Street Fighter) C. Sakura Kasugano (Street Fighter) D. Nina Williams (Tekken) E. Jun Kazama (Tekken) F. Mary “Blue Mary” Ryan (King of Fighters) G. Mai Shiranui (King of Fighters)
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Ginta to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. Adon (Street Fighter) B. Dee Jay (Street Fighter) C. Fei Long (Street Fighter) D. Vega (Street Fighter) E. Cody Travers (Street Fighter) F. Lei Wulong (Tekken) G. Kim Kaphwan (King of Fighters)
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Hakkaku to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. Sagat (Street Fighter) B. Dhalsim (Street Fighter) C. Dan Hibiki (Street Fighter) D. Balrog (Street Fighter) E. Guy (Street Fighter) F. Bruce Irvin (Tekken) G. Joe Higashi (King of Fighters)
Would you watch a show called Kill Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou depicting how various assassins, hitmen, mercenaries, and murderers demonstrate lethal yet fun ways to kill those four liars, hypocrites, and losers? A. Yes! I enjoy seeing Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou getting killed! B. Maybe. It sparks interest seeing how those four die horrific deaths. C. No! That would not make for good television!
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Inuyasha to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. Akuma (Street Fighter) B. Guile (Street Fighter) C. Alex (Street Fighter) D. Ken Masters (Street Fighter) E. Paul Phoenix (Tekken) F. Terry Bogard (King of Fighters) G. Andy Bogard (King of Fighters)
Which fighting game mentor would be appropriate for Shuran to train with on a ritualistic basis? A. E. Honda (Street Fighter) B. Zangief (Street Fighter) C. Hugo (Street Fighter) D. Darun (Street Fighter) E. Blanka (Street Fighter) F. Ganryu (Tekken) G. Akatsuki-Maru (King of Fighters)