Tōru Rikiishi
Fictional character
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Toru Rikiishi (Japanese: 力石 徹, Hepburn: Rikiishi Tōru) is a fictional character appearing in the manga series Ashita no Joe by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba. Toru Rikiishi is depicted as Joe Yabuki's rival and a professional featherweight boxer, who got into a juvenile detention centre for punching an audience member to death after claiming his match was rigged. Later in the series, in order to box Joe Yabuki, Toru Rikiishi had to cut his weight from featherweight to bantamweight, in which he was successful. In his match against Joe Yabuki, he got knocked out and the ring ropes hit his neck, which—combined with the weakness from his weight loss—became the cause of his death after the match. Rikiishi Toru had been the most influential character on Joe Yabuki, Awakening his passion for boxing back in the detention centre.
Tetsuya Chiba
- Shūsei Nakamura (1970 TV series, film)
- Takeshi Aono (1980 TV series)
| Toru Rikiishi | |
|---|---|
| 'Ashita no Joe' character | |
| |
| Created by | Asao Takamori Tetsuya Chiba |
| Voiced by |
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Creation
Rikiishi toru was created by Asao Takamori and illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba as the main rival of Joe Yabuki. He is depicted with a calm demeanor and stoic appearance.
Originally Toru Rikiishi was going to be the same weight class as Joe Yabuki bantamweight Which Asao Takamori had planned but after serialisation Tetsuya Chiba had drawn Toru Rikiishi too big and muscular which received a bad reception from fans. However, it inspired Asao Takamori to implement the weight loss arc.[1]
Tetsuya Chiba later reflected about the harshnesses of Rikiishi's extreme weight loss arc and his sacrifices for Joe Yabuki.During the serialisation of Ashita no Joe Tetsuya Chiba and Asao Takamori debated the decision to kill off Rikiishi which was ultimately favoured by Tetsuya Chiba. Tetsuya Chiba remarked, "Do we really have to make him go through that much pain so many times? It would be a lie if I was fine with that... I just couldn't portray a lie about my own feelings."[2]
Reception
Toru Rikiishi was well received by fans, particularly the working class. He went on to become an iconic character in Japanese pop-culture.
So much so that after Rikiishi's death during the serialisation of the manga, On March 24, 1970 a real life Buddhist funeral was held for him in Kodansha's headquarters organised by a poet and playwright Shuji terayama for which 700-800 fans attended. The death left a devastating impact on the working class, It was a large cultural event displayed by the youth.[3]
