Special Move Asura no Shindou

[Kaoz]

Alright, let's finally talk about this a bit more in-depth. We don't have much to go on, but the two questions we should examine in relation to Asura no Shindou are:

1. How can it be achieved?
2. What are its effects?

1. This isn't really explained in the manga, so the two factors we can look at are who has achieved Asura no Shindou and what may have been the trigger for them achieving it, as well as the mythological background.

In case of the former, we have three candidates so far - Tokugawa, Byoudouin and Oni, with Tokugawa being the only one who is 100% confirmed to have it. The anime confirms Byoudouin as well, but that may or may not have been an interpretation on their part.

Looking at the mythological background, I can't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I've pulled this definition from here:

Demons, enemies of the devas and Indra, with whom they are forever at war. They are the aspects of our nature that take the body to be the sole self. They thrive on ambition, anger and jealousy. They represent our personal demons.

The bolded part is probably the most useful bit here. Looking at Tokugawa, we know that he has some unreal ambition with being even willing to sacrifice his life to defeat Byoudouin, so that fits. So the question we should be asking here is if Byoudouin's and Oni's ambitions are on that same level. I can't really give an objectively correct answer to this, so this is mostly meant to be food for thought.


2. We only have one chapter to go off for this part, but in my eyes there have been a lot of misconceptions about the contents of that one chapter.

Let's review what happens real quick - it's Tokugawa's service game and he aces Byoudouin three times before putting away the second shot easily on the final point. Now, the most common interpretation is that Asura no Shindou has all those different effects like being super fast, or phasing through the racket or having a crazy curve, but since reviewing the chapter again at the end of last month, I believe it's in fact none of that.

What I believe happens is that Tokugawa in fact hits the exact same serve four times, but it's such a high level serve that Byoudouin takes several points to figure it out.

On the first point, the serve is faster than he expects and can't react to it. He adjusts to the speed on the second serve, but the ball "phases" through his racket (in reality it just escapes to the side like GUYU). So he figures out the side spin next and puts his body in the path of the ball on the third serve, but there we get to see that the serve doesn't just go to the side, but upwards as well.

Byoudouin finally grasps all those aspects on the final serve and returns it - Tokugawa puts the return away, but considering we don't see him score like this anymore afterwards, I think it's a fair assumption that Byoudouin has figured out the serve completely at that point and can return it with a regular shot.

So in summary, Tokugawa hits the exact same serve four times. The properties of that serve are that it's a fast slice serve that not only curves sidewards but upwards as well.

Now, is this serve Asura no Shindou? It might be, but I don't think so. I think that serve is simply the best serve Tokugawa is capable of hitting and Asura no Shindou enables him to hit this full power serve consecutively without faulting.


This got pretty long, but I hope you took the time to read it all anyway (and that it was somewhat understandable). Of course there's a chance that I'm wrong about all of this, but I'm pretty confident that this interpretation of the events is more likely than the one we used for the past year.

 

[ChinkyCandie]

You can't be wrong if no one knows anything about this. We've only gotten the name, not what it does.

Your 1. makes a lot of sense. Amibition describes all of Oni, Tokugawa, and Byodoin. Byodoin's ambition is to lead Japan to the top of the world. Oni's ambition is to inspire orphans. So that part makes sense.

Maybe its something to do with life and death as well? That was the match between Oni and Byodoin 2 years ago and Tokugawa put his life on the line to defeat Byodoin.

Difficult topic this is XD

 

[Kaoz]

Well, there is one correct answer, but only Konomi knows for sure.

Anyway, I think it's pretty possible that experiencing a life-and-death battle is a secondary condition for achieving it. I was thinking about putting it in the OP, but ultimately figured it was long enough as it is and the mythological aspect is more important in my eyes.

 

[Ganonslayer101]

Your Explanation of the Serve seems to fit the scene so I wouldn't be surprised. It would be a shame if the Path has no effect outside of a stat boost because that's what the wild beast aura does, so why add another aura name. I wonder if the Asura is Necessary for the Black Hole which would explain why Byoudin, Oni, nor Irie can use it if they haven't achieved Asura.

 

[Kaoz]

It has a different name because it represents something different. I reckon that even if it's just a stat boost, it likely boosts different stats or has a greater boost associated with it or something (Moujuu is something like 2 SPE/1 POW, I'd think AnS at least gives a MEN boost).

---------- Post added at 10:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 AM ----------

Oh yeah, I feel like Byoudouin's final serve probably was his best serve / AnS-powered as well. That's more so because of how powerful it is drawn though, there's no real indicator in text form. Unfortunately we haven't seen any of Byoudouin's normal serves so far, so there's nothing to compare it to either.

 

[Ganonslayer101]

doesn't seem like AnS since even some of his normal serves look like he's launching rai at the enemy and given his obliterating style, it seems likely that a full-power serve is that strong without using AnS.

 

[Anera]

Alright, let's finally talk about this a bit more in-depth. We don't have much to go on, but the two questions we should examine in relation to Asura no Shindou are:

1. How can it be achieved?
2. What are its effects?

1. This isn't really explained in the manga, so the two factors we can look at are who has achieved Asura no Shindou and what may have been the trigger for them achieving it, as well as the mythological background.

In case of the former, we have three candidates so far - Tokugawa, Byoudouin and Oni, with Tokugawa being the only one who is 100% confirmed to have it. The anime confirms Byoudouin as well, but that may or may not have been an interpretation on their part.

Looking at the mythological background, I can't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I've pulled this definition from here:



The bolded part is probably the most useful bit here. Looking at Tokugawa, we know that he has some unreal ambition with being even willing to sacrifice his life to defeat Byoudouin, so that fits. So the question we should be asking here is if Byoudouin's and Oni's ambitions are on that same level. I can't really give an objectively correct answer to this, so this is mostly meant to be food for thought.

I thought about that since this point is surely the most likely and interesting. Actually, I don't think Asura no Shindou is a technique, only Byoudouin spoke about that and as we saw it in the anime, he seems to be a Hindu (he prayed in a kind of temple). So, the Hindu reference you quoted might be only a way of speaking from Byoudouin, to underline the growth of Tokugawa through ambition and the desire of revenge.

Maybe you can consider it as a way of increasing the stats but in my opinion, there is no real evidence it might be a technique. The serve means nothing, it just seems like a strong serve but nothing more.

 

[Kaoz]

Just as a bit of trivia, Byoudouin's name itself refers to a Buddhist temple.

Also, if you read my conclusion, I don't think AnS is the serve itself, rather that it enables the serve to be hit consecutively, so I'm not really sure if you're arguing against that or not?

 

[Anera]

Well, I partially agree with you...

Now, is this serve Asura no Shindou? It might be, but I don't think so. I think that serve is simply the best serve Tokugawa is capable of hitting and Asura no Shindou enables him to hit this full power serve consecutively without faulting.

At least, you consider it might be an ability which allows Tokugawa to increase his strength in some way ? (or I didn't understand) The difference is that I think Byoudouin just used one of his mythological references to enhance the growth of Tokugawa with his desire for revenge.

 

[Kaoz]

Yes, I do. I can't really argue against your point of view unless AnS is specifically listed as one of Tokugawa's special moves in the next databook. What I can say is that Byoudouin isn't the only one who used this term, Oni did too. So at least it's a universal concept of some sorts I'd say and not specifically tied to Byoudouin, even if it references a similar background.