Kinnikuman - About Kinnikuman

About Kinnikuman

Originally created as a parody of Ultraman, Kinnikuman was a clumsy goof of a superhero whose services were only called upon to battle monsters if no other superheroes were around.

Kinnikuman's powers came from eating garlic (ninniku, ニンニク), which would gradually fill the "garlic meter" on his forehead until he could grow into a giant to fight the monsters. His main attack was the "Kinniku Flash" beam.

As Kinnikuman developed, it began focusing exclusively on professional wrestling in which Kinnikuman would wrestle ridiculous parodies of popular Japanese superheroes and their adversaries, including "The Toilet Paper Mummy," a giant hand, and monsters based on things like pachinko machines and telephones. The heroes and villains of Kinnikuman were collectively referred to as "Chōjin," (超人) which literally translates to "Supermen". The majority of the characters were made by fans who sent in chōjin character designs or ideas and were then incorporated into the story in various major and minor roles. Notable examples of main characters created in this manner include Warsman and Brocken Jr.

The story involves Kinnikuman (his real name is Suguru Kinniku), a clumsy fool of a superhero, finding out he is the missing prince of the planet Kinniku, known for turning out the greatest superheroes in the universe. Being a clumsy fool, however, he must prove himself worthy of the throne. To do so, he enters into wrestling competitions and battles evil Chojin, ultimately culminating in a tournament between Kinnikuman and five pretenders to the throne (Kinnikuman Big Body, Soldier, Zebra, Mariposa, and Super Phoenix). Many of Kinnikuman's allies begin as villains (Ramenman, Buffalo Man, Ashuraman, Warsman), and extremely arrogant heroes (Terryman, Robin Mask, Rikishiman).

As the popularity increased, an anime came about and lots of merchandising. Amongst the most popular merchandise were the "Kinnikuman Keshigomu": erasers made in the shapes of the Kinnikuman characters. The kids were playing with them as toys and called them "Kin-Keshi" for short. They were subsequently marketed as such, and accessories like a wrestling ring were soon to follow.

The wildly popular Kinkeshi figurines came to the United States in the mid-1980s under the brand name M.U.S.C.L.E., which stands for "Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere". For this release, Kinnikuman was renamed "Muscle Man", leader of the heroic M.U.S.C.L.E. characters, the "Thug Busters," and Buffaloman was renamed "Teri-Bull" as the leader of the "Cosmic Crunchers" (although in a M.U.S.C.L.E. video game released for the NES, the Japanese names of the other major characters were used). The figures were only available in random assortments, and originally were only available in a sort of fleshy pink, but eventually other colors were used as well. Accessories included a wrestling championship belt that opened up and could be used to carry figures, and a wrestling ring where most of the figures could be squeezed into a pair of plastic clamps and then whacked together using a pair of joysticks. M.U.S.C.L.E. would later inspire a similar American toy, Monster in My Pocket, in which the figures were based on typical western monsters rather than Japanese pro-wrestler parodies.

There have also been numerous Kinnikuman video games, anime, and other toys.

A sequel manga to Kinnikuman, called Kinnikuman II or Kinnikuman Nisei was written by Yudetamago, starring Suguru's son, Mantaro, and currently appears in "Weekly Playboy", a men's magazine published by Shueisha. There have been two "flashback" stories in this manga that feature Terryman and Robin Mask, respectively. Kinnikuman II is known as Ultimate Muscle in most English-speaking countries. Plus after Kinnikuman, there was a spin-off series for the character Ramenman, who was a popular character.

A brand new on-going series was created at the end of 2011, following the end of Kinnikuman II. This new series follows the original cast, set straight after the end of the original series.