When it comes to exaggerated-macho sports dramas, Shootfighter Tekken: Tough is one of the top examples.

Shootfighter Tekken. Rounds 1-3.
OAV series (three episodes), 2002. Director: Yukio Nishimoto. V.1-3, 45 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $19.98. Distributor: U.S. Manga Corps/Central Park Media.

“I feel alive when I’m fighting!” Shootfighter Tekken: Tough (Koko Tekken-Den Tough; literally High School Exciting Story: Tough) was a popular 42-volume manga series by Tetsuya Saruwatari beginning in 1993; this three-episode OAV series by the A.I.C. studio was released on Jan. 31, March 28 and April 26, 2002. It is one of the leading candidates for exaggerated-macho sports dramas. No; beyond sports; villainous World Pro Wrestling champion “Iron” Kiba resigns in protest because the wussy rules won’t let him fight to the death in the ring!

High-schooler Keiichi “Keybo” Miyazawa is the protagonist. He is the proud son of “Oton” Miyazawa, master of the Nanshin Shadow Style, “the unspoken martial art” because its bouts to the death cannot be held in public. Oton treats martial arts as a religion, to be used only for justice and honor. Keybo respects his dad’s righteousness, but he sees fighting more as a thrill, a way to prove that a man is A Man -- but only in a spirit of macho brotherhood; fair fights with everyone still friends afterwards.

Iron Kibo represents those who fight for glory, greed and raw bloodlust. “A Pro Wrestler fights with his left arm, if his right is broken! If both arms are broken, we fight with our legs. Pro Wrestlers are that kind of race.” Winning is all-important. “We have to win, no matter what! No matter how...” He is determined to prove that “Pro Wrestling is the ultimate martial art” -- but for greed, not honor. Kiba has used his championship to become a wealthy TV and advertising celebrity. He feels that Pro Wrestling would become even more popular, and make him richer, if he could incorporate the secrets of the Nanshin Shadow Style into it.

Kiba tries to force Oton Miyazawa into a no-holds-barred fight for the Nanshin Shadow Style secret. Oton refuses to lower himself, but Keybo is too proud to turn down a challenge despite his father’s disapproval. Kiyomasa Samon, a hulking yet cunningly deadly fighter has been challenging Kiba for the Pro Wrestling championship, so Kiba agrees only on the condition that Samon defeat Keybo first. Samon looks invincible, but Keybo goes to “Onihei,” the old fighter who taught Samon, to learn his tricks. (The “private” fight that Kiba organizes for them is on the deck of an aircraft carrier that he rents for their arena, as an example of how powerful the World Pro Wrestling Federation is.)

Kiba had promised to give up trying to get the Nanshin Shadow secrets if his man lost, but he lied. His second tool is Shingo Aoi, a sadistic Goetsu-style jujitsu master who lures Keybo into accepting a fight to the death by beating Keybo’s pal and friendly rival Yo “Man-Eater” Takaishi. In Round 3, Kiba finally gets Oton to commit to a public match. But when Oton is hospitalized, Keybo must take his father’s place against his deadliest opponent.

Shootfighter Tekken has slightly more plot than a videogame (it is not related to the Tekken videogame which had its own anime adaptation a couple of years earlier), but it is about as mindless. It is age-rated 16+ for extreme graphic violence (floods of gore and flying teeth), but is otherwise so little-boy infantile that when Keybo shows slight signs of sexual arousal at Man-Eater’s kid sister, you feel that someone oughta warn him, “Eww, GIRLS! Whadda wanna mess around with GIRLS for?”