Tough (manga)
Tough, known in Japan as High School Exciting Story: Tough, is a Japanese martial arts manga series written and illustrated by Tetsuya Saruwatari. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from 1993 to 2003, with its chapters collected in 42 volumes. A sequel series, titled Tough, was published in the same magazine from 2003 to 2012, with its chapters collected in 39 volumes. The first series was licensed in North America by Viz Media, who only published the first six volumes from 2005 to 2006.
A three-episode original video animation series adaptation was released in 2002, and released in North America, as Shootfighter Tekken, by Central Park Media in 2004; the third episode was only released in North America. A spin-off series, titled Oton, has been irregularly published across three Shueisha's magazines from 2001 to 2008, in 2009, and in 2021. Another series, titled Tough: Ryū o Tsugu Otoko, was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Playboy from 2015 to 2025.
Plot
The story follows Kiichi "Kiibo" Miyazawa, a 17-year-old high school student, and his father, Seiko Miyazawa, who trains him in their family's secret martial art, Nadashinkage-ryu. Kiichi is passionate about martial arts and seeks strength by engaging in street fights and tournaments across Japan and beyond. The martial art involves a combination of punches, kicks, throws, grappling, and knowledge of pressure points on the human body. Kiichi's journey is driven by a desire to become strong and test his skills against fighters from various regions.Characters
;Kiichi Miyazawa Kiibo;Seiko Miyazawa Oton
;Kiryu Miyazawa
;Sonō Miyazawa
;Kintoki Miyazawa
Fighters
;Mitsuhide Kuroda Ashura;Masaharu Kiba Iron Kiba
;Goji Kano
;Yoshio Takahashi
;Heizo Onikawa
;Kiyomasa Samon
;Shingo Aoi
;Krungthep Suwanpakdee
;Noboru Asada Chōshō
;Heath Clancy
;Gordon Clancy
;Shinichi Kiba Kibashin
;Remco Yarobu
;Enzo Sasagawa
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Tetsuya Saruwatari, Tough: High School Iron Fist Legend was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from 1993 to 2003. Shueisha collected its chapters in 42 volumes, released from March 13, 1994, and July 18, 2003. In North America, Viz Media released six volumes of the first manga series under its "Editor's Choice" imprint from January 4, 2005, to April 16, 2006. These volumes omitted some chapters and artwork for graphic violence, and have been discontinued.A sequel series, Tough, continued serialization in the magazine starting on July 31, 2003, and finished on July 19, 2012. Shueisha collected its chapters in 39 volumes, released from January 19, 2004, to August 17, 2012.
A series, titled, was irregularly published in Shueisha's Young Jump Zōkan Mankaku, and . Two volumes were released on January 19, 2004, and February 19, 2008. Another chapter was published in Grand Jump in 2021.
Another series, titled Tough: Ryū o Tsugu Otoko, was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Playboy from December 21, 2015, to June 23, 2025. Shueisha collected its chapters in 35 volumes, released from May 19, 2016, to September 19, 2025.
Original video animation
The series received a three-episode original video animation adaptation animated by AIC. The first two episodes were distributed by Spike in Japan and released on January 31 and March 28, 2002.It was licensed in North America by Central Park Media as Shootfighter Tekken. The first two episodes were released on August 24 and October 19, 2004, respectively, while the third episode was released on December 7 of that same year.