How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? is a slice-of-life comedy. Kengan Ashura is a brutal fighting anime. And aside from their fixation on muscles, they couldn’t be more different in terms of tone and style. Yet, these two anime are far more interconnected than you’d think at first glance.
Image source: 「ケンガンアシュラ」公式 on Twitter
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? is the story of Hibiki–a high school girl who decides to join a chain gym after realizing she’s getting a bit pudgy. Alongside Akemi–her school’s president–and Machio–her trainer–she learns all about getting fit, dieting, and working out.
Image source: 「ケンガンアシュラ」公式 on Twitter
Kengan Ashura, on the other hand, is set in a world where megacorporations settle their disputes in single combat–with each company sponsoring their own champion. The series follows Tokita Ohma, a young man employed as one of these modern-day gladiators as he battles his way through ever-tougher opponents.
You’d be forgiven for thinking these two shows have nothing in common. However, not only do they share an author (Yabako Sandrovich), they take place in the same fictional world.
Image source: TVアニメ「ダンベル何キロ持てる？」公式(好評放送中!!) on Twitter
Perhaps the most obvious connection is Dumbbell’s Akemi herself. Akemi Soryuin is a rich girl who lives in a large mansion and is often taken care of by her older sister when her parents are away. Her older sister is, in fact, Shion Soryuin, the chairwoman of the Koyo Academy Group who first appears in Kengan Ashura’s second episode.
In fact, the school that Akemi, Hibiki, and their friends all attend is Koyo Women’s Academy, part of that same group of schools. This also gives context as to why Akemi is already the school president despite only being a second-year student–not only is she incredibly responsible and well-educated, her sister literally runs the school.
Image source: TVアニメ「ダンベル何キロ持てる？」公式(好評放送中!!) on Twitter
But Akemi isn’t the only character related to one of the characters in Kengan Ashura. Gina Boyd, the Russian exchange student who starts living with Hibiki after losing to her in an arm-wrestling match, is actually the niece of Ivan Karaev: the kickboxer who appears at the end of Kengan Ashura’s first episode.
Image source: TVアニメ「ダンベル何キロ持てる？」公式(好評放送中!!) on Twitter
Another fun connection comes in Dumbbell’s second episode. While visiting her friend Ayaka’s house, Hibiki discovers that Ayaka’s family makes a living by running a boxing gym–and quite a high-quality one at that. In fact, “Glory Gym,” as it is called, boasts several world champions–including Gaolang Wongsawat (who appears in episode seven of Kengan Ashura) as you can see by his picture on the gym’s wall.
Image source: TVアニメ「ダンベル何キロ持てる？」公式(好評放送中!!) on Twitter
Of course, these are far from the only connections between the two series–and that’s the fun of watching both together. While each is enjoyable as a stand-alone anime in its own right, watching them together and discovering all the little crossovers adds a whole extra layer to the shows.
Now, all we need is Yabako Sandrovich’s other works, Fist of the Seeker and Kengan Omega, to get anime adaptations so can watch the interconnected universe spread even further.
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? can be seen on Funimation. Kengan Ashura can be seen on Netflix.
Top image source: 「ケンガンアシュラ」公式 on Twitter
Related posts:
Be First to Comment