Episode 015: Dick Fight Island
“The tournament to choose the next king of the islands is about to begin. The rules are simple - whoever comes first loses!
Participating warriors protect their mighty swords with armour that grows larger and more elaborate with each tournament. But one warrior has returned from studying abroad with a technique certain to force a pleasurable eruption! Is there a competitor alive able to withstand it? Or is this deft warrior destined to become king?!”
For this review I have only been able to read the first volume of the manga, but there is apparently a second volume that explores the events after the tournament.
This week we are reviewing Dick Fight Island, a manga by Reibun Ike, set on a fictional archipelago island where several clans send a champion to fight for the title of king every four years in a very unique tournament. This is maybe the funniest of titles I have reviewed yet due to its premise, and I thought since the world feels a little intense at times it would be nice to have something silly to review.
You can either listen to the podcast above, or you can read below for a majority of the transcript of the podcast! Now as always, our discussion will begin with a brief summary of the manga followed by spoiler free thoughts and feelings. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of some of the key plot points that occurred and we will then finish off with my overall rating of the manga and a heads up about what we are looking at next time. If you have not had a chance to read Dick Fight Island and don’t want to hear any spoilers, then please feel free to skip the detailed section and listen to it afterwards if you so wish.
So I feel that it needs to be said at the start of the show just in case the name of the media we are reviewing doesn’t give it away. This is going to be very not safe for work discussion and so be warned that from here on out there will indeed be some … hot and heavy discussion.
The overall premise of the manga is fairly simple in its approach, there are 8 people contending to be king of the islands, and they will fight to proceed in the contest. The fight itself is all focused on one simple outcome, making the other fighter cum first so that you can progress. Honestly, it makes the entire story very over the top, but I think it works since the characters themselves take everything at face value and see this as a legitimate tournament for the crown. So even though the concept is so humorous it does work with this deadpan delivery.
I am impressed that the author has taken the time to build up the world and provide some style of plot, as I know with most yaoi manga it's more about the resulting NSFW action at the expense of any depth, but here they have taken the time to weave the sexy time into the plot itself. There is a good amount of thought behind the world building and how this is reflected in each of the 8 fighters designs for their armour and personality.
Since this is a visual heavy medium, it would be only fair to comment on the visual presentation of the manga. Everything seems well drawn and there aren’t any scenes where I am left wondering what is happening which can happen in some manga when it is hard to follow the visual story. The only criticism around the visuals is that although each character is uniquely designed and easily identifiable as themselves, 7 out of 8 of the fighters do have very similar builds to their body which does reduce some of the diverse bodies on show. I do give this the caveat though that they are fighters who have been training for 4 years, but still it would have been nice to have a bit more diversity than just the one slim twink.
Throughout the manga, the author has made a decent attempt to make each of the battles quite unique in terms of how they make each other come, which thankfully keeps the manga from feeling super repetitive. Some of the different techniques we see on show are: ass biting, blowjobs, chem sex, fingering, footjobs, frottage, handjobs, kissing, and nipple pinching. I do appreciate the breadth of different techniques we see put to use to make people cum and it does keep things not feeling too repetitive on such a simple premise.
In terms of representation, there is an obvious male heavy focus on this one since it’s all about each guy trying not to come during the tournament but there is a very slight mention with one of the clans having a high proportion of women and so lesbian relationships are fairly common there. Other that this it is a very male heavy focus and although its highly sexual in nature, there are actually only three out-spoken couples and then a few people that clearly have some feelings for someone of the same gender.
Final Feelings and Recommendation
For who to recommend this to, I would say if you are an avid yaoi manga reader then chances are it would definitely be worth your time to pick this up. Or if you are fine with quite a bit of NSFW content and don’t mind a silly premise story that's fairly easy to breeze through, then it's also worth checking this out.
Overall, I would give this manga a 6 out of 10 crazily designed cock sheaths. It’s a fairly simple narrative with with fairly attractive artwork meaning its easy to breeze through, although there isn’t a huge amount of value added to queer fiction for having this exist.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, just a reminder that at this point, I will be going into a more detailed analysis of the manga which means there will be spoilers! If you haven’t read Dick Fight Island yet and you don’t want anything spoiled, then this is your last chance to avoid the discussion. Or you can go ahead and close the page, go read the manga and then come back afterwards to finish reading.
TThroughout the story, we follow Harto as he is travelling back to his home of Pulau Yang Indah (the final paradise on Earth) to compete in the tournament to decide the next king of the islands. It is known as the Wyrm tournament, a most excellent pun on dick size, and will have a champion from each of the 8 islands competing. On the start of us meeting all the characters, we do get one of the most hilarious lines I have had to read commenting about clothes - “how else would you show off your manliness, if not by putting your tight shapely ass on display?”. I mean, clearly we are currently missing a trick everybody!
Some of the contestants do know each other from before the tournament, such as Vampir who previously saved Naga or Taring and Vampir who happen to be cousins (which I feel would have made it slightly awkward if they had ended up facing each other during this contest). But as a quick guide to the key characters and where they come from, we have:
Harto from the Jewel Clan, from an island rich in gemstones and other rare materials which mean they are the only land trading with outside lands which means they are seen as the most developed
Taring from the Fang Clan, a matriarchal island due to the high amount of women born there where they worship a panther deity
Pisau from the Sun Clan, from an island of mostly carefree people who spend a lot of time either fishing or in the water due to their knowledge of the seas
Yudha from the Warrior Clan, from an island where they are always training in martial arts and so are all very athletic
Bulan from the Moon Clan, from the eternally snow capped mountains in the North who are rumoured to be immortal and all very effeminately beautiful
Roro the current chief from the Earth Clan, from very clay rich lands who all seem to be great potters and are well regarded by the other clans
Naga from the Dragon Clan, who used to ride dragon lizards when waging war, but since the lizards needed lots of food and almost caused a famine, this was the catalyst for bringing the clans together to create the tournament instead
Vampir from the Healer Clan, who specialise in both medicines and magic
Once we have quickly run through the characters, our contenders are told to don their armour and oh my, there are some hilarious designs to their armour, which is only around their cocks. These are some elaborate and large cock sheaths, which are obviously adding to the over the top feeling of the whole manga.
We are then told there is a pre-elimination round based on some written test that was done, which says Taring (due to being too inexperienced) and Harto (for writing in the outsiders language so nobody knew what he wrote) are both to leave the contest. After some protests, it is decided they can both fight it out to decide which of them may be able to go to the actual tournament.
Taring has an interesting whip extension as part of his armour, which allows him to battle from a distance and use vibrations to penetrate other people’s armour to make them cum. Yet Harto as our protagonist couldn’t be knocked out this early, so he pulls Taring via the whip and unveils the super secret weakness he is going to exploit without even removing anyones armour: THE PROSTATE GLAND! Who would have guessed!?
Now after some obvious foreshadowing, the first full fight of the tournament is indeed Yudha and Pisau. It has a few tense moments, such as when Pisau uses his armour to actually cut through Yudha’s, like who the hell is skilled enough to ensure they don’t accidentally lop something off down there during a fight! But it also has Pisau using the techniques his brothers advised him to use, which were kissing Yudha and saying he really likes him, which combined with Yudha thinking about putting himself in Pisau, pushes him over the edge so he loses.
It is quite a cute battle since they obviously care for each other, and actually after the battle when Yudha flees into the forest in shame for losing, Pisau follows him and they actually admit they like each other.
Next into the arena is Roro and Bulan! Bulan mocks Roro for losing four years ago against the healer clan, and actually seems to overpower him at times or think on his feet and quickly shift to the ever changing situations in the fight. However Roro eventually manages to turn the tables in time and win the fight, just as it starts to rain and everyone seems to have fucked off. Now I don’t know about you, but if you are willing to sit and watch people make each other cum to be king, I think sitting through a bit of rain would be a worthy burden to bear!
We then come to the fight between Vampir and Naga. Although it seems Naga is going to win at first, Vampir uses a trance from his tribe to be taken over a spirit to help him in the fight as well as using drugged mist to convince his opponent to remove his armour. It was quite a quick turnaround of a fight.
Swiftly moving on to the next fight, it is Harto now facing the spirit possessed Vampir. At first it’s clear that being possessed by the spirit is giving Vampir the edge in battle, yet he forgets one key thing when aiming to finish this off with Harto’s prostate. He forgets to lube up, a key reminder to all of you to ensure you are using plenty of lube when having fun! But this does allow Harto to break free, use the lotion he has to remove the facepaint on Vampir to break the connection with the spirit, and then bam, finger him in return so he wins the fight.
While we are following the tournament, we do get snippets of another man trying to get to the island in time for the tournament. At first we don’t know why he is in such a rush to get to Harto, but it is later revealed that this is Matthew, Harto’s boyfriend from when he was studying abroad. He doesn’t know the language per se (which felt like a realistic touch to the story to further credence to the world) but he still manages to finally meet Harto and have a quick chance to catch up before the next fight, the finale between Harto and Roro.
Now foolishly Harto agreed to go in completely naked, since Roro was still naked from his previous battle and he was told it would match the bravery of his opponent. Roro clearly has the upperhand, as during the fight Harto gets all defensive as he no longer wants to be touched by another man now that Matthew is here. It’s very sweet that he feels this way and wants to be with one single person, yet it does feel like very unfortunate timing to have realised this!
Roro actually then uses this opportunity to call on one of the current Kings, specifically the one from Jewel, to come fight instead since there is a personal grudge there. The Jewel king accepts, strips down, and the fight begins although it's clear the current king has the upper hand and taunts Roro with the fact him and the other king are in love and actually fuck. This then seals the king winning and so he declares that he shall remain as sole king for the next four years with the current co-King as his advisor!
In regards to the ending itself, I will say I was fairly surprised to see the story didn’t have our main character win the tournament to become king, and it instead came down to a challenge between one of the current kings and Roro. That was a genuine twist I didn't see coming as I am so used to manga having the main character succeed, but I suppose this ending nicely sets us up to have more of the story as we prepare for the tournament in the next 4 years.
With it all settled, there is a quick flash between all our key players, with Pisau and Yadhu now living happily together since they have communicated their feelings to each other, Bulan continues to chase after Roro, Naga is now embarrassed around Vampir after their fight, and Taring is back with his mother and the clan. As for Harto, he has been told he is “too green, as punishment he must spend four more years abroad” which, considering he has now mentioned to Matthew he doesn’t want other people to touch him like he touches him, it sounds like a pretty easy punishment to accept!
There is also a short couple of scenes to show after the tournament for people, such as Rej being able to expose his manly ass once more, Rej resolving the tension with Roro by explaining he is happy to spend his life with Safir, and Vampir questions if its possible for them to fit their manhoods into each other as a way to make them cum. At the end Rej does deliver the fantastic question on if all this training is leaving the chosen warriors as strangely innocent, as he can at least see the obvious things that we as readers see too in the sexual nature of this all. I am glad that the manga ends on a very tongue and cheek recognition of the whole premise being slightly silly.