Tantric Stripfighter Trina, Volume 1 - Review

I am a fan of many things. And amongst this vast and varied collection of things are martial arts, and tits. Now unlike giant robots and tits, this combination seems to gel a little more smoothly. Ikki Tousen, Battle Club and Tenjou Tenge being amongst many shining examples of this blessed union.

(Though in an ironic twist of fate, I've never liked any of the aforementioned titles)

So a few days ago, I was browsing through the manga section of Kinokuniya, looking for the latest issue of Yozakura Quartet and Sgt. Frog when from the corner of my eye, I spotted an amusingly named title;

Tantric Stripfighter Trina

Or to more accurately represent the font printed on the book;

TANTRIC STRIPFIGHTER TRINA

Now being a lover of cheesy exploitation movies (in addition to tits, giant robots and martial arts), I couldn't pass up on an opportunity to check this shit out, and picked up a copy.

No words I can fathom can describe this manga as accurately as its own blurb, so here it is;

Tantric Stripfighter Trina fights an evil space federation...by taking off one piece at a time!

...

Trina is skilled in Rama's native art of Stripfighting: a tantalizing fusion of Shoulin martial arts and tantric sensuality.

Oh holy fuck.

Unable to resist the obfuscating stupidity radiating from this blurb, I decided to shell out a further $18 in order to have a Tantric Stripfighter to call my own.

STORY

...oh shit. I have to write something here don't I?

Well uh...so there's this girl called Trina, and she dresses like a stripper. And she lives in this planet of stripping martial artists. And they're so engrossed in stripping and fucking each other that they never argue or fight, and so they live in piece.

But then the evil intergalactic government (called the CROWN), teams up with the evil intergalactic Church (called the COG), and they go in and butcher the peaceful, sex loving people. Presumably because they're jealous prudes.

So anyways, because she's the possessor of the invincible shield of main characterness, Trina magically escapes the doomed planet.

From here she travels the galaxy, bent on revenge and beating people up with her bra in the process.

In the future, implants are mandotory.

CHARACTERS

Trina
The epymonious Stripfighter. Seeks to avenge her people. Beats people up with her undergarments. Wears star shaped pasties (I'm betting she'll use them as shurikens in future issues).

The outfit of a vengeful martial artist.

Chrome Abbey
Trina's enthusiastic sidekick. A former bounty hunter, she was literally beaten into an orgasm by Trina, and now seeks to become her apprentice. Presumably so that she can then beat herself into further orgasm. Generally plays the comic relief role, in contrast to Trina's straight man.

Manga's first ever combat-orgasm.

Bonds
Trina's little robot companion. Exists for the sole purposes of providing handy info dumps, and kissing Trina's ass.

Honestly, I'm suprised the robot doesn't have giant tits too.

Titus Braille
Space Spanish Inquisitor. The strong arm of the intergalactic church, The Cog. He blessedly pounds God's love into the skulls of nonbelievers. Ironically has no pupils.

And so the Lord said, "Burn little bitch!" and the little bitch did burn, thus fulfilling the words of scripture.

Aric Terse
Crazy badass martial artist dude. Participated in the killing of Trina's people. Possible rival to Trina in future volumes. Sadly, he does not strip while fighting.

ARTWORK

The art is one of the high points of Stripfighter. Characters are superbly detailed, with even minor badguys having well detailed and unique looks.

Similarly, backgrounds are beautiful and well crafted. Sadly however, most scenes focus on characters with little, if any background visible. But when they are there, they look lovely.

Enjoy the view of these houses, cause there's like three of them in the whole fucking universe.

The art truly comes alive however during the fight scenes. Trina's intricate fighting style is both graceful and brutal, and the artist lovingly articulates this on each and every page.

Ouch.

Some problems with logical progression do pop up every now and then however. At times, characters will mysteriously pop up in a panel, despite all prior panels suggesting that they're no where near the area. Nonetheless, this is both an infrequent and forgivable fault.

Honestly, I'd buy this comic even without the tits. That's how fucking awesome the fights are.

OVERALL

For those of you searching for an intricate storyline in the veins of Ghost in the Shell, or witty humour and dialogue such as in Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead, stay the hell away from Tantric Stripfighter Trina.

And now for my favourite line in the whole volume: "Get your mind in the game! She's not a pleasure slave! She's a Tantric Stripfighter!"

The story is light, the characters predictable, and the world, uninspired. This is a comic for those who enjoy watching big titted characters beat the shit out of people.

To be fair however, the comics writer, Ken Faggio, has hinted in both interviews and his blog, at a desire to develop a more intricate story for Stripfighter. Perhaps we will see a deeper and more developed story and characters in future installments.

Remember girls, the fastest way to get respect in the office is to strip in front of your boss.

Volume 1 however, is simply a 200 page foray into the adventures of a pasty wearing martial artist and her equally busty sidekick. And that's good enough for me.

She was beaten into an orgasm. I can't stress that enough.