Shion's King appears to be a cheesy ripoff from Hikau no Go that involves Shogi (a game somewhat similar to Chess). Shion, the heroine of the story, found her parents dead one day with a bloody king piece lying by them, so like any hardcore manga fan she figured that her parents were killed by someone who was good at Shogi, so she set out to become the best Shogi player in the world so she can find this murderer.
Normally this would just be a HNG ripoff that isn't any more worthy of discussion compare to the slew of say, DN ripoffs that showed up after Death Note's rise of popularity. But Shion's King takes hardcore to another level. While the Japanese are always willing to put their life on the line for totally trivial things like Go, tennis, or baking, this I think marks the first time in manga history someone has been killed over a recreational activity that has no inherent risk of dying. The whole series takes on a very Star Wars-esque light side/dark side and it turned out that Shion's parents were killed so Shion can tap into her dark side-like Shogi powers via the hate and anguish caused by the said accident. When Shion confronts the one who killed her parents, it was literally an Emperor-Luke thing where the other guy was constantly saying give in to your hatred or you'll never be able to beat me in Shogi. Shion later confessed that the driving motive to seeking revenge was not because her parents died, but that she once lost a game of Shogi to the guy who killed parents.
This, I believe, solidly cements Shogi as the most hardcore activity that doesn't directly involve killing people in manga history.
Normally this would just be a HNG ripoff that isn't any more worthy of discussion compare to the slew of say, DN ripoffs that showed up after Death Note's rise of popularity. But Shion's King takes hardcore to another level. While the Japanese are always willing to put their life on the line for totally trivial things like Go, tennis, or baking, this I think marks the first time in manga history someone has been killed over a recreational activity that has no inherent risk of dying. The whole series takes on a very Star Wars-esque light side/dark side and it turned out that Shion's parents were killed so Shion can tap into her dark side-like Shogi powers via the hate and anguish caused by the said accident. When Shion confronts the one who killed her parents, it was literally an Emperor-Luke thing where the other guy was constantly saying give in to your hatred or you'll never be able to beat me in Shogi. Shion later confessed that the driving motive to seeking revenge was not because her parents died, but that she once lost a game of Shogi to the guy who killed parents.
This, I believe, solidly cements Shogi as the most hardcore activity that doesn't directly involve killing people in manga history.
