Tough, known in Japan as High School Exciting Story: Tough (高校鉄拳伝タフ), is a Japanese martial arts manga series written and illustrated by Tetsuya Saruwatari. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from 1993 to 2003, with its chapters collected in 42 tankōbon volumes. A sequel series, titled Tough (Latin-script title in the original release), 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 (OVA) 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 wo Tsugu Otoko, started in Shueisha's Weekly Playboy in 2015.

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

Fighters

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Tetsuya Saruwatari, Tough: High School Iron Fist Legend was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from 1993 to 2003. Shueisha collected its chapters in 42 tankōbon 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 (Latin-script title), continued serialization in the magazine starting on July 31, 2003, and finished on July 19, 2012. Shueisha collected its chapters in 39 tankōbon volumes, released from January 19, 2004, to August 17, 2012. A gaiden series, titled Oton (おとん), was irregularly published in Shueisha's Young Jump Zōkan Mankaku (from 2001 to 2008), and Monthly Young Jump (in 2009). 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 wo Tsugu Otoko (TOUGH 龍を継ぐ男) started in Weekly Playboy on December 21, 2015. Shueisha released the first volume on May 19, 2016. As of November 17, 2023, 29 volumes have been released.

Original video animation

The series received a three-episode original video animation (OVA) 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 (unreleased in Japan) was released on December 7 of that same year.

Video game

A video game based on the series titled Tough: Dark Fight was released for the PlayStation 2 console in Japan on December 1, 2005. The fighting game takes place in between the two missing years between the two manga series. The game features a number of characters from the manga, as well as eight new characters.