Toppu GP Chapters 1 & 2 Review

Review of Toppu GP, Chapters 1 & 2

Ian Wolf’s review

 “What I like about a bike is that if you get it wrong, you die. See what I mean? What’s good about that is that it sort of keeps me on my toes.” – Ross Noble

 If you came across Kosuke Fujishima’s Paradise Residence, recently released by Kodansha Comics a few weeks ago, you would have seen the splendid image of a schoolgirl riding the tiniest motorbike you could imagine. Fujishima’s latest work lets him delve further into this sport.

Of course, this being a sports manga, this does lead to one particular issue: namely the inevitable attempts by people to imagine that all the guys in the series are somehow gay. Does this happen in Toppu GP? Surprisingly, I think in one way it does, but let’s stick to the story for now.

The story starts with 18-year-old Toppu Uno, about to start a race which may see him become the world’s youngest ever MotoGP champion. Before it begins, he says to himself: “Big sis, I hope you’re watching.” From then on, the entire story is told in flashback, taking place seven years earlier. Toppu’s sister, Myne, is a top 250CC biker. Toppu watches her devotedly, and is even able to tell her laps times exactly without the need of a stopwatch, but he would rather not race. He would rather spend his time making Gundam models.

Their father, who works as Myne’s mechanic and is also an inspiring novelist, manages to persuade Toppu to ride a bike too, even though he has never ridden one before. However, after some instruction, he takes to the course, with Myne motivating him more by saying that if he can complete five laps of the track and come out first, she will buy him another model. Can he come out on top at the end of his very first race?

Kodansha released the first two chapters together, which considering the pacing of the plot makes sense as you do have Toppu’s first race told over the course of both of them. There is a fair amount to enjoy, such as the relationship between the three main characters, and there is some humour thrown into the mix as well when we find out what happens at the end of the race. The artwork however does look slightly wrong in some places. For example, at times it looks as if  people’s dark trousers are blending in with the bike tyres.

But there is plenty to keep the reader interested, primarily due to the use of the flashback. We know that something has happened to Toppu’s sister. The first and most obvious conclusion is that Myne has been in some form of motorbike accident, cutting short her career or perhaps even killing her, but we don’t know for sure yet. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

But as it is a sports series, we do end up back at the same issue: whether the fujoshi and fudanshi will somehow find an angle that will turn this somewhat innocent series into having those homosexual overtones. When you first read it, it seems like there won’t be any. After all, the only regular characters so far have all come from the same family, and the only possible relationship would be between father and son, wrong in all sorts of ways.

Then I realised something. Something that not only makes this series one for the fujoshi community, but one that could arguably make it more gay than possibly any of the other sports series around: leathers! Every single person on the circuit is dressed in protective suits, made out of possibly the kinkiest, most stereotypically homosexual material around. What this manga now gives us is a reason for the more fetishistic cosplayers to experiment a bit. Safe to say, we can probably expect to see some big shiny helmets coming soon.

The third chapter comes out on 24th June.

Score: 8 / 10

Title: Toppu GP
Original vintage: 2016
Mangaka: Kosuke Fujishima
Published by: Kodansha Comics
Genre: Action, Coming-of-Age, Drama, Sport
Age rating: 13+
Material length: 57

TOPPU GP © Kosuke Fujishima/ Kodansha Ltd.