Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Chojin Tag Arc

Kinnikuman II-Sei: Ultimate Chojin Tag Arc, known in English as Ultimate Muscle, represents a significant return to the roots of the long-running Kinnikuman wrestling franchise. Serialized in Weekly Playboy beginning in 2005, the arc was created by the duo known as Yudetamago—Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada. This series was conceived to bridge the gap between the modern sequel, which followed Mantaro Kinniku, and the beloved historical narrative of his father, King Kinniku, by utilizing time-travel elements to revisit the classic tag-team era of the 1980s.

The design of this arc was heavily driven by nostalgia, blending the aesthetic sensibilities of the original series with the updated, more polished art style the duo had developed over their decades of collaboration. By reintroducing iconic characters alongside new, complex tag-team dynamics, Yudetamago aimed to satisfy long-term fans while maintaining the absurd, high-energy wrestling battles that define the series. It was received as a pivotal moment for the franchise, serving as both a celebration of the series' history and a functional expansion of the Kinnikuman mythology.