- "Even if I must stand alone against an army of ten thousand, I swear to defeat them all."
— Kaolan declaring his drive to defeat all, for the glory of Thailand[2]
Kaolan Wongsawat (ガオラン・ウォンサワット, Gaoran Wonsawatto), also known as The Thai God of War (タイの
Appearance
Kaolan is a highly-built man of Thai descent with long straight black hair tied into a ponytail that hangs over his left shoulder, thin discerning eyes, and a small circlet around his crown. Despite being a heavyweight boxer, Kaolan possesses a smaller frame compared to most of his contemporaries.
His attire in the underground matches consist of a pair of boxing shorts, emblazoned with the image of a Garuda, a South-East Asian symbol of justice, royalty and the Dhamma. As he makes his entrances, he is also seen wearing a traditional boxer's robes, his musculature still visible.
Personality
Kaolan is perpetually calm to the point of being expressionless. However, this bellies an incredibly analytical mind that allows him to notice details other fighters would miss.
His most obvious motivation is, in truth, derived from his extreme patriotism to Thailand and loyalty to his ruler, Rama XIII. In fact, Kaolan would have not taken part in the Annihilation Tournament at all without Rama XIII's command, disparaging the tournament for being a mere freak show in comparison to the purity of conflict in something like boxing. Despite this, he came to greatly respect Kaneda Suekichi's determination and willpower during their fight, calling him a true warrior.
Contrary to the prior, however, Kaolan has one arguably self-centred desire: the desire to fight a truly powerful foe to the death (as long as the foe isn't Saw Paing).[8]
History
Kaolan started his fighting career as a nak muay 20 years ago when the King of Thailand, Rama XII, noticed his talents,[1] soon earning the name "Thai God of War" after becoming the greatest Nak muay.[9] At the age of 15, Kaolan joined the annual cross-border match between Myanmar and Thailand. There, he encountered Yoroizuka Saw Paing for the first time and defeated him by judge's decision in their fight. Since then, Saw Paing proceeded to constantly challenge him to a rematch, even crossing the border to do so.[10][8]
One day, Kaolan began to question muay Thai's weakness: it largely dismissed the use of fists to attack. Because he was the King's bodyguard, it would be disadvantageous for him to fight opponents who used other kinds of combat, so Kaolan took up boxing, incidentally right after Carlos Medel's retirement[11], and trained in it to overcome muay Thai's weakness.[9] After doing so, he became the heavyweight champion of all four major boxing organisations in just four years.[12]
At some point before a title fight, while escorting Rama XIII, Kaolan effortlessly defeated Kaz Fujita.[8]
Plot
Kengan Ashura
On board the S.S. Kengan, Saw Paing surprised an exasperated Kaolan by his presence as an affiliated fighter in the tournament. Over the course of the days leading up to the opening day of the tournament, Saw Paing hung around with an indifferently stoic Kaolan.
During the first round of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Kaolan made an unimpressed comment about Raian while watching the Kure Raian-Mokichi Robinson fight, with Saw Paing giving a typically hot-blooded response. Later, as the Murobuchi Gozo-Wakatsuki Takeshi fight was about to start, Kaolan asked Saw Paing what he made of the fight with the man replying that he was fired up. With Saw Paing's fight against Karo Yoshinari getting underway, Kaolan casually stated to his employer, Iida Tadashi, that Saw Paing would win before going on to explain the history he shared with Saw Paing. Later, representing Yato Trading Co., he fought against Kaneda Suekichi, attaining victory after being impressed by the latter's fighting spirit and determination to win.
In the second round, Kaolan watched Saw Paing's fight against Mikazuchi Rei, believing Saw Paing to have the advantage due to his specs. However, Saw Paing was defeated and, after Saw Paing regained consciousness, Kaolan tried to reassure him about his defeat. When Saw Paing told him he couldn't fight anymore, Kaolan left in sheer disgust. When his turn came around, Kaolan stepped into the arena to fight against Kanoh Agito.
Initially, Agito used boxing to fight but was completely dominated by Kaolan as a result. However, when Agito changed his fighting style, Kaolan couldn't fight back. With Agito taunting him, Kaolan then utilised a combination of boxing and muay Thai to fight, putting Agito on the defensive again. Fighting non-stop, even after breaking his fist in the latter stages of the battle, Kaolan was eventually defeated when Agito switched his fighting style again.
After his defeat, Kaolan was seen with Kaneda, still thinking that he could get stronger one day, which also served to reinvigorate Saw Paing's fighting spirit. Later, during Hayami Katsumasa's "revolution", Kaolan, Kaneda, Imai Cosmo and Adam Dudley were attacked by the Guardians and managed to defeat them all except for Long Min. He was later seen watching the final matches of the tournament along with the other fighters who had lost.
Some time after the Annihilation Tournament, Kaolan was reported to be have announced his comeback to boxing.
Kengan Omega
One year after the Annihilation Tournament, Kaolan started doing partial training on his right fist to prevent it to ever be shattered again. During one of his trainings he was approached by Rama XIII, who he asked to restore his honor by entering the next competition. Rama agreed, ordering Kaolan to come home safe.
Kaolan was mentioned alongside Wakatsuki Takeshi as being one of two people already selected for the Kengan Association's side in their upcoming showdown with Purgatory.
He was one of the fighters who found out, via phone call, that Tokita Ohma was still alive. He and the other representatives left for the tournament when the day arrived. While on the plane he discussed with Ohma and Yamashita whether the Kengan fighters motivation were enough to achieve victory over Purgatory, but he was reassured from Ohma that their lineup was solid enough.
He took the stage in the first round against Carlos Medel. While finding the occasion to fight the only Boxer who's ever been ranked above him a godsend, despite questioning his body condition, Kaolan quickly attacked him with his Flash which, however, Carlos dodged and countered. After he managed to understand Carlos's moves he was able to fight on par with him until Carlos kicked Kaolan, unleashing the "real" Carlos Medel. Initially overwhelmed by Carlos' capoeira, an attempted kick to his right fist left Carlos with a wounded foot; the fist now proven to be unshatterable.
As the fight continued, Kaolan landed a solid blow with his right fist; the heavy blow caused Carlos to crumple and suffer heavy damage. As Carlos stood back up again, Kaolan's muay Thai put him further on the back foot. Baited by Carlos to the edge of the ring, while he landed his right cross, he was grabbed and dragged outside the ring by Carlos. His right hand reached the ground first, causing Kaolan to lose the match by ring out. He was later comforted by the other Kengan fighters; his loss reminded them they were fighting under Purgatory rules.
After Tokumichi Tokuno'o's loss against Liu Dongcheng, Kaolan approached the latter over Naidan Mönkhbat's death. Kaolan, Ohma and the rest of Team Kengan then wondered why Naidan and Lu Tian revealed their Worm status, finding no reason behind this.
Power & Abilities
Kaolan is an extremely powerful fighter with boxing as his base martial art, having an out-fighting style with extremely fast flicker jabs as his speciality. Kaolan's physical abilities are top-notch, being able to throw heavy ad-hoc punches from any position, even unstable ones;[13][14] Kaolan's punches alone can knockout the majority of opponents. Like Kaneda Suekichi, Kaolan is also capable of predicting his opponent's movements, though this seems limited to opponents that utilize a boxing style.[15]
When fighting normally, he only uses his boxing abilities in the "Hitman" or the "Flicker" style, as this is usually enough to dominate his opponent; his boxing skills are arguably the best in the world, proven in his fight with Kanoh Agito when he dominated the latter while both were using boxing, despite Kaolan having a height and reach disadvantage.[16] However, when fighting to the best his abilities he skillfully combines boxing with muay Thai.
Having trained in muay Thai for over 20 years and mastered boxing, Kaolan is essentially a striking specialist; it would not be an overstatement to call Kaolan the "acme of striking".[9] His combination of boxing and muay Thai is so powerful that he is capable of forcing a fighter of Kanoh Agito's level on the defensive without giving him a chance to counter.[9][17]
After the Annihilation Tournament, Kaolan underwent partial training after his right fist healed. By doing different forms of partial training his fist became hard enough to break through rocks, and was undamaged by a kick from Carlos Medel. Kaolan himself noted that he was inspired by Saw Paing's indestructible bones.
As pointed out by Rolón Donaire, Kaolan can strike before his opponent can think, rendering "pre-initiative" useless, going as far as calling Kaolan a "foresight killer".
Flash
Kaolan's signature boxing move. The Flash (フラッシュ, Furasshu) is a barrage of quick, sharp flicker jabs, a jab performed with no torque with the arm resting downwards or at a 90° from the waist. Even while being weighed down by a 10oz glove, he is able to fire off 13 of these flicker jabs in a single breath,[18] with the number of blows he can let off increasing to at least 15 when barehanded.[13]
Because of the speed and volume of his punches, it is extremely hard to dodge or counter, even for professional boxing champions or people who can predict his attacks (such as Kaneda Suekichi). With this move, despite the flicker jabs' innate loss of power over regular jabs, it is still able to induce a nosebleed in Kaneda Suekichi even when all blows were blocked and has knocked-out lesser fighters.
God Glow
The God Glow (
Notes & Trivia
- His favourite Thai food is gapao rice, though he can't handle foods that are too spicy.[1]
- Kaolan is a man with "high house-husband potential" due to his shrewd nature when buying groceries and ability to cook.[19]
- In addition, Kaolan has an interest, at the very least, in taking care of flowers, expressing his love for them to Karo Yoshinari.[20]
- On the days that Kaolan does not have a match, Kaolan spends his time using his fame to promote tourism for Thailand.[1]
- After defeating Yoroizuka Saw Paing, the man has begun a seemingly one-sided rivalry with Kaolan, much to the latter's annoyance. However, there is a small part of him that secretly approves of Saw Paing and values Saw Paing as a close friend.[1]
- Incidentally, all of the fights the two have had after their first one has ended in a draw (because Kaolan keeps forfeiting the fight partway through, sick of Saw Paing's tenacity).[1]
- Kaolan is into solo karaoke,[1] though he always sings the Thai National Anthem when he performs.[21]
- He has trained at the Glory Boxing Gym, a gym that appears in Sandrovich's other series Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?.[22]
- It was mentioned that he was supposed to due a live exhibition for the Gym, but had to postpone due to "complications" (presumably due to the tournament and/or from the injuries he received from Kanoh Agito).[23]
- He later makes a cameo standing next to Ayaka.[24] He cameos when it is mentioned Ayaka and Nana went to see one of his matches.[25] He appears in a Yontube video.[26] He appears in chapter 102.[27]
- Kaolan is the #1 most popular character in the series (by far), having 94,176 votes in the official popularity poll.
- Kaolan's theme in the anime Karma by AMATERASE.
- Kaolan's stance and fighting style appears to be based on the famous boxer Thomas Hearns, who earned the nickname "the Hitman".
- Kaolan's full name in Thai script would be along the lines of "เก้าล้าน วงศ์สวัสดิ์".
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Kaolan Wongsawat's profile
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 105
- ↑ A numerous though unspecified amount of public match wins as the current heavyweight champion and second best pound-for-pound boxer in history.
- ↑ 1 known match win against Yoroizuka Saw Paing(Ch84)
- ↑ 1 win during the tournament against Kaneda Suekichi(Ch109)(Ep19)
- ↑ 1 loss to Kanoh Agito during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch169)
- ↑ 1 loss by ring out to Carlos Medel during the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(Ch63 Omega)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chapter 0-3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Chapter 168
- ↑ Chapter 84
- ↑ Chapter 59 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 31
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 107
- ↑ Chapter 108
- ↑ Chapter 166
- ↑ Chapter 165
- ↑ Chapter 169
- ↑ Chapter 106
- ↑ 4-koma: Home Cooking
- ↑ 4-koma: Flower
- ↑ 4-koma: Karaoke
- ↑ Chapter 5 (Dumbbell)
- ↑ Chapter 38 (Dumbbell)
- ↑ Chapter 56 (Dumbbell)
- ↑ Chapter 60 (Dumbbell)
- ↑ Chapter 84 (Dumbbell)
- ↑ Chapter 102 (Dumbbell)
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