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[[File:rsz_holyland_8625.jpg|frame|Kamishiro Yuu]]
''[[Holyland]]'' is a 2000-2008 manga by Kōji Mori, who also did ''[[Suicide Island]]'' and was a close friend of the late [[Kentaro Miura]]. It is a fairly realistic martial arts-based series with footnotes on how any used or subverted trope fits in with how martial arts really work.▼
▲''[[Holyland]]'' is a fairly realistic martial arts-based series with footnotes on how any used or subverted trope fits in with how martial arts really work.
Meet Kamishiro Yuu, a young high school student who was bullied during middle school. The harassment gets to the point he stops going to school and starts secretly training to fight. A year later, disconnected from life around him, he has taken to roaming the streets looking for a place to belong.
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He unleashes his secret left-right combo on random street thugs and in doing so gains a reputation as a thug hunter. He ends up fighting increasingly strong opponents as everyone wants to test his skill. Though the series deals a little with the reality of gang violence, people beaten into comas are usually out of the hospital in a few chapters.
Complete at 182 chapters in 18 volumes in Japan. The series was adapted into a Live-Action TV Drama in 2005
{{tropelist}}
* [[Acrofatic]]: Iwado. Notes mention how most people underestimate the speed of judoka.
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: A major theme in the series, the teenager characters live in a total alien world to adults; the night streets, the fighting, their Holyland, adults make no part of it and the teens don't miss their company.
* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Many gangsters who know karate won't take the black belt test even if they can fight at that level. Justified as having a black belt gives police more ammunition against them.
* [[
** Yuu has admited several times that he doesn't know if he's on the "good" side, there's a time when he recognizes that even those who picked fights on him where posibly "protecting their holyland". This goes to the point that Izawa comments on how stupid is to gather up to just "commit crimes".
** Yuu admits that [[Sympathy for
* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]: Lots of them all around, especially the actual martial artists who start taking over for the delinquents.
* [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: Where to aim for on humans to do this is mentioned from time to time.
* [[Awesome Yet Practical]]: The moves shown. Nothing crazy that you need to be a ballerina to use, just the straightforward and effective.
* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: Mostly played straight in that villains who look physically ugly are a lot more likely to be [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]] (and generally don't get [[Sympathy for
* [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished]]: No matter how many fights he's been in and how many times he's been beaten up, Yuu has yet to lose or chip a visible tooth, hasn't broken his jaw or nose or gotten any permanent scars (he gets plenty of scratches and bruises, but never any permanent ones). Averted by some of the villains, who meanwhile get these things.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't hurt Yuu's friends unless you want to have the shit beaten out of you, and out of everyone you know too.
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*** [[Invoked Trope|Yuu knows it,]] too, and swings between acceptance and fear of becoming this. More towards acceptance in recent chapters.
* [[Book Ends]]: The series both starts and ends with a rookie entering the world of the back-alley street fighting and thug scene in the hope of finding a place he can 'belong' to. {{spoiler|Only in the ending, the [[Naive Newcomer]] has the Thug Hunter still around and looking out for him.}}
* [[Broken Ace]]: Masaki. He is at first presented as everything Yuu is not: Calm, experienced, self-confident, an expert fighter and a martial arts prodigy in both karate and boxing, and highly respected. Eventually, his backstory reveals he's basically a two year older Yuu who went through even worse things (including a suicide attempt), came out broken and cynical, and has basically given up on trying to move forward after reaching his current slump.
* [[But I Read a Book About It]]: Yuu first learnt boxing through a book.
* [[Clark Kent Outfit]]: Later volumes when Yuu gets quite muscle bound, while in his school uniform, t-shirts or wearing long sleeve shirts his muscles are barely notable. Only in a normal shirt you can see how far his body has developed.
* [[Classical
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Averted as Yuu can win one-on-one duels, but usually does poorly in a target-rich environment.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Several times, the narration will point out the differences between sparring and street fighting and the no-holds-barred nature of the latter.
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* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: {{spoiler|Iwado and Midorikawa Shougo,}} obviously. {{spoiler|Also Taka and Tsuchiya seem to be going this way.}}
* [[Delinquents]]: Lots. Well, just about everyone, with few exceptions.
* [[Desperately Looking for
** It eventually comes to light that practically all the street fighters are this way, hanging around the streets because they've got nowhere better to be. Many of the more skilled ones talk about 'graduating from the streets' and taking their skills into the realm of professional martial arts. In the end, {{spoiler|Masaki takes this step and becomes a pro kickboxer, leaving Yuu to fill in his shoes as [[Big Brother Mentor]] to a new generation of street fighters.}}
* [[Determinator]]: Yuu.
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* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Yuu, right after {{spoiler|Shin gets attacked.}} He also BSODs again several chapters later and takes a while to regain his old fighting form. Hell, Yuu before the series even starts.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Yuu struggles with the reality of turning the tables on his bullies.
* [[Hope Spot]]: The ending. {{spoiler|Yuu has beaten King and had his final showdown with Masaki, where he admits Yuu's the better fighter. Then, on the way back from his final fight in the series, [[Dropped a Bridge
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Yuu, often.
* [[I Am Not Left-Handed]]: {{spoiler|King, who appeared to be just a drug trafficking boss, is quite the fighter, he is disciplined in Chinese Kenpo and even managed to strike fear in Shougo's heart}}.
* [[Informed Ability]]: Yoshii's knife-fighting, considering that he gets demolished by an injured Masaki immediately afterwards.
* [[Invulnerable Knuckles]]: Averted. Yuu breaks or otherwise injures his knuckles a few times and takes to wearing protective gear.
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* [[Mr. Exposition]]: The author himself. Also, sometimes Masaki, Shougo, or any of the more experienced fighters.
* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Masaki's is {{spoiler|begging forgiveness from thugs that he could have fought}}, while Yuu's is {{spoiler|getting Shin attacked.}}
* [[Never Bring a Knife
* [[Oh Crap]]: In chapter 27 Yuu's old bullies have this when they realise he's [[Took a Level In Badass]]. In chapter 35 it's Shougo's turn when {{spoiler|Katou tackles him and takes him to ground.}}
* [[One-Hit Kill]]: Chapter 29 mentions that the best way if forced to fight multiple opponents is to take out lesser fighters as fast as possible.
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* [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]]: Invoked by Yuu in his speech before he {{spoiler|fights Taka}}. "All I know is that I will answer malice... with violence."
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Another common theme, and a serious source of drama.
* [[Reality Ensues]]:
*
**Katou may be a tough cookie because he's drugged up to the point that he can [[Feel No Pain]], but he's still human and thus subject to the same biomechanics and needs as anyone else. He gets beaten when one of King's MMA fighter bodyguards twists him into a pretzel and then chokes him out.
**In the penultimate chapter, after two climactic battles, {{spoiler|Yuu gets stabbed out of nowhere by a nobody. He doesn't die, but it leaves his fate in doubt long enough that people start asking questions. No matter how good one is at powering through blunt force trauma, getting stabbed is a whole different matter, not something that can be shrugged off.}}
* [[The Red Baron]]: Yuu, "the Thug Hunter". Masaki, "the Charisma of the Streets".
* [[The Resenter]]: {{spoiler|Shougou eventually becomes this.}}
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* [[Shown Their Work]]: Extensive annotations for all the fight scenes, explaining how the various attacks, defenses, and footwork work to the combatants' advantages -- and disadvantages. Probably the selling point of the manga. There are, however, some flubs here and there; always consult a properly trained martial artist first.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Practically all the arc villains are unbearably smug.
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Yuu starts out with small-time thugs and [[Glory Seeker|Glory Seekers]] who mostly know basic streetfighting and a single martial art, moves his way up to youth gangsters who are more adult and are better trained in one or multiple disciplines (or fight dirty) and are accustomed to actual fighting, before starting to butt heads with martial art prodigies with formal training in actually combat-related disciplines like Muay Thai or [[
* [[Taught By Experience]]: Yuu adapts his fighting style based on his experiences.
* [[Tempting Fate]]: At one point Sawako gangsters are thinking of going after Shougo or Yuu after attacking {{spoiler|Shinichi}}. Cue the former.
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