This is the arc that takes the goofiest hero in wrestling manga and makes you watch him earn a crown in blood. Five rival claimants show up at the coronation, Soldier, Zebra, Mariposa, Big Body and Super Phoenix, each with a five-man team, and suddenly Suguru's dopey underdog routine has to hold up against opponents who are just as royal and far less merciful. The gut punch is Kinnikuman Soldier, because that mask hides Ataru, and the show makes you sit with what it means to fight your own brother for a throne. Old friends like Terryman, Robin Mask and Warsman aren't cameos here, they get thrown into matches they may not walk out of, and the 1991 production leans hard into the pause, the held frame, the scream before the drop. Every episode is building toward the Muscle Spark, and by the time Suguru finally lands it you understand exactly what it cost him. Comedy series, funeral stakes.

Kinnikuman stands on the brink of his greatest achievement: inheriting the throne of Planet Kinniku. The coronation ceremony should be his moment of triumph, but it is interrupted when five other Kinnikumen suddenly appear, each insisting they are the legitimate prince. To decide who truly deserves the crown, a Royal Survivor Tournament is held. Kinnikuman enters armed with the Muscle Spark, the Ultimate Technique he has only recently learned, and fights to claim what he believes is rightfully his, backed by the help and encouragement of his friends. Expect plenty of action and sports-style battles mixed with a steady dose of comedy.