Alien Headbutt Fills My Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Void

This post contains spoilers for Alien Headbutt Chapters 1-5, currently available for U.S. readers from VIZ Media

Mid-February brought a lovely Valentine into my VIZ app. With the end of Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo approaching, I was already looking for something new to read. Like a shot from Cupid’s bow, Inui Akira’s Alien Headbutt showed up in my recommendations, and I instantly fell in love.

The words Aliens + Professional Wrestler grabbed my attention immediately. Yeah, I know, I said I was sick of aliens, but this is different. First and foremost, I grew up watching WWF (yeah, before it was E,) and later, WCW. While other kids my age were idolizing football and basketball players, I was sitting ringside from my living room cheering on entities like Bret the Hitman Hart and The Ultimate Warrior. Yes, I am “that” old.

Long story short, I wanted to see a pro wrestler headbutt the snot out of aliens. I just didn’t know that was what I wanted. Now, Alien Headbutt is the ultimate answer to a prayer I didn’t know I was even uttering. I wrote about it over on CBR back in February, but with Modulo now complete, I’m going to start reviewing it here regularly.

Alien Headbutt Has a Tough Protagonist With a Soft Heart

Shirokiba Ouga, known in the squared circle as Shirokiba the Hellhound, is the hero we’ve been waiting for. Ouga knew when he was just a kid exactly what his super power was. Other boys have cool powers like hand lasers, but all Ouga’s super powers are pro-wrestling moves. He learned them from the video tape he found in his dad’s desk drawer, and that was that.

Dedicating his childhood to wrestling, Ouga dreams of moving to Tokyo and going pro. The only problem with that is leaving his mom and siblings to their own devices. With their father no longer with them, Ouga became man of the house, and he takes his position very seriously. When he plans to abandon his dream and become a fisherman, his mom won’t even hear it.

She couldn’t really afford it, but she and his younger brother submitted his info to Japan Ultimate Wrestling, and he’s scheduled to be there in three days for his physical exam. Even as he hesitates, they convince him he’s been prepping for this his whole life. Ouga takes the opportunity, promising he won’t come back to their island home until he becomes a distinguished professional wrestler.

Get Out There and Wrestle, Hellhound!

Shirokiba gets straight to work, making a name for himself. He develops an almost instant reputation as a ruthless heel known as Shirokiba the Hellhound. As everyone knows, it all part of the ongoing story. Finally winning a championship after five years on the circuit, he can head home at last to see his family.

The year is now 2028, and as per the very first page of the manga, on February 10, 2028, something mysterious landed on Ouga Shirokiba’s home island. The one where his family still lives. Of course, he keeps in touch with them, but upon taking a boat ride with only one other traveler to the island, Mukuro Jima, they come ashore to find the place deadly quiet. DUN DUN DUN!

It’s Time to Start Headbuttin’ Some Alien Trash, Ya’ll

As Shirokiba and his companion prepare to go their separate ways, he notices things are eerily quiet. Not only is there no one around, but there are overturned cars lining the streets. Why are there completely unattended car accidents? Where is everyone? Shirokiba, hoping to surprise his family, didn’t call ahead, so he tries now. Only there’s no signal. In the background, there’s an eerie sound approaching from behind them.

The real fight Ouga didn’t even know he was training for lurks in the shadows, ready to strike. In the next panel, his travel companion is seen getting his head kicked clean off his body by this grasshopper-looking alien that comes leaping into the picture. This, my friends, is where Alien Headbutt takes off into one of the coolest fights I’ve seen in ages.

While he’s battling this humanoid alien grasshopper… thing, Ouga is also trying to figure out what happened. Where is his family? Why is this thing so tough to fight? Next thing he knows, he’s down for the count. Then, he hears the voice of the Japan Ultimate Wrestling’s Chairman, or, maybe that was me yelling at him.

Get up! Get back in the fight! As his life’s flashing before his eyes, he sees his family, the Chairman again. And with brand new resolve, he’s back at it. All those wrestling moves he’s been practicing since boyhood are coming in handy, now more than ever.

Alien Headbutt Turns the Tables On Its Hero By Chapter 1’s End

As Shirokiba makes his comeback from the brink of defeat, his clothesline maneuver gives him an upper -and that baffles his alien opponent. Fueled by his love for his family, he finally pulls out his best move, the G.T.H . (GO TO HELL) Suplex. Landing both his and the alien’s weight on the alien’s neck is enough to finish it off.

But there isn’t time for The Hellhound to lick his wounds. A deadly tentacle emerges from the fallen alien’s eye socket and pierces through Shirokiba’s chest. Enraged at the thing trying to get inside of his body, he tears it back out. Tearing it in two with his teeth, the throws the tentacle to the ground as he drops to his knees. Calling out to his beloved family, he tells them to wait for him. He’s coming to save them.

Alien Headbutt’s Next 4 Chapters Keep the Momentum Going

Across the next four chapters of Alien Headbutt, Shirokiba begins making his way through the silent town. After waking up safe inside a store, he realizes that the tentacle left something inside him. The terrified scream of his savior from behind distracts him from that thought, and that’s where we meet Haruya. Shirokiba’s 10-year-old savior is in awe of him. A wrestling fan, he laments not being able to watch since the alien invasion.

Haruya brings him up to speed on everything he knows. Aliens invaded three months earlier, and they cut the island off from the outside world. Once that’s all established, three aliens approach, and despite Haruya’s warnings, Shirokiba takes them all on. During the battle, he feels an intense strength, unlike anything he’s known before. Realizing this likely came from the alien tentacle, he accepts it for what it is: the strength he needs to kick ass.

With the three aliens taken care of, Haruya tells him about the place the aliens took the townspeople. Even more, those people are still alive, but being held in weird pods against their will. As the pair set out in Chapter 3 to the roof of the Mukuro Jima elementary school, they find a slew of dead aliens littering the rooftop. Deciding not to look a gifthorse in the mouth, they find Haruya’s older brother, Tatsumi, and set him free.

Turns out Tatsumi and Ouga go way back, and with a third member of their party coming back to himself, the timing couldn’t be better. The thing that killed the other aliens is making its way up the side of the building, and it’s huge.

Chapters 4 & 5 Follow Alien Headbutt’s Biggest Alien Battle Yet

Tatsumi still isn’t quite recovered well enough to help much, but that’s okay. Ouga is a one-man alien murder machine. Dispatching the huge monster alien on his own, his final move lands the beast impaled on the school’s flagpoles in the

courtyard below. In the aftermath, Shirokiba falls flat on his face, bloody and unconscious. The parasite takes over and begins healing his body. Iwashita is the next islander to join in the story, with Tatsumi, Haruya and Iwashita loading the giant Shirokiba onto a handcart and wheeling him to safety.

Unconscious for two full days, upon waking they begin sharing everything they know with each other. One thought pops up, suggesting the variety of different aliens on the island aren’t connected to one another, but fighting each other. Not one to waste time speculatin’ when there’s a family in need of savin’, Shirokiba is going home.

Before he can go, Tatsumi calls after him with an idea. Ouga’s sister Yuki used to work a place nearby. They can stop by there on the way to the Shirokiba household, maybe find them there. As the group approaches the location, they spy with binoculars and discover that Yuki is, in fact, there. She’s safely tucked away in one of those weird pods, like Tatsumi was.

Alien Headbutt Poses a Major Challenge With Its Next Rescue

Chapter Five ends with Tatsumi, Haruya and Ouga analyzing the situation. There are several pods of people suspended over the bathhouse, Yuki Shirokiba among them. Getting to them won’t be an easy task. Especially not with the newest breed of alien creeps flying around overhead. These things look wicked, like pterodactyls had a bunch of babies with praying mantises before biting their heads off.

Surveying the situation, Tatsumi seems confident the mighty Shirokiba can brainbuster avalanche this new breed of aliens. Not exactly the smartest guy, our hero laughs and asks if his friend is stupid. After all, how is even gonna grab ’em?

 

Alien Headbutt Chapters 1 – 5 on a Scale of 1 to 10

I love so many different things about Alien Headbutt. From humbling beginnings to larger-than-life alien-fighting badass, there is something nostalgic about Shirokiba the Hellhound. The art style hearkens back to the 1980s/’90s in a way that blends gloriously with modern shonen manga styles. That alone makes it appealing to old-school and new gen shonen fans.

Add to that the heroic wrestler protagonist feeling like he stepped straight out of an old fashioned squared circle for this fight, and it really does feel like it crosses time and dimensions to usher in a whole new era. Drawn in completely by the ridiculous title and the gorgeous cover art of that first chapter, I was instantly hooked. Inui Sensei, you are a genius.

With the first five chapters already under our belts, I’ll be picking up weekly as new chapters drop in my app to review. My current rating spans all five chapters, every one of which was absolutely brilliant.

VOID RATING: 10/10