Have you ever wondered what Baki would be like if it had a conservative bent instead of a quirky tone? Well, look no further because the answer is Kengan Ashura! While Kengan is trying to convey the same white-knuckle spectacle and action of the long-running martial arts series that clearly inspired it, the focus on wealth, the warlord's character writing, and The eugenics makes it feel like a pantomime of the old series. While it takes Baki as its visual inspiration and focuses on the dramatic battles that made the old series famous, Kengan Ashura does not understand and offers its own perspective on the themes and execution that made Baki became a lasting hit.
Verifying again, Kengan Ashura is an ugly program. Produced by Larx Entertainment, the main characters are often shown as low-detail CGI models that look like they would be in the PlayStation 3 game. Although this style of animation allows for a greater range of motion and it's easier when the characters perform martial arts moves, but the character movements and even expressions feel unnatural. In the first episode, when Tokia dislocated his opponent's elbow, it appeared that the worker's arm was cutting into the higher part of his arm. This problem was not resolved with time and the increased familiarity of employees with this style of animation. In the final episodes of the first season, characters sometimes speak only by moving their lips while their teeth and jaws remain intact.
To add insult to this self-inflicted wound, the supporting characters are shown in more detail, which creates a distracting juxtaposition whenever the main character and side character are talking, because it seems like they come entirely from two people. various cartoons. The end result of this visual direction is that Kengan Ashura mostly looks amateurish and strange instead of intense, no matter what emotion they're trying to go for.
Kengan Ashura also has some pretty cynical world-building and character writing. Before the start of most matches in the series, the net worth of the companies participating in the match will be announced over the loudspeaker along with the fighters' stats and achievements. The implication is that the monetary value of these companies is as important as the physical factors that will help a fighter win a fight. Sure, a more charitable reading of Kengan Ashura might paint this over-the-top splendor and focus on wealth as satire, but the series' focus on money was never thought out enough to strike me as a criticism. The show just puts dollar signs on the fighters as a quick way to show how strong they can be, à la Dragon Ball Z power levels.
This martial arts anime also ignores most of what makes martial arts interesting, namely the history of different styles, how they are closely tied to different cultures, and how they shape identity and the worldviews of those who practice them. Instead, Kengan just has characters mourning each other in between quick explanations of their backgrounds. Occasionally, the series will show how different martial arts styles can interact or exploit each other, but this tension is undercut by a gimmick, like the transformations within a chapter. The process is quite well-founded. This new form only makes the warriors stronger and helps them win.
Usually, a cast of likable characters can make up for the lack of tension and intrigue of these battles. After all, finding a character you can relate to is a big part of what makes the shounen genre successful. However, neither Yamashita nor Tokia have any likable qualities. Yamashita starts the season as a beta-male stereotype and ends the season as a beta-male stereotype with a huge amount of debt. Likewise, Tokia is still a murderer who only cares about beating people up to prove that he is the strongest. Even if the film is littered with flashbacks—which look like Danganronpa cutscenes—that refer to Tokia's tragic past and the murder of his adoptive father, it doesn't make him becomes interesting or his lordly attitude seems reasonable.
If you can look past these issues, there's some fun and enjoyment to be had in Kengan Ashura's first season. The music is a mix of rap and butt metal, fun and perfect for the cage match feel the series adopts when the Kengan Slaying Tournament begins. The arc structure of the tournament also gives the second half of the season a brisk pace, and there are enough new ideas in quick succession to make up for most of the story beats that don't land.
One idea that did find its mark, however, was a foul-mouthed boxer from Texas named Adam Dudley, who was a competitive hockey player before becoming a death fighter. He is a bigot and written as a hateful villain, which gives him more personality and a sense of place in the story than most of the other characters. The Kure family of assassins are also very interesting, even if they are eugenicists who are said to be very strong thanks to being bred over many generations with the strongest warriors they could find see. Even with their questionable politics, they're still an interesting bunch of freaks, and their casual attitude toward murder is strange enough to keep you interested.
There isn't much more to say about the first season of Kengan Ashura. The voice acting in both the original Japanese and English dubs is serviceable but forgettable. This one doesn't have any kind of resolution, but that seems well thought out for a Netflix original, as the streaming platform likes to use intriguing elements to attract interest to the next sections. This Netflix original also suffers from inconsistent notation of on-screen text, a common problem in anime exclusive to the platform.
Kengan Ashura is at least as bad at feeling authorial and interesting. I can't recommend this movie, nor do I think any hypothetical viewer will like it, but this is the kind of trash TV worth dissecting. This season would be a great choice for a “bad anime watch” with a group of friends, but there are plenty of better anime you can ironically enjoy instead.
