Right when you thought that the Netflix adaptation of one of the most cult anime titles could not stoop any further, here comes the second season of the “Son of Ogre” arc to ruin the franchise even more. Even worse, the first part gave some hope about the finale of the season, only to drown any expectation in deep ridiculousness. Let us take things from the beginning though.
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As teased in the previous season, the authorities discover a man from the dinosaur era who has been frozen for millions of years. They defrost him, and it turns out that he is a tremendous fighter, who was able to fight the dinosaurs and win. In the pedantic, buffoonish style of humor that unfortunately characterizes the whole series, they name him Pickle, while expectedly, the rest of the renowned fighters of the series, including Retsu and Jack Hammer (but unfortunately not Oliva or Yujiro) proceed on fighting him, suffering tremendous losses, with the former in particular finding himself completely destroyed. Also expectedly, his last fight is with Baki, although the result is ambiguous to say the least, especially in the way the series presents it.
The second part revolves around two arcs. The first deals with Retsu's effort to challenge and win the boxing world and the second revolves around the upcoming battle between father and son. Unfortunately, the first looks like a filler, only present to prolong the series, and the second as if a rather misplaced effort at family drama, which cultivates in a battle that starts as utterly ridiculous, continuous as even worse, and closes in somewhat better fashion.
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The first part retains some interest, apart from the ridiculous jokes about the (lack of) intelligence of Pickle, as the protagonists are fighting the equivalent of a dinosaur, which is quite intriguing in the tournament-like approach the arc follows. As such, and despite the intense lagging on occasion, the fights are captivating both in their brutality and the fact that Pickle occasionally functions as a man-eating carnivore. The built-up to the battle with Baki, as much as the battle itself, are the high points here, although repeated kicks in the nuts do get annoying after a point and the ending result is mediocre in its ambiguity. In general, the first 12 episodes are entertaining and flow nicely.
The same, however, definitely does not apply to the second part. The long awaited fight between father and son takes much too long to take place within the 15 episodes, with Hirano desperately trying to extend the story to fill them all. Unnecessary flashbacks, focus on characters that seem to play no role in the general story, and a side story with Retsu that is as dull as they can get, with him trying to fight boxers in one leg, all add up to the mediocrity of this part.
Everything could have been forgiven if the final battle was the one the ones who have been following the series from its beginning back in 1994 were hoping for, but unfortunately, this is not the case in any way. The buildup in particular is awful in the desperate effort of the creators to induce the narrative with family drama elements, with the fact that the bloodthirsty ogre was doing everything for the sake of his son, being as misplaced as it could be. The scene where the two eat together especially is among the worst moments of the whole franchise, as is the initial phase of the battle, where Yujiro handles Baki as a spoiled kid, even spanking him at some point. That eventually he turns him into human nunchakus (wtf?) and he manages to build a samurai doll from the parts of the car he is being crashed on (again, wtf?) is at least as ridiculous, with the whole thing looking like a parody that happens by accident.
Also tiring, after a fashion, is Shingo Ishikawa's character design, with the ultra muscular built almost every character showcases being too repetitive, while that Pickle looks too much like Yujiro is also a tick in the cons column. Baki and Kaoru definitely stand out, but I do not think they are enough. The animation by TMS Entertainment is occasionally impressive, particularly during the brutal fighting scenes, with the aforementioned design actually helping in that regard, in probably the best aspect of the whole series.
As we mentioned before, since Netflix picked it up, the series has taken a downward spiral that seems to have no end, and this season is no exception. The only hopeful aspect is that a final tournament with all the monsters is essentially teased here, that may save the relaunch although I highly doubt it.
