The authorities get information about an individual who was frozen millions of years ago since ancient times that were killed by meteor showers.”
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 how it is portrayed by the series.
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, for one thing this seems like a filler episode designed solely to keep things going whereas for another it looks like misplaced family drama explained through an opening scene that begins as something really silly but gets even worse before ending decently.
The first part retains some interest apart from ridiculous jokes regarding Pickle’s stupidity because they are fighting against what is essentially a dinosaur which is quite fascinating given arc follows a tournament-like format.
And also, even though it slows down heavily at times, the fights do captivate in their brutality and the fact that Pickle sometimes acts like a man-eater. Here, however, the lead-up to the fight against Baki is as much noteworthy as the fight itself; although repeated nut kicks get annoying after some point and the ending result lacks clarity by design. Ultimately, generally speaking, these first twelve episodes are enjoyable and have good pacing.
This can definitely not be said for part II however. In 15 episodes there is a long drawn out fight between father and son which Hirano seems desperately trying to prolong so as to fill them all. This mediocrity of this part is made up of unnecessary flashbacks, attention on characters who seem irrelevant to main story line plus Retsu’s boring side story about him fighting boxers with one leg. Nonetheless, if only the final battle had been what anyone who has supported the series ever since its debut in 1994 would want it to be then everything else could have been forgiven but that isn’t how things went down here at all.
A massive build-up here is incredibly bad since filmmakers are trying really hard to add family drama elements to the plot which turned out to be awkward because it was as though the bloodthirsty ogre does everything for his son. The worst moment of the whole franchise is when the two eat together, and then there’s also this part at the start of the battle where Yujiro treats Baki like a spoiled brat and even spanks him at some point. At least, he turns him into human nunchakus (wtf?) and manages to mold a Japanese warrior doll made from car parts that are being slammed into him (again, wtf?) which is just as absurd-looking if not more so with unintentional comic overtones throughout.
Repetitive to some extent as well is Ishikawa Shingo’s character design, where most of them have insanely muscular physical built while Pickle looks too much like Yujiro also counts against these series. Sure enough Baki and Kaoru stand out but I’m not sure if it’s enough.
The quality of animation by TMS Entertainment is sometimes commendable, especially during the brutal scenes of fighting. In that respect, it actually contributes to the above and beyond design in 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.
For more movies like “Baki Hanma: Son of Ogre Season 2” visit on solarmovie.
