High & Low: Where do they rank?

[Iron_Twister]

I will give props to Tsukumo for hanging in there and getting some really crazy stuff Kohaku and the Amamiyas are getting into against the Kuryu Group.

[Sharpandpointies]

I will give props to Tsukumo for hanging in there and getting some really crazy stuff Kohaku and the Amamiyas are getting into against the Kuryu Group.

The factory fight - against what, 100 dudes all armed with long knives? - was pretty crazy, and he made it through that okay.

Dude is pretty nutso strong himself; he just lags behind the top-end guys. But viewed in isolation, his strength and toughness feats are into the superhuman area.

[Guy1]

[Sharpandpointies]

Little reminder that these characters are rather past normal humans, yeah. ^_^

[Guy1]

Little reminder that these characters are rather past normal humans, yeah. ^_^

Coming to Netflix March 25th!

[Iron_Twister]

And yep...This is just six dudes from Suzuran coming in as reinforcements for both Oya and Housen. And in true Crows and Worst fashion, they aren't the only faction within Suzuran as there are at least two other ones.

...Lao/Raoh's faction is simply the smallest (they don't believe in having foot soldiers) yet still filled with the school's powerhouses.

[Sharpandpointies]

So, having watched High&Low: The Worst X.

Standard faction-boss level people are comparatively speaking roughly the equal of regular High and Low bosses. Reasoning:

1. Torodoki gives a really good fight to Murayama, who is kind of high-end for High&Low bosses.
2. Torodoki is roughly equal to a faction-boss. He's presented as a touch better than Fujio, but would LIKELY lose to Sachio.
3. Faction-bosses have similar feats to High and Low bosses in that they basically run completely wild over large groups of armed enemies. Sometimes they look like they're working hard (Fujio) to pull this off, other times they basically laughingly stomp (Sachio), but the idea is there.

In terms of actual feats, The Worst is a little more of a crazy mood than High and Low, so we get Fujio jump-kicking people and sending them flying ten feet. VERY occasionally, and as a dramatic finish to a fight or the like. Given the presentation and definite pecking order in the series, though (a series in which regular H&L characters DO occasionally make an appearance), I wouldn't say these feats put The Worst characters higher (haha) higher than the regular H&L crowd, when we have Yamato doing absolutely insane things with his strength and then getting completely owned by a sick Smoky (Smoky being one of the better gang-leaders for feats, but certainly not the best). And occasionally in H&L we see non-Amamiyas/Kohaku-types pulling out the crazy (just not quite on that level), so I'm pretty comfortable with this idea.

Edit: Higher-end H&L gang members like Kizzy - a not-exactly huge person - kick people and send them flying 10' or so, and Kizzy is lower on the totem pole than gang-leaders, likely in the same area as Todoroki. So this tracks.

If anything, the characters in The Worst suffer from a bit of a glass cannon situation by comparison. Not to say they can't take a crapton of punishment, it's just that the regular series characters treat getting whaled on by iron pipes as a mild annoyance, whereas the Worst characters seem to suffer a lot more from this kind of thing.

But then there's Suzuran Raoh Faction (I'm using Raoh).

From the look of it, each of the Suzuran Raoh group is slightly under a faction leader - one of the best fighters in the group does pretty well against Fujio, 'losing' mostly because the fight is called (he was somewhat losing, but Fujio couldn't put him down, so...there's at least some room for argument Fujio could have eventually lost the fight). They also basically rampage through the hordes of armed enemies at the end fight, coming through without scratches, while most other characters look beaten to crap. Most of the other characters also WENT INTO the final fight beat up, so there's that...

(this also demonstrates another difference between the H&L durability and H&L:TW durability - the regular H&L crowd go into fights all beat up from previous fights, but...it doesn't impede them at all, really; they're perfectly fine, operate at normal levels, etc)

Raoh is better than all of them, has beaten everyone he fought (including Sachio, who is top-end for a faction leader), and demonstrates casual feats of strength tremendously above anyone else in The Worst series. He's kind of...edging into the Amamiya/Kohaku territory, in that I would consider him a good match for Tsukumo based on sheer power, and probably a better fighter based on skill. Maybe slot him in at Ice-level - he doesn't seem as skilled as Ice, but certainly appears stronger.

Thoughts?

[Iron_Twister]

Sounds bout right.

I'm honestly glad that Suzuran...Is definitely lore accurate from the Crows/Worst series. They're in-universe are seen as The Delinquent High School. Like being there often means you're a big deal. While they sorta have a rivalry with Housen, so far Housen hasn't actually gotten an advantage over Suzuran when they do get into fights.

But yeah, Raoh is ridiculous. Dude honestly just rips through armed mooks with ease. Not to mention he has beaten Sachio the head of Housen, whose practically untouchable because he just utterly demolishes anyone who tries to fight him that isn't a main character in The Worst films.

In unrelated things...Todoroki and Yuken being fishing buddies was honestly hilarious.

[Sharpandpointies]

Sounds bout right.

I'm honestly glad that Suzuran...Is definitely lore accurate from the Crows/Worst series. They're in-universe are seen as The Delinquent High School. Like being there often means you're a big deal. While they sorta have a rivalry with Housen, so far Housen hasn't actually gotten an advantage over Suzuran when they do get into fights.

But yeah, Raoh is ridiculous. Dude honestly just rips through armed mooks with ease. Not to mention he has beaten Sachio the head of Housen, whose practically untouchable because he just utterly demolishes anyone who tries to fight him that isn't a main character in The Worst films.

Rao beating Sachio is certainly a big feat, given Sachio basically treating everything he faces below Fujio like nothing.

Which is a decent enough feat for Fujio as well; at the end of the first H&L:TW movie, he fights Sachio and loses, but Sachio basically staggers away from that one and Yuken ends up propping him up and commenting on how badly beat up he is.

Definitely Rao > Sachio > Fujio, so Fujio wanting to fight Rao is Fujio being his usual dumb self. ^_^

In unrelated things...Todoroki and Yuken being fishing buddies was honestly hilarious.

I absolutely loved that. Funny, yes, and the two of them had beaten all hell out of each other in the last movie (Todoroki 'winning'). Different personalities by far, but both definitely being the 'cool dude' kind of guys. And here they are, fishing together.

[Iron_Twister]

Gotta admit, I'm a tad torn how to feel for the main fighting antagonist Ryo Suzuki.

He's clearly the best fighter of the school alliance whose fast and skilled but admittedly his opponents kinda went through a marathon against small armies of mooks and while he does arguably run circles all over them with Fujio at least matching in that kind of agility much like Cobra vs Jesse, Ryo...Hasn't exactly laid them on their asses for a knockout win.

He got that fragile speedster glass cannon vibes...Sorta. Dude can dish out a lot of damage but doesn't quite one shot guys that while tough aren't exactly the monsters like characters from the SWORD storyline (named characters going through armies of mooks with hardly any lasting damage...nevermind guys like Yamato and Furuya literally being annoyed being struck by goddamn wooden pallets to the back).

But yeah, enjoyed his fighting style.

[Sharpandpointies]

Gotta admit, I'm a tad torn how to feel for the main fighting antagonist Ryo Suzuki.

He's clearly the best fighter of the school alliance whose fast and skilled but admittedly his opponents kinda went through a marathon against small armies of mooks and while he does arguably run circles all over them with Fujio at least matching in that kind of agility much like Cobra vs Jesse, Ryo...Hasn't exactly laid them on their asses for a knockout win.

He got that fragile speedster glass cannon vibes...Sorta. Dude can dish out a lot of damage but doesn't quite one shot guys that while tough aren't exactly the monsters like characters from the SWORD storyline (named characters going through armies of mooks with hardly any lasting damage...nevermind guys like Yamato and Furuya literally being annoyed being struck by goddamn wooden pallets to the back).

But yeah, enjoyed his fighting style.

Yeah. guy was a great fighter, but...

At least he went up against one guy from the SWORD storyline who is...still pretty much a monster in H&L:The Worst.

Granted, he fought - briefly - against Torodoki after Torodoki -

1. Beat up everyone hunting for him for a day or so;
2. Fought a 2:1 against two School Leaders and beat them both at the same time, though he got roughed up severely in the process;
3. Before actually healing from that last fight, got into the final fight where he ends up being at the head of a group who fights their way through a school's worth of people BEFORE he faces Suzuki.

Suzuki is effectively fresh for that fight.

So him basically managing to thump on Torodoki a little before taking on Fujio somewhat tracks. And Torodoki then continues to take a bottle in the back of the head and a full-on swing in the ribs with a metal bat when not able to protect himself...and pulls himself together and beats up a dozen guys solo. Still standing at the end, grinning.

Definitely a SWORD character, though likely slightly nerfed for H&L: TW.

Ryo...he lost against a Fujio who was somewhat beat up already as well. Granted, Fujio is fighting smart; I noticed through the start of the fight that he focuses on hitting Fujio in the THIGHS with elbow shots and strikes. That actually shows in the fight later (good choreography) in that Ryo is having trouble with his footwork.

But yes, his fighting style was more like Torodoki's or one of the skill-type guys - more tight, more boxing and other stuff, less brawling. Though I do like that a lot of the brawlers (like Fujio) bust out the Judo once in a while.

Maaan, the SWORD guys used to take a beating, didn't they? Wooden pallets shattered on them, literally walking through multiple hits from iron pipes (the same stuff that H&L: TW characters frantically dodge), etc. And they just kept on trucking.

[Iron_Twister]

If anything, it was nice that apparently after all that's said and done, it's kinda water under the bridge of sorts after everyone beats the crap out of each other. It's a Japanese High School Delinquent story after all, just young hot blooded youths going through life. It was a nice touch when Ryo came for a proper one on one against Fujio who pulled the same move Todoroki pulled on him, dude has grown.

...Which after seeing that, makes one recall the SWORD vs Kuryu situation is drastically different in comparison again. Like it just becomes understandable why Murayama benched the fulltime students when it comes to main SWORD activities. Cause barring the very best guys in the Worst, which is a very small number, I'm pretty sure the narrative is like "Students against Yakuza, Mercenaries, and Human Traffickers? Hell no if anyone thinks they have a chance."

[Sharpandpointies]

If anything, it was nice that apparently after all that's said and done, it's kinda water under the bridge of sorts after everyone beats the crap out of each other. It's a Japanese High School Delinquent story after all, just young hot blooded youths going through life. It was a nice touch when Ryo came for a proper one on one against Fujio who pulled the same move Todoroki pulled on him, dude has grown.

That was a fun scene. And matched up well with the 'take a number to fight Raoh' as well.

...Which after seeing that, makes one recall the SWORD vs Kuryu situation is drastically different in comparison again. Like it just becomes understandable why Murayama benched the fulltime students when it comes to main SWORD activities. Cause barring the very best guys in the Worst, which is a very small number, I'm pretty sure the narrative is like "Students against Yakuza, Mercenaries, and Human Traffickers? Hell no if anyone thinks they have a chance."

Agreed. The Story of Sword was very, very different from H&L: The Worst. Themes are much nastier, it's more vicious, stakes are higher, people are getting killed, serious criminal elements factor into it, etc.

It's not 'one group of schools wants to take over a region.' It's not even 'A bunch of low-level crooks are taking over the distribution of Red Rum now that Kuryu has given up on that, and is messing up some of the high school students' (and apparently been taken over by the Mighty Warriors).

It's murder, it's automatic weapons fire at times, it's big-time organized crime with huge amounts of money on the line, it's corruption in government...it's the ugliness of killing off the poor because they're 'in the way of progress', it's a whole lot of things.

So...yeah, the older, more mature Murayama says 'Nope' to High School students getting into it.

I find The Story of Sword to be better/more complex/more interesting than H&L: The Worst, myself. Still enjoy H&L: The Worst, mind.

[Sharpandpointies]

Funny how the first Worst movie shows Murayama and his buddies on the cusp of graduating from their hooligan days into 'adult' lives.

Murayama gets a job and keeps it, and starts thinking of stuff beyond fighting.
Seiki gets him that job.
Furuya is much more calm.
Murayama doesn't want the youngsters to fight, and breaks up fights by speaking reasonably (with a bullhorn, not shouting?) rather than getting into them himself.

The capper on it is at the end, when the truck drives through the gates with Muryama sitting on top like he normally does. What does he say when it finishes? "Jeez, that was scary..." when he used to scream 'What a rush!' or whatever. Then he jumps off the truck...and staggers, wincing, holding his back. The other students crowd around him, and he waves them off with 'I'm okay, I'm all right.'

Then in the middle of the fight, he and Furuya start discussing Seiki.

[Muruyama] Where's Seiki, anyway?

[Furuya] He couldn't make it. Had a stomach ache.

[Muruyama] Ah. (as if this is absolutely reasonable)

[Iron_Twister]

Yep, The Worst despite having it's very dark moments is fairly light hearted tale compared to Story of Sword.

...I mean the School Alliance's hunt for Oya students ain't quite Kuryu's outright decimation of the SWORD area, but my jaw did drop of the guys that got hospitalized from the aftermath. Nakagoshi getting a crate dropped on him was a highlight while Kiyoshi pulling a Gandalf the Grey moment was something.