The idea of a "next-generation" sequel, one that stars the children of the characters that starred in the original, is a tale as old as time, but what I want to focus on is the next-gen sequel that gets made for the same audience as the original, and in particular for manga. Specifically, there's the trend of iconic Shonen Jump manga getting next-gen sequels roughly a decade after the original ended, if not longer. No, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure doesn't count, since Parts 1-5 were originally serialized as a single overall series, with each successive one starting right after the previous one ended. Instead, the first "next-gen" sequel to a Shonen Jump manga looks to have been Kinnikuman II-Sei (a.k.a. Ultimate Muscle), the 1998 sequel to Yudetamago's iconic series, which debuted 11 years after the original ended in 1987. With the success of this series, we'd see next-gen sequels to the likes of Sakigake!! Otokojuku (10 years after the original), Midori no Makibao (10 years), Ginga ~Nagareboshi Gin~ (12 years), & Shaman King (8 years), to name a few. While not always a guarantee, a common trait shared in many of these next-gen sequels was in giving the original generation a sort of reverence that could sometimes border on pure, unbridled veneration, no doubt to help give readers a sense of wide-eyed nostalgia of when they read the originals all those years before, and maybe even get any newcomers interested in reading the originals.
However, one of the earliest next-gen Jump sequels went in a slightly different direction.
I've mentioned before how Masami Kurumada left Weekly Shonen Jump in 1992, and in late 1994 would debut B't X for Kadokawa Shoten's brand new Monthly Shonen Ace. After ending B't X, Kurumada would then return to Shueisha and, possibly influenced by what his friends Yudetamago were doing with Kinnikuman II-Sei (which would be amusingly ironic), decided that his next manga would be Ring ni Kakero 2, the next-gen sequel to the manga that originally put Kurumada on the map in Japan. Debuting in (the now defunct) biweekly seinen magazine Super Jump in early 2000 (just over 18 years after the original ended in late 1981), Kurumada would run RnK2 up until the end of 2008, ending it after 26 volumes, one more than the original, making it his second longest individual series, after Saint Seiya's 28. In fact, during those last two(-ish) years, Kurumada also debuted Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, the official continuation to Saint Seiya, in 2006 over at Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion, which is still running irregularly to this day. However, Ring ni Kakero remains the longer overall franchise at 51 total volumes, at least in terms of manga that Kurumada drew himself, 10 more than Saint Seiya's 41, as of this review.
It's interesting to compare both of Kurumada's sequels, because where Saint Seiya: Next Dimension has become notorious for sometimes feeling like a retread of what came before, as though relying on fans' nostalgia for the original, Ring ni Kakero 2 tends to play around with expectations more often than not, as though Kurumada is showing the "truth" hidden beneath the nostalgia. Does that make Ring ni Kakero 2 pretty much "The Last Jedi of Next-Gen Jump Sequels"? Let's find out.
On July 7, 1983, Ryuji Takane made his debut as a professional boxer at age 17 when he challenged Jun Kenzaki, his 18-year old eternal rival, for the WBA World Bantamweight Title. It was an intense match that Ryuji won, only for him to pass away shortly after, due to the sheer damage that had built up from a young life of fighting past his limit time & time again as part of Golden Japan Jr. a few years prior. Kenzaki would pass away not long later from similarly immense damage as a fellow member of Japan Jr., but not before he married the love of his life, Ryuji's older sister Kiku, and the two had a son. Now, 17 years later, it's the year 2000 & Rindo Kenzaki has long lost both of his parents, with Kiku passing away some time after Jun. While he has a home at the Kenzaki Estate in Tokyo, despite his mother never being accepted by the family, & is even arranged to marry Ichina Sanjou (the daughter of the woman Jun was originally arranged to marry in the 80s), he instead prefers to spend his time either living on Kujukuri Beach with Ishimatsu Katori, former Japan Jr. member & surrogate father figure, or simply getting into fights on the street, having inherited the natural fighting ability of both his father & uncle. However, a chance encounter with Xanadu Greitreich Skorpion, current European Jr. Champion & son of the Skorpion who was German Jr. Champion 21 years prior, starts Rindo down his own boxing journey, one defined both by his own battles as well as by learning from the previous generation, both directly & indirectly.
Ring ni Kakero 2's story is made up of six story arcs: The Japan Chapter (Vols 1-3) has Rindo needing to meet up with Kazuki Shinatora & Shadow Sousui in order to prove that he's worthy of being trained as a boxer; the Germany Chapter (3-9) sees Rindo & Kyou Kawai head over to Berlin in search of the 5-year missing Takeshi Kawai, Kyou's uncle, only to get involved in the German Jr. Tournament, all while the old "East vs. West" schism between Xanadu & rival-turned-ally Oscar Jugend revives after 10 years; the Italy Chapter (9-11) sees Rindo get hunted after by the sons of former Italian Jr. Champion Don Giuliano, due to the open-invite title match with Xanadu he received, only to wind up getting involved in a power struggle within the Jr. Mafia, after Don himself is killed & his oldest son Caesar chooses Nero, the quiet painter of the family, to be the new leader; the France Chapter (12-14) has Rindo abducted on his way back from Italy by the children of former French Jr. Champion Napoleon Baroa & thrown into their labyrinthine prison, also because of his open-invite title match, only to get involved with the Baroa Family's own internal conflict between its two "Emperors", Raphaël & Michel; the World Jr. Tournament Chapter (14-24) sees Rindo & Iori Shinatora get invited to the legendary tournament, now held in Greece this year (& under ulterior motives), while everyone back in Japan finds out about Ryudo Omura, a boxer-in-training who looks remarkably like Ryuji & even seems to have the power of the Boomerang Hook in him; & the Twelve Gods of Greece Chapter (24-26), in which the next-gen version of Greece's legendary godlike warriors hound after Rindo over ownership of the powerful Kaiser Knuckle, which resurfaced during the tournament. The last chapter of the manga then jumps forward to 2003 to show the World Bantamweight Title Unification Match between WBC Champion Rindo & WBA Champion Ryudo, after both had gone pro.
Easily the most interesting aspect about Ring ni Kakero 2 is in how Kurumada pretty much directly attacks the idea of relying on nostalgia of what came before, especially in regards to how people look at said original cast, and in RnK2's case it's by giving as much of the original RnK cast rather rough futures. Ishimatsu never got married, instead becoming Rindo's surrogate father because he loved Kiku that much, with later flashbacks showing Ishimatsu as being initially unwilling to let the Kenzaki Estate even take Rindo in, claiming that he's "my child". Kawai similarly never got married, either, and debuts during the Germany Chapter as a mentally broken shell of his former self, though he does recover from that. Shinatora is a widower & has inherited a lot of his own father's strict & harsh nature, initially commanding his son Iori to kill Rindo with the family sword Bizen Osafune (also seen in RnK), as he feels that Rindo's street fighting disgraces the Kenzaki name. Sousui has spent the last 10 years in isolation from his Shadow Clan, living in the "Hell Valley" hidden between Aokigahara & Mt. Fuji (where Ryuji, Ishimatsu, Shinatora, & Kawai all trained off screen for their fights with the Twelve Gods), leaving his son Ran to declare him dead & claim the mantle of "Leader" for himself.
Finally, the various "World Rivals" from RnK have their own troubles as the manga goes on. The Germany Chapter sees "Father" Skorpion left for dead by one of the sides of the Germany Jr. East/West schism, & Xanadu isn't left off the hook instantly, as he holds a grudge against his father, over his mother's death. The Italy Chapter sees Don Giuliano straight up murdered, & is even shown to have hand problems shortly prior. The France Chapter sees Napoleon Baroa having all sorts of problems, both physical & psychological, with his teenage triplets, and part of his way of dealing with it is admittedly rather dumb of him. Former WBA Bantamweight Champion Jesus Christ's sister is revealed to have been raped by a German man, resulting in the birth of Oscar Jugend, Christ's bastard nephew. Even Black Shaft, despite only ever seen via a flashback, is shown to have his body fail him while training his own son.
Simply put, almost no one actually got a "fairy tale ending" after RnK ended, and as the story goes on you truly see just how broken the original remaining cast are, both mentally & physically. This is especially true for those of Golden Japan Jr., who were all established in the last few arcs of RnK as having destroyed their bodies from their fights, resulting in all but Ryuji & Kenzaki retiring without ever going pro. Ishimatsu's hand occasionally tremors & he has a history of sudden fainting spells, yet he still pushes himself to eventually train Rindo. Shinatora's chest still bears the scars of the Special Cross Counter from the World Tournament 21 years prior, and his own ultimate technique (Engetsuken) destroyed his arm, leaving him useless for boxing. While Kawai does recover from his mental broken discovery in Germany & is shown to be the most physically stable of the three, even his own body slowly breaks down over time. All three also later start coughing up blood at various points, showing their bodies finally hitting their limits. An occasional complaint about sports anime/manga that go over-the-top is that the skills & strength showcased by the (usually rather young) cast feels absurd, since they come off as more skilled &/or powerful than the best pros are in real life. Masami Kurumada, however, made sure back in the early 80s to directly address the fact that the punches everyone was throwing in the original RnK were indeed so powerful that it literally broke the bodies of the people using & taking them, and in RnK2 he's followed that up by showing the long-term effects of said damage. The main difference is that in RnK it was still romanticized somewhat as digging deep within to succeed, a risk that must be taken to achieve your goals, while in RnK2 we see the consequences of those actions after nearly two decades, & it's sometimes shown to be just as tragic as it sounds.
Oh, and let's not forget that Ryuji, Kenzaki, & Kiku, (i.e. the three most important characters to the original RnK) are all DEAD before the story of RnK2 begins! This is the equivalent of killing off Naruto, Sakura, & Sasuke by the time Boruto began, or revealing that Luke, Leia, & Han had all died during the opening text crawl for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It's an absolutely ballsy move by Kurumada, and I feel it gives RnK2 some instant notoriety & intrigue, as while Rindo & the others do have some of the original generation to learn & grow from, they never have the ability to directly contact the ones with the most useful & noteworthy knowledge. I use Star Wars: The Last Jedi's infamous quote about moving beyond the past (& nostalgia) as the tagline for this review, but Masami Kurumada not only "let the past die" 17 years prior to Rian Johnson (attempting at) doing so, but he also was also completely unabated in "killing it", if he truly had to (unlike Johnson), and this doesn't simply apply to these three alone. Yes, more of the original generation die over the course of this series, and while these deaths happen with a sense of acceptance (even if one is admittedly self-inflicted), they're all essentially due to the damage they had done to their own bodies finally catching up with them; there are no heroic last stands or attempts to prevent disaster to be found here by the OG cast. There are a literal couple of moments where Rindo "speaks" with his parents while unconscious, all shown as happening inside his own head, but it's notable that Ryuji never gets this treatment; the lead of the original RnK is only ever referenced of in RnK2, never actually shown. In the end, the new generation have to learn to move on without those who came before them, and remember to not follow the same exact path, lest they suffer the same consequences later on in life.
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| Just look at the utterly pure love Rindo & Ichina have for each other. |
However, RnK2 stars a new generation of characters, so let's move on to them. Rindo Kenzaki has natural & immense strength like his father, but starts off as very headstrong & brash, similar to Ishimatsu, though without the innate boxing sense his father was known for. For example, Volume 1 climaxes with Rindo forcing Japan Jr. Champion Joezi Kisaragi into allowing Rindo to take on Xanadu in Joezi's place... Only for Rindo to be defeated with a single blow, because he completely underestimated the scale in power between them. However, despite his "Fallen Angel, Kids Hell" tattoo on his & arms indicating otherwise early on, Rindo is really a good kid deep down, caring immensely for the family he winds up with. He truly is the mix of both his father & uncle, but with Ishimatsu's comic relief tendencies. Iori Shinatora (or "Iyori", as Rindo calls him) is similar to his serious-minded father, but to an even more bushido-like extent (to the point where he actually has no prior boxing training), though Rindo often gets him to act more naturally. Also, Iori has an extreme "women allergy", often resulting in him passing out when in extremely close contact, for comedic effect, though he slowly gets over this. We only get to really know Kyou Kawai during the Germany Chapter, but he's quickly shown to be very selfless & willing to push himself if need be, despite his weak heart, quickly becoming close with anyone he meets. Following that we have Ran Shadow, Rindo's cousin & effectively this manga's equivalent to someone like Phoenix Ikki from Saint Seiya or even Jun Kenzaki from RnK. However, an interesting twist is that, unlike Kenzaki or Ikki's seeming ability to defeat any odds almost instantly, Ran doesn't debut as anywhere near that strong, despite how much he feels he's already surpassed his father. Seeing Ran is like seeing a character who CAN be the next Kenzaki or Ikki over time, but still has plenty to learn early on; even by the last chapter he's shown to still be learning.
While Ichina is in no way the equivalent to Kiku in this series, though she has her own moments of standing up for herself, she is still a very fun character that is always willing to support Rindo & the others in any way possible. A perfect example is in how she willingly puts herself into a match during the Germany Jr. Tournament, despite having no fighting (let alone boxing) experience, simply because everyone else was incapacitated at the moment, though she (unknowingly) gets some assistance from Ran beforehand. Still, the fact that she put on trunks & a top, wore a pair of boxing gloves, & tells the ref that she's a "Yamato Nadeshiko" that's ready to fight shows her true character; Ichina's just awesome. In turn, the relationship between her & Rindo, essentially the two unofficial children of what should have been the expected marriage between Jun Kenzaki & Kanako Sanjou in the 80s, grows throughout. For example, Rindo originally didn't even plan on entering the World Jr. Tournament until he finds out that Ichina & her family have a 30 million yen debt, and the prize money would be enough for her to pay them off; Iori also enters for the same reason, while Ran offers support in his own ways. In all honesty, Rindo & Ichina are probably the best couple Masami Kurumada has ever created, and the sheer joy & affection the two show for each other at points is simply infectious; to call them a "cute couple" would be an understatement.
And then there's Ryudo Omura & his surrogate sister Kogiku, who essentially play the Ryuji & Kiku of the series. In particular, Ryudo & Kogiku were left off at the door of the Omura Gym, where Ryuji & Kiku called home during the original series, with Zoroku "Pops" Omura instantly taking them in, seeing them as his two surrogate kids having been reborn. Sixteen years later, Omura has since passed away & the siblings are using the Gym to train Ryudo to be a pro boxer, even though they're technically now classified as squatters. In terms of personality, they're pretty much who they're based off of, so Ryudo is very much like Ryuji, while Kogiku is pretty much Kiku. That said, Kogiku doesn't really appear much, as Ryudo eventually heads over to watch the World Jr. Tournament during that arc. What's most interesting about Ryudo from a meta sense, as in the whole "don't let the past/nostalgia define the next generation" aspect, is that he & Kogiku simply live their lives without any knowledge of their origins, only to get brought into a world that they had no understanding of, beyond Ryudo becoming a boxer. Indeed, none of the still-living Golden Japan Jr. ever visited the Omura Gym in the time between RnK's finale & the point where Ryudo & Kogiku finally debut (Volume 18), and the only reason why they finally do so is because of a shared dream of Ryuji & Kiku that they all have. All Ryudo wanted was to become a pro boxer in order to honor the man he called "Father", Zoroku Omura, and even as the manga heads towards its finale & the two learn the truth behind their origins (Ryudo's is easy to guess, while Kogiku's is less obvious), they both still stick to the history that they've always known to be true to them. Considering their revealed origins in the last volume, though, Kogiku's physical resemblance to Kiku is a bit odd. While Ryudo eventually learns who he really is, & honors it in his own way, he doesn't change his identity in any way in accordance to it. To put it bluntly, Ryudo Omura is NOT RnK2's "Rey Skywalker".
Also, on a quick aside, Kurumada takes the opportunity during all of this to actually explain more about Zoroku Omura, namely why such a no-name doctor/coach who ran a small little boxing gym in Shitamachi, Tokyo knew all about things like the Shadow Clan and the Kaiser Knuckle, and why he even owned one of the two Kaisers, 21 years ago. It wasn't a major thing in the original series, since Omura was just a likable supporting cast member there, but it was a bit of a bizarre plot hole when you really thought about it, so it's nice to see that RnK2 plugs it up. Really, that's kind of a neat little aspect of RnK2, in general, as Kurumada takes time here & there to fill in minor worldbuilding details that he skimmed over or just ignored in the original series, helping flesh out the world of this franchise.
While RnK2 does carry over numerous elements, & even some plot points, from the original RnK, there are numerous tweaks & changes, so as to keep things from feeling like a carbon copy, as well as carrying forward the theme of not letting the past/nostalgia define the next generation. For example, in Volume 2, Rindo has to make his way up the Shadow Tower, with each floor featuring its own challenge fight, just like Ryuji had done 21 years prior. However, all we ever see from Rindo's point of view is the start of the 100-man kumite on the first floor, with the manga instead simply showing Iori coming across the aftermath of each floor. More notably, the German Jr. Tournament is the only story arc in which we see the old "team based, individual fights" structure that RnK innovated (& would become a standard in manga, to this day), with Rindo, Iori, Kyou, Ran, & Ichina essentially forming a new Golden Japan Jr... Only for them to ruin the legacy they were trying to uphold when Ran & Rindo each lose a fight in the finals, due to their respective stubbornness, whereas the original generation were legendary for their "Perfect Victory, World Conquest" run of never losing a fight as a team. Not just that, but you never actually see the entire group gather together until after the end of the final match, when bittersweet tragedy strikes, as they're all constantly getting sent to the infirmary after every single fight; it's actually rather hilarious, in that regard.
Even the World Jr. Tournament removes the old team-based formula, despite Japan, Germany, France, America, & Greece all having multiple representatives, making it feel more unique for this franchise. The first four rounds, of seven, also shuffle everyone around each time, keeping things rather unpredictable until the quarterfinals. Even before the matches, though, the 1,300 potential competitors have to pass three trials to whittle things down to only 64 for the tournament itself, not including the 8 Greek "super seeds" who get an automatic bye into the 4th Round: Running a 42.195 km marathon within 3 hours (testing speed), getting through a dangerous 1 km obstacle course in 10 minutes (testing defense), & making it through a 100 m passageway in which stone balls are randomly shot out from the walls (testing offense). All of this, everything involving Ryudo & Kogiku, & the reintroduction of the Kaiser Knuckle, explains why the World Jr. Tournament is the longest story arc of all, totaling nearly 10 whole volumes. That being said, it's never a bore & features a lot of the major world & lore building for the franchise as whole, like finally explaining what the deal is with the Ashura Clan from the original series (&, boy, does it just reinforce how pointless that arc was in RnK).
However, RnK2 does continue the tradition of having its "World Rivals" be portrayed via national stereotypes; it really wouldn't be "Ring ni Kakero" without it, honestly. While the German Jr. boxers are no longer waving around Nazi flags, they are still portrayed as highly organized, complete with regiment-esque smaller groups within it, like the Schatten Corps, who utilize various dirty methods to fight, like using gloves with metal in them or "super-doping"; I'm honestly amazed it took this long for RnK to feature someone using steroids. That being said, Xanadu & Helga's motorcycle did originally sport a small little swastika on it very early on, but this was all changed later in the manga's serialized run, and later runs of the early volumes (including the 2014 digital release) did the same. Oscar's lineage with Christ is surprising in how early in the manga he's in, almost as though Kurumada maybe considered ending with the Germany Chapter, if the manga didn't do well. Don Giuliano's children all follow some sort of mafia stereotype, like Dino cutting his ear off after failing to take out Rindo; also, some of the major sons are named after Roman history (Brutus, Caesar, Nero). As for France, the primary focus is on Napoleon's kids Raphaël & Michel, their triplet sister Caterine, & the "Three Musketeers" of Baron, Al Fonso Armeda, & Olivier, whose exact heritages aren't exactly stated, but are likely Napoleon's niblings; yes, that's the general term for "nieces and/or nephews". The Rose of Versailles influence is maintained with everyone dressing in full "early modern" (i.e. 1600s) regalia, Rindo even pokes fun at how they all dress, & the manga referencing even comes full circle with Olivier, a girl who took to idolizing Napoleon so much that she completely ignored her womanhood. It's to the point that Baron & Armeda don't even know she's a woman at first, and it takes Caterine to tell her that she's fallen in love with Iori when she can't come to terms with how she feels regarding him; similar to Lady Oscar, Olivier is a really cool character.
Moving on to the World Jr. Tournament, Prince Shaft is the son of Black Shaft and, true to his namesake, is modeled after the mononymous late singer of the same name. This matches up with Penny Lane, the (apparent) child of Miss Shanell who follows in their parent's footsteps by being a man who looks pretty much like a woman, essentially all but being called trans. In fact, the final chapter reveals that Prince & Penny Lane get married, predating same-sex marriage being legalized nationwide in the U.S. by about seven years! However, we also have Sugar Whitie, who maintains his father Mr. Whitie's white supremacist ideals, though now without any connection to the Ku Klux Klan, because you don't have be a KKK member to be a racist; however, the name "Sugar Whitie" is just amazing. That being said, RnK2 isn't solely about just repeating the same countries, as we have new nations now! From Egypt is Horus, the "Child of Ra" whose superblow can afflict his foe with "The Pharaoh's Curse", and even uses "Pyramid Power" when pushed to the brink; he winds up being a major player during the tournament. From Spain there's Ortega, who fights like a matador... and it ends about as well as you think boxing like a matador would. There's also a new Japanese competitor in Mumyou (literally "Nameless"), who is dressed like a mummified bonze & quickly revealed to be a member of the Ashura Clan. Finally, various one-shot Jr. boxers from other countries are seen, like one from Papua New Guinea that's a direct homage to Harimau from Ashita no Joe by bouncing all over the ring, or a Frankenstein's Monster proxy from Switzerland that's literally named "Frankensteiner".
We also see a lot next-gen characters that bear the same names as their fathers, which makes sense, for the most part. We have the sons of Himmler & Göpels over in Germany, both still seemingly without proper first names, though Gehring's son gets the first name Zweist. Meanwhile, "Papa" Helga (now a genius medical doctor) has a son named Georges Diedrich Helga, who's the "Staff Officer" to Xanadu's "President", just like their fathers. In more amusingly silly fashion, though, the Greek boxers have the same names as their fathers, like Apollon, Theseus, Ikaros, Zeus, Hades, & Venus (got to keep the tradition of a Roman deity being included, of course). We also get new ones, like Minotaurus, Kerberos, & Hermes; Medusa even got demoted from God to mere Greek boxer. It's indicated that these might just be last names, as the "Ulysses Family" & "Apollon Family" are spoken of, but all we ever see in either Ring ni Kakero series are these mononyms for every single Greek boxer, so you can't help but tilt your head a little bit at it all. Daddy Apollon does call his boy "サン" in one scene, but that could be read as "Sun" or "son", and both are honestly plausible, in this case. At the very least, Kurumada better ties these characters to their pantheonic namesakes this time around, like nicknaming Apollon "The Sun God" (& Horus is "Son of Ra, the Sun God"), Ikaros "The Heavenly Soaring Brave", or giving Medusa more of a proper snake-haired motif; also... "Mr. Moonlight" Artemis.
Of course, just like the original manga, Ring ni Kakero 2 is over-the-top with its boxing action, only now with a sense of legacy to it. By using his father's Galaxian Exerciser when he was a kid, Rindo starts the manga already capable of doing his father's Galactica Magnum, and after some left jab training with Ishimatsu in Volume 11 has the potential to do the Galactica Phantom. He also eventually learns Ishimatsu's Hurricane Bolt & (in the final chapter) Kawai's Jet Upper, and even fuses moves together to create the Hurricane Magnum/Phantom. Meanwhile, Iori inherited his father's Special Rolling Thunder, calling it the "Raikou Rutenken/Lightning Transmigration Fist", though Iori also manages to one-up his dad by NOT having a trauma-induced mental block on his right arm, creating the 10-hit one-two combination superblow, Raikou Myouou Rutenken/Lighting Wisdom King Transmigration Fist. Both Dino & Nero inherited Don's Cosa Nostra, while Caesar has a three-punch combo in which he quotes Julius Caesar's (alleged) phrase "Veni, Vidi, Vici/I Came, I Saw, I Conquered". Ran inherited his father's Shadow Raijinken & Houkakuken, though interestingly enough never tries using the Ryukyokuha & Meiouken combo; seems Ran still has a ways to go. The Baroa Family boxers have all learned Napoleon's long-range Vacuum Fist, which was originally called the Kamaitachi in RnK but now has a proper French name, Poing à Vide. Baron, though, has his own unique superblow, Poing du Échafaud/Scaffold Fist (as in a scaffold the guillotine stands on), while Raphaël inherited the Demon Propose; no Royal Demon Seed to be seen, unfortunately. Prince not only inherited his father's Black Screw, but later upgrades it into the Black Square, taking a page from Ryuji Takane in the original series; a really nice touch. Finally, while we only actually get to see Xanadu fight at length in the final volume, he did inherit the Skorpion Crash, despite his hatred towards his father. Sugar Whitie even pulls off the original 3-hit Rolling Thunder on Iori!
Finally, there are a handful of new superblows, like Horus' Delta Dead Force, Hermes' Caduceus Hallucination, Zweist Gehring's Broken Doppelgänger, & Penny Lane's Good Night Kiss. The main focus in RnK2 is on showing the old superblows in new ways, so brand new ones are few & far between.
The over-the-top nature doesn't simply apply to the boxing, though, as there are little bits of other supernatural moments in the manga, as well. Nero can to trap a person's soul into the portraits of them he draws, and can even cause harm to the victim, like burning them alive by burning the portrait. Oscar can paralyze someone just by looking at them by having them experience PTSD from a traumatic moment in their past. Horus' superblow literally leaves his foe's body covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs, later revealed to be a form of stigmata, to showcase the full effect of the Pharaoh's Curse itself. Minotaurus makes Prince hallucinate that he's stuck in the Labyrinth during their bout, while Ulysses' Troia Crisis makes Iori hallucinate that he's being attacked by mini Trojans. That being said, it's not like the original Ring ni Kakero was devoid of the supernatural, either, as the original Apollon's blood was said to be that of ichor, the literal "blood of the gods", Sousui had superblows that could delay harm to his opponent until the exact moment he chose to do so, the Kaiser Knuckle that Ryuji was gifted during the Shadow Chapter was later revealed to be one of a pair of dusters made out of literal Orichalcum & could only be wielded by one chosen by the Greek pantheon itself, & Jesus Christ (from Monaco) made Kenzaki hallucinate that Genesis itself was happening to him during their world title match; all of these elements do make a return in RnK2.
Simply put, the Ring ni Kakero franchise as a whole is meant to be taken in a very over-the-top fashion, with the main difference being that while RnK shifted over to that after a semi-realistic start, RnK2 is able to start with that expectation immediately. Therefore, while the original manga was generally beholden to being strictly stuck around boxing in a ring, with only two real exceptions (the Shadow Tower & the entire Ashura Chapter), the sequel can be much more loose about when it has to be actual boxing & when it can be more general fighting. Whereas RnK's Ashura Chapter rubbed me the wrong way partially because it had nothing to do at all with boxing, RnK2's Japan, Italy, & France Chapters, which all have only tenuous links to boxing at best, don't really bother me at all, and that's because the manga started with that looser style; even the fights with the Twelve Gods all happen outside of a boxing ring now.
Finally, we have Kurumada's artwork, which has fully moved over from his iconic style of the 80s into the style he currently uses to this day; B't X was technically the transition, but was rather subtle about it. The way he draws characters, for example, is notably different, though you can still readily identify it as Kurumada; it's really something that can only be best illustrated by direct visual comparison. However, this also results in his take on the Osamu Tezuka Star System being modified somewhat, as while he still re-uses prior character designs in new ways, they're now drawn in a fashion that don't make them quite as immediately apparent as they were between his manga from the 80s & 90s; feelings towards his current style vary, but I really like it. Also, we have much more in terms of background scenery, both in just pure detail as well as BG appearing in more panels per page, in general. Another notable change is in how Kurumada altered the placement of the figurative "camera", as while he still uses the low-angled style he was known for, he's actually now more likely to use high-angled "shots", which in turn adds to the higher prevalence in background scenery being shown off. This also results in RnK2 being very welcoming to understand from a purely visual perspective, which is awesome for a manga that has absolutely no English translation whatsoever; my limited Japanese does allow me to understand more, but you can still get by visually. What does remain, though, is Kurumada's penchant for visual accentuation, with many of the various superblows having some sort of unique splash page visual to go with each one, while references back to the original series often result in the background for said panel or page being a collage of images from the moment or story arc in that manga being referenced.
For a quick final aside, I found it amusing to see Kurumada also use a verse from the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace" by John Newton in the final volume, during Xanadu's fight with Hermes, similar to how the final volume of B't X featured the "For Everything There is a Season" part from Ecclesiastes. Just an amusing little thing, since RnK2 came immediately after B't X, and both feature Christian religious references near the end.
As much as I do indicate in this review that Ring ni Kakero 2 goes against the grain when it comes to being a next-gen sequel to a hit Jump manga, it still does stay true to the style of the original, and features plenty of call backs to iconic moments, repetition of certain plot beats (though usually with different characters), & treats the original with a real sense of veneration. However, Masami Kurumada still made sure that his first ever sequel to a previous work had something to say in regards to how the times change over the decades, and that we shouldn't simply expect things to happen just as they did in the past. Yes, all of the new gen still "put it all in the ring" & push themselves beyond their limits like their fathers & uncles did over two decades ago, but in the end the ones who succeed are those who aim for more than simply "being the best". Rindo & Kyou enter the German Jr. Tournament to help Kawai recover from his mental breakdown. Rindo gets involved with the Giuliano power rift in order to get Ichina back, as Nero tried proposing to her all of a sudden. Rindo doesn't leave the Baroa Family schism alone because he wants to help Caterine out. Rindo & Iori enter the World Jr. Tournament solely because they want to help Ichina pay off her debts. Similarly, people like Apollon, Prince Shaft, & Horus advance far into the Tournament because they want to uphold (or surpass) honorable legacies of who came before them, while those who seek nothing more than "revenge" because of their fathers' losses 21 years prior usually wind up losing. Finally, Xanadu, (G.D.) Helga, Nero, Raphaël, Iori, Ran, & Ryudo fight back against the Twelve Gods all for the sake of Rindo, who they all have come to respect & wish to see become stronger. That said, the entire Twelve Gods of Greece Chapter does feel just ever-so-slightly tacked on, though at least remains thematically relevant. Also, the finale for the series can feel a bit rushed, but part of me wonders if that was part of the point...
To compare to The Last Jedi one last time, the biggest problem with the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was that it didn't have a consistent theme to it, as the first movie liked to call back to the originals, the second wanted to deconstruct & tear apart nostalgia, & the third (for a variety of reasons, including heavy studio interference) tried to negate much of what the second movie did by doubling down on having the new generation be defined by the past. In comparison, Masami Kurumada managed to make Ring ni Kakero 2 a story that does honor the past with its new generation, but also has no problem showing the ramifications of what the old gen did to themselves all those years ago, while also making sure the new gen isn't stuck to following in the shoes of who came before them. Though the final chapter does show a (condensed) championship fight between Rindo & Ryudo, we don't actually see the direct end of it; it's merely referenced slightly by Sousui. However, it really doesn't matter who wins, because prior to the match itself we already see that the two had promised to not do exactly what Ryuji & Kenzaki did 20 years prior; they've chosen to continue living, and will follow their own paths in life. In the end, Ring ni Kakero 2 is a damn good manga, one that works as a very interesting follow-up to the original series, but also works as a standalone story, as its metatextual concept of "don't let what came before you define who you are tomorrow" is a universal one. It may not topple any of Kurumada's best works, but it more than stands tall with them.
If you're wondering where I'd rank Ring ni Kakero 2 among Masami Kurumada's catalog, I'd say that it's currently a solid 4th place, behind the original Ring ni Kakero (1) in 1st, while Saint Seiya & B't X swap between 2nd & 3rd, depending on the day & my mood.
Manga © Masami Kurumada 2000-2008
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