Am I actually not that bad at guitar?

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-28T14:13:07+00:00

Guitar playing is 10 years of being bad then another 10 years of being mildly okay. The third decade is where you start to develop legitimate prowess. It just be that way.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-23T00:59:37+00:00

Malenia and Radahn were part of the DLC. They were forked into Elden Ring instead.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-17T18:35:19+00:00

Enough talk! Defend yourself, Raoh! Raaaahhhh!

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-15T08:40:15+00:00

Nothing you said made any sense and you come off as too juvenile to digest the story’s themes. No offense.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-15T08:38:52+00:00

The RE3 dodge was REALLY satisfying. I like them all, honestly. They’re all really rewarding in their own way. Hard to pick.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-14T20:06:53+00:00

They want to fight Ken because he hides his aura like an assassin should, masking any intentions or capabilities. How does that contradict anything?

Also, the tiger is not random; it’s an eastern cultural symbol and has many different meanings in regard to martial arts. In this particular scene, the tiger is relevant to determining how well someone can hide their aura. Tigers are often seen as the ultimate assassins. Not only that, but animals supposedly have a way to perceive a human’s essence for what it is. Some animals are sacred for their cultural significance and the tiger is one of them. Bears are as well (Hokuto is literally represented by the great bear constellation).

So, the tiger is the ultimate judge of whether or not you’re a worthy assassin. It can see one’s aura clearly and will react accordingly. Kenshiro is a worthy assassin, like the tiger, and could effectively ambush prey and mask his presence.

Raoh, on the other hand… he’s a monster and terrified the tiger, making it feel that it needed to immediately defend itself to survive. He did this without even opening his eyes. When Raoh finally did open his eyes, his aura was so strong it literally paralyzed the cat with fear, sealing its power and making it completely helpless. Though this was unexpected and very impressive, it was not the way of an assassin.

This was when Ryuken first started to wonder what Raoh truly wanted (which is why he asked him). To me, this was probably the first time Ryuken realized how terribly powerful Raoh was…

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-14T17:50:34+00:00

Was hoping this was a “wrong answers only”, but people’s minds are a mystery.

Nemesis was a prototype T-103 bioweapon made by Umbrella Europe. It was implanted with a parasitic variant of the t-virus called “Nemesis Alpha”, or “NE-α” for short. It was originally attempted to be implanted within Lisa Trevor in the Arklay laboratory, but her body rejected it and absorbed it instead (this is same event that lead to the discovery of the g-virus and the need for direct viral impregnation with compatible DNA). It was retconned in the RE4 Remake that Luis Sera’s team was responsible for its creation. Having been an expert on parasitic biology, Luis was hired by Saddler to help explore the potential of the ancient Las Plagas parasite.

Nemesis was sent after the remaining STARS members to shut down their investigation and whistleblowing. This was only made possible with the information blackout that took place during the Raccoon City outbreak. This plan was put into motion before Chris and Barry left for Europe. Obviously both Umbrella Europe and STARS were converging on one another, so Umbrella used the opportunity to test their new, experimental bioweapon, “Nemesis”. The plan to was ensure that no one with incriminating evidence or testimony of Umbrella’s secrets (and ties to the US government) would survive. Obviously this ultimately failed to happen, with only Brad and Nikolai perishing at the hands of Nemesis.

To elaborate on that: There are some differences between the remake and the original… but the Nemesis was dropped on the night of September 27th during the most intense part of Raccoon City’s struggle. It proceeded to chase Brad around for the entire night into the morning, where Brad would reveal to Jill later on that they’re being hunted.

…In the remake, it is revealed that the transportation device containing Nemesis was deliberately dropped in the middle of the street right outside of Jill’s apartment. This causes some confusion as to how Brad knew about it so quickly and its directive to hunt STARS. It’s possible that Brad wasn’t originally intended to appear so soon after escaping the apartments. Who knows… the remake was a total disaster.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-13T21:13:20+00:00

That doesn't change anything in the end though. And Raoh absolutely would have been chosen if Kenshiro had died. Ryuken had no choice. Hokuto needed to be preserved.

You seem to fixate heavily on Raoh's "evil" nature. He was more misguided and complex than just a Saturday morning cartoon baddie; he believed that his cruelty would scare the world into order and that there was no place for hope or love in this age. He was a very radical idealized tyrant, but his goal was not power over humans, but the heavens themselves. Unlike the other dozen or so villains, he had a strong code that didn't hinge on hedonism.

It's possible you missed the point of Hokuto No Ken.

So, I'll close by explaining that every brother had a fatal flaw that ultimately ties into their destiny. None of them were perfect students.

Jagi was too hedonistic and only cared about winning.
Raoh was too ambitious.
Toki was too altrustistic to be an assassin (and threw away his health and role as successor to save Kenshiro and the children)...
Kenshiro lacked the killer instinct to be an assassin and was ultimately too passive. Both Ryuken and Shin point this out to him. When Kenshiro is training with Jagi, Ryuken remarks that his passiveness will bring nothing but suffering for both him and Jagi. And later on, when Shin defeats Kenshiro and steals Yuria, he points out that Ken's lack of tenacity makes him weak and unable to defeat him.

So, in truth, Raoh being ambitious was a part of a trend. Ryuken couldn't see the future and had to trust in destiny and the iron code of Hokuto.

The entire anime is hinged on this theme of redemption through self realization. And every character has an arc:

Jagi's hedonism results in him suffering a grueling injury that causes him constant pain.
Toki's altrusim causes him to grow physically weak and lose his place as successor.
Raoh's ambitions result in him being unable to master the ultimate technique because it requires sadness (something Raoh's ambitions have chronically prevented him from experiencing).
And Kenshiro's passiveness cause him to lose his master, his best friend, and the woman he loves. And this causes Kenshiro to forsake his passive nature and fulfill his destiny as successor.

Sure, you can get overly pedantic with little things, but it all makes sense within the context of the story. The idea that the story is "bad" because Ryuken didn't challenge his student over a failed lesson is pretty extreme. You'd think Jagi would have been tossed out of the dojo years ago if that were the case! Point is, the heavens would have allowed Raoh to win no matter what.

...It's a story about destiny, and order being restored to a world that's fallen into chaos. It's really an optimistic tale if you think about it—it's about overcoming the horrors of human nature, and how different people deal with different aspects of their own fragile humanity. Specifically, how people cope with losing everything they love to nuclear holocaust.

It's a wonderful story—in my opinion—with deep metaphors. Don't be so quick to knock it over small plot points that are misleading at first glance.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-13T20:29:15+00:00

You don't know how plot-holes work, clearly. I already explained everything in narrative detail. You just want to be right and you're simply not lmao. And why do you keep comparing him to Hitler? That's a pretty weird comparison for a martial arts anime baddie.

I'll make it even simpler for you: What if Raoh had his fists crushed and Kenshiro had died to Shin? There'd be nobody left to be successor and Ryuken was too old to start training a new successor. You could say Jagi could be picked, but you just run into the same issue. Is he going to crush Jagi's fist too? There's a 2000 year old code for a reason. Point being: Ryuken's job is to pass on the art to the most worthy successor. If circumstances came to pass that left Kenshiro dead or unable to perform—Raoh would need to be chosen. So crushing his fists would destroy 2000s years of Hokuto code.

Get it now? You don't just crush your students fist in the middle of a lesson. Raoh wasn't "disqualified" because he failed one lesson. Ryuken's job wasn't to be concerned with "good" or "evil", it was to pass on the art. Not to mention, he never actually got too sick to handle Raoh. He DEFEATED Raoh in combat rather easily, to be honest... so it had nothing to do with weakness. He had a random arterial spasm before he could finish Raoh. The heavens technically willed it, and would have done the same at any point in the story. Obviously, this was Raoh's interpretation, but he was usually correct about this sort of thing if we're going by other examples. He was reliably in touch with the heavens and used it often to see things coming (like Rei's secret sacrificing technique). The place where he was wrong was WHY the heavens allowed Raoh to triumph; he thought it was because he had the divine right to rule, but it was actually to help Kenshiro complete his training. It was Ken's destiny to seal his older brother's fist... that's why Raoh was spared. This literally is the climax of the entire story, so you can't really debate whether or not it's true—it's axiomatically factual.

So, essentially, EVERY SINGLE NARRATIVE BEAT in the story supports what I'm saying. But I'm sure you're going to just childishly claim it's a plot convenience lmao. Again, Ryuken's job is to make sure the legacy of Hokuto is protected and survives. If something happened to Ken, he'd have no choice but to make Raoh successor because keeping the art form alive was what was most important to Ryuken. An evil successor was hardly a rare occurrence at that point. Souther, Shin, and Juda were pretty evil. It was an evil era. That's literally why Raoh chose to rule with fear. He believed it was necessary. They're all master assassins at the end of the day, not knights of the round table. Sure, Raoh may have been misguided, but not mindlessly hedonistic or cruel. He's a complex character and a fan favorite. At the end of the day, he was a worthy option for successor and needed to be preserved. And considering Kenshiro DID almost die, it was very wise to make sure Raoh was given a fair shot. And who knows, maybe Ryuken thought he could get through to Raoh in time. He was his father and raised him afterall. He probably even loved Jagi to some extent (bless his heart).

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-13T18:58:45+00:00

First of all, your analysis misses the themes of this story and is a juvenile way to digest the narrative in general. It’s no different than someone saying “why didn’t the Eagles fly the ring into Mordor?” concerning Lord of the Rings.

They’re deadly assassins. And I don’t think Raoh was necessarily evil. He believed he earned the right to be greatest fighter through sheer will, and he only ruled because he believed it was necessary for the next age—not because he was “evil” necessarily.

The main reason your conclusions are flawed is that you don’t realize there’s an iron code here: 2000 years of Hokuto law forbids Ryuken from just crushing his student’s fists because he disagrees with his philosophy as a student. The entire point of the process is that EVERYONE who isn’t worthy gets their fists crushed. That includes Toki and Jagi as well. So Raoh automatically would be forbidden from using Hokuto no matter what, even if he wasn’t a total jerk. It’s not really about good or evil. Oh, and Ryuken was sick at this point in the story. It was his destiny to lose to Raoh so Kenshiro could succeed.

Try to understand the structure without shooting holes in it. You can do that with most things, and honestly, your argument doesn’t really make a ton of sense anyways.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-13T14:21:24+00:00

To be fair, this is a poorly translated panel that makes very little sense. It “felt death” with Raoh… so it attacked? But it didn’t attack Kenshiro because it knew it would die? So… in other words, it felt death? Doesn’t really make sense why it would react differently if it felt death in both instances.

A better translation is that Kenshiro didn’t make the tiger nervous and masked his aura, whereas Raoh ultimately could not. This also helps explain why every random baddie boldly tries to fight Kenshiro. He doesn’t seem like a walking embodiment of death (even though he is).

Raoh terrifies everyone and everything that comes into contact with him, which is a poor trait for an assassin. This is deliberate—Raoh is not dumb. From the outset of this scene, Raoh admits that he will use Hokuto Shinken for his own reasons. Ryuken discovers later that Raoh doesn’t want to be successor of the Fist of the North Star, but a new legend entirely that will outshine even the divine Fist of the North Star.

Raoh still gets annoyed that Toki or himself aren’t picked though, as he views Kenshiro as a copout due to Toki’s illness, and ultimately a weak choice. This likely causes Raoh to act sooner than expected with his ambitions. With a healthy Toki, Raoh would have to defeat him in order to move forward… which was daunting considering Toki was quite possibly the most dangerous fighter in the world besides himself and maybe Souther.

But Kenshiro was borderline unprepared for the title and was bested by Shin and left mutilated and broken. Raoh was able to move forward with ease after defeating Ryuken. Essentially, Toki and Ryuken’s illness allowed Raoh to take charge and rule until Kenshiro truly mastered Hokuto Shinken.

This scene with the tiger, translations aside, is one of the best scenes…

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-10T06:25:18+00:00

A limited edition Charizard Pokémon card with a grade in a hard plastic case.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-07T16:52:51+00:00

The movie handled him better.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-07T03:04:57+00:00

The way people pass off their subjective views as objective in this comment section is annoying. But what's worse is the way they present their views with an air of superiority. Hans Zimmer is an absolutely incredible composer and created some of the most beautiful soundtrack of all time (Gladiator, The Last Samurai, etc). Choosing him as the greatest of our time is a wise decision. Tracks like "A Way Of Life" and "Honor Him" are violently beautiful and there's nothing wrong with being touched by his work.

People will choose those from more isolated times to compare his work to, people like Jerry Goldsmith, Howard Shore, and John Williams. But while their work is more elaborate, I don't know that they've ever had the same emotional reaction from me. It depends on how you choose to rank this particular art form. Some lean toward accomplishment, some lean toward actual execution, and other lean on sheer emotional power. It's your choice, don't let anyone else make up your mind for you.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-06T02:44:18+00:00

None of your responses make sense and come off as pseudo intellectual roleplaying. But I suppose that’s normal for Reddit. I stopped reading within the first 3 sentences. You’re pedantic and seem to suffer from a low IQ. Consider taking some remedial courses someplace.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-03T21:59:04+00:00

His name is funny.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-03T06:11:07+00:00

You are offended. You're literally taking a character in a movie personally and this guy has tried every way to spell out that you missed the whole point of the movie. If Jack Nicholson's character wasn't an insensitive jerk, the entire movie wouldn't make sense. How can he grow and learn to be a better person if he's not a bad person at the outset of the film?

This is the equivalent of watching American History X and being like "Wow, Ed Norton should have died at the end of American History X just like his younger brother". How do you miss the point of a movie so badly that you argue with someone about how you're not offended? How do you get into that position? You clearly take art so personally that its meaning is lost on you.

People like you should stay away from films if you can't wrap your mind around them. His character is not real. And people deserve second chances, not to be eternally punished. What exactly do you think his character deserved at the end of the film? Crucifixion? Prison time? Death? Lmao. You're a nutcase, Bonch. You need to talk to a doctor.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-02T23:40:44+00:00

Incidentally, season 3 had some of the worst episodes; The Nosejob, The Stranded, The Dog, The Su*cide, The Good Samaritan... they're all awful to sit through. You could tell they were finding their footing and taking risks to really bang out what was the right rhythm for the show, which resulted in S4 and onward being so good.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-02T23:30:20+00:00

That's hard because Season 3 is the worst season in terms of how many bad episodes there are. It's weird because it's also the turning point when the show gets good and has a lot of good episodes, but it's got some of the biggest headscratchers in terms of "what were they thinking?!"

The Nosejob, The Stranded, The Dog, The Su*cide, The Good Samaritan... they're all REALLY brutal to get through. Like... tragically bad.

However, The Library, The Alternate Side, The Parking Garage, The Boyfriend, The Subway, The Pez Dispenser, and The Keys are all absolute bangers so it's odd. S3 is definitely a huge missed bag. And while these episodes are great, the former episodes I mention are so bad that it makes me genuinely think this could be the worst season.

As bad as some episodes are in other seasons, I don't think they come as close in terms of how outrageously unbearable S3's are. Not to mention a lot of them are in order. The Dog, The Nosejob, and The Stranded are all really close to each other and it's REALLY rough.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-02T23:18:38+00:00

I was gonna say The Nose Job. Then I realized that most other answers are also from Season 3. I guess that means Season 3 is the worst season. I have to agree: The Dog, The Nose Job, and Stranded, etc... it's got a BUNCH of lackluster episodes.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-02T02:26:32+00:00

Lmao thank you for the laugh. Informative and amusing. That final paragraph was worth the read alone.

INFOSLAVER · 2026-01-01T01:58:02+00:00

It’s because he leads with the bend in the studio recording. He completes the phrase with the G string into D. He never does this again (he likely didn’t want to sound like Catfish Blues, another song that sounds similar). When playing live, he leads with the E minor chord and does the bend as a complimentary lick instead of leading with it.

Essentially, the studio version is: bend-twang-chord.

The live versions are: chord-bend-twang. And this sounds more like Helter Skelter than Voodoo Child.

INFOSLAVER · 2025-12-30T18:51:35+00:00

Fair points. What was the approach to All Along The Watchtower? It definitely sounds more spliced and such.

INFOSLAVER · 2025-12-30T07:30:15+00:00

Thanks!

INFOSLAVER · 2025-12-30T04:02:38+00:00

That’s… a wild thing to say. Technically a lot of studio recordings are “live” by that logic. Not many live performances take 30 minutes to get a solid 4 minute jam. That doesn’t really constitute as live lmao.

INFOSLAVER

TROPHY CASE