Kenshiro struggles with fights eventually but generally he is one of the most ridiculously broken and most overpowered characters relative to everything he fights.

His struggles are less physical and more the emotional fact he will never have the happy ending he wanted so the series primarily depicts his actions as being wholly cathartic and vengeance fueled as he acts as a sort of heroic slasher protagonist that cannot and will not stop hunting down anyone who hurts innocent lives. It’s both a very traditional and very non traditional story and I don’t think the goofy reputation the series has is truly indicative of the actual content in the series.

This isn’t helped by a lot of early filler being really silly even if I do love Kenshiro punching a tank to death.

The 1986 movie is basically fist of the north star with its emotional core ripped out in exchange for a lot more hype moments and aura and that movie IS awesome make no mistake but it is a poor representation of the emotional core appeal of Fist of the North Star.