The story of Riki-Oh is about a "Violence Hero" whose seeks to understand his purpose and uncover his family roots, however his journey is filled with action, sorrow and a surprising religious undertone often hinting at repentance.

At first glance, Riki-Oh just seems to be about a guy who punches people and makes them die violently; just juvenile stuff. But to those familiar with manly series, know that basic plots often leads to a more developed main character; a man who embodies the traits of a good person but is willing to become violent to protect the weak and punish evil.

It goes without saying that this series is a seinen but feels like a shonen most of the time. This is due to the story being heavily influenced by Fist Of The North Star aka Hokuto no Ken. Riki-Oh as a character definitely bears strong resemblance to Kenshiro but thankfully the series is vastly different from the Hokuto no Ken series, however I personally like to label Riki-Oh as an "unofficial prequel" to Fist Of The North Star.

Much of the content in Riki-Oh is action heavy as the first story arc takes place in prison which often leads to Riki-Oh to kill a villainous thug or martial artist. That alone is enough to draw a comparison to Hokuto no Ken but the series often make obvious "references" with a good example is our main character Riki-Oh Saiga whose a martial artist bearing 5 bullets in his chest and a Star of David on his fist much like Kenshiro's 7 scars shaped like the big dipper and is martial artist, etc. Furthermore, the world of Riki-Oh is on the verge of being placed in a apocalyptic setting due to the high death toll caused by radioactivity. These factors along with the story's structure of a manly hero violently killing villains with his fists makes Riki-Oh a series to cater to shonen fans, specifically those who enjoy a 1980's shonen.

That being said, you don't have to be a fan of Fist Of The North Star to enjoy this series as there's some good and bad in Riki-Oh. The basic plot is Riki-Oh searching for the whereabouts of his brother, but along the way the tone takes a turn for a more religious story involving the life of his father. Taking this a step at a time, Riki-Oh can be separated into 3 arcs the first being in prison, the 2nd involving his brother and last the tale involving his father. Out of the 3, the father story is the one that brings some questionable writing as it feels a bit out of place but is taken very seriously that it leaves me a bit flustered whether to accept or not. I'm getting ahead of myself so let me elaborate on the early chapters.

The Prison Arc begins rather simple but enjoyable as it mainly follows a bad guy of the week formula where Riki-Oh just battles random prisoners but thankfully the series manages to make this starting point quite entertaining due to its violence. Being nicknamed "Violence Hero", Riki-Oh certainly lives up to his name as every battle involves over-the-top violence such as flying jaws, flying eyes, flying brains, flying hearts- everything goes flying when hit by Riki-Oh!! Much of the fun factor in this series is the amazing yet disturbing fight scenes involving the total obliteration of the human body. The gore in this series is drawn with very realistic detail making anyone cringe at certain fight scenes. While the series does develop into more insightful material, the violence in Riki-Oh is here to stay, promising to deliver some gory mayhem.

In terms of story, the prison arc certainly helps in understanding the mindset of our hero and establishes the vulgar and gritty world that is Riki-Oh as it explores corruption and the evils of men. Once the arc finishes, it heads into more supernatural territory often involving science fiction. Basically, the series introduces cyborgs, giant elephants, mutant-like villains, and some martial arts ki energy. This shift in tone is a bit sudden but the series was already over-the-top to begin with so these additions aid its unique setting. This content is featured in the "Brother Arc" as this is arguably the best part of the Riki-Oh series. While most manly series have an emphasis on tragedy and grief, Riki-Oh is a character who is filled with regret which separates him from plenty of characters even those outside of shonen. What I never hear from people talking about this series is Riki-Oh's personal struggle with his past sin and how he is willing to repent. Riki-Oh abandoned his brother for wealth thereby establishing a hero with genuine guilt, which is something that isn't explored that often (Rurouni Kenshin being the best example). In short, Riki-Oh's character is explored in this arc as he confronts his brother along with facing his mistakes. This dilemma places Riki-Oh as a self-loathing character who seeks for punishment rather than forgiveness and that itself is very remarkable. While Riki-Oh does belittle his own life as insignificant and foul, I felt the story helped Riki-Oh discover his identity as a human being; nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. Many events occur in this arc that it nearly felt as the series should've ended here with the battle between the two brothers but for better or worse the series continues for one more arc involving his father.

The last arc is the longest of the three and at times feels a bit unnecessary as most of the content are random fights showing off the badass feats of Riki-Oh. What makes the last arc questionable are its plot twist involving a lot of religious content with both Jewish and Christian sects. I don't want to spoil things, but the remainder of the story does add a bit of humanity to Riki-Oh's soul as he now has a purpose to rid the world of evil. The problem is if these plot twists can be taken seriously or at least be found believable to some extent. While this manga does indeed have multiple outrageous elements that do require some disbelief, the story does feel a bit made up on the spot. A good example of this is Riki-Oh's sensei who seems to know everything in the story but never tells his student such important plot points till the last second. There's also some character death scenes that are abrupt and don't feel tragically emotional as the author certainly intended. I'm confused in whether to say that the final chapters had bad writing as these events help Riki-Oh develop more into a human being which also gives fourth his identity as a character. The author certainly took these turns very seriously but I never found it as shock value nor did I feel too bothered by the conclusion. I guess its one of those moments where I feel the author may not have planned everything out but somehow pulls it off with the challenges their characters' face. These extra scenarios allowed for Riki-Oh to understand himself and found his purpose in life. He also learned the importance of forgiveness to others and to himself. So I feel the last chapters may come as jarring for some readers but it doesn't ruin the story as a whole.

Riki-Oh is a great series thats pays huge tribute to Fist Of The North Star, but sadly the story never had a villain that can be considered anyone's favorite. While every enemy certainly played their part well in the story, I personally would've liked the series to had more "major" antagonists as most of them are just fodder when compared to Riki-Oh. Despite that little nitpick, Riki-Oh should be considered a manly classic to fans of manly series and should be entertaining to anyone reading this series.