Martial arts championship - explicit, gory, brutal, grotesque. Intriguing beginning with philosophical question: what is the best way to resolve a dispute (e.g. between merchants)? The answer might be surprising: violence (like a duel), because this method resolves conflict definitively, and everybody accept the outcome. The legend is that a child emperor of Japan in 17th century ordered merchants who were assassinating each other to resolve their disputes in fights between hired champions. Allegedly, tradition survived to these days, so corporations of Japan resolve their disputes by hiring strongest fighters they can find to represent them in underground fights. Hence fights are not just for thrill or for show or for gamble but mostly to grow influence (e.g. to win development contract).
Unfortunately intrigue quickly dries up, devolving into brutal fights between extraordinary fighters with superhuman abilities. Cliches are many, like fighters being beaten beyond hope of winning, unrealistically (because in reality even strongest fighters would be dead), but deep within themselves they suddenly find motivation to win so they access previously inaccessible resource and defeat stronger opponent in the last moment against all odds. That pattern is repeated too many times.
In some sense show is entertaining enough, yet boring at the same time.
Being "a Netflix original anime series", of course they had to embed deadly virus to the story: one fighter is killed by infecting him with a deadly virus (while another fighter had "antibodies"). Netflix is a reliable supplier of propaganda and violent entertainment...
This tournament is essentially a stratagem battle between companies.
Every ambition comes along with sacrifices.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/36903/Kengan_Ashura
https://myanimelist.net/anime/40269/Kengan_Ashura_Part_2
