Although cats and dogs don’t always mix, apparently dogs and Samurai do. This story
has shown us all what life can be like for those who are judged just for being different than their
peers. We were also able to see how great it can be for them to prove all of their doubters wrong.
With the wide range of personalities in this film, from friends to enemies,
we thought it would be a good idea to rank the characters based on morality.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” good to evil.
And also - spoilers ahead.
We are going to start off with the purest and most moral characters in
this movie first, otherwise known as the good. Starting off with our gold medal of good, we have
the young but courageous Emiko. Emiko has a lot of pride and honor in her village, so much so that
she appears to be the only person that is brave enough to stand up for it. She tries to defend
Kakamucho (Caca-Moo-Cho) on her own during both the cat bandit raid and the attack from Sumo. On
top of being fearless, Emiko is also clever. This is demonstrated by the fact that it was her idea
to request a new Samurai from the Shogun. Because of this, she initially saves Hank’s life from her
angry peers and puts a lot of trust in him and his abilities. Through her inspiration, Emiko becomes
the reason Hank chooses to continue fighting for her village. She even makes an origami version
of Hank in order for him to never forget who he is. She is initially the only person who believes
in Hank, and in return, she receives the same respect from him. During the flood, she notably
jumps in the water in an act to save her friends, adding another heroic deed to her list. This,
on top of all of her actions, makes her more than deserving of being named Kakamucho’s new samurai.
Next, our silver medal of good goes to the movie’s main protagonist, Hank. Being the
only dog in a land full of cats can’t be easy for anyone, especially when they all hate you. Hank
had a difficult life before his success. He was bullied as a child, was captivated as a prisoner,
and was attempted to be killed by many cats. Despite this, Hank still chooses to help defend
Kakamucho and become the best samurai he can be. His main goal is to help others like himself;
those who are picked on and are not always able to stand up for themselves. He endures
Jimbo’s intense training which eventually pays off in his favor. However, although he
is usually a hard worker who is willing to do what it takes to protect everyone, he did go
back on his word with Jimbo to train so he could go clubbing with Ika Chu instead.
Much of this was due to his pride after he thought he had defeated Sumo on his own when in reality,
it was Jimbo who mainly defeated Sumo with the use of edamame. This decision to go clubbing
proved to be a fatal mistake as Kakamucho ended up being raided while he was gone. However,
after letting everyone down, he decides to return and help Jimbo free Sumo from his imprisonment.
When Jimbo got caught up in a fight, Hank refused to leave him behind, only for Sumo to pull him
away. In the end, Hank ended up coming up with the idea to build a fake village out of paper
to distract Ika Chu’s ambush. He also formulated the plan of digging up a moat to trap the water
during the flood. Following his plan’s success, he demonstrates selflessness by giving up his
newly given Samurai position to Emiko. The bronze medal of gold goes to Hank’s
teacher and mentor, Jimbo. Although he was reluctant to help out Hank at first,
even pushing Hank into a fight to get beat up on his own, Jimbo eventually sticks to his Samurai
oath and trains Hank to be the best defender he can be. After all, Jimbo saving Hank from bullies
was the main reason that Hank wanted to become a samurai in the first place. We will cut Jimbo some
slack on his aversion from his Samurai days since he became distraught for accidentally ruining
Toshi’s birthday party and hurting his in-laws. He eventually makes a complete turnaround,
defeating Sumo with edamame but letting Hank keep the credit for it. After Hank’s newfound success
got to his head, Jimbo tried to save Sumo from prison on his own, and eventually risks his own
life so Hank and Sumo can escape. Jimbo later heroically saves Hank’s life and is proud of
everything that his apprentice accomplished. He even gives up his new samurai position to
Hank who he is proud to call his new friend. Next on our list is the small but impactful
Shogun Toshi (Toe-She). After receiving a request from Kakamucho for a new samurai
since their old one ran away, he immediately appointed a new one to them, no questions asked.
He is clearly strongly against Ika Chu’s plans of destroying Kakamucho and is willing to
nominate whoever is most deserving of becoming their new samurai. He goes from Jimbo to Hank,
and finally Emiko, even giving them a new sword without questioning their abilities. He also has
no hard feelings toward Jimbo for accidentally ruining his birthday party many years ago.
Rounding off our good category is Sumo. Despite punching several horses and terrorizing an entire
village, there’s a lot more to this massive beast than meets the eye. After being defeated for the
first time, Sumo puts a lot of faith and trust in Hank and Jimbo, even risking his life for
them. Sumo helped Kakamucho immensely by digging a majority of the moat to prevent the massive
flood from destroying the village. We like to think his past destructive self was mainly due
to following orders from his evil superiors, and that he truly only wanted a friend.
Moving on, we reach the characters that are considered neutral, otherwise known as the
gray area. Ichiro is first in this category.
There is not much to say about Ichiro other than his common hatred for dogs and inability to listen
to full directions before firing a weapon. Despite this, he does go out of his way to thank Hank
since he thought Hank defeated Sumo. This takes a lot of respect, even if it was in private.
Ohga (Oh-Guh), Ika Chu’s (Like Pikachu with no P) assistant lands next on our list.
Ohga works for the worst cat in town, to whom he clearly looks up to. However, it is apparent that
Ohga seems to be too clueless to truly understand how evil Ika Chu really is. However, he does offer
to beat up everyone in Kakamucho and doesn’t ever make a big enough effort to try and stop Ika-Chu,
which does bring him down a few points. We are hoping that Ohga can change his ways
and use his strength for the greater good instead. Rounding off the gray category is Chuck. Chuck
is obnoxious and seems to yearn for glory over anything else. He first takes Emiko’s credit for
requesting a new samurai from the Shogun, allowing everyone to praise him for such a great idea.
When Hank came to Kakamucho as the new Samurai, Chuck told his whole village to kill
him just because he is a dog. However, Chuck eventually comes to his senses and learns to
thank and respect Hank for defending Kakamucho. Ending off our list is the character who is the
least moral and falls in the bad to evil category. Fitting this description is no one other than Ika
Chu. Ika Chu is the definition of evil and selfish, as his main goal is to get rid of
Kakamucho for the sake of keeping his village perfect with a better view. He does whatever he
can to be the successor to the Shogun, even if it means putting others in danger. He has no problem
with killing dogs or keeping them as prisoners. He is even okay with killing other cats for messing
up his sculptures. Ika Chu’s whole reasoning for appointing Hank as the new Kakamucho Samurai
was so that Hank would be killed by the cats that lived there. In their final duel, he tries to kill
Hank again, this time on his own. Of course, he fails and is unable to be saved by his assistant,
Ohga. Overall, Ika Chu is the movie’s real villain and easily earns his spot as the most evil.
Now, let’s wrap up the list by awarding some medals.
The Darwin Medal goes to Ohga for his lack of awareness of Ika Chu’s evil actions and deeds.
The Pride Medal goes to Hank, who let his head get too big when he thought
he defeated Sumo on his own. The Sloth Medal goes to Jimbo,
who was reluctant to help train Hank to become a better samurai when Hank first asked.
Lastly, the Wrath Medal goes to Ika Chu for hurting others and
inflicting violence just to get what he wants. Let us know in the comments below if you agree
with our ranking! Who do you think is the most and least moral? Let us know what we should cover
next, and be sure to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist,
where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows, and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!