Hello, my friends. In honor of Hugh Jackman’s final hurrah as everyone’s favorite Canucklehead hitting theaters this month, the timing seems perfect for us to dig into another entry of…
Last time, we saw our Armored Avenger try to install an Arc Reactor plant in Japan while having to fend off an evil organization that looked to throw him under a bad sign. As shown during that entry, a particular character showed up during one episode. Now, it’s time for him to shine as we focus this review on…
Originally debuting on January 7 to March 25, 2011 on Japan’s Animax channel and July 23 to October 14, 2011 on America’s G4 channel before seeing a DVD release on July 31, 2012, this marks the second anime series between Marvel Entertainment and the Japanese animation studio known as Madhouse. What exactly brought everyone’s favorite mutant to the land of the rising sun? Let’s dive in and find out.
We begin with Episode 1 “Mariko” as the series presents its lone pre-title scene. As we open in New York City at night, two lovers share a tender moment with each other as James Howlett a.k.a. Logan a.k.a. Wolverine (voiced by Milo Ventimiglia) expresses his love to his Japanese sweetheart Mariko Yashida (voiced by Gwedoline Yeo).
Suddenly, a trio of A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) agents rise up out of the water. Just as Logan shields Mariko, they fire away as he gets pelted by a barrage of bullets.
Fortunately, his Healing Factor kicks in as his wounds completely vanish. From there, he leaps towards the agents as he unsheathes his adamantium claws in order to unleash his attack.
Following the title sequence, we cut to one year later where Agent Tesshin Asano (voiced by Crispin Freeman) is getting pursued on the NYC rooftops by another group of A.I.M. agents who make their presence known by de-cloaking themselves in front of him.
He tries firing his gun at them, but they were equipped with a force field that blocks his shots. From there, they fire a hi-tech device at him with causes him to keel over in pain. If that wasn’t enough, the weapon’s sonic disruptions are powerful enough to shatter his gun, his glasses, his watch and even his own badge.
Fortunately for him, a can of beer falls into the line of fire as it explodes its foam onto the villainous agents. After they call off their attack, they discover Wolverine standing just above them as he assures Asano that he’ll take care of these “pansies”.
From there, he proceeds to effortlessly slash two opposing agents as the remaining three foes are forced into cloaking themselves.
Unfortunately for them, Logan uses his heightened sense of smell to find and stab two more A.I.M. agents.
However, the remaining felon managed to grab Asano as the two of them struggle against each other before they slip and fall off the side of the building. As such, Wolverine jumps down to save his friend.
Shortly after Asano frees himself from the A.I.M. agent, Logan catches up and grabs onto his arm. From there, James proceeds to jab his claws into the building in order to ease their descent. As such, they stop mere inches from the ground as they arrive next to the newly-deceased A.I.M. agent’s corpse.
A short time later, Logan and Asano meet up in a basement pub where Tesshin proceeds to explain why Mariko was taken from our hero. He tells of a crime organization called the Kuzuryu (named after a nine-headed dragon from Japanese legend & folklore), which happens to be the biggest and most vicious criminal federation within the entire Yakuza. They’re also financed by A.I.M., who uses them to send out money and weapons throughout the entirety of Asia. Logan then learns about the Kuzuryu’s leader, Shingen Yashida (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), father of Mariko.
Unlike most crime bosses who sit around and run their operations from behind closed doors, Shingen isn’t afraid of engaging others in combat since he’s a master swordsman. Asano also explains that he and the Public Intelligence Security Agency has been tracking the crime lord’s activities in order to gather enough evidence for an arrest and bring the Kuzuryu crashing down.
Logan also learns that Mariko is getting forced into marriage. It turns out that she’s engaged to a guy named Hideki Kurohagi (voiced by Vic Mignogna of Fullmetal Alchemist & Star Trek Continues fame). He inherited his criminal empire after his father died from “suspicious circumstances” (to the point where Asano explains of a widely-spread belief that Hideki may have been response for his dad’s demise) and runs it on an island called Madripoor (which is also a sovereign state) as the spit of land has become a hotbed for criminal activities. He lives there within a skyscraper that towers above the whole land. Hideki’s marriage to Mariko would allow Shingen to have a brand new base of operations while Kurohagi gets properly funded. After learning that Mariko has been taken to her father’s Tokyo base, the scene ends with Logan heading out to get her back.
We then have a quick flashback where Logan and Mariko tell each other how relived they feel by the fact that they have each other to confide in before it ends with them embracing each other.
Back in the present, we have a quick scene where Logan is taking a flight to Japan as he promises Mariko that he’ll find her and that they’ll be together again.
Sometime later, Logan arrives in Tokyo. With Shigen’s compound surrounded by security cameras and guards, he casually walks by the front gate. Hiding out across the street is Agent Machida (voiced by Roger Craig Smith of Batman and Sonic The Hedgehog fame) who wonders why James is strolling past the main gate. Watching close by from a surveillance van is Asano, who’s alongside Agent Takagi (also voiced by Vic Mignogna) and Agent Tsukino (voiced by Stephanie Sheh of Sailor Moon and Naruto fame). He proceeds to tell his fellow agents that for now, Wolverine is calling the shots. Just as he turns the corner, James manages to elude Machida and proceeds to enter the compound.
He proceeds to stealthily make his way thorough the trees and hides out at a fair distance from the building as Logan sees Mariko emerge from within. However, Shingen senses a disturbance as he grabs his katana blade and heads outside.
Just as he confronts his daughter and his fellow guards, Shingen demonstrates how “a clear mind sees all” as he throws his blade out towards the garden. Fortunately, Logan dodges in time as he’s forced to make his presence known, especially to Mariko’s surprise. He’s then surrounded by Shingen’s guards as they aim their guns at him while Asano and company watch via the security cameras that his team hacked into.
Logan announces his intention to take Mariko back home since he treats her like an actual person while her father had to kidnap his own daughter just to make her perform a “duty to her family”. As such, Shingen gives the order to kill Wolverine. Fortunately, our hero manages to effortlessly defeat the guards without even needing to use his claws.
Shingen then challenges Logan to a duel as the rest of the guards surround him. James learns that if he wins, Mariko will be allowed to leave with him. As Wolverine accepts and heads inside, Asano and company are not able to watch since there’s no security camera within the building.
Armed with wooden swords, the two of them begin their duel. During the fight, Shingen lives up his swordsmanship as he constantly lands vicious hits onto James, even swinging his weapon hard enough to create a Razor Wind which strikes Wolverine hard enough to make him bleed across his chest and abs. Fortunately, his Healing Factor helps him quickly recover from his injuries.
Despite taking his lumps, Logan’s finally able to get into a standoff with Shingen as he starts to gain the upper edge. Unfortunately, a dart flies in and injects him with a toxin as he falls to the ground and is unable to move. He soon discovers that it came from Hideki as he explains that it was developed from A.I.M.’s chemical warfare division and it causes the victim’s nervous system to become paralyzed very quickly.
Despite his Healing Factor struggling to combat the toxin, Episode 1 ends with Wolverine unleashing his claws as he prepares to fight back.
We begin Episode 2 “Yukio” as Logan tries to fight Shingen while his body deals with the paralyzing toxin. Wolverine manages to slice through Master Yashida’s wooden sword with his claws and is about to finish him off. Unfortunately, the toxin finally takes hold as James’ final strike comes within mere inches of Shingen. With him unable to move, he ends up falling to the floor.
After acknowledging his guards to escort his daughter out of the room, Shingen prepares to finish off Logan. Fortunately, he changes his mind and instead uses his shattered wooden sword to knock his foe unconscious. Because Hideki interfered with the fight, there would be no earned honor in killing his foe. However, Shingen does leave our fallen hero in Kurohagi’s hands.
Shortly afterwards, Hideki’s men emerge with Wolverine tied up and placed into the trunk of their car as they prepare to drive off with Asano & company seeing this via the security system.
Back inside, Mariko asks Hideki what will happen to Logan. He proceeds to lie and says that Wolverine is getting sent back to America.
Afterwards, Hideki and his men drive off to take care of Logan. Shortly upon seeing this, Asano tells his fellow agents to keep a sharp eye on Shingen while he goes to save their Canadian comrade since he’s personally responsible for putting Wolverine in his current dilemma. As such, he gets into his car and heads out to save his friend.
A short time later however, Agent Machida is informed by his fellow agents on what just happened. Believing that there’s no further activity from Shingen, he convinces his fellow agents that they should go after Asano in order to have his back. As such, he leaves his post in order to rejoin his fellow agents.
After getting a reasonable enough distance from Tokyo, Hideki and company reach the train tracks. Unbeknownst to them, Asano arrives on the opposite side as he sees the horror unfold. He sees Hideki’s men carry Logan down to the tracks and pour alcohol onto his face in order to make it look like he drunkenly stumbled onto the tracks before getting run over. With the train starting to bear down, Kurohagi’s thugs start to take their leave.
As Asano races down to save his friend, he’s suddenly confronted by a swift figure who proceeds to kick him into submission. Shortly afterwards, Hideki’s men are suddenly attacked as they’re killed right in front of him. Fearing for his life, he hops back into his car as his driver helps him get away.
With the train bearing down on Wolverine, the swift figure manages to reach him in time. By the time Asano recovers and tries to reach his friend, it’s too late as the locomotive rumbles on through. After it makes its way past, Tesshin gets worried as the scene ends with him yelling for his friend.
As he continues his search for Logan, Asano is suddenly met upon by Agents Machida and Tsukino as he wonders why they left their post. However, Machida tells him that their reason will have to wait.
As Machida shows him the slain bodies, Asano wonders who was responsible for this. After Tsukino lets him know that she’s informed headquarters on what happened, Takagi wonders what Logan’s next move will be now that he’s somehow on the loose.
Later, Asano arrives back at his apartment as he works on his digital device. Suddenly, he hears his door opening slightly as the lights abruptly go out. From there, the scene ends with him getting approached by an unknown assailant.
As the sun rises, Logan’s savior makes it back to the Tokyo-based apartment and witnesses his Healing Factor take care of a head wound.
Back at the compound, Mariko is concerned since she overheard her father trying to find out if James had been taken care of. As if a response to her question, Hideki comes in and tells Shingen that Wolverine has escaped, but his men are working on rectifying it.
Meanwhile, Logan wakes up and thinks that he’s in Mariko’s company. However, the sunlight played with him as he sees a different woman and aims his claws at her, demanding to know who she is. He learns that the lady named Yukio (voiced by Sailor Mercury herself, Kate Higgins) is the one who saved him from the train and that she respects the fact that he lived through the paralyzing toxin via his Healing Factor. Afterwards, she says that she can help him rescue Mariko. As she wraps some bandages around James’ arms, she tells him that Shingen is their common enemy since he killed her parents.
During a flashback, Yukio explains that her mother worked for Shingen as a top-tier assassin. However, the one man that she couldn’t bring herself to kill was the one whom she ended up falling in love with. After being chased to a cliff, she tries to fight back with a retractable circular blade. However, Shingen’s lethal swordsmanship brought her to a permanent end.
Afterwards, Logan uses his digital device in order to locate Agent Asano’s apartment as he asks Yukio to help him get there.
Our two heroes ultimately make it to Asano’s abode, but they don’t get a response despite ringing his door bell a few times. With his heightened sense of smell picking up some blood, Wolverine uses his claws to shred the lock and get inside. He then notices Asano sitting motionless at his desk, but he horrifyingly discovers that his friend has a bloodied stab wound and is now dead. As Asano’s badge falls out and snaps in half, Yukio believes that someone stabbed the agent through his heart (and even through his badge with enough force).
Just then, a pair of police officers proceed to confront our heroes. Seeing that someone has set him and Yukio up into making the cops think that they killed Asano, Wolverine motions his hand with enough force to smack a desk lamp into one of the officers. After Yukio takes care of the other official, they begin their escape attempt.
After taking out another pair of cops in the hallway, our heroes are then confronted by the “goon squad”. Wolverine and Yukio proceed to easily take care of the suited men as they make their way out of the building.
After getting outside, James wonders how the cops and the suited men knew that they would be at Asano’s apartment, to which Yukio thinks that it was arranged by the same person who murdered the agent.
Just then, they’re confronted by a man in robes. Yukio recognizes him as Kikyo Mikage (voiced by Steven Blum), a top-tier assassin who works for Shingen. Logan soon discovers that this guy is able to retract katana blades from his upper arms. And so, Episode 2 ends with Kikyo jumping down to engage Wolverine in combat.
We begin Episode 3 “Kikyo” with our two men proceeding to fight each other as their duel moves them out of the parking lot and into the vacant streets.
After a brief chase, our two combatants fight their way up to a building’s rooftop as Yukio watches from afar. Logan finds out that Kikyo is also able to attack with a Razor Wind as he’s forced to withstand the strike.
Fortunately, James is able to stand through the blow as only his sleeves took any real damage. Yukio tries to attack, but Kikyo deflects her circular blade back to her.
As our two combatants resume their fight, it turns out that the police’s armored division has arrived on the scene. During the tussle, Logan notices that Kikyo’s blade was capable of delivering Agent Asano’s fatal wound.
Ultimately, their tussle causes them to fall off the building. Fortunately, James managed to leap towards an adjacent building (and cause some minor grief to two women who were talking about Tony Stark, tee-hee!) while Kikyo uses his blade to save himself as he leaps towards a ledge. As Wolverine reaches the window, he notices the imprint that Kikyo’s sword made on the nearby building. Noticing that it has a similar shape to the fatal wound that claimed his friend’s life, James accuses Kikyo for killing Agent Asano.
However, their brawl gets interrupted by the police as they’re told to surrender or else they’ll open fire on them. Fortunately, Yukio uses her circular blade to disorient the officials in order for her and Logan to escape.
Before he slips away, Kikyo thinks to himself about how Wolverine has become a worthy challenge for him to one day take care of.
As Logan and Yukio escape from the police, he says that he’ll take care of Kikyo despite some moments that said otherwise. As Yukio becomes convinced, she says that she’s more than willing to help him out to the end. With the two of them locked in on their daunting task, the scene ends with their partnership fully solidified.
Over at the Yashida compound, Mariko overhears Hideki’s phone call as he learns that Wolverine managed to avert his assassination. He then confronts her and lets her know that a dowry is arriving from Madripoor this evening.
After arriving back at Yukio’s apartment, Logan explains how important Agent Asano was to him, since he only saw James as a regular guy and they shared a respected level of trust. After he swears to avenge his death by getting both Kikyo and Shingen in addition to rescuing Mariko, Yukio uses Asano’s digital device (which she took during their investigation) and explains that a dowry is arriving by boat from Madripoor tonight. She also states that Hideki will present this as a wedding gift to Shingen, which she believes contains a drug shipment worth several billion yen.
That night, Hideki and his men take their leave from the Yashida compound in order to acquire their late-night shipment. Over in the nearby surveillance van, Agents Machida, Tsukino and Takagi take notice as they prepare to alert their squad down at the docks to get ready.
A short time later, Hideki and his men arrive just as the ship pulls in from its journey from Madripoor. As he waits in his car, Kurohagi tells his henchman to have the crewmen load the shipment into their vehicles.
Suddenly, the ship gets pelted by a barrage of Molotov Cocktails. It turns out that they’re coming from a nearby building as Yukio lights them up while Wolverine uses his strength to throw them onto the boat.
While the shipmates desperately try to get the blaze under control, Machida leads his fellow agents in order to bust up the drug deal.
Just then, Hideki finally notices Wolverine over on the adjacent rooftop as our hero calmly stands by with his renewed confidence.
While a shootout erupts between our heroic agents and Hideki’s men, Logan jumps into the fray, withstands some of the henchmen’s gunfire (thanks to his Healing Factor) and takes some of them out off-screen.
Hideki orders his driver to get him out of here, but they’re immediately stopped since Wolverine is standing in their way. As Kurohagi gets out and tries to defend himself, Logan manages to disarm him and finally has him at his mercy.
Suddenly, a pair of metallic tentacles emerge from the blaze and wraps Logan in their grasp. As such, Episode 3 ends with him discovering that illegal drugs weren’t the only things on the boat. It turns out that there’s also a Russian mutant that he used to tangle with named Arkady Rossovich a.k.a. Omega Red (voiced by J.B. Blanc of Naruto fame).
We begin Episode 4 “Omega Red” with the titular villain using his retractable tentacles to cause some harm to Wolverine. Logan asks him how he’s even here to begin with, but all that we learn from Arkady is that he’s looking to get revenge for a moment from their past in which James did some harm to him.
After getting slammed into various cars, Logan is then tossed into another vehicle. Omega Red tells him that he’ll only kill him after he begs for mercy, but Wolverine proceeds to fight back.
We then cut to a flashback when Logan was getting briefed for an upcoming mission. As he learns from a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Arkady Rossovich was a Russian serial killer who was ultimately gunned down during an arrest attempt. Shortly afterwards, the KGB took his body, brought him back to life and implanted Carbonadium tentacles into him as part of the Soviet Super Soldier Project.
As Wolverine continues to get flung around the vicinity, the flashback continues with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent explaining that the material that makes up Omega Red’s tentacles was purposely made by Soviet scientists in order to serve as an equivalent to the nearly-indestructible metal known as Adamantium. Even worse, the material allows Arkady’s death spores to drain the life force of whomever his tentacles are wrapped around. As such, Omega Red throws James onto the burning ship and continues to zap him of his energy.
With his Healing Factor struggling to keep him alive, Wolverine notices that he’s near a door with a developing blaze inside. As such, he kicks it open and creates a massive backdraft which causes all of Hideki’s men to get blown onto the ground.
He then proceeds to use the explosion in order to propel himself towards his foe as he slashes Omega Red with enough force to get freed from his tentacles.
Logan confronts Arkady as they get into a struggle, but Omega Red prevails as he flings James back towards the warehouses where he smacks into the side of a loading platform.
From there, we head into another flashback where Wolverine breaks into a Russian facility and takes a canister out of its chamber. Because it was an unauthorized retrieval, the alarm goes off as he makes a dash for the exit. As he dodges the gunfire and fights his way through the opposing soldiers, we learn from the briefing as to what it is that he’s stealing. Because of Carbonadium’s radioactive nature, a Synthesizer is needed for those who’re getting implanted with said metal in order to prevent it from deteriorating, or else its user will suffer from mental instability & intense pain. It turns out that Logan is stealing the Synthesizer and placing it into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody in order to put a monkey wrench into the “Soviet Agenda”.
From there, the flashback comes to a temporary end as James runs into Arkady and they proceed to clash with each other.
Back in the present, Wolverine charges into Omega Red as they crash into a warehouse. With the ship going up in flames, Agent Tsukino manages to fight her way through Hideki’s thugs in order to save one piece of the dowry in order to have enough evidence to bring about Shingen’s arrest.
Back at the Yashida compound, Mariko is awoken as two of Hideki’s henchmen have returned from the docks. Unfortunately for them, they have the misfortune of letting Shingen know that Logan interfered and that the dowry was incinerated, as well as Omega Red’s sudden appearance. Furious by the recent events, Shingen swings his katana with enough force to send out a shockwave. The henchmen duck in time before it ends up destroying a nearby wall.
Back at the docks, Wolverine and Omega Red continue their fight while Yukio watches from afar. During the tussle, Arkady says that he’s been through intense and burning pain due to not having the Synthesizer at hand in order to help ease his Carbonadium.
From there, we head into our last flashback as Omega Red pursues Logan through the fierce snow while starting to feel the intense pain from his own Carbonadium tentacles. As he averts his foe, James suddenly falls down a crevasse. Fortunately, he uses his claws to save himself. However, the flashback ends with a massive amount of snow pouring in, causing him to drop the Synthesizer as it gets buried under the white powder. Because Arkday didn’t see him lose it, he still think that his foe still has it.
As Omega Red throws Wolverine around the warehouse, several propane tanks fall towards the ground. Logan brings the fight to an end by tossing one of them towards his foe. Arkady defends himself by striking it, resulting in a massive explosion.
Fortunately, James and Yukio dodged the blast and managed to make their way out. However, they get into a brief argument where she’s only trying to help, but Logan exclaims that he doesn’t really need any.
Unbeknownst to them however, Hideki managed to catch up as he sends his henchman after them.
The following morning at Yukio’s apartment, Logan is getting treated since Omega Red’s Carbonadium tentacles has been messing up his Healing Factor. She expresses her doubt about their mission since he struggled against Omega Red. However, James says that anyone can have a low point and that he’s the kind of guy who’ll persevere since he’s “got nothing to lose”.
Just then, his heightened sense of smell picks up an intruder. It turns out the be Hideki’s henchman who looks to finish James and Yukio off with a surprise bomb.
Fortunately, our heroes evaded the blast as Wolverine initially confronts the thug while Yukio slices his gun with her circular blade. As the henchman tries to escape, Logan slices a section of the staircase that he’s on. It ends up breaking off as the thug falls several stories to the ground. With the location of their safe house exposed, James says that they should launch an unexpected strike on the Yashida compound tonight, to which Yukio agrees.
Suddenly, they find themselves caught by a different surprise attack as Omega Red bursts through the wall and confronts Logan. With Yukio baffled as to how Arkady found out where they lived, Wolverine confidently gets ready for Round 2.
Yukio tries to help out, but Omega Red deflects her circular blade before smacking her with his tentacle and knocks her out. James tries to make his way to her, but Arkady wraps his tentacles around him as he explains that he managed to locate him via his death spores (Apparently, they were somehow injected into Logan during their fight) before slamming him around the staircase. From there, Episode 4 ends with Omega Red pinning Wolverine to the wall as he begins to drain his life force.
As we begin Episode 5 “Asano” with Logan fighting for his life, he notices a glass shard at his feet. He kicks it towards Arkady, which flies by him, but it causes enough of a distraction for James to leap towards him as the two combatants crash through the wall. Afterwards, Yukio regains consciousness as she wearily tries to catch up.
Meanwhile, Wolverine and Omega Red proceed to fight and slide down the sides of adjacent buildings before their clash works its way out onto the streets as citizens flee for their lives.
As the struggle continues, Omega Red’s power box begins blinking and buzzing as Wolverine realizes that his foe’s starting to run out of energy.
Just as the fight works its way into a nearby alley, Yukio manages to catch up as she throws her circular blade. Even though Omega Red manages to deflect it, it circles back and jams itself into the wall. Wolverine takes this moment as he delivers a swift kick that sends Arkady into the wall.
It’s then revealed that Omega Red was hit towards the wall with enough force for Yukio’s circular blade to get jammed into his arm. With his foe’s power running low, Wolverine manages to continually ram Arkady’s right arm into the wall as the blade ultimately cuts off his limb.
From there, James delivers the final shot by slicing Omega Red’s power box as his foe becomes motionless and falls unceremoniously to the ground. Afterwards, Yukio retrieves her circular blade as Logan tells her that he’s warmed up and ready to face Shingen.
However, the fallen henchman grabs his leg and uses his last moments to tell him to not even bother, since Shingen and his daughter have already left. As such, James and Yukio dash off.
We soon find out that the henchman’s words were true as he, his own guards, Hideki and Mariko are on his private aircraft as they depart from Tokyo.
As Logan and Yukio run as fast as they can, he gets out a special device in order to contact a certain friend of his.
Meanwhile, Agents Takagi, Tsukino and Machida pick up an A.P.B. involving Wolverine’s defeat over an “unidentified assailant”. With them still under the impression that Logan killed Agent Asano, they decide to put the hunt for James off to the side since they’re focused on arresting Shingen and bringing his crime syndicate to an end.
Back at the crime scene, a hi-tech plane suddenly appears as A.I.M. agents manage to recover Omega Red’s body and lift him onto their aircraft before cloaking themselves in order to take their leave.
Meanwhile, Wolverine and Yukio manage to reach the Yashida compound as he easily defeats the few guards that were left behind. To their dismay, they find the building completely empty. However, Logan discovers that someone was waiting for him in the main room. It turns out to be Kikyo who’s been waiting for his rematch.
Meanwhile, a group of A.I.M. scientists proceed to work on Omega Red. It turns out that they’re giving him a new regulator device, but it’s not a proper substitute for the Synthesizer and will only serve as “a quick fix”.
Back at the Yashida compound, Wolverine and Kikyo are moments away from fighting each other again. Before they begin, James asks his opponent if he killed Agent Asano. However, Kikyo says that he didn’t since he wouldn’t commit himself to “a trivial deed”.
Despite the police bearing down on the compound, our two combatants proceed to fight each other again. After discovering that he’s got a Healing Factor as well, Logan asks his opponent about his origins. However, Kikyo doesn’t know since his memories have been “fractured”, yet he’s fully aware that he’s a mutant, just like James. Afterwards, they continue to fight before they ultimately end up outside.
Meanwhile, Agents Tsukino and Takagi lead one group of officers into arresting Shingen’s guards while Agent Machida leads another group through the compound in order to find the crime lord himself. Just then, he notices Wolverine and Kikyo running across the landscape as they make their way out of the vicinity.
After a brief chase, our two combatants ultimately reach a rooftop helipad as Yukio also arrives to see them resume their duel.
Back at the Yashida compound, Tsukino informs her fellow agents that Shingen had already left on his private jet and is on his way to Madripoor, which is outside of their jurisdiction. Just then, Takagi gets a call as he gets the results of Asano’s autopsy. He says that while the stab wound is what killed their comrade, there was also a key piece of evidence in his teeth. It turns out that Asano used his final moments to bite off a piece of his killer’s hair, which the agents soon discover that those strands don’t belong to Logan. As such, the scene ends with them realizing that he and Asano were good friends and that James is only here to help out.
Back on the rooftop helipad, Wolverine and Kikyo continue their duel. Suddenly, their fight gets interrupted as Omega Red returns to finally settle the score with James. Logan tries to convince him that there’s no point in their brawl, since Shingen and A.I.M. ultimately prevail in this conflict. However, none of that matters to Arkady since all he wants is to kill Wolverine. As such, Kikyo steps off to the side and joins Yukio to watch the fight.
However, this rematch is short-lived as Logan pins one of Omega Red’s tentacles with a slab on concrete before he slashes the control box and brings a permanent end to his Russian adversary.
With Omega Red out of the way, James says that he’s ready to resume the previous fight. However, Kikyo sees that he’s exhausted. Seeing that there wouldn’t be any honor in defeating a weary adversary, he takes his leave and exclaims that they’ll battle again once he’s fully recovered.
From there, Episode 5 ends with Logan’s earlier call finally getting answered. With the arrival of the familiar Blackbird Jet, it turns out that he was contacting the X-Men’s field leader, Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops (voiced by Scott Porter of Friday Night Lights and Hart Of Dixie fame).
After Episode 6 “Min” opens with the Blackbird landing on the helipad, Wolverine and Yukio step inside and take their seats. Despite being somewhat reluctant due to his past history with his teammate, Cyclops proceeds to help out as the three of them take off towards Madripoor.
After Scott activates the jet’s cloaking device, Yukio proceeds to inform Wolverine about their destination. The island of Madripoor is self-governed, but it’s rampant with street gangs. While the rich live the fancy life in luxury condos, the majority of its citizens live in the poverty-stricken slums. She also explains that Hideki has been running the island since his father’s death.
A short time later, our heroes arrive within striking distance of Madripoor. Yukio says that if they land as normal, then the island’s radar system will detect them. As such, she says that she and Logan should get dropped off over at a lagoon over on the North end of the island. Cyclops casually mentions how she seems knowledgeable about the corrupt island, to which she states that she knows “enough to get by”. After reaching the lagoon, James and Yukio depart as Cyclops flies off into the distance.
As our two heroes begin their walk towards Madripoor, Yukio explains that she used to live here with her parents. However, she doesn’t delve into further details since she doesn’t prefer to discuss about her past. As such, they proceed to head out.
However, they’re quickly noticed by a local gang as they fire a pair of nets from a bazooka and trap our heroes while the thugs quickly surround them. Fortunately, they use their own signature weapons to cut their way to freedom.
Afterwards, they proceed to slice through a good number of opposing brutes. Eventually, they get separated as Yukio tells Logan to go ahead since she’ll eventually catch up. From there, he dives into the water and begins swimming towards the main island.
By the time night falls, James finally arrives on the main land. Despite another gang confronting him, he proceeds to effortlessly defeat them.
He then confronts the lone surviving thug and demands to know who sent him and his cronies. After learning that Hideki has placed Madripoor on lockdown, Logan then asks where their island’s ruler can be found. However, the thug gets taken out with a spear.
Just then, Wolverine is confronted by another unruly group who toss a barrage of spears at him. While Logan uses his claws to fend them off, a chain is suddenly wrapped around his leg as he gets dragged off by a pair of goons on a motorcycle.
He gets pulled through the desolate streets before ending up in the center of town where he ends up hanging on a pole. Fortunately, he slices the chain from his leg, takes the thugs’ motorcycle and beats them up before riding off.
Unbeknownst to him, he’s being secretly watched over by an old man as he tells a young girl that Wolverine’s presence will put their plans into motion sooner than expected.
Shortly after reaching some stairs, Logan ditches the motorcycle and starts heading up. After taking care of a surprise attack from a pair of thugs, another goon squad begins to chase after him. Fortunately, James gets some unexpected help as the same young girl from before appears and slays the oncoming gang with a barrage of kunais.
After reaching a safe spot, the young girl named Min (voiced by Danielle Judovits) explains that the majority of Madripoor’s citizens have given up their rights due to living under Hideki’s rule while she’s part of a resistance group that looks to one day overthrow Kurohagi. Logan then asks where Hideki is, to which she says that he lives in the island’s lone skyscraper called the Dragon Palace.
Inside the luxurious building, Shingen demonstrates his elite swordsmanship to the island’s rich citizens by using his katana to place seven candles onto their pedestals while blindfolded. It turns out that they’re used to properly light a statue that he’s bestowed to Hideki in order to commemorate the memory of his deceased father.
From there, the scene end with Kurohagi finding out from one of his guards that Logan has been spotted on the island.
Meanwhile, Min tells James that reaching the Dragon Palace is far from easy. If the maze-like streets having several dead ends aren’t challenging enough, then there’s also Hideki’s army of guards who’re forced to loyally serve him without question (even if they don’t like him).
Back at the Dragon Palace, Kurohagi makes his way towards a certain ground-level chamber in order to make sure that Wolverine never bothers him again. As such, he sends out a being named Vadhaka (voiced by Jamieson Price) to take care of his foe.
Back in the slums, Min tries to offer her assistance to him since she can help guide him on the right path towards the Dragon Palace. However, Logan turns it down since he feels that he can get there by himself.
Just then, they feel a growing rumble as Episode 6 ends with Vadhaka arriving to proclaim that he’s caring out his order to kill Wolverine.
We begin Episode 7 “Vadhaka” with the titular foe hunting our hero down. After getting a reasonable enough distance from it, Wolverine wants to know what he’s up against. Min explains that Vadhaka is a statue that stands guard at the Dragon Palace, but she doesn’t know what it’s doing here since he never moves from his post unless its seal is broken. As they take their leave, she deduces that Hideki has found out about Wolverine’s presence.
