Disclaimer: I don't own Assassination Classroom or Kung Fu Panda. Assassination Classroom is owned by Yusei Matsui and Shueisha. Kung Fu Panda is owned by Melissa Cob and Dreamworks Animation.
Azure: Two deadly warriors, formerly students of wise and beloved masters, Korosensei and Shifu. They were adopted by these masters but their training was tainted by the masters' pride which caused them to become dangerous people who don't care about killing. They become enemies of their former masters to try to take impressive titles, Shinigami and Dragon Warrior, but fail to do so properly. Both are respected yet feared by the protagonist, Nagisa and Po, who was taught more successfully by their shared masters. Both also are eventually defeated in a bittersweet death, but not before they show that they were superior to their junior students, Class 3-E and the Furious Five.
-Line Break-
Bryant: Monsters. Demons. Ghosts. Darkness. These are fairly common things that can scare people, from children to adults. But in life, few things are more intimidating than our own failures.
Thea: Especially when they can kick our butts.
Bryant: Shinigami, the god of Death and failed student of Korosensei.
Thea: And Tai Lung, the false Dragon and failed student of Shifu.
Bryant: I'm Bryant Reese.
Thea: And I'm Thea Price.
Bryant: And we're here to analyze these two fighters and find out who would win, a WI Battle!
-Line Break-
Bryant: Behold the Assassination Classroom. What was thought to be the class of failures and good-for-nothings, destined to be nothing but criminals, proved themselves to be a class of prodigies who would spread light to the world around them.
Thea: Nagisa Shiota, who became a teacher to teach the rejected how to stand on their own feet. Karma Akabane, who became a bureaucrat to keep the country stable. Kaede Kayano, who was an actress amazing everyone with her skills. Okuda and Takebayashi, who found a recipe to create artificial blood! They were taught by Korosensei, one of the most beloved teachers in Japanese anime.
Bryant: But while Korosensei was a successful teacher with them, his history wasn't always successful. There was another before them, one who would come back to haunt Korosensei with the weight of his own sins. The man known, as the Shinigami.
Shinigami:
-Real Name: Unknown
-Age: Unknown
-Height: Unknown
-Weight: Unknown
-Former student of Korosensei
Bryant: Little is known about the man referred to as the God of Death. Not his name, or his age, or even where he's from.
Thea: What we do know is that he's a freak!
Bryant: The boy who would become the Shinigami was the son of a wealthy man, who was eventually assassinated by the real Shinigami. Fascinated by the man's incredible skill, the boy begged to be taken in as the assassin's pupil. The Shinigami accepted, intrigued by the potential he saw in him.
Thea: Yeah, not actually in the kid, but the opportunities that the kid would give him. The guy had his head so far up his own arse that he only viewed the kid as a tool to further his own goals. The boy did everything he could to impress his teacher, through showing his own intellect, creating his own techniques, and showing off his skills as a florist. But, the Shinigami, didn't care. He was too arrogant to realize that the boy had his own values and worthiness. So the boy became bitter.
Bryant: During a mission, the boy betrayed his former master, cut off his face to better fit masks for disguises, and stole the title of Shinigami. He spent the next few years carrying out his assassinations the same way that his teacher did, using the same connections, all to hide the fact that there was a new Shinigami.
Thea: As for the old one? He was subjected to experiments and eventually became a yellow octopus, and the Korosensei we all know and love. But the government didn't love him, and they put a ten billion yen bounty on his head! Hey Bryant, how much is that worth here?
Bryant: About eighty-one million US dollars.
Thea: Dang! That's a lot! Just think about how many PS5s you can buy with that! Or Netflix subscriptions!
Bryant: But with such a big bounty, it's only natural that there would be some big names coming for it. Eventually, the fake Shinigami came as well. However, he didn't just come for the target. His plan involved the entirety of the Assassination Classroom, and he planned to killed them all just to ensure that Korosensei was killed as well.
Thea: Naturally, they tried to fight back. But there's a reason why this guy could pass for the world's greatest assassin.
Abilities/Arsenal:
-Bloodlust
-Hand-to-hand combat
-Marksmanship
-Disguise
-Stealth
-Intelligence
-Consciousness Sensing
-Invisible Scythe
-Wires
-Knives
-Pistols
-Explosives
Bryant: Shinigami possesses many of the same skill sets as the members of the Assassination Classroom. He can emit a powerful bloodlust which can literally hide his appearance from others. It can even be compared to the bloodlust of Nagisa Shiota, who can drive a person insane with it.
Thea: But that's not all he got. He's trained in the usage of knives, explosives, disguise, and even wires.
Bryant: He's also incredibly intelligent, being able to hack the military grade super A.I. known as Ritsu, who was able to hack into government protected networks with little to no issue. He's also knowledgeable in creating traps and creating explosive collars.
Thea: But that's not all the guy's got. He also got the usual stealth and marksmanship gear that all assassins have. But he's got one thing that really makes a difference. His so-called, Invisible Scythe.
Bryant: Which is essentially a hidden custom-made gun that was built-into his finger. By flexing his thumb in a certain way, it fires a tiny bullet which easily pierces muscle tissue and passes by bone. Combine that with his knowledge of the human anatomy, and he can easily pierce the aorta. As the heart continues to beat, the hole continues to become bigger and bigger, causing even greater bleeding.
Thea: Man, that's cruel. It's a good thing that the two times it was used in the series, it never worked!
Bryant: Right, Shinigami was certainly the most deadly out of all of Korosensei's students, but he wasn't quite at Korosensei's level. He simply could not compete with Korosensei's far greater experience and brutal upbringing. And so, he was defeated, and brought in.
Thea: But, that's not the end of the Shinigami. Nope. See, there's this guy called Kotaro Yanagisawa, who is the biggest douche in the world. And that's saying something when you have a school that teaches all about bullying kids and making sure they feel worthless. All because the principal decided that he was sad that one of his older students died. By being bullied and feeling worthless. Real, uh, real good standards there.
Bryant: Back to Yanagisawa. Yanagisawa was the one responsible for the current Korosensei. Korosensei had been subjected to special injections and experiments that were meant to turn him into a stable source of antimatter. Antimatter is composed of subatomic particles that have the same mass, electric charge, and magnetic moment of regular matter, but opposite in sign. Think of it like two balls which are the same weight, size, and shape, but are opposite in what they're filled with, or in color. Antimatter is extremely difficult to create, and dangerous. A single gram is capable of creating an explosion comparable to that of nuclear bombs. However, it can theoretically be used to create large amounts of energy, and is thus extremely valuable due to both this and how difficult it is to produce antimatter safely. A single gram of antimatter can cost literally trillions of US dollars.
Thea: And the government will only give eighty million? What a rip off.
Bryant: But remember, antimatter is still dangerous. Not handling it properly can cause massive explosions. When a mouse was injected with antimatter serums like Korosensei, it caused an explosion which decimated 70% of the moon. With Korosensei's size, it would destroy the earth. So Yanagisawa ordered Korosensei's execution.
Thea: But Korosensei was kind of a douche at the time, and just broke out, and destroyed the place. Yanagisawa lost his research, his reputation, his eye, and his fiance all in one night. But don't feel too bad for him. He's a petty arsehole who abused and yelled at his fiance for every little thing, is a massive snob, and does all kinds of d*ckish moves.
Bryant: When Yanagisawa learned of the Shinigami's capture and his history with Korosensei, he had Shinigami brought in, and offered to make him a monster who could not only compete with, but surpass Korosensei. Shinigami agreed, and a monster, he became.
Antimatter Injections:
-Enhanced speed and power
-Flight
-Healing factor
-Energy Blasts
-Supersonic tentacles
Thea: In this state, Shinigami's strength, speed, and durability skyrocketed. He has powerful tentacles which can bash people all around and move at supersonic speeds. When he appeared, he hit Class 3-E with a literal Mach 2 sonic boom. And he can reach an acceleration speed of Mach 40! That's more than 13 times faster than the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which travels at Mach 3!
Bryant: However, this is unlikely to be Shinigami's top speed. It's stated that his max acceleration speed is Mach 40. Acceleration is the amount of speed that one gains over time. If they have an acceleration of 10 miles per hour, then their speed would start out at 10 miles, then increase to 20. Shinigami is capable of keeping up with Korosensei, and while he's been stated to be Mach 20, it's also worth noting that he's become increasingly faster over time.
Thea: Either way, it's still gonna be hard to hit Korosensei or Shinigami. And even if you do manage to hit this beast, he's got a healing factor that lets him regenerate from wounds. He can also fly, and fire powerful energy blasts. Man, this guy is terrifying.
Achievements:
-Blitzed the AC as a regular human
-Shot Korosensei's Mach 2 tentacles as a regular human
-Kept up with Karasuma as a regular human
-Destroyed a building as a tentacle monster
-Killed Kaede Kayano as a tentacle monster
-Kept up with Korosensei as a tentacle monster
Thea: Even when he was a human, he could blitz the likes of Karma and Nagisa. WIB Combatants that we went over before, and said could strike at a speed around 719 miles per hour. He could also target and shoot Korosensei's Mach 2 tentacles, which were moving at, you guessed it, Mach 2! Not to mention that he could've killed the entire Assassination Classroom in just a few minutes despite the fact that they're all skilled enough to keep up with master assassins themselves. Karma could take on grown adult assassins, Nagisa could blitz several people at once, Terasaka could catch mach-speed tentacles, and several members of the AC could tank a point-blank explosion that created giant waves.
Bryant: He could also keep up with Tadaomi Karasuma, who is a highly trained military soldier who can lift massive chunks of concrete, react to point-blank explosions, break metal chains, and catch steel I-Beams.
Thea: As a tentacle monster, he was able to destroy a building in just a few seconds, and he can keep up with Korosensei. He even killed Kaede Kayano via a tentacle through the chest! That sounds dirty.
Bryant: Kayano should be physically superior to the likes of Nagisa and Karma. And as we mentioned just now, the Assassination Classroom could survive an explosion that created massive waves. We calculated this to require an energy worth 2 tons of TNT, and that they could likely survive an even bigger explosion, likely at least 3 tons of TNT.
Thea: And while Korosensei was stated to be Mach 20, we already said that he was getting faster over time. In fact, at the beginning of the series, when he was stated to be Mach 20, he could only make three after-image clones of himself. But halfway through Season 1, he was already able to make 27 clones, one for each of the students he had and one to relax. Which isn't how it works but whatever.
Bryant: Which means he was moving nine times faster than he was at the beginning of the series. That's Mach 180. And Korosensei only continued to grow faster and faster as the series went on.
Thea: And Korosensei was only able to deflect Shinigami's tentacles through his skill! If he was any less skilled, he would've been helpless.
Bryant: With the speed close to lightning, the power to destroy buildings, and a healing factor which repairs wounds in seconds, Shinigami is certainly the most dangerous opponent that the Assassination Classroom has ever faced. But he's not invincible.
Weaknesses:
-Isn't as skilled as Korosensei
-Same weaknesses of Korosensei
Bryant: As Shinigami was designed to be similar to Korosensei, it's likely he had much of the same weaknesses as him. One is that certain tentacle users aren't able to properly use their abilities under extreme stress. This is likely due to the fact that the tentacles that are injected into people have their own sort of sentience.
Thea: They also absorb water at a high rate, which makes them swollen and harder to move. And there's been special tools and weapons that've been made that either harden or liquify tentacles, making them nearly useless. And then there's the healing factor.
Bryant: Yes, Shinigami's healing factor allows him to regenerate tentacles, but it uses his energy, thus slowing him down. And this is just a few of Shinigami's many weaknesses from being made the same way as Korosensei. These weaknesses were eventually what caused his defeat and death, at the hand of his old teacher, who was forced to stab his heart with a special knife meant to kill him.
Thea: It's a shame. Shinigami was just a kid who wanted to impress his teacher. To live up to the legacy that a student has from being taught. But Korosensei's pride turned Shinigami into a heartless monster, one who wouldn't hesitate to murder innocent people for his own goal. And all the kid wanted was to be like his teacher, to be recognized by him.
Bryant: But Korosensei realized his follies. He realized his faults. He realized his failures. That's why he was such a good teacher for Class 3-E. Because he learned from his mistake, and chose to properly see them. They were his students, his legacy, his family, and he had to treat them as such. His biggest regret was not with them, but with the one he failed. And so, Korosensei bid his student goodbye, remembering the young boy as he once was, and promised that should they meet again in the afterlife, they would start over. The fake god of Death died, but with a smile, as he finally received what he wanted more than anything.
Thea: Shinigami isn't the antagonist with the most screentime in Assassination Classroom, but he was definitely the most important.
(Shinigami) The tentacles asked me what I wanted to be. I wanted you to acknowledge me. I wanted… to be like you.
-Line Break-
Bryant: Behold the Furious Five. What was once a group of animals trying to find their place in the world, who struggle to fit in and live up to certain expectations, proved themselves to be worthy heroes who would save China several times over.
Thea: Master Tigress, a master of the ferocious Tiger-Style Kung Fu. Master Viper, the expert of fluid Viper-Style. Mantis, a specialist of the lightning fast, Mantis-Style… And Crane who uses Crane-Style. Real, uh, real creative there. They were taught by the famous Master Shifu, one of the most beloved teachers in animated movies. And an adorable red panda since this is a movie for kids that can be enjoyed by adults.
Bryant: But while Master Shifu succeeded in teaching them to be heroes, along with the Dragon Warrior, Xiao Po Ping, there was another who came before them. One who served as the dark reflection of his pride, and his greatest regret. The monstrous Tai Lung.
Tai Lung:
-Age: 40+
-Height: Unknown
-Weight: Unknown
-Former student of Master Shifu
-Looks for a worthy opponent for a legendary battle
Bryant: Shifu found Tai Lung as a baby cub. As Shifu knew how it felt to be abandoned at the Kung Fu temple due to also being abandoned there, he adopted Tai Lung, and began to raise him in the art of Kung Fu when his adopted son showed talent.
Thea: Talent apparently means being able to hit a training dummy without being hit himself. Unlike Po who got hit harder by the dummy than he hit it. Anyways, Shifu was a student of the wise old master Oogway, who was a tortoise. Oh, and also the founder of Kung Fu, but the more important thing is that he's a tortoise.
Bryant: Even more important for this chapter of What If Battles is that Oogway heard the legend of the Dragon Warrior, an incredible master of Kung Fu destined to bring peace and protect China from all threats. Oogway also understood the secret behind being the Dragon Warrior, and sealed the secret within the Dragon Scroll. Because of Tai Lung's natural talent, Shifu believed that his son was to be the next Dragon Warrior, and trained Tai Lung to one day fulfill his destiny and become the greatest warrior in the universe. Tai Lung's life soon became completely dedicated to reach the level of potential that his father saw. To become the kind of master that his father could be proud of.
Thea: And some would say that he came pretty close too, considering how good he is at Kung Fu
Abilities/Arsenal:
-Superhuman abilities
-Sharp claws and teeth
-Leopard-Style Kung Fu
-Nerve Attacks
Bryant: Kung Fu is-
Thea: The discipline that comes from the training, which is why it has so many alternate forms. It's a form of exercise which focuses on self-discipline on the path towards enlightenment. The first Shaolin temple was a Buddhist monastery, which was found by a Buddhist prince who found weak and sick monks. He created a series of exercises called Yi Jin Jing which was eventually developed in Kung Fu. Chinese people put a lot of value into this martial art since it teaches respect, patience, humility, and morality. It's all about making yourself stronger and tougher in body, mind, and spirit.
Bryant: That's, correct.
Thea: You handle the sciency stuff, I'll handle the physical stuff. Tai Lung is a snow leopard, which means that in the world of Kung Fu Panda, he uses the Leopard-Style Kung Fu. This fighting-style, also known as the Panther-Style for some, uses a wide variety of punches, elbow strikes, and kicks during a combination of fast and unrelenting techniques, as it relies on aggressive speed and agility. Tai Lung doesn't try to take out his opponents with one large hit, he overwhelms his opponents with a barrage of relentless hits until they go down or are left open for a big hit. Tai Lung combines this with his crazy strength, speed, durability, stamina, agility, and razor-sharp claws. Claws he's got from being, well, a leopard. And if he's not taking you down by hitting you over and over again, he's got special nerve attacks which can shut off your chi from your body, preventing you from moving.
Bryant: It's also likely that he trained in a way similar to that of his juniors. Like how Tigress trained herself by striking at iron-wood trees until she felt no pain in her arms or paws from striking with great force.
Thea: This is actually a real form of training, where someone would keep punching something until it didn't hurt to punch it, like a punching bag filled with sand, and then upgrade to a bag filled with gravel, and then to something like metal. It can explain why Tai Lung was, at one point, able to attack with his paws literally on fire.
Bryant: From cub to adult, Tai Lung perfected his craft, becoming one of the greatest fighters in China. It seemed like he was a shoe-in to become the mighty Dragon Warrior.
Thea: But Oogway saw that Tai Lung was kind of a douche, and wasn't worthy. He refused, and when Tai Lung thought that his dad would try to argue, his dad just turned away.
Bryant: Shifu had faith that his son was to become the next Dragon Warrior, but when Oogway said otherwise, Shifu chose to believe in his master, who was much wiser and skilled. However, this broke Tai Lung. In a rage, Tai Lung tore apart the Valley of Peace, his home, before attempting to take the Dragon Scroll through force. Shifu saw the monster that he had unknowingly created, but hesitated. Fortunately, Oogway was able to halt Tai Lung, and defeated him in an instant. Shifu forced himself to watch over the construction of Chorh-Gom Prison, which was created to hold Tai Lung, and Tai Lung alone.
Thea: But Shifu didn't stop trying to find the Dragon Warrior. If he could find the real Dragon Warrior and mold them to be the hero that they were supposed to be, Shifu could pay for his mistake, and correct his sins. To his horror and rage, it ended up not being a master of Kung Fu like the Furious Five that he was training, but a panda named Po.
Bryant: But while Shifu raged at Po being the Dragon Warrior, China rejoiced. And eventually, word reached Tai Lung.
Thea: In one of the most epic prison escapes in cinematic history, Tai Lung fought a thousand guards and broke out. He headed back to the Valley of Peace to challenge the Dragon Warrior and claim the title for himself. Naturally, people were afraid. And they have every right to be.
Achievements:
-Created a giant crater in his fight with Po
-Can move large distances in seconds
-Climbed to the top of a massive cave by falling stalactites
-Was stronger than he was before he was imprisoned
-Mastered a thousand scrolls of Kung Fu
-Defeated a thousand guards
-Defeated the Furious Five and Master Shifu
-Is physically superior to all his opponents
Thea: Tai Lung was restrained by a special tortoise shell, which stabbed several acupuncture needles which blocked his chi and kept him from being able to breathe properly and kept from being able to move. For twenty whole years! Twenty years, the guy wasn't just strong enough to keep up and defeat a thousand guards, but he was even stronger than he was when he was locked up! How does that even work?!
Bryant: He's defeated Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Viper, and even Tigress, all of whom are incredibly skilled masters who proved themselves capable of keeping up with other masters even before they became a member of the Furious Five and truly developed their styles of Kung Fu.
Thea: And he's even better than them. He took them out all at once with his Nerve Attacks, and held his own against them without it. Makes sense, considering that he's been training for over half his life, and mastered a thousand scrolls of Kung Fu. He even beat Master Shifu, in one of the most heartbreaking fights in animated history.
Bryant: Tai Lung proved himself physically superior to every member of the Furious Five, including Po. Which is impressive, as Po was later capable of catching cannonballs, and even dodging bolts of lightning, which would imply that he was reacting to an attack moving around Mach 200.
Thea: How about the legendary battle against Po? Where Tai Lung hit the panda so hard, it created a huge crater!
Bryant: The crater's diameter was just over four times Po's height, or six feet two inches, when he was laying down, and was likely around a third deep. This means that Tai Lung turned over 2 million cubic centimeter's worth of stone into dust. To do so, he would've had to strike each cubic centimeter with about 214 joules of energy. Almost 510 million joules of energy total.
Thea: That's half of the energy inside of a lightning bolt! So this guy can hit and move like lightning. Can anyone stop him? Yes.
Weaknesses:
-Nerve Attack was useless against Po's fat body
-Leopard-Style was hard countered by Panda-Style
-Couldn't become the Dragon Warrior
Thea: The Leopard-Style of Kung Fu that Tai Lung uses is pure aggression, but it was helpless against Po's own Panda-Style. The Panda-Style draws inspiration from real life Dragon-Style, but focuses on Po's fat body to block attacks and counter-attack. When Po used this fighting-style for real, Tai Lung literally couldn't touch him, and was countered in every way imaginable. Not to mention that Tai Lung's Nerve Attack just tickled Po, since he couldn't properly affect his Chi through his body.
Bryant: Tai Lung and Po were both the same in several ways. Both thought that the only way they could be someone that they could truly be satisfied and happy with was to be someone else. Yet Tai Lung refused to accept any other alternative, while Po came to realize the fault of this mindset. It's even shown in their fighting-styles and characteristics. Tai Lung's name could be translated to Great Dragon despite being a leopard, and he was pure aggression. Po's fighting-style was the Panda-Style, and was a more defensive and controlled fighting-style, which was more in tune with the main discipline of Kung Fu. And Po would eventually live up to his destiny and defeat Tai Lung, sending him to the Spirit World through his greatest technique, the Wuxi Finger Hold. But the ending is bittersweet, as while Tai Lung was a great terror, he was once a young child, who only wanted to make his father happy.
Thea: It sucks that Tai Lung had to turn out this way. It sucks that he died as the obsessed monster that he was. Even more when you realize it didn't have to be this way.
Bryant: Tai Lung had darkness in his heart, but it was put there by Shifu without either realizing it. Shifu loved Tai Lung, but he loved him too much. His pride for his adopted son prevented him from seeing what he was doing to him, what he was turning him into. All his life, Tai Lung was told that he was meant for greatness. That he was to be the greatest. But when he was denied this, everything came crashing down. The title of the Dragon Warrior? It was what he spent his entire life trying to achieve, yet he was told that he wasn't good enough.
Thea: Shifu raised Tai Lung to become the Dragon Warrior, and Tai Lung thought that that was the only thing that would make his dad proud. When his dad didn't even try to argue with Oogway's decision that Tai Lung wasn't worthy, it made it seem like without the position of Dragon Warrior, Tai Lung didn't have anything. The father he grew up under and loved, or the dream he worked so hard to achieve? They all slipped away from his paws. That's why he tried to take the scroll by force. That's why he turned on his masters. That's why he was Shifu's greatest success and failure as a teacher. Because without the title as the Dragon Warrior, he was nothing.
Bryant: This is why Po was the only one capable of defeating Tai Lung when the rest of Shifu's students were unable to. Po realized that in order for you to be the Dragon Warrior, you have to be you. Shifu didn't realize this. Tai Lung didn't realize this. It's why when they looked at the reflective surface of the scroll, they saw nothing, while Po saw himself.
Thea: Po was a skilled warrior, but he was his own warrior. Tai Lung couldn't be the Dragon Warrior because that was all he was focused on being, instead of being Tai Lung.
Bryant: With this realization, Po was able to fight Tai Lung as the true Dragon Warrior, and bring peace not just to the valley, but also his master. Shifu was at peace knowing that his mistakes had been reversed, and that the trust he put into Po wasn't corrupted by his pride, as Tai Lung was. And Shifu would continue to properly teach his students, becoming less strict with them, and wiser as he learned from his mistakes.
Thea: Tai Lung wasn't the strongest villain like the warlord Kai, or a personal villain like the insane Shen. But he is without a doubt, the most important villain in Kung Fu Panda.
(Tai Lung) All I ever did, I did to make you PROUD! Tell me how PROUD you are, Shifu! Tell me! TELL ME!
-Line Break-
Bryant: Alright, the stage is set, time to start this dance.
Thea: Battle ready, set, GO!
-Line Break-
Powerful muscles flexed under gray fur as Tai Lung dashed across the long rope bridge on all fours like the powerful leopard he was. The Kung Fu master was on a mission, and he would be damned if anyone were to get in his way. And yet, someone was. Tai Lung squinted at the sight of a single figure standing in his way and grunted as he skidded to a stop and stood on two feet. There was barely anything there to the naked eye, yet Tai Lung could sense the danger standing in front of him.
"Who, are you?" he growled. The figure made a sound of surprise.
"Ah? You can see me?"
"You think I'm a fool? Don't test the Dragon Warrior," Tai Lung growled as he walked by. Shinigami's bloodlust cloak disappeared, revealing the young man. He looked over his shoulder at Tai Lung with a cocky smile.
"The Dragon Warrior? Now that's a cool name! How do I get that title?" he asked playfully.
"You can't. Only I am worthy!" Tai Lung snapped. Shinigami darted in front of Tai Lung, forcing him to stop.
"Come now, you haven't even seen what I can do!" the human complained. Tai Lung growled in annoyance.
"Move!" he lunged and swung his fist with enough force to shake the bridge. He raised a brow when he realized that he struck nothing. He stood straight, and looked over his shoulder at Shinigami, standing behind him with a grin and a single rose in his fingers.
"You're strong… But you can't defeat me. For from the day you were born, I was there beside you," the man said. Tai Lung crossed his arms with an unimpressed look. "But don't be afraid. It was inevitable that we meet, for I am Shinigami, the god of Death."
"So that is your name? Shinigami…" Tai Lung muttered. He chuckled, baring his sharp fangs as he slid into his stance. "A god of Death? Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!"
"Now we're talking!"
Only death waits!
Fight!
Tai Lung immediately lunged and threw the first blow, but Shinigami easily blocked with a single hand. Tai Lung grunted and the two immediately began trading fast blows. Tai Lung was swinging his body around skillfully and powerfully, but Shinigami was blocking with precise movements and throwing counters. They continued to test each other's skill before Tai Lung was knocked into the ropes. Undeterred, he swung the bridge over with his weight, causing Shinigami to make a sound of surprise as the bridge flipped with him on it. Tai Lung launched himself into the air as Shinigami hung onto the bridge as it flipped back.
"Wow," he blinked as Tai Lung landed behind him. Shinigami yanked out a knife and swung it towards Tai Lung, who jumped back to dodge. Tai Lung snarled and charged again to leap at the assassin. Shinigami blocked a kick but was knocked around by another one that connected to his cheek. Tai Lung unsheathed his claws and slashed at Shinigami repeatedly as he jumped and flipped around him. The assassin was forced backwards but caught his balance with a disgruntled sound. Tai Lung raised an eyebrow when he saw a hint of red on Shinigami's face. The man grinned and ripped off the rest of his mask, revealing his disfigured red face.
"And they call me the monster!" Tai Lung taunted.
"Cutting my face off makes it easier to disguise it. Yours will make for an excellent Halloween decoration," Shinigami grinned before charging again. Tai Lung snarled and charged forward as well. The two clashed and knocked each other back. Tai Lung quickly recovered and went back to trying to beat Shinigami down, but the assassin quickly blocked the numerous kicks and punches before jumping over the side. He grabbed the rope and swung over behind Tai Lung to loop a wire around the leopard's neck. Tai Lung choked as the wire pulled tight but sliced it with his claw. He swung behind him, forcing Shinigami back. Tai Lung snarled and attacked once more.
"You are really good! This is starting to get- oof!" Shinigami grunted as a furry fist clashed with his cheek. Tai Lung spun as he kicked and back-handed Shinigami as a blur before knocking him back. Shinigami grunted as he rolled to his feet only for Tai Lung to lunge and land a powerful fist against Shinigami's cheek. Shinigami's body broke through the wooden plank of the bridge, and the assassin was barely able to catch himself on a rope supporting the bridge.
Shinigami looked around before taking his knife and slashing some ropes. Tai Lung grunted in surprise before leaping up as the bridge tilted and hung sideways. The leopard landed on the single rope holding the bridge up as Shinigami flipped himself on top as well.
"Let's see how well you can move now," Shinigami grinned.
"You underestimate me!" Tai Lung growled as he charged again. The two became blurs of grey as they continued to fight at incredible speeds, even on the rope. Shinigami grunted as he felt Tai Lung slash his clothes with his claws and tried to kick the leopard away, only for Tai Lung to use his tail to sweep the man's foot from under him and leave him open for his own kick. Shinigami was sent flying and nearly fell off the bridge, but managed to catch himself and pull himself back onto the rope. Tai Lung growled as he charged on all fours again.
Shinigami looked up before pointing his finger towards his target. Tai Lung growled and hurled himself upwards as a tiny, nearly invisible bullet whizzed by. Shinigami grinned and did a high jump kick that collided with Tai Lung's chin, flipping the leopard backwards. Shinigami landed on the rope and slashed it with his knife, causing the entire bridge to fall down. Tai Lung roared as he fell into the void, his voice echoing through the valley of fog. Shinigami gripped his side of the bridge tightly as he braced for impact and managed to hold on, even as he collided with the canyon wall.
"Whew! That was fun." The assassin began to climb up the bridge, but paused. He looked behind him at the other side of the ravine, where the other half of the rope bridge was currently beginning to move. It began to circle around the tall rock pillar that was holding the end of the bridge, before it suddenly whipped upwards. Shinigami watched Tai Lung soar above him and land on the cliff face above him.
"Your master taught you well," Tai Lung admitted before slashing the bridge's ropes with his claws. Shinigami fell into the fog with a passive, almost uncaring face along with the rest of the bridge. They disappeared into the sea of white as Tai Lung watched.
"But he didn't teach you everything." With that, Tai Lung turned away to continue his journey. When suddenly, a sonic boom caught his attention. He turned back only to jump away from the cliff as a massive gray monster shot out of the fog and landed on the edge. The monstrous Shinigami rose and stared menacingly at Tai Lung, now a full monster with strong tentacles writhing around.
"Now… you… die…" Tai Lung snarled at the audacity of the monster in front of him, but his retort was cut off as he was suddenly whipped by a tentacle. The impact sent him flying into the bamboo forest behind him and through several tall stalks of bamboo. Tai Lung snarled again as he flipped and landed on the dirt ground before jumping into the bamboo stalks and jumping between them. Shinigami chased the leopard with tentacles lashing out, but Tai Lung swung himself around on bamboo to launch himself towards the tentacles. The leopard knocked the tentacles away with swift and powerful kicks, only for a shockwave to slam into him and send him flying again.
Tai Lung grabbed onto a bamboo stalk and growled as he kicked it in half. He stood on the bottom half while wielding the top half as a staff. Time seemed to slow down as Tai Lung flew through the air towards his opponent. Shinigami's tentacles lunged forwards, and Tai Lung knocked them aside with his bamboo before hurtling towards Shinigami with his bamboo. More tentacles shot towards him, but Tai Lung knocked them aside with his staff, even as it began to break from the powerful tentacles. One last tentacle broke the last bit, but Tai Lung flipped over it and continued to shoot towards Shinigami. His fingers extended as he aimed for what he knew to be a cluster of nerves on Shinigami's chest. The monster growled, and suddenly a ball of red energy began to form between Shinigami's tentacles. Tai Lung's eyes widened, but he was too late to do anything as the powerful blast of antimatter enveloped him. There was a bright red explosion that Tai Lung flew out of and skidded across the ground, snarling as he managed to stop himself.
"What sorcery is this?!" Tai Lung demanded.
"Die…" Shinigami rasped as tentacles shot towards Tai Lung. The leopard roared as he slashed and knocked away the tentacles with his claws and paws, but was knocked into the air by one that burst from the ground under him and slammed into his gut. The leopard, now in the air, was repeatedly whipped around before tentacles wrapped around him and he shot into the air, carried by Shinigami.
The two rose high above the forest and Shinigami wrapped more tentacles around the leopard and began to tighten them. Tai Lung growled as he felt the tentacles crush him. Bones began to shift, making popping sounds, and Tai Lung roared before managing to rip the tentacles with pure strength. His paw whipped out and seized a tentacle and used it to swing himself at Shinigami. Tai Lung knocked away several tentacles before kicking Shinigami in the chest. Shinigami growled and tried to grab the leopard again, but Tai Lung grabbed the tentacles and used them to kick Shinigami in the chin, causing him to tip over. Tai Lung swung around on Shinigami's tentacles and kicked the monster around before slamming his feet into Shinigami's back and causing the two to rocket down.
Shinigami roared and knocked Tai Lung off his back before seizing him and holding him under him as the two rocket down, fire beginning to appear around them. Tai Lung roared as he once again broke free and grabbed Shinigami and swung him around before throwing him around. Tai Lung roared as he swung his leg around and slammed his paw against Shinigami's head, sending the monster spinning down into the forest and slamming into the ground to create a large cloud of dust. Tai Lung roared as he fell downwards with his paws extended and slammed into Shinigami, creating another massive cloud of dust. Bamboo all around bent over as the shockwave washed over them, and leaves flew into the air.
"Haah… ha…" Tai Lung groaned. He rose into the air, followed by several tentacles that were stabbed into him. Shinigami had caught the leopard right before he slammed into him.
"DIE…!" Shinigami roared as more tentacles tore through Tai Lung's body and wrapped around him. The leopard roared even as the tentacles pulled, before he was ripped apart with a violent spray of blood. Shinigami flung the remains away with a violent whip of his tentacles and roared into the air.
KO!
Thea: Well! That battle was legendary!
Bryant: Tai Lung and Shinigami were evenly matched in many ways, making this battle rather close.
Thea: Tai Lung and Shinigami were both super fast. At first glance, Tai Lung was just a bit faster due to scaling to Mach 200 feats while Shinigami scaled to Mach 180 feats, but there's more to that than just the numbers we gave them.
Bryant: Tai Lung proved himself fast enough to keep up with Shifu, who's capable of moving faster than Po can react, putting him at a speed higher than Mach 200. In Shinigami's case, he was designed to be much faster than Korosensei, who was Mach 180 around a quarter into the school year, and just kept learning and becoming faster as time went on. It's possible that these two are actually dead even in speed, or close enough that one can't tell without looking extremely close.
Thea: And when it came to brute skill and strength, Tai Lung definitely had the skill advantage, but Shinigami was definitely stronger. The energy Tai Lung exerted to make that crater comes out to be around a tenth of a ton of TNT, while the Assassination Classroom tanked an explosion thirty times stronger without even a scratch. And Shinigami could one-shot all of them before he became a monster! But since Tai Lung had way, way more skill due to his literal lifetime of Kung Fu, this just meant that they canceled each other out.
Bryant: Meaning that ultimately, this came down to the difference in their arsenal. And this is where Shinigami managed to take the lead.
Thea: Shinigami had a regenerative healing factor, long-ranged attacks in the form of energy blasts, flight, and tentacles which could easily restrain Tai Lung. Sure Tai Lung could use his Nerve Attack to keep Shinigami down, but Shinigami in his monster form preferred to attack using his tentacles and blasting foes with his energy blasts or sonic booms, keeping the snow leopard at a range. Even in his human form, he preferred to trap or ambush his opponents instead of killing them head to head
Bryant: What's more, it's notable that Tai Lung's Nerve Attack required him to know the nerve endings of his opponent's body and be able to affect them, which is why it didn't work on Po. He can't just touch someone and prevent them from moving. Keep in mind the fact that he only used the Nerve Attack on opponents noted to be unable to react to them, such as the Five and Po, while he didn't attempt this on Shifu as it would be useless to do so, as he would've been wasting time and energy trying to hit him with a move that required perfect precision. As Shinigami was as fast as him, it's unlikely that he would try to use the Nerve Attacks at all.
Thea: Even if Tai Lung could land some good damage on Shinigami, the tentacle monster can just be fixed up with his healing factor.
Bryant: Tai Lung was certainly one of the most iconic villains of people's childhoods, but Shinigami's range and abilities were just enough to give him the win.
Thea: Shinigami didn't have to wait Tai Long to get the win. Which means the winner of this WI Battle is Shinigami!
So this matchup is one of my favorites. Assassination Classroom and Kung Fu Panda in one matchup? What's not for me to love? Hopefully I did a good job with the fight. I did have trouble figuring out how to write it. And I definitely liked writing the analysis, since I love both series, and I like both characters, especially Tai Lung. Anyways, hopefully you guys all enjoyed it. The nine or eleven of you paying attention to it, and the four of you who read it. Anyways, as per the usual, leave a review! Azure out!
NEXT TIME!
"BANKAI!"
"SPIRIT GUN!"
ICHIGO KUROSAKI!
VS
YUSUKE URAMESHI!