‘Paws Of Fury: Legend Of Hank’ Ending, Explained – Did Hank Become A Samurai After All?

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Directed by Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier, and Rob Minkoff, “Paws of Fury: Legend of Hank” had been banking mostly with the star cast, which did not take off as they had expected. The plot is based on most of the fighting movies that have been directed over the years. The movie is family-friendly, but most of the topics they have parodied might come off as harmless fun. It was released on July 15th, 2022, but did not achieve the love it hoped it would.

Spoilers Ahead


‘Paws Of Fury: Legend Of Hank’ Plotline – What Is The Film About?

A lone dog travels to the cat empire ruled by a Shogun and his officials to become a samurai. Hank finds himself heavily inspired by the cat Samurai who once saved him from his bullies and makes up his mind to become a Samurai. On reaching the land of cats, he is immediately in danger. The cats hate the dogs and will not rest until Hank is dead. His wish to become a samurai is heard by Ika Chu, the officer commanding Hank’s death, and Hank is appointed as a samurai and is sent to the town of Kakamucho with an official letter. The officer had tried with no success to get rid of the town, so he sent Hank to indirectly accuse them of killing a dog and get rid of them. When Hank reaches Kakamucho as their new Samurai, he is greeted with hostility before the cats finally accept him after he defeats and befriends Sumo under the tutelage of Jimbo, the previous Samurai cat. The town unites and gets rid of Ika Chu with the help of the Shogun.


What Happened To Jimbo?

Jimbo had fallen into depression and was wasting away in the land of the cats. Once upon a time, he was best friends with the now Shogun, but due to a mishap on his part, Jimbo thought he had lost his only friend. He had fallen into a spiral of self-deprecation after he thought he had ruined his friend’s birthday party. He felt embarrassed and hid in the town of Kakamucha with his catnip to keep him busy. Hank arrived as a necessary medicine to keep him sane and give his life a new meaning. Jimbo accepted Hank’s offer to be his teacher and finally started training him. However, Jimbo’s mental health is quite questionable because he lets Hank get away with almost any comment made against him. 

Jimbo efficiently uses his intelligence and takes down Sumo, but the credit goes to Hank, and Jimbo refuses to take any credit and lets Hank enjoy the fame. He knew that this win would make the cats warm up to Hank and accept him. The cats accepted him, but Hank let it get to his head, and even when Jimbo reprimands him, he refuses to listen. Jimbo loses himself to catnip again after Hank leaves for a fun night after a fight with Jimbo. Jimbo sinks back into his depressive state and lets himself down. He is unable to save them due to his inebriated state and instead is absolutely disgusted with himself and sets out to take his revenge alone. Due to his insecurities and his low confidence, Jimbo had forgotten how to be a Samurai. He had forgotten himself, and Hank helped him find himself back. He realizes his childishness after he meets the Shogun and slowly gains his confidence back. 

After that one mishap, Jimbo had spiraled down so badly that he felt like he had lost himself. He had let the Samurai’s heart down by hurting the innocent people at that birthday party because of his misunderstanding of the party for an ambush. He could not face himself anymore and could not let himself even touch a sword anymore. Even when the town was in danger, Jimbo tried his best to get out of his comfort zone and help them out, but he could not bring himself to fight due to his post-traumatic stress disorder from the birthday incident. Hank helped him overcome his PTSD by asking him to be his teacher, giving him a purpose to become better. 


Hank’s Character

Hank’s character is a bit loosely written compared to Jimbo’s. He first comes off as a naive animal who is chasing a futile dream. He had the determination to pursue his dream and become a samurai, which is why he traveled incessantly. However, while training, Hank was lost due to not seeing results after practicing for a few days and took it out on his master, Jimbo. He comes off as rude and selfish due to not putting in the hours he needed to practice, and despite Jimbo’s warnings, he was disobedient, and this move cost the town their houses and livelihoods. His character is a bit flat with no complexities except for a backstory that serves as his motivation. 

Hank let his fame for winning one battle get to his head, and he started being very lax with everything he did. He realized his mistake after he came back to a ruined town, and he realized he had disappointed everybody, most importantly himself. He gets called back to reality only after getting scolded by Emiko, who looked up at him from the beginning and cheered him on. He does have a good change and then goes on to help the cats get rid of Ika Chu. He really won their hearts after delegating Emiko as the Samurai instead of him because he recognized her true potential. He then got back to training to improve himself with Jimbo.


‘Paws Of Fury: Legend Of Hank’ Ending: Did Hank Become A Samurai After All?

The film ends with the night out blowing up on Hank’s face and Ika Chu sends in reinforcements to chase the townsfolk away and erase the entire town. Hank finally gets back to see the town in ruins and after self reflection follows Jimbo to take revenge and rescue Sumo from captivity. Sumo, Jimbo and Hank together fend off the soldiers sent by Ika Chu to capture them and rush back to rescue the citizens. While fighting Ika Chu and Hank have an altercation and set off the huge toilet that Ika Chu had built to boast his power. The toilet bursts and water gushes out toward the town. They rush back immediately and start digging around the town to give the water a way to flow. The Shogun arrives at the scene and tries to arrest Hank on Ika Chu’s testimony. However, Jimbo and the rest of the townsfolk attest for him and Hank is declared as the Samurai of the town. Hank then entrusts the Samurai role to Emiko who he thinks is the most suitable for the job due to her rushing to rescue the town whenever the town is in trouble. Emiko proudly accepts the role and Hank restarts his training with Jimbo to be a better Samurai than he currently was.


Final Words: The Veiled Dark Humor In The Series

Ika Chu and the Shogun were both portrayed well as two sides of the same coin. What sets them apart is the way the Shogun made his friend overcome his fear and trauma by having a heart-to-heart with him. However, Ika Chu constantly insulted and made derogatory comments toward his employees as well as his assistant. He wanted to erase an entire town so that his statue would be talked about. A little foreshadowing about some politicians in real life doing just that. Most politicians nowadays attempt to simply cover the underdeveloped areas, like slums, or the underdeveloped countries sharing borders with a wall. Ika Chu simply went a step ahead and tried to get rid of the country secretly yet directly. Some of these approaches have been shared by some politicians previously. However, they come out as heroes instead. Ika Chu was caught, and he got his due punishment, but that is a myth in real life due to the power the politicians hold. 

The Shogun, on the other hand, depicts the picture-perfect leader always shown in the movies as a person who listens to the hero and agrees with his views. Although he does raise questions, he mellows down and agrees with him eventually, and is declared to be a good politician. His saving grace was his genuine surprise at finding his best friend in the town and helping him get over the incident. The Shogun took his time talking to Jimbo and making him understand that he had forgiven him long ago and treated that incident as a good memory. With his help, Jimbo overcame his trauma. 

The movie also parodies the races that set apart humans in terms of their looks and make them susceptible to bullying. Races have been a part of discrimination for a long time. The movie lightly touches on the topic and highlights the backlash people belonging to other races receive when they take on roles that are supposedly meant for a specific race. This discrimination has been highlighted and mocked in the film. However, they did end up delegating the role back to another person belonging to that race. This did set it back. The plot did not let it really affect the film, but this move broke the cliche and also reinstated some of the discrimination. It’s a decent family-friendly movie, but it really banks upon the fame of Samuel L. Jackson. 


“Paws of Fury: Legend of Hank” is a 2022 Animation Adventure film directed by Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier and Rob Minkoff.

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Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She has a keen interest in graphic designing, reading, and photography. Her insatiable appetite for cinema and pop culture enticed her to work as a content writer. She is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma focused in Animation & VFX to explore a new dimension in her career.

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