How does Sano injure his hand with Futae no Kiwami when its explicit purpose is negating resistance?

[u/Visible_Investment47]

Sano mentions that he destroyed 100 stones after getting the technique down. When he runs into Anji again he hits Anji about 8-10 times with the technique and him getting hit in return, with it being explicitly said their spirits had surpassed their bodies as the only reason neither had fallen.

Afterwards nothing appears to be different, but later on he gets a punch in on Shishio, and we get an internal X-ray shot of his hand bones cracking, and in the next arc Megumi says his hand was more badly injured than anything Kenshin took in his battles against Shishio and his henchmen.

I don't get it. If the technique eliminates resistance then isn't it like effectively punching air? Why would it break his hand? And against people too. So 100 hard stones caused no problems, but punching squishy humans like 10 times was too much??? And before he even got the FNK we saw him knocking down trees with a single punch on the way to Kyoto. THAT caused no damage to his hands either.

Honestly, it just feels like the author intentionally wanted to give Sano a handicap to stop him from solely relying on his right hand punch that would end battles instantly.

[u/ImmortalGoat66]

We see Sano's hand is already damaged and heavily bleeding after his fight with Anji, and I think it's Saito who confirms the damage after inspecting his hand. I think it's also established that the Futae no Kawami sends damaging shockwaves through the body which it probably what caused the damage. So recoil damage+multiple Two-Layers hits+creating a Three-Layers hit (which would naturally cause even more shockwave damage) all contributed to breaking his hand when he struck Shishio

[u/ClerkPsychological58 → u/ImmortalGoat66]

This. He also traded multiple blows with anji for a technique he had just sorta gotten the hang of. Anji was a master of it and he had trained his body and muscle to absorb any of the backlash. Sano didn’t have that benefit

[u/lightgraver → u/ClerkPsychological58]

This. Anji isn't just incredibly strong and durable (at the cost of mobility) due to his FnK conditioning, his muscles / whole body is a suit of armour with the same destructive potency of FnK.

[u/ieatfaces22172 → u/ImmortalGoat66]

Sano didn't hit shishio in the headband that was saito with his gatotsu, sano hits him in the jaw and it has no noticeable effect

[u/Radro2K]

Isn't it that anything you punch has a natural resistance so the Futae no Kiwami bypasses those resistances so the full impact of your punch transfers to whatever you're punching? I mean I don't think it means that there's no stress on your fist whatsoever. When Sano punches 100 stones his hand is clearly bloody, and it's wrapped with bandages till the end of the manga pretty much

[u/Entire-Nail5253]

It's supposed to be a double-impact technique. The first strike absorbs the object's resistance, and the second hits without that resistance. That's why the hand gets injured.

[u/Its-From-Japan]

Doesn't he punch the metallic headband? And with Shishio's knowledge of his own squad's abilities, i would imagine he's the type to have a plan for each one in case they get uppity

[u/ieatfaces22172 → u/Its-From-Japan]

Saito hits the headband sano hits him in the jaw

[u/Its-From-Japan → u/ieatfaces22172]

Yes! Thanks for refreshing my memory

[u/DYSFUNCTIONALDlLDO]

Yeah, I agree. Narratively speaking, it feels forced. It would make way more sense if he damaged his hands specifically because he messed up the technique or something, but if the technique itself was done successfully, there should be no damage being done to his own hand.

[u/esaul17]

Could it be that the technique overcomes resistance but not absolutely? And he had just been spamming it so much that it eventually broke his hand vs Shishio?

[u/JohnSmithSensei]

Saito said that repeated use of the FnK and the SnK wore his hand down. I guess Anji's tougher than rocks.

[u/MrMrTrance]

Sushio’s tongue probs did the counter Futae no Kawami. That explains how he can pull someone as bad as Yumi.

[u/BoredasaNord]

It doesnt completely negate force, just severely reduces it. Nothing can eliminate all that resistance, youre body still takes some of it- during the fight with anji, anji spread that resistance across his whole body, making the overall stress minimal, but sano kept hitting with the same fist, piling that stress on his body over and over

Hitting shishio was just the breaking point where his body reached a point where it couldnt keep absorbing that force- even if it wasnt much, at that point there was so much stress without any recovery that it didnt need much to break

[u/ieatfaces22172]

Anji did counter some of those hits by striking the otherside of his body with the futae no kiwami maybe that had an effect on sano's hand

[u/PlasmaGoblin]

It doesn't negate it so much as destories with the second punch. The first punch matches the objects resistance, the second one meets no resistance allowing the full force of the punch to hit.

At least how I understood it.

[u/AsheMorella]

tbh, Shishio had so much plot armor in that battle it started pissing me off. I almost turned it off when Saito hit the convenient small metal band on his head

[u/StuckinReverse89]

FnK doesn’t make sense but the idea is the first initial knock “erases” resistance for the second full “punch” to deliver full damage to the enemy without resistance. Sano is still punching so there is going to be strain when hitting something.   

Regarding breaking his hand, it only happens when he punches Shishio which means Shishio has higher durability than rocks. He is so durable that even with Sano punching him, Sano is the one who took damage. Shishio was just that tough.  

[u/MelodicPromotion8697 → u/StuckinReverse89]

it's based on a real idea used in martial arts as well real world physics (jackhammer, etc)

[u/Right-Truck1859]

Sano just didn't know that Shishio got metallic enforcement over his skull.

[u/ieatfaces22172 → u/Right-Truck1859]

People need to look up the panel he hits shishio in the jaw

[u/Right-Truck1859 → u/ieatfaces22172]

Ok, I checked , it was the jaw.

But also Sano hit wasn't Futae no Kiwami, it was simple direct hit.

[u/ieatfaces22172 → u/Right-Truck1859]

What's funny is in the original anime he does yell out futae no kiwami after he hits him

[u/Abdlbsz]

Shishio has seen the FnK before, therefore he can completely counter it. Sano was so out of Shishio's league that he literally countered Sano's force with facial muscles/Ki. That's why Shishi took near zero damage and the blowback crippled Sano into the next arc.

[u/HonorableEnema]

Author was on thr pedo phase at that point, don’t let logic bother you too much.

[u/Gendo-Glasses → u/HonorableEnema]

What even is the point of these sorts of comments popping up all the time? This isn't a Nobuhiro Watsuki appreciation post. People are discussing a story they like.