Baki the Grappler

I saw the two-season series collection DVD for "Baki the Grappler" at Best Buy and I knew I had to beg my mother to get it for me for Christmas. Alas, I was not disappointed Christmas Day when I got my wish. I eagerly popped in disc one and was blown away by several repeated kicks to the senses of what I see as the ultimate fight Anime'!

My friends and I are used to the likes of watching live-action martial arts movies, but so few martial arts fight Anime' features. I'm the only one of us who has dared to experience the intensity (and overall insanity, with occasional bits of surrealism thrown in for good measure) that is "Baki the Grappler." An adaptation of the Japanese Manga series created by Keisuke Itagaki, the show follows the long and brutal path of 13-year-old Baki Hanma to proclaim himself the best fighter in the world. It's a long, hard quest to be the best, since his father Yujiro Hanma already has that title and is pretty much the strongest living creature on the planet, although IMHO, he might as well as be The Devil Himself (you'll eventually see why).

It's obvious that Baki has a big chip on his shoulder, not only to prove to the world that he is the best, but he also has to prove it to himself, as well (lending the series an unpretentious emotional edge rare for this sort of thing). At such a young age, he's already pushed himself to the limit and beyond, both physically and mentally, to be the best fighter in the world. The series does a good job of tracking his maturation from a brash young street brawler to a seasoned and intelligent martial artist who has earned legions of respect from his fans as well as other legendary fighters.

The series at first begins like any action/crime thriller we've become so used to in the past. But about five episodes in, things suddenly change into a great new direction and never looks back. Also, some have made about comments about how there's no false drama or theatrics in this show. That's good, not bad. All we get here is straight-up action and nothing more, even though we grow to really like Baki, regardless of how deeply troubled he may be, and there are a few unexpectedly tragic moments during the series that does prove that even fighters have a heart.

Still, "Baki the Grappler" is first-rate fight Anime'. There's a wide variety of martial arts disciplines on display here, including boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Chinese gong-fu, Karate, Kickboxing, Judo, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Russian SAMBO, Sumo, Tae Kwon Do, wrestling, and some good old-fashioned straight-up brawling. Needless to say, Baki is able to dish out beatings and take a few himself, and still walk right on into the next fight. It also goes without saying that Baki, and most of the fighters he battles with, are pretty much superhuman because their stamina and endurance during scenes of intense combat is nothing short of just that - superhuman. One of these battles includes Baki's mountain-top brawl with a giant ape that's probably the mutant offspring of King Kong and Bigfoot.

"Baki the Grappler" is up there with some of the greatest martial arts Anime' features from Japan, certainly one of the greatest animated martial arts features, period, for sure. Its two-season, 48-episode run may be pushing it for some tastes, but I guarantee you that you'll never be sleeping with so many repeated kicks to the head, and a few vague references to the martial arts philosophies of Bruce Lee, to keep you interested, and conscious.

Japanese heavy metal band Dir en Grey performs the opening theme song of each episode, "Child Prey."

10/10.

This is hands down the best series I have ever seen in my entire life, it's not even close. The likes of one piece, naruto, dragon ball, bleach, death note, etc. Can't match this. If you call yourself a real man you will undoubtedly love this. Almost every character in this series is driven by their love and passion of fighting and they share the same view of fighting in terms of value, but not in terms of styles. These characters are essentially normal human beings who loves to fight, but they amount to ludicrous feats that are way beyond the limitations of a human. It's also very inconsistent in a way. But this ridiculousness and inconsistency is the epitome of imagination, which is probably the biggest factor that makes this show so damn good to me. The brutality, which is way more apparent in the new netflix version is also a big plus to me. On top of this, there is so much more that makes this show as great as it is but it would be way too much to write about.

This anime series is about a 13-year-old boy named Baki Hanma, who trains in martial arts. His goal is to become the strongest man in the world and defeat his father, Yujiro Hanma, who only cares about being strong and pick fights to prove his power and nearly kill the opponents, even his own son, Baki.

Season 1: Kid Saga/Underground Arena Saga

The anime is action-packed with a good story arc. Each episode is presented well with what's required for the overall story. Baki's character is good and inspiring, as he not only becomes stronger by his training and fights; he also learns to respect and learn from each other and becomes wise in his pursuit. The backstory of other characters Baki fights was a good addition to show their desire to be the strongest, which helps Baki to realise what he should become as an aspiring martial artist. Baki's mother was also well written, as she seeks acceptance from her husband Yujiro Hanma and how she treats Baki to achieve that and, at last, her realization.

As I watched some episodes in English, then in Japanese, the voice acting was good in both. The animation was good for its time. The music and sound were decent for the action genre. The strength of the anime is the good story along with unique fight scenes and good characters' arc. The slow storytelling pace makes it easy to become distracted, and I did not find any of the medical scenes or the over-exaggeration of characters' abilities or skills to be particularly interesting.

Season 2: Maximum/Saidai Tournament Saga

This season evolves around the maximum, or saidai tournament, where the strongest men of different martial arts around the world compete to be known as the world's strongest man. Baki's goal is the same: to become the strongest man and defeat his father in a fair fight. The baki's character arc is less than the first season, as this focuses on various characters fights and their own backstories and reasons to be the strongest. The ego among the some fighters that the martial art they trained and mastered is the best adds to their conflicts in the tournament.

The Yujiro Hanma had less contribution in present than flashbacks, which was like a dilemma as it helped for his character establishment and a new character origin, but it also shows his appearance in the present tournament is for just filler. One full episode before the final match was wasted on reminding us of the things that we already know about Baki and his final opponent. The animation has improved than previous season, especially on Baki Hanma. The music was decent for the action genre. I watched the entire season in sub, which I recommend everyone do the same to get better experience, and a small portion of one episode was cut down in the dub version.

Conclusion:

It is a good brawl anime with great fights and a pretty decent story for the characters' arcs, backstories, and conflicts among them. The drawback is the pace. It moves slow for me. Watch the series at 1.5x speed if you feel the same.

Baki is my personal 2nd favorite anime behind JoJos Bizzare Adventure much like JoJo this series is over the top redicious but instead of focusing on the supernatural this series is more grounded in reality as in the fighters in this show use nothing but their muscles to achieve superhuman feats while still being humans no energy blasts or psychic ghosts here just brutal human on human bare knuckle brawls exadurated to the Max this not only makes it unique but very entertaining if you like manly anime like JoJo, Fist of the North Star, and Berserk or classic martial arts shonen like Dragonball z and Yuyu hakusho give this a watch you'll love it

I watched this one in order to gain a better understanding of the world of the Netfix 2018 one. The first season was good and fun dont take it seriously it was like Kenichi but more violent.Its the usual shounen get stronger become the strongest bla bla bla The main villian was introduced and plot presented become the strongest. Enjoyed all the fights and the animation and sound were bearable.

Season 2 began with the worst opening ive ever heard in an anime and i knew this was gonna pretty. A generic tournament arc began with more characters i didn't care about. They tried to rush squeeze in back stories but i stopped paying attention when one guys fight was shorter then his story. It was like they blew all the money on the first season and didnt know they had make a second season so they scraped some cash and tried to paste together a series. Animation dropped to like 20fps and they were just cuting too many corners. In one fight a guy gets punched so hard he turns into a gif and spins 3 times in the same spot before landing. This part I give 4/10

So just watch the the first season (avoid the 90s OVA) and read the manga for this part if you need to learn more.