Baki the Grappler

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.

If you are looking at this you are probably familiar with this anime. Maybe you know there is also a manga which takes the blood and bone, bordering realistic theme of this universe, into even greater hype domains.

My favorite manga, my favorite anime, my favorite peace of literature, my favorite philosophical discourse about nature of being A MAN.

Its wonderful in so many ways, and it speaks on many levels. Be prepared to set new PR's and practice sardonic smile in front of a mirror. Be prepared to yell in Japanese for no reason whatsoever (sub > dub). Be prepared to look into the distance and remember ancient arrow catching techniques. Be prepared to start overeating and challenging animals to duels.

1000/10 Would watch again, and AM watching again. hahahah PS: there's a new season out, 2018 production. Its awesome!

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.

The question with Baki is quite simple, when you understand that any kind of feeling towards another person is expressed through being beaten down, the series is much more enjoyable.

I'm not going to lie to you, love Baki. I love their unbelievable fights, their physically impossible bodies, their completely random dialogues, those secret techniques that come out of nowhere just to increase epicity. It's excellent.

Baki (this series and the current one) is one of my favorite anime, for two reasons: Because it is the first anime I saw and because it does not mind being only a fighting series, and is proud in that sense.

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