Grappler Baki (TV)

Ever since he was born, Baki Hanma has always known nothing but fighting—strengthening every single muscle and learning different techniques from various martial arts under the supervision of his mother, Emi Akezawa. He trains in order to prepare himself to face and eventually surpass his own father, Yuujirou Hanma, a man feared by the masses as the "Ogre" and deemed the strongest being in the world.

However, when Baki realizes his mother's techniques are no longer enough, he sets out to become stronger in his own way. Seeking out powerful opponents and forming unbreakable bonds with them, he continues to grow both body and his soul, as the clock continues to tick closer toward the inevitable showdown against his father...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hanma, Baki Main

Kikuchi, Masami Japanese

Hanma, Yuujirou Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Hanayama, Kaoru Supporting

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Orochi, Doppo Supporting

Mugihito Japanese

Akezawa, Emi Supporting

Hino, Yurika Japanese

Matsumoto, Kozue Supporting

Kojima, Sachiko Japanese

Gaia Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Motobe, Izou Supporting

Omoro, Masayuki Japanese

Yashazaru Supporting

Yanagisawa, Eiji Japanese

Tokugawa, Mitsunari Supporting

Kusumi, Naomi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Watson, Barry Producer

Nanba, Hitoshi Director, Storyboard

Takahashi, Hideo Sound Director

Reviews

Feb 4, 2024

JJMFREAP

Recommended

"If someone is born a male, at least once in his life he'll dream of becoming the strongest man alive."

This quintessential phrase of pure poignant basedness is the mantra by which Baki is made. This is a real man's show! This story will make you grow a second penis. The characters are MEN, the plot is MEN, the message is MEN. You've heard of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, well this is BIG MEN DOING MAN SHIT, a genre that is sadly dying as of late. But what can you expect, the based masculine male is the biggest threat to those hungry for power, that's ... why they're stuffing all the food and drinks with soy and estrogen to make men weak. But the innate male desire for strength of body, mind and spirit cannot be undermined and it will find a way, just like testosterone makes its way through the bloodstream. We will always find a way to climb any mountain!

Jokes aside, this right here is Baki. Quintessential Baki. It's a simple story, but honestly, there is comfort and fun to be had in its simplicity. There is no overly deep worldbuilding here (yet), no huge overaching story, no world threatening cataclysm to be stopped. This is just the story of a big strong boy and his desire to become the biggest strongest boy so he can defeat his menace of a father. It's a classic coming of age story and a classic journey of growth and self improvement. If you also love martial arts like I do, they play a huge role here and this is one the best martial arts stories to be found in classic shounen anime. The fights are great, the dialogue is snappy, sharp and to the point, the visuals are quite nice and the soundtrack is really catchy, with a distinctly oldschool charm. The characters aren't some profound philosophical allegory, they are simple, but charismatic and engaging people that will definitely keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Now, this specific adaptation is not without its flaws. For starters, this released in 2001, which is already old, but its still newer than things like One Piece, Naruto or Shaman King. Despite that, it actually looks like its 10 years older than it really is, with a very retro artstyle and animation approach that aligns much more with classic 80s battle shounen than it does with more modern ones. It feels much closer to Fist of the North Star or Yu Yu Hakusho than the others I mentioned before. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I personally enjoy oldschool media or newer media with an oldschool aesthetic, but here the show also comes with some of the drawbacks of the era. Firstly, the animation can drop the ball sometimes. Some segments are barely animated, some aren't animated at all and are basically shaky slideshows and animation bits get reused frequently. Also there are numerous unnecessary recaps across all the episodes that ultimately hurt the pacing of the story. Hell, one of the episodes in the middle of the season is just a recap of everything that happened up to that point with barely any new information being shared. It's very annoying, it's obviously a cost cutting measure but this was sadly something that was commonplace during this era. We can all be grateful that it fell out of favour.

All in all, I know most people today will go straight to the newer Netflix Baki anime, but I still think that this classic deserves a shot too. It's really enjoyable and really captures the essence of Baki and of this classic epoch of anime. It won't blow your mind or move you deeply with groundbreaking storytelling, but this was never the point. It has that same lovable testosterone-filled heart that classic action movies have. It's just a very fun collection of macho nonsense. And it's damn good at what it does too. Now if you excuse me, I must go lift weights this very moment to become the strongest in the world!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 29, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Mixed Feelings

Notice: This review covers all three major arcs.

First arc

A typical shonen series is about hyperactive boys training endlessly in order to become the best in a specific field. Well guess what; this anime is also like that. It’s about a boy that wants to be the best fighter and to surpass his father, the strongest man in the world. The catch is, it’s way more focused on being brutal than telling a moral message about friendship or spicing things up with something other than fighting.

If you got tired of watching fighting shonen or sport series that are wasting a lot of time on not being ... about the action, Grappler Baki is where you go to, assuming you can tolerate bad animation and horrible openings. Seriously, if you want to get your blood pumping when you begin watching an episode of pure manly action, you don’t throw a lame pop song, sang by a girl in the opening.

And I get why they did that. Females in the series are damsels in distress, existing only as rewards for manly men who beat the crap out of each other. Listening to girl singing while the protagonist is training hard is telling you subconsciously that everything is done for the pussy and that all the pain and suffering the hero is going through will have a reward at the end. It’s just a cheap hook to keep teenage boys watching a show about guys who want to be the strongest for the sake of being the strongest.

You also don’t use cancer CGI models. I get how it saves money, but if you don’t bother to render them properly or cover them by drawing over them, then it looks horrible and not awesome at all, which happens to be the main appeal of the show. I mean, if you can somehow look past it, it’s still amazing for its brutal fighting, which includes all sorts of nasty attacks no typical shonen would use. Scratching the eyes, biting the ears, kicking the nuts, attacking without a warning, and so on. The early episodes were merciless, as there was no honor in fighting and winning was the only thing that mattered.

Second arc

Unfortunately this was diminished in the second arc, where everybody was fighting before an audience with a referee and you had to follow a few rules because you were doing it to prove how powerful you are and not to win no matter what. In fact, the second arc took away most of the charm in general and became an almost typical fighting tournament, despite constantly saying it is dangerous and merciless.

Even the plot was damaged because of it. During the first arc things were moving at a reasonable pace. You were following a single character as he was travelling around the world and facing all sorts of challenges with no rules or referees to limit what you are allowed to do. It also had meaningful character growth, as Baki gets constantly stronger and learns new tricks. The handful of opponents he faces get some screen time as well so their backgrounds can be fleshed out.

The second arc ruins everything. There is no actual growth since nobody there gets stronger from his battles. There are also about 30 fighters, most of which are one note, and they all get a rather equal amount of screen time when it’s their time to fight. Meaning you don’t focus on someone for too long and because of their sheer number almost nobody feels important or memorable. Also, every battle takes place on the exact same arena, which quickly becomes repetitive and dull to look at. Also, you can’t use dirty tricks, field tactics, or dirty tricks, because there is a referee and rules to follow. The fights are still kinda fun but there is very little engagement.

And I have to stress how darker the first arc was, despite having a lot more absurd elements during its battles. Everybody was constantly grumpy and ready to choke the life out of their enemies, while the only relevant female was the psychotic mother of Baki, constantly mistreating him so she can have sex with his even more psychotic father. It was edgy at times, but it was also much more enjoyable than the second arc that had a comic relief midget and a dull schoolgirl acting as a generic platonic girlfriend.

What I am getting at here, is that although the story was never something special, the first arc had a linear plot where every major character was somehow significant and was getting fleshed out. The tournament arc had everyone waiting for their turn on the ring. Until then, they had nothing to do besides being spectators who were stating the obvious for what is going on in the current duel. There is no plot to speak of and it quickly became boring. The show is all about muscular guys training and fighting each other just to see who the biggest badass is. In vacuum they are all different and cool, but when binging the show you clearly see how none of them feels important because of their sheer number and lack of permanent focus.

I also have to point out how a big part of the appeal was also Baki’s relationship with his crazy ass father. The two of them are the flagship of the whole series, and we don’t get much of it. Baki stops evolving in the tournament and becomes almost of a blank self insert. His father’s backdrop gets fleshed out, but he is still not doing something other than being a jerk who keeps making his son suffer as means to keep getting stronger.

Third arc

Things seem to improve during the third arc, since the plot goes back to be being about dirty fighting, field tactics, and stealth. It is quickly proven to suffer from the exact same pacing issue as the second arc, with the addition of constantly cutting away every few minutes. Basically, a bunch of convicts go after Baki but they are constantly bumping on the 30 fighters from the previous arc. So again, there is no focus on a few characters. On top of that, since those 30 fighters are no longer standing idle as spectators, they are now constantly jumping in to intervene, or the convicts constantly do tricks to escape and leave the battle inconclusive. On top of that, a fight that is at large is constantly stopped and the scene changes to show us what someone else is doing at the time thus ruining the fun.

Basically, the third arc has the same problem that plagues all stories that go past a tournament. You either never again show the fighters that took part in it, thus making it even more clear of how meaningless it was to spend time on them, or you keep them all around and you need to find something for them to do. The cast was now over 50 fighters doing their daily routine or bumping onto the convicts, making the plot extremely fragmented and unfocused.

On top of that, even if you somehow make a compilation of the fights so they will seem uninterrupted, they are still going to be horrible to look at. The CGI is now everywhere and it makes the characters look like something out of a Playstation 1 era. The android animation is also extremely cheap, as most motions are essentially stills that slide instead of actual motion. Most of the badassery is lost because of it.

I also need to point out how messed up the power scaling is. You never get a clear picture of who is stronger than whom, with the only exception being Baki’s father, who is the strongest man in history. At one scene it seems like A is stronger than B, only to somehow be proven weaker than C, who lost to B. For example, in the first arc Gaia was referred to as the second strongest person in the world, and then the second arc introduces all those fighters who are supposed to be even stronger. Then the third arc introduces the convicts, who are supposed to be even stronger, yet they all get defeated by the lower end of the fighters of the second arc.

The dirty tactics many are using could be used as a justification for why some can get the upper hand in cases where normally they would lose. But as it turns out not even that makes much sense, since the convicts are all crazy powerful on their own, and their dirty tactics are actually making them underperform. Plus, Baki gets a power up in this arc not through training or through some realization but because he lost his virginity. I kid you not; the show treats sex as a power up.

We also don’t get an actual finale, since the story ends without a resolution and it’s yet another case of go read the manga, where you get a whole bunch of arcs that keep going forever. There is never any clear objective or end point, making the whole thing being literally about endless pointless fighting.

Down to it, Grappler Baki is cool at points, but as a whole unfocused and badly directed and animated. It stands no chance next to better produced titles, even if their action is nowhere close as brutal.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Nov 12, 2023

doughnutsfan

Not Recommended

Improved final third of the season fails to redeem an underwhelming story and characters that came before it.

With surface-level writing, an unlikable protagonist and unimpressive fight scenes, even the last few episodes which introduce some cool characters and potentially interesting storylines can’t make up for the extremely boring and unremarkable first 15 episodes that not only fail to develop the story and themes as anything more than the main character wishing to become the strongest person on the planet, But said character also behaves and treats everyone around him like an unlikable, rude brat with little redeeming qualities, and a couple of interesting supporting ... characters can’t salvage baki and his story. The finale also drops the ball on what little character development Baki has managed to accumulate over the course of the season.

The only truly good thing about this anime is the soundtrack, not the opening or ending, but the music itself. It brings nostalgic retro flavor and manages to somewhat elevate what little the story this anime had to offer

Hajime no Ippo, a masterful anime in the same genre that also came out near the same time as Baki does a far superior job of exploring similar themes with an actually great cast, pacing and thematical depth. Go watch that instead.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Grappler Baki (TV) Episode 4 Discussion ichii_1 - Dec 2, 2016	22 replies	by LokalniDaddy »» Dec 15, 8:34 AM
	Poll: Grappler Baki (TV) Episode 6 Discussion OtherGuyX - May 13, 2011	23 replies	by kirA_-_ »» Nov 23, 2:05 AM
	Poll: Grappler Baki (TV) Episode 20 Discussion OtherGuyX - May 18, 2011	20 replies	by TRogueAdmiral »» Jul 10, 10:03 PM
	Poll: Grappler Baki (TV) Episode 15 Discussion OtherGuyX - May 16, 2011	23 replies	by TRogueAdmiral »» Jul 10, 8:31 PM
	Poll: Grappler Baki (TV) Episode 24 Discussion Tony2Phones - Mar 28, 2010	33 replies	by Lindemberg »» Jun 20, 3:22 PM

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