Grappler Baki

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Synonyms: Baki the Grappler

Japanese: グラップラー刃牙

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 42

Chapters: 371

Status: Finished

Published: 1991 to 1999

Genre: Action

Themes: Gore, Martial Arts

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Champion (Weekly)

Authors: Itagaki, Keisuke (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.72¹ (scored by 12,952 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1636²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #667

Members: 28,357

Favorites: 605

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7.72

Ranked #1636Popularity #667Members 28,357

MangaShounen Champion (Weekly)Itagaki, Keisuke (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /42

Chapters: /371

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Synopsis

Beneath the legendary Tokyo Dome lies an underground fighting arena known as Kourakuen. Here, warriors display their prowess in all manner of martial art disciplines, from the quiet control of kenpo to the heavy hits of boxing. There are only two real rules in this arena: no weapons allowed, and no rewards will be obtained. Fighters here live and die for only their honor and the chance to make their name live on forever.

Teenage grappler Baki Hanma strives to earn a place among Kourakuen's fiercest combatants, utilizing a unique fighting style created through years of harsh training and suffering. Baki is the only known son of the infamous terror Yuujirou Hanma, a violent man known and feared worldwide as the "Ogre." Yuujirou's brutal parenting and savage international crimes have filled Baki with trauma and hatred, fueling him to become as powerful as possible.

In a quest for revenge against his father, Baki battles the most fearsome men the world has ever birthed. Through bloody victory and crushing loss, will Baki ever be strong enough to stand his ground against Yuujirou?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Characters

Hanma, Baki

Main

Hanma, Yuujirou

Supporting

Hanayama, Kaoru

Supporting

Hanma, Jack

Supporting

Kaiou, Retsu

Supporting

Orochi, Doppo

Supporting

Shibukawa, Gouki

Supporting

Orochi, Katsumi

Supporting

Shiba, Chiharu

Supporting

Akezawa, Emi

Supporting

Reviews

Nov 6, 2024

VanVeleca

Recommended

Baki simultaneously has the dumbest writing ever and yet one the most compelling stories.

Pretty much any character that gets introduced (expect for Yujiro) eventually jobs, dies or just completely fades to the background for long stretches of chapters, making it so that when they show up again you have zero clue who the hell that even is because in the span of their dissapearance like 5 other guys with absolute batshit insane backstories show up.

It's also one that's simultaneously ugly yet also beautiful. I especially loved how the hair was drawn later on. There is so much detail on a page that seems so simple ...

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Apr 27, 2023

Allslsl

Recommended

Grappler Baki is a simple and straightforward story about becoming the strongest man in the world, make great largely by its brilliant execution that makes it the giant that it is today.

To start with, I believe that Baki series as a whole is one of those shows where your experience is far better now that you can binge-read it rather than waiting for the next weekly or monthly for chapter. I know the same can be said to other series too, but Baki is different because the pages can be filled with tons of fight choreography and very little dialogue, making your reading-time a lot ...

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Oct 8, 2024

Kinglink

Mixed Feelings

"It's alright"

A simple test for me is did I finish a manga, and in Baki's case I definitely did, and enjoyed much of the final arc, which is something I can't say about enough manga. Baki is an enjoyable ride as long as you're will to get on and ignore some rather big issues.

Grappler Baki is a very polished martial arts manga, which combines a variety of different disciplines and creates a tournament... Well it does that eventually.

The thing is, Grappler Baki is all about the fights, and it's a polished gem in that way where it's so focused on ... the fight, that it has removed important other parts of the story. In fact it's removed the story.

What does Baki want? To become strong? Why? To beat his father. How does he do this? Training various forms of fighting. Do we see this training? A single page each, and most of the time not even that.

The first arc in the book just seems to focus on Grappler Baki fighting a lot, and that's really what the rest of the manga is. The reader is just thrown in Baki's life in the ring, and in fact you don't even know why he's fighting for a decent chunk of the book. Then more fights happen. Then there's a flashback and more fights happen.. and then a major fight happens, and then a tournament kicks off... But the thing is none of this is connect. The only truely important fight to Baki is the major fight in the middle, and the final fight, and even then.. the final fight is only important because of an asspull of a reveal, that then takes 7 chapters to set up of completely new information that makes it plausable.

In fact there's a lot of times that the author just pulls out a new technique because he needs the characters to get stronger. Baki doesn't really have a defined fighting style, which is probably intentional so that the author can change what he needs to do on a scene by scene basis. But he just seems to grab random abilities or powers that work. And to be clear, I have mentioned training montages. But often times he's fighting multiple fights between training sessions, and even when he's in a major tournament, the abilities he shows in the final battle aren't even hinted at in the first. He just keeps gaining new abilities.

There's no foreshadowing here, there's no development of the world. There's just epic fights, and while the fight are really good, in fact excellent in the most case, it still feels like there's somethng important missing. Even the ending, feels a touch unsatisfying for a specific reason that would be a spoiler.

Yet this isn't a bad thing necessarily. If you enjoy over powered monsters of men, muscular architecture in each character's body, and so much testotorone this is exactly what you want. Think of a version of Dragonball Z where every character "powers up" at the right moment, only remove the magical elements and focus on just raw martial arts, and Baki is exactly that in a lot of way.

But at the same time, this is JUST a testatorone laden machismo that focuses on the fights more than anything, and actually the biggest issue is when it doesn't. There's a story about a girl who likes Baki... and it really doesn't go anywhere or do anything. There's Baki's father, which is the driving force of Baki's desire but.. he also doesn't really do much half of the times he shows up. He doesn't have a strong purpose in the finale for instance.

So ultiamtely, that's the thing. If you just want extremely well drawn and designed fights with various martial arts, which does sometimes feel like it's just making up new techniques over and over so the battle can go back and forth, Grappler Baki is excellent. If you want a well designed story or world, and a focus on a character who constantly grows more powerful, I would not recomment Grappler Baki to you.

For me.. "It was alright"

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What exactly is this series? Rabnawaz2 - Jun 27, 2024	3 replies	by Bennyawesome »» Jun 27, 2024 8:01 AM
Poll: Grappler Baki Chapter 371 Discussion FMmatron - Oct 19, 2021	3 replies	by JackMcN »» Jan 13, 2024 9:04 AM
Poll: Grappler Baki Chapter 6 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jun 15, 2022	1 replies	by PlasticRobot »» Nov 16, 2023 8:29 PM
Poll: Grappler Baki Chapter 190 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jul 2, 2022	1 replies	by Yabuki_kyoma »» Sep 8, 2023 6:00 AM
Poll: Grappler Baki Chapter 344 Discussion tonysarutori - Jan 28, 2022	2 replies	by VVienerVVizard »» Aug 21, 2023 7:15 AM

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