Baki: New Grappler Baki

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Also known as New Grappler Baki: this is part 2 of the Baki series taking place after the Maximum Tournament Arc.

Part 2 of Baki is where fights begin to become gritty & its artstyle develops its current detailed style. There consists a total of 3 arcs in New Grappler being told in more detail below.

5 Convicts Arc Chapters 1-169
As the title suggests, 5 convicts who survive their death penalties break out of their prisons to battle the previous contestants of Maximum Tournament being Baki, Hanyama, Retsu Kaioh, Doppo Orochi,& Shibukawa however even Kato,Olivia Biscuit, Jack Hammer & Yujiro Hanma take part in the battles. ... This arc isn't a tournament but instead combatants must look for each other & fight on contact. Most of the battles in this arc are taken to higher levels of power as we see people take gunshots, cutting of limbs, damaging the statue of liberty & obviously broken bones. However towards the end of the arc some of the convicts get beaten too easily.

Kaioh Tournament Chapters 170-240
This time around Baki needs some recovery so Retsu Kaioh suggests participating in the Chinese Kaioh Tournament where the best fighters of Kaioh reside. Towards the middle of the arc it becomes a 5 vs 5 battle with the Kaiohs on side and on the other being Baki, Yujiro, Olivia, Muhammad Ali Jr, & other guy not worth mentioning. This arc offers a more insight in the top tier characters such as Yujiro & Olivia while delivering a small confrontation with Baki with his father. At the same time you see how much Baki cares for Kozue & vice versa.

Boxing VS MMA Chapters 241-276
Muhammad Ali Jr wants Kozue for himself so he challenges Baki for the right to marry her. As interesting a setup this is, it fails miserably. This is one of the few hints that I speculate that Itagaki has this grudge against boxers & really takes it on Muhammad Ali Jr being the son of the real life Muhammad Ali. The arc is poorly written as it set ups Jr to being a miserable person where it makes the readers believe he'll have a great fight with Baki but ends being a low bow to the boxing community. This is further established when Yujiro Hanma is a fan of Muhammad Ali & would often spar with his son. As a whole this arc is skippable & just comes off as an angry rant on MMA being superior to boxing. It's very offensive whether you're a boxing fan or not as it ruins the progression & develops inconsistent personalities of some characters.

Overall the fights in this part are better executed than its previous arc but due to the sloppy events occurring in the final arc is a major con to the point where I wondered why it even exists. The following arc takes place in the Pickle Gaiden & Baki Son Of Ogre aka Hanma Baki where a caveman named Pickle is revived from the Jurassic Period & Baki Vs Yujiro finally happens.

Being both a fighting fan and a ridiculous shonen fan is probably only half the reason why I like this. The other half is that I'm not grossed out by the gratuitous amounts of shredded male nudity. The story is pathetic, yes, and the art's actually really bad from a general standpoint, but there's tons of fighting, great characters, tons of fighting, and did I mention that there is a lot of god damn fighting? The ridiculous physical feats are astounding as well. One of the characters from the first Baki series, Scarface, can effortlessly bend coins, tear apart thick card decks, and squeeze your ... arm so hard it "explodes." He fights a guy who almost toppled the statue of liberty. Yeah, that's right.

So if you're a fan of ridiculous levels of violence, absolutely insane fights, almost stupid physical accomplishments, and shredded 300-pound slabs of man, then this is for you.

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SEVERAL SPOILERS



Well, the manga can start in a strange way for those who haven't read the previous manga, just like me, but the first episodes have alreadyWell, the manga can start in a strange way for those who haven't read the previous manga, just like me, but the first episodes have alreadyWell, the manga can start in a strange way for those who haven't read the previous manga, just like me, but the first episodes already make a great introduction, shows Baki and the villains of a way that you are aware of the whole universe, in short, the first episodes ... already show that you don’t need to watch or read the previous one, leaving for the characters, they are very good, they don’t need to be extremely elaborate and layered characters, so if they have charisma and a good personality they can already be considered good, and that’s the case, here we see very cool characters and that you get attached very easily

Now the fights, yes, they are perfect, it is impossible not to feel tension in them, you feel terrified when someone character cannot fit a definitive blow or when an opponent uses a very good strategy, together with the animation, the fights become something really incredible, this manga amused me and manages to be flawless in all aspects.

°English Version°

Where Baki's first manga shined, this one failed to maintain that quality.
The truth is that he remembered "New Grappler Baki" much better than it ended up being, even though the anime also faltered at times, he remembered it much better. This does not mean that he had good moments.

Baki is pretty much out of the story because he doesn't directly participate in any major fights during all arcs except the ending (although he does have some good moments, but very loose ones).
He is more focused on his love life and this feels heavy and boring.

The arc of the prisoners starts very well with the ... excellent character that was Dorian. During his time in this arc, he felt like a real villain that involved a danger to the characters. The whole story of him and how they related and concluded it was impeccable.

But after this, the rest of the prisoners are either very wasted or some totally sell out.
The only salvageable is Doyle, who had his development especially with Retsu and Katsumi. He knew how to learn from the mistakes he made, but his end was too bitter and inconclusive.

Raitai's arc was so-so. He had his moments and some fights were fun, but it seemed like Itagaki had no idea what to do. He was changing the whole dynamic every two chapters to the point that some things were contradictory. Anyway, pineapples work.

And not to mention the last arc, a total aberration.
They oversold Alli Jr. to rip him apart in two panels (literally). Although he deserved it for wanting to be more alive than the others and get everything easy, and on top of that steal the protagonist's girlfriend. I don't have any catches here.

But we must give this manga a point for giving us two fights that overflowed with quality and put them among the best in all of Baki in general. These are:
- Hanayama vs. Speck
- Yujiro vs. Kaku Kaioh
The first, raw brutality. The second, strength against martial arts.

With all the defects, it still seems like a manga that entertains a lot and hooks you very quickly until you can't stop reading.

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°Versión en español°

Donde el primer manga de Baki brilló, este no pudo mantenen esa calidad.
La verdad es que recordaba a "New Grappler Baki" mucho mejor de lo que termino siendo, a pesar de que el anime también flojeaba por momentos, lo recordaba mucho mejor. Esto no quita que tuvo buenos momentos.

Baki esta prácticamente fuera de la historia porque no participa directamente en ninguna pelea importante durante todos los arcos exceptuando el final (aunque tiene algunos buenos momentos, pero muy sueltos).
Esta más enfocado en su vida amorosa y esto se siente pesado y aburre.

El arco de los presos arranca muy bien con el excelente personaje que fue Dorian. Durante su tiempo en este arco, se sintió como un verdadero villano que involucraba un peligro para los personajes. Toda su historia y como la fueron relacionando y concluyendo fue impecable.

Pero después de este, el resto de los presos o son muy desperdiciados o unos vende humos totales.
El único salvable es Doyle, que tuvo su desarrollo en especial junto a Retsu y Katsumi. Supo aprender de los errores que cometió, pero su final fue demasiado amargo e inconcluso.

El arco del Raitai fue regular. Tuvo sus momentos y algunas peleas fueron divertidas, pero pareciera que Itagaki no tenia ni idea de que hacer. Iba cambiando toda la dinámica cada dos capítulos al punto de que algunas cosas eran contradictorias. En fin, las piñas funcionan.

Y ni hablar del ultimo arco, una aberración total.
Vendieron demasiado a Alli Jr. para destrozarlo en dos paneles (literalmente). Aunque lo tenia merecido por querer ser mas vivo que los demás y obtener todo fácil, y encima robarle la novia al protagonista. Ni capturas tengo acá.

Pero hay que darle un punto a este manga en darnos dos peleas que desbordaban calidad y las ponen entre las mejores de todo Baki en general. Estas son:
- Hanayama vs Speck
- Yujiro vs Kaku Kaioh
La primera, brutalidad pura y dura. La segunda, fuerza contra artes marciales.

Con todos los defectos, me sigue pareciendo un manga que entretiene muchísimo y te engancha rapidísimo hasta no parar de leer.

New Grappler Baki is the second serialization of the Baki series, and this is the first I experienced, watching the anime. Upon reading the manga, my thoughts are kind of mixed.

The first arc is the 'Strongest Death Row Inmates' arc, which takes up around 60% of this serialization. Five death row inmates from around the world simultaneously and independently break out of prison and head to Japan to fight strong bois and 'know defeat'. I have a soft spot for Baki and usually forgive its faults, but I think this arc might just be the worst in the series, or at least one of the ... worst. It comes down to the structure. It's very repetitive. Prisoner meets mainstay character -> The two fight -> Prisoner escapes a few times-> Repeat until the prisoner is captured. There's no rising of stakes with these encounters either; Dorian was probably the strongest, but he was beat second. Doyle was probably the weakest, but he was defeated third. It's a huge anti-climax. There's also the issue that Baki, the titular character, doesn't show up nearly as much as he should in the arc. Don't get me wrong, side characters are cool, but the main character should still be the focus. I think another issue is that none of the Inmates really show up again after being beaten, besides Dorian who shows up briefly in the next arc. As such, the arc is pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

The thing is, none of this matters when in one chapter, while things are getting tense between Baki and his girlfriend, Yujiro shows up and says, "Have sex like 12 times a day, it'll make you stronger." And Baki and his girlfriend do have sex, and Baki's strength doubles and he beats TWO of the convicts (They escape, but still). Yes. All of that happened. A guy swallows a grenade and throws it up, One of the prisoners has poisonous vacuum hands that he poisons Baki with, but Baki is fine because someone else has poison hands that cancels the poison out...

Muhammed Ali's son shows up and wants to date Baki's girlfriend Kozue, is built up as one of the strongest characters in the series. The thing is though, he gets beaten up five days in a row by different people, the last of which is his Dad. Upon hearing Ali Jr say, "I kind of have multiple broken bones and stuff, can we fight later?" Ali says, "My son doesn't want to fight a man while he can barely walk and has several fractures? What a WIMP!" And then beats Jr up. After healing, Ali Jr fights Baki, who beats Jr in two hits. THEN, Kozue rejects him and he NEVER SHOWS UP AGAIN. This probably disappointed most people, but I thought the fact that the author just randomly started hating Ali Jr was hilarious.

None of this really makes the issues with the Inmates arc better, but it does distract from them. The next arc is actually pretty good, although it's another Tournament Arc. Yujiro actually has a really good fight, and the others are pretty good too. The next is the aforementioned Ali Jr abuse arc, at which point Baki is like, "We should fight soon Dad." and this serialization of Baki ends.

The characters introduced are a bit meh. The inmates are a mixed bag overall, another issue with the arc. All of them have the same motivation, and all of them fight dirty. Doyle has a bit of development I guess, but it's not great or anything. There's just not much to say about any of them, really. Biscuit Oliver is actually pretty good though. He's portrayed in a similar fashion to Yujiro, but he seems a bit more carefree and casual. Kaku is funny, but he's not in the series a lot. Point is, the new characters aren't really compelling. Yujiro is even better though, Retsu, Jack, and Shibukawa are cool. The others are fine for the most part.

I've been ragging on the series a lot, but there's one element that is undeniably good: The art. It has detail, style and expression. The sense of flow and impact is some of the best in any manga. The character designs are pretty good too.

The point is, I enjoy New Grappler Baki, but it has several issues. I haven't decided if I enjoy this more than the previous serialization or not, but I still enjoyed it. The anime is definitely inferior, but at the same time, watching all the insanity with friends isn't something that can be experienced with manga. Decide for yourself how you want to experience it.