After emerging victorious from a brutal underground tournament, Baki Hanma continues on his path to defeat his father, Yuujirou, the strongest man in the world. However, he gets no time to rest when the tournament runner, Tokugawa Mitsunari, visits him at school. He reveals to Baki that five incredibly dangerous death row inmates from around the world—all skilled in martial arts—have simultaneously escaped confinement and are heading to Tokyo, each wishing to finally know the taste of defeat. Tokugawa warns that, due to his well-known strength, Baki is bound to encounter them sooner or later, and he will not be their only target.
Adapting the first saga of the second manga series, Baki centers on the all-out war between the esteemed martial artists of Japan and those of the dark underground world.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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AndoCommando
Five men, all considered some of the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world await death row. Each one locked in high-security prisons across several continents unbeknownst to each other and, as if by sheer coincidence, break out from their penitentiaries and head for Tokyo Japan. Their goal: to challenge the fighting champion of the underground Baki Hanma in the hopes of finally tasting defeat. Baki is somewhat of an anomaly when talking about the series in depth. On the surface Baki comes across as the stereotypical shounen following a teenage boy training to become the world’s strongest fighter, a label currently held by hisfather Yujiro Hanma. However, when delving deeper into the story, Baki manages to encapsulate the concept of fighting and the themes that tie with such. The struggles, sacrifices and suffering felt when facing an almost unachievable goal, the unbridled enjoyment of experiencing your passion to the fullest and even the jaded, dreary perception that can set in when constantly at the pinnacle of one’s field of interest – all are just some of the core ideas the series is firmly rooted in and all remain prevalent in this adaptation of Baki.
This version is set shortly after the Maximum Tournament arc, acting as a direct continuation to the past TV adaptations of Baki almost 2 decades ago, but still serves a solid entry point for newcomers of the franchise. The first OP gives enough backstory on its own – Baki wins a fighting tournament and is crowned the world champion, but that title behaves more like a proverbial target on his back, attracting the group of convicts whose unmatched strength had led each to grow bored of life and now seek to challenge the young prodigy. This premise eventually leads to a showdown between the death row inmates and Baki alongside other underground martial artists prominent in past seasons; a 5-on-5 no holds barred match where fights are free to run amok between fighters anytime and anyplace, which would also include various other characters in this battle between discipline and technique against sheer brutality and ability. It’s an arc that easily creates excitement and anticipation as to how such a story will play out, but the execution of this turns out to be a mixed bag depending on your expectations for the anime.
The plot for this arc, while it may seem grand on paper is actually fairly simplistic; progression and development are both dependent on fights between martial artists with at least one character gaining something from each encounter, from a newfound strategy to beat an opponent if they ever fight again to realizing weaknesses that keep themselves from becoming stronger. One would think this approach would make each fight more meaningful and hold more weight, except that when reflecting back most fights in this show came off forgettable and even sporadic, the latter being the result of very poor structure and pacing. Baki has a habit of introducing new characters and flashbacks at random points in the story, with some flashbacks being as long as 10 minutes in the middle of a match. It’s a habit that seriously disengages the viewer from the tension and unpredictability that this arc is founded upon, to an unpardonable extent with how often this is bound to happen. This kind of storyboarding is what constantly brings down my engrossment of the narrative here as it continues onward, meanwhile the eventual outcome of this arc is seriously underwhelming given how each of the five criminals are written off so unevenly. The lack of a succinct structure results in some antagonists being beaten in quick fashion in order to build towards the next arc of Baki and thus required bringing past characters back into the mix to do just that. Narratively, it looked to be full of ideas and potential develop but lacked a clear direction and framework to present the arc in a carefully planned and orderly manner.
The character development for Baki is also lacklustre to an extent. Characters in Baki can often be considered embodiments of their chosen martial arts style, with the values and overarching philosophy of each forging the minds, bodies and souls of their practitioners. Through this understanding the show probably appears to be stacked with many distinct personalities to play with at the writer’s leisure, yet it remains difficult for many to leave a strong impression on the audience. Partly due to awkward plotting as stated earlier, but also apparent is a lack in clear focus and development to keep most characters important. The events are often made out as more vital than the characters taking part in them. This leads to not only a declining interest in the fights as the series continues, but also makes the majority of characters used here more likely to be lost in the shuffle and only used when convenient.
Baki as a whole has always been primarily about Baki Hanma, the protagonist, and his father Yujiro, the strongest creature on Earth both feared and respected by all. These two are constantly integral parts to the overall story as they should be, yet to witness so many side characters be treated so sparingly can be disheartening to say the least. However, my biggest problem with this adaptation when it comes to characters is with its handling of the main character Baki Hanma. This is a problem that I feel is more prominent to those who have followed the series from the beginning and have seen Baki grow from the hot-headed impulsive gifted brat to an exceptional fighter worthy of being called a champion. But in this arc, Baki appears…. different. Not only is his personality more laid-back but his train of thought and subsequent actions at times come off somewhat autistic. It’s a take on the character that I had never envisioned or pictured, not only acting as the cause for several awkward moments, but also frankly feeling like a betrayal of the character that I remembered watching and reading. Baki still receives his own development throughout this arc, moving from a reserved anxious style of fight to the spirited, confident attitude that made him such a force to be reckoned with. Except for when you find out this change and increase of strength is solely due to Baki losing his virginity.
I wish I was making that up.
If you were to read Baki in its manga counterpart, one of the first aspects that would catch your eye would be the artstyle. There is a keen eye for detail in not only making each technique such a crucial part of the series, but in making the character designs such exaggerated portraits of strength in the human anatomy. A clear expression of weight and power through this absurdist aesthetic creates a strangely beautiful sense of art that further pushes Baki from the standard shounen manga series. If you were to watch this version of Baki, the visuals would easily be the first part that grabs your attention. But unfortunately, the visuals here are kind of trash. It is certainly an improvement from previous installments, but comparing it to the quality of its contemporaries, this has so many glaring issues. Designs have a habit of appearing out of perspective on different angles, animation for the most part is cheap and the juxtaposition of 2D and 3D animation is so god awful it is near impossible for viewers to take most fights seriously. It also doesn’t help that the fight choreography makes the battles come across more turn-based than a Pokemon game. For one of the most jarring experiences I have ever had for watching an anime. I’m honestly surprised how I can say a show with so many technical issues can still be tolerable, but here’s the crazy thing: I actually enjoyed the show.
Earlier I called Baki an anomaly, and this entry in the franchise is no different. Baki (2018) is honestly an insane show that should not be so entertaining to watch, from both faults in production and writing. But here we are, with a series seemingly unbridled in taking action and martial arts to the irrational, all whilst taking itself absolutely seriously. This level of sincerity is almost palpable through every episode and makes it difficult not getting drawn into the bizarre logic of Baki, no matter how grating the lack of fluid animation and coherent writing may get. In this arc, Baki takes the leap of embracing its own ridiculousness to evolve into a genuine spectacle for the eyes that is hard to not take notice of, and with the finale acting as a teaser to a possible continuation of the story, I expect that the best of Baki is still yet to come.
Mohammad-q-mata
[Minor Spoiler] What triggered me the most, is that at the beginning, when they introduce the five criminals, it appears that they're as strong as Baki's father. And one of them fought Baki at the first few episodes, but Baki was nothing in comparison to him. However, after few episodes the five criminals started to look so weak (like very very weak), which didn't make any sense. Even two of them together couldn't defeat Baki. Also, during some of the fights, the animation effects looks so weird and childish. It seems like if it's a video game or something, and it was too awkward to watch. Theprotagonist character "Baki" becomes so weird in this season and just cares about having sex. After he had sex, he became so strong, which is ridiculous and doesn't make any sense. In the previous seasons he never thought about these stuff. He was just training. But in this season they wasted few episodes just for him being in love and horny af. Also, he didn't fought a real fight in this season, so it was a waste of time.
From someone who just watched the previous seasons before this one, I can say that the writers of this season didn't even watched the previous ones, and they're just putting out their trash. Netflix over here just want to fuck up every Anime that we liked.
Uber_Bacon
There are few words that describe Baki (2018), the only one that comes to mind is “violent” which is both an extremely accurate and flawed description of the show. One one hand, the show is extremely violent, people are getting completely OBLITERATED in like three punches but sometimes it feels like it’s really going easy on us. TL;DR I’d give this show an 8 (rounding down the 8.2) Let me preface this by saying I haven’t watched any of the previous Baki animes, so I’m not too caught up with the Baki lore or anything. That being said, the show feels really basic… there’s not muchin terms of “story” from what I gathered. That being said, if you’re a fan of just fighting, nothing really tying the fights together beside a couple of words, this show is for you.
Story: 6 Story? What story?
In all honesty, I feel like I should give this a lower score, there’s honestly not much in terms of story AT ALL. But I also feel like it doesn’t really matter since the show doesn’t NEED a story either. That being said: one of the absolutely greatest parts of the show would be the surprise element: you have NO idea who’s going to win in a fight (save for a few individuals). This really stood out since most of the time, there really isn’t any sense of suspense when the main characters fight a secondary character or when a protagonist fights an antagonist. But in Baki, you genuinely have no idea WHAT’S going to happen, it really raises the stakes by making every character able to lose from the most hyped up guy to the thirdary character shoehorned in five minutes ago.
Art: 7 Baki is in this weird place where at some points the animation is GREAT! Someone gets kicked in the face and you can feel the impact… but then it flies back to a still image with camera movement to simulate action.
I’m in turmoil when trying to review its art because, on one hand, some of its animations seem lazy and half-assed but on the other hand you can really FEEL the impact of most of the hits. I can’t really give it an accurate review so I’ll just leave it with a 7
Sound 10: OOH The sound THROUGHOUT the anime was near PERFECT!
Going back to what I said in the “art” section, part of the reason why every hit felt genuine was the sound, from fracturing bone to explosions, everything had a certain weight behind it that I really can’t properly explain. The OST was also great, tracks were noticeably reused but still sounded epic no matter HOW many times they replayed it, and it also boasts one of the greatest endings of all time (in my opinion), the sound of Baki is almost as crazy as the show itself.
Character 8: I personally like it when an author writes a character with no intention of them being liked by anyone.
The characters in Baki seem relatively different from each other, but the major disparity between them would be their fighting styles. On one hand, you have the honorable martial artists, each with their own history and methods of fighting and on the other hand, you have the (mostly) despicable death row inmates who focus on more underhanded tactics to win (example, most of the inmates used explosives at least once).
Enjoyment: 8 Dumb fun
Baki is the true TOURNAMENT ARC anime and I LOVE it for that.
Overall: 8
There’s not much else to say except: “wow, this show is fun to watch”
ItIsIDio
You have to answer only one simple question in order to know whether or not you would enjoy Baki, since what the series offers is really simple. The question is: Do you enjoy violence and nonsense? It is genuinely the only thing that this series has to offer and the only thing that can keep you consistently entertained here. There is nothing else this series can offer you. If you want an engaging story about martial arts and how to develop as a person through martial arts or how to overcome the odds, not what you are going to get. If you want various characterstudies through confrontations to study the varied mentalities needed to overcome certain odds, that's not what you will get here. It's not because these things are not attempted, but because the elements of what I described will fall flat, and as a result, the only possible reason you could have to watch Baki is entertainment.
To begin with, the series was not conceived for new watchers in mind. It was done as a continuation of the previous seasons already adapted of the series. So if you choose this specific season to be your starting point for Baki, be warned that, while enjoying violence and nonsense is gonna consistently keep you entertained if that's what you are looking for, there's a wide mass of characters that will be introduced at you that you will not know, and the series due to its pace and particular arc this adapts, will be a very sporadic and chaotic mess of an experience. If those are pet peeves for you, you might want to consume Baki first either through its manga or the prior anime seasons. The violence and nonsense I can guarantee will be there regardless of where you choose to start from.
Now, why do I think Baki is nonsensical?
Well, let me give you a bunch of examples of some of the milder things that happen in the series, since I want the big ones for you to see on your own: By punching a person, a man cleaves another man's meat off of his face right into a perfectly round meatball. Another man runs on water. While trying to do pull-ups, a man is propelled about 2 meters into the air, alongside the bar they were holding onto, because he is that strong. Another man vomits a grenade. Two men jump one entire floor's height, quite comfortably.
Welcome to martial arts, scrubs. You might feel spoiled, but trust me, these things are actually quite mild by comparison of some of the shit you can see while watching this series. It truly barely just scratches the surface.
Now there are two arguments that the series does attempt to make from what I have watched, and I would like to discuss both. A martial artist's true strength is equal to their capacity to adapt to every situation without prior preparation for that specific scenario. Your strength is only equal to how many chaotic situations you would be able to come out victorious at a moment's notice without being aware that they will occur. While I can actually agree and somewhat admire this mentality over strength, the way the argument is made is quite convoluted because it runs in parallel with the other argument this series tries to make. Victory and defeat is decided by the participants of a confrontation. Until both sides agree on who is the victor and who is the loser, the confrontation does not end. That makes the concept of strength quite a metaphysical and subjective term which can be applied to pretty much every style of confrontation conceivable.
Now how do these two arguments fall flat? Because in Baki, willpower and the initiative to want to get towards is a result is the only thing needed to turn what you intend into reality. If one of the core things you want to display is strength, in order to truly measure strength you need to portray situations in which characters are caught unaware and cannot adapt. The person that is caught the most offguard loses. But in Baki's universe, the truth is that the person that ends up to be willing to give up first loses. Regardless of how many times they have been overpowered, outwitted or outnumbered, in Baki's universe if there's a will, there's a way. Anything is possible, it's not even a matter of you believing it is possible or not. It just is. Being stubborn about what you want does not equal strength. It might motivate you to pursue strength, yes, but just because you want it enough, doesn't mean you will have it because of your limits.
As a result the battles don't end up being a battles of might, or battles of the minds. They are confrontations of each participant's willpower and perseverence. He who admits defeat first loses. Or dies. But don't worry since you can will yourself not to die. This ends up giving the series free reign to be as violent as it wants and the fact that willpower overpowers the physical realm in Baki, that's the source of the nonsense. These arguments are also played into the romantic subplot of the series and flatten its impact completely because the romantic subplot feeds into the willpower reliance that exists and that is its only purpose. So if you value romance to any degree in a series, this one's dumb. It's really dumb. But personally, I found it hilarious for that very reason. But I shall not spoil you by explaining why.
As far as I am concerned, I enjoyed Baki. I did not need Baki to be logical in order for me to be consistently entertained by big muscly men brutally trying to defeat each other in whatever ways they deemed apropriate that most people would not. I would've definitely thought higher of it if it had made logical sense. But I understand that's not what Baki as a series is about. As Baki is, it feels incomplete. It lacks elements that make me care about what is happening on screen. I could not care about the result of any of the fights because everything in the ongoing process was obvious that is gonna proceed until someone gives up. Regardless of how thoroughly destroyed their bodies ended up being. But when the only element driving your characters forward is their willpower, they feel empty. They are shallow representations and excuses to create confrontations. The result is irrelevant. Eventually the characters that best represent what the author thinks are gonna win because those characters will be willed into a winning position. I could enjoy what was presented, but not fully.
There are some elements that are obstacles to consuming Baki as an enjoyable experience, even if you enjoy violence and nonsense that much. The biggest is the fact that the fights are portrayed through both CG animation and 2D animation. Now think what you will about CG, be it positive or negative, but when you have a fight occur in both 2D and 3D, where a character is hit in the face by a choppy 3D texture and they react with a 2D close up shot, then the fight continues in 3D whenever the fighters aren't getting a close up, you will feel cheated out of the experience because what you see is continuously inconsistent. Another thing is the fact that Baki seemed to have a very limited budget and as a result, especially by the end of the series, it ended up having very long flashbacks to things that happen previously in the series, for as much as 5 minutes even. The fact that the series has very limited budget also resulted in the series having a very limited soundtrack, which ended up being reused in a number of situations. Due to how limited the OST was, the flashbacks seemed exactly like the same experience played in exactly the same way as in the prior episodes, minus the blue tint, and it was very obvious that they were padding for time. Plenty of the animation being composed of still shots with moving backgrounds or close ups with motion effects of the characters also make the limited budget quite obvious as well, which is a shame, because the events that occur in Baki with a higher budget could be quite a spectacle to behold. And some of the sound effects for how punches and certain body parts get hit got quite repetitive since they got reused a bunch. So take note of these faults as well while watching Baki. Not all episodes are like that, and some of its more crucial moments are delivered without these faults holding the series back, but, these faults exist in the series.
To sum up, watch Baki if you find appeal in violence and when you thoroughly enjoy when something that is nonsensical is presented to you. Avoid it if you need good production values and you need to think highly of the experience before you. You can end up liking Baki, but respecting its rationality is not something I see happening for any viewers whatsoever. Baki can be intriguing so long as you only choose to observe what is happening rather than think what is going on. It was crafted as an experience for you to enjoy. And the two elements I presented in the question at the start of review, are exactly what this experience is rooted upon.
Phasar2022
This is the worst anime I've ever seen. It's about people fighting against each other except when their spine gets broken into pieces, they not only survive, but start walking the next day like nothing happened. Also, they all refuse to kill each other, which backfires every single time and it just pisses you off as a viewer. Overall, it's not entertaining at all...Let's be honest, It's trash. Just because I say that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. It's trash but in a good way. If your looking for a action anime with good plot/story and animation, this is not it. Its worth watching becauseit funny and entertaining, not because it's good.
Baki is not good.
It starts out with five criminals escaping and coming after Baki, our main character. After most of a season, Baki hasn't fought anyone without being interrupted midway through. New characters are introduced all the time, so we spend entire episodes building them up. The 5 criminals start going after other people (why?), and there are all these fights between different people I don't care about.
Everyone that matters has super-human abilities that are entirely unexplained, so you have no reference point or expectation about how a fight will go. Think about how Dragonball Z has power levels and levels of Super Saiyan. Or in Yu Yu Hakusho, they have spirit energy and all kinds of different techniques, so there's a focus on disparities between combatants and how they'll win the fight. But in Baki, there's none of this. A naked guy takes 8 shotgun shells point blank, and is fine. Any damage done to an opponent doesn't matter. Cut off a hand? Shatter literally your entire ribcage? None of it matters. The people are fine afterwards, and the fights are super boring because of this.
Anyway, I dropped off before season two. There's zero story, boring fights, characters with little to no backstory. Maybe if I had seen/read other Baki series/manga it would make more sense, but this is a mess.
Baki - 2018
Anyone who knows Baki or has read the manga knows what they are getting into. The story of Baki is not about martial arts, rationality, logic, explanations, or good fights. It's all about the silliest and most bizarre scenario possible that you can write while making a fight. That's about how Baki can be put into words.
Is your face gone? Don't worry, band-aids will take care of it. Your hand is gone? Let's stitch it up! Did you lose 40 liters of blood? Don't worry, just a drop! Have you suffered a fatal injury or are you even dead? Your doctor is your friend and Son of God, he will help you. Combine that with relatively unambitious combat, slow pacing, and at the beginning horrible CGI (EP 5-12) and some of the dumbest dialogue around? Then you have BAKI.
If this still doesn't put anyone off, then you'll either learn to like the anime or you're a masochist and like naked men like I do.
[Story 2]
After winning the tournament from season 2 and defeating his brother in a duel, Baki was considered the strongest man/teenager in Japan. Through the fascinating effect of "synchronicity", 5 extremely dangerous criminals broke out worldwide to challenge Baki because they wanted to taste "defeat".
They came to Japan to show everyone their dirty little tricks (including Dorian's talented voice). Successive battles ensued between the best of the underground arena and the 5 challengers. This repeated over and over for 24 episodes until at some point all 5 had lost so many times that even their brains realized it. Apparently, they have a very different definition of "defeat" which is why it's hard to convince them to do it, otherwise, this season would only have 8 episodes.
If the fights had at least been well-animated there would have been more to enjoy. Unfortunately, several horrible CGI fights put even Beserk 2016 to shame. The pacing itself was also horribly slow, making it hard to enjoy these fights.
And if that's not the worst of it, the narrator also came in and started explaining every possible nonsense for 2 minutes. I thought soon he was going to explain how to breathe.
[Characters 3]
It's Baki, a series in which men fight because they can and befriend each other afterward, exchanging Whats App messages to break their jaws again.
Anyone who came here for character writing, good conversation, or relationships is pretty much in the wrong place. There's none of that here, it's all very half-hearted and, surprisingly, the characters are somehow connected all.
[Baki Logic 10]
Don't forget, humans have an infinite blood reserve, don't worry about something as irrelevant as strawberry juice, you can always top it up.
Sex makes you stronger, that's why there are chads and normal mortals. So never forget the "PeePee Training" as Yujiro put it. Did they have 32x of sex in one night? Counted that many tissues.
Doyle and Retsu have the best romance.
[Music 5 / Animation 4]
The opening and outro are average. The Osts on the other hand decent, unfortunately very rarely heard. Predominantly, only the same ost ever plays.
The animations vary from average to very bad. The backgrounds are at least good to look at and the lighting effects. From the second half of the season, the CGI has fortunately been removed.
[Conclusion 3]
This season had nothing worth mentioning. Just back-to-back fights between the inmates and the fighters. Some confrontations were okay, while others were very boring. With better pacing, and animations, and without the narrator, the whole thing could have been a bit better.
But Baki being Baki, there's nothing you can do about it.
[Enjoyment 4]
Mookle12
Baki is a wonderful brainchild. I haven't seen a series in so fucking long that tries to break the mold. In short, this anime is refreshing. I normally don't take the time to write reviews. In fact, this is my first on this site, but I find this anime in particular is not getting the love it deserves. Others on this site write huge, massively informed reviews, but I'd just like to throw in my two cents rather than get too wordy: I have a huge soft spot for uniqueness; having consumes entertainment for so many years, things become predictable and boring when you do them by thebook. Sure, Baki is not super proficient in the typical rating criteria used, but I'll be damned if Baki is considered "mediocre" just because it's story is less compelling than others, or the animation is not as fluid as possible, etc.
Baki is amazing; I've never felt so compelled to watch every fight in an action anime before. The choreography is so unique and inspired. The story is so nonlinear and piece-wise. The fun in this show is not found in the grand story arc like, say, attack on titan or My Hero Academia, it is in the moments. Ever episode has tons of distinguishing bits and characteristics that make you remember that episode forever.
If you're sick of action anime following the same fucking rules, the same fucking tropes, the same story format, then give Baki a real try. If you do like traditional anime styles, I'd recommend you try and loosen up and try to enjoy Baki as something new, like listening to a new genre of music for the first time.
P.S. If cannabis is legal where you are, try watching a couple episodes high. The action is so heavy and intense it makes you cringe and jump!
YeeYeeAss
Are you into masculine but probably very gay men? Then this is for you. I decided to make this review now because season 2 trailer came out and I want people to watch it before that arrives since it is a tournament arc. I believe Bakis production was not the greatest thing imaginable. Baki is CG a lot. First half they used in few scenes but in the second half it was everywhere. But Baki has some funny moments and epic fights here and there. I recommend the dub since it was funnier. They had a lot of freedom since it had references to many thingsand the voice cast was amazing. My personal favourite fight is Speck vs Hanayama. It was so epic. It had good animation, no cgi, and it got my testosterone pumping. It was just epic. Lots of blood was shed during that. It was very brutal.
Story: So this takes place after some tournament where Baki reigned supreme, so he won it. So he is a very famous fighter for his strength and due to that 5 very dangerous and strong criminals escaped from prisons all over the world like in a nuclear silo in Russia, submarine somewhere in the ocean, an island somewhere in USA, Scotland and Japan. Baki got news from the host of the tournament he won that 5 people are coming after him and talked about crystallized explosives. Baki then happens to meet one of the criminals and he gets beaten fairly easy. Somehow all the criminals gather to the arena where the tournament was held and also our main heroes. They decided that they can attack each other at random so basically when someone is taking a shit, eating, walking etc and someone can go attack him. Then we start to see epic fight between the masculine men and other random shit.
Characters: The character were mostly ok but nothing special. Most of them were just very stoic and masculine and not much of a personality. Baki and Speck both acted like clowns most of the time even though they are strong. Doyle and Dorian and Speck specialized in weaponry. Doyle went so far that he has blades in his body and even explosives. Dorian just uses random objects and Speck uses granades, guns and such. Yanagi, Shibukawa, Retsu, Hanayama, Doppo, Sikorsky and Baki are mainly martial artists or just pure strength users. They have some neat skills and lots of punching power. But if anything they sure know how to kick ass.
The first opening is amazing. The song is just great. The visuals are neat and show clips of the tournament. The clips were mostly scenes of the fights that happened. I kinda wished the anime was about the tournament. The fights looked cool and they were epic. We saw the "good guys" fight each other and it looked cool. The song is Beastful by Grand Rodeo. The second opening was kinda bad. The song wasn't great and the visuals were just shadow boxing.
I recommend this to people who like masculine men, epic fights and such other trivial things. I recommend the dub since it is way more funnier but I guess the sub is also a good way to go but I personally don't like it. But the dub got Troy Baker back into voicing anime. But this anime suffers from kinda personality lacking characters, their not so great interactions whit each other, heavy use of ps2 graphics looking CG especially in the second half. If you can get past that then it is a worth anime to watch.
n0thinglasts
Gets a 3 from me. I haven't seen any other season or read any baki. Going into this it looked really good, the animation looked sick, the idea and action scenes looked great. *Spoilers* 5 Episodes in it was going alright, there are escaped criminals that are portrayed as beasts and very dangerous and it's set up baki and his friends will be fighting these guys on the streets no rules whenever they see each other to the death. Alright, I'm excited, this has my attention. Then it all goes seriously downhill. The first of the criminals finally has his first real fight. The match is sort of backand forth but by the end it is clear baki's friend is very superior. This fight wasn't extremely bad and I thought this was the 1st criminal to go down, he is probably the weakest.
It just gets worse and worse after the 1st criminal goes down. It soon becomes apparent that these criminals are extremely weak and they get beat down 1 after the other in absolutely 1 sided fights. It became essentially a show of watching professional fighters beat down what looked like randoms off the street.
Next, in the beginning these criminals killed their captors to escape prison and meant to kill baki and friends, well after those initial jailbreaks there is pretty much no death. Baki nor any of his friends die in these encounters, nor do any of the criminals. The lack of repercussions made it very boring.
149597871
SPOILERS ahead. You've been warned. The story takes place in Japan around the late 90s or early 2000s, I'm actually confused about this part as we don't get much information about what year it is. Five completely unrelated death row inmates from various locations around the world manage to escape from prison, leaving the same message that says they are heading for Tokyo to "taste defeat". Why Tokyo? - because according to the synopsis our boy Baki who "trains with an intense focus to become strong enough to surpass his father" (who is known to be "the world's strongest creature") lives there, so for some weirdreason they go to challenge him instead of... his father... yea, this part doesn't make much sense.
Although if I have to be honest I would say that I liked the premise, it was the execution itself that was a huge disappointment for me. Of course since it is an anime I expected some of the characters to have superhuman powers and stuff like that, even the fact that throughout the entire anime we don't really see Baki (or anyone else for that matter) actually "training" despite most of the characters looking like some anabolic monster taken from last year's Mister Olympia didn't really bother me.
But as the anime says "A martial artist's job is to break human bodies", the problem is that it is literally impossible in the world of "Baki". All we see is the same characters causing catastrophic damage to their opponents bodies just so they can bleed a little and continue fighting later on.
Cutting someone's throat - don't worry, he just needs a band-aid
Losing your arm - we'll reattach it
Hundreds of broken bones including the entire spine - will be able to walk again in next scene
Almost gets his head cut off and is left to bleed for like a day - he will be fine once we get him to the hospital, also reattach!
Deadly explosion - just few burns on his skin, nothing serious
Getting shot by a shotgun at point blank range - not even a scratch
Sorry but how am I supposed to take any of the fights seriously, I literally felt that they would've survived even a nuclear blast at that point. I'm honestly confused about how are you supposed to "kill" someone in "Baki". None of the significant characters ever dies. Even all the blood and gore felt meaningless as it rarely led to any permanent injury.
Not only that but the anime keeps throwing new and new characters to the mix. The viewer simply doesn't have enough time to establish any connection with them or whatsoever, it feels like they are appearing out of nowhere just to fight a bit and disappear again few episodes later. Baki's brother, those Karate guys, the criminals, the Chinese dude, we even had Muhammad Ali and his son for some reason. There was so little explanation or backstory that it felt as I've jumped directly into season 6 of this show. So many things were incomplete or didn't make sense.
Art - mediocre also excessive gore and some annoying CGI
One of the few positive things I find about this anime is the only female character - Baki's girlfriend. I didn't expect much of her but my expectations were subverted. Despite her generic looks and the lack of any special powers she's manages to become strong (in her own way) and earn some of the viewers respect but far from enough to compensate for the complete mess this anime is.
dizzi_rd
[The worst season in all of Baki] ⪻- Review | Comment and Reflection -⪼ This season starts off pretty good, and at first glance it's a crazy start. They introduce you to the 5 antagonists of the arc who are interested in Baki, and at the same time introduce you to the concept of defeat. The start is crazy to be sure, but it's actually a cliffhanger trap. Let me explain myself, the concept of defeat is interesting and with a lot of potential, but when I thought about it, it didn't make any sense. If what the prisoners are looking for is defeat and not simply fightBaki "because he is the protagonist", then they would have fought Yujiro instead of Baki at first.
Then the other problem apart from the concept and the idea, are the fights. This strengthens what I said earlier that it is a "cliffhanger trap", since the animation looked crazy and the fights were going to be the fucking best anime in terms of animation, but then they come to you with a disgusting CGI, and the 2D animations are static and infumable. The worst thing is how they lengthen the series, fights that could perfectly end in 2 episodes or less, are prolonged unnecessarily.
And what angers me the most, they WASTE old characters from previous seasons. I am referring especially to the Karateka of the previous season (Saidai Tournament) who leaves behind the pride that characterized him so much, and decides to learn and implement the Chinese arts in karate from him. This completely destroys the character, since the main characterization of him was his egocentricity and pride, and in addition to being humiliated in the previous season, he now also loses his pride. And let's not even talk about the new ones ... Dorian had potential, but the end was one more shit, a forced and pretentious personality change. Or we have the blond prisoner whose name I forgot because of how inconspicuous he is, who in the end was another smoke-seller (OH, surprise, Itagaki wasting people and using the typical formula of inflating characters) ... Then there is Speck, who despite not be complex, at least he has personality and imposing and his fight against Hanayama was the best (the only one he rescued). Yanagi is the same as the blond prisoner, but a little stronger. And Hector Doyle is the second and best among the prisoners, despite being possibly the weakest of the five, although he has very questionable actions and his relationship with Retsu seems frigid to me.
Everyone is immortal. Literally, I do not think it is normal that with such brutality that they attack each other, not a single one has died. I also find it very convenient that the doctor is able to adhere one end to the body and that it heals in two weeks.
And with this 2 weeks, I go to the penultimate point ... ITAGAKI'S TIME MANAGEMENT IS HORRIBLE, taking as an example the brother of the medical fighter of the Saidai Tournament, now suddenly he is ultra strong and rivals the prisoners, he is It gives relevance for some reason (?), and all this when not even a month will have passed since the saidai ...
Finally, Baki turns into Gary Stu. He gets Power-Ups for the sake of it, and for that simple reason the author can't even develop or characterize him. Baki lost ALL the charisma that characterized him so much in the first season. That's why I think Baki was a good lead in the first season, but then he gets too bad and he gets horrible, and let's not even talk about his relationship with Kozue that the construction is lousy. That is why he is the protagonist that I hate the most in anime, and he is not at all underrated as many youtubers say.
CataOrShane
I really enjoyed the original Baki series that aired back in 2001 but nothing ever quite matched that level of quality. This series is no exception unfortunately. When I realized that Netflix was involved on this project I didn't think anything bad. Quite on the contrary, I was certain that they would invest good money on sound, animators, seyuus, story, ... the whole production. I couldn't be more wrong. I mean, the official english subtitles aren't always accurate and that's something I'd expect from a fansub group, not from a huge production like this one. Art: character design is not consistent at all throughout theepisodes. CGI gets in between scenes (and it looks outright awful), Baki's signature mole disappears randomly, just to name a few examples.
Sound: the soundtrack is awesome and fits perfectly with each moment that's happening. The bad things are the 2nd OP and 2nd ED because they don't fit the anime at all. I can see the 2nd ED fitting other genres but the 2nd OP is a mixture of every music genre and it's unbearable to listen to. The Seiyuus are legends at what they do so they got that right, too. However the syncing throughout the episodes between dialogues and animation isn't always granted.
Story (SPOILERS): you see character development between Baki and Kozue which was amazing... until the series used someone's losing their virginity as a legit way to become stronger. It's been said plenty of times by multiple characters (Yujiro for instance) that the more women you have sex with and the more times you have sex, the stronger you'll automatically become. This makes as much sense as the flat earth theory or anti-vax movement. In fact, the mistreatment of women is a common theme throughout Baki as a series BUT this time Kozue just literally shuts people up, making Baki and Kaoru acknowledging their own prejudice and sexism. This was very refreshing... right up until Baki starts acting like his own father for no reason at all.
Action: the fights are so over the top and ridiculous that it becomes really hard to become immersive on what's going on and be emotionally invested in the characters. There's so little Baki in these fights that it just seems the show forgot how it got its name. There's also an instance where a random unrelevant character that you never see again starts narrating a fight instead of showing the battle uncut... what a great way to break the momentum.
SPOILERS: by the end of the season, Baki gets poisoned and apparently there's no salvation for him, everyone says he's close to death but whatever, let's get him to compete in a 16-man legendary tournament because last season is a lot better than this one is but the poison thing will just create drama and that's what's going to differentiate the next season from the last one. WE R GENIUS!!!!
Characters: a lot of the characters that were introduced this season seem to be bipolar. There's no rhyme or reason for their actions, why sometimes they fight like maniacs and other times they feel like being a pacifist or a coward. SPOILERS: what were they smoking when they came up with the "candy" thing???????
SPOILERS: even though they don't get Muhammad Ali's name right, it was really good to see a legit homage to his legacy but it makes no sense to be Yujiro the guy who makes it because this guy is an outright piece of hot dumpster fire. Who in their right mind would believe Yujiro to be a concerned individual about racism and veterans????
I had great expectations for this anime but it's just a 6,3/10 for me.
baihe_reader
As a casual I'll do my best to analyze this objectively since this series does have several redeeming qualities that save it from being a six. The art style is really striking, ad there's a lot of people who are fans of the thick line work which isn't really as common in lower budget productions. Some of the fight scenes have some pretty obvious CGI use but it conveys the sheer force behind the fight scenes. Lots of fantastical techniques and blood and gore if you're into that, I'm probably dropping this series because of the lack of character exploration. There's a lot ofgeneric muscleheads in this series and there's very little time spent looking into Baki's background. The romantic side plot is well written-- but also pretty awkward. It's probably the only realistic aspect of this crazy martial arts series but there's nothing here for me to get invested in.
Resting_Bonfire
Baki - 2018 Anyone who knows Baki or has read the manga knows what they are getting into. The story of Baki is not about martial arts, rationality, logic, explanations, or good fights. It's all about the silliest and most bizarre scenario possible that you can write while making a fight. That's about how Baki can be put into words. Is your face gone? Don't worry, band-aids will take care of it. Your hand is gone? Let's stitch it up! Did you lose 40 liters of blood? Don't worry, just a drop! Have you suffered a fatal injury or are you even dead? Your doctor isyour friend and Son of God, he will help you. Combine that with relatively unambitious combat, slow pacing, and at the beginning horrible CGI (EP 5-12) and some of the dumbest dialogue around? Then you have BAKI.
If this still doesn't put anyone off, then you'll either learn to like the anime or you're a masochist and like naked men like I do.
[Story 2]
After winning the tournament from season 2 and defeating his brother in a duel, Baki was considered the strongest man/teenager in Japan. Through the fascinating effect of "synchronicity", 5 extremely dangerous criminals broke out worldwide to challenge Baki because they wanted to taste "defeat".
They came to Japan to show everyone their dirty little tricks (including Dorian's talented voice). Successive battles ensued between the best of the underground arena and the 5 challengers. This repeated over and over for 24 episodes until at some point all 5 had lost so many times that even their brains realized it. Apparently, they have a very different definition of "defeat" which is why it's hard to convince them to do it, otherwise, this season would only have 8 episodes.
If the fights had at least been well-animated there would have been more to enjoy. Unfortunately, several horrible CGI fights put even Beserk 2016 to shame. The pacing itself was also horribly slow, making it hard to enjoy these fights.
And if that's not the worst of it, the narrator also came in and started explaining every possible nonsense for 2 minutes. I thought soon he was going to explain how to breathe.
[Characters 3]
It's Baki, a series in which men fight because they can and befriend each other afterward, exchanging Whats App messages to break their jaws again.
Anyone who came here for character writing, good conversation, or relationships is pretty much in the wrong place. There's none of that here, it's all very half-hearted and, surprisingly, the characters are somehow connected all.
[Baki Logic 10]
Don't forget, humans have an infinite blood reserve, don't worry about something as irrelevant as strawberry juice, you can always top it up.
Sex makes you stronger, that's why there are chads and normal mortals. So never forget the "PeePee Training" as Yujiro put it. Did they have 32x of sex in one night? Counted that many tissues.
Doyle and Retsu have the best romance.
[Music 5 / Animation 4]
The opening and outro are average. The Osts on the other hand decent, unfortunately very rarely heard. Predominantly, only the same ost ever plays.
The animations vary from average to very bad. The backgrounds are at least good to look at and the lighting effects. From the second half of the season, the CGI has fortunately been removed.
[Conclusion 3]
This season had nothing worth mentioning. Just back-to-back fights between the inmates and the fighters. Some confrontations were okay, while others were very boring. With better pacing, and animations, and without the narrator, the whole thing could have been a bit better.
But Baki being Baki, there's nothing you can do about it.
[Enjoyment 4]
lenahimesama
Honestly, if you're looking for well flushed out characters, unpredictable or novel plot, or astounding art, you should probably look elsewhere. However, if you are a fan of watching extremely muscular men beat the shit out of each other, this is the show for you. Baki (the show) is at its core a testosterone filled 624 minutes of violence, at times so gruesome and graphic that I (a horror movie connoisseur, Junji Ito lover, true crime fanatic) had to look away. Faces are blown off. Skin is gruesomely torn and then the freshly exposed muscle is beat to the high heavens. Second degree, third degreeburns are inflicted all over the body. Limbs are sliced off, only to be reattached and re-abused. So many concussions are inflicted. Many, many crotches are kicked. The show is definitely not for the faint of heart.
At the same time, the enjoyment for this show, if you don't take it too seriously, is actually pretty high. The fighting is over the top, and can drag on and feel repetitive. At many times I found myself thinking, "Oh God, let it be over, put him out of his misery". Yet somehow I finished all 26 episodes within two days. If you like ridiculous fighting scenes, characters that just keep powering-up to achieve the humanly impossible, and abs so hard they can deflect bullets and break bones, give Baki a watch, even if only as a background show while you crochet or something.
Tykesha
My own synopsis: Phenomenon, an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal person, thing, or occurrence. A phenomenon happened 100 years ago where nitroglycerin, which was supposed to be impossible to solidify, crystallized during a shipment overseas. This happened on a global scale ever since that day. Bringing it to the present day where once again another phenomenon has occurred. Five guys (not the burger joint) break out of some maximum security prisons across the world all in synchronicity: two from USA, one from Russia, one from France, and one from Japan. These men head to Tokyo in order to know what defeat truly is. My thoughts on Baki: To sumthis anime up in a single sentence, this is the manliest anime I've ever watched. There's plenty of fighting and a touch of drama throughout, and it's not boring like One Piece where they stand around in some battle stance and talk for a whole episode while a semi-intense soundtrack plays then finish after a few moves the next episode or two. The protagonist was a little disappointing because the anime missed the whole point of the hype for him, but they still made him a badass for the most part. The anime, Baki, gives a lot of air time to each character which felt great to watch so it wasn't just all protagonist this protagonist that. In my opinion, I think the art was amazing. It's so aesthetic and detailed with nice color gradients and crisp lines. At the end of the season they basically hype up of a second season so I look forward to that.
TheRiseofAnime
I wasn't a huge fan of the art style for this anime. It over exaggerates some features of the characters, some in a good way and bad for others. The lips were huge and the eyes weren't intensely expressive unless the character should anger or some malicious behavior. You don't see the main character in action too much up until the last few episodes which really annoyed me because he is an interesting MC. He's strong but shy. And his dad is awesome. I wish there was more action from him in the very beginning. The fight scenes are epic! I enjoyed them. They do get disgustinglygruesome sometimes. All in all, if you like action and don't mind the blood then you will probably enjoy this anime.
WallahSous
If you want a concise review that isn't riddled with vague pseudo-intellectual nonsense, read this one. It's Street Fighter in the format of an anime. You see fighters with their own unique abilities go up against each other, with mundane story elements that justify the fight taking place. A fictive example: one fighter works for the police and another one deals drugs, they meet on a drug-busting operation and fight. There's also a main tournament where they'll eventually all meet again. All fighters are extremely caricatural (in a good way). They're all distinguished from normal humans with their abnormal muscle anatomy and strength. Similar to Broly fromDBZ. Their personalities are also extreme (criminals, mentally challenged, blood-thirsty fighters, etc.).
The fights are very eccentric and very technical. Movements and gore are amplified, with various cinematic and dramatic visuals. Some fighters have techniques that are very specific and "scientifically" grounded, and in many cases they're explained in full detail.
jonnygat
I hadn't consume any Baki related media before this. So if you are thinking about entering just as myself two months ago, I hope I can help. Baki is a action thriller anime based in punch-to-punch fights, in its essence. The anime plot isn't really its best part, although we can find some very remarkable moments due to various secondary characters. It isn't much about Baki, in my point of view. The anime is sustained by the great and diverse character design present in the Baki-universe. Almost all the characters have their own unique mysteries, charism, personality and it is all shown in fights. Dialogues,flashbacks. And they are almost all very well design to the purpose of never-ending bloodshed, sense of danger and unpredictability fights. The series has its strong sides in its 80's-90's martial arts shonen design. It is all about fights between fists. Not barehanded, of course, and with some detailed strategies and characters' attributes.
It is very much a stereotype of martial arts shonen, yes. But different, sometimes. Violence really takes a place and is the reason for the violence & profanity tag. Character's abilities are somewhat insane and far beyond human capacities in very specific points so it doesn't really feel like a excess to the audience (I personally think the gore can be hard to hard for most foes as it was for me in the beginning and learned to handle it).
The plot is basically about five death row murderers that felt inside them the urge to find their death in a fight. They escape, at the same time, from differents high-security prison in bizarre and absurd ways. Their design are pretty much revolved in a cloudy bizarre, unique and absurd ways.
The animation is ok, sometimes being kind of lazy but not that much. The muscles are very well detailed and it can be all it is about in insane moments. The openings can be as freaky as the series, but it lacks the image in my opinion
I really enjoyed watching Baki since it is clearly a type of anime that lacks in our modernity. It is visceral. It is about strength, as it can be a encyclopedia and hot-blooded moments.
Injenss
I watched Baki years ago when it first came out, and while the first season rocked, the second season was straight trash. So, when I saw Baki had made a comeback, I didn't know if it would be great or terrible. Fortunately, it leaned more towards great. The return of Baki sees a more unhinged version of the anime, at times feeling like it wants to be a bit JoJo-esque by blending insane brutality (which it always has had) with a new comedic twist. Basically, 5 death row inmates have escaped prisons around the world and have come to Japan toface Baki and the Underground warriors in a desire to "taste defeat". This leads to basically just constant fighting. Literally, non-stop fighting at almost all times. If you sit down for dinner? You're going to get into a fight. If you go shopping? You're going to get into a fight. If you're trying to "have the day of sex" with your girl? You're going to get into a fight. And, with this being a martial arts anime, there's nothing wrong with that.
And the fighting is BRUTAL. Prepare to see chunks of face go flying. They seriously had some preoccupation with mutilating faces. It's like a competition was going on to see who could brutally scar someone for life. Hands get severed, chunks of skin get torn off, there's even a guy who gets shredded by teeth lying on the ground. It's nuts. This isn't for the squeamish. But, if you don't mind that, the fights were awesome.
The comedy was hit or miss. They tried to pull off the Jojo style, where they blend absurdity with deadly seriousness. It mostly missed, but sometimes it really, really hit. (Small spoiler: There is a moment when Baki's dad shows up in his bedroom to give him some "encouragement.". It was so dang funny and awkward.) But, most of the attempts at comedy weren't that funny. Fortunately, they didn't seem to go for laughs until the second half of the anime, so it didn't ruin the anime or make it cringeworthy.
The characters were surprisingly good. I had forgotten most of them after so many years, but there was quite a few intriguing guys. My favorite had to be Biscuit, the convict brought in to hunt down the death row inmates.
However, as this is an anime about mindless violence, you can expect plenty of faulty logic and storytelling problems. People do things without much reason, just to start a fight. People make odd decisions that doesn't seem to have any meaning or make much sense. This was especially true with any event surrounding Doyle. Both he, and the people around him, continually made decisions that went against their characters, common sense and the nature of the show.
The logic at the end of the anime is also sketchy, but I won't say anything about it, so as not to spoil anything, other than: "This is not how you save a man's life.".
But, in spite of the sketchy logic at times, there were some great and entertaining moments. If you love martial arts and constant action like I do, this anime is for you. This was a really fun anime to watch and I'm going straight into Season 2.
