Weekly Baki Fix 01/17/10 – Bakke vs Baki

In my senior year of high school I took a class called Minorities. It was a discussion based course on how certain groups of people have been oppressed in American history. We mostly talked about blacks, women, and homosexuals, but at the end of the course we shared our personal experiences with oppression. The class was taught by the school's wrestling coach. His name was Mr. Bakke. The spelling may be different, but that doesn’t change the fact that one of my high school teachers was a real life Baki the Grappler.

And you didn’t believe me when I said this was fate.

Baki the Grappler was released by Funimation as a 48 episode anime. In Japan, however, it was released as two separate 24 episode shows--Grappler Baki and Grappler Baki: Maximum Tournament--with a month break in between broadcast. Nevertheless, the second series picks up immediately after the first. It's based on a long running manga by Keisuke Itagaki, who was trained by the infamous Kazuo Koike. As I mentioned last week, the first manga had a brief stint in America courtesy of Rajin Comics, although no effort have been made to save it since the company went out of business.

There are over 90 volumes of Baki manga that span several different series. These include the 31 volume New Grappler Baki and Baki: Son of Ogre, which currently has 17 volumes and is still ongoing. There was also a 45 minute OVA made in 1994. It featured Baki's fight with a character known as the Cord Cutter, and was released in America by Central Park Media in 1998. This fight was later reanimated for the 2001 series, using much of the same fight choreography.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of reading the full Grappler Baki manga. I managed to find a few chapters online, but the group that was scanning it decided to skip ahead to New Grappler Baki after the first volume. So while I can't confirm this fact, I'm led to believe that the 2001 anime covers a decent chunk of the first series (or at least the events leading up to New Grappler Baki).

The star of the series is Baki Hanma, a young fighter obsessed with being the best in the world. To some that may sounds like an exaggerated goal. Why not aim for something a little more tangible? Because that wouldn't impress his father, Yujiro Hanma, who is the best in the world. I don't mean he has a World Championship Belt or some shit like that--NO! He's known around the entire world as The King, and for a good reason. This dude punches elephants and catches arrows at point blank range for fun. He was fighting bears before Elliot Page made it cool. When Yujiro Hanma gets bored, he's the type that would break into White House, kill all the guards, and kick the Presidents desk in half. And before he leaves, the President would apologize to him because his desk got in the way of Yujiro's foot. Actually, I think that happens in the anime.

So how does Baki become the best? By fighting mythical ape creature and making out with his mom, of course. In his quest for glory, Baki administers the tried and true training regimen of eating a shitload of bear intestines and jumping off a cliff (and this just the first four episodes!). In a nutshell, Baki the Grappler is about chewing bubble gum kicking ass, except Baki is all out of bubblegum.

The first series is mostly Baki sparring with crazy characters like Kaoru Hanayama, a 15 year old gorilla-sized gang leader whose special move is grabbing your arm so hard that it explodes. At the end of every fight Baki becomes best friends with his former opponent (yes, even the ape). The second series is a fighting tournament, which is where the show really goes nuts. Fighters range from ten foot tall men to the Ultimate Warrior. My favorite part is when one of the fighters backdrops a giant snake--TWICE!

The story is ridiculous and the animation budget is laughably low, but this is by far the most entertaining anime I've ever seen. And I dare you to find a crazier show with more bang for your buck than this. If Baki the Grappler sounds like the type of thing you would enjoy, I strongly suggest checking it out. If it sounds like something that you would hate, then stop being such a pussy and watch it anyway.

Until next time,
BAKI THE GRAPPLER!!!!!!!