My thoughts after watching Grappler Baki
Hey! First time here on the community and I wanted to shar my thoughts on the anime Grappler Baki that I finished to watch and I'll start by saying the 2001 anime is overall good
Btw, this is my first post here so please, be indulgent >~<
I honestly think that the beginning of Baki (Childhood saga in anime) is a good start for the anime, as we see Baki's journey in his youth, seeking for his mother's love and surpassing his father Yujiro Hanma. But my main issue with the Childhood saga is the fact that the pace feels a bit slow. I mean, there was indeed cool moments (Baki vs Yasha-Zaru, Baki vs Hanayama or Baki vs Gaia for example), but that aside, it was... Okay. Things gets interesting when Yujiro arrive and that he kills Yasha-Zaru, motivating Baki to defeat him, and all this culminates to the first Baki vs Yujiro fight where Yujiro simply overwhelm Baki and Baki's mom (finally) cheers for him, motivating Baki to beat his dad... But it's not enough, as Yujiro decimates Baki and almost beat him to death. And then... Emi's death happened. For me, this is the turning point of Baki because not only Baki lost the person he wanted to receive love from, but there's also that super sad scene where Baki think he carries Emi on his back but only have her ring with him. And then, he decide to go on a journey around the world to become stronger, hoping to defeat Yujiro one day.
Overall, I'd give the Childhood saga a solid 7.5/10. Really great way to kick off Grappler Baki and the Baki series in general but a bit slow at the beginning, dragging it slightly down imo
Now, for the Underground Arena, things are kinda better. Doppo introduction is cool, the fact that the underground arena seems really popular, Motobe's introduction is cool, sad to see how he was treated later in the early arcs (I know what's happening in Baki-dou), Kosho vs Baki was fire as the Himokiri thing sure is dangerous and the nerve cut looks painful as hell. Next, Yujiro vs Doppo is just absolute cinema, no need to elaborate on this. Finally, Baki vs Kureha with the way the latter was introduced was amazing. Like, with everything Kureha did to his patients, you want to see him get what he deserve and oh my god, this did not disappoint. Kureha totally got what he deserved but this guy showed amaeing things against Baki and the ending is somewhat sweet with the girl in wheelchair volunteering herself to save Kureha from an unimaginable pain was just awesome.
Finally, for the Maximum Tournament saga... It may sound weird but it made me feel like I watched a less good version of the KAT in Kengan Ashura. First, almost all of the R1 matches felt like they were anecdotal, except those introducing/establishing fighters even for later in Baki such as Jack, Retsu, Katsumi, Shibukawa and Yuu (even tho he doesn't reappear in Baki as far as I'm concerned) but that's really it (honorable mention to the GOAT Shiba). In all honesty, the only matches I really enjoyed in R1 are Doppo vs Richard and the Shinogi brothers fight which was really emotional.
Now, for the R2, Baki vs Zulu was... Okay. Like, I don't really see what to say about this. Kanji vs Kinryuuzan, I felt like I was watching a cheap version of Sekibayashi vs Kiozan (aka the best KAT R1 fight). And... After this fight, the tournament started to be really good with Retsu vs Mount Toba, Shiba vs Ian and so on.
For the Quarter-finals, Baki vs Kanji and Doppo vs Shibukawa really stood out as the two best matches of the quarter-finals, while Jack vs Alexander was good and Retsu vs Katsumi... I can't help but feel disappointed. I mean, considering how Katsumi was built and was presented as a future opponent for Baki, and all this for him getting one-shot by Retsu... I get that on paper Retsu is stronger but they could have at least make Katsumi fight back a bit.
And the final four of the tournament was really the best part of this saga. Baki vs Retsu, Jack vs Shibukawa and Baki vs Jack were all amazing, alongside the revelation of Jack being a Hanma was amazing (although I already knew that Jack was Baki's bro, I was curious on how they would introduce it), the flashback to see how Yujiro met Jack's mom was cool and Baki's final win was perfect to conclude this saga.
Rating of each saga:
- Childhood saga: 7.5/10
- Underground Arena: 9/10
- Maximum Tournament: 8/10
Final thoughts: Grappler Baki is a great way to kick off the Baki series, with it's biggest moment is the Underground Arena (imo) and the pace at the beginning is kinda slow, dragging it down a bit
And that's it folks! Do you agree with this? And once again, this is my first post here so please be indulgent