Grappler Baki

[mrdandy]

If you like your action brutal, get Grappler Baki. The fights are crazy. The general anime watching populace don't seem to like this title much, but here in TNL where the majority of us play fighting games, I hope to at least perk your interest .

Quote taken from:
http://www.serc.rmit.edu.au/~ashelto...pler_baki.html

I've seen fight anime before. Shows like Yu-Yu-Hakusho and Flame of Recca are basically an endless series of fights with a little bit of character work to frame it. But this series is on an entirely different level. It is a story almost entirely about fighting. Grappler Baki is never shown to have a life, if he makes friends it's after the two of them have tried to kill or maim on another, and his family are even more obsessive about the lure of violence and the growth of power. While it's easy, indeed tempting, to make fun of it for this limited depth over time it begins to build a sick fascination and even a monstrous sort of logic.

The story's not that shallow, IMO. You got to understand that GB's story revolves around the fights (and fear of Baki's MONSTER of a dad) and not the other way around. The part about the hormones I admit is kinda silly, but it's only used in 3-4 of the 24 episodes so don't worry. Another plus is that there are NO SUPER POWERS! No fireballs, no flaming dragons coming out of your arms, no super eye-glance etc. The fights are RAW and HARDCORE.

If you like Berserk, Shadow Skill or Street Fighter (methinks it's more akin to SF), you should at least give this title a shot. But do like I do and watch all 24 episodes in on sitting. Don't ask me why.

Season two is out now and from what I've seen, it's even more violent (almost scary). I get my fix from: http://anime.mircx.com/
(Bittorrent rules)

Note: Girls, stay away from this unless you're really into fighting flicks.

[Sub]

Baki's really great stuff if you're into fights. I've been reading the manga running in Raijin. It starts with Baki at around 15 fighting in the underground arena. The old Baki OVA compresses one of his fights into about 40 minutes, and it's pretty fun. I watched a little of the TV show and I'm wondering where the stor of Baki's younger days came from, given where the manga starts. I like the TV show though, and I really need to keep up with it. It definitely has that same single-minded, focused feel as the manga.