Sometimes, there is beauty to be found in brutality.
And as a fan of Shonen anime,
I am often swept up in the thrill of a fight
a combination of animation and character development
leading to battles that leave a heavy impact on me
long after the dust has settled.
But in the archives of this genre,
deep underneath the surface level appeal of your Hero Acas and Narutos
sits violence of the highest accord,
knots in your stomach and screw up your eyes levels of fighting
that will either make you look away or keep staring.
This is not a series for the faint of heart
and ordinarily, it’s not a series for me
but in the same way, I often get swept up in the thrill of a fight
I often found myself swept up in the beauty of this animes brutality
heavy flaws and all.
My name is Isla and this is my review of TMS Entertainments Baki.
From a first viewing, I can see how Baki could be intimidating.
It’s 2018 iteration has been 16 years in the making
and picks up where its second series left off back in 2001.
I had no prior knowledge of the source material going in
and if you’re like me then this is both advantageous and detrimental.
On the one hand, we can look at Baki as it stands today and judge it as such
but I do feel like you’d get much more from this series if you had read the manga or just finished the Maximum Tournament arc of season 2.
That being said you can still enjoy it without knowing anything
but some further information would have helped me understand Baki as a character
and the people that surround him.
Plot-wise Baki 2018 focuses on our lead of the same name
and takes place just after he has been crowned the winner of the tournament.
Upon hearing of his victory five death row inmates from across the world break out of prison
on the same day
and head to Japan in order to taste defeat at the hands of this young grappler.
During the first half of this 26 episode anime these criminals face off against a range of other fighters
who are all versed in violence
and as the show progresses the fights become
utterly ridiculous.
From being set alight by gasoline
to doing battle on a rollercoaster
to regurgitating grenades
this anime is laced in insanity
and lacking in any narrative
There is no plot, no story, no grander mission
but there is a great sense of philosophy
and you’ll find that behind each of the fighters and their chosen martial art.
They have crafted their abilities over the years and this is made obvious to us through numerous flashbacks and monologues.
Often these scenes can feel a bit overzealous
and detract from the fights.
One moment I’m ready to be hyped up
only to listen to a character meticulously why he’s using piano strings as a weapon.
These cutaways slow down the pacing
making what should be an exciting event more of a history lesson
however this is Baki’s way of showing you it’s more than just a free for all beat ‘em up
that there is a deeper purpose to its characters.
And these characters land into bone-crushing situations
which should render them dead
but two episodes later they are rising from a wheelchair
ready to strike the final blow.
This is the madness of Baki
and you can either roll with it or reject it.
For me, I could roll with it to an extent
I appreciated how crazy it felt
but it could have been better reflected in its animation.
Barely an episode goes by without blood flying everywhere
or fingers jammed in eye sockets
but often these are just clever tricks with camera movement than they are actual animation.
There are no grand sakuga moments to speak of
and the fighting flits between 2D and bad 3D renders.
This switch was jarring at the best of times
and cringe-worthy at the worst
I would have loved to have seen what the animation team could have done
with the wacky martial arts in the series rather than just in its OP.
But when the fighting does hit it's brutal and enjoyable,
I could feel myself tensing up as fists flew into faces and fights came to a fraught conclusion.
This was accentuated by the bold lines used to draw each scene
giving the anime an old-school shounen vibe
but it did seem to decrease in quality as the show developed.
Despite that, each character looks distinctive
and this art style allows every curve of the muscle to be shown
in all its full glory.
Usually, I wouldn’t be one to marvel in that glory
and if you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know I’m a fan of cute girls and the magic of the mundane,
not coarse guys and the madness of mavericks
but along my journey with Baki
I realised that there is something compelling about its violence
even if it’s not a world I would want to return to.
So, Baki wasn’t made for me and that’s fine
but I think it's important to visit shows outside of your usual norm
and to remember that sometimes...
there is beauty to be found in brutality.