History Manga / BakiTheGrappler

It was originally serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Champion'' from 1991 to 1999, lasting 42 volumes, and followed by four sequel series, ''New Grappler Baki'', ''Baki: Son of an Ogre'', ''Baki-Dou'',''Baki Dou'' and ''Baki Rahen''.

It was originally serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Champion'' from 1991 to 1999, lasting 42 volumes, and followed by four sequel series, ''New Grappler Baki'', ''Baki: Son of an Ogre'', ''Baki-Dou'', and ''Baki Dou''.

* BoringButPractical: When the Mouth fights Iron Micheal, one of the easiest ways to take down a larger opponent is to stomp on them.

* ContemplateOurNavels: Any time people are not beating each other to a bloody pulp is mostly spent expounding on the psychology and philosophy of beating people to a bloody pulp.

* AnAesop: Honor isn't nearly as important as you think it is. While honor and a code of ethics can make you a respectable individual, that goes right out the door when you start fighting someone to the death. After all, it's hard to be honorable when you're dead, so numerous characters from Baki himself to Miyamoto Musashi, Biscuit, the Death Row Inmates and more are willing to throw away their honor for survival. This is why Yujiro is the strongest ''creature'' and not the strongest human, because his willingness to fight dirty means that he's extremely unpredictable and dangerous in a fight even outside of his SuperStrength.

* MagicCountdown: The fight in Chapter 147 of ''Baki Dou'' is accompanied by an on-page timer counting the passing seconds, to underline Sukune's boast that his most powerful attack can defeat Baki within ten seconds. However, the depiction of the passing time seems symbolic at best: between the panel where Sukune swings at Baki, and the panel where his blow lands, the timer goes from 4 seconds to 6 seconds, which would indicate that Sukune's attack was absurdly slow.

** Sikorsky cut cut people with his knuckle strikes, using friction to split their skin.

*** The most telling Itagaki's distaste for the sport is Rekizou Miyairi, the final MMA fighter to go up against the Sumos, and a very obvious parody of Conor [=McGregor=], and has exaggeratedly cartoonish and undignified body language, clearly parodying the distinctive strut he's for, and his massive ego causes him to lose to Shishimaru despite genuinely standing a chance against him due to his fighting style's focus on hitting vital points enabling him to comfortably fight against bigger opponents like Shishimaru despite the weight and size difference, as him stopping to gloat gives Shishimaru the time to regain consciousness andthe perfect set-up for a bear hug, as he clung onto Rekizou as he lost consciousness.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Yujiro Hanma, Retsu Kaioh, Katsumi Orochi. The Raitai tournament is literally a bunch of kung fu masters showing up they are the best by beating a bunch of foreigners with their four thousand years of martial art history. It doesn't go so well at the time of the series.

* TalkToTheFist: Baki [[GroinAttack kicks Ali Jr. very squarely in the nuts]] during their fight in the arena, not noticing ''and'' not caring that he was spacing out and having an internal monologue.

* WellDoneSonGuy: A rare mother-son example with Baki toward his mom Emi, who doesn't love him because he doesn't satisfy Yujiro's requirements.

* ShaggyDogStory: The entire Pickle subplot. He doesn't lose in a fight to anyone except Yujiro and the only real changes in the status quo are a couple of guys get their limbs eaten. [[DoubleStandard Of course Baki doesn't, though]]. And when's all said and done, he simply goes into hiding when the world narrowly votes he be put back into stasis (remember: this is a ''rapist, man-eating caveman'')... though he eventually shows up [[spoiler: during Baki's fight with Yujiro.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** A participant in the Raitai tournament Chin Kaiou practices a Kung Fu form called ''Sangoken'', where he fights using a combination of the Spirit, the Fist and the Earth. While one can’t exactly find ''Sangoken'' online, it’s the Japanese translation for ''Sanhequan'', a kung fu that is indeed a triad of ''Taichi'' (Spirit), ''Xingyi'' (Fist), and ''Bagua'' (Earth).
** Another Raitai participant, You Kaioh practices a kung fu form called ''Kongoken''. Its’ purpose is to turn the user’s body into one that’s MadeOfIron through harsh conditioning. ''Kongoken'' is the Japanese translation for ''Jingangquan'', a pretty obscure form of Kung Fu. ArtisticLicenseMartialArts is in effect however, as ''Jingangquan'' doesn’t seem to involve any whole body conditioning. It’s possible the author was trying to reference Shaolin monk [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_shirt Iron Shirt]] training where they do constantly condition their structural strength with heavy blows all around their bodies. Their conditioning methods is not as harsh as You Kaioh’s method of standing under a waterfall full of falling stones and logs though.

** Retsu seriously discussed the effectiveness of this at one point. As he points out, the testicles are internal organs that just so happen to be separated from the outside by only a sack of skin. If any other organ were in its place, it would be just as painful. He also brings up that a man's reaction to this falls into one of two categories: either "I've been hit! Forgive me!" (will stay on the ground), or "Unforgivable"(will get back up and attack).

Probably one of the most [[RefugeInAudacity over-the-top]] and {{Gorn}}ographic Manga FightingSeries of all time. If it [[MyGodYouAreSerious didn't take itself seriously]] you would swear it was a parody of martial arts shonen manga. Just about every major plotline has at least one totally ridiculous plot point, from death matches with reanimated cavemen to people who have more crushing force in their jaws than pneumatic presses. The series revels in completely absurd antics the whole way through. Underneath this insanity lies a very personal plot following Baki's development as a fighter and his assembly of a motley crew of TrueCompanions. Also noteworthy is the focus spent on the philosophical sides of combat. Each major fighter in the series has taken on a different perspective on what it means to be a martial artist, and each fight is as much a duel of bodies as it is of minds. Much deliberation is spent discussing what it means to be a fighter as characters are given ample means to express their philosophical inclinations.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Averted in the case between Yujiro and Emi as Baki's conception occurred literally ''minutes'' after Yujiro killed Emi's husband, a yakuza boss, automatically making her mob leader and covering for her ex's murder by [[BlatantLies claiming a short guy did it.]]

* AdaptationalSexuality: Kureha, in the subs, was obsessed with body building. Kureha in the anime dub, however, is obsessed with body building ''and beautiful men''. The dub also changes the scene Kureha has with Baki after [[spoiler: Doppo's loss]] from Kureha talking about how life and death are natural for a doctor to Kureha going on about how cute Baki is, and gives every line out of his mouth huge amounts of innuendo from then onward.

** Baki [[AwesomnessByAnalysis figures out how Kanno's technique worksvthrough observation]] and uses to blind Jack on his left side during the tournament finals.