History Manga / BakiTheGrappler

* RazorSharpHand: Shinogi Kanno practices a fighting style that allows him to sever nerves with his fingertips, allowing him to cripple or blind his opponents.
** In at least the anime version, he blinds Baki by ripping out nerve endings located in Baki's neck (?!). Baki is able to temporarily repair the damage by tying his nerves like shoestrings. He later makes a full recovery, of course, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology because that is totally how nerves work.]]
*** Dorian was a villain who used special weapons as much as martial arts, included a [[RazorFloss super-strong cutting wire]] [[SharpenedToASingleAtom which was almost invisible]]. Orochi Doppo is able to cut the wire with his perfect karate chop, before explaining that the way of a true karateka is making your body such a weapon that you would never need another one.

''Baki the Grappler'' is a shonen manga revolving around Baki Hanma's quest to become the strongest grappler in the world, thus taking the title from his father, Yujiro Hanma, in addition to gaining the love of his psychotic mother.

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.

* BloodierAndGorier / DarkerAndEdgier: If you think the 2001 Anime isn't that NauseaFuel-level enough (and by extension, too frightening and nightmare-ish for Good Young Girls to watch), then think again with the 2018 Netflix one. Due to the increased budget and plot of the story (pragmatic criminals fighting against trained martial artists or wrestlers) the fights are far more violent, gory and darker than the arcs preceding it. So brutal and extremely {{Gorn}}ographic like Kentaro's Berserk series, that it made the already Rated R or TV-MA Live-Action Deadpool duology feel more like an extended Barney episode or two by comparison (no seriously, Yuujiro himself is basically the answer on WhatIf the Merc in the Mouth is played by [[Wrestling/BrockLesnar Brock Lesnar]] instead of Ryan Reynolds, except with Red Hair).
* BloodKnight: Who the hell doesn't like fighting in this series? But Yujiro and the five supercriminals definitely are this. Most of Korakuen stars are fighting junkies as well, but have more regard for human life.

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

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Che Guevara throws toy windmills, [[UrineTrouble urinates]] on his opponents and lets them stomp on his face. He's one of the strongest fighters in the world, as well as politically formidable. Dorian also qualifies - singing Charles Aznavour songs while vandalizing Doppo Orochi's house.
* CallingTheOldManOut: The reason Baki fights- to prove that he isn't a genetic waste, and that he is strong enough to carry the Hanma bloodline. [[spoiler: Even though he fails to defeat Yujiro, he does manage to get through to him that he's his own man, and Yujiro comes to respect his prowess as a fighter and as a Hanma.]]
* CantCatchUp: By "Son of Ogre" very few recurring characters can match Baki and the new threats.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The ability to completely ignore natural limitations of the human body is, logically, supernatural, but this fighting series doesn't ADMIT to it.

* ChromosomeCasting: Justified. The series is mostly about unusually powerful men competing physically for becoming the WorldsStrongestMan. Thus women don't really exist in this setting, other than as background extras.

** Deconstructed for the convicts and especially Dorian who was a Kaioh long ago. Unlike Doppo who had absolute faith over his karate, Dorian never fully relied on Chinese Kenpo and learned several offhand techniques. It caused him to grow apart from Chinese Kenpo as these techniques became more effective at dealing with untrained individuals. As Dorian became stronger against weak opponents who can be easily manipulated like Kato and Suedo, he grows ''weaker'' against strong and experienced opponents like Doppo who can see through his conniving techniques. If Dorian had instead dedicated his life perfecting Chinese Kenpo techniques, he might have defeated Doppo. The fight between Doppo and Dorian is actually a lesson that learning several tricks is useless compared to learning one comprehensive technique and giving as much to the art as you take. The other convicts also learn this lesson as Baki and his friends slowly start to see through their tricks, leaving them as strong, but predictable, opponents. And when you've been fighting people as long as Baki and his friends have, becoming predictable is the ''worst'' thing to do against people with years of experience fighting...

** None of the characters seem to look any different one bit, especially Yujiro who actually fought against both military and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War while he was 16 years old.
** In the spinoff Manga ''Baki Gaiden - Kenjin'', Doppo doesn't seem to look like has aged at all even though he actually met Yuichiro Hanma, the father of Yujiro Hanma; aside from not having any facial scars or losing an eye yet when he's still in his prime as a fighter.

* CreatorCameo: In the first series, [[https://desu-usergeneratedcontent.xyz/a/image/1504/77/1504773510863.png the sniper]] who was able to take disable Yujiro with tranquilizer darts looks extremely similar to Baki's mangaka [[https://www.manga-news.com/public/images/authors/itagaki-keisuke.jpg Keisuke Itagaki]]. Making it a very tongue-in-cheek way of saying that the only person who is stronger than Yujiro is the author who created him. In the first Baki Dou, in the middle of Musashi's fight with Hanayama when the yakuza has [[FacepalmOfDoom his hands crushing the samurai's face]], the narration compares it to an real world event that happened in the author's stint in the military where he was bullied by a senior doing the [[FacepalmOfDoom same thing]] to him.

** Yujiro vs '''anyone'''. Including an earthquake. And [[spoiler: the United States military. Averted if your name happens to be [[AllCavemenAreNeanderthals Pickle]] or [[WorldsBestWarrior Miyamoto]] [[MasterSwordsman Musashi]]]]
** Many fights in general after the Maximum Tournament is over are this. Very rarely are fights ever held between characters of equal skill level or prowess anymore (and the rare ones that are equal are serious cases of HowMuchMoreCanHeTake). But the biggest examples go to the Rai Tai Tournament and Muhammad Ali Jr arcs in their entireties.
* DeathGlare: Baki is the frikking king of this trope. Who else can manage to frighten a super-powerful AxCrazy murderer with a DeathGlare ''while kissing''? Oh, and Baki's girlfriend didn't even notice that there is someone else around.
** Previously he had stopped a foe who was over him, on her knees, punching Baki on the face in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
* TheDeterminator: Broken limbs, profuse hemorrhaging, cut ears or hands, and getting your face ripped off won't stop fighters in this series.
** In some instances this trope is {{Deconstructed}}: there's no point in giving up if you still have a chance at victory, but sometimes giving up ''is'' the right thing to do. After all, you can always fight another day, and pursuing a fight that you have no hope of winning doesn't make you brave or determined, it just means you're suicidality overconfident.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: There is such a difference between the way [[TheSociopath Yujiro is in the first series]] and [[NobleDemon how he is in the second series]] that you have to wonder if the author hadn't completely fleshed Yujiro out yet and simply [[FlatCharacter used him as a plot device]] in the first series. Not to mention how he was unable to open a door because someone was holding the doorknob on the other side...
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Some techniques can only be achieved through ''imagination''. Become liquid, a thousand of extra joints... imagining it can make it real. Also, Baki's "shadow training" invokes the figure of a foe so realistic that he is hurt by the "shadow" attacks.

* FluffyTheTerrible: A bestial neanderthal man who is called... Pickle. Also a guy who gave Baki a good run for his money is named Biscuit.
* GameBreakingInjury: It takes a lot to put any of the fighters out of commission for good, Doppo for example has an eyepatch, a reattached arm and had his face blown up yet he is still among the strongest fighter, but some who loses their arm for good or get their body broken like Doyle are out for good.

* {{Gonk}}: ''Everybody'' in the manga. You get sort of used to the ... idiosyncratic ... art style eventually, but most of the fighters are still ''hideous'' with the exception of Baki himself, who's kind of cute if rather goofy-looking ... until he removes his outer clothing and reveals that every part of his body below the neck is covered in scars.

* ManlyTears: Totally expected of a series full of manly men but also has drama. Many examples but in particular the end of the battle between Ian [=McGreggor=] and Chiharu Shiba. Many people in the audience are greatly moved by Shiba's heart and determination. Kaouru Hanayama, who happens to be one of the manliest men in a series about manly men, gives Shiba a manly embrace and call him a role model for everyone looked down on by society. As Hanayama was also Shiba's hero, water just pours from Shiba's eyes.

* {{Orochi}}: Karate master Doppo Orochi, who in a subversion is actually a pretty nice guy. Who once {{One Hit Kill}}ed a tiger.

* PrayerIsALastResort: Jack has never relied on anything other than his own training and the terrible things he does to his body in the series. Right as Pickle is about to defeat him, Jack lampshades how is praying to the gods for help for the first time in his entire life.
* PrecisionFStrike: In a sense: after the first defeat of Jack Hanma at the hands of Pickle, Pickle holds back instead of eating him. When Tokugawa Mitsunari goes to investigate Jack, suddenly Jack reflexively slams both his middle fingers together. He had intended to jam them into Pickle's brain if he had gone to eat him--a literal "F Strike" as it were. Tokugawa even calls it the strongest "fuck you" in the world.

* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Happens often when one of the fighter is particularly big.

** Shibukawa Gouki is an Aikido master on his sixties, short and alumno. His masterful technique allows him to fight against the massively build rest of the cast.
** Kaku Kaioh deliberately turned himself into this, renouncing to his amazing strength and letting his muscles shrivel through ‘decades’ of training exclusively devoted to his technique, because he was convinced that this would ultimately make him in fact a stronger fighter. He is over one hundred years old, is usually carried around in a wheelchair, and gave Yuujiro a run for his money.

** Yujiro to Baki after the final battle, renounces his title as strongest man on Earth and gives it to Baki.

* WrestlerOfBeasts: Being an [[RefugeInAudacity over the top]] FightingSeries where even weaker characters are closer to {{Humanoid Abomination}}s than to normal humans, the manga features many characters who do or have done this either [[ChallengeSeeker to challenge themselves]] or simply to demonstrate their strength. Just a few of the examples include Baki fighting with giant apes, Garland demonstrating his strength at the Maximum Tournament by effortlessly outwrestling an anaconda and beating it to death, etc. When a very minor character at that same tournament boasts about having wrestled with a wild lion, the other character he's speaking to wonders if the first guy is so self-interested and short-sighted that he doesn't realize that ''every'' competitor at the tournament has sought out some sort of similar challenge, and that the attempts at TrashTalk and intimidation just come off as pathetic.
* YourMindMakesItReal: A lot of skilled combatant can imagine concepts or opponents so well they take damage from it. Good for shadow boxing but less so when you can vividly see your opponent turn into a dinosaur or feel them slicing you with invisible katanas.

** 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. He also deconstructs this by bringing up the dichotomy of reactions to an opponent doing this: While sometimes a man will refuse to get up again, sometimes he will become enraged and do everything to retaliate when he can stand again. Baki pulling this on Pickle causes the caveman to become the ''ANGRIEST'' he has ever been.

* HardTruthAesop: Fighting with a honorable sportsman mentality is fine, but in the harsh world of street fighting and grapplers if you aren't a CombatPragmatist willing to put your life on the line you are gonna be beaten to a bloody pulp or outright killed. That's what the Ali Jr. arc was seemingly aiming at.

* GroinAttack: Both for comedy and serious battling, as Korakuen fights only forbid the usage of weapons and allow below the belt attacks.

** As of the most recent arc, MMA is the new subject of Itagaki's ire, likely because Sumo wrestlers have historically done extremely poorly in MMA, and Sumo is the centerpoint of this arc. So of course, Itagaki devotes ''seven full chapters'' to introduce {{Jobber}} MMA fighters who get one-sidedly brutalized by a variety of Sumo wrestlers. Eight counting that Baki's first appearance in the 2nd Baki Dou was instantly beating the American UFC heavyweight champion who was just BrockLesnar in all but name. He seems to be a GracefulLoser about it though.

* BloodierAndGorier / DarkerAndEdgier: If you think the 2001 Anime isn't that NauseaFuel-level enough (and by extension, too frightening and nightmare-ish for Good Young Girls to watch), then think again with the 2018 Netflix one. Due to the increased budget and plot of the story (pragmatic criminals fighting against trained martial artists or wrestlers) the fights are far more violent, gory and darker than the arcs preceding it. So brutal and extremely {{Gorn}}ographic like Kentaro's Berserk series, that it made the already Rated R or TV-MA Live-Action Deadpool duology feel more like an extended Barney episode or two by comparison (no seriously, Yuujiro himself is basically the answer on WhatIf the Merc in the Mouth is played by Brock Lesnar instead of Ryan Reynolds, except with Red Hair).

** As of the most recent arc, MMA is the new subject of Itagaki's ire, likely because Sumo wrestlers have historically done extremely poorly in MMA, and Sumo is the centerpoint of this arc. So of course, Itagaki devotes ''seven full chapters'' to introduce {{Jobber}} MMA fighters who get one-sidedly brutalized by a variety of Sumo wrestlers. Eight counting that Baki's first appearance in the 2nd Baki Dou was instantly beating the American UFC heavyweight champion who was just BrockLesner in all but name. He seems to be a GracefulLoser about it though.

** 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'' 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.

** As of the most recent arc, MMA is the new subject of Itagaki's ire, likely because Sumo wrestlers have historically done extremely poorly in MMA, and Sumo is the centerpoint of this arc. So of course, Itagaki devotes ''seven full chapters'' to introduce {{Jobber}} MMA fighters who get one-sidedly brutalized by a variety of Sumo wrestlers.

** 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’’ 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 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.

** 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).

‘’Kongoken’’. Its’ purpose is to turn the user’s body into one that’s MadeOfIron through harsh conditioning. ‘’Kongoken’’ 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 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.

%%%
%% Zero context examples are not allowed on wiki pages. Please add context before uncommenting.

%% Anything along the lines of "Too many characters to list. The worst offender is probably Hanma Yujiro. Probably." is not context. Nor is it proper grammar.

[[quoteright:293:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_baki-the-grappler-episodes-online_4651.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:293:It says a lot when the [[WorldOfBadass weakest person in the picture is the gorilla]].]]

** Yujiro vs '''anyone'''. Including an earthquake. And [[spoiler: the United States military. Averted if your name happens to be [[WorldsBestWarrior Miyamoto]] [[MasterSwordsman Musashi]]]]

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Yujiro is simply too powerful for anyone that is not his son Baki, who trains throughout the series to defeat him [[spoiler: and fails, because Yujiro is just that strong; he only conceded because Baki made him work up a sweat.]]

''Baki: Son of Ogre'' (also known as ''Hanma Baki'') follows the road to the final battle between father and son, as Baki trains fighting the most physically remarkable antagonists in the saga yet. After managing to strong-arm the President of the United States into sending him to the seemingly impregnable Arizona State Prison Fortress, Baki gets to meet Biscuit "Unchained" Oliva, the strongest man in America who is powerful enough to treat the most secure supermax prison in the world as his own personal penthouse, living a life of sophisticated luxury and obliterating anyone who tries to challenge his position as number one. Then in an obscenely improbable turn of fate, Pickle the defrosted caveman who has just been rudely awoken after millions of years of cryogenic sleep, is thrown headfirst into the modern world. But having no more dinosaurs to feast on, the ultimate predator turns his hunger to the greatest warriors of humanity, the only rule: eat or be eaten. Finally we see the climax of the series as Baki and Yujiro go face to face in the grudge match to end all grudge matches.

''Baki-Dou'' (also known as ''The Way of Baki'') takes place after the events of ''Baki: Son of an Ogre''. As a bored and discontented Baki adjusts to life after achieving his goal, with the rest of the fighters feeling much the same way. But unbeknownst to them a secret project is underway to clone Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordsman in history. And upon his rebirth the legendary warrior wants nothing more than to fight and to kill as he once did. Thankfully for him, he has many challengers eagerly waiting to meet him.

*** 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 Take-Tsurugi 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 Take-Tsurugi despite the weight and size difference, as stopping to gloat enables Take-Tsurugi to regain consciousness and gives him the perfect set-up for a bearhug, as he clung onto Rekizou as he lost consciousness.

*** 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 knows for, who also loses solely due to his massive ego, as him stopping to quietly gloat enables Shishimaru, his opponent to recover and defeat him with a bear hug.

* TakeThat: Judging by the mostly unflattering depictions of Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump, it's safe to say that the creator of Baki is not very fond of American politicians.

** The Rikishi weight difference makes them a big threat to characters nowhere near their size even if they are masters of strike and grapple. Hanayama however is as big as them so he can just deck them with no refined technique aside a hard fist. Also Hanayama was never scouted by sumo stable despite having beaten an upcoming star because his facial scars would hurt the sport's reputation.

* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler: ''Son Of Ogre 294'' sheds some light on this with Yujiro, who has long been waiting for a WorthyOpponent. The chapter also goes to mention that everyday life has become a boring and repetitive existence due to how easy his massive strength makes things.]]

* {{Orochi}}: Karate master Doppo Orochi, who in a subversion is actually a pretty nice guy. Who once {{OneHitKill}}ed a tiger.

* RatedMForManly: Pretty much every [[strike:major]] character is saddled with an absurd case of muscles (though a lot of them have oddly feminine faces to go with it). In the sequel to the original manga and as well as the Netflix Baki show, ''Baki Gaiden Scarface'', an unarmed man wins a deathmatch against a ''twenty-two-foot shark'' by [[spoiler: shoving an arm through its eyesocket and crushing the brain]]. Yujiro is commented on having ''so much testosterone'' that, to Yujiro, all other humans (yes, even the most manly of men) [[InsaneTrollLogic are comparable to women.]] It's not ''that'' kind of story but also, the Baki franchise in general is basically a Human-focused version of ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' or ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' meets Invicible, Berserk and even, WWE in the Attitude Era.

* WeakButSkilled: Shibukawa Gouki is an Aikido master on his sixties, short and alumno. His masterful technique allows him to fight against the massively build rest of the cast.
** Kaku Kaioh deliberately turned himself into this, rennouncing to his amazing strength and letting his muscles shrivel through ‘decades’ of training exclusively devoted to his technique, because he was convinced that this would ultimately make him in fact a stronger fighter. He is over one hundred years old, is usually carried around in a wheelchair, and have Yuujiro a run for his money.

** In some instances this trope is {{Deconstructed}}: there's no point in giving up if you still have a chance at victory, but sometimes giving up ''is'' the right thing to do. After all, you can always fight another day, and pursuing a fight that you have no hope of winning doesn't make you brave or determined, it just means you're suicidally overconfident.

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: Done frequently. The most extreme example is probably Speck vs. Hanayama, which ends with the victor ([[spoiler: Hanayama]]) being shot, stabbed, beaten, [[spoiler: having his cheeks torn off, and being ''shot through said cheekholes!'']]

* OlderThanTheyLook: Speck, 97 years old; Shunsei, 120 years old. But Pickle beats them all, being roughly 65 million years old.

* ThePowerOfLove: Baki becomes much stronger after he resolves to protect Kozue. [[spoiler: He trounces Yanagi and Sikorsky at the same time. It's also implied that this is because Baki has lost his virginity, and his latent Hanma genes have activated to protect his new partner.]]

** Many fights in general after the Maximum Tournament is over are this. Very rarely are fights ever held between characters of equal skill level or prowess anymore (and the rare ones that are equal are serious cases of HowMuchMoreCanHeTake). But the biggest examples go to the Rai Tai Tournamt and Muhammad Ali Jr arcs in their entireties.