Characters / Baki The Grappler Shinshinkai Dojo Members

Baki the Grappler | Main Character Index
The Hanma Family | Maximum Tournament Competitors | Shinshinkai Dojo Members

In General

• Bland-Name Product: It's very obviously based off of Kyokushin Karate due to it's founder, Doppo Orochi being an expy of Mas Oyama, the founder of that karate style.
• It's Personal: As Dorian and Doyle learned the hard way, they respond to the mutilation of their members like they were a gang coming for get-back, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of their members to deal with the menace du jour.
• We Are Everywhere: After Dorian hospitalizes Katou, the members of Shinshinkai band together to track him down. A whole army's worth of disciples gather together, from police and emergency services, to civilians and waiters.
• The Worf Effect: They often get their asses kicked to show how strong a threat is.

Doppo Orochi

Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (JP, Netflix ONA), Steve Blum (EN, Netflix ONA), Enrique Cervantes (LatAm, Netflix ONA)

The founder and grandmaster of Shinshinkai Karate whose training has given him a near superhuman level of endurance. Doppo looks menacing, but is in fact a proud, deeply honorable man with a soft spot for his family.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Dorian cut his arm off with fiber wire in their first fight. Doppo was later able to have it reattached via back-alley surgery by a friend of his who lost his license to practice medicine due to being a severe case of The Alcoholic that smokes indoors.
• Badass Normal: Sort of. While being a Badass Normal in the grand scheme of things is nothing unique in this series, Doppo takes it a step further by, in his physical prime, being able to force Yujiro to take him seriously, all with zero genetic gifts or specialized training. He's genuinely just that good.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Doppo is one of the most badass fighters in the series with a head as smooth as a bowling ball. He's also one of the few people in the world along with Baki or Kaku Kaioh to be able to go up against with Yujiro and survive due to Kureha managing to save him via heart massage after he flatlined from the Ogre's finishing blow.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Not really a monk, but of all the fighters in the series, Doppo specializes in punching techniques and many of his attacks will be based around his fists.
• Barehanded Blade Block: Dorian tries to use a concealed weapon attached to his shoes only for Doppo to successfully catch the blade and countered Dorian.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's popular among his students thanks to his lovable nature as well as being a family man, and oozes with an aura of coolness, and charisma, but his response to witnessing a man attempting to kill a child with a knife is to use three extremely brutal techniques that he doesn't use otherwise in succession, leaving the would-be child murderer with a torn throat, shattered pubic bones, and missing ribs.
• Blood Knight: They don't call him the "God of War" for nothing.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Doppo loves to fight and has a joyful personality.
• Brick Break: Doppo, as a Karateka, often practices his skills on various objects as part of his routine or as a demonstration to the public or would be opponents. Later on he upgrades this further by cutting wire with his chops.
• Combat Pragmatist: Zig-Zagged. Doppo is a firm believer in "there are no rules in a real fight" but believes in style and aesthetics. He believes that since martial artists train to make their bodies into weapons that bringing a weapon to a fight is the same as saying your martial art is useless as what was the point of learning it if you're going to use a weapon. He does, however, believe that the point of a martial art is to win and if you can't win then it's useless. He will be logical about this though, believing in using weapons if they are part of your art (like kenjutsu, spearfighting and so on) and he's also fine with dirty tricks or using what's on hand at the time of the fight like throwing sand in your opponent's eyes or taking off your belt to use as a weapon^note This is also part of why Gis come with a belt in general aside from being good for makeshift bandages and tourniquets, or tying up broken bones until they can receive medical attention; in a desperate or life-threatening situation, a belt can become a deadly weapon if used to choke or cuff the assailant.
  • He had no problem beating the hell out of Ali. Jr after losing to him when Jr. was badly injured from his fights with Jack and Shibukawa as it was the best chance to pay Ali back.
  • After having proven his karate against Kehaya he ends their rematch by jamming his fingers in Kehaya's nostrils and slam him to the ground to make it clear the fight is over without having to pull an Eye Scream on the guy.
• Cool Old Guy: He's a middle-aged Karateka whose one of the strongest characters in Baki as well as being incredibly popular among his students at the Shinshinkai Dojo.
• Crazy-Prepared: His philosophy on combat assumes that the opponent will never voluntarily surrender. This saves his ass in the fight against Dorian, as he anticipates every move Dorian could make even while under the effects of a form of hypnotism that fakes Dorian's surrender.
• A Day in the Limelight: Out of all things the Kengan Ashura crossover is this to him, as it focuses on young Doppo being brought in for an exhibition match against Yoroizuka Saw Paing's father, the Lethwei legend Pa Paing.
• Expy: Not unlike Yujiro with Akuma, Doppo is often compared to Sagat from Street Fighter, both being bald, eye-patch wearing martial artists who live for the fight and are associated with tigers. Doppo even wears similar trunks in his second fight with Dorian.
• Eyepatch of Power: Got it after Yujiro popped it out of his skull during a fight.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: Oddly enough for this series Doppo's fighting style isn't all that unique or special. It's just that the insane amount of training he puts into it makes him a walking weapon of mass destruction.
• Fatal Flaw: He can have quite the habit of toying with his opponents whenever he's got the upper hand at times, instead of just going in for the finishing blow. As his rematch with Dorian and first fight with Ali Jr have shown.
• Genius Bruiser: During the Nomi Arc when Baki asked Doppo about Sumo Wrestling from a 10th Dan Karate Master perspective, he does however frown upon their lifestyle and training — since their world is somewhat pretty dark.
• Happily Married: To his wife Natsue. He joined the Maximum Tournament in an attempt to make a necklace for her out of the championship belt, and she tearfully comforts him backstage when he comes back injured, calling him her "Superman".
• Heroes Fight Barehanded: While most of the fighters shown rarely, if ever, use a weapon, Doppo goes out of his way to state that one should never premeditate the use of a weapon, as a true martial artist (Karateka specifically) must make their own body into a weapon. Given that he can chop a piece of wood in half as cleanly as a blade, he makes a pretty damn compelling argument. That being said, he believes that Karate allows the use of anything you happen to have on you or at your disposal as a weapon, such as a belt or pencil, so long as it isn't an actual "weapon" you carry for the express purpose of violence.
• Honor Before Reason: Holds Tokugawa at his mercy when he tries to have his men tranquilize Pickle and demands him to stand down while threatening him since neither of the two opponents signed up for this fight and let Katsumi die on his own term as a warrior.
• I Know Karate: Will often make it clear to his opponents beforehand. Justified in that Doppo owns the largest Karate schools in the world with over a million members and has tremendous pride in being a Karateka.
• Improvised Weapon: He's adamant that a martial artist should never have a weapon on their person, but that they should instead make their body into a weapon. However, he explicitly believes it is permissible to use everyday objects as weapons in a fight, as long as they aren't something you have on you specifically for fighting.
• Kung-Fu Clairvoyance: Doppo is so experienced in combat and has trained for so many hours, he can predict even the strongest of fighters moves before they make them. Hell, the one-eyed bastard managed to predict an opponent who had HYPNOTIZED him and the hallucination of his opponent moved exactly like the real version.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Right after losing his arm to Dorian he comments that he always hated how painful his fingers felt during training, and that now he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Then he punches Dorian with his stump.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Being the founder of a huge karate association that emphasizes kumite and conditioning of the hands and feet, and doing crazy stunts back in the day before film cameras became widespread, he's meant to be a Japanese Expy of Oyama Masatatsu (born Choi Yeong-eui), who is weirdly enough still directly referenced by name or in anecdotes several times by other characters.
• Old Shame: In-Universe. This is part of the reason why he doesn't confirm the rumors of him killing a tiger with his bare hands. Last thing an endangered species needs are karateka killing them to look cool.
• Papa Wolf: He brutally kills a man who tried to kill a child with a knife by ripping his throat out in a way that it can't be healed, punching him in the groin so hard his pubic bones are shattered, and then ripping out his ribs in that order.
• Passing the Torch: He leaves his son Katsumi in charge of the dojo after losing to Shibukawa.
• Post-Victory Collapse: He collapses from his injuries after his match with Richard Filth.
• Pressure Point: In Kenjin, he actually manages to un-blind an opponent of his that was born blind by tapping him on two spots of the neck. Despite seeming like an act of mercy, the Sensory Overload and lack of comfort with his newfound sight makes the man ask Doppo to re-blind him. Doppo complied, without destroying the man's eyeballs outright.
• Razor-Sharp Hand: His karate chop can cut through wires and ears clean. The crazy amount of conditioning turned his hands in swiss-knife weapons that can tear, crush, cut and pierce depending on how he hits someone.
• Self-Serving Memory: There is a glaring example where he says Ali Jr. ambushed him to win their first fight when it was the other way around. Later it's revealed he was trying to teach Jr. what he and Baki learned from the escaped prisoner arc about unfair fight but it seems he just wanted to beat up Ali when the kid is too wounded to stand a chance.
• Vigilante Man: A pair of chapters in Son of Ogre are dedicated entirely to Doppo stopping a Psycho Knife Nut about to commit a mass stabbing by killing him with a series of Karate techniques too deadly to use in sparring, like a Ridge Hand punch to destroy the man's groin... as well as the ensuing police interrogation and Doppo explaining himself to the cop for the excessive violence in self-defense and in defense of the child that was about to be stabbed. He ends up going free after explaining the philosophy behind his actions; that there was no reason to use them, but the situation warranted it.
• Wrestler of Beasts: Received the title of Tiger Slayer after killing one with his bare hands on a secluded island where there eventually was no prey left for the tiger save for Doppo, who proceeded to beat it to death when it attacked him during starvation. He lampshades at one point how unbelievable, dangerous and wrong this actually was, as Tigers are both massive, beautiful creatures with no actual malice in them like humans, and critically endangered to boot.
• Younger Than They Look: During his younger years, he still looks the same without any scars, when he crossed paths with Yuichiro Hanma during Baki Gaiden - Kenjin.
• You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: The other main reason he doesn't talk about the time he killed a tiger with his bare hands. He's more than happy to let it stay as a rumor.

Katsumi Orochi

• The Ace: Constantly called the ace of Shinshinkai and regarded as a master of karate.
• An Arm and a Leg: Pickle tears his arm off at the end of their first fight. The arm was useless after the hitless blow anyway.
• Badass Transplant: After losing his right arm to Pickle he's offered a replacement limb, called a treasure among martial arts practitioners. The severed arm of Retsu Kaioh, harvested from his death bout and willed to him.
• Blood Knight: By Baki Dou Katsumi does not care if he wins or lose, he just wants to fight strong fighter and get his fill. He forced a sumo back in consciousness because he wanted to savor the fight longer even though the sumo wrestler was beating the hell out of him and was only concerned the fight end too soon.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: His mach punch and ultimate form, the hitless blow, is a hit that breaks the sound barrier, which is a great way to defeat a strong enemy but severely damages the hand, making Katsumi vulnerable for a while and can permanently cripple him. It ultimately costs him his right arm.
• But Not Too Foreign: Born and raised as a Circus Brat with The Gift in Mainland China, Doppo adopted Katsumi after witnessing him calm down a rampaging lion that had just killed it's trainer, a friend of Katsumi's. So while he's ethnically Chinese, he acts very Japanese.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Let's just say his first run in with Dorian didn't exactly leave him with the best mind frame. He gets better later though.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: After being defeated by Retsu, most of his fights end up being one sided bouts not in his favor.
• Instant Expert: After receiving Retsu's arm, he quickly gets used to it and mentions that it's like the arm has always been his.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Kicked the bucket of gasoline that Dorian was holding all over him before setting him ablaze with his own lighter. Granted, considering that Dorian had murdered most of Tokugawa's securities and tried to set everyone on fire including Baki's friends, either way, two can play at that game.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: In the 2018 series, he calls Dorian a "white man" as a racial slur, after the later pressed the Japanese cultural taboo of entering on any place with his shoes on, in either the original Japanese, Latin American Spanish and likely other dubs. In the English dub, however, this was changed to "old man" instead.
• Sixth Ranger: He's been "promoted" to being part of the main cast after his introduction.
• Take Up My Sword: Retsu Kaioh willed his right arm to him after his death, to be grafted as a replacement of his original limb.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: As intense as he can get he doesn't intend to kill his opponent. He forfeits his match with Shishimaru because the sumo wrestler was still going pass the point where could be able to take Orochi's kicks without dying.
• Worthy Opponent: Gains this opinion of Hanayama after their match in the Maximum Tournament. He even admitted Hanayama had three opportunities to beat him before he used the Mach punch.
• The Worf Effect: He gets beat down a lot by newer threats. Retsu, Dorian and Pickle notably showed their strength by destroying Katsumi in a fight.
• Wrestler of Beasts: He's the one who quelled Yasha-Ape Jr.'s rampage in the Maximum tournament.

Atsushi Suedou

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: In his introduction in the very first chapter of the series, he brags about his fighting skills with a smug smile, and breaks off two of a fellow student's teeth just for annoying him.
• The Big Guy: The biggest of the Shinshinkai dojo members and he's very strong, capable of sending a rapidly spinning cup in a teacup ride containing Dorian (who is about his size) flying with a single kick. He is able to go toe-to-toe with Dorian as well.
• Defeat Means Respect: After being defeated by Baki, he doesn't quite become Baki's friend, but he treats him with more respect and behaves less arrogantly in general.
• Fearless Fool: He attempts to attack Yuujiro during his fight with Orochi. It goes about as well as expected.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: An example that's beneficial for him. He's at his most dangerous and efficient when he manages to regain his cool and think properly.
• Unstoppable Rage: Inverted. He's at his most effective when he's able to regain his cool.
• Warm-Up Boss: He's the very first named character of the series that Baki faces.

Kiyosumi Katou

Voiced by: Anri Katsu (JP, Netflix ONA), Robbie Daymond (EN, Netflix ONA), René García (LatAm, Netflix ONA)

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Admits that his karate is his only pride and more of a tool than anything.
• Blood Knight: He leaves the dojo for a period to experience real fighting, with eye gouging and groin kicks, When he returns, the prospect of fighting in a rule-free underground tournament thrills him.
• Calling the Old Man Out: He tries this on Doppo after returning to the dojo, bragging that the no-holds-barred brawling he did on the streets and in underground contests taught him far more about fighting than stuffy old Karate that doesn't even allow punches to the face. It blows up in his face when Doppo shows off some dirty tricks of his own.
• Collateral Angst: Although he survived the fight, arguably his re-introduction in the series was to get massacred by Dorian to anger the whole Shinshinkai dojo.
• Combat Pragmatist: He does have shades of this when he tries to eye-gouge his opponents or kick anyone in the nuts — he takes it to the next level in the Prisoner Arc when he cut off Dorian's ear with a makeshift weapon that's made from a rubber tubing and fishing line; he claims it doesn't really count as a weapon since he just happens to have it on him when he enjoys going fishing.
• Eye Scream: He claims to have gouged out opponents' eyes in his time away from the dojo, and Doppo repays his arrogance by nearly doing the same.
• Groin Attack: One of his signature moves. He assumes most formally-trained martial artists won't expect it, but it rarely works on his opponents with underground fighting experience.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is mean spirited and deemed Doppo's training as weak but he greatly respects him. Motobe described him as a dark fighter trying to find the light.
• Made of Iron: He sustains multiple critical and life-threatening injuries after picking a fight with Dorian and survives despite not getting immediate medical attention.
• Running Gag: He gets whooped in sparring by Doppo almost once per part. In Baki-Dou 2018 it happens twice in short order; Once in a full-contact spar and once where Katou keeps trying for Eye Screams and nut kicks while Doppo is demonstrating the effectiveness of Sumo techniques.
• The Worf Effect: He's made out to be one of the dojo's finest fighters, surpassed only by Katsumi and Doppo himself, but he spends most of his time in the series getting his ass handed to him.