Funny / Baki the Grappler

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Grappler Baki (1991-1999)

• The very first fight of the second season, Baki vs. Artie Regan, a massive pro wrestler, as they're being introduced.
  Regan: I heard you are the champion. Poor thing! Do you know what's going to happen?
  Baki (in his head): I will kick you back into your mother's womb. * Gentle smile*
• Yujiro calls the Prime Minister, tells him he's gonna come over and kick his ass in an hour, proceeds to go to his office, makes short work of the guards, walks into his office, and leaves. Almost all of the guards get fired because of this.

New Grappler Baki (1999-2005)

• During his physical fitness test, Baki does terrible because he's too strong for such basic tests.
• Baki and Yanagi getting into a literal slap fight in the 3rd season. Said slaps are strong enough to tear off skin, but that just somehow makes it more hilarious.
• One that doubles as an awesome moment; soon after the initial meeting of the underground fighters and the death row inmates, Speck confronts Baki as he's enjoying a date - and kiss - with Kozue, presumably thinking he can catch the kid while he's off-guard. He promptly finds himself on the receiving end of an epic Death Glare, Baki clearly telling him "Go ahead, just try and interrupt us".
  • Speck quickly gets over his initial shock and makes to attack, only for Hanayama to appear from out of nowhere and grab him by the face, before spiriting him away in perhaps the world's most extreme case of running interference.^* Intervening on behalf of another to prevent them from being distracted or annoyed by someone else.
  • Bonus points for Baki not breaking the kiss while glaring at Speck, and Kozue completely failing to notice everything that happens, despite the massive sizes of Speck and Hanayama, and it all taking place right behind her.
• How does Shibukawa manage to get the inhumanly strong Biscuit to behave inside of the police station? Simple. By twisting his pinkie finger and dragging him along the hallways as the giant man begs to be released.
• Dorian Algardos in an amusement park. Rather than kill the owner, he instead goes on the rides and looks like he is having an absolute blast. The dissonance between the hardened killer we’ve seen and the Manchild on the merry-go-round and spinning cups has to be seen to be properly appreciated.
• Speaking of Dorian, during his fight with Katou in his hideout, with no prompting whatsoever, he suddenly starts belting out a love song while pummeling Katou! No, you did not misread that. The psycho ex-soldier starts singing La'mour de ma vie complete with instrumental backup as if it were on stage at the opera! Doubles as an awesome moment since you have to admit he has a beautiful singing voice.
• When Sikorsky tries to fight Yujiro, only to be manhandled by Oliva, Yujiro has this to say:
  “You’re late, Unchained. I almost got bullied here.”
  • Then the two of them proceed to chat while Olivia keeps Sikorsky in a painful hold.
• During his first fight in the Raitai Tournament Arc, it's to be expected that Old Master Kaku Kaioh would decimate his opponent as a demonstration of his phenomenal fighting ability, and sure enough, he dodges his opponent's opening move before taking him down with a single Groin Attack. That is, he suddenly appears behind the poor man, pulls down his shorts, and then flicks him between the legs.
  Kaku: Flick.
  • In the English dub he says “ping”.
• Baki taking out Shunsei Kaku with just three blows in a two-second exchange? Awesome. Him and Yujiro high-fiving immediately after? Darkly hilarious.
• Ali Jr. managing to troll Yujiro during their scuffle in the latter's hotel room and getting away with it. The moment he sees Yujiro taking the "Ali vs. Igari Position" (lying face up in the air with his back and hands on the ground to avoid Ali's punches and to kick at his legs) Ali Jr. gives him the ultimate fuck you by downright telling him that he just needs to leave if he's lying on the ground, causing the Ogre to let out the most pathetic "huh?" as he watches Ali leave while he's unable to do anything about it, but not before the latter sarcastically tells him that he's glad that their fight ended peacefully and mockingly bidding him farewell. Yujiro's tantrum afterwards is glorious to see, as he starts to literally throw a huge hissy fit while hitting things and gritting his teeth while screaming.

Baki: Son of Ogre (2005-2012)

• After a bunch of chapters with Baki explaining that he can use his imagination to fight a giant mantis and Mike Tyson, and how his shadowboxing is so evolved he can feel the hits, you have Yujiro laughing his ass off after hearing his boy is pretty much playing pretend in the basement as preparation for his big fight.
• Baki kidnaps George W. Bush and takes him to a café, just to demand to be taken to the prison where Oliva is. When the President's security nervously asks Bush how much ransom the kidnapper is demanding, the answer is... ten dollars. To pay for the coffee.
• Biscuit claims that if he unleashed his muscles, they would break his skin, squish everyone present, destroy the entire prison all the way to the outside walls, and form an enormous grotesque tower of muscle that reaches the sky, all of which is shown onscreen in an Imagine Spot. At this point we snap back to reality with Baki interrupting him, waving his hand in frantic dismissal:
  Baki: No. We're not buying that.
  • This is even referenced in the opening for the anime during the prison arc with a brief shot of Baki making that same gesture towards the camera. Yujiro laughing his ass off is also referenced.
• How Biscuit Oliva says hello to Jun. Namely by ripping the door to the communal cell that he, Kent, Baki, and an unnamed elderly prisoner were housed in. By turning the doorknob. While it's locked. All while a security guard who was following him repeatedly begs for him to stop and to just use the key to unlock the door like a normal person. Biscuit Oliva's response to this is to just half-heartedly suggest that he hang up a curtain in place of the door he just ripped off its hinges. What makes it truly hysterical is the guards response.
  Guard: What kind of prison doesn't have doors? NOOOO!!!
• Oliva and Jun Guevaru turn their fight into a game of who can keep a handkerchief in their hand with the loosest grip. When it escalates to both men letting the cloth lie in their palm and fighting against wind, Baki realizes he is watching two grown ups playing with a scarf instead of a fight, and decides to force them to take it seriously by sleeping in Oliva's bed and groping his wife. Even funnier is that Oliva's wife plays along with it and cuddles Baki, saying it's not the little boy's fault he was put to sleep by such a lame display.
• Yujiro breaking through the glass wall for Pickle's containment cell just by walking through it, while impressive on its own, is outright hilarious due to him having the mother of all shit-eating grins on his face as he does so.
• While it’s treated completely seriously, there’s something inherently funny about the fact that Retsu gained enough power to knock Pickle to the ground by receiving a Rousing Speech from himself.
• During his fight with Baki, Yujiro's reaction to seeing that a huge crowd of people has gathered to watch the duel is unexpectedly hilarious: He looks utterly shocked, even a little scared, and briefly sweats nervously. Looks like even Yujiro isn't immune to stage fright.
• In the climatic battle between Yujiro and Baki, Tokugawa makes sure that the Prime Minister of Japan doesn't interfere just by slapping him across the face.
  Tokugawa: They told me this guy right here tried to interfere with both of you. So I used the legendary technique that puts rascals into their place. The Bitchslap.
  Prime Minister: (Nervously embarrassed) Heh! Not really... Just a slap.
  • Another translation has him instead refer to this slap as “my own Benda”, i.e. the super powerful whip strike slap Baki had just used on Yujiro a few seconds earlier. There’s just something hilarious about Tokugawa referring to his own basic slap as a powerful martial arts technique.
• Right before Yujiro escapes Baki's arm bar by punching him through the concrete, he flashes him an OK sign. One can't help but immediately think of the circle game.
• Once a year, Yujiro challenges General Strydum to try and kill him. This time, Strydum comes wearing body armor and packing hidden explosives. Only poor Jerry just winds up blowing himself up while Yujiro just stands there.

Baki-Dou (2014-2018)

• Hillary Clinton reacts in horror while Yujiro is almost entirely naked with only wearing his speedo while his junk is sticking out.
  • As for Trump's reaction when facing the guy? Pissing himself and instantly surrendering to whatever terms Yujiro demands from him.
• Chapter 22: A bit of Black Comedy in Musashi’s introduction: After casually proving the difference in skill between himself and Kyouichirou, the black belt kenjutsu master Tokugawa introduced him to, Musashi is asked to demonstrate one of his techniques. Since Tokugawa and Kyouichirou are the only other people in the room, Musashi asks which man wants to be cut. Both are terrified and try to clarify before Musashi admits he was just kidding.
• Tokugawa having to explain to Musashi what television, cavemen and dinosaurs are. The samurai's mind simply blocks out the vast majority of words spoken by the little man since concepts like meteors, satellites, radio-waves, nations formed after Feudal Japan and pre-historic animals are beyond his understanding.
  Musashi: Di-No-Saurs? New Me-Xi-Co? Are you speaking in dialect?
• Musashi smacking Pickle in the face to wake him up. When that didn't work, he resorts to cutting Pickle's neck with the sword simulation technique, only for Pickle to wake up when the blade didn't go through his flesh.
• One of the first tests given to the newly resurrected Miyamoto Musashi by Tokugawa is to cut through four dummies, three of which are have modern armor. Musashi, does so easily, but when Tokugawa steps forward to congratulate him, he suddenly feels the sensation of having his head cut off by Musashi's sword simulation technique. Tokugawa yells at him to stop doing that, and the next panel shows Musashi with a hilarious Troll-y grin on his face.
• Chapter 78: Motobe visits Yujiro in order to dissuade him from trying to fight Musashi, and eventually promises that he'll protect Yujiro. This last remark drives Yujiro into such fury, he's actually tearing up from sheer rage while making a derpy face, looking like a complete manchild.
  • Hell, when Yujiro first informs Motobe of his desire to fight Musashi, Motobe explicitly tells him not to. This is followed by 9 identical panels of a speechless Yujiro staring at Motobe with a look best described as a nonverbal "What the hell are you talking about?".

Bakidou (2018-)

• Nomi grabs ahold of Shibukawa and asks the old man to show him his aiki. He entertains the sumo, by using his clothes to flip him. After flipping him, Nomi manages to take his kimono with him. Gouki then asks for his clothes back.
• The entire montage where the Sumo wrestlers from the Grand Sumo Tournament are introduced, having them demolish a bunch of Mixed Martial Artists to demonstrate their specialties and personal twists on Sumo Wrestling is HIGHLY darkly comedic due to how the latter group is either hopelessly outmatched by the former or Too Dumb to Live.
  • The first of the matches which pits Chaos Iwanami against the Yokozuna Reihou, as the latter is an adorkable Sweet-Heart who is a big-time fan of sumo wrestlers, and immediately begins to gush over how much he loves sumo wrestlers and how awesome they are to him, all while repeatedly complimenting and praising them to the point where he outright states he sees just getting to fight them as an honor. The look of barely restrained excitement Chaos has on his face, where it's visibly obvious that he's about to burst into Tears of Joy any second becomes hysterical due to the next panel having Reihou with an utterly bored look on his face as Chaos gets swiftly defeated due to the Yokozuna grabbing his shorts and using them as an impromptu mawashi, giving the poor, innocent, undeserving man a wedgie in the process as he proceeds to lift the much smaller and lighter Chaos into the air and violently and mercilessly throwing him against the ground, defeating him instantly.
  • While the match between Kainuma Fumiya and the Komusubi Honoo is Moment of Awesome for the latter, due to demonstrating his inhuman Super-Speed, the fact that Kainuma's only response to this in a post-fight interview, is to remark that "He's fast." as Honoo goes on to genuinely scare and surprise Baki, who has already developed the ability to move at an equally impressive rate of speed by surprise.
  • Inoda Kannon vs. the Oozeki Kyogei is another highly darkly darkly comedic chapter, due to the former being very visibly every bit as horrified as anybody would be at having to fight the actual giant of a Rikishi, as he's heavily sweating and looks like he's about to pee his shorts any second. The fact that he doesn't even get to hit Kyogei, who just sends him violently crashing into with the wall with a single slap is hysterical due to how unexpectedly realistic of an outcome it is.
  • Kuwata Takumi's battle with the Sekiwake Take-Tsurugi demonstrates the former being just plain Too Dumb to Live, as he tries to pull off a grapple against a veteran Sumo. You know, somebody who has plenty of knowledge how to prevent themselves from being uprooted... Unsurprisingly, this results in Kuwata losing as Take-Tsurugi straight up breaks his elbow with a Kannuki hold.
  • Although the fight between Aaron Murase and the Maegashira Shachihiko has no comedic elements whatsoever, the fact that Aaron has an incredibly goofy appearance and is the only one to actually retain any dignity when he inevitably loses due to his fight with Shachihiko simply being the two going all out on eachother with punches and palm thrusts is amusing in it's own way due to how much of a whiplash it is after three whole matches of mixed martial artists failing miserably against various sumo wrestlers while the impossibly goofy looking Aaron manages to actually fight on an equal level with his opponent and lose fair and square instead of being curb-stomped into oblivion.
  • Rekizou Miyairi vs. Sekiwake Shishimaru is easily the funniest out of all them, due to Rekizou's entire character being one, giant, loving, "Fuck you" from Itagaki towards Conor McGregor, who Miyairi's appearance is based off of. It starts out with Miyairi having the most undignified entrance ever, looking like a total idiot due to his goofy pride-filled strut as he enters, with an unflattering panel focusing on his rear end, and tiny dust clouds cartoonishly forming with each step he takes as he walks into the ring. Tokugawa also points out that Miyairi is the only one to have an actual advantage over the sumos, due to his specialty being attacking the pinpoints of his enemy, allowing him to fight equally with opponents that are bigger and stronger than him... Only for Miyairi to immediately prove just how stupid he is by stopping to gloat as Shishimaru clings onto him when he knocked the Sekiwake into unconsciousness with a kick to the chin and a thumb-bonk to the temple. This gloating of his ends up making everything Miyairi did as Shishimaru regains consciousness and defeats him with a bear hug, causing Rekizou to make a goofy face as he's knocked out.
• In Chapter 55, Shibukawa is thrown by his sumo opponent... and casually flies through the air, straight like a javelin, with a look of utter indifference on his face.
• During the same fight, the manga uses what might be its most bizarre metaphor so far: the sumo wrestler says that trying to out-grapple Shibukawa felt like someone tied a colossal water-filled condom to his back. And yes, we actually get to see the giant condom on-page.

Baki Domoe (Parody strips)

• One of the strips has Baki, Retsu, Doppo, Hanayama, all playing a blind date game hosted by Tokugawa, with their dates being Kozue, as well as a crossdressing Jyaku, Doyle, and Pickle. Hilariously, everybody winds up choosing Pickle, much to the caveman's confusion. Kozue's response to this? Recreating the scene where Yujiro kills Yuu and furiously delivering the great grandmother of all knifehand chops to the caveman's collarbone, causing him to burst into tears uncontrollably screaming in agony at the top of his lungs while a horrified Baki watches.

Other

• The entirety of Baki Gaiden - Retsu Kaioh Isekai Tensei Shitemo Ikkō Kamawan!, which features Retsu Kaioh in a stereotypical Isekai setting, with him being drawn in the Baki artstyle while everyone and everything else is drawn in a more normal anime & manga artstyle, making him seem even more out of place in the medieval european fantasy setting. It however, quickly delves into Crazy Is Cool once Retsu actually starts fighting, and even more when it turns out that he's going to go up against historical figures like Amakusa Shiro, Musashibo Benkei, Napoléon Bonaparte, and Al Capone, all of who have obtained various magical powers or otherwise supernatural abilities.
• A Meta-example: Luiz Carlos de Morais, the voice actor for Kaku Kaioh in the Brazilian Portuguese Dub, also voices Peter Griffin from Family Guy, leading to many an absurd mental image involving Peter in the place of Kaku.
• Kaoru Hanayama being revealed to be absolutely terrible at math in the Kizudra Gaiden, which details his highschool life. Yes, that's right, the respected, peerless Yakuza don who can go toe-to-toe with seasoned martial artists and young fighting prodigies using his natural strength alone and even give them trouble is absolutely terrible at math.
• A cross-promotion between Baki and some shoulder-relaxing devices. It will be hard to look at Yujiro the same way again after witnessing him as a waiter getting sever aches from his job.

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