Let's give the women a rest this week and let the manly men fight for dominance. A young boy seeks to learn all the world's martial arts through book learnin' and good ol' fashioned brawlin' in:
Background:
Released By: U.S. Manga Corps
Length: 45 minutes
Year of Production: 1994
Language: Sub and Dub both included, Dub reviewed
Available on Netflix: Yes
I was first introduced to Baki in my college's anime club. Someone showed the first episode of the 2001 TV series one night and I just hated it. I don't remember much, just some cocky red-haired jerk pounding on a bunch of hoodlums. Years later I stumbled across this OVA with a very different, goofier character design for Baki. After re-watching this OVA I kind of want to go back and check out the TV series again.
The Fighters
Baki is an overconfident fighter who learns rapidly by fighting the strongest opponents in various martial arts discipline. He also really loves bananas and flat coke. Baki is the undefeated champ of a secret underground fighting arena.
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| De-carbonated cola, better than Gatorade |
Baki fights two major opponents in this OVA but the highlight is his fight with Shinogi. He has mastered a unique martial arts style derived from karate that allows him to rip out nerves, tendons and blood vessels with ease. Shinogi's favorite technique is to rip out his foe's optic nerves. His skills have earned him the sub-par nickname, "The Cord-Cutter."
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| Fear his power! |
Story:
Our story opens at an elite karate match run by the elite Shinshinkai (SSK) organization.
The Shinshinkai are having an embarrassing showing at this match. All of their fighters are being knocked out with one hit from an unknown fighter named Baki. Before the final match, the director of the SSK, a man named Orochi demonstrates his power by vaporizing a concrete sewer pipe. After this he attempts to punch Baki in the face as a test of the young lad's ability.
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| Punches of love |
Baki goes up against the best fighter in the SSK, a man named Suedo. Baki starts out strong by dislocating Suedo's shoulder and knocking him out of bounds in one powerful kick. Unfazed, Suedo punches his own arm back into its socket. In Round 2, Suedo calms down and puts up a much better fight. Both opponents get knocked down and then tell the ref to take a hike. Baki dominates in Round 3 and pummels Suedo mercilessly within an inch of his life.
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| The face of near-death |
Suedo's best friend appears to hassle Baki, but he deftly escapes out of the dressing room window. Next we get to see a girl I'm assuming is Baki's love interest. She is cooking with her mother and complaining about how Baki never comes to school and spends all of his time training.
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| A face only a man who's suffered sever head trauma could love |
Baki is in his room crossing Suedo's face off of his list of people to beat up. Each picture represents a master of a different martial art from sumo to boxing to judo. Baki fights the people on this list in order to learn all of the styles as quickly as possible.
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| A different type of hit list |
Orochi is seen traveling to the Tokyo Dome where he meets up with his own master. They take an extra secret elevator to a hidden, ancient-style fighting arena 6 stories beneath the dome. This illegal fighting arena has no refs, no rules, and only the most select and secretive spectators. The first fight Orochi gets to witness is between a sumo wrestler and a pro wrestler. Sumo wins.
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| Hitting below the belt is encouraged |
Enter Shinogi. He makes his entrance by ripping out the Pro Wrestler's optic nerves as he limps back to his dressing room. This is the first we get to see of Shinogi's skill. It is very Fist-of-the-North-Star-esque.
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| You're already blind! |
Now onto the main event, Baki vs. Shinogi. Baki is sure he'll win and tells the crowd he has read 11 textbooks on the subject of karate. In his first attack, Baki gets his left foot disabled and ear cut badly. Shinogi leads the charge next but Baki manages to dodge a nerve ripping attack. Baki launches his own series of brutal body blows in retaliation.
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| Surprise! |
Shinogi manages to dodge Baki's final blow and then counterattacks by ripping a tendon out of Baki's right arm, rendering it useless. With his disabled foot and and arm Baki can no longer dodge or block and gets smashed into the wall of the arena. The fight goes on like this, one man getting an advantage, then the next countering. Baki catches Shinogi between his thighs, Shinogi counters with a hardened, steel arm attack at mach speeds. Baki realizes the fast attacks are only used in a set pattern, so he counters by breaking Shinogi's arm. Shinogi blinds Baki's right eye.
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| Apparently your optic nerves are in your neck, who knew? |
Baki is now half blind with zero depth perception, a fact Shinogi tries to exploit. Baki manages to catch Shinogi's hand when he goes for the second optic nerve and puts him in a submission hold. Shinogi begs for death, but Baki just knocks him unconcious. Both fighters get fixed up in the state of the art illegal arena medical facility. The end.
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| Dr. Wiley practices underground surgery to pay for his robots |
Why watch?
1. Excellent Battle Scenes - The battles may be predictable, but they are well choreographed and animated. There is a palpable sense of danger when Baki fights Shinogi which really draws in the viewer. The battles are show off the manly spirit of the fighters.
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| Intense, manly battles |
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| It does get a bit gruesome at times |
2. The Crowds - The crowd reactions really help the mood in this OVA. They remind of the crowds at the tournaments in Dragon Ball. Very fun and expressive.
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| Oh, Geez! I didn't expect violence at a martial arts tournament! |
Why not to watch?
1. Goofy Moments - The fights lose some of their tension because of the goofy look Baki has plastered on his face 90% of the time. The comedy bits feel a bit forced as well and don't mesh well with the action.
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| Looking slightly drugged |
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| Care to dance? |
Should you be watching?
You can go ahead and add this one to your list of things to watch. It does have some weaknesses, but the overall quality of the fights makes it worthwhile. This title also doesn't suffer from being a small part of a long running series. Everything is explained in such a way that it won't overwhelm new viewers or make them feel as if they are being left out. A very solid title overall.
I think Baki makes those weird facial expressions while fighting because he is secretly a fish.
ReplyDeleteWhat I remember about this one was that during the battles, it constantly threatened to turn into hyper-ridiculous shounen action, but it managed to restrain itself and be merely ridiculous shounen action. Such an impression can likely be traced back to my utter lack of familiarity with the manga, but I was nevertheless convinced that the Cord-Cutter was going to turn into Ganondorf or something halfway through the fight at the end. The fact that he did not thusly transform is part of the reason why that last fight was able to retain its tension, in my opinion. That and Baki's apparent inability to launch hadoukens, anyway.