Honestly, I’m not even sure why I gave Baki a shot of my time last year but the anime turned out to be a surprise hit.
I usually need more than just fighting in a show to keep my attention. While, without doubt, an aspect of Baki is that all the fighting is by improbably muscled and usually nearly naked men, that’s not the extra I want.
The second season (Netflix split the first into two parts) is the Great Chinese Challenge arc which will take us up to chapter 240 of the manga. Outside of Japan, Netflix will get the show a month after the premiere, which means it’ll start streaming on the 18th of December.
So, what is it about Baki that works? It just ignores the improbably of itself and carries on weaving stories about its numerous fighters, lightly weaving in a backstory and plot arc as those develop.
It almost tricks you into caring about the outcome of a fight, rather than just baiting you into wanting to see an even more brutal takedown than in the previous contest.
Have you been watching Baki? What’s your reaction to all the blood and flesh?
