| There are three series of Baki; this one is Grappler Baki, the first one. 1-Grappler Baki (1991-1999) 42 volumes 2-New Grappler Baki (1999-2005) 31 volumes 3-Hanma Baki: Son of Ogre (2005-Present) ? volumes. Grappler Baki: "To be the strongest in the world!" That is Hanma Baki's dream. The mysterious, young, martial artist aspires to follow in his sinister father's footsteps as the world's strongest creature. But to what lengths will Baki go? We follow the young grappler as he matures in a world full of some of the strongest fighters and how he overcomes all obstacles in order to face his father one day in the fighting ring. From the jungles to and underground martial arts tournament, Baki is put to the test from fighters all over the world. New Grappler Baki: Hanma Baki is a generally happy student with a rather odd hobby; he likes fighting. Specifically, he likes fighting in a secret martial arts tournament that gathers the greatest fighters of the world and pits them against each other in really nasty combat. Whether you're a sumo wrestler, a karate expert, or a guy who specializes in ripping out your opponent's nerves, you're welcome to participate (as long as you can keep quiet about it, of course). Anyway, Baki may be the youngest fighter the tournament has ever seen, but he's also the best, and he really enjoys what he does. Baki - Son of Ogre: The sequel to the Baki series, supposed to concentrate around the conflict of Baki vs his father. |
| Hanma Baki: The main character, and son of Yujiro Hanma. He has been training in martial arts since the age of three, and has trained under various teachers and coaches throughout his life. At the age of thirteen, he decided to take his training into his own hands and left the coaches to perform more intense training "in his father's footsteps". He later meets with his father and becomes disillusioned as to his father's true character, and afterwards, aims to defeat and kill him. His fighting style is called "total fighting" and includes techniques from many different martial arts. He fights Arudi Regan in round 1, Zool in round 2, Igari Kanji in round 3, and Retsu Kaioh in round 4 before facing his brother in round 5 which are the finals of the tournament. He eventually develops the ogre/demon face on his back when fighting his brother, but manages to suppress it. Unlike Yujiro, he chooses to control his killing intent and fight his battles fair and honourably no matter what the outcome. Shadow boxing, or visualizing fighting an opponent, is a big part of Baki's regimen. Sometimes his visions take an almost corporeal form. Baki has encounters with all the escaped convicts in the 'Search of Our Strongest Hero' series, has just defeated Biscuit Oliva, and is now faced with a new challenge against the prehistoric man Pickle. He is currently waiting for his fight with Pickle after Retsu and Katsumi are defeated. He had a shadow boxing visualization fight with a T-Rex prior to the Katsumi/Pickle fight. | ||
| Hanma Yujiro: The father of Baki and Jack Hammer/Hanma. He is the strongest creature in the world, and is known to have mastered all styles of unarmed combat. His repertoire apparently includes all of the well-known fighting styles (such as karate, boxing, taekwondo, judo, jujutsu, wrestling, street-fighting, and so on) as well as some more esoteric ones (such as the udonde or uzunde style, an actual system used in the Motobu style of karate). He has been fighting on the battlefields, using only his bare hands, since the age of sixteen, when he fought against both American and Vietcong in the Vietnam War. Since then, it appears that he has obtained respect from the American forces, and has begun fighting as a kind of mercenary for them. It is said that when he stopped fighting for survival but for pleasure the image of the demon's face appeared on his back. The only known time that Yujiro has ever been knocked unconscious is when Tokugawa had him shot several times with tranquilizer bullets. Despite having enough trances in his system to kill a blue whale, however, he made a full recovery after a rather short period of time. | ||
| Orochi Doppo: A karate master and head of the shinshinkai-kan (a karate style which seems to be inspired by the real-life style of kyokushin karate). One of the only people in the world able to stand toe-to-toe with Yujiro. He whips his students into shape by fighting them regularly, and practices all of his karate techniques at least one thousand times daily. A very devoted karate practitioner and a mentor of Baki's. Also, the instructor of Katou and father of Katsumi. He fought Yujiro, who gouged his eye out and almost killed him. However, Doppo was revived by Kureha. He eventually fights the escaped American convict Dorian in the 'Search of Our Strongest Hero' manga series. Dorian manages to cut off Doppo's hand with a strange wire-cutting technique in which he uses a wire blade projected from a lighter. Doppo later avenges this loss when he, Katsumi, and Retsu track Dorian down. Shortly after this however, Dorian escapes from the hospital and uses an explosive that is implanted into his hand to blow off part of Doppo's face. Doppo later returns to have a battle with Mohammad Ali Jr. In the Maximum Tournament, he fights Richard Phyllis in round 1, Amanai Ryu in Round 2 before facing another master Gouki Shibukawa in round 3 which he loses after a brutal match. After that loss, he decides to close down his dojo and start his training all over again. He is apparently based on the real-life creator of Kyokushin karate, Sosai Masutatsu Oyama. They are very similar to each other: they both created forms of karate, they both gained notoriety by killing deadly animals, and they have similar appearances. | ||
| Shibukawa Gouki: Master of the ancient jujutsu arts used by the samurai soldier-warriors of feudal Japan. Is sixty years of age, and has trained since prior to World War II, in the "old days" of the martial arts. His art makes use of the martial arts principle of aiki, which uses the opponents' attacks against him. Manages to make it all the way through to semi-finals in the Maximum Tournament series and battles against Jack Hammer. In his third match with Doppo, Gouki is shown to act in an insane manner while fighting. He also states that he's killed many people. He later teams up with Baki to face the Japanese convict Yanagi Ryukou in the 'Search of Our Strongest Hero' series. He also has a friendly sparring match with Biscuit Oliva and another match with Mohammad Ali Jr. In the Maximum Tournament, he faces Roger Harlon in round 1, and Shinogi Koushou in round 2 before facing Doppo in round 3 and losing to Jack Hammer in round 4. When not fighting, he's quite eccentric (as well as a bit senile) as he lives the day and fears nothing. Although in the series Gouki is said to be a master of the old style of jujutsu, and when he fights Doppo it is said that he represents Jujitsu, most Gouki's techniques looks like Aikido, and even Gouki himself resembles the Aikido Master Gozo Shioda, founder of the Yoshinkan Aikido. | ||
| Hanayama Kaoru: Fifteen-year-old yakuza leader and strongman. When his father died he was adopted by his uncle who saw great potential in him. His grip is so strong that if he grabs an opponent's arm he can usually cause it to explode from restricting the blood flow. He is also a street fighter and it is unknown if he has trained in martial art styles. He broke Yuri Chakosky's arm, thus ending his boxing career, but when then cross paths again they hold no grudge against each other understanding each other's warrior spirit. He has memorable battles with Baki Hanma, Katsumi Orochi, and the infamous showdown with the convict Speck. Speck manages to place a handful of bullets into Hanayama's mouth and slam it shut, causing them to explode and create two large holes in Hanayama's mouth. Although Hanayama won the battle, he wears a facemask for most of the series. Later on, he is shown surgically treated. His code of honour is great as he chooses not to fall in battle even if it means his death; a family vow which has been held in a long tradition passed from generations. Even after 3 direct strikes from Katsumi, he still chose not to fall and chose to risk death. Katsumi even admitted that he lost his battle to him despite winning the match. He faces Bunnoshin Inagi in round 1, before losing to Orochi Katsumi in round 2. He is looked upon as an older brother figure to Baki. His act of pouring a drink over Emi's grave suggests a feeling of love, but it is not known. He reappears briefly in Baki: Son of Ogre, by having a strength test with Pickle in the streets, interrupted by Baki. | ||
| Kaioh Retsu: Chinese Kung-Fu (referred to as "Kenpo" in Japanese) practitioner. Trained in China and became the heir to his Kung Fu style in his temple. He fights Sergei Taktarov in round 1, Mount Toba in round 2, and destroys Orochi Katsumi in round 3. He then makes it to the semi-finals of the Maximum Tournament and is pitted against Baki Hanma where Baki nearly kills him by breaking his neck. Despite his great knowledge in his style, there is one flaw in his system that Baki seems to possess. In the 'Search of Our Strongest Hero' saga, he has encounters with the British convict Hector Doyle and American convict Dorian. Retsu brings Baki to China to cure his poisoned body and have him fight in a Chinese Tournament. He reappears in Baki: Son of Ogre, during the Pickle saga, having a fight with the prehistoric man and losing it. He then gets his leg eaten by Pickle, as a "gift" for his victory. He later trains Katsumi so that he can become stronger before his fight with Pickle. | ||
| Jack Hammer (or Jack Hanma): Baki's half brother who, like Baki, must follow the Hanma path. He's a pitfighter from Canada and the son of Yujiro and a Canadian soldier woman who Yujiro met in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Like Baki, he has since childhood wished to surpass his father Yujiro in strength and martial ability. His obsession to defeat his father led to extreme overtraining and overworking which led to the deterioration of his body. He claimed he will never be able to defeat his father with normal training. After his encounter with the Yujiro-inspired scientist, he received from him steroids to match his overtraining and gained immense power in the process. One of his main techniques is biting, and he can bite hard enough to easily crush wood with his teeth. He fights Shenusiba in round 1 and Misaki Kengo in round 2 before beating the undefeated Andre Andov Garrand in round 3. In round 4 he fights Gouki Shibukawa and he then fights Baki Hanma in the finals of the Maximum Tournament where he congratulates his brother for a well fought victory. Afterwards, he takes on his father and is soundly defeated. Makes an appearance in the 'Search of Our Strongest Hero' series and battles against the Russian convict Sikorsky and Mohammed Ali Jr. He is treated by Kureha Kosho by having his limbs extended, making Jack Hammer even bigger than when he fought in the Maximum Tournament. In the English dub, his name has been changed to Jak Xamma (pronounced "Zah-mah"). He reappears in Baki: Son of Ogre, in the military base where Pickle is captive, along with 7 other fighters (Doppo Orochi, Katsumi Orochi, Jyaku Kaiou, Retsu Kaiou, Kureha Shinogi, Gaia, Gouki Shibukawa). He is currently fighting Pickle in the Korakuen area. First they do a "bite challenge", and Jack gets his jaw's flesh stripped off, leaving his teeth and muscles. It appears Jack has taken drugs once again, and he manages to hit Pickle many times while also getting his right ear bitten off. Then, he gets a clean hit from Pickle with full power to the jaw, and gets his jaw as well as his teeth and parts of his cranium broken. | ||
| Tokugawa Mitsunari: The tournament runner and owner of the underground arena. He is an old man of very small stature, possibly even being a dwarf. While not a fighter himself, he is very knowledgeable about the martial arts and can easily point out several fighting techniques, regardless of whether they are obscure or well-known. He has the final say in each and every one of the battles that take place in his arena. While he usually prefers to keep every fight in order, he will sometimes bend the rules if it means amplifying the fight in some way, even going so far as to threaten one of his own doctors with a knife when they tried to stop the fight between Baki and Jack. He is close personal friends with Doppo and Igari, as well as acquaintances (though not exactly friendly) with Yujiro. He is one of the few people to ever outsmart Yujiro. When Yujiro attempted to upset the balance of his tournament, he had his snipers, who he had secretly stationed around the arena, to shoot him with enough tranquilizers to put down a blue whale. This gives him the very rare achievement of being the only person who has ever knocked Yujiro unconscious. While it is unknown if Tokugawa was once a fighter himself in his early days, his odd antics and physical appearance make him more likely to be nothing more than an eccentric billionaire who prefers to watch fights instead of participating in them. His namesake is clearly based on Ieyasu Tokugawa and Mitsunari Ishida, the opposing commanders at the Battle of Sekigahara. | ||
| Matsumoto Kozue: A girl from Baki's school, her mother is Baki's landlord. Her father fought and died in the Underground arena. She cares deeply for Baki, but denies when asked. She is disillusioned by Baki's violent life as an Underground fighter and begs him several times to quit. Though she still disapproves, Kozue better understands Baki's resolve after visiting Emi's grave site. After Baki's first tournament match, he reveals that he cares for Kozue. She became his love interest in 'Search for Our Strongest Hero', and makes love with him just before his fight with Yanagi, allowing Baki to become a "full man". She became also the love interest of Ali Jr., and despite loving Baki, she develops a cheerful relationship with him. After the fight between Baki and Ali Jr. she hasn't reappeared. | ||
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| Instantz.net | Grappler Baki (Series 1) | New Grappler Baki (Series 2) | ||
| Baki: Son of Ogre (Series 3) | Baki Gaiden: Scarface | |||
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