BAKI: DAI RAITAISAI-HEN

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionNew Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero
ONA ActionBaki
MANGA ActionBaki Gaiden: Revenge Tokyo
ONA ActionHanma Baki

REVIEWS

• 

  KaylAguas

  75/100
  One of the most over-the-top anime of all time.

  Review will be broken down like so :

  • Story
  • Art
  • Animation
  • Characters
  • Sound
  • Overall Enjoyment

  #__Story 7/10__

  Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen directly continues off from the Netflix Baki season, where Baki is poisoned and Retsu has brought him to China to participate in the Great Rai Tai Tournament which only occurs every 100 years. It’s a pretty basic premise but an enjoyable one at that.

  Keisuke Itagaki is great for coming up with the most over the top made-up martial arts which always sounds damn convincing. For some this may put them off from the absurd powers certain characters wield. Personally, it’s so over the top and it takes itself so seriously it's hard not to enjoy it. You can tell Itagaki-sensei puts in a lot of thought for the characters he creates. People argue that “oh Baki’s characters are bad because they have absurd martial arts techniques and they’re lazy and boring” I would say otherwise, no one but itagaki can come up with this out of the world of martial arts.

  However, where the story kinda felt boring at times was how they have this build-up on this epic-scale tournament which kinda falls flat for me. Don’t get me wrong, the fights were just as insane as they usually are but the tournament itself didn’t bear any weight to why they were all there fighting. Like the victors become the new Sea Emperor, which has no build-up or explanation to what they are. I know Itagaki could care less about this, because from the way he writes and creates characters, it’s safe to say he just wants to see a good beat down between these crazy characters he’s made.

  The overarching narrative of Baki wanting to beat his dad is still very present but not nearly as prominent as the original Grappler Baki manga. That’s the one consistent thing in Baki, and I’m glad they haven’t forgotten that especially since the previous season, it wasn’t nearly as present.

  All in all, the story is really just men fighting men to come out on top. It’s a basic premise with crazy characters and I sure as hell enjoyed it. If you’re looking for something deeper, this really isn’t it. Despite my score I know for a fact I enjoyed the hell out of it, I just wanted to be unbiased as much as possible.

  #__Art 7.5/10__

  I personally like the art. Crazy over the top muscle with very unrealistic human physiques. The art is the type where either you love it or hate it. It doesn’t look traditionally anime. It’s Itagaki’s style and for me I always like mangkas with unique art styles. A standout in design is Muhammad Ali and Ali Jr. They capture the expressions that Ali is known for, just look at this:

  

  It might not look exactly the same but without a doubt did they capture Ali’s expressiveness and the most important part, the eyes. You definitely can tell it’s Ali by just the expression and look of the anime version’s eyes. I thought they nailed Ali in this one.

  My problem with the art comes from the way characters dress, they’re really uninspiring and a lot of the time characters dress really similarly. There really isn’t any standout in clothing of the characters. Itagaki thrives in shirtless battles where his skill in overexaggerating the muscle anatomy.

  Another gripe I have, is the overuse of punch lines:

  

  used previous season footage to prevent spoilers
  In the manga it works really well but when they bring that to anime it feels less impactful cause you don’t actually see the fist/kick connect. In certain scenes it works but in others it just feels less powerful.

  #__Animation 8/10__

  Thank god they stopped using the PS2 CG. It really pulls me out of my immersion when I see street-fighters-looking-esque characters start throwing hands. It felt so bad and the action in general lost a lot of “oomph”. TMS Entertainment definitely learnt their lesson and played to their strengths of actually good action.

  The animation in this way is really good but nothing too groundbreaking, for it failed in having clean straight action. I think there are too many cuts and action lines to express punches and speed. While it is not wrong or bad but personally I felt slightly let down and wished for more long takes and such.

  #__Characters 6.5/10__

  Baki’s development in this arc felt like it had less screen time. But at the same time, I reckon Itakagi did it on purpose. He essentially developed Baki’s character through Muhammad Ali Jr. I say this because we see a lot more of Junior rather than Baki, especially in the second half. In my honest opinion, I believe Itagaki did it on purpose to set up the killer Episode 12. Itagaki’s great at expectation subversion. Through the simplicity of the story and characters, there are certain plot elements I expected but were utterly thrown out the window and made for a pleasant surprise. I’ll further explain this in the spoiler tag below
  Baki not being really present in the second half kinda shows the disparity between himself and Junior. We see Junior try to really prove his strength by fighting opponents that are essentially stronger than Baki. Only to realize that he’s not that strong. Mainly because he is not able to cross that line. He strives to be the strongest without having to kill that in the Baki universe is impossible. He’s goal is already much weaker in comparison to those who will do anything to be strong but for Baki he does not want to be the strongest, he just wants to beat his father and it turns out that his father is literally the “Strongest Creature” on Earth. By detaching Baki from the main narrative do we see a more inhumane side of him in contrast to that of Junior’s. I thought that was simply splendid.

  The Chinese Sea Kings in this arc didn’t feel too significant, even though they’re supposed to be the highlight of the entire arc. I felt that if you were to compare the Most Deadly Convicts to the Sea Kings, the convicts had some build up to them and had relatively cool backstories. While the Sea Kings were kinda like punching bags. They were strong, but they didn’t really impact the story that much, they were quite pathetic to be brutally honest. I still enjoyed the fights though, well choreographed and they had cool powers.

  In my opinion the savior to the Sea Kings was the Sea Emperor Kaku. His fight with Yujiro was pretty epic. Two opposites clash. Two ideals going against each other. He’s a wise but really brutal elderly man. He pulls off a lot of what people would refer to as “big brain”. He had a major impact in the story, particularly bringing two individuals together without us expecting it.

  #__Sound/Voice Acting 8/10__

  I personally thought the Voice acting was great. They all sounded how I expected them to. Except for Junior. I’m sure Soichiro Hoshi is a talented man, however everytime Junior spoke I just could not take it. He sounded so weird in my opinion. It’s one of those things where you dislike something but can’t really tell why. To me it just sounded weird and it always broke my suspension of disbelief. Akio Ootsuka obviously nailed Yujiro Hanma, he really brings out the tough, menacing beast Yujiro is. Probably my favorite VA performance in the entire of Baki. There really wasn’t anything that was too outstanding nor bad, they all sounded good.

  I love the OP, the OP is an absolute banger, I’m listening to it as I write this review. My typing speed has increased, my adrenaline has shot up and I want to taste defeat. But in all seriousness Granrodeo nailed Baki’s new OP. It captures and escalates the hype of the show, it really gets me pumped before the start of the episode. But obviously if I was to compare this to Beastful, Beastful is still definitely better but 2 great phenomenal songs.

  For me it fell at the ED. The ED doesn’t capture Baki and if I’m being really honest, I forgot how it sounded and had to listen to it again. It just doesn’t suit Baki. If it was a traditional sports anime it would work but this is Baki we’re talking about. It feels like a shounen song with Junior and Baki having a friendly rivalry, when in reality it’s nothing but. For me it was forgettable and not really a good song and even in the context of another shounen sports anime, it just does not feel all that great.

  The OSTs were pretty hype though I would like to point out that it isn’t utilized as much as the previous seasons. I felt like they were holding back in using the soundtrack. But it did feel amazing whenever it was on. No real qualms about it, really good soundtrack to get your blood pumping.

  Foley in this show was pretty mediocre, at times during bloody, gory, and literal bone-crushing scenes, it sounds so brutal and disgusting. Where in others it sounds like they really like the “wshhh” sound effect. I don’t know why I noticed that but I hear a lot of sharp sounds, which isn’t bad, but gets repetitive. Maybe adding variety to the type of sounds may help but overall pretty standard.

  #__Overall Thoughts 8/10 and Miscellaneous Things__

  Honestly this is one of those shows where you either love it or hate it. It’s really up to the person watching whether they can appreciate the over the top nature of this show. For some it may feel really boring because the fights revolve a lot around made up martial arts. For me I thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s no deep meaning behind it, but it’s a show where you can appreciate the intense action and originality of how these characters fight. If you fancy a good fighting show, this is definitely for you.

  __Story: 7/10__ __Art: 7.5/10__ __Animation: 8/10__ __Characters: 6.5/10__ __Soundtrack: 8/10__ __Overall Enjoyment:8/10 __
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