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Anime Review – BAKI Season 1


Baki, a 17-year-old martial artist, gets some deadly opponents when five death row prisoners escape their cells to challenge him.

You know when you start up Netflix, just because you are desperate to find something to cure your boredom? Well, that was Baki for me. What the action I made gave me, was something I was not expecting.

When I read the synopsis, I imagine a show that could be some dumb fun that killed some time. The synopsis of five death row convicts with no connections, decide that they want to challenge the same random kid? But I can’t don’t even know If I can call it that.

First of all, there is a severe lack of fighting in this series. There is more talking about fighting, or going into detail on every single fighting move. When it starts to get interesting, there is a pause of someone talking. This happens far too often. You could make a drinking game about how much the fights are getting interrupted in some form or another. If it is to save budget on the animation, or the mangaka should be fighting instructor instead. Based on the hilariously bad animation, my bet is on the former.

Also, for a show that shares the name of one of the characters, the show rarely focuses on the character of Baki. He is absent for around 90% of this season, with the focus being on his “companions” who are the ones that fight these death row convicts. More often then not, I was wondered what’s the point of having the Baki involved.

But the biggest confusion lies in the voice acting department, or should I say more importantly the English dub. It’s not a bad dub. On the contrary, the English voice actors do a great job with the idiotic lines of dialogue they are given. I guess that’s not so surprising when you manage to get voice acting titans like Troy Baker, Steve Blum, and Kyle Herbert. How the Japanese sub is, I don’t know because I never got the chance (nor had the energy) of watching it.

This anime is a prime example of something that has focused compared to a drunk’s sense of balance. The lack of entertainment similar to a friend or family member that keeps telling the same joke even though no one finds it even a bit funny. If you want a show where larger the life seized man duke out, watch Dragon Ball (any version besides GT), Fist of the North Star, or Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure. If you are still interested even though I warned you, the first season of Baki is currently available on Netflix with 13 episodes to go.

Latest posts by Isak Wolff (see all)

Co-host of the Amateur Otaku Podcast. A writer of many things. Loves everything nerdy from anime/manga to comics and video games. Fire Emblem is the greatest of all time.