Art style wise, nothing much to really add from season 1. So what I said art style wise in season 1 applies here as well. Now on to the fights. Good news is, there is more emphasis on grappling which I do like, but still isn’t really the main base for the most part. And I don’t think styles such as the Sambo and Brazilian Jiujitsu weren’t accurately represented. How the hell does Kung Fu kill Sambo? What kind of crap is that? Especially when the strongest fighter in the world right now, Fedor, is primarily a sambo fighter. Kung Fu died in the old UFCs. Hell, Royce Gracie killed kung fu during the era of the Gracie challenge. And guys like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Tito Ortiz only made it worse. To get an idea of what I’m talking about, look them up on youtube. Then again, maybe Kung Fu is making a come back with Cung Le with his recent victory over an over the hill Frank Shamrock. But I gotta give Frank credit for backing up that he’d stand up with Cung Le. Then again, Cung Le I hope fights Anderson Silva or Paul Filho later to prove his kung fu. Plus, sumo wrestling beats traditional jujutsu? After how they built up Motobe in season 1, I thought it was bullcrap he’d lose like that! Look at the big name sumo wrestlers who fought in MMA competition. Akebono who was one of the most legendary Yokozunas ever lost to Bob Sapp for crying out loud! And Sentoryu is a bum.
I think grappling is underrated outside of the Mixed Martial Arts world, and I’m primarily a stand up fighter! I took up wrestling and judo in my youth and learned some catch wrestling on the side and started to see how grappling had its use first hand. Plus, the way Baki finishes his final fight in this story arc was how I beat a football player in 8th grade except I pulled guard like how Nogueria did against Tim Sylvia. I think it’s pretty bizarre the story arc represents styles such as bouncers and motorcycle gang members. Like how Bob Sapp’s style is listed as NFL, in consideration he had little to no career in the NFL. I really liked how Vale Tudo was represented in this anime. Plus, they used the name of a real life Vale Tudo fighter, Zulu, based on Rei Zulu who was feared until the legendary and awesome Rickson Gracie defeated him! And Zulu’s son, Zuluhino a few years back lost to Fedor in like 10 seconds. But despite that, the fights in Maximum Tournament are original and high octane.
If you’re a martial arts enthusiast, you may get a majority of who the fighters may represent. Like Yamamoto Minoru, the shoot fighter, is of course based on Suzuki Minoru, co-founder of King of Pancrase, one of Japan’s original MMA organizations. But he really didn’t do much. And the anime also has a catch wrestler. They explained the principles of catch wrestling very well, but execution wise, considering his opponent, really couldn’t shine. Shoot fighting is essentially catch wrestling, but with strikes added. Plus, Jack Hammer portrays pit fighting decently. Tank Abbott represented pit fighting and he was twice a finalist in the UFC. And he beat the mystic arts of kung fu and ninjutsu. Speaking of ninjitsu. Where was the anime representation of Frank Dux in all of this? C’mon! He was the originator of these kinds of movies! Plus, Bloodsport is a true story! It’s not fair they didn’t get Frank Dux in this showing off his ninja moves he used while as a CIA agent.
I can’t really add too much to the voice acting. But I thought the new actors did well. Another personal favorite of mine, Fujiwara Keiji does a great job of playing Kasumi, the son of Doppo. He does a great job as usual of playing someone being a smart ass, and yet so serious. The background music from season 1 is still retained so nothing much to say. But I don’t like the new opening and ending themes. So how do I explain this? OK, to those who play DDR. Are you the kind of guy that can handle very fast songs on SSR or Maniac or Expert or whatever you wanna call it and yet hate the slow songs? That’s how I feel about the newer opening and ending themes.
Anyway, the plot is linear, but for its intentions, there is nothing wrong with that. It’s very exclusive to the underground tournament environment for the most part, which may turn off some people. But if you want brutal martial arts action, then you’ve come to the right anime. Anyway, I am aware of more manga stories going on after this one and is still in publication. I hear the manga is excellent and trying to get my hands on it. I really like the characters. Even though some may have limited screen time, they all bring in their own kind of personality and charisma. Even though I disagreed with how some of the match ups ended up in very inaccurate ways, in comparison to my criticisms of History’s Strongest Disciple Ken’ichi for being too one dimensional, the reason why I’m not that critical with this series in that aspect is because the original manga of Baki was made from 1991 and MMA didn’t really become mainstream yet. So I feel because of the age of the manga in comparison to Ken’ichi’s which I believe was between 2000 and 2002, I feel I can leave Baki off when kung fu had its myth-ism.
