Baki-dou

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Baki Dou (2018) is still relatively early in its run (60ish chapters in what will likely end up being a couple hundred) but I thought I'd write this review to encapsulate some of my problems with the early parts of the series, how it continues some of the biggest flaws of the previous series and why so far this has been more or less the nadir of the long Baki series.

First, the good. Baki still has great art. The art is detailed and has a sense of weight that feels very rare in modern manga. Everything Itagaki draws has a sense of momentum and vitality ... to it, and it makes the fight scenes feel very meaningful and impactful. Secondly, Baki is still weird, and this gives it a surreal sense of charm that makes it hard not to love. Whether its Conor McGregor lookalikes or sumo wrestlers participating in rock climbing, it is still consistently memorable. There are very few series that seem to have the earnest sense of passion that Baki has, and this remains true over 130 volumes into this long, LONG, series.

Now for where things go wrong (spoilers forthcoming). Baki Dou (2014) managed to annoy people with how it seemingly overwrote the original ending of the series, where Baki fights Yujiro and everyone goes home fairly happy. It opted to introduce an entirely new character, who was far stronger than the established main cast, while also being less interesting and likeable. In a bid to make this new character threatening, he came in and kicked the crap out of characters who fans actually did like, hogged the spotlight as far as storytelling, and more or less seemed designed to artificially extend a series that had reached its natural conclusion.

Why am I rehashing this? Because this series HAS THE EXACT SAME FORMULA. A new character, never previously mentioned, who is a famous martial artist from a prior era of Japanese history, shows up, hands established beloved characters their own ass (sorry Oliva) and then gets a bunch more chapters to stress how great and undefinable they are. This could get better from here, but what I've described is basically the story up till this point. And it all just feels so unnatural and uninteresting after I've been invested in the story up till this point.

So, in conclusion, Baki remains a very weird and very well drawn martial arts series with alot of unique appeal, but the story has been pushed beyond its original scope repeatedly and new, uninteresting characters are being pushed over the ones people actually wanted to see. I hope it gets better from here, but so far it just doesnt have the sheer awesomeness of the earlier parts of the series.

Thanks to Spinybackteam for making the series readable in english.

Story: 5
Art: 9
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 6

Baki Dou (2018) or Sumo-Dou as it came to be known, could generously be called inventive and more realistically could be called "controversial". The fifth Baki series by Keisuke Itagaki, this series is no stranger to mixed opinions by the general public, with many people being turned off by the artstyle of the series, which really couldn't be called pretty by any stretch of the imagination. But Sumo-Dou feels unique in that it's the first of Itagaki's series that seemed intensely polarizing to people who were already fans of the manga. I feel this reason is the management of expectations. To be 100% clear, this ... series is basically a gaiden or a side story to Baki. I expect if the average reader were to go from the 4th to the 6th series of Baki there would be little confusion or need to backtrack. Because relatively nothing of consequence to the main plot of Baki happens. Now if this were marketed as a sidestory or some kind of break for Itagaki from the main story as it were, I think far, far fewer people would have a negative opinion of this manga. But let's say you're a fan of Itagaki's writing and style, and you simply want to read more of his fights. I think this series is perfectly adequate in that regard. Itagaki is a master of his craft, and some of the action stands on par with his best work in the past. The reason I called it inventive because the opponents are by and large a completely different style the previous fighters in Baki's series, with not focusing on one singular character with multiple fights but more hopping around with different perspectives.

Now the one aspect of this story I think will be relevant in the next series by Itagaki is definitely the parts of the story focusing on Jack Hanma, a beloved fan favorite from earlier parts who returned after a extended absence in the story. Really this series amounts as a set-up for the next series to focus on Jack, (Baki Rahen, out now!) already dubbed Jack-Dou by the fans. Realistically, I'm not sure if it would be considered required reading for a undecided reader. I think this particular entry in the Baki Saga will mostly have it's fate decided by it's following series.

On the one hand, I think this portion of the manga gets a lot more hate than it deserves, on the other hand, I also have my own fair share of criticisms, which kept me from enjoying it as much as any of the other 4 main manga series before it.

Like the prior installments of Baki before this, Baki Dou (2018) has many great fights and cool moments. I liked seeing many of the regular mainstays of the series return and have some cool victories. The fights and the great artwork are really what Itagaki Keisuke excels at the most. Although, I don't think ... this section of the manga had any singular "great fight" like in many of the previous series, just a lot of little fights.

My main issue with this manga was the storytelling, it was very underwhelming compared to Baki's previous series. Nomi was a decently cool character, but I don't think he was anywhere cool enough to be the focus of this entire series. Even if he's comparable to some of the top-tiers in pure strength, he's doesn't have the overwhelming presence of a character like Pickle or Musashi Miyamoto. That, and starting after his fight with Yujiro the story totally gave him the Muhammad Ali Jr treatment, with him being pummeled and humiliated by character after character, until literally being one-shot by Baki in their final fight. The rest of the sumo characters were a complete waste of time, besides being an excuse to show off the current power of the main cast. Kehaya in particular was a complete joke, there was no good reason to even include him. The whole sumo arc just ended up feeling very pointless and anticlimactic, like it really could have been cut out entirely without losing anything, besides maybe Katsumi's new arm.

I did like how the last 40-ish chapters built up Jack’s character, though. If there's one thing this manga did well, it's hype up Jack's redemption arc in the new sequel manga, Baki Rahen. However, it has yet to be seen whether this will end up being a good thing or another disappointing sequel, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm at least excited and hopeful, it seems like a refreshing departure from the direction the story has been going before this.