With surface-level writing, an unlikable protagonist and unimpressive fight scenes, even the last few episodes which introduce some cool characters and potentially interesting storylines can’t make up for the extremely boring and unremarkable first 15 episodes that not only fail to develop the story and themes as anything more than the main character wishing to become the strongest person on the planet, But said character also behaves and treats everyone around him like an unlikable, rude brat with little redeeming qualities, and a couple of interesting supporting characters can’t salvage baki and his story. The finale also drops the ball on what little character development Baki has managed to accumulate over the course of the season.
The only truly good thing about this anime is the soundtrack, not the opening or ending, but the music itself. It brings nostalgic retro flavor and manages to somewhat elevate what little the story this anime had to offer
Hajime no Ippo, a masterful anime in the same genre that also came out near the same time as Baki does a far superior job of exploring similar themes with an actually great cast, pacing and thematical depth. Go watch that instead.
