This anime series is about a 13-year-old boy named Baki Hanma, who trains in martial arts. His goal is to become the strongest man in the world and defeat his father, Yujiro Hanma, who only cares about being strong and pick fights to prove his power and nearly kill the opponents, even his own son, Baki.
Season 1: Kid Saga/Underground Arena Saga
The anime is action-packed with a good story arc. Each episode is presented well with what's required for the overall story. Baki's character is good and inspiring, as he not only becomes stronger by his training and fights; he also learns to respect and learn from each other and becomes wise in his pursuit. The backstory of other characters Baki fights was a good addition to show their desire to be the strongest, which helps Baki to realise what he should become as an aspiring martial artist. Baki's mother was also well written, as she seeks acceptance from her husband Yujiro Hanma and how she treats Baki to achieve that and, at last, her realization.
As I watched some episodes in English, then in Japanese, the voice acting was good in both. The animation was good for its time. The music and sound were decent for the action genre. The strength of the anime is the good story along with unique fight scenes and good characters' arc. The slow storytelling pace makes it easy to become distracted, and I did not find any of the medical scenes or the over-exaggeration of characters' abilities or skills to be particularly interesting.
Season 2: Maximum/Saidai Tournament Saga
This season evolves around the maximum, or saidai tournament, where the strongest men of different martial arts around the world compete to be known as the world's strongest man. Baki's goal is the same: to become the strongest man and defeat his father in a fair fight. The baki's character arc is less than the first season, as this focuses on various characters fights and their own backstories and reasons to be the strongest. The ego among the some fighters that the martial art they trained and mastered is the best adds to their conflicts in the tournament.
The Yujiro Hanma had less contribution in present than flashbacks, which was like a dilemma as it helped for his character establishment and a new character origin, but it also shows his appearance in the present tournament is for just filler. One full episode before the final match was wasted on reminding us of the things that we already know about Baki and his final opponent. The animation has improved than previous season, especially on Baki Hanma. The music was decent for the action genre. I watched the entire season in sub, which I recommend everyone do the same to get better experience, and a small portion of one episode was cut down in the dub version.
Conclusion:
It is a good brawl anime with great fights and a pretty decent story for the characters' arcs, backstories, and conflicts among them. The drawback is the pace. It moves slow for me. Watch the series at 1.5x speed if you feel the same.
