Baki Hanma is the protagonist of the Baki the Grappler franchise. He is the son of Yuujirou Hanma and Emi Akezawa and the half-brother of Jack Hanma. The story follows the journey of Baki Hanma, a young man who decides to begin training himself to become the strongest in the world and enters various fighting competitions, both legal and underground, in order to test his skills and strength.
He later becomes the "Champion" of the Underground Arena at the Tokyo Dome at the young age of 17. Following in his father's footsteps he aims to be one day become strong enough to defeat his father. But where did he gain his massive strength and sheer will to become strong? Read on to find out.
The Hanma Family
Known as the strongest family in the anime and manga series, although not much is known about the Hanma family history, there are certain things that have come to light. Starting with Baki Hanma, the main character of the series who is followed by the primary antagonist of the series, his father, Yuujiro Hanma (also known as 'the strongest creature on earth'). A barbaric and cruel man, Yuujiro is constantly seen beating down the weak without mercy and is determined to maintain his reputation as 'the strongest creature on earth.'
Baki's mother was Emi Akezawa, she was instrumental when it came to training Baki to become stronger than his father but is later murdered by Yuujiro. Yuujiro also had an affair with another woman (Diane Neil) who bore him another son - Jack Hanma, making him Baki's half-brother. Jack was also a strong-willed character who trained relentlessly to try to become stronger than Yuujiro himself. Baki's also had a grandfather, Yuujiro's father - Yuichiro Hanma. Yuichiro was also known to be a powerful fighter but was characterized as the complete opposite of Yuujiro and was noted to have a kinder and more calm personality. However, not much is known about Baki's grandmother.
How the Hanma family gained super human and exceptional strength is still a mystery to this date. It could because Baki's previous generation's belief in intense physical and rigorous combat training in order to get stronger and so did Baki. The genes may have got passed down from each generation to keep the bloodline a thick one.
Character
Baki has a boyish appearance but goes through numerous changes as he grows older through the series. Initially we see him at 13 years of age with short orange hair with a boyish nature. Later as he grows older, he also is seen to be carefree and calm.
By the time he reaches the ages of 14 to 18 he is mostly seen to be covered in bruises due to the hard-core training he puts himself through. His face has a recognizable mole above his upper lip, a genetic similarity he shares with his mother. He has long hair which goes below his ears and has a very flexible and muscular frame because of intense training. His appearance is more godlike even though he is a young boy, and he is about 167 cm (5'6") tall.
Disposition
Baki is driven by the sheer will to defeat his father, Yuujiro Hanma. His anger and resentment pushes him to be strong in order to take revenge over the murder of his mother. Baki is also much different from his father, although he previously believed in picking fights with everyone that comes in his way is the way to become the strongest, he later realizes that he needs to build strong bonds with his opponents and learn from them in order to get stronger is the way to go, whereas his father only believes in destroying his opponents completely without remorse.
Baki also believes in being merciful, a trait completely opposite to his father. Baki is also someone who loves deeply, this is seen in his relationship with his girlfriend, Kozue Matsumoto. He drew great strength from her love and support to be strong during his fights and is easily angered if he realized she was in danger. Baki was a tactful and smart fighter who used a mix of fighting styles to face his different opponents. His direct hits and blows were able to shaken their opponents and his precise strikes were powerful enough to even make enemies larger than himself fall to the ground.
Although Baki may seem like this roundhouse ruffian he actually is the opposite, he is respectful outside the ring and is known to show good manners. After all he was raised in a rich family until he was 13 years old. Baki as mentioned before is a fighter who shows mercy, when the demon face appears during the fight with his brother Jack, Baki holds himself back from killing him and spares his life showing that he can control his murderous tendencies unlike his father.
Abilities And Strength
When in the ring or during a fight, Baki uses a unique combo of mixed martial arts combining movements of different karate and pro wrestling moves, and while not limiting himself to judo, kempo and jujutsu. He mixes the learnings he gains from his past opponents obtained through his fighting experiences. Shadow-boxing is another unorthodox method of training that Baki uses to anticipate an opponent's strike. However, Baki was not able to master an individual method of combat as did his father, but he learned fast by learning from his opponents.
Towards the end of the series and Baki makes it to the top where he becomes the second-strongest person in the series with his father being the first. Ultimately he is unable to defeat his father and is overpowered by Yuujiro during an exchange of blows. It is clear that there is still a vast difference between the two, Baki collapses out of exhaustion and is no longer able to fight. In the end, Yuujirou admits that he can no longer be called the only strongest creature on earth, as Baki was able to land punches and blows on Yuujiro and forcing him to push the limit in order to keep fighting Baki. Yuujiro then pronounces Baki as the strongest creature alive.