I finally got another season of one of my favorite comedies. If you don't know "Baki" by some miracle, here's a short summary for you - imagine a total parody of anime, martial arts movies, martial arts itself, in which everything is possible. Absolutely fucking all, Baki is even crazier than the 4 seasons of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. A normal screenwriter would have gotten rid of all ideas a long time ago, and a comic book writer spouts them out as if he were a fountain chilling people on a hot day. Of course, not every joke is successful, sometimes they repeat themselves, sometimes they are too much over the top and cause more cringe or anger (e.g. duels that are preceded by a very long conversation and then end in one hit), but nonetheless I can call him a virtuoso of abstraction, creativity and humor. Or at least I don't think I am abusing me here. We are talking about Keisuke Itagaki, the father of the author of "Beastars", which I also recommend - although it is more for fans of psychology, interpersonal relations, showing human characteristics and behavior patterns on the example of animals, e.g. rabbits like sex, carnivores have limitations, such as too much. aggressive people in the form of the law. If you like cartoons for older audiences, animals and are interested in psychology, this is the title for you. "Baki" is its opposite, it is an absurd comedy that makes fun of patterns from other comics, action movies with overly muscular warriors and jokes about martial arts. There are many real elements that I have read about throughout my life, but they are presented in such an absurd and exaggerated form that they cannot be taken seriously.
The plot of this season tells about the duel of the strongest creature in the world and his son, one of the greatest contenders for this position. It was no coincidence that I used this word - there is no creature in the world that can kill Yujiro Hanma. He is a master of all martial arts (or at least one of the best fighters), not stupid, but a creative and ruthless motherfucker who will not hesitate to use a painful provocation or a cruel punch. Plus, it's a walking mountain of muscle you've never seen before. Slayer of a giant elephant the size of a dinosaur, an ogre swimming in a pool in which water flows at a speed of over 20 km / h. And this is what Baki Hanma, the best bastard of a giant who has a dispute with the old man and wants to explain a few things to him with his fists and legs, is about to fight it. The whole season is dedicated to this duel - we see both players getting ready for it, how people from all over the world are waiting and fearing the consequences. After all, Yujiro "hit" his main opponent so hard during the Tournament that GPSs all over the planet broke (this scene did not appear in the anime). Overall it's pretty good, but I was expecting something better. Don't get me wrong, the individual jokes and witty situations were very funny to me, I was generally happy after each episode (albeit to varying degrees), but you know what it is like - the appetite grows with eating. I had fairly high expectations, but luckily quite moderate (for me), so I wasn't overly disappointed. The anime came to a halt at such a point that if this is going to be an entire finished season (not 1-cour) then ... well, I'll be angry. If it's the first half, that's cool - I don't mind. Nevertheless, I was expecting more fights, a better plot and character development, and in both cases we didn't go very far.
Starting from the beginning, the thread about Shadow Boxing and Baki's skills was great and the author made a lot of accurate insights in it. For example, about muscle memory, mental preparation for combat through simulations, the possibilities of insects and their skills. All of this is true - insects have great potential for their small size. You can talk about muscle memory with drivers with many years of experience, e-sportsmen or people of my age who like to return to old games, warriors - some things can be forgotten, e.g. my brain has forgotten surprisingly many elements from the games of my youth or teenage period, but the body remembered. I don't remember what it was for, etc. but the fingers and hands automatically do the right thing. When it comes to simulations, the matter is simple - training in a flight simulator, and in the case of soldiers - training, for example, landing on objects imitating real combat operations. However, as I wrote before, they are either too exaggerated or we do not know whether, for example, insects would retain their natural properties, if they were significantly increased. However, if we treat it as a curiosity, thanks to which we learn something new, my objection to it disappears. The fight with the mantis, as well as the whole short stage that starts the anime, turned out well and I have only one complaint - too sparing animation and few effective scenes.
On the one hand, prison was better, but on the other hand, it felt like everything was happening too slowly. It seems to me that the series would lose nothing if half the content was posted there (because I assume that this is not the end of this arc yet, and even if - they could throw in 1, 2 episodes of another for encouragement). However, he could gain a lot, because since he does not contribute much to the plot, at least he could pass faster. I liked the new characters, even the episodic ones - the George Bush parody and this pirate were great! The first for (some) accurate jokes, general comedy. The latter had an interesting fighting style, good personality and a very good (for this type of comedy) genesis. I liked the combination of politics and martial arts in this country. An interesting ideology guided its creator - to become the most dangerous group without using any weapons. And gags - jokes about GPS tracking the most powerful people, navigation apps, politics. In that respect it was very good as always. I love this man's imagination!
How is it in terms of graphics? Well, the whole anime is sparse in terms of animation, I haven't seen a single longer scene that made a really big impression on me. In the previous one, there were several, not one here. Nothing new, Netflix anime are not famous for being too well animated, but after so many episodes I was expecting something better. Indeed, the anime looks really nice (one of Netflix's better drawn anime, if not the best, although I prefer a lower level at the expense of spectacular scenes, as in the previous season), but comparing the beginning of the saga with the Raitai Grand Tournament, I feel a bit disappointed. At least something was going on there, and this season they are talking even more than before. I know that the author of the comic is joking with us, but while in the manga it does not bother you (because I assume that you read a chapter in a few minutes, which is a feature of this type of comics), here you could throw a bit more stuff for everyone episode. Well, this applies to the script and the pace of the action, not the lines and the animation, so ... The duel with the mantis could have been more dynamic, not so static. The fights in prison were better, but none of them impressed me. I skip single scenes in which Oliva shows us some of his power - his 1 hit ko hits are always impressive. It is not the level of previous seasons (or at least for me those were better), but in this matter I have no reason to complain. I also missed a brilliant episode, one that would at least make a strong impression on me from the very beginning and keep me like that until the very end .. Like the one that opened the previous season, which I have already watched 8 times. Mastery in every respect - climate, direction, pace of action, amount of content, fights. Here I missed it, I got a collection of nice, sometimes good episodes Or should I say correctly created episodes with good or very good moments.
I deluded myself to the very end that we would get at least one dynamic and longer fight, but unfortunately I was disappointed. Itagaki exaggerates with this joke that we see a long preparation for a fight that is short or not full of action. Fortunately, my expectations weren't high, so the disappointment wasn't too depressing either. It's still a very funny comedy, as long as you like that type of humor. If you don't feel it, most of the fun is lost, and therefore the sense of watching. So let me put it this way - if you like absurd, cleverly written parody in a goofy style, you don't mind ass-pulle, as big as Oliva's or Yujiro's muscles, I recommend it. Otherwise, you will be disappointed. As for me +6/10.