Thread by @Gooberzilla

Netflix has released another slew of Baki episodes today, so it's time for a thread on Baki Hanma, aka Baki versus the Prison Industrial Complex. Given this is Keisuke Itagaki, I'm giving this about a 90% chance that one of the fighters has insane powers based on sexual assault.

At least Yujiro is having a good time. The Colonel Trautman analog, not so much.

I knew Baki was a tiny little cinnamon roll, but I didn't realize that canonically he is slightly shorter than Wolverine.

True story: due to Netflix's non-intuitive interface, I accidentally started this new season on Episode 10 instead of Episode 01, and it took me like 8 minutes to realize this error, because Itagaki's narrative structure is all over the place anyway. #baki

Okay, now that we're on the proper episode, we can safely say Baki Hanma leads off in typical fashion with Yujiro murdering a kaiju-sized African elephant with his bare hands, as he is wont to do. #baki

6.5 minutes in and the curse of the Baki subtitles strikes again. I know you don't really care about your anime catalog, Netflix, but would it kill you to - I don't know - run a basic QC or a spell-check before publishing this stuff? #baki

So the first episode closes with Baki - after skipping an elementary school student across a river like a stone - shadow-boxing an imaginary anime Mike Tyson. Baki's imagination is so strong, he develops IRL bruises and a bloody nose from the phantom-hits he takes. #baki

The next episode is titled "Mixed species martial arts", and so I believe we're going to get to see Baki fight an imaginary giant praying mantis. #baki

Mushiking of the Ring.

I mean, wouldn't you be? #baki

Baki, you complete dolt, you can't put a 6 foot tall imaginary praying mantis in a chokehold! They breath with tracheal tubes! Every 6th grade biology student knows that! #baki

This one's debatable. You could argue that Baki either means the singular concept of "martial arts", or the entire category of multiple different "martial arts" styles. One would be singular, the other plural. I'd have gone with "Martial arts don't work on it!" #baki

I'm betting the culprit was a giant, imaginary mantis. #baki

Okay, seriously, Netflix, WTF is this? I can see dropping a letter in "calling" or misspelling "brutally", those are just honest but sloppy mistakes, but this is just gibberish, and it made it past QC. Have mercy on us already. #baki

And now Baki is prison cell-mates with Anime Mike Tyson and Anime Che Guevara. Together, they fight crime! #baki

I'm glad to see that the proud Baki tradition of kicking your opponent in the balls so hard that they lose consciousness continues in the new series. #baki

Six episodes in, half the current slate of episodes, and Baki is barely in this series. It's more like the Wacky Adventures of Anime Che Guevara and his Loony Prison Pals. #baki

I was not mentally prepared for the Keisuke Itagaki version of the the Beatles. #baki

We meet Biscuit Oliva's lover, Ms. Maria, and, of course, because Keisuke Itagaki is a gigantic two-year old, she's Jabba the Hutt levels of fat as a joke. What's the point of that, exactly? She's like the third named lady character in Baki, and she's a punchline. #baki

Of all the human customs I wasn't expecting Baki to provide a possibly spurious explanation for, the British genteel habit of drinking tea with one's pinky finger extended was probably the last one on my list... #baki

If there's one thing lacking in this Baki arc, it's the sheer level of bizarre characters with big personalities like in the Most Evil Death Row Inmates arc. It's seems absolutely restrained by comparison, so far. #baki

Sideways (2004), directed by Alexander Payne.

Episode 11 of Baki Hanma has an interesting framing device where the fight between Baki and Biscuit Oliva is narrated as eyewitness testimony by the terrified prisoners who witness each piece of it as the two fighters break through the walls of multiple prison cells. #baki

Another unexpected Baki cameo from Danish popular science author, Tor Nørretranders. #baki

You chop that bowling ball, skeleton. Live your best karate life. #baki

And the most recent series of episodes ends with a teaser for the Pickle arc, aka Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Oh, Baki. You're so silly. #baki