Baki the Grappler was a bad manga, and Baki: The Netflix is a bad anime.

This is an odd pick on Netflix's part, because Baki 2018 begins several arcs into the manga. When I was reading the manga I got only a little way into the Maximum Tournament arc, so there's a bit of a gap for me in between what I read and the start of this anime adaptation. This does mean I can't review Baki: The Netflix as an adaptation...but that doesn't really matter, does it?

Out of all the various classic martial arts manga - Fist of the North Star and Hajime no Ippo being two examples - Baki the Grappler stands out as the worst on almost every level. This isn't a review of the manga, but the art is below average at best, and the mangaka does zero planning. At the start of the manga, Baki has already defeated almost all the strongest martial artists in the world (the author has to backpedal from this of course).

The first season is perfectly fine. It introduces an intriguing cast of new villains: five death row inmates from around the world who break out of prison and converge on Tokyo, all seeking to "taste defeat". They engage in a sort of tournament without rules against five Baki veterans. Fights can happen anywhere, anytime, against anyone, and any tools and tactics are allowed.

This actually isn't new ground for Baki the Grappler, though the show tries to act like it is. The question of if modern martial arts are 'real' enough for a real fight and things like that has come up repeatedly in Baki, and this arc tackles that subject head-on. And I do mean 'tackle'. As in it clumsily charges at the subject, grabs it, kinda carries it along for a while, and then just sorta drops it.

Like I said, the first season is fine. It has all the usual Baki the Grappler flaws, but also all the usual strengths, and has that undefinable watchability/readability characteristic of manga of the era. The second season is where things fall off a fucking cliff. In terms of storytelling, Baki's mangaka has always been meandering and incompetent, but here he achieved a real triumph of shit.

He apparently got bored of this 5-on-5 tournament while also deciding that coming up with unique fighting styles and abilities for the five death row inmates was really hard, so he just starts picking them off. These five criminals, masters of surviving by any means necessary, become shocked by such esoteric techniques as 'kicking sand in your opponent's eyes', 'saying you're not going to do something and then doing it', and 'having a knife'. And the mangaka becomes incapable of writing actual fights, just quick, one-sided beatdowns.

But here's the thing: I lied a little just now. They're not "quick" one-sided beatdowns. They're SLOOOOOOOOW one-sided beatdowns. Each inmate gets into a fight and is smashed down over and over again, long past the point he's lost the fight, so outclassed he can't even attempt to fight back. This will go on for MULTIPLE EPISODES. Then the show moves on to the next guy and does it again. Sometimes the inmates loses but survives, so it gets to happen all over again.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

Looking at things from a mechanical, craft perspective, this makes Baki 2018 perhaps the most sadistic anime I've ever watched. But because there's very little emotional engagement with the show, and because it's not super gory, it doesn't come off as much more than tasteless.

And I didn't even mention the part where Baki gets a power-up from having sex. Yep. That's a thing that happens. Aside from being hilariously stupid, it also blends the Power of Friendship with classic manly macho machismo in a way that manages to combine the worst of both.

On the technical side...

The sound effects are strong and visceral, though sometimes a little poorly chosen. The music isn't particularly interesting, but something about it really fits the mood of the scenes and its application is well done.

Visually...Baki the manga looks really bad, and they don't do a good job of translating the character designs to the screen. The first OP is, without exaggeration, the least animated anime OP I have ever seen. Out of the 90 seconds of credits, it has maybe, MAYBE ten seconds of animation. Everything else is just stills. It boggles the mind.

The show itself has very little flashy animation (and what it does have is burned in the most bizarre places) but I dislike flashy animation, so a lot of the fights are quite effectively realized. There are ALSO a lot of extended CGI fights, which look like garbage. If Baki 2018 was a CGI anime they'd look fine, but it's not so they look hideously out of place.

Despite all I've said, Baki: The Netflix is a pretty watchable show. If you've read through all this and still think you might enjoy it, then yes, you probably will. And as long as you feel bad about it, I'm okay with that.