Baki the Grappler Vol-7: The Hunted (2001)
Released by: Funimation
Running Time: 100 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

As many of you may have noticed reviews have been slow in posting these past couple of weeks. Mostly this was due to my day time job, which required a lot more of my attention as my company became the subject of an acquisition by a much larger corporate entity. Now with the deal being closed and things somewhat settling down (and thankfully yours truly making the transition over intact) I think we should be ok to get a lot more material out to the website.

So getting back into the game I thought would be easier and more fun to do with a title I enjoy so for today's entry I'm taking closer look at Baki the Grappler Vol-7: The Hunted. If you've seen my reviews of this Funimation release you know I'm a huge fan of this one and with this latest entry in the series things are shaping up to untold of heights! Let's check it out.

Story

"Baki Hanma returns to the Supreme Fighting Circuit to defend his title against a sea of contenders. The quest to find the most supreme grappler in the world moves forward with unimaginable results. A monstrous secret is about to be unveiled in the arena; one which could bring about the ruin of Baki and every warrior in the competition!

The plot thickens as Yujiro takes an unusual strategy to ensure all feel his presence. As expected, Baki is filled with mixed emotions as he is driven to distraction by his father's bizarre behavior." -- DVD Box

Review

The seventh volume in Funimation' s release of Baki the Grappler features episodes twenty five through twenty eight in the series, which include:

Episode 25: The Opening
After spending a long time meditating Baki returns to the ring once more and this time the stakes are the highest they've ever been for him as he takes part in what is being billed as the ultimate fighting tournament in the world. How will Baki stack up against so many talented and dangerous individuals?

Episode 26: Reverse
The tournament continues as Baki makes his way to the next round and other fighters take each other on to decide who is the toughest amongst them. Just as things get underway though an unexpected contender makes a surprise entrance!

Episode 27: Darkness from the Light
The Yasha Ape's son has come out of hiding hoping to avenge his father! How will he fare in the ring!?

Episode 28: The King Returns
He has arrived, the one person who everyone underneath Tokyo Dome equally fears, Baki's father, Yujiro! But is he here to take part in the tournament or only to watch the spectacle?

So what's volume seven of Baki the Grappler all about? One word, fighting, lots and lots of fighting! This time though it's not street fighting or underground bouts, but rather a grand tournament designed to bring together the absolute best of the best fighters from around the world in an all out effort to determine who is the strongest man alive. Naturally this brings back many of the characters we have already met, but in addition it opens the doors to several new ones that will pose new challenges and difficulties to our hero. The setup is the now familiar "fighting tournament storyline" with each episode focusing on one or two fights and the characters taking part in them.

Things get started with Baki, but then switch gears as several new brawlers are brought into the mix. From there on this DVD becomes less-Baki focused and more all-around martial-arts-tournament-centered as we spend time learning more about certain contenders and what drives them and what fighting means to them. It goes without saying that the character development here is short and to the point as fighters come in and out of each episode’s spotlight in a fast moving fashion. While the time spent with each is brief it at least adds to the drama that unfolds with each match up.

In doing this the story keeps with the spirit of earlier episodes as characters bond or develop animosity towards each other as they take on each other in a test of endurance and fighting prowess. Now, while on that side of the equation things remain fairly similar to earlier storylines on the visual drama scale the writers decided to take it up a notch by elevating the visual shock-value and rawness of the fighting taking place in each episode. What do I mean by this? Simple, several of the fights in these stories end up resulting in some very gruesome displays of broken appendages, blood is everywhere and the gruesomeness of the tournament goes beyond anything we have seen before, but (and to the creative staff’s credit) never goes over the edge.

Storywise, taken as a whole, this DVD advances the story, but not by much. The real meat here is Baki’s continued growth as a fighter and as a person, and how he contrasts his father, who impossible as it may be manages to be even more imposing and “evil” than previous incarnations we have seen of him earlier in the show. The addition of Baki’s landlord’s daughter as a girlfriend-type character also proves an interesting injection into the mix as it gives us the series first true female perspective on everything Baki is putting himself through (Baki’s mom never watched Baki’s fights) and opens the door for a different type of growth in Baki’s persona.

As with the previous episodes the productions values here were quite good with a solid frame rate, sharp looking visuals, a varied color palette and neat visual effects. The action scenes are depicted with a lot of kinetic energy and interesting angles that add to their explosiveness onscreen. The one thing that I continue to not be impressed by are some of the character designs, especially Baki’s, which remind me a lot of hybrid anime drawings by people trained in more Marvel/DC-like comic art style.

As far as the audio component of goes I loved all aspects of it. The soundtrack in particular noteworthy with several good techno pieces that pump up the action and add another layer of energy to the fighting/training scenes (as if they weren’t energy-packed already). The voice acting was on-target with everyone putting in a solid performance on both the Japanese and English dubbed tracks.

The DVD itself is an all around well packaged product with a variety of extras that round off the episodes in this volume on a positive note. DVD extras include director/actor commentary for episode 25, episode summaries, clean copies of the opening and ending themes, character profiles, an art gallery and previews of other Funimation releases. Inside the DVD box there is also a small booklet with more info on the company’s other properties and releases. Both the audio and video transfers are crystal clear with no real issues to speak of

Final Thoughts

I continue to love this show, its characters and themes. While it’s not the most original anime series being release domestically or even the best scripted and executed Baki the Grappler has something to it, that “it” factor that makes you come back to it again and again and want more of this fantastic series. If you like martial arts anime or tournament style shows this one is for you!

This one gets our highest recommendations.

Jeffrey Couto