Baki Hanma

Baki Hanma (範馬 刃牙, Hanma Baki) is the protagonist of the Baki the Grappler franchise. At thirteen, he decided to take his training into his own hands to perform more intense training in his father's footsteps. He later aims to defeat him. Baki first fought in the no-rules arena at fifteen and went on to become its champion. He is the son of Yuujirou Hanma and Emi Akezawa and the half-brother of Jack Hanma.

He is known as the "Champion" (チャンピオン, Chanpion) of the Underground Arena in Tokyo Dome. In the fourth manga series, he is often called "the World's Strongest Boy" (地上最強のガキ, Chijō Saikyō no Gaki).

18 yo: 76 kg (168 lbs)
Fighting Style Mixed Martial Arts

Emi Akezawa (Mother)

Yuujirou Hanma (Father)

Jack Hanma (Half-Brother)

Unnamed Grandmother

Yuuichirou Hanma (Grandfather)

Kozue Matsumoto (Girlfriend)

Musashi (Pet)

Baki is usually a carefree, laid-back, hard-training, and sometimes an aggressive teenage boy throughout most of the series. Baki strives to defeat his father, Yuujirou Hanma, who is indisputably considered the strongest man alive. However, Baki's dream is not to replace Yuujirou as the strongest man alive, but only to become strong enough to defeat him. This goal stems from a natural desire to surpass his father and avenge his mother, Emi Akezawa, whom Yuujirou murdered.

Baki trains on a near-constant basis, day and night, attempting to hone his skills as quickly as possible. As a relatively well-known martial artist (among those aware of the Underground Arena), Baki frequently tends to get into fights with various people quite often, sometimes intentionally, other times by terrible luck and circumstances outside his control (usually the latter). However, in the process. Baki realizes that the fastest and most effective way to get stronger is to battle other people stronger than himself so his body will get stronger and he can learn from the experience, this being an aspect of the Hanma bloodline. At one point, Baki realized that his way of fighting was very different from Yuujirou. He said that building relationships with strong opponents gives him incredible strength, while his father believes that everyone should be brutally crushed to gain absolute power. Baki is also often too merciful to his opponents, which always makes Yuujirou angry.

Baki has a strong sense of love and respect for those close to him. He is known to be very protective of his girlfriend, Kozue Matsumoto. He can become aggressive if she is threatened, such as when Sikorsky kidnapped her, and Baki hunted him down immediately to defeat him. By the second series of the manga, he's shown to be highly attached to his girlfriend, who acted as a great source of strength for him through her constant love and emotional support. Later, however, it has changed somehow, and they probably started to see

His intelligence is immensely high in terms of martial prowess, a resourceful and tactful fighter who uses multiple styles of combat at once when facing his adversaries. Makes use of savvy and rather pragmatic tactics to gain an advantage over opponents, such as using his blood to blind them. Knows how to effectively rattle someone's brain by a positioned punch to the chin. Capable of imagining and even outright interacting to some degree with mental visualizations of creatures and individuals to develop new stances and techniques without the need of them physically being there. At the same time, a significant portion of his time primarily focused on training or fighting much of his formal education is spent sleeping in class.

Usually, Baki never actively fights with anybody weaker than him and has no desire to hurt any of the thugs that constantly try to attack him. This version of his personality was shown an enormous contrast later in Grappler Baki, though, when Baki was 13. At this point in the story, Baki is a cocky hot-headed punk who is always looking for a battle with those he wants to prove himself to. He likely developed this attitude because of his urge to be as strong and like his father. This aspect of his personality is short-lived, though, as by the end of Baki the Grappler, Baki becomes his kind, laid-back self again while still trying to surpass Yuujirou. By then, he proclaims that he doesn't want anymore to be the strongest man alive. Still, he'd be happy to be even slightly stronger than his father, even claiming that if Yuujirou were the weakest man in the world, he'd be glad to be just the second most vulnerable. However, when finally Yuujirou acknowledges him as the strongest boy in the world, Baki starts to feel bored and detached, accepting the challenges from Musashi Miyamoto. The second Nomi no Sukune is a way to relieve his boredom and feel himself again tethered to the world.

Baki is a boy that stands approximately 5'6 (167 cm). Baki's appearance drastically changes throughout the series as he gets older. Baki's first initial appearance at the beginning of Grappler Baki when he is 17 years old is that of a somewhat childlike demeanor, with short hair that is long in the back. Throughout the entire series, Baki is shown to have a severely scarred body all around due to the diligent and uncompromising training he puts himself through, with the only exception being his face. Another noticeable feature of Baki's appearance is his mole just above his upper lip on the side (a physical trait he shares with his mother, Emi Akezawa).

In the flashback, when Baki was 13, his appearance had a minor change. His hair was shorter, with a spiky style, and had an orange color (most likely, this was because he was trying to be more like his father).

In the second manga series, when Baki is 17, his appearance reverts to its initial version at the beginning of Grappler Baki, with a more mature look. A carefree, almost weary demeanor replaces his childlike behavior. His hair is now much longer, going below his ears. Baki's appearance as an 18-year-old in the third manga series is not much different than his previous look in New Grappler Baki. The only changes in his appearance are that his hair is now more curly, and he has grown to be 167 cm (5'6") tall.

Since childhood, Baki's body has undergone intense physical training; Baki is very muscular, flexible, and durable. His physique results from constant, rigorous combat training and is far beyond that of a typical adolescent. His bones and muscles are also described as being better than those of an Olympic sportsman.