This film was actually my first exposure to Baki. It was pretty nuts with the cord cutting style of martial arts and junk. Had no idea on the history of Baki, Yujiro Hanma, and all the crew. Blew my mind to find out that who Baki fought in that film was just one in a tournament and a relative jobber-tier dude by Baki standards. The stuff people do in this series is nuts. Biscuit Oliva was a crazy thing to read. Dude kept treating his skin with saltwater till it was tanned and hardened like cured leather so it'd work for armor and worked out and consumed crazy amounts. Ridiculous strength (like hulk shit or something) and was essentially a king in prison so powerful that he was unofficially employed by the penal institution to help them bring in fugitives and in return he got whatever he asked for while in prison. Thing was it was more like a courtesy he did anything in prison. He got what he wanted regardless of if he helped because he terrified them. He was essentially unchained which was he nickname. A guy who could come and go as he pleased even while incarcerated and who was in charge not by brutally abusing folks or thru violence but just by his sheer existence terrifying them to the point of catering to him. Sweet thing was he only ever got strong because he loved a woman with all his heart and when she got sick the treatments she took caused her to put on huge amounts of weight and messed up her metabolism. He still wanted to be able to carry her and hold her and never feel less than the goddess she was to him. Dude was all smiles and love for her and was generally pleasant to everyone. He was also an absolute monster of strength who loved to be challenged. He existed as a statement that against certain levels of strength technique loses meaning. He was a very scary concept.
God damn this series had some crazy cast. The intimidation factor and zen-like serenity some of these monsters existed in knowing in full confidence that they were unchallenge-able by normal society was some of the scariest things. Folks knew without knowing them to stand back, not act threatening, and not to challenge them...because they just instinctively knew that if a Baki series fighter was walking calmly thru he was existing hoping that someone out there might challenge him so that he could maybe have a chance to enjoy for a few brief seconds the skills that made their entire life have purpose. The cast is terrifying in how eager and happy they are to go in on folks. They are incredibly happy and thankful for opportunities to have the kind of fights that usually end in dismemberment, paralysis or death because its the only moments they feel alive and get to fully experience themselves living for the monstrously dedicated fighters they are.
God I love this series.
