Before I start I wanted to apologize if this isn't the correct subreddit for this kind of post or if this kind of thing isn't really welcome here. I've had these thoughts for a while and have no where to really express myself.

A few months ago I finished reading New Grappler Baki and it was a really great time. The story was fun, the fights were always entertaining, and the art was gorgeous. Something that always stuck with me was the final arc. I didn't really know at first but after some thinking I'm starting to understand why, but I have no clue if it is what Itagaki intended or if I am looking too far into it. I also don't know if this is also just blatantly obvious and I look like an idiot for just simply presenting what the story is saying, so I apologize again if this is a bad post.

The final arc follows Mohammed Ali Jr, which I found odd. Until this arc he wasn't really a major character, and honestly wasn't even the most interesting new character that they added in the manga. What I find even odder though is how throughout the arc, he is just constantly beat down and made to look like a fool. He starts cocky and strong-willed, but throughout the entire arc he is shown time and time again to be just a bratty kid. He gets obliterated by everyone who challenges him to a match, ultimately being destroyed by Baki in front of a massive crowd and needing his father to step him and save him. This was so interesting to me as usually you would want your final arc of a story to be the climax, the biggest event in the story to take place. I was wondering why the Raitai Tournament arc wasn't saved for the end which made me to think more about the story and the Raitai Tournament as a whole.

The Raitai Tournament arc was a really fun arc but despite all of the crazy fights and ball kicking and ripping off people's faces, the thing that always stood out to me the most was Yujiro Hanma and what he thought of the whole thing. I'm sorry that I can't find the panel or the exact words as it's almost 100 chapters to go through, but I remember him saying that he dislikes the tournament and the Chinese fighting style. This stuck with me for a bit, because I thought it was admiral that they had such a strong culture that they kept up for thousands of years. But thinking about the final arc with Jr and what Yujiro said here, it made me interpret the story of Baki a bit different.

I believe the reason Yujiro Hanma thinks this way about Chinese martial arcs and its relation to the Jr arc is that he dislikes the lack of improvement and progress with the Chinese. They have a 4,000 year old tradition that they have kept with and mastered for thousands of generations. The masters of these techniques and gone through hell and back for it to perfect it. I don't think Yujiro dislikes Retsu or Kaku, but dislikes that they are so locked away by their tradition. In the 4,000 years of Chinese martial arcs they have had the same techniques, the same training, the same culture, with no advancements or prospects of moving past it, almost like they are stuck in the past. The Chinese in the arc were absolutely obliterated by everyone else and I don't think this is because of racism that some people claim it is. I think Itagaki is speaking directly through with Yujiro when he talks about his dislike for the Chinese martial arts, not because of who they are or their hard work but because dislikes how they refuse to modernize or move forward with their ways and cultures. The Chinese lost in their own tournament because they are stuck in the past.

I think this perfectly leads into the final arc with Jr and why the arc is specifically about him. Jr is the future, the next wave of fighters. He is the son of one of the greatest fighters to ever exist. Yet for the entire arc, he is defeated time and time again by everyone he comes across. He is so cocky and sure of his abilities that he thinks lesser of those before him, like with Doppo and Gouki. Yet he is destroyed by both. This ends with Jr losing horrifically against Baki. These two should be equals, but Jr doesn't learn and pays the price because of it. Jr doesn't learn or respect the past, he is so busy with his own techniques that he fails at many of the fundamentals. He lacks any sort of respect for what came before and thus cannot become the future.

Baki defeating Jr is important because it shows why Baki IS the strongest to exist. He is the present. He respects and learns from his mentors and past, but isn't tied down by them. Throughout every arc where he trains he always respects and learns, no matter how odd it may seem to him at the moment. He has a great respect for the old men who mastered their art and came before him. Despite this, he is not held back by them or the past. He takes their lessons and uses it to push towards to future. He masters his own techniques and pushes for his own goal, to defeat Yujiro. The Chinese fall behind because they do not develop their own, just endlessly emulate. Jr falls behind because has no way to actually push towards to future. Baki is neither. Baki defeating Jr feels like Itagaki showing us that you need to learn from the past and respect it but to never fall behind because of it. To always push towards to future and make it your own. The series isn't just about "getting better and stronger" and also learning to learn and put what you've learn into motion.

Again, I apologize if this essay feels stupid or if this is just self explanatory that everyone understands from the story, but when looking up peoples thoughts on Baki and its message I never really see anyone talk about it. Most I've seen talking about the themes of Baki has been the simple "work hard to be better" but never about about something like I described. I also don't know if what is being presented is actually what is being said but I feel like even a series as crazy as Baki can talk about something more personal like this. This has just been on my mind for several months and I wanted to talk about this but had no where else to put my thoughts. This interpretations of the story really spoke to me on a different level, and I'm excited to get to more Baki in the future.