These are all of the major characters in the Baki series

The Baki franchise has a long list of characters, but only a few of them are of critical importance.

Enduring fighting anime and manga often have enormously large casts. While series like Naruto will keep relatively minor characters around forever, that’s not the case with Baki. New characters will be introduced, establish themselves as the next big thing, and then disappear without being mentioned again for decades.

For fans that have watched the anime but haven’t taken a look at the manga, it’s worth going over the cast and how they’ve fared over the last 30 years. Here’s every major character in Baki and how they fit into the world.

Baki and Yujiro Hanma are the only main characters of Baki

The only true main characters of the Baki franchise are the series’ namesake and Yujiro Hanma. Their rivalry serves as the backbone of the series with the hero looking to defeat his seemingly unbeatable father.

Baki Hanma

The protagonist of the series, as the name would suggest, is Baki Hanma. He’s the central figure of the anime and the series largely revolves around his feud with his father. The anime follows his growth from 13 to 18 years old, which sees him become the top fighter of the Tokyo Dome Underground Arena.

Yujiro Hanma

Yujiro Hanma is the world’s strongest creature in the most literal sense. He is shown killing elephants and bears, and he’s even shown taking out entire platoons of armed soldiers bare-handed. His martial arts prowess forced the United States government to sign a friendship treaty with him to stay out of their business, something that allows him to lead a life of luxury.

Biscuit Oliva, Kaoru Hanayama, and Jack Hanma lead Baki cast

There are many other characters in the Baki cast that get either face time or a big fight in each arc. Many of them have been rivals of Baki in the past and have developed into full-blown characters in their own right. They’re a step below the leading duo at this point, but it’s usually cause for excitement when these characters show up.

Jack Hanma

Jack Hanma is the half-brother of Baki and son of Yujiro. He stands as possibly the biggest fan favorite of the series. He inhabits a unique space within the series as a revered figure despite being a “dirty” fighter that uses steroids and focuses on biting opponents.

Biscuit Oliva

Biscuit Oliva, referred to as Biscuit Oliver in the English dub, is a bundle of contradictions. He’s a convict living in prison, but he lives an extravagant lifestyle in a mansion-sized cell. His fighting style exclusively utilizes raw physical strength, but he’s also a bona fide genius. There’s depth to his character, but that doesn’t stop him from providing both intensity and comedy to every scene he appears in.

Kaoru Hanayama

Kaoru Hanayama was the first major rival for Baki. Though many characters from the first legs of the manga and anime have fallen off over time, Hanayama has held up. He rejects any form of preparation for a fight and exclusively looks to just punch people in the face. This also leaves the door open for him to potentially grow into being a top-level fighter at some point in the future.

Kaio Retsu

Kaio Retsu is the series’ primary Chinese representative, with skills honed in a temple that harkens to stereotypical Shaolin Kung Fu. He’s frequently referred to as the “embodiment of 3,000 years of Chinese martial arts,” which is demonstrated through his use of a wide range of techniques. Though he is initially presented as a villain, he later becomes established as one of the few “nice guys” of the Baki series.

Doppo Orochi

The founder of Shinshinkai Karate, Doppo Orochi is one of the seniormost fighters in the series. He has a history that dates back to the days of Yujiro’s father and enjoys legendary status in Japan. He is the adopted father of Katsumi Orochi and trainer of several other characters.

Katsumi Orochi

Katsumi Orochi is the most heavily developed character of the Baki series, perhaps even more so than Baki himself. Starting out as a “karate jock,” Katsumi develops a more serious persona after taking over Shinshinkai Karate from his father. His goal becomes pushing karate as a whole forward, which he does in a radical way.

Gouki Shibukawa

Gouki Shibukawa is essentially a high school bully cosplaying as a wisened martial arts master. He uses an almost magical martial art similar to aikido which makes him fearsome despite his being a short old man. Though he’s the oldest member of the main cast, he’s also one of its most aggressive. He actively suckers people into fights, jumps people without warning, and will fight dirty if things aren’t going his way.

Izou Motobe

Izou Motobe has one of the strangest character arcs in Baki. While he’s initially presented as an unremarkable jujutsu master, he later winds up becoming a weapons specialist with preparatory skills that would put Batman to shame. He also goes from being one of the weaker main characters to one of its strongest, seemingly out of nowhere.

Pickle, Jun Guevara are among one-arc Baki rivals

When the Baki franchise isn’t doing a tournament arc, it’s usually introducing a powerful new fighter that stands apart from the established cast. How these Baki rivals stand apart varies wildly but many of them wind up being among the most popular characters in the series. That doesn’t mean they stick around for long though, as some go from actual main characters to disappearing entirely.

The Death Row Convicts

Doyle, Spec, Sikorsky, Ryuko Yanagi, and Dorian are introduced as the main villains of the New Grappler Baki manga and Baki anime. The five Death Row Convicts were convicted to death but escaped to head to Japan hoping to be defeated by world-famous fighters. They make a dramatic entrance and seriously injure much of the main cast, but end up being embarrassed and defeated one after another. A comeback is teased in the “Revenge Tokyo” spin-off, but so far they haven’t formally returned. 

Mohammed Alai, Jr.

The son of Mohammed Alai was Baki’s chief rival for the New Grappler Baki manga series and Baki anime. He makes a splashy entrance in the series but is quickly torn down and is ultimately destroyed by Baki in their climactic fight. More than 15 years later, there hasn’t been a redemption arc either as he only appears once more in the manga in the form of a flashback.

Jun Guevara

Jun Guevara is a new character introduced at the start of Baki Hanma. An aloof ninja, he draws the ire of the United States government by declaring his home island an independent nation. He unsuccessfully fights Biscuit Oliva and hasn’t been mentioned since.

Pickle

The big villainous rival of Baki Hanma is Pickle. An eight-foot-tall caveman who killed dinosaurs barehanded is discovered frozen in a block of ice and is later thawed in modern times. The thought of a man capable of doing this fascinates the cast to the point of obsession, leading them to challenge Pickle to a fight with deadly consequences.

Miyamoto Musashi

Pickle isn’t the only being brought from the past to modern times. Real-life samurai legend Miyamoto Musashi is magically and scientifically resurrected at the start of the Baki-Dou manga. After getting his hands on a proper sword, he looks to rebuild the fame and fortune he enjoyed in the 1600s.

Nomi No Sukune II

Sumo wrestling ends up a central focus in the second Baki-Dou series. The second coming of sumo founder Nomi No Sukune leads to a feud between the iconic sumo sport and the Tokyo Dome Underground Arena crew. Though the cast quickly finds out that Nomi No Sukune isn’t the only sumo legend to be reincarnated.