The Ending Of Baki Hanma Season 1 Explained

"Baki" is back. A living legend when it comes to martial arts anime, the franchise based on Keisuke Itagaki's original "Baki The Grappler" manga simply revels in depicting grotesquely muscular supermen brutalize each other. Forget everything you know about physics, fighting, and basic human anatomy. All of that goes out the window whenever protagonist Baki Hanma finds an opponent worth his salt.

If you think that sounds like almost every anime and manga, you wouldn't be entirely correct. The "Baki" franchise — including its most recent entry, Season 1 of Netflix's "Baki Hanma" anime — depicts many common tropes from the shonen genre. The only difference is that "Baki" pretends to be more grounded in reality by relying on "scientific" explanations for the impossible things its characters do.

Regardless of how realistic the show's depictions of martial arts are, however, the end results are some truly entertaining and exhilarating fight sequences. The aforementioned first season of Netflix's "Baki Hanma" is not different. Adapting the first section of the "Baki" manga's third part, "Baki Hanma" shows its titular character trading blows with some of its world's most dangerous fighters. By its ending, Baki stands victorious over his strongest opponent yet and stands poised to finally face off against his unbeatable father. Unbeknownst to him, however, a new challenger is entering the ring.

Biscuit Oliva is a name that "Baki" fans already know well. The character has been in the anime for quite some time, at least since the first season of Netflix's "Baki" series. Since then, he has been built up as "the strongest man in America," second only to Yuujiro Hanma. Oliva is powerful enough to keep the entirety of the Arizona State Prison population in line singlehandedly. The inmates and the government similarly fear and respect him.

That is, until Baki gets himself locked up on purpose. He may only be 18, but Baki isn't messing around when it comes to becoming the world's strongest, and he would gladly go as far as to kidnap the President of the United States simply for a chance to fight Oliva man-to-man. It takes some time, but Oliva does eventually accept Baki's offer, and the two begin an impromptu battle right there in the middle of the prison's cellblock.

Eventually, the two become bored of relying on techniques and tricks to fight and instead resort to simply trading blows until one of them can't move anymore. When all is said and done, Baki overpowers the gargantuan Oliva, beating him so senseless that he is granted a pardon, a bicycle, and free reign to go beat the snot out of his dad.

Speaking of Papa Hanma, nobody is more pleased for Baki than Yuujiro. Oliva was one of the few creatures on Earth strong enough to earn Yuujiro's respect. Now that Baki has actually beaten him, the two's fated duel is closer than ever. Baki may consider it a common family squabble, but it's clear that this is anything but that. Yuujiro alone is more than the entire United States Army could ever handle. As Captain Strydum tells Baki in the first episode, their "father-son squabble" is tantamount to two countries going to war.

Yet this hardly intimidates either Baki or Yuujiro. Facing a strong opponent is all that matters to them, and the stronger they are, the better. They don't even have to be human, as Yuujiro and Strydum's last conversation in the season finale reveals. Yuujiro is more than happy measuring himself up against a beast (in this case, dinosaurs) just for the pleasure of victory. Only the strongest beasts (and Baki is surely one of them) pique his interests enough to warrant consideration. As such, it's only appropriate that Baki's next great challenge is equal parts man and beast.

The final thing that "Baki Hanma" Season 1 left fans to dwell on is the reveal of a new potential fighter for Baki to face before he has his final, climactic bout against his old man. A caveman, perfectly preserved while battling a ferocious dinosaur underneath a nuclear waste facility in Colorado, may just be the next contender. Unfortunately, the show doesn't reveal much about this missing link. However, manga fans are more than privy to who the caveman truly is.

Assuming Season 2 of "Baki Hanma" stays faithful to the manga, the caveman is a character named Pickle present throughout the "Wildman War — Pickle Wars Saga." After thousands of years trapped in the ice, he has reawoken to face off against the modern world's greatest specimens. Though he lacks technical fighting skills, his instincts and physique make him more than a threat to the living gods of the show's universe. Only time will tell if anyone has the power to fight a living fossil and come out the other side.