Is ‘Baki’ Suitable for Kids? Age Rating & Parents Guide

It’s easy to think that an action-packed manga and anime series like ‘Baki’ is suitable for children because many kids want to watch shows with a ton of action. Of course, the stigma is that manga and anime are usually suitable for kids regardless of the storyline’s genre and themes. So, what about ‘Baki?’ Is ‘Baki’ suitable for kids?

‘Baki’ certainly isn’t suitable for kids because the series covers mature and violent themes that children shouldn’t be able to watch. In fact, the US rating of ‘Baki’ is TV-MA, which means that this series is suitable only for mature audience members. Kids shouldn’t be watching ‘Baki.’

Even though manga and anime are often considered friendly for kids and the young at heart, ‘Baki’ is an entirely different storyline that just doesn’t have themes that kids are going to enjoy. It can be very brutal and horrifying for kids to watch this storyline. As such, parents shouldn’t let their kids watch this anime. Now, let’s look at ‘Baki’s age rating to find out more about why it isn’t suitable for kids.

‘Baki’ age rating

The thing about anime, especially when it is readily available for streaming on a popular streaming website like Netflix, is that it tends to be very confusing for parents and kids alike. In most cases, anime is suitable for kids and adults alike. But there are some instances when the anime might seem suitable for kids but actually isn’t. And one title that we can think of is ‘Baki.’

‘Baki’ is an anime series based on the same title’s manga. The story follows the journey of a young martial arts prodigy named Baki Hanma as he tries to become the strongest fighter in the entire world. And his goal is to become stronger than his father, Yuujirou Hanma, who is considered the strongest creature on the planet.

That means that it goes without saying that this anime has a lot of different fight scenes, just like many anime titles with action and adventure. But while that may be true, what is also true is that ‘Baki’ was never made to be friendly to kids. In fact, its age rating tells the entire story regarding how unfriendly it is for younger audience members.

According to IMDB, ‘Baki’ has a TV-MA age rating. This means that this TV series should only be watched by mature audiences, hence the “MA” rating. While the TV-MA rating can be ambiguous, it usually means that only those at least 17 or 18 years old should be watching a series with this rating. So, it goes without saying that ‘Baki’ is not suitable for kids.

‘Baki’ is violent and full of gore

Of course, there are good reasons why ‘Baki’ is rated TV-MA, and all of these reasons make sense if you watch a few episodes of this anime. While nothing is new about the fact that ‘Baki’ is full of action, the action scenes in this anime tend to be quite violent and gory.

There are plenty of bloody scenes where in we see fighters getting pummeled by their opponents to a bloody pulp. And some scenes include a severed hand or a person whose face got ripped off by someone else.

Let’s not forget that Baki’s own father often abused him physically and mentally. Yuujirou beat his own son down to the ground and was still punching him while he was already unconscious. He also ended up killing Baki’s mother. And at one point, he killed an animal that Baki befriended in the mountains, all for the sake of making him stronger due to his anger.

In other words, there will be horrifying scenes that aren’t going to be close to being friendly for children, and these scenes could scar a younger audience member that isn’t used to violence and gore. And the violent and gory scenes of ‘Baki’ are only the tip of the iceberg regarding how unsuitable it is for children.

‘Baki’ is full of mature themes

On top of the violence that we can see in the ‘Baki’ anime, there are also a lot of mature themes that children shouldn’t be able to learn about. For example, at one point in the past, Yuujirou raped a woman and forcefully impregnated her for betraying him.

Shortly after that, he lusted for a married man’s wife and decided to kill the man so that he could impregnate this woman and produce a strong child in the form of Baki.

That means that there are mature themes that include rape and sex in the ‘Baki’ anime series. Let’s not forget that the recent events of ‘Baki’ also allowed us to see Baki having sex with Kozue in one of the few nude scenes we’ve seen in this anime.

Of course, sex is never suitable for children to watch, even if we are talking about an animated series with characters that live actors don’t play.

So, with that, the mature scenes and themes are also some of the reasons why ‘Baki’ is never suitable for a child to watch. These themes are far too advanced and age-inappropriate for very young audience members. That is why parents shouldn’t be allowing their kids to watch this series. And it goes without saying that watching ‘Baki’ alongside their kids is also a big no-no.

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