What Happened to Baki’s Girlfriend in ‘Baki Hanma’? Explained

The entire Baki storyline may revolve around the titular character, but other characters are important in Baki’s life. Some of these characters couldn’t help him become strong in the conventional sense, but some act as emotional support. One such character is his girlfriend, who always has Baki’s back and is there to support him. So, who is Baki’s girlfriend, and what happened to her?

Kozue Matsumoto is Baki’s girlfriend. She has been with him since the Underground Arena saga of the Baki the Grappler storyline. However, she last appeared during the Great Chinese Challenge saga events just after Baki got poisoned. She hasn’t been seen since she apparently helped Baki recover from his poison.

The thing about the entire storyline of Baki is that it was never actually about love or romance. Instead, it was always about Baki’s journey to becoming the best fighter he could ever be, which means that there isn’t much room for a character that doesn’t entirely help Baki in terms of his training. So, with that said, let’s look at what happened to Kozue in Baki.

Who Is Baki’s Romantic Interest?

There is no doubt that the Baki storyline is all about Baki Hanma and his journey as a fighter. That means that the entire story revolves around him becoming stronger than ever and his journey to becoming stronger than his father, Yuujirou Hanma, the strongest creature on the planet. But while that may be true, Baki still has a personal life that he needs to maintain because he is still just a growing teenager.

Part of being a teenager is experiencing love and romance, and that was what happened to Baki when he got to a certain age where he could already dive deeper into the world of adulthood. As such, during the Underground Arena saga, Baki met the girl who would soon become his life’s love.

We are talking about Kozue Matsumoto, his neighbor in the apartment building he was living in. And Kozue, who went to the same high school as Baki, got into Baki’s life because she was taking care of his dog while he was away and because she was constantly worried that Baki was more concerned about training than anything else in his entire life.

Eventually, during the Maximum Tournament saga, Baki and Kozue became romantically involved as they shared their affections more openly. Kozue officially became Baki’s girlfriend, as they usually spent time together whenever Baki wasn’t training. In a sense, Kozue was the only non-fighter constant in Baki’s life as she sort of acted as a way for him to take a break from all the training and fighting in his life.

During the Most Evil Death Row Convicts saga, Baki spent a lot of time with Kozue instead of hunting down the escaped convicts that were out to try to find the strongest fighters in the world. An escaped convict named Spec was peeping on Baki and Kozue during one of their romantic moments together.

During this time, Baki and Kozue also had sex for the first time, which seemed to increase Baki’s overall strength as a fighter. After their intimate scene, Yuujirou told Baki to have sex as often as possible because this made him stronger. It was as if Yuujirou was telling Baki that he had become more of a man by having sex with Kozue.

But while Kozue was arguably the most important person in Baki’s life, she was always just a normal high school teenager with no special abilities whatsoever. As such, she doesn’t have the same fighting abilities that even the weakest fighters in the Baki storyline have. And it is worth mentioning that Keisuke Itagaki was never known to be a great writer when it comes to writing about female characters, and that’s why Kozue was never really the most useful character in the entire storyline.

Still, Kozue served a good purpose in Baki’s life as she always kept him grounded in reality because she served as his bridge to his normal life outside of the world of underground combat. And Kozue was also the best motivator in Baki’s life because she legitimately cared about him.

What Happened to Kozue in Baki?

While it may be true that Kozue is Baki’s girlfriend and that she has always been one of the greatest motivators in his life, what is also true is that she hasn’t been seen for quite a while already. In the manga, the last time she appeared before appearing in the fight between Baki and Yuujirou was in 2012. Of course, anime watchers should also know that it will be a while before Kozue appears.

Kozue’s final appearance before appearing again in the fight between Baki and his father was during the Great Chinese Challenge saga, where she accompanied a poison-weakened Baki to China to take part in the greatest Chinese martial arts tournament of all time. Baki was suffering from Yanagi’s poison and was trying to get back on track. He got poisoned by Kaioh Ri, who canceled out Yanagi’s poison to heal Baki.

However, while Kozue was crying over Baki after he got poisoned, her tears interacted with Kaio Ri’s poison and allowed Baki to get back on his feet. In that regard, she was the person that motivated Baki enough for him to keep on going.

After that, Kozue hasn’t been seen, and it is probably because Baki is now more concerned about his next goal, which is to become stronger than his father. Baki challenges Yuujirou to an upcoming fight, which means he has to do anything to ensure he is ready to defeat his father. Because Baki doesn’t need any distractions in his life, it is possible that Kozue took a back seat to make sure that her boyfriend gets to focus on his goal of becoming stronger than ever.

But fans of Kozue shouldn’t worry too much because she’s going to make a return in the father-son fight of the century. That means she isn’t totally out of the picture, and she and Baki are still together.