Does Yuujirou Actually Care About Baki? Relationship Explained

If there’s one thing we know about the entire ‘Baki’ storyline, it’s that Baki Hanma wants to defeat his father, Yuujirou Hanma, who is considered the strongest being on the planet. Nicknamed “the Ogre,” Yuujirou is a scary and immensely strong being who is as ruthless as any person can be. He was also just as ruthless toward Baki so that his son would become one of the strongest beings on the planet. So, does Yuujirou actually care about Baki?

Yuujirou Hanma cares about Baki but not in a fatherly way. The only thing that he cares about is seeing his son become strong enough to actually give him a good fight. That’s because Yuujirou only cares about fighting the strongest people on the planet and believes that only his son can be strong enough for him.

The thing about this father and son relationship between Yuujirou and Baki is that it is a very complex yet simple dynamic that focuses on the need for both of them to become stronger than the other. In that regard, Yuujirou’s “care” for Baki is that he wants his son to be strong no matter what. So, with that said, let’s look at this relationship in greater detail.

Why did Yuujirou leave Baki?

The entire storyline of ‘Baki’ started when Yuujirou Hanma decided to impregnate Baki’s mother, Emi Akezawa. He saw the ruthlessness in Emi, and that was why he decided that she was the best person suited for the job of carrying his seed and having his son. After impregnating Emi, Yuujirou just left and never even tried to help her raise their son.

In that regard, Emi was left to raise Baki alone because Yuujirou was never in the picture. But Emi wanted to be the one to raise Baki because she wanted Yuujirou to come back and give her the love and praise that she wanted from him. She knew that Yuujirou wanted their son to be strong enough to take him on, and that was why Emi forced Baki into fighting at a very young age, as all that she wanted was for Yuujirou to come back and see that she did a good job.

It is possible that Yuujirou also saw this side of Emi because the very reason why he was attracted to her was her ruthlessness and bloodthirsty side. He understood that Emi would do whatever was needed for Yuujirou to eventually give him the love and praise she wanted.

As such, he used Emi’s determination to his advantage because he thought she might be determined enough to win his love and push Baki into becoming the strongest fighter possible.

Of course, Yuujirou eventually returned disappointed because he saw that Baki was not yet up to par with his standards. That was why he decided to take the responsibility of being the one to train Baki. And this relationship between Baki and his father took a bad turn when Yuujirou killed Emi.

Does Yuujirou acknowledge Baki?

The thing about Baki’s relationship with his father is that it was initially one that was spiteful because all that Baki wanted to do was to become strong enough to defeat Yuujirou and take revenge for the death of his mother. It might be true that Emi didn’t care about Baki as a mother-and-son duo earlier in their life. But her motherly love eventually took over near the end of her life, as Baki also realized that he only wanted his mother to show her love for him.

But in the ‘Hanma Baki’ storyline, Baki realized that he may not have hated his father anymore. He initially challenged his father to a fight because he wanted to take revenge for what he did to Baki’s mother. But Baki learned to realize that he wanted a normal relationship with his father instead of having a relationship based on their mutual need to destroy one another.

Of course, Yuujirou saw things differently at the start. The only thing that he wanted was for his son to eventually become strong enough to defeat him. This was a dream that he thought was impossible early on because he thought that Baki was weak. Even though Baki had grown strong enough to defeat or match the prowess of the strongest fighters in the world, Yuujirou still saw him as someone who was not up to par with him.

But as Baki improved, Yuujirou realized that his “care” for Baki was growing stronger. Doppo Orochi even said that Yuujirou was “in love” because he was obsessed with the possibility of getting a good fight from his son. And that was when it became clear that all that Yuujirou cared about in relation to Baki was to see him becoming strong enough to take him on.

So, in a sense, the way that Yuujirou cared about Baki was twisted because the only thing that mattered to him was Baki becoming strong enough to give him the fight that he yearned for. He saw how Baki had grown to become a tough and capable fighter, and all that he needed to do was fight his own son to finally see just how far Baki had gone.

While Baki lost to his father in their battle, Yuujirou was pushed to his very limit. Baki was the first and only fighter to ever give him the tough fight he yearned for. Other than Yuuichirou Hanma, his own father, Baki was the only other fighter to force Yuujirou to give it his all. As such, while Baki did indeed lose his fight with his father, Yuujirou acknowledged his son’s strength and recognized him as a true Hanma.

Is Yuujirou Hanma a good person?

There is no way that Yuujirou was ever a good person. He was always someone who did what he wanted to do because he understood that no one on the planet would ever try to resist him. In fact, entire nations feared him because he could fight battalions of soldiers all on his own. This led the US to sign an alliance with him, as they knew they couldn’t go against the Ogre.

As such, throughout his life, Yuujirou did things he wanted to do without even thinking about whether or not he was doing the right thing. The only thing that mattered to him was that he wanted to do those things. He was always uncontested in the decisions that he made in his life, such as raping Jack Hanma’s mother and killing the husband of Baki’s mother.

In fact, Yuujirou sees people who are beneath him as beings who are worthless. Despite that, it was not beyond him to kill people far weaker than he was, as was the case when he killed Baki’s mother because she challenged him to fight to protect Baki from his brutality.

Even after Yuujirou became more of a father to Baki, he was still a wicked and arrogant man who could get away with doing horrible things just because he was the world’s strongest creature. And that is why he embodies how far absolute power can corrupt a person.