The latest installment of Baki Rahen, the sixth and ongoing manga series in Keisuke Itagaki’s long-running Baki the Grappler franchise, features cameos by two characters, “Trunp” and “Elom,” who are very obviously based on U.S. president Donald Trump and guy who hangs around acting like the U.S. president, Elon Musk. Let’s just say they don’t have a very good time.
[Ed. note: This article contains references to sexual assault.]
The chapter in question, published in Weekly Shōnen Champion, sees Trump introduce Musk to Baki antagonist Yuujirou Hanma, a fearsome martial artist to whom the United States has sworn an oath of non-aggression. In a conversation leading up to their meeting, Elom doesn’t believe one man can be so powerful as to warrant such a pact, but Trunp insists Yuujirou’s brute strength makes him a danger to the entire United States.
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Elom says. “Can we not just arrest him?”
“Everyone’s hopeless,” Trunp replies, “down to the military!”
The shocked look on Elom’s face slowly turns into excitement before the billionaire asks: “Might I meet him?”
Some time later, Trunp and Elom approach Yuujirou, any prior confidence they had melting away into sheer, sweat-soaked dread as they behold the mercenary’s impossibly muscular body and terrifying aura. Yuujirou, annoyed by the distraction, throws a punch at the Musk-like that stops just short of the businessman’s head but still manages to push the skin on his face back with the energy it generated. And finally, he threatens the two men with sexual assault.
“Call your security in, too,” Yuujirou says on the final page, his eyes turning white and a devilish grin spreading across his face. “More the merrier.”
Thinly veiled parodies of American politicians and Yuujirou’s penchant for sexual violence have apparently been common during Baki’s three-decade run. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden have all made appearances as obsequious victims of the cast’s strength. In one comic, Trunp begged a sleeping Yuujirou not to accept the Biden stand-in as president after the 2020 election, reflecting his actions in real life, and was promptly beat to a pulp after trying to wake the martial artist up.
As uncomfortable as it is to see even someone as evil as Yuujirou threaten rape so bluntly, it all feels tied up in Trump’s own history of sexual abuse. In 2023, a jury found the president liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
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