| Takayama | |
 | |
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Kanji Name | 高山 |
| Kana Name | たかやま |
| First Appearance | |
| Anime | None |
| Manga | Ask Baki!! |
| Information | |
| Origin | Japan |
| Age | About 18 |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Fighting Style | Boxing |
| Relations | Miyasaka (Coach) |
Takayama (高山, Takayama) is a fictional character from manga series of Baki the Grappler.
Personality[]
Takayama is extremely arrogant and confident. Due to constantly being surrounded by his fans and media, he clearly feels like a big star at his school. His high ego even allows him to push his own coach about to the point that he hit him with an elbow, knocking his teeth out. Initially, Takayama thinks his boxing skills are the best and acts as if no one is stronger than him. His attitude begins to change when he is easily defeated by Baki Hanma, who wanted to teach him a little lesson. He is later openly able to admit that he is not the number one in combat at their school (which is shown in his encounter with Ogino).
He's great at pretending to be much nicer than he really is. Takayama is a good actor and he can even greet with his coach in a friendly manner only to break a cigarette in his mouth a moment later with a boxing punch and demeaningly criticize him for smoking. He can brilliantly manipulate others to make the situation work out in his favor. He even managed to provoke Baki into agreeing to fight him (although it is also thanks to Baki's love for fighting).
He is so focused on himself that he has no empathy for others, a good example of which is the aforementioned cruel striking of his own coach or other signs of treating him like someone inferior, such as completely not bothering to clean the boxing gym and leaving that job 100 percent to the coach. Takayama was very unhappy when for a moment journalists took interest in Baki, who won the karate championship. He practically immediately wanted to draw attention back to himself, and then decided to challenge Baki, wanting to prove his superiority.
Appearance[]
Takayama is a tall man with a muscular physical build. He has masculine facial features and a broad nose. He wears his black hair cut short. Takayama has a scar near his left eyebrow. He has black or dark brown eyes. Each time he is shown wearing a white shirt with a part of his chest exposed. He wears black pants. Both the shirt and the pants are part of the school uniform.
History[]
Baki the Grappler[]
Underground Arena Saga[]
He meets Baki Hanma and Kozue Matsumoto on their way to school. Takayama starts to provoke Baki and talks to him about how Baki won the karate championship. Eventually, Miyasaka, Takayama's coach, walks up to them. He tells the young boxer that reporters are gathering around the school to talk to Takayama. The boxer breaks a cigarette in Miyasaki's mouth with one punch to show off and bids Baki goodbye with a sinister smile.
As the reporters talk to Takayama about the upcoming championships, they suddenly notices Baki. They run up to him and start asking questions about the karate tournament, and the young boxer gets jealous. A shot put is taking place next to them and Takayama takes the ball right in the face to get attention, and then throws it at the school fence, making a hole in it. Takayama starts talking to Baki about the boy hiding his skills as a great athlete. The boxer challenges the young karate master, who initially protests but eventually agrees.
Takayama comes to the boxing gym with his friends, and Baki is already waiting for him. The boxer says he wants to spar with Baki, and coach Miyasaka starts protesting. He grabs Takayama's arm, wanting to stop him, and the young boxer hits him contemptuously with an elbow and knocks the coach's teeth out. When Baki sees this, he gets angry and says to Takayama that he wants to fight him for real instead of sparring. The young boxer starts talking about what he thinks is the fastest move in hand-to-hand combat and shows him his jab technique. Baki doesn't even comment on it and they start a battle. Takayama attacks immediately with a jab, and Baki easily grabs his fist as he moves and begins to squeeze it. After a moment, he starts telling Takayama that there's a lots of things in the world of hand-to-hand combat that the young boxer doesn't even know about, and then squeezes his fist even harder, wanting to break it. The match is stopped by coach Miyasaka, who says that he has high hopes for Takayama despite everything.
Later, Takayama appears once more in the Underground Arena Saga. At the Kita High School, he meets Ogino and other street thugs. Ogino tells Takayama that he has come to find the strongest fighter from the Ko School. The young boxer tells him that, contrary to rumors, he is not the strongest of the school, but his skills are completely sufficient to defeat Ogino. Takayama fights off one of the thugs and easily knocks him out, and then Ogino walks towards him and immediately pulls out a bat and throws it at the boxer's leg. Takayama takes painful damage and begins to be attacked by Ogino, who brutally beats him down. Suddenly, it turns out that Baki watches the situation from afar and finds that Takayama has become stronger. He walks over to the beaten boxer and picks him up. Although Ogino tries to stop them, Baki leaves with Takayama to carry him to the school nurse.
Abilities[]
He is a young boxing champion. Takayama is a well-trained boxer and is very fast. He was able to crack a cigarette in coach Miyasaka's mouth. He doesn't have any special fighting techniques of his own, but his best move is a jab, which he is very proud of. At first he thinks no one can see the speed of his jab, but then Baki easily proves him wrong.
Takayama is easily able to knock out the average street thug or take a ball throw directly to the face, but at the same time his durability is low enough anyway that a hard hit with a bat to his leg caused him a lot of pain. His strength and fighting skills are much better than the average person's, but unfortunately, he is completely no match for the fighters like Baki Hanma, who was able to defeat him with ease.