I can't call myself a hardcore Baki fan, I always view it as something of a guilty pleasure because I always considered Itagaki, truth be told, a bit of a dumb fuck: with his nationalism, etc. Mind you, he probably would think the same of me, so it's whatever, really not trying to rip on the man, but as of late, I kinda went back and read through recent chapters and I finally read that ogre chapter.

So, um...am I the only one who kinda feels like Itagaki might be closeted gay? Or, well, bi, doesn't matter: between how well and unique his male designs are (honestly, man can draw some good guys, and his depiction of man is rather unique compared to average mangas), his obsession with muscles and strength, and now this...It really feels like some sort of trauma, you know?

I mean, Itagaki was never consistent, but my man literally did "Yeah, he rapes whoever he wants, hehe" to Yujiro after trying to humanize him for the past 3 arcs. Like, there is stupid shit, and then there is some shit that makes no narrative sense: remove the rape, and just have that guy get scared by Yujiro, and it would all be the same. If you ask me, this reeks of some deep insecurity (which, given his views on America and Japan, is not that surprising, I guess)

I used to just shit on him, and I probably still will, but man, you know? Like, it is a fairly known fact that people with trauma kinda casually throw that shit out without actually clocking it, so it is not out of realm of possibilities that it might be just that (and when I say trauma, I don't mean anything extreme - living while being unable to be your real self can already be traumatic enough.) Then again, didn't he also serve in military? Maybe this isn't a can of worms I need to get into: I mean, I already blocked out that rape scene with Pickle because...like, you really didn't have to do my sweet boy like that.

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Edit: I slept on it, and read a bit further ahead (to the point where Jack comes back) and I just wanted to share some extra thoughts that I had, since people replied to this more than I thought they would. After seeing Yujiro threaten to rape Tokugawa, and after another whole chapter of explaining why it is totally "fine" that he wants to rape, I am practically convinced that Itagaki has some trauma. Simply look at Jack or Sukune: Itagaki draws men that are perfectly civil and gentle, but then he does that to Yujiro for no good reason. Not trying to theory craft, but it really feels like attempts of someone with trauma to try and rationalize why "it was actually no big deal" - what is the moral of the story, that raping is fine as long as you are an alpha male that rapes women? That is why I say that I don't think Itagaki even clocks that - and given that he is a boomer that served in military, well, all I am saying is that maybe some therapy might've helped. Shame, because I think Baki could've been so much better if Itagaki wasn't constantly battling with his demons.