Baoh: Research Notes

Tucker Report:

Title:

• Ba-Ou: Raihousha バオー来訪者 Ba-Oh/Ba-Ou:
• “Ba-Oh: the Visitor”
• Ba-Oh is two syllables and three beats
• The “Oh” is the same “Oh” in “Yuugi-Oh” (it means “king”), so just say “Bah” instead of “Yuugi”

Characters:

• Ikuro Hashizawa (橋沢 育朗, Hashizawa Ikurō)
  • 
    
• Sumire:
  • Su-mee-reh
• Dr. Kasuminome (霞の目博士, Kasuminome-hakase)
  • Break down the name into smaller parts to make it easier to pronounce: Kasumi-no-me
  • Literally means “hazy eye”

References:

• Chapter 1:
  • Bottle on the ground reading “De Palma,” reference to Bryan de Palma, who directed movies such as Carrie and Scarface
• Chapter 2:
  • Dude has Scarface label on shirt
  • Box of matches is branded with Streets of Fire, a 1984 movie about an evil biker gang led by Willem Defoe. Same director as the Warriors.
  • “Carpenter” written on a sign that flies out during the explosion, obvious reference to director John Carpenter
• Chapter 5:
  • License plate of car begins with “BT”
    MaxyBee:

- Baoh is maybe Shonen Jump’s most successful flop (in Japan). It’s this or Hareluya by Haruto Umezawa, for very different reasons.

- Araki’s second proper serial. Ran for 17 chapters from May 1984 to February 1985, collected in 2 volumes as 9 chapters.

- Was in a two-series block along with Jun Tomizawa’s Gakuen Jouhoubu H.I.P., a goofy comedy series about a High-school Intelligence Party that outlived Baoh by some 12 chapters.

- Baoh was replaced by Mister Lion, a series I know almost nothing about, because it was a huge failure by a little-known author.

- Viz ran Baoh as individual comic issues (as was the style at the time) in 1990 that sold terribly, and eventually release it as two volumes in 1995. How badly did it do? Viz had declared in their newsletter back in the 90s their intentions to publish a little series called “The Strange Adventures of JoJo”, and Baoh bombing killed that off completely, to the point that it took until 2005 for them to actually make it happen at all.

- Was adapted four years after it ended as an OVA (think of an OVA as equivalent to a ‘straight to video’ film), possibly because of the success of a certain Bizarre Adventure. The anime cut out a bit to fit the runtime, like the granny-beating, horse-betting, or ape-fighting, among other stuff.

- Baoh is a playable fighter in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, both in its original release and recent remaster.

- Baoh has TWO action figures in Medicos’ JoJo Super Action Statue line. For an idea of how notable that is, so does Jonathan Joestar.

- The series has been rereleased as a single volume collection, and is still available digitally in Japan.

- Elements of Baoh’s design and powers have been used in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure for Star Platinum and Kars respectively.

- Yes, Walken is named after Christopher Walken.