Baoh the Visitor
- This article is about the series. For this series' protagonist, see Ikuro Hashizawa.
Baoh (バオー来訪者 Baō Raihōsha, lit. "Baoh: The Visitor") is a manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki; originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1985, and later compiled into two tankōbon volumes.
The manga was licensed in English and released in monthly chapters by VIZ Media in 1990. Financially unsuccessful, it was not until 1995 that they released it in tankōbon format.
The series was adapted into a single-episode original video animation (OVA) by Studio Pierrot in 1989; licensed for an English DVD release by AnimEigo in 2000, delayed until finally released in 2002.
Synopsis
Teenager Ikuro Hashizawa (橋沢 育朗, Hashizawa Ikurō) is kidnapped by the Judas Laboratory and turned into a Baoh, a bioweapon with super-human strength and other abilities.
He escapes with the help of Violet, a 10-year-old psychic girl who also was kept by the Judas group. Professor Kasuminome (Hazyeye in the English manga), head scientist at Judas, sends various assassins and monsters to try and kill Ikuro, in means of stopping the Baoh virus from spreading and infecting the world.
One of the assassins, Dorudo, manages to kidnap Violet to lure Ikuro, but his unauthorized actions makes Judas have him executed by Walken, the giant psychic. In his attempt to save Violet, Ikuro destroys Walken's headgear, the only thing keeping his power under control, and the whole facility explodes, killing several scientists of Judas, Kasuminome and Walken.
Ikuro is left dormant at the bottom of the sea, but Violet has a last vision: He's stil alive and will come back years later to meet her again.
Trivia
- Baoh was Araki's first series to display his signature amount of over-the-top gore.
- In episode 10 of the Anime, Joseph is seen in a flashback reading Baoh (the same scene in the manga used Superman).
- All Star Battle will be the first game that Baoh has appeared in and he will be the only character Araki created to not be from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as he comes from his own manga that predates JJBA.
