The Real Life Jack Hanma

**Derek** (0:00)
So, interesting, as I was doing some research for this, I found a Reddit thread, and it was... I guess people... Are you familiar with Baki the Grappler? It's like an anime show?

**Brian** (0:13)
Yeah.

**Derek** (0:14)
The story of Jack Hanma?

**Brian** (0:16)
Yeah, it's a funny story. While I was in Turkey, I binged the entire show.

**Derek** (0:19)
Oh, really?

**Brian** (0:21)
So I only watched it while I was there.

**Derek** (0:22)
Would you recommend?

**Brian** (0:24)
It depends. If you're into over-the-top...

**Derek** (0:29)
Extreme violence...

**Brian** (0:30)
.extreme violence and like almost a... not even almost a caricature of masculinity, Yeah... .then yes, because it's a ridiculous show.

**Derek** (0:42)
So for anyone who's watching who doesn't know, I feel like a primer on the show might be worthwhile of why people call you the real Jack Hanma. So I wrote this down. Baki the Grappler is a Japanese manga and anime series focused on martial arts and extreme combat. It follows Baki Hanma, a young fighter striving to surpass his father, Yujiro Hanma. Hopefully I'm not butchering that pronunciation. The strongest creature on earth. The series explores brutal battles, unique characters and the psychology of strength. Jack Hanma is Baki's half brother and a relentless fighter obsessed with achieving ultimate power. Like Baki, he is a son of Yujiro Hanma, but his path is marked by a darker obsession with self-improvement and surpassing his physical limits. Jack's drive for strength led him to using dangerous experimental steroids and undergoing limb-lengthening surgery. Fueled by his frustration over his comparatively shorter stature, which he perceived as a weakness in his quest to become the strongest, the surgery involved breaking and extending his bones to increase his height.
Combined with his use of experimental drugs and an unforgiving training regimen, Jack's transformation symbolized his willingness to endure extreme pain and sacrifice for the sake of power. And I guess somebody was comparing you to him, and I guess it's like probably the most real life equivalent scenario that anyone could think of. And they were basically, the thread was about how, why don't people think this is cooler? Because in the show, it's badass, and everyone's supportive of it and thinks it's sick. And then in real life, people either want to see you fail, or they tell you you're insecure or whatever. And somebody who claimed to be you, who might have been you.

**Brian** (2:31)
It was me.

**Derek** (2:31)
Okay, replied. And you said, well, it was a reply to somebody saying, for some reason there, as in people who get the surgery done, fibulas remain permanently severed after the procedure. That's what I see in most x-rays of the people that have gone through the surgery. So I guess their ability to do regular things like sports or any kind of physical activity really is severely diminished for the rest of their lives. And you said your fibula is healed 100% and it's been 1.5 years and my other bones are still healing almost done, but still takes a minute. When I'm done healing, you better believe I'm gonna work out again and give Jack a run for his money.

**Brian** (3:12)
That sounds like me too, yeah. Even if I hadn't remembered saying that, that's me.

**Derek** (3:16)
So that was three months ago ish. So we're almost at the two year mark since surgery number one.

**Brian** (3:23)
No, December 2nd was the two year mark.

**Derek** (3:26)
Oh, damn, I know. Wow.

**Brian** (3:29)
When that hit, I was like, oh, man, it's been two years. It's been a road.

**Derek** (3:34)
What was your starting height? Five, 11 or six feet.

**Brian** (3:37)
So we in centimeters, it was it depends, right, because I measured myself at the beginning of the day and it's over 183 and then I measured myself in the evening and it was 182.5.

**Derek** (3:48)
So this is like if you weigh yourself before or after taking your morning piss, but like spine compression version, I would say morning height is the legit height.

**Brian** (3:59)
So that was just barely over six foot.

**Derek** (4:01)
Okay. Yeah. Okay. So then you went from that to six six or are you more than that now?

**Brian** (4:08)
No, no. So it's about that, right? So I have, I, I'm kind of holding off on giving myself like the official doctor, like, you know, height measurement until I'm perfectly healed, right? But every single time that I compare myself with someone who says they're six six, I'm taller, but I'm pretty sure that...

**Derek** (4:29)
Everyone fudges theirself.

**Brian** (4:30)
Yes, but that's what I was going to say. So I kind of based off of my, the level of fudginess that I think that's going on there, I think I'm about six six. I might be six, five and a half. I might be six six in a little bit with shoes. Like, I don't know, but...