| Roland Istaz | |
 | |
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Kana Name | ローランド・イスタス |
| First Appearance | |
| Anime | Start! |
| Manga | The Festival Has Begun!! |
| Information | |
| Origin | Sweden |
| Age | Unknown |
| Hair Color | Blonde |
| Height | 189 cm (6'2) |
| Weight | 112 kg (247 Ibs) |
| Fighting Style | Catch-as-catch-can Style |
| Original Dub | Eiji Yanagisawa (2001) Akeno Watanabe (2001, Child) |
| English Dub | Andy Mullins (2001) |
| Relations | Bill Riley (Trainer) |
Roland Istaz (ローランド・イスタス, Rōrando Isutasu), romanized as Roland Eustass in the English Fan-Translation, is a fictional character from anime and manga series of Baki the Grappler. In the anime his name was changed to Roland Gustaf (ローランド・グスタフ, Rōrando Gusutafu).
His nickname is the "Joint Maniac" (関節愛好家, Kansetsu Aikōka). Katsumi called him "Mr. Submission" (ミスター関節技, Misutā Kansetsu-waza). The way of his fighting style is known as the "Joint Fetish" (ジョイントフェチ, Jointo Fechi).
Personality
The most important thing about his personality is his obsession about separating the things that are connected, whether it is some common item or a human joint. He is a person who usually talks and acts calmly.
He also proves to be quite an arrogant person, believing that his techniques are far superior than that of any other martial artists. That arrogance leads him to do stupid things, such as trying to do a wrestling match with a lion. On the other hand, he also shown to have a quite skittish attitude like when Yuujirou Hanma approached him.
Appearance
He is a muscular Swedish man with blue eyes and short blonde hair. He is wearing a a dark blue short, red boots and black T-shirt which he takes off when fighting.
In the manga there is a great incoherence regarding his hair. When he is a child his hair is brown, when he becomes an adult it is black and in the present it is blonde (it looks white in the manga).
History
Baki the Grappler
Past
Since he was a child, he had the obsession about separate everything that was together, both machine objects and even couples on the street. When he grew up, he joined the catch as catch can wrestling gym where he learned to separate his opponent's joints. At some point he no longer had anyone to train with in that gym, which made him want to go to other places in the world to train his technique.
He was invited to the Underground Arena as one of the 36 fighters of the Maximum Tournament.
Abilities
He fights using a style of wrestling that specializes in dislocating the bones of his opponent. Roland used the technique that was similar to the Decapitating Cross Armlock. It can be seen that he used that move in a flashback when he fought a lion during his travels in Africa. Like Yuujirou, he has the ability to anatomical visualize the opponent's body, however Roland can see only the skeleton of his opponent.
Techniques
Gallery
Trivia
- He is based on the real-life Belgian professional wrestler Karl Charles Istaz.