Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd.’s Kodama Tales subsidiary announced on Wednesday that it has licensed Keisuke Itagaki’s New Grappler Baki manga, the first sequel to the original 1991 series. The first two volumes will ship in November.
Itagaki’s original Baki The Grappler martial arts manga ran for 42 volumes in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from 1991 to 1999. Kodama Tales began publishing the manga worldwide in English in October.
The New Grappler Baki (known as just Baki in Japan) sequel manga ran for 31 volumes from 1999 to 2005. (Kodama Tales’ Wednesday announcement showed non-final cover art from the manga’s “Complete Edition,” which recompiled the manga into 17 volumes in Japan.) Media Do releases the manga in English.
After New Grappler Baki, Itagaki published the 37-volume Hanma Baki manga in Weekly Shōnen Champion from 2005 to 2012. The first Baki-Dou manga, the overall fourth main manga in the franchise, launched in Weekly Shōnen Champion in March 2014 and ended in April 2018 with 22 volumes.
A second Baki-Dou manga launched in Weekly Shōnen Champion in October 2018, and it ended in June 2023. (The second Baki-Dou manga uses different characters for “Baki” in the title from the previous Baki-Dou manga, although it retains the name “Baki-Dou.”) The latest main manga in the franchise, Baki Rahen, launched in Weekly Shōnen Champion in August 2023.
Takaaki Hayashi will launch a new Baki Gaiden spinoff manga titled Baki Gaiden Doppo: Hitori Nomi Kui Aruki (Baki Side Story Doppo: Drinking, Eating, Walking Alone) in Akita Publishing’s Champion RED magazine on May 19.
The new anime of Itagaki’s Baki (New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero) manga debuted its first season on Netflix in June 2018 inside Japan, and it ran for 26 episodes ending in December 2018. Netflix posted the first 13 episodes outside of Japan in December 2018, followed by the second half of the first season in March 2019.
The Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen anime then debuted worldwide on Netflix with all episodes at once in June 2020.
Baki Hanma is the third Baki series on Netflix, and a sequel to the Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen series. The anime debuted worldwide on Netflix in September 2021 with all 12 episodes.
The second season of Baki Hanma debuted worldwide on Netflix in July 2023, with the “Tale of Pickle & The Pickle War Saga” story. The anime’s “The Father VS Son Saga” story debuted in August 2023.
BAKI-DOU: The Invincible Samurai, the anime of the first Baki-Dou manga, premiered worldwide on Netflix on February 26. The anime’s first 13 episodes were made available all at once. The anime will also have a second cours (quarter of the year) that will stream exclusively on Netflix.
Update: Typo in headline fixed. Thanks, Ashen Phoenix
Source: Kodama Tales’ X/Twitter account
