News

New Baki Anime's Promo Video Reveals More Cast, Japanese TV Airing, MX4D Screening

A Niconico Live stream for the new anime of Keisuke Itagaki's Baki (New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero) manga debuted a new full promotional video on Saturday. Both the steam and the promotional video reveal additional cast members, and they also announced the anime will get both television broadcasts in Japan and a MX4D screening of the first episode. The video features Azusa Tadokoro's ending theme song "Resolve" and Granrodeo's opening theme song "Beastful."

The newly announced cast members are:

Tohru Furuya will provide the narration.

In addition to the previously announced Netflix premiere screenings, the anime will run on the Tokyo MX 1, Sun TV, TV Q Kyuushuu, TV Aichi, KBS Kyoto, and Hokkaido TV channels. The anime will start running on Tokyo MX1 on July 1, about one week after it starts running on Netflix on June 25.

The first episode will screen with immersive MX4D technology at Tokyo's Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills on June 30. Baki voice actor Nobunaga Shimazaki and the as-yet-unannounced voice actor for Yūjirō Hanma will appear at the screening for a talk show segment.

The website also posted a new key visual:

Nobunaga Shimazaki voices the protagonist Baki Hanma. Masami Kikuchi voiced the character in previous Baki anime.

The other cast members include:

Kenjiro Tsuda as Sikorsky

Takehito Koyasu as Doyle

Issei Futamata as Yanagi Ryūkō

Banjou Ginga as Dorian

Chafurin as Speck

Netflix will premiere the anime this summer inside Japan, and this fall outside of Japan. The series will have 26 episodes, and will also air on television.

Netflix describes the story:

The protagonist, Baki Hanma, trains with an intense focus to become strong enough to surpass his father, Yujiro Hanma, the strongest fighter in the world. Five of the world's most violent and brutal death row inmates are gathering to face Baki. Their objective is to taste defeat -- their unmatched strength and skill have led them to grow bored of life itself, and they now seek out Baki in the hopes that he can overwhelm and utterly crush them. In this crisis, other underground martial art warriors gather to fight by Baki's side: Kaoru Hanayama, Gouki Shibukawa, Retsu Kaioh, and Doppo Orochi. An epic showdown between violent death row inmates and Baki and his friends begins!

The anime will feature the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" arc from the manga, which features underground ring fighters in the no-rules combat environment of death row convicts.

Toshiki Hirano (Rayearth, Dangaioh, Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment (Lupin III, ReLIFE). Fujio Suzuki (Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo, 009-1, New Getter Robo) is designing the characters. Tatsuhiko Urahata (DNA², Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Tsuredure Children) is in charge of series composition.

Baki is the second installment in Itagaki's overall series. The manga ran for 31 volumes in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1999 to 2005. The manga recently inspired an original anime DVD (OAD) adaptation that also depicts the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" arc. The OAD was bundled with a limited edition of Itagaki's 14th Baki-Dou manga volume in December 2016.

Itagaki's original Baki The Grappler martial arts manga ran for 42 volumes in Weekly Shonen Champion magazine from 1991 to 1999. The manga has more than 63 million copies in circulation. The series has received two television anime adaptations and an original animation video.

After the Baki sequel manga finished in 2005, Hanma Baki then ran in the same magazine from 2005 to 2012. The Baki-Dou sequel series launched in Weekly Shonen Champion in March 2014 as the third sequel to the original Baki The Grappler manga, and it ended on April 5. The manga's fifth part is in the works.

Source: Baki anime's official website