News

Baki-Dou Manga Continues With New Serialization on October 4

This year's 43rd issue of Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine revealed on Thursday that Keisuke Itagaki will resume his Baki-Dou manga in the magazine's 45th issue on October 4. For two consecutive issues, the manga will adorn the magazine's front cover, feature color opening pages, and have 100-page chapters.

The "new series" will use different characters for "Baki" in the title, although it will retain the name "Baki-Dou." The first Baki-Dou series ended in the magazine on April 5.

The announcement for the new series teases that Baki will face off against Japan's oldest and strongest "sumo god." The magazine previously revealed in April that the manga's fifth part was in the works and would feature the Japanese legendary sumo wrestler Nomi no Sukune. The wrestler supposedly had the first ever sumo match against Taima no Kehaya in 23 B.C.

The magazine's previous issue reported that the magazine will have an important announcement for the manga in the upcoming 43rd issue.

Itagaki's original Baki The Grappler martial arts manga ran for 42 volumes in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from 1991 to 1999. The manga has more than 63 million copies in circulation. The Baki sequel manga ran for 31 volumes from 1999 to 2005. Media Do licensed the manga and released the first volume digitally in August.

Gutsoon! Entertainment released the first 46 chapters of the original manga in English under the title Baki The Grappler in the Raijin Comics anthology in 2002-2004.

After Baki, Itagaki published the 37-volume Hanma Baki manga in Weekly Shōnen Champion from 2005 to 2012. Baki-Dou, the fourth manga in the franchise, launched in Weekly Shōnen Champion in March 2014 and ended with 22 volumes.

The original series has received two television anime adaptations and an original animation video. The new Baki anime series, which adapts the sequel Baki manga, premiered on Netflix on June 25. The anime later premiered on television in Japan on July 1, and it is slated to premiere on Netflix outside of Japan this fall.

Source: Weekly Shōnen Champion issue 44