Baki the Grappler
Grappler Baki (Japanese: グラップラー刃牙, Hepburn: Gurappurā Baki), known as Baki the Grappler in North America, is a manga series written and illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from 1991 to 1999 and collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by Akita Shoten. The story follows teenager Baki Hanma as he trains and tests his fighting skills against a variety of different opponents in deadly, no rules hand-to-hand combat.
The series was followed by three sequels in the same magazine; Baki (バキ, officially romanized as New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero), which was serialized from 1999 to 2005 and collected into 31 volumes, Baki Hanma (範馬刃牙, Hanma Baki, officially romanized as Baki: Son of Ogre), which was serialized from 2005 to 2012 and collected into 37 volumes, and Baki-Dou (刃牙道, Baki Dō, lit. “Baki’s Style”), which was serialized from 2014 to 2018 and collected into 22 volumes. A fifth series, also named Baki-Dou (バキ道, officially romanized as Bakidou[2]) but with Baki’s name written in katakana instead of kanji, began on October 4, 2018.
A 45-minute original video animation (OVA) was released in 1994. A 24-episode anime aired on TV Tokyo between January 8 and June 25, 2001, and was quickly followed by a second 24-episode series from July 22 to December 24, 2001. An original net animation (ONA) was released on Netflix between June 25 and September 24, 2018, followed by a second season that was released on June 4, 2020. The third season is scheduled to premiere in fall 2021. The OVA was the first to be licensed and released in North America, in 1998 by Central Park Media, followed by the original manga series in 2002 by Gutsoon! Entertainment (incomplete), and finally both anime series in 2005 by Funimation Entertainment. Media Do International began releasing the second manga series digitally in August 2018. As of May 2021, the first four Baki series had over 85 million copies in circulation.
Baki Hanma is raised by his wealthy mother, Emi Akezawa, who also funds his training in the hopes that he can be a powerful warrior like his father, Yujiro Hanma. Around the start of the series, Baki outgrows traditional training and heads out to follow the path of his ruthless father’s training and meets many powerful fighters along the way. Eventually, Baki fights his father and is beaten without a challenge.
After being beaten, Baki travels around the world continuing his training. Years down the road he finds an underground fighting arena where he fights some of the most powerful fighters of various styles of martial arts. It is here he truly begins to hone his martial arts skills.
