is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki. It was originally serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion from September 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 five sequels in the same magazine; , which was serialized from 1999 to 2005 and collected into 31 volumes, , which was serialized from 2005 to 2012 and collected into 37 volumes, , which was serialized from 2014 to 2018 and collected into 22 volumes, a fifth series, also named but with Baki's name written in katakana instead of kanji, serialized from 2018 to 2023 and collected into 17 volumes, and , serialized from 2023.
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. A third series was released from September 30, 2021, to August 24, 2023, and an anime adaptation of Baki-Dou was released on February 26, 2026; a second cours was released in June 2026. An anime adaptation of Baki Gaiden: Retsu Kaio wa Isekai Tensei Shitemo Ikkō Kamawan! has been announced. 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. Kodama Tales began publishing the manga series in English worldwide in October 2025.
The Baki series is one of the best-selling manga series of all time, with over 100 million copies in circulation.
Plot
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. Emi, who tries to save him, is killed by Yujiro, causing Baki to hate him.
After being beaten, Baki travels around the world continuing his training. Years later, 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. He intends to get stronger, surpass his father, and continue to endure and survive the numerous hurdles he encounters in his journey.
Tells the story of the young Baki Hanma who enters a world of illegal underground fights and quickly becomes the champion of the fighting arena below the Tokyo Dome stadium. Later in the story, Baki's past is shown, in which a 13-year-old Baki trains to defeat his father Yujiro Hanma in battle, doing so to earn his mother's love. After Emi interrupts Baki and Yujiro's fight, the latter murders her and Baki swears revenge. Back in the present day, the promoter of the underground arena, Mitsunari Tokugawa arranges for a special tournament titled the "Maximum Tournament" to be held in order to decide who is the strongest fighter in the world. After winning all of his fights, Baki fights Jack Hammer, his half-brother and another son of Yujiro.
Set shortly after the conclusion of the previous series, it showcases Baki's attempts at going to study at high school like a regular teenager. However, his efforts are cut short when five death row inmates escape confinement and head to Tokyo in order to "know defeat". These inmates are the American Kung-fu fighter Dorian, the British assassin Hector Doyle, the Russian convict Sikorsky with a powerful pinching ability, the American Spec with a formidable lung capacity, and the Japanese poisoner Ryuko Yanagi. Following Baki's fight with Yanagi, the former becomes fatally poisoned and is flown to China to participate in the Chinese "Great Raitai Tournament" to save his life. Following a match against a Chinese poison master who reverses Baki's poisoning, Baki is saved and proceeds to fight alongside his allies in the tournament. Following the tournament's conclusion, the son of Mohammad Alai, Mohammad Alai Jr., challenges Baki to win over the heart of Baki's girlfriend, Kozue. When the fight between the two ends, Baki challenges his father for a rematch to conclude his career as a fighter. Yujiro accepts this invitation and declares Baki to be worthy of being his "prey".
Begins with Baki meeting an elementary school student named Rumina, who challenges him to a fight after being pressured to do so by bullies. Baki "defeats" Rumina and shows him a shadow boxing fight against a 100-kilogram praying mantis. Following this fight, Baki kidnaps George W. Bosch to enter Arizona State Prison, home of the strongest man in America, Biscuit Oliva. In the prison, Baki meets with Jun Guevara and later fights Oliva. In the meantime, scientists in Colorado find and reanimate a man who lived in the Jurassic era. The man, named "Pickle", only eats those he defeats in battle, and after he assaults a news reporter on live television, the various fighters of the story take an interest in Pickle and proceed to fight him. Baki eventually matches against Pickle as well, driving the ancient man to his limits. After the conclusion of the fight, Baki finishes training for the fight against his father. Later, Baki and Yujiro dine in a high-class restaurant, but when Baki questions Yujiro regarding the death of his mother, their battle finally erupts. After a long fight that takes place over the entire night in Shinjuku, the clash concludes.
Following the conclusion of the fight between Baki and Yujiro, the fighters of the story find themselves dealing with an incredible amount of boredom, as the clash between the father and son was the "peak" of what the world had to offer fighting-wise. This changes when Tokugawa utilizes cloning technology to revive Musashi Miyamoto, the legendary Japanese samurai of the 17th century. The revived Musashi battles some of the world's strongest fighters; however, his unique approach to fighting brings about different results than some of them initially expected.
Nomi no Sukune II, a descendant of the legendary figure Nomi no Sukune, who is said the be the founder of sumo wrestling, decides to take part in Tokugawa's underground arena. Former yokozuna Kinryūzan succeeds in getting several active professional sumo wrestlers to also compete against regulars of the arena, such as Baki.
Follows Baki's half-brother, Jack Hanma, and his clashes with the series' other warriors as he utilizes his new original martial art "Goudou" ('The Way of Biting') in his battles. These occur after Jack challenged most of the series' cast to fight near the end of the fifth series. Eventually, Jack has a rematch with Pickle in the underground arena. He does so after wishing to see Pickle suffer in despair like he did following his initial defeat against the ancient man in the third series.
Production When asked how he is able to continue the series for over 30 years, Keisuke Itagaki said he believes it is because of all the eccentric characters; "It's not me who comes up with the story, the characters create it." He said he learned the importance of creating interesting characters in his first ten minutes at Kazuo Koike's Gekiga Sonjuku school for aspiring manga artists, which he joined in 1987. Itagaki also said he is always thinking of how to create non-traditional conclusions to the fights, in order to avoid the continuous introduction of increasingly stronger opponents often seen in battle manga, citing the Baki versus Yujiro fight as a good example.
Itagaki said he gives even the toughest male characters their own kind of beauty. He created Baki Hanma by copying an illustration of a girl by Keibun Ōta and adding masculine touches, such as raising the eyebrows and thickening the neck. He used feminine eyes in the style of artist Pater Sato as reference for those of the character Kaoru Hanayama. Although he always draws the hands of characters in the series large, Hanayama's hands in particular are made large enough to completely hide his face. Before he came up with the "demon face" that appears on Yujiro's back, Itagaki considered giving him a dragon tattoo where the limbs of the dragon blended into his own. But then he saw a photograph of a bodybuilder whose back looked like a Heikegani crab, which resemble human faces, and got the idea to deform it even further and use a more ferocious expression.
Itagaki imitated the ending scene of the 1982 American film Rocky III for the match between Antonio Igari and Mount Toba in Grappler Baki Gaiden. When it was announced that the Baki Hanma series would be ending in ten chapters, Itagaki had not yet thought up what he would draw. He also said that he originally decided that Baki Hanma would be the end of the franchise. But, just before the fight between Baki and his father was to begin, he suddenly had the thought, "What would happen if Musashi Miyamoto was born in the modern day?", leading to Baki-Dou. When asked about the titles of Baki-Dou and Bakidou, Itagaki said that with the story of a parent-child conflict concluded in Baki Hanma, he shifted to the theme of "What does it mean to be strong?" and the word came to mind.
Media Manga Main series
Baki the Grappler was serialized in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from September 30, 1991, to 1999, with the chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes. It was licensed for a North American release by Gutsoon! Entertainment, who published the first 46 chapters in their English-language manga anthology magazine Raijin Comics. The magazine's first issue was released on December 18, 2002, but in July 2004 it was discontinued. Four collected volumes were planned by Gutsoon!, but it is unknown if they were released. In May 2025, Kodama Tales announced it had licensed the series for a worldwide English release. They published the kanzenban edition both physically and digitally between October 2025 and September 2026.
The second manga series, simply titled Baki, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from 1999 to November 24, 2005, and collected into 31 volumes. It was licensed for English release by Media Do International, who released it digitally between August 2018 and August 2019. In April 2026, Kodama announced they will begin publishing the second manga series in November under the "New Grappler Baki" title.
Baki Hanma was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from December 1, 2005, to August 16, 2012, and collected into 37 volumes. It was followed by Baki-Dou, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from March 20, 2014, to April 5, 2018, and collected into 22 volumes. The fifth series has the same name as the fourth, but with Baki's name written in katakana instead of kanji. Bakidou was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from October 4, 2018, to June 15, 2023, and collected into 17 volumes. Baki Rahen began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Champion on August 24, 2023.
Gaiden ― Set immediately after the Maximum Tournament, it depicts a wrestling match between Antonio Igari and Mount Toba. Nine chapters were published in one volume in 1999. An epilogue for Igari ran in Weekly Shōnen Champions 48th issue on October 27, 2022. ― Side story that develops at the same time as volume 15 of the second manga. One volume was published in 2002.