Keisuke Itagaki‘s Baki martial arts manga series is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, prompting the release of a new, commemorative illustration from Itagaki.
An anniversary video with the song “BAKI MENTAL” by POCYOMKIN, RUDEBWOY FACE, and TAKE-M was also released. A press release says that the song “explores the central questions that define BAKI: What is strength? and What does it mean to fight?” and that its lyrics translate “the series’ raw violence, solitude, and relentless pursuit of power into music rooted in hip-hop’s survival spirit.”
© Keisuke Itagaki (AKITASHOTEN)
More 35th anniversary projects will be announced “throughout 2026.”
The Akita Shoten-published Baki manga series started in 1991 with Baki the Grappler, which ran in Weekly Shonen Champion. It was followed by several main “parts” and spin-offs, with Part 6, Baki Rahen, beginning serialization in 2023. In 2024, it was reported that the series’ cumulative circulation numbers had surpassed 100 million copies.
An English-language physical release of Baki the Grappler from Kodama Tales, based on the kanzenban release and named Baki the Grappler (Perfect Edition), made its debut in October 2025. The Volume 1 synopsis reads:
A mysterious seventeen-year-old boy with a white belt enters a karate tournament and shakes the foundations of Japan’s martial arts scene. As he effortlessly defeats all opponents, the world’s top fighters are left to ask: just who is this bizarrely strong young man, and what is he trying to accomplish?
An OVA titled Grappler Baki: The Ultimate Fighter was released in 1994. Years later, a TV anime debuted in 2001. 2018 saw the start of a new anime that adapted the second part of the Baki story.
The new anime was followed by a 2020 second season, 2021’s Baki Hanma, and 2023’s Baki Hanma Season 2, and a Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura crossover. February 26, 2026 will see the premiere of the latest Baki anime, Baki-Dou: The Invincible Samurai, on Netflix.
Source: Press release
