Every great warrior begins somewhere – this is Baki’s tale.
Earlier today, the official Baki anime website updated with a new trailer and visual, as well as three new cast members.
We break the details down below:
Trailer
The two-minute trailer introduces the show’s core plot beats, as a combination of text and character dialogue set the general tone. Ending theme song Resolve by Azusa Tadokoro plays as a background track.
Key Visual
The new visual features Baki, who is fighting off all takers, as the numerous muscle-bound marauders close in.
Cast
The series will add the following:
- Mitsunari Tokugawa: Mugihito
- Katsumi Orochi: Yoshihisa Kawahara
- Kozue Matsumoto: Sora Amamiya
- Narrator: Tohru Furuya
Visuals for the new characters were also revealed, which you can check out below:
Premiere
Baki hits Japanese TV on July 1. The full broadcast schedule is as follows (all times JST):
- Tokyo MX: 7/1/2018 at 24:30 (7/2/2018 at 12:30AM)
- Sun TV: 7/1/2018 at 25:00 (7/2/2018 at 1:00AM)
- TVQ Kyushu: 7/2/2018 at 27:00 (7/3/2018 at 3:00AM)
- TV Aichi: 7/3/2018 at 26:05 (7/4/2018 at 2:05AM)
- KBS Kyoto: 7/3/2018 at 24:30 (7/4/2018 at 12:30AM)
- Hokkaido TV: 7/7/2018 at 26:35 (7/8/2018 at 2:35AM)
Netflix will stream Baki worldwide in the Fall 2018 broadcast season. In Japan, the show will hit Netflix as it airs.
Toshiki Hirano (Devil Lady, Vampire Princess Miyu OVA) will direct the 26-episode series at TMS Entertainment, with Fujio Suzuki (Warau Salesman NEW, 009-1) providing character designs. Tatsuhiko Urahata (Black Bullet, GATE) is in charge of series composition.
Granrodeo will perform opening theme song Beastful, while Azusa Tadokoro performs closing theme Resolve.
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Baki Hanma: Nobunaga Shimazaki
- Dorian: Banjou Ginga
- Doyle: Takehito Koyasu
- Sikorsky: Kenjiro Tsuda
- Speck: Chafurin
- Yanagi Ryūkō: Issei Futamata
- Doppo Orochi: Takayuki Sugo
- Gōki Shibukawa: Bin Shimada
- Kaioh Retsu: Rikiya Koyama
- Kaoru Hanayama: Takuya Eguchi
Baki will focus on the manga’s “Most Evil Death Row Convicts” arc, which is set near the start of the Baki manga. The section revolves around five condemned criminals who escape from prison and make their way to Tokyo. There, they decide to pit their fists against Japan’s finest fighters in an underground martial arts tournament. Baki, himself, stands at the top as champion.
Netflix describes Baki as:
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! More than 63 million copies of the original manga series have been printed and the series will be comprised of 26 episodes for Netflix, produced by TMS Entertainment.
© Itagaki Keisuke (Weekly Shonen Champion) / Baki Production Committee
2016 marked the 25th anniversary of Keisuke Itagaki’s original Baki the Grappler (Grappler Baki) manga, which debuted in the pages of Weekly Shonen Champion in 1991. The series ran through 1999, and spanned 42 collected volumes.
Sequel series Baki launched in Weekly Shonen Champion in June 1999. The title ran in the publication through November 2005, spanning 31 compiled volumes.
Baki Hanma kicked off in the following issue of Weekly Shonen Champion, which hit newsstands on December 1, 2005. Baki Hanma ran through August 16, 2012, spanning 37 compiled books.
The most recent series, Baki-Dou is ongoing in Weekly Shonen Champion. The title began in March 2014, and currently spans 17 collected volumes.
Baki the Grappler received two TV 24-episode anime adaptations in 2001, as well as a 1994 OVA. Central Park Media released the OVA in the west on VHS and DVD, while Funimation distributed the TV adaptations.
Sources: Comic Natalie, Ota-suke
Baki Gets New Visual & Trailer, 3 Cast Members – Samantha Ferreira
