Grappler Baki

Grappler Baki (グラップラー刃牙) is a Japanese manga by Keisuke Itagaki, who is both writer and artist. The first series ran from September 1991 to 1999 in the weekly Weekly Shonen Champion, published by Akita Shoten. The number of collected volumes differs between sources: English Wikipedia gives 42, Japanese Wikipedia 43, because it adds one side volume (gaiden) to the 42 main volumes. The story follows the teenage Baki Hanma, who trains and tests his fighting abilities against a series of opponents. The first series was followed by further series under their own titles: Baki, Baki Hanma, Baki-Dou, Bakidou and Baki Rahen. The manga pits fighters from traditional martial arts, professional wrestling, boxing and sumo against one another. The central theme is bouts between styles and mixed fights. The author has his own experience with combat sports: according to English Wikipedia he holds a second dan in Shorinji Kempo and practised amateur boxing during his military service. An OVA (1994), a television anime series (2001) and, since 2018, an adaptation for Netflix were made from the manga.

Martial arts in this work

Fact and fiction

According to Japanese Wikipedia, the manga depicts a wide range of styles: traditional martial arts, professional wrestling, boxing and sumo. The theme is clashes between styles and mixed fights in which representatives of different disciplines face each other. The sources do not discuss individual martial arts and their models one by one. According to English Wikipedia, Keisuke Itagaki (real name Hiroyuki Itagaki, born 4 April 1957) holds a second dan black belt in Shorinji Kempo. He served five years in the 1st Airborne Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and also competed as an amateur boxer at the National Sports Festival. We have not been able to document from the sources whether and how he put these experiences into specific fights in the manga.

People and martial arts

• Keisuke ItagakiAuthor· Shorinji Kempo (real practitioner)

Details

Status

Completed

Demographic

Shonen

First published / aired

Weekly Shonen Champion (Akita Shoten)