For years, the legendary and bizarre Baki the Grappler series has never gotten a proper English publication despite it being one of the best-selling manga of all time (more than 100 million copies in circulation) and its availability in different languages such as French and Italian. Finally, this is changing starting this Fall as a relatively new but high-quality publisher is taking on the large task of bringing Keisuke Itagaki’s eccentric masterpiece to fans all around the world, and in an incredibly fast schedule that will have the English version catch up to the currently serialising part in a few years.
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In this year’s exciting San Diego Comic Con event, KodamaTales, the publisher that confirmed they were picking up the Baki series for an English publication a few months ago, revealed that their current strategy is to publish two volume of Baki every month, and since each volume are 2-in-1, this means that Kodama will put out the equivalent of 4 Japanese Baki volumes. This is an incredibly fast schedule that is hard to come by among English manga publishers, and for those worried that it might affect the quality of the releases, fear not, as Kodama’s upcoming release of the first two volumes of Baki Grappler is very high quality and features exclusive bonuses.
Baki Is Finally Getting The Release It Deserves
Despite its massive popularity worldwide and how successful the anime is on Netflix, the manga is yet to get a full English publication. The only physical release in English of the series is Part 1, Grappler Baki, with 46 officially translated chapters in 2002, but no volumes have been released. New Grappler Baki had a digital release from August 2018 to 2019, but there are currently no physical editions out, and the digital version is only for the second part of the franchise.
Baki is one of the most unique manga out there, whose quirky aspects belie just how brilliant and powerful its storytelling is. While it does see the titular protagonist undergo many wild adventures, such as tournaments and death battles with many characters (some inspired by real people such as Barack Obama, Miyamoto Musashi and Muhamed Ali), it always stays true to its core on how it is a tale of a complex relationship between father and son. It has some of the greatest fights in the medium, and its unique art, wild humor and poetic dialogue have the manga going strong more than 1000 chapters later in the current Baki Rahen.
KodamaTales’ schedule will see one part of Baki released every year, as each part usually has between 25-30 volumes, with Bakidou having the lowest at only 17 volumes. Another exciting feature of this release is that the first print runs of every volume will feature foil, and the covers will have gorgeous art from Keisuke Itagaki’s art style at its peak, something the earlier parts of Baki did not have. Preorders for the first 2 volumes are available, with this batch set to be released in October 2025, and fans of battle shonen manga will not regret embarking on the Baki journey.
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