‘Baki’ English Trailer Released by Netflix

An English-subtitled trailer for the upcoming anime Baki has been released by Netflix.

As seen in the trailer above, the series adapts the “Most Evil Death Row Convicts” arc of the manga, which features death row convicts fighting without rules in an underground fighting ring. This in many violent and gripping fights that will certainly be a spectacle to watch, though the trailer mostly sets up characters and settings rather than showcasing any particularly incredible moments.

Toshiki Hirano (Rayearth) directed the series for TMS Entertainment (ReLIFE), Fujio Suzuki designed the characters (New Getter Robo), Tatsuhiko Urahata (Tsuredere Children) composed for the series, and Nobunaga Shimazaki is the voice of the main character, Baki Hanma.

Netflix describes Baki as follows:

“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!”

Originally created by Keisuke Itagaki for Weekly Shonen Magazine, Baki The Grappler ran between 1991 and 1999 and has been collected into 42 volumes. The sequel Baki, which the anime is based on, ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1999 to 2005, and has been collected into 31 volumes. The third series, Baki Hanma, ran from 2005 to 2012 and has been collected into 37 volumes, and the most recent sequel Baki-Dou began serialization in March 2014. It has since been adapted into several anime series, OVAs, and spinoff manga.

Season One of Baki is scheduled to release on Netflix on December 18th. It originally released in Japan in June of this year. It should be 13 episodes, with a second batch of 13 episodes released at a later date as Season Two. As is typical for the streaming service, the whole thing will be available at once.