While manga series come and go, sometimes you really have to step back and realize the scale of a series that you may have never given a thought to. Baki, which has had an anime adaptation released by FUNimation in North America, came to a close with its most recent run in 2012 and is gearing up to start again this March with the 16th issue of Weekly Shonen Champion that lands on the 20th of that month. There’ve been a few spinoffs going on, done by other artists as well, but the core series is one that you have to respect for what it’s done even if it’s not your genre.
The original work, Grappler Baki, began back in 1991 and ran for 42 volumes through 1999 as done by Keisuki Itagaki. He then kicked off the next series in the property in 1999 with Baki: The Search of Our Strongest Hero, which ran until 2005 with a total of 31 volumes released. That was followed up at the end of 2005 with Grappler Baki: Son of Ogre, which ran until the summer of 2012 for a total of 37 volumes. That’s 110 volumes of the main series not including the spinoffs and side stories that populates it. That’s a lot of material.
Series concept: The story revolves around Baki Hanma and his quest to proclaim himself as the strongest grappler in the world, thus taking the title from his father. Baki also fights to gain the trust of his overly psychotic mother.
[Source: ANN]