By request, I went and read way too much Baki manga, then rewatched the original Grappler Baki anime because it has been an age. Now that the testosterone flows, let us uncomplicate the complicated. Sorry it took so long, there were truly… so many volumes.
Alternative Titles:
- Grappler Baki
- Baki the Grappler
- グラップラー刃牙
Year Anime Premiered: 2001
Animation Studio: Group Tac, TMS Entertainment
Number of Seasons: 2 OG Baki + 1 OVA + 2 Just Plain Baki + 2 Son of Ogre
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Manga
Entry Last Updated: May 24th, 2024
Where To Start The Baki Manga After The Anime?
As to where to pick up the Baki manga after the anime, the answer depends on which anime you watched.
The Baki manga is also separated into four core manga series:
- Grappler Baki (Has an anime)
- New Grappler Baki (Has an anime)
- Hanma Baki: Son of Ogre (Has an anime)
- Baki Dou (Has an upcoming, still unreleased anime)
- Baki Rahen (No anime)
If you watched the OG Grappler Baki anime, the Baki (2018) series is a sequel of it, not a reboot. Grappler Baki the anime covers the manga of the same name while Baki (2018) covers the New Grappler Baki manga series.
If you simply watched Grappler Baki, it covers all 42 volumes of the Grappler Baki manga. So you would start at the New Grappler Baki manga series and read onwards.
If you finished the Baki (2018) anime, it also adapts all 31 volumes of the New Grappler Baki manga, so you would then start at the Hanma Baki: Son of Ogre manga.
As of the – now complete – second season of Hanma Baki, the Hanma Baki: Son of Ogre manga is fully adapted. The second season of the anime sped through the later half of the series, but it did reach the end.
So now, the official place to pick up the Baki manga after the anime (Grappler Baki, Baki (2018), and Hanma Baki is with the Baki-Dou manga series.
What to Expect From The Baki Manga?
Baki is not a series you read for plot or power scaling. You enjoy it for some cool and/or ridiculous moments, but mostly to see slabs of muscle pound each other in a most non-homoerotic way.
As such, there is a low bar for what needs to be adapted into the anime. That said, all Baki anime has typically free-styled things a bit. They don’t add filler, but they do like to rearrange events. Again, Baki is not known for its cerebral plot. You don’t need to read it from the beginning for any plot missed, but the manga does capture some of the cooler moments a lot better.
Is The Baki Manga Over?
The two-part Baki-Dou manga ended in 2023 at Baki-Dou Part II with Chapter 154 (or Chapter 352, if you are reading both parts combined on a less legal site). However, the author promptly announced Baki Rahen right after, which is currently ongoing.
Will There Be A Baki Dou Anime?
It was announced following a Baki Hanma Season 2 screening event in March 2024, a Baki-Dou anime was announced to be in progress, but no further details have been released.
