‘Baki’ Manga Arcs in Order: Including Side Stories and Extras

Baki is a manga series written and illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki. The story is about a wild adolescent martial arts prodigy Baki who can’t get enough of fighting and violence and fights to defeat his father, the strongest fighter in the world.

If you are still not sure whether to read Baki manga, don’t hesitate to jump in. And here, I’ll talk about the reading order of this series and other details you should know.

Baki Manga Order at a Glance

Baki manga has a lot of chapters and volumes which were released in different years. After the first release, the next one continues the story. One thing with manga is that some side stories and extras are sometimes not linked to the main story. So there is a tendency to get confused about how to read this manga. 

The storyline of Baki manga is very straightforward. Also, what makes it great is the storyline and the art of fighting depicted in the brutal and raw combat. As a result, Baki manga has become one of the best shonen martial art manga.

Below is a quick review of how to read the manga with the date they were released. Also, make sure to follow the order which I’ll give in this article.

• Grappler Baki – 1991 to 1999
• Grappler Baki Gaiden – 1999, Grappler Baki Spin-off
• Baki: New Grappler Baki – 1999 to 2005, Grappler Baki Sequel
• Baki Tokubetsu-hen Saga – 2002, Baki: New Grappler Baki Side Story
• Baki Gaiden: Kizuzura – 2012 to 2013, Baki: New Grappler Baki Side Story
• Baki Gaiden: Kenjin – 2013 to ?, Baki: New Grappler Baki Side Story
• Hanma Baki – 2005 to 2012, Baki: New Grappler Baki Sequel
• Baki Gaiden: Scarface – 2005 to ?, Baki: New Grappler Baki & Hanma Baki Side Story
• Baki-dou – 2014 to 2018, Hanma Baki Sequel

Baki Manga Reading Order

Baki manga is a masterpiece every “Otaku” should read. The manga is not just for people who love fighting; Baki illustrates the art of martial arts. The order to read the manga is sure to come to mind because of its many categories. 

There are 312 chapters in the series. Therefore, the order in which you should read them is given below.

1. Main Series

• Grappler Baki (Gurappura Baki) (1991 – 1999)
• Baki (New Grappler Baki: In Search of our Strongest Hero) (1999 – 2005)
• Baki Hanma (Baki: Son of Ogre) (2005 – 2012)
• Baki-Dou (Baki’s Style) (2014 – 2018)
• Baki Dou (Here, Baki is written in Katakana instead of Kanji) (2018 – ongoing )

2. Gaiden/Side-Stories

• Grappler Baki Gaiden: Antonio Igaro vs. Mount Toba (1999)
• Baki Tokubetsu-hen: Saga (2002)
• Baki Gaiden: Kizumen – Scarface (2005)
• Hanma Baki 10.5 Gaiden: Pickle (2008)
• Baki Gaiden: Kizuzura (2012)
• Baki Gaiden: Kenjin (2013)
• Yuuenchi – Baki Gaiden (2018)

3. Extras

• Baki Gaiden: Gaia (2009) (One-shot chapter)
• Baki: Revenge Tokyo (2018) (Five one-shot chapters)
• Grappler Baki Remake (2019) (Remake of Grappler Baki’s chapter 1)

4. Other/Supplements

• Grappler Baki Fighting (2001)
• Baki Ultimate Book: Grappler Side (2004) (A compendium of events and characters in Grappler Baki)
• Baki Ultimate Book: Fighting Side (2004) (A compendium of every battle fought and its results in Grappler Baki)
• Baki Domoe (2010) (A parody manga of the Baki series)
• Baki Gaiden: Retsu Kaiou wa Isekai Tensei Shitemo Ikkou ni Kamawan (2020)

Grappler Baki

Grappler Baki is the first and most important Baki manga you should read. It was published in 1991 and ran until 1999; it contains 42 volumes. Therefore, when you want to start reading Baki manga, you should first read Grappler Baki.

Grappler Baki talks about the area beneath the legendary Tokyo Dome. Here lies an underground fighting arena known as Kourakuen. A place where warriors display their fighting abilities. There are only two real rules in this arena: no weapons allowed, and no one will receive rewards. Instead, fighters only fight for honor and for their name to be remembered forever.

With harsh parenting from the infamous strongest fighter Yuujirou Hanma, Baki Hanma strives to challenge his violent father by training beyond the limit, giving him a spot in Kourakuen. With their hatred for his father and the quest to defeat his father, Baki continues to train harder and wins in the Kourakuen.

New Grappler Baki

After you have finished with Grappler Baki, you can read New Grappler Baki.  It started serializing in 1999 until the end. The final volume came out in 2005. Thus, it contains 31 volumes in total. Therefore, I recommend you read the new Grappler Baki after Grappler Baki.

In the New Grappler, seventeen-year-old fighting champion Baki Hanma continues to train his body beyond its limits. He intends to one day challenge his monstrous father, Yuujirou Hanma, to a battle. Subsequently, Baki grows bored with his obligatory high school studies but finds comfort and strength in his budding relationship with Kozue Matsumoto. 

At the start of this series, five powerful death row inmates break free from their respective prisons in America, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia and flee to Tokyo to fight in the tournament. Thus, these convicts became a threat to Baki.

To face this big threat, Baki forms an alliance with Yakuza Kaoru Hanayama, rival Retsu Kaiou, mentor Doppo Orochi, and elderly jujitsu master Gouki Shibukawa to defeat their criminal opponents. But Baki faces the added burden of protecting Kozue from his evil new enemies, and he must fight to prove himself worthy under the watchful eye of his father, Yuujirou.

Hanma Baki

Hanma Baki was serialized between 2005 and 2012 with a total of 37 volumes. After reading the prequels, (New Grappler Baki and Grappler Baki), Hanma Baki Manga is next. Finally, you will come across Crapper Baki–Son of Ogre but don’t be confused, they are the same. 

Here, Baki Hanma is almost ready to face his father Yuujirou in one final battle. After 18 years of intense training, Baki challenges his father to a revenge bout for the title of “World’s Strongest,” he trained more by fighting people who are said to be almost as strong as his father Yuujirou, the “Unchained” bounty hunter Biscuit Oliva and a prehistoric human named Pickle revived from the Mesozoic era.

As Baki seeks to understand his father’s monstrous legacy, Yuujirou comes to terms with his true feelings toward his son. The two Hanmas advance toward their climactic fight to decide who is the “world’s strongest.”

Baki Dou

Now, after you have read all three prequels, Baki Dou is the next. It began serializing in 2014 and ended in 2018 with a total of 22 volumes. This should be the last to read, but you can continue with the extras and supplements if you want to go further. This is why you should only read the manga after reading all the prequels.

In this story, after finally settling the feud with his demonic father, Yuujirou, Baki defends his title in the Kourakuen underground arena.

However, Baki was easily getting bored with the battles he was winning with less effort. Soon a legendary threat was upon them with the science experiment that resulted in the successful cloning of legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto.

Musashi Miyamoto tries to rise to the top based on his ancient ideals of honor and dueling to death. Thus, by cutting through Baki’s friends, the cloned ancient warrior finds himself on a collision course with the vengeful teenager. Finally, Baki has found a worthy duo to match him.

Note that the gardens and extras do not add anything to the main storyline.

Do You Need To Read Baki Manga In Order?

These Baki manga stories hit better when you read them in order. If you start reading from anywhere, you are likely to get confused. Thus, to understand the story and have a great experience, you should read the manga in the order they were written and released.

Will There Be More Baki Manga?

There will be no more Baki manga. This is because the release of the last Baki manga in 2018 was followed by the release of its anime adaptations. Also, very recently, Netflix has revealed the release date of Baki season 4 to be 30th September 2021.