Yūjirō Hanma cast in 26-episode anime which premiered in Japan on June 25

A talk show segment at an immersive MX4D screening for the new anime of Keisuke Itagaki's Baki ( New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero ) manga announced on Saturday that prolific voice actor Akio Ohtsuka plays the character Yūjirō Hanma. Yūjirō, nicknamed "the strongest creature in the world," is the father of the story's titular character Baki.

Nobunaga Shimazaki voices the protagonist Baki Hanma. Masami Kikuchi voiced the character in previous Baki anime.



The other cast members include:

Kenjiro Tsuda as Sikorsky



Takehito Koyasu as Doyle



Issei Futamata as Yanagi Ryūkō



Banjou Ginga as Dorian



Chafurin as Speck





Takayuki Sugo as Doppo Orochi, the founder of the Shinshinkai of karate, who is nicknamed the "God of War" and "Man-Eater Orochi"

Bin Shimada as Gōki Shibukawa, the master of the Shibukawa fighting style of aikidō

Rikiya Koyama as Kaiō Retsu, a grappler who attained the title "Kaiō" with Chinese martial arts

Takuya Eguchi as Kaoru Hanayama, "Japan's top brawler" who became the second head of Hanayama group at the age of 15





Mugihito as Mitsunari Tokugawa, the 13th head of the Tokugawa conglomerate Yoshihisa Kawahara as Katsumi Orochi, the adopted son of Karate Shinshinkai founder Doppo Orochi

Sora Amamiya as Kozue Matsumoto, Baki's schoolmate and the daughter of Baki's landlady



Tohru Furuya provides the narration.

Netflix is premiering the anime this summer inside Japan, and this fall outside of Japan. The series will have 26 episodes, and will also air on television.

Netflix describes the story:

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!

The anime features the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" arc from the manga, which features underground ring fighters in the no-rules combat environment of death row convicts.

Toshiki Hirano ( Rayearth , Dangaioh , Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief ) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment (Lupin III, ReLIFE). Fujio Suzuki ( Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo , 009-1 , New Getter Robo ) is designing the characters. Tatsuhiko Urahata ( DNA² , Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere , Tsuredure Children ) is in charge of series composition.

Granrodeo performs the show's opening theme song "Beastful," and Azusa Tadokoro performs the ending theme song "Resolve."

In addition to the Netflix premiere screenings, the anime will run on the Tokyo MX 1, Sun TV, TV Q Kyuushuu, TV Aichi, KBS Kyoto, and Hokkaido TV channels. The anime will start running on Tokyo MX1 on July 1, about one week after it started running on Netflix on June 25.

Baki is the second installment in Itagaki's overall series. The manga ran for 31 volumes in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1999 to 2005. The manga recently inspired an original anime DVD (OAD) adaptation that also depicts the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" arc. The OAD was bundled with a limited edition of Itagaki's 14th Baki-Dou manga volume in December 2016.

Itagaki's original Baki The Grappler martial arts manga ran for 42 volumes in Weekly Shonen Champion magazine from 1991 to 1999. The manga has more than 63 million copies in circulation. The series has received two television anime adaptations and an original animation video.

After the Baki sequel manga finished in 2005, Hanma Baki then ran in the same magazine from 2005 to 2012. The Baki-Dou sequel series launched in Weekly Shonen Champion in March 2014 as the third sequel to the original Baki The Grappler manga, and it ended on April 5. The manga's fifth part is in the works.

Source: Baki anime's official website, Comic Natalie