Netflix’s Baki Hanma Season 2 Anime TV Series has been confirmed to be in production.
The Baki Hanma sequel will be Baki Season 5 in the general series. In the next season, the titular hero Baki will face a prehistoric caveman named Pickle to develop new martial arts techniques. But when will Baki Hanma: Son of Ogre Season 2 come out?
The fourth season was a direct sequel to Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen (Baki: The Centennial Tournament Saga) and it started by adapting the Baki Hanma manga series. That’s why Netflix changed the title and restarted the season counting.
The story of the new anime focused on Baki Hanma as he challenges his father, Yujiro Hanma, who is known in martial arts circles as the Ogre. But first Baki had to train, so he was purposefully arrested and sent to a high-security prison where “Mr. Unchained” Biscuit Oliva was held. With that win behind him, Baki will be targeting a completely different type of opponent.
The first few seasons of the Baki anime were created by animation studio TMS Entertainment, which is known for other anime such as Detective Conan, Lupine III, and ReLIFE.
In 2021, the studio released Spirit Chronicles (see our story on Spirit Chronicles Season 2), Megalo Box Season 2, and completed the Fruits Basket reboot project (the Fruits Basket Season 3 anime ended only one 2022 Fruits Basket: The Story of Kyoko and Katsuya has been announced). Going forward, the studio has confirmed that the Dr. STONE season 3 anime will release.
The studio staff making Baki Hanma Season 2 has not yet been announced. But most of the main staff returned for the creation of the new series.
The first few seasons of Baki were directed by Toshiki Hirano (Rayearth, Dangioh and more). Fujio Suzuki (009-1, New Getter Robo) was the character designer.
Tatsuhiko Urahata (Tsuredure Children) wrote the scripts for the Baki anime. Kenji Fujisawa produced the music. Tetsu Kojima was the executive producer.
In addition to the main returning staff at TMS Entertainment, there were two new additions for Baki Hanma. There was a second character designer named Shingo Ishikawa and a new art director named Masanori Nishiyama.
The Baki Hanma Season 2 OP (opening) theme song music and ED (ending) have not yet been announced.
For the first season, the Baki Hanma OP “Unchained World” was performed by Generation from Exile Tribe, while the ED “Treasure Pleasure” was performed by GRANRODEO. In previous Baki seasons music by GRANRODEO was heard.
The Baki Hanma Season 1 release date was September 30, 2021. All 12 episodes were streamed exclusively on Netflix.
- Updated March 22, 2022: Baki Hanma: Song of Ogre Season 2 has been confirmed in production.
This article contains everything we know about Netflix’s Baki Hanma Season 2 (Baki: Son of Ogre Season 2/Grappler Baki Season 5) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors and analysis. In the meantime, let’s get into what is known for sure.
Baki “Season 5” Release Date Predictions
As of the latest update, Netflix, TMS Entertainment or any other company associated with the production of the anime have not officially confirmed the release date of Baki Hanma Season 2. However, Baki: Son of Ogre Season 2 production was announced in March 2022.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when the Baki “Season 5” release date will be in the future.
Given the continued popularity of the series, it is inevitable that Baki Hanma Season 2 will be renewed. The anime TV series will also likely be multiple seasons as the Baki Hanma manga is already finished and was almost as long as the original series (see the manga comparison section for more details).
In fact, the original trailer for Baki Hanma even teased later storylines, including the father versus son arc! So it is very likely that TMS Entertainment planned its production schedule in advance based on producing multiple courses or seasons as Netflix calls them. If so, the Baki Hanma season 2 anime could come out in 2022.
What is unknown is whether the planned production schedule will be similar to a split-court anime, with a single season taking a broadcast break of several months before more episodes are released.
If the studio gives itself enough time in planning, the Baki Hanma season 2 release date on Netflix is predicted to be in the summer or fall of 2022.
Netflix’s Baki: Son of Ogre Season 2 anime is the Japanese Grappler Baki Season 4
Anime purists are probably wondering why this article refers to Baki Hanma season 5 when technically it would be the fourth installment of the overall anime series.
The reason is that the Baki anime seasons were labeled differently by Netflix when the previous anime was released internationally.
Netflix US also caters to an American audience for binge-watching with an entire season being released at once. Often a multi-part season is split into multiple courses for the international release.
A “cour” is a quarterly unit of TV broadcasting that usually consists of 11 to 13 episodes.
The first season of the Baki the Grappler anime was originally released on Netflix Japan as a two-season season from June 25 to December 17, 2018. Therefore, since the first 26 episodes in Japan were considered one season, all upcoming episodes were released. anime listed differently in Japan.
Therefore, some English-speaking anime fans who follow Japanese season numbering conventions may interchangeably refer to Baki Hanma Season 1 (Baki: Son of Ogre) as Baki Season 3.
To add to the confusion, there were actually two seasons in 2001 that adapted multiple storylines from the original manga. The newer Baki 2018 anime series hasn’t bothered to tweak those storylines again. That means Netflix’s Baki: Son of Ogre can be considered Japan’s Baki Season 5 (or Baki Season 6 by Netflix’s standards).
Fortunately, labeling the seasons will become much easier in the future. Netflix has the exclusive rights to stream Baki Hanma, so they will set the standard for the numbering of the seasons.
Baki Hanma manga compared to the anime series
The story for the new Baki anime is based on the second volume of the Gurappura Baki (Grappler Baki) manga created by writer and artist Keisuke Itagaki. Started in 1991, the total Baki manga series already has five volumes.
The first volume was simply called Grappler Baki and ran until 1999 and ended with book Volume 42.
The first sequel to the manga, New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero, ended in 2005 with Volume 31.
Manga Baki Part 3 was called Hanma Baki (Baki: Son of Ogre) and ended in 2012 with Volume 37. The Baki Hanma manga is divided into four story sagas: Oliva’s Fortress, The Prehistoric Menace (Pickle Wars), Retsu Kaiou’s Boxing, and Then Yujiro to Baki.
Manga Baki Part 4 was called Baki-Dou (Baki: The Way) and ended in 2018 with Volume 22.
Manga Baki Part 5, now called Baki Dou or Bakidou, started in October 2018 and is still going on in Weekly Shonen Champion magazine.
The first Baki manga series never got an official English translation, but the New Grappler Baki manga is now available on Amazon and comixology in English. In August 2019, the English translation caught up with the ending in New Grappler Baki Volume 31.
Unfortunately, the English Hanma Baki manga series has not yet been released. For the other series, there are plenty of unofficial fan-made scanlation projects that have been completed.
The two seasons of the Baki 2001 anime have adapted the first 42 parts of the first manga volume. Anime fans who found the new anime confusing should probably dust off the prequel and check out Maximum Tournament’s backstory and storyline.
The 2018/2019 Baki anime season has adapted nearly 20 parts of the “Most Evil Death Row Convicts” storyline from the New Grappler Baki manga, with episodes 25 and 26 starting with the adaptation of the Great Chinese Challenge arc (volumes 18 to 27).
The 2020 Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen (Baki: The Centennial Tournament Saga) anime has finished adapting both the Great Chinese Challenge saga and the Godlike Clash Of The Kids saga (Volumes 27 through 31).
The Baki 2021 anime started by adapting the Baki: Son of Ogre manga series. The good news is that there is enough source material for Netflix to keep making anime episodes for years to come.
Given the length of the Hanma Baki manga, it will likely take three courses to adapt – based on the anime’s pace – meaning it will be completed by Netflix’s Baki Hanma Season 3 (Baki Season 6) .
The stopping point for Baki Hanma Episode 12 corresponded to manga Volume 10, the end of the Great Prison Battle Saga. That means the Baki Hanma season 2 anime will adapt the Wildman War – Pickle Wars Saga, which ran from manga Chapters 79 through 185.
Hanma Baki Season 2: Pickle Wars anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The first season of the Baki Hanma anime set the titular hero on his way to his final showdown with his father, Yujiro Hanma. To become stronger, Baki was purposefully sent to prison. Now he opts for yet another extreme alternative training method: fighting literal cavemen.
After Baki’s battle with “Mr. Unchained” Biscuit Oliva, scientists discover a giant caveman from the prehistoric Jurassic/Cretaceous period. The primitive man was discovered perfectly preserved in a rock formation that left him in acid and allowed him to destroy the meteor. who killed the dinosaurs, hence the name Pickle.
Due to his amazing combat ability, Pickle is taken in by Mitsunari Tokugawa and is forced to fight against increasingly powerful enemies. Meanwhile, Baki undergoes intensive training to move from animal-based karate forms to developing his own techniques. He also gets advice and guidance from Retsu and Kaku Kaioh.
Baki must fight against Pickle’s raw power by improving his techniques. Baki’s image training eventually allows him to manifest ghosts from the dinosaurs Pickle fought against in the past, but will Baki’s newfound martial arts techniques be enough to defeat Pickle’s final form?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until Netflix’s Baki Hanma Season 2 release date to see what happens next. Stay tuned!
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