Netflix has found serious success with the Baki: The Grappler franchise, with Baki-Dou: The Invincible Samurai announcing earlier this year that it would be returning with a “Part Two.” The streaming service had also brought Baki and his friends face-to-face with another major anime Netflix franchise via Baki Hanma Vs. Kengan Ashura, seeing the heroes and villains from both series facing off against one another in the ring. Now, the son of the ogre and his comrades are about to participate in their strangest crossover to date, as none other than McDonald’s is planning to make a Baki event like no other.
The new Baki/McDonald’s crossover will see several new sandwiches introduced to restaurants in Japan, and with this wild meeting, the voice of Goku, Masako Nozawa will be playing a role. While Nozawa did have a part to play in Baki-Dou: The Invincible Samurai, specifically taking on the role of a spiritual medium who helped resurrect Musashi Miyamoto, she will return to the anime universe as a new character. Billed as Tatsuta, the strongest heroine, Dragon Ball’s Goku is helping to create a wild new aspect of this crossover. You can check out the first look at this new crossover below, with a glimpse at Nozawa’s new character.
Baki Resurrects The Dead With McDonald’s
Image Courtesy of TMS Entertainment
Alongside the new heroine and Baki, Sea King Retsu is featured in the McDonald’s crossover, meaning that the restaurant might not have received the memo that the fighter died in the latest season. Specifically, Retsu met his end while fighting against Muasahi Miyamoto, as the legendary samurai cut through the long-time supporting character who had survived quite a few battles over the course of the anime.
Earlier this year, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak with Baki-Dou director Toshiki Hirano about the death of Retsu, its impact on the series, and how the creative team reacted in recreating this pivotal moment, “In the manga, Mr. Itagaki depicts this death in a ‘dry moment’, so it isn’t as tear-jerking, so it doesn’t feel as emotional. In animation, we didn’t want to make it as such, so we made it more emotional and tear-jerking. We utilized music and staging to make it feel more emotional, so seeing the audience respond to that feels good, and we appreciate that. We are giving our best effort, but for that episode, where this important character is passing, we especially did. The Japanese voice talent for the character, Rikiya Koyama, after he was done with ADR, that was a wrap for him! We had a special farewell and had a “Sea King” party for his last day.”
As of the writing of this article, the Baki/McDonald’s collaboration has yet to reveal its release date, though we have to imagine it is arriving sooner rather than later. In recent days, the fast food chain has teamed up with quite a few animated favorites, including Mobile Suit Gundam, Hello Kitty, KPop Demon Hunters, One Piece, and more. Fingers crossed that this wild crossover will cross the seas to make it to North America.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!