Baribari Legend

Baribari Legend (バリバリ伝説, Baribari Densetsu, "Vroom Vroom Legend") is an early motorbike racing manga series by Shuichi Shigeno. It was published in 38 volumes between 1983 and 1991 by Kodansha. In 1985, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen.[1]

Baribari Legend
Cover of the first volume of Baribari Densetsu, as published in Japan by Kodansha
バリバリ伝説
(Baribari Densetsu)
Manga
Written byShuichi Shigeno
Published byKodansha
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original run1983 – 1991
Volumes38
Original video animation
Directed byNagayuki Toriumi
Satoshi Uemura
StudioStudio Pierrot
Released May 10, 1986 – December 16, 1986
Episodes2

The story has some similarities to Shigeno's later manga Initial D. Earlier parts of the manga focus both on high school life as well as street racing. At first the characters are illegal street racers (Japanese: hashiriya) that race on public roads, particularly on the winding mountain roads known as tōge. Those kind of racers were called "rolling-zoku", a type of bōsōzoku, and were seen as a social problem in Japan. It was claimed they were influenced by manga. Later parts of the story revolve around professional motorcycle racing events held on road circuits like the All Japan Road Race Championship.

In 1986 the manga was adapted into a two 50-minute episode OVA series. Nippon Herald (now part of Kadokawa Pictures) had Pierrot cut the two OVAs into a single 85-minute movie which was shown in theaters in August 1987 on the same bill as the film Aitsu to Lullaby: Suiyobi no Cinderella, based on a motorcycle manga by Michiharu Kusunoki.

In 1989 the manga was also licensed as a commercial video game by Taito Corporation for the PC Engine, under the original title.

The character Gun Koma appears as a hidden character in the PlayStation 2 game MotoGP by Namco.

Characters
  • Gun Koma (巨摩 郡) is a motorcycle racer. He rides a Honda CB750F as well as a Suzuki GSX-R. Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
  • Ai Itou (伊藤 歩惟) is Gun's girlfriend. Voiced by: Yōko Oginome
  • Hideyoshi Hijiri (聖 秀吉) is Gun's friendly rival. He rides a Suzuki Katana. Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao
  • Hiro Okita (沖田 比呂) is Gun's best friend. He rides a Kawasaki Z400GP. Voiced by: Issei Futamata
  • Miyuki Ichinose (一ノ瀬 美由紀) is the daughter of the Ichinose Racing Team president. She's in love with Hiro. Miyuki rides a Honda VT250F. Voiced by: Keiko Toda
  • Tomoyo Hijiri (聖 知代) is Hideyoshi's sister. She lost her parents in car accident. Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu

References
  1. Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-21.


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