The King of Fighters: A New Beginning

The King of Fighters: A New Beginning is a Japanese shōnen manga authored by Kyōtarō Azuma. The series has been serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket since January 2018,[2] ending in August 2020.[3] Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga for a North American release with the first volume released in March 2020. The manga is an adaptation of SNK's 2016 fighting game The King of Fighters XIV and follows multiple characters who get involved in a new worldwide tournament led by a man known as Antonov.

The King of Fighters: A New Beginning
Cover of the first Japanese volume of A New Beginning
GenreMartial arts[1]
Manga
Written byKyōtarō Azuma
Published byKodansha
English publisher
MagazineMagazine Pocket
DemographicShōnen
Original runJanuary 1, 2018 – August 23, 2020
Volumes6

Plot

Years after the last fighting tournament known as "The King of Fighters", a man Antonov leads his own competition. This attracts returning fighters and most notably newcomers. The elder martial artist Tung Fu Rue wants to use this fight to test his student Shun'ei and Meitenkun's powers. In the first team battle, Japan Team composed of Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon faces the Yagami Team composed of Iori Yagami, Vice and Mature. While Benimaru and Daimon win their respective fights, Kyo's and Iori's end on a double knock out following Iori's being turned into a berserker by his allies from a god named Orochi.

For the next match, Shun'ei tries to show his powers in combat but is beat by Ryo Sakazaki. However, Tung and Meitenkun defeat Ryo's teammates Robert Garcia and Yuri Sakazaki, respectively. In the next match a trio of mercenaries, The Ikari Team, face the one of wrestlers, Team Mexico. Formerly a terrorist working for NESTS, Angel loses her match against Leona Heidern when her mind is controlled by the power of Orochi like Iori. As Ralf Jones and Clark Still also win their battles against Team Mexico, the groups asks for Kyo's, Athena Asamiya's and Sie Kensou's aid to invesigate Angel's recent change.

The tournament progresses with the K' Team composed of the former NESTS experiments, K', Kula Diamond and Maxima against the Team South America, composed of Nelson, Zarina, Bandeiras Hattori. NESTS's influence in Nelson's arm causes Kula to go interrupt K''s fight and try to kill him. Meanwhile, Kyo, Athena and Sie find an army of composed Kyo's replicas created by the former NESTS leader, Igniz, who aims to control one of them as his new body. Enraged, Kyo murders Igniz and destroys all of his replicas. This causes the Igniz behind the South America Team to escape but is killed by K', freeing Kula.

With NESTS defeated, the tournament is interrupted by a supernatural crearture who only yells the word Verse. A criminal fighter named Geese Howard fights Verse and absorbs its power, and faces the Fatal Fury Team composed of Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi. Verse fights Shun'ei, while wraiths created by this creature face Kyo and other members from the tournament. Once Shun'ei defeats Verse, the wraiths disappear. However, the Ikari Team learn Verse produced the revival of more people, including the missing Ash Crimson.

Publication

The series was first announced in November 2017 by Kodansha to be published in online Magazine Pocket for free.[2] Kyōtarō Azuma's work is being reviewed by Akihiko Ureshino, writer of most The King of Fighters works. The King of Fighters XIV producer Yasuyuki Oda noted that while the story might fit within the franchise's canon, it could greatly influece their latter works as they aim A New Beginning to stay true to the game's narrative.[4] Although the original The King of Fighters XIV game offered extra characters in the form of downloadable content, Azuma refraimed from using them.[5]

The first tankōbon volume was released on August 9, 2018.[6] Sales of the series have been positive with Azuma noting that the third Japanese volume run out of print and due to fan demand, Kodansha re-print more copies of it.[7] However, Azuma stated the amount of releases for every volume was relatively low.[8] By the time the third volume was released, Oda stated the series is an entertaining fighting series, hoping it attracts more readers.[1] In January 2019, the series took a one-month hiatus due to issues with the editorial. However, Azuma said that there were no major issues so the manga will continue serialization without any problems.[9] According to Azuma the series is meant to conclude in September 2020 with the story having reached its climax by May of the same year.[10] The manga ended serialization on August 23, 2020 with Azuma thanking the fan response.[3]

In July 2019, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they licensed the manga for a North American release with the first volume aiming to be released in early 2020.[11] The first volume was released on March 10, 2020. The translation is being handled by Daniel Komen and J.P. Sullivan.[12]

Chapter list
No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 August 9, 2018[13]978-4-06-512269-3March 10, 2020[12]978-1-64275-687-6
  • Round 1： "Member Select"
  • Round 2："Order Select"
  • Round 3: "Japan Team vs Yagami Team 1st" (チーム日本ｖｓチーム八神１ｓｔ)
  • Round 4： "Japan Team vs Yagami Team 2nd" (チーム日本ｖｓチーム八神２ｎｄ)
  • Round 5： "Japan Team vs Yagami Team 3rd" (チーム日本ｖｓチーム八神３ｒｄ)
2 January 1, 2019[14]978-4-06-514076-5April 28, 2020[15]978-1-64505-184-8
  • Round 6："Japan Team vs Yagami Team 4th" (チーム日本ｖｓチーム八神4th)
  • Round 7："Japan Team vs Yagami Team 5th" (チーム日本ｖｓチーム八神5th)
  • Round 8："Interval"
  • Round 9："チーム中国ｖｓチーム龍虎１ｓｔ"
  • Round 10："チーム中国ｖｓチーム龍虎２ｎｄ"
3 May 9, 2019[16]978-4-06-515407-6July 28, 2020[17]978-1-64505-481-8
  • Round 11："チーム中国v s チーム龍虎3 r d"
  • Round 12："チーム中国v s チーム龍虎4 t h"
  • Round 13："Briefing"
  • Round 14："チーム怒v s チームメキシコ1 ｓ ｔ"
  • Round 15："チーム怒v s チームメキシコ２ n d"
4 November 8, 2019[18]978-4-06-517585-9November 24, 2020[19]978-1-64505-788-8
  • Round 16：チーム怒v s チームメキシコ３ｒｄ
  • Round 17：チーム怒v s チームメキシコ４ｔｈ
  • Round 18：Strategy
  • Round 19：K' Team vs South America Team 1st
  • Round 20：K' Team vs South America Team 2nd
5 April 9, 2020[20]978-4-06-519051-7May 18, 2021[21]978-1-64827-216-5
  • Round 21.
  • Round 22.
  • Round 23.
  • Round 24.
  • Round 25.
6 October 9, 2020[22]978-4065208540-—

Reception

Anime UK News scored the first volume a 8 out of 10, praising the adaptation to the game faithful as well as the illustrations of fight scenes, most notably Kyo Kusanagi's against Iori Yagami, whom the reviewer found enjoyable based on their popularity.[23] The OSAG scored it three starts out of five, criticizing the lack of narrative provided by the manga's introduction to the cast but praised the handling of battles of the tournament.[24]

References
  1. @snk_oda (May 9, 2019). "Yasuyuki Oda 侍魂発売中！" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 25, 2019 – via Twitter.
  2. "King of Fighters Games Inspire 'New Beginning' Manga". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  3. Azuma, Kyōtarō [@az_ky_] (August 23, 2020). "KOF-ANB-本日最終話更新です。おおよそ2年半、ありがとうございました。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via Twitter. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  4. "Exclusive: We Talk To Oda San About SNK Heroines, KOF Manga and Anime and More". Neo Geo Now. September 6, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  5. Azuma, Kyōtarō [@az_ky_] (January 8, 2019). "あずま京太郎/KOF-A NEW BEGINNING-連載中" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 24, 2019 – via Twitter.
  6. "ＴＨＥ ＫＩＮＧ ＯＦ ＦＩＧＨＴＥＲＳ ～Ａ ＮＥＷ ＢＥＧＩＮＮＩＮＧ～（１）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  7. @shonen_sirius (July 24, 2019). "月刊少年シリウス編集部" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 24, 2019 – via Twitter.
  8. @az_ky (July 24, 2019). "あずま京太郎/KOF-A NEW BEGINNING-連載中" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 24, 2019 – via Twitter. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  9. Azuma, Kyōtarō [@az_ky_] (January 12, 2020). "KOF-ANB-休載のお知らせ 1月はKOF-ANB-休載となります。 原稿を管轄しているシリウス編集部内での日程調整があったためです。 作者の体調不良や原稿を落としたなどではありませんのでご心配なく。次の更新まで期間が空いてしまいますがお待ちいただければ幸いです。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved January 12, 2020 – via Twitter.
  10. Azuma, Kyōtarō [@az_ky_] (May 10, 2020). "KOF-ANB-はあと4ヶ月ほどで連載終了となります。 ラストバトルに詰め込めるだけ詰め込んでいきます。最後までよろしくお願いします。" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved May 10, 2020 – via Twitter.
  11. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Manga Licensed For NA By Seven Seas". Siliconera. 8 July 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  12. "Book: The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Vol. 1". Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  13. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （１）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  14. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （2）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  15. "Book: The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Vol. 2". Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  16. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （3）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  17. "Book: The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Vol. 3". Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  18. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （4）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  19. "Book: The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Vol. 4". Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  20. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （5）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  21. "Book: The King of Fighters: A New Beginning Vol. 5". Seven Seas Entertainment. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  22. "The King of Fighters: A New Beginning （6）". Kodansha (in Japanese). Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  23. "The King of Fighters – A New Beginning Volume 1". Anime Uk News. April 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  24. "The King of Fighters – A New Beginning Volume 1". The OSAG. March 27, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
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