The popular anime franchise of the 1990s and 2000s, Kinnikuman, known as Ultimate Muscle in the United States, is returning to screens after two decades.
Titled Kinnikuman Perfect Origin-Hen, the revival is expected to arrive in 2024, as revealed in a recent teaser video shared on the Kinnikuman YouTube channel. The film revolves around superhero wrestler Suguru Kinniku, aka Kinnikuman, known as King Muscle in the English dub of the anime sequel.
Accompanied by the words “He’s back,” the brief trailer cites animation studio Production IG and features glimpses of familiar characters. The new TV series was announced on March 16, 2023, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original series that first debuted in April 1983 and adapted the first manga series in 1979. The upcoming series will based on the revival of the same manga published in 2011.
The new series will be directed by Akira Sato, of Release the Spyce fame, with Makoto Fukami of Psycho-Pass and Berserk fame writing the script. Hirotaka Marufuji, known for Lupine the Third, will oversee the character designs, and Yasuharu Takanashi from Naruto Shippūden will compose the music.
Originally created by Yudetamago, writer-artist duo Takashi Shimada and Yoshinori Nakai, the manga Kinnikuman has been adapted for various films and television anime. After completing the manga series in 1987, which included numerous sequels and spin-offs, the duo revived the original series in 2011 and have since expanded the series to 83 volumes, with the nearly The most recent will be released last week.
Two original series based on the manga, titled Kinnikuman and Kinniku-sei Ōi Sōdatsu-hen, premiered from 1982 to 1992. A second generation series, Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy features Kinnikuman’s son Kid Muscle, which became widely popular in 2002, premiered on FoxBox in the United States and Cartoon Network sister channels in other parts of the world. When the original producers canceled the series in 2004, two 13-episode sequels, primarily focused on non-Japanese audiences, were announced, airing from 2004 to 2006 under the title title Kinnikuman Second Generation: Ultimate Muscle 2. Additionally, toy characters based on the franchise were imported to the US under the “MUSCLE” brand in the 1980s.
Kinnikuman Perfect Origin-Hen will be released around 2024.
Source: YouTube
