The original manga series began publishing in 1979.
The legendary superhero manga series Kinnikuman just passed an impressive milestone today. One of the authors of the series, Takashi Shimada announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that the manga has reached 85 million copies in circulation. This number includes the original series, as well as the sequels and spin-offs. Ever since 1979, when the first Kinnikuman manga was published, this series has made a name for itself.
Kinnikuman manga’s new milestone is incredibly impressive
The Kinnikuman manga began back in 1979. Written and illustrated by the mangaka duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago, the series was originally published as a parody to Ultraman. But soon, the unique superhero manga won the hearts of many readers. The original manga’s serialisation ended in 1987, but before that, Toei animation adapted it into an anime which ran from 1983 to 1986. In 2011, the manga restarted publication in Shueisha’s Shū Play News web magazine, and has spawned several manga, anime, movie, and game spin-offs. Viz Media publishes the manga in English under the name “Ultimate Muscle”.
The most recent anime adaptation of the series is Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin, which began in 2023 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first anime. The Perfect Origin series’ first season aired from July to September 2024 with the second season airing from January to March 2025. The third season of the anime has also been confirmed, although a release date is unknown. Production I.G. will continue to animate the series with Akira Sato as the director. Other staff members have also been confirmed including Hirotaka Marufuji as character designer and Yasuharu Takanashi as music composer. The official website of the anime describes its story as:
Kinnikuman, a useless superhuman who lives on Earth, dreams of becoming a hero respected by humans, and fights the space monsters that attack the Earth every day, but loses every battle. He is so weak that he is even ridiculed. Still, he lives in harmony with the people and continues to fight monsters, determined to one day get revenge. Then, a boy named Meat arrives from Planet Kinniku, far away in space. According to him, Kinnikuman is actually a prince who went missing from the prestigious Planet Kinniku!
