Baribari Legend

Baribari Legend
Cover of volume 19
バリバリ伝説
Genre	Action, Sports, Drama
Manga
Written by	Shuichi Shigeno
Published by	Kodansha
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run	1983 – 1991
Volumes	38
Original video animation
Directed by	Nagayuki Toriumi Satoshi Uemura
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Released	May 10, 1986 – December 16, 1986
Episodes	2

Baribari Legend (バリバリ伝説, Baribari Densetsu) is an early motorbike racing manga series by Shuichi Shigeno, who went on to create the Initial D series. It was published in 38 volumes between 1983 and 1991 by Kodansha. In 1985, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen.

The story has a lot of similar points with Initial D. Racing on the public road (illegal of course) is the center of the storyline in the first half. It became a social problem in Japan because many "Hashiriya" got influenced by it and became "Rolling-zoku"(hashiriya trying to see how fast they can go through curves).

There is also an OVA based on the manga. It is called Bari-den for short. In August 1987, it was shown in the theater by JapanHerald.

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 CB750 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.
• Tomoyo Hijiri (聖 知代) is Hideyoshi's sister. She lost her parents in car accident.

External links

• Baribari Legend (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Bari Bari Densetsu at GameFAQs