Motoka Murakami is stepping back into the dojo, and this one is for the old-school sports manga fans.
The creator revealed on X/Twitter that Musashi no Ken is getting a brand-new one-shot manga story, marking the series’ first new chapter since it wrapped up in 1985. That is more than four decades between rounds, which is honestly wild even by manga comeback standards.
The new one-shot will launch on Shogakukan’s Sunday Webry manga service on May 20. According to the announcement, the story will bring back “those two” for another clash, so longtime readers can probably expect a proper nostalgia hit when it drops.
For newer fans in Malaysia and SEA who may not have grown up with this title, Musashi no Ken is a kendo-focused sports manga set in Iwateyama. The story follows a boy named Musashi, whose parents were elite kendo practitioners. They named him after the legendary Sengoku-era swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, hoping he would grow into someone worthy of that name.
That setup is very classic sports manga: legacy, discipline, pressure, and a young talent trying to live up to something bigger than himself. Before modern hits made every sports anime feel like a hype machine, titles like this helped build the foundation for the genre’s emotional formula.
The manga originally ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1981 to 1985, and it also received a 72-episode TV anime that aired from 1985 to 1986. So while Musashi no Ken may not be a mainstream name among younger anime fans here compared to Haikyuu!!, Blue Lock, or Hajime no Ippo, it belongs to that older generation of sports stories that Japanese readers still remember with serious respect.
For Malaysian fans, the big question is accessibility. The one-shot is launching through Sunday Webry, which means it is primarily aimed at Japanese readers first. No English release was mentioned in the source material, so SEA fans may have to wait and see whether Shogakukan, digital manga platforms, or fan interest pushes it beyond Japan.
Murakami does have some history with bringing his work to English readers. In 2017, he opened a Patreon to support an English translation of his historical medical manga JIN. The first two chapters were shared for free, while patrons contributing US$5 per month or more received additional weekly chapters.
JIN itself has travelled far beyond manga shelves. It inspired two live-action Japanese TV series on TBS starring Takao Ōsawa, both of which Netflix began streaming in December 2024. It also received a Korean live-action TV adaptation in 2012, streamed by Crunchyroll outside Japan, plus a stage play adaptation from the all-female Takarazuka Revue Company in the same year.
That wider track record makes this Musashi no Ken return more interesting. This is not just a random anniversary extra from a forgotten title. It is a veteran creator revisiting a sports manga that helped define his early career, at a time when digital platforms make classic comebacks easier to surface for new audiences.
If you enjoy sports anime with old-school grit, family legacy, and proper martial arts spirit, this is one to keep on your radar. Even if we do not get an official English version immediately, the fact that Musashi no Ken is getting new material after 40 years is already a big moment for manga history.
Source: Anime News Network