Bari Bari Densetsu

Bari Bari Densetsu (Japanese: バリバリ伝説, Hepburn: Bari Bari Densetsu; lit. 'Vroom Vroom Legend') is a Japanese motorbike racing-themed manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1983 to 1991, with its chapters collected in 38 tankōbon volumes.

WrittenbyShuichi Shigeno

PublishedbyKodansha

ImprintMagazine KC

MagazineWeekly Shōnen Magazine

Quick facts バリバリ伝説 (Baribari Densetsu), Written by ...

バリバリ伝説 (Baribari Densetsu)
Bari Bari Densetsu
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Gun Koma
Manga
Written by	Shuichi Shigeno
Published by	Kodansha
Imprint	Magazine KC
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run	March 9, 1983 – July 17, 1991
Volumes	38
Original video animation
Bari Bari Densetsu Part I: Tsukuba Bari Bari Densetsu Part II: Suzuka
Directed by	Osamu Uemura (1) Yō Ikegami (2) Hisayuki Toriumi (supervision)
Produced by	Sōsaku Miki (1) Takao Igarashi (2) Ryōhei Suzuki Yuji Nunokawa
Written by	Yūji Watanabe Mami Watanabe (2)
Music by	Ichirō Nitta
Studio	Pierrot
Released	May 10, 1986 – December 16, 1986
Runtime	50 minutes (1) 54 minutes (2)
Episodes	2
Video game
Publisher	Pony Canyon
Platform	FM-7
Released	August 1985
Video game
Developer	Taito
Publisher	Taito
Platform	TurboGrafx-16
Released	November 29, 1989

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Earlier parts of the story focus both on high school life as well as street racing. At first the characters are illegal street racers (Japanese: hashiriya) that race on public roads, particularly on the winding mountain roads known as tōge. Those kind of racers were called "rolling-zoku", a type of bōsōzoku, and were seen as a social problem in Japan. Later parts of the story revolve around professional motorcycle racing events held on road circuits like the All Japan Road Race Championship.

Plot

Gun Koma, a high school student with a passion for motorcycles, begins as a street racer riding on mountain roads with his friends and rivals. As he competes in illegal street races, Gun develops his riding skills and becomes determined to become a professional racer. During this time, he also begins a relationship with Ai Itou, and their relationship develops alongside his racing career.

Gun's career progresses when he enters official competitions, including endurance races such as the Suzuka 4-Hour Endurance Race, where he must work together with his rival Hideyoshi Hijiri as teammates. As he continues racing, the story shifts to professional circuit racing, following Gun as he competes in the All Japan Road Race Championship and later advances to international competition in the Road Racing World Championship.

Over time, Gun competes against stronger rivals, culminating in his participation in the GP500 class world championship as he strives to become world champion.

Characters

Gun Koma (巨摩郡, Koma Gun): Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka; A motorcycle racer, he rides a Honda CB750 as well as a Suzuki GSX-R.
Ai Itou (伊藤歩惟, Itō Ai): Voiced by: Yōko Oginome; Gun's girlfriend.
Hideyoshi Hijiri (聖秀吉, Hijiri Hideyoshi): Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao; Gun's friendly rival, he rides a Suzuki Katana.
Hiro Okita (沖田比呂, Okita Hiro): Voiced by: Issei Futamata; Gun's best friend, he rides a Kawasaki Z400GP.
Miyuki Ichinose (一ノ瀬美由紀, Ichinose Miyuki): Voiced by: Keiko Toda; The daughter of the Ichinose Racing Team president, she is in love with Hiro and rides a Honda VT250F.
Tomoyo Hijiri (聖知代, Hijiri Tomoyo): Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu; Hideyoshi's sister, she lost her parents in car accident.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno, Bari Bari Densetsu was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from March 9, 1983,^[1] to July 17, 1991.^[2] Kodansha collected its chapters in thirty-eight tankōbon volumes, released from October 14, 1983,^[3] to August 6, 1991.^[4]

Volume list

More information No., Release date ...

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	October 14, 1983^[5]	978-4-06-172922-3
2	November 14, 1983^[6]	978-4-06-172932-2
3	December 12, 1983^[7]	978-4-06-172937-7
4	March 15, 1984^[8]	978-4-06-172955-1
5	May 15, 1984^[9]	978-4-06-172970-4
6	July 16, 1984^[10]	978-4-06-172977-3
7	September 13, 1984^[11]	978-4-06-172990-2
8	December 10, 1984^[12]	978-4-06-173010-6
9	February 12, 1985^[13]	978-4-06-173022-9
10	May 14, 1985^[14]	978-4-06-173044-1
11	July 10, 1985^[15]	978-4-06-173053-3
12	November 14, 1985^[16]	978-4-06-173085-4
13	February 12, 1986^[17]	978-4-06-173120-2
14	July 10, 1986^[18]	978-4-06-173155-4
15	September 10, 1986^[19]	978-4-06-173176-9
16	November 13, 1986^[20]	978-4-06-173190-5
17	February 10, 1987^[21]	978-4-06-311211-5
18	May 11, 1987^[22]	978-4-06-311236-8
19	July 10, 1987^[23]	978-4-06-311256-6
20	September 7, 1987^[24]	978-4-06-311273-3
21	November 9, 1987^[25]	978-4-06-311291-7
22	February 8, 1988^[26]	978-4-06-311312-9
23	May 2, 1988^[27]	978-4-06-311342-6
24	July 8, 1988^[28]	978-4-06-311361-7
25	October 11, 1988^[29]	978-4-06-311387-7
26	February 10, 1989^[30]	978-4-06-311419-5
27	April 12, 1989^[31]	978-4-06-311436-2
28	July 13, 1989^[32]	978-4-06-311465-2
29	October 11, 1989^[33]	978-4-06-311490-4
30	February 8, 1990^[34]	978-4-06-311525-3
31	April 14, 1990^[35]	978-4-06-311548-2
32	June 14, 1990^[36]	978-4-06-311569-7
33	August 11, 1990^[37]	978-4-06-311587-1
34	November 15, 1990^[38]	978-4-06-311613-7
35	February 14, 1991^[39]	978-4-06-311637-3
36	April 15, 1991^[40]	978-4-06-311655-7
37	June 10, 1991^[41]	978-4-06-311675-5
38	August 6, 1991^[42]	978-4-06-311705-9

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OVA

A two-episode original video animation (OVA) adaptation produced by Pierrot, Part I: Tsukuba and Part II: Suzuka, was released in 1986.^[43]^[44] The episodes were later re-edited and released in theaters in August 1987 by Nippon Herald (now part of Kadokawa Pictures).^[43]^[45]

A Blu-Ray version was released in Japan on July 21, 2023.^[44]

Video games

Two video games were released:

Bari Bari Densetsu^[46] - FM-7 (1985)
Bari Bari Densetsu^[47] - TurboGrafx-16 (1989)

Gun Koma also appears as a guest character in Namco's MotoGP (2000) video game, based on the 1999 season.^[48]

Reception

In 1985, it won the ninth Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category.^[49] As of April 2018, collected tankōbon volumes of the Bari Bari Densetsu manga series had over 26 million copies in circulation.^[50]

Japanese motorcycle racer Shinya Nakano credited his use of the number 56 throughout his career to Gun Koma also using the same number in the road racing portions of the manga.^[51]