The King of Fighters: A New Beginning is a Japanese shōnen manga authored by Kyōtarō Azuma. The series has been serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket since January 2018.[2]Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga for a North American release with the first volume released in March 2020. The manga is an adaptation of SNK's 2016 fighting gameThe King of Fighters XIV and follows multiple characters who get involved in a new worldwide tournament led by a man known as Antonov.
Publication
The series was first announced in November 2017 by Kodansha to be published in online Magazine Pocket for free.[2] Kyōtarō Azuma's work is being reviewed by Akihiko Ureshino, writer of most The King of Fighters works. The King of Fighters XIV producer Yasuyuki Oda noted that while the story might fit within the franchise's canon, it could greatly influece their latter works as they aim A New Beginning to stay true to the game's narrative.[3] Although the original The King of Fighters XIV game offered extra characters in the form of downloadable content, Azuma refraimed from using them.[4]
The first tankōbon volume was released on August 9, 2018.[5] Sales of the series have been positive with Azuma noting that the third Japanese volume run out of print and due to fan demand, Kodansha re-print more copies of it.[6] However, Azuma stated the amount of releases for every volume was relatively low.[7] By the time the third volume was released, Oda stated the series is an entertaining fighting series, hoping it attracts more readers.[1] In January 2019, the series took a one month hiatus due to issues with the editorial. However, Azuma said that there were no major issues so the manga will continue serialization without any problems.[8] According to Azuma the series is meant to conclude in September 2020 with the story having reached its climax by May of the same year.[9]
In July 2019, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they licensed the manga for a North American release with the first volume aiming to be released in early 2020.[10] The first volume was released on March 10, 2020. The translation is being handled by Daniel Komen and J.P. Sullivan.[11]
Premise
Years after the last fighting tournament known as "The King of Fighters", Antonov leads his own competition. This attracts returning fighters and most notably newcomers. The elder martial artist Tung Fu Rue wants to use this fight to test his student Shun'ei and Meitenkun's powers. Across this fights, the fights appear to be overseen only by Antonov but also the apparently destroyed organization NESTS for unknown purposes.
Anime UK News scored the first volume a 8 out of 10, praising the adaptation to the game faithful as well as the illustrations of fight scenes, most notably Kyo Kusanagi's against Iori Yagami, whom the reviewer found enjoyable based on their popularity.[18]