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Since before Goku mimicked the Kamehameha in Dragon Ball, fighting manga have given their characters signature moves to set them apart from their opponents. In Baki, one of the most iconic moments in the series is when Katsumi unveils his brutal but risky Hitless Blow. It turns out, creating this moment was a collaborative effort between Baki the Grappler creator Keisuke Itagaki and his editors.

We talked to Yuki Yokoi, an Assistant General Manager at publisher Akita Shoten who has been working on the Baki the Grappler manga and anime for years, and he described the pivotal fight between Katsumi Orochi and Pickle as one of his proudest moments as an editor on the Baki the Grappler series. Part of that is because of how he helped Itagaki come up with the idea for the Hitless Blow, or True Mach Punch, that Katsumi uses in the fight.

“The Katsumi vs Pickle arc began with a decision, during a meeting with Itagaki-sensei, to really build Katsumi up,” Yuki Yokoi told us. “When Sensei said he wanted to evolve the Mach Punch, I provided data on what would actually happen to the human body if one were to exceed Mach speed, and using whips as a reference – how the very tip of a whip is the fastest part. I suggested that instead of striking with the physical fist, it might be more effective to hit the opponent with a sonic boom created by surpassing Mach speed and compressing the air.”

“The idea was accepted, and when the ‘True Mach Punch’ episode was completed, I felt a real sense of fulfilment as an editor, a feeling that I had done my job well. I also remember the response from readers confirming that this fulfilment translated into their satisfaction as well.”

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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