The King of Fighters: A New Beginning

The King of Fighters: A New Beginning (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ/ア・ニュ一・どヂニンク) is an official manga adaptation of The King of Fighters XIV released by SNK and is published weekly on Pocket Shonen Magazine online starting on January 1, 2018. The series is illustrated by Kyoutarou Azuma and marks the first Japanese KOF manga done in more than 20 years.

Synopsis
Kyo Kusanagi'', Iori Yagami, K', Ash Crimson, and Shun'ei. The history of the soul of the fighters who have burned themselves with scorching flames aiming at the strongest. That's the KING OF FIGHTERS! A monumental battle as "KOF" is now emerging with a new "power".''

Story
Two young men, one in a cloak imitating a cape, and the other holding a pillow, accompanied by an old man,is on top of a skyscraper, watching the Antonov Super Arena. These are the friends Shun'ei and Meitenkun, and the legendary master Tung Fu Rue, the China Team. The elder welcomed the first child, who had been abandoned by his parents because of his mysterious powers. Since then, Tung trains the two young fighters. In that building, Shun'ei reflects on the extent of his powers and the decision to participate in the KOF. He concludes that it is time to face that man. His master and tutor Tung shows an envelope, whose contents lead to that arena. Meitenkun is sleeping soundly during all this. Soon after, they jump from the skyscraper, toward the arena, and Shun'ei, confident of how much power he can reach, wants to fascinate everyone.
 * Chapter 1: ROUND 1 - 1 ~MEMBER SELECT~ (Released January 1, 2018)

In the arena, an euphoric crowd greets Antonov, a self-proclaimed champion. He declares open the new KOF tournament and announces a Antonov-Girl. She explains the tourney rules: the famous 3vs3 combat and a challenge to anyone who wins him, besides the participating teams.

The first team to enter is the Japan Team, formed by the rebel and insolent Kyo Kusanagi, the model Benimaru Nikaido and the gold medalist Goro Daimon. Kyo shows his flames to the audience, ancestral family heritage, Benimaru shows off his electric powers and Daimon comes in with his massive strength, result of years of hard training. Then, the Yagami Team  appears, being mentioned the ancestral rivality of his leader, the musician Iori Yagami, with Kyo, and the mysterious ladies who accompany him, Mature and Vice, servants of a great evil force who had been defeated in the past, and who do everything to please them, even ally themselves with the man who killed them.

A metal glove comes into play. His owner also shows a crucifix and a distant look, covered by sunglasses. It's K', a young man kidnapped by a cartel as a child and subjected to Kyo's DNA. He is accompanied by his partner half human, half machine, known as Maxima, and a graceful girl with ice powers, Kula Diamond. The three are the K' Team, fugitives from NESTS, the criminal cartel that created them with human machines, even if with cruelty.
 * Chapter 2: ROUND 1 - 2 ~MEMBER SELECT~ (Released January 8, 2018)

The Fatal Fury Team is announced with shouts from a convinced young man. But this conviction is justified. The young man is Joe Higashi, Muay Thai world champion and self-proclaimed invincible. Less convinced, but no less famous, are his teammates, the legendary brothers Terry and Andy Bogard. The eldest is nicknamed the Legendary Hungry Wolf, and also a famous fighter in South Town. Already the youngest of the Bogard is a respected ninja and promoter of the Ninjust Shiranui style, immortalized by the master Hanzo Shiranui.

The representatives of Kyokugenryu Karate, whose patron is the famous retired fighter Takuma Sakazaki, enter the arena. Ryo Sakazaki, son and new master of the style, and Robert Garcia, Ryo's right-hand man in the family's dojo, shows the public the awe of the Dragon and the Tiger. But a certain girl, with her inexperience and conviction, takes the microphone for herself and boasts of her strength, as a student who still needs a lot of training, but doesn't hesitate to embarrass her teacher. This is Yuri Sakazaki, youngest daughter of Takuma and apprentice in the style of his family. And so, the Art of Fighting Team is presented, with boos, laughter and encouragement.

The audience goes into exile with the leader of the next team. Dressed in high school costumes, the girl is famous in Asia, not only for her fighting abilities, but also for her talent for music. We are talking about Athena Asamiya, from the Psycho Soldier Team, who was accompanied by her friend Sie Kensou (the young man who shouts to the four winds who are dating her, but we know that the reality is different ...) and Chin Gentsai, the respectable master of Kung Fu and promoter of the style "Drunken Fist", that trains the two young people some time ago.
 * Chapter 3: ROUND 1 - 3 ~MEMBER SELECT~ (Released January 15, 2018)

Always vigilant. Always alert. Always watch out for any suspicious activity hanging over the KOF tournament. All with the support of the highest laws and continence. So it's the Ikari Warriors Team, which has Leona Heidern, protected of the Commander Heidern and who holds a dangerous force in her blood, and the best soldiers in the squadron, the Colonel Ralf Jones and the Lieutenant Clark Still.

A red carpet is spread out in the middle of the arena. Around her, many security guards. These men are decorative figures near the shadows that enter the tournament. One of them is Billy Kane, a Brit who does everything to protect his boss. The other is Hein, a newly hired German butler about whom no one knows anything about his past. The two are lackeys of an ambitious man who does everything for power and who has faced death several times. Your name? Geese Howard, the most feared of South Town, the birthplace of the KOF tournament. They form the South Town Team.

The strength of the iron ball. The agility of metal claws. Their owners used them to touch terror, but they had the bad luck to fall into the hands of a criminal rehabilitation project promoted by a Taekwondo master. Now Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge want to go back to their old life of crime, and for this they have the help of a man whose words, costumes and attitudes cause strangeness to the common eyes and ears. He is Xanadu, the king of the underworld and a criminal whose perilousness is famous in the four corners of the world. The Villains Team comes on the scene, and, soon after, a man in a gi appears and picks up the microphone for himself.
 * Chapter 4: ROUND 1 -4 ~MEMBER SELECT~ (Released January 22, 2018)

This man is nothing more, no less than Kim Kaphwan, the Taekwondo master responsible for the project who tried to educate the criminal clowns, in vain. There is no other word that Kim loves more than justice, and his inflamed speech was full of it, shouting out against evil in all his forms. Until interrupted by a very fiery and intimate couple in front of an incredulous audience. Also Kim's master and president of the International Taekwondo Federation, Gang-il, and his newest lover, the mysterious Luong, form the Kim Team.

A prehistoric wrestling fighter who, in the past, was a mythological bird, whose skills in the ring were unshakable. Until a defeat to a promise of boxing made him feel ashamed of his old mask and, therefore, assumed a new identity: King of Dinosaurs. A man who is known in his country for his fantastic skills in the ring, his tiger spirit and his eye patch. In addition to being a skilled mercenary, having investigated the obscure activities of NESTS and a Frenchman whose existence has been erased from memory. He is Ramon, the wrestling champion. A woman with a childish voice and an angelic name. But let's not be fooled by these details. His overwhelming strength and sexy and murderous attitudes are fruit of his training with NESTS, which included the hunt for fugitives from the cartel as his main mission. Today, nobody knows what she does, and her entry into the tournament after years is a real mystery. With her teammates, she has only one thing in common: the nationality. Angel, the sexy nymphet of teasing costumes, along with the two wrestlers, form the Mexico Team.


 * Chapter 5: ROUND 1 -5 ~MEMBER SELECT~ (Released February 5, 2018)