Manga Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada (collectively known as "Yudetamago"), friends since fourth grade, Before its regular publication, the series (originally a parody of
Ultraman)
Kinnikuman was serialized in the same magazine from the May 28, 1979, to the May 4, 1987 issues. into 36 , releasing them from February 15, 1980, to April 15, 1988. The first 36 volumes were re-published as part of the
Jump Comics Selection line in 26 volumes from July 19, 1994, to August 26, 1996, as part of the
Jump Comics Deluxe line in 18 volumes from January 14 to November 18, 1999, and on June 6, 2013, all 36 were published in format. A one-shot, , was published in
Kadokawa Shoten's
Kakutō Ace in January 1996. The 37th was released on January 29, 2010, and the latest—the 92nd volume—was released on April 3, 2026. Starting on July 5, 2012,
e-book volumes began to be published as part of the
Jump Comics Digital line; the latest digital volume publication date coincides with the print edition. Since the series' 2011 restart, Yudetamago has published two related one-shots in Shueisha's magazines. In 2015, a 43-page one-shot titled "Kinnikuman Chōjin Retsuden" (Kinnikuman Superman Biographies) was released in
Grand Jump to unfold the story of "supermen" characters. Four years later, the 47-page "Sayonara, Kinnikuman!! no Maki" (The 'Goodbye, Kinnikuman' Story) appeared in
Weekly Shōnen Jump, depicting these supermen's arrival during the main character's retirement ceremony.
Sequel and spin-offs The first manga spun off from
Kinnikuman was , a series focused on
Ramenman which was published in
Fresh Jump from 1982 In 1998 and 1999,
Tatakae!! Ramenman was re-published in 9 volumes, in 2002 in 8 volumes, between 2004 and 2006 in 12 volumes, and in 2009 in 5 volumes.
Toei Animation adapted it into a 35-episode
anime series, which was broadcast from January 10 to September 11, 1988. In 1988, a film was released on July, and a video game on August. On March 21, 2009, the anime series and film were released in a box set. Also, a spin-off of
Tatake!! Ramenman,
subtitled , was released in 1995. and was published in 29 volumes from October 19, 1998, to August 19, 2005. This 29 volumes were released by
Viz Media in North America between July 5, 2004, and July 5, 2011. It was re-released in 21
aizoban volumes from September 18, 2009, to January 18, 2011. Three one-shots of
Kinnikuman Legacy were published in 2002. The first, , was released on February 22, and the second, , was released on May 24. A guidebook titled was released on July 19, 2002. , an
Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy spin-off, was serialized in
V Jump from May 21, 2001, to March 20, 2007, and its four were published from August 2, 2002, to August 3, 2007. To continue
Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacys storyline, was published in serial form from 2004 to 2011 and released in 28 from November 18, 2005, to December 19, 2011. A feminized version of the series, , was created by Masashi Ogawa and began as a
webcomic on the
Ultra Jump Egg site in June 2008. Its first was published on March 19, 2009, and in 2011 it was moved to the
Ultra Jump website. The series concluded with the release of its 46th chapter in
Ultra Jump, and the release of third , both on June 19, 2013.
Anime Television series The first animated series based on
Kinnikuman was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Yasuo Yamayoshi, Takenori Kawada and Tetsuo Imazawa. The 137-episode series was originally broadcast in Japan on
Nippon Television from April 3, 1983, to October 1, 1986. It was followed by , directed by Takeshi Shirato and Atsutoshi Umezawa. This 46-episode series was also produced by Toei Animation and aired on NTV from October 6, 1991, to September 27, 1992. The first series was packaged into 12 DVDs, released from December 6, 2002, to November 21, 2003, and the second series was released on four DVDs from December 5, 2003, to March 21, 2004.
Ultimate Muscle On January 9, 2002,
Kinnikuman: Second Generation premiered; the 51-episode series aired until December 25 of that year, and was released on 12 DVDs from September 21, 2002, to August 8, 2003. Licensed by
4Kids Entertainment as
Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, it was broadcast on
FoxBox in the United States. In 2003 a 13-episode sequel primarily focused on non-Japanese audiences was announced; it aired on FoxBox in North America, and from April 7 to June 30, 2004, in Japan. Another 13-episode spin-off,
Kinnikuman Second Generation: Ultimate Muscle 2, was broadcast from January 4 to March 29, 2006, in Japan. All three series were directed by Toshiaki Komura, produced by Toei Animation and broadcast in Japan by
TV Tokyo. The two spin-off series were released as two-DVD box sets on February 24 and June 23, 2006. In October 2022,
Discotek Media announced that they had licensed
Ultimate Muscle and they released the 77 episodes on Blu-ray Disc on May 30, 2023.
Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc A new anime celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original anime television series was announced in March 2023. It was later confirmed to be a television series, titled , based on the 2011 revival manga's arc of the same name, produced by
Production I.G and directed by Akira Sato, with
Makoto Fukami in charge of series composition, Hirotaka Marufuji designing the characters and
Yasuharu Takanashi composing the music. It aired from July 7 to September 22, 2024, on
CBC and
TBS' brand new
Agaru Anime programming block, with
Netflix licensing it for streaming worldwide weekly starting on July 8 of the same year. In August 2025, a third season was announced.
Films Seven films based on the original
Kinnikuman were released from 1984 to 1986. The first,
Kinnikuman, was directed by Takeshi Shirato and released on July 14, 1984. , the last film, was released on December 20, 1986, and was directed by Yasuo Yamayoshi. All seven films were compiled on a DVD released April 21, 2004. and the second, , was released at the same venue on July 20, 2002. The films were released on DVD on May 12, 2002, and April 21, 2003, respectively.
Video games Several video games based on the series were released. The first were for
home computers; a
simulation game was released for the
PC-88 in November 1984, followed by the 1985
fighting game . The first
console game (
Tag Team Match: M.U.S.C.L.E.) was released on November 8, 1985, for
Nintendo Entertainment System, and the last game () was released for
PlayStation 2 on September 25, 2008. The
social networking service GREE released on February 27, 2014.
Other media With the anime's popularity,
Bandai produced a brand of eraser-like action figures (
keshi) titled
Kinkeshi between 1983 and 1987. In Japan, Bandai has released 418 different types of figures, and it was mainly sold through
Gashapon. As it attracted the Northern American market's interest, it was brought out by
Mattel under the name M.U.S.C.L.E., and a total of 236 figures were traded domestically in the 1980s. In 2007, Toei asked fans if they would like to see all 418 figure types included in the
Kinnikuman complete box set. Aside from this most known series of products, a myriad of other
Kinnikuman-based merchandise were released both in Japan and in the America, which vary from action figures to plush dolls, from key holders to
pen drives, from
picture books to
trading card games. ==Reception==